II. BOOK Leicester was humbled to the earth, and perceived the precipice to which his vanity had blindly led him. With correct and rapid judgment, he receded immediately from the dignities and power which he had too eagerly embraced; and by this instantaneous self-mortification, and by his penitential letters and lowly submission, he allayed the displeasure of his majestic sovereign.67 His campaign was active. He sent Norris to relieve Grave, which the prince of Parma was besieging, and would have saved it, if its young commander had not prematurely yielded it, for which he was condemned to die. He forced the island of Batavia; and when the Spaniards encamped before Venlo, sir Roger Williams headed a night attack upon them, and penetrated to the prince of Parma's camp; but was not strong enough to rescue the town." Sir Philip Sidney, with a son of the prince of Orange, surprised Axel, but failed, from treachery, at Graveling. Leicester himself attacked and captured Duisberg; and soon afterwards that encounter occurred, in which the pride of England, and the admiration of Europe at that time, sir Philip Sidney, received his mortal wound." He 69 allegiance which you owe us, perform whatsoever our vice-chamberlain shall declare unto you in our name, upon pain of further peril.' Camd. Eliz. p. 293. It is hardly possible to read this attentively, and to believe that she had ever given Leicester the power of charging her with any undue intimacy. This is the tone of the high and elevated sovereign, secure in her unforfeited rectitude, and not of one who had compromised her character by dishonor. 67 Camd. 293. 68 Camd. 293, 4. 69 The governor invited the approach, by intimating a wish to surrender, but with the perfidious plan and preparation to destroy the forces that came. ib. 294. 70 The continental impression, from his manners and conduct, was vinced so early as his 19th year, when he travelled abroad in 1572. XXXIII. had improved the taste of his countrymen, and secured CHAP. a literary reputation by his popular 'Arcadia,' in his twenty-sixth year," and had been a liberal patron, both to arts and to letters; to mechanical skill and to moral worth." He had abandoned, by the queen's command, an expedition to America, which he was planning with sir Francis Drake," to be appointed lord governor of Flushing, and was serving under Leicester with increasing reputation, when on 23d September 1586 the earl was informed, that three thousand Spanish cavalry were moving with a convoy of provisions to relieve Zutphen, with as many infantry. A very inferior English force was sent out to meet them, and sir Philip was one of those, who, at the head of two hundred of his countrymen, Charles IX. was so pleased with his deportment, as to make him one of the gentlemen of his chamber. Collins' Memoirs, 98. And the haughty don John of Austria changed his first reserve towards him as a stranger, to cordial attentions, beyond those which he exhibited towards the public ambassadors. The prince of Orange pronounced, that in him Elizabeth had one of the ripest and greatest counsellors of state in Europe. Men of affairs in most parts of Christendom corresponded with him.' A volume of letters, in all languages, from the most learned men of all countries, was at Penshurst, when Collins printed his Memoirs. ib. 99. His travels extended to France and Germany, thro Austria and Hungary into Italy; returning along the Rhine into Holland and Flanders, and reaching England in 1575. At twenty-one, he was sent by the queen, as her ambassador, to the emperor and German princes, gaining great credit by his conduct, and returned to England in 1577. ib. 100. He was born 29 Nov. 1554. ib. 98. 71 Retiring from court, he composed his prose romance in the summer of 1580, of which fourteen editions had been printed when Collins wrote in 1746. It was dedicated to his sister the countess of Pembroke; and his family were so interested by it, that the lower panels of a room at their seat at Wilton were finely painted with representations of its scenes and stories. Coll. 102. 72 His bounty was such, that there was not an approved painter, skilful engineer, excellent musician, or other artificer of fame, that did not make himself known to this famous spirit, or that found not in him a true friend without hire. He was the common rendezvous of worth in his time.' Lord Brooke's Life of him. 73 Lord Brooke's Life, p. 82. II. 74 BOOK breaking thro the foot, charged successfully a body of eleven hundred of the chief cavalry of the enemy. His horse fell under him, but, mounting another, and advancing to a repetition of the attack, a musketball shattered his thigh above the knee." He would not dismount, but rode back to the camp in all the agony of the wound ;" and as he passed, displayed that trait of human kindness to a poor fellow sufferer, which has immortalized his memory, even more than his accomplishments and literature." For sixteen days there were hopes of his recovery; but tho his surgeons still expected it, he felt symptoms which induced him to infer that he was dying, and desired the presence of the ministers of religion. He joined them in devotion with great fervor and sensibility,78 and then conferred with 74 See Leicester's letter of 23 September, in Collins, 104, 5. 75 He had put on his complete armor before they moved; but happening to meet the marshal of the camp but lightly armed, his emulation— must we not as truly say his vanity?-unfortunately for himself, led him to put off his cuirasses, and by that unnecessary bravery threw aside the protection which would have averted the wound: a secret influence of destiny! exclaims his biographer. It is nearer truth to say, that the petty vaunt, unworthy of his high character and real merit, produced its own punishment. It was the ebullition of a momentary pride, inconsistent with the generous greatness of his habitual mind. But such was the spirit of the day, that lord North, tho bruised in the knee with a shot, left his bed to join this encounter, and in only one boot, because the other could not be put on. Leicest. lett. ib. 76 His uncle says, ' he met him coming on horseback, not one jot appalled for his blow, which is the most grievous that ever I saw with such a bullet.' Lett. p. 105. "Lord Brooke thus records it: "The horse, furiously choleric, forced him to forsake the field. Passing by the rest of the army, where his uncle, the general, was, and being thirsty with excess of bleeding, he called for drink, which was presently brought him. But, as he was putting the bottle to his mouth, he saw a poor soldier carried along, ghastly casting up his eyes at the vessel; which sir Philip perceiving, took it from his head, and delivered it to the poor man, with these words: Thy necessity is yet greater than mine. When he had pledged the poor soldier, he was carried immediately to Arnheim.' Life, p. 144. 78 Before them he made such a confession of Christian faith, as no XXXIII. them as a philosopher and as a Christian, on the ani- CHAP. mating belief of the immortality of the soul." The arrangement of his worldly affairs by his will, was his next object of attention; 80 and he then sought the recreation of plaintive music. His last effort was an affectionate effusion of sympathy with his sorrowing brother; when, collecting his ebbing strength, he uttered to him these emphatic words: Love my Cherish memory. friends. Their faith to me may assure you that they are honest. Above all, govern your will and affections by the will and word of your Creator. In me, behold the end of this world, with all her vanities.' He desired his brother to be taken away, and gently expired." my 82 book but the heart can truly and feelingly deliver. He then desired them to accompany him in prayer, wherein he besought leave to lead the assembly; as, he said, the secret sins of his own heart were best known to himself; and out of that true sense he could more properly apply the eternal sacrifice of our Saviour's passion and merits to himself. In this, his sighs and tears were ever interrupting their common devotion.' Brooke's Life, 145-161. 79Instantly after prayer he entreated these divine philosophers about him to deliver the opinion of the antient heathen, touching the immortality of the soul; to see what true knowlege she retains of her own essence out of the light of herself; and then to parallel it with the most pregnant authorities of the Old and New Testament, as supernatural revelation for the divine light of faith to reveal and work by. Not that he wanted instruction or assurance, but because this fixing of a lover's thoughts upon these eternal beauties, cheered up his decaying spirits, and was, as it were, a taking possession of that immortal inheritance, which was given to him by his brotherhood in Christ.' Lord Brooke, ib. 80 This will of his remains a witness to the world that these sweet and large, even dying affections in him, could no more be contrasted by pain, grief or sickness, than any sparkle of our immortality can be privately buried in the shadow of death.' ib. · 81 Afterwards he called for music; especially that song which himself had intitled, La Cuisse rompue; partly, I conceive, to shew that the glory of mortal flesh was shaken in him; and, by that music itself to fashion his heavenly soul into that everlasting harmony of angels, of which these concords were a kind of terrestrial echo.' ib. 8 Lord Brooke, ib. 161. He died 16 October 1586, at Arnheim. His body was conveyed in solemn state to England, and magnificently buried in St. Paul's cathedral on 16 Feb. 1587. So general was the BOOK 83 Altho the largest part of three centuries have passed since sir Philip Sidney was withdrawn from the society he adorned, his name has ever since been inseparably associated with the kindest approbation, and with the heartfelt encomiums of his countrymen. Every age has ratified the verdict of its predecessors; and it is become a common sentiment, that no one more fully united high birth, cultivated genius, active spirit, intellectual taste, tender sensibility, amiable manners, delicate honor, noble accomplishments, high principle, liberal courtesy, generous humanity, and affectionate religion, than this admired and regretted knight. In him the queen lost a subject who had counselled her with the earnestness of sincere loyalty while he lived," lamentation for him, that for many months after it was accounted indecent for any gentleman of quality to appear at court or city in any light or gaudy apparel.' Pref. to Arcadia. This public sympathy shews that his death was of the greatest advantage to his countrymen, by fixing the attention of all on his numerous virtues; and by their general praise, inciting many to imitate what every one admired. 83 That it was not his own partial nation who so highly estimated him, we perceive by the letter to him from Tunis, in May 1581, of don Antonio, the unsuccessful competitor with Philip II. for the crown of Portugal, signed The King;' in which, after stating that his affairs go on extremely well, and that he is equipping a second expedition of 7,000 men, with which he means to go, expressly adds, Tho many more should go, if I did not see you in the company, I shall say, it has not its proper number.' Write to me often; preserve me in your friendship. Sid. Lett. 1. p. 294. 84 It was in 1580 that he took the liberty of writing to Elizabeth, when she was balancing on the proposed marriage with D'Alençon, a long letter, to dissuade her from it. It has some interesting passages. She had told him, that the fear of contempt from her subjects for a long reign, was one reason which inclined her to it. On this he remarks, What is there within you that can possibly fall into the danger of contempt? Our minds rejoice with the experience of your inward virtues; our eyes are delighted with the sight of you. The longer a prince reigneth, the more he is esteemed. No man ever was weary of well being. Good increased by good, maketh the same good both greater and stronger; as abuse, growing upon abuse, according to the nature of evil, with the increase of time, ruins itself. But in so rare a govern |