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SIR PHILIP SIDNEY (1554-1586)

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 45 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIR See also:PHILIP See also:SIDNEY (1554-1586)  , See also:English poet, statesman and soldier, eldest son of See also:Sir See also:Henry See also:Sidney and his wife See also:Mary See also:Dudley, was See also:born at See also:Penshurst on the 3oth of See also:November 1554 . His See also:father, Sir Henry Sidney (1529-1586), was three times See also:lord See also:deputy of See also:Ireland, and in 156o became lord See also:president of See also:Wales . See also:Philip Sidney's childhood was spent at Penshurst; and before he had completed his tenth See also:year he was nominated by his father See also:lay See also:rector of Whitford, Flintshire . A deputy was appointed, and Philip enjoyed the See also:revenue of the See also:benefice for the See also:rest of his See also:life . On the 17th of See also:October 1564 he was entered at See also:Shrewsbury school, not far from his father's See also:official See also:residence at See also:Ludlow See also:Castle, on the same See also:day with his life-See also:long friend and first biographer, See also:Fulke Greville . An affectionate See also:letter of See also:advice from his father and See also:mother, written about 1565, was preserved and printed in 1591 (A Very Godly Letter . . . ) . In 1568 Sidney was sent to See also:Christ See also:Church, See also:Oxford, where he formed lasting friendships with See also:Richard See also:Hakluyt and See also:William See also:Camden . But his See also:chief See also:companion was Fulke Greville, who had gone to Broadgates See also:Hall (See also:Pembroke See also:College) . Sir Henry Sidney was already anxious to arrange an advantageous See also:marriage for his son, who was at that See also:time See also:heir to his See also:uncle, the See also:earl of See also:Leicester; and Sir William See also:Cecil agreed to a See also:betrothal with his daughter See also:Anne . But in 1571 the match was broken off, and Anne Cecil married See also:Edward See also:Vere, 17th earl of Oxford .

In that year Philip See also:

left Oxford, and, after some months spent chiefly at See also:court, received the See also:queen's leave in 1572 to travel abroad " for his attaining the knowledge of See also:foreign See also:languages." He was attached to the See also:suite of the earl of See also:Lincoln, who was sent to See also:Paris in that year to negotiate a marriage between Queen See also:Elizabeth and the duc d'See also:Alencon . He was in the See also:house of Sir See also:Francis See also:Walsingham in Paris during the See also:massacre of See also:Saint See also:Bartholomew, and the events he witnessed no doubt intensified his always militant Protestantism . In See also:charge of Dr See also:Watson, See also:dean, and afterwards See also:bishop, of See also:Winchester, he left Paris for See also:Lorraine, and in See also:March of the next year had arrived in See also:Frankfort on the See also:Main . He lodged there in the house of the learned printer See also:Andrew Wechel, among whose guests was also See also:Hubert See also:Languet . Fulke Greville describes Philip Sidney when a schoolboy as characterized by " such staidness of mind, lovely and See also:familiar gravity, which carried See also:grace and reverence far above greater years." " Though I lived with him, and knew him from a See also:child," he says, " yet I never knew him other than a See also:man." These qualities attracted to him the friendship of See also:grave students of affairs, and in See also:France he formed See also:close connexions with the Huguenot leaders . Languet, who was an ardent supporter of the See also:Protestant cause, conceived a See also:great See also:affection for the younger man, and travelled in his See also:company to See also:Vienna . In October Sidney left for See also:Italy, having first of all entered into a compact with his friend to write every See also:week . This arrangement was not strictly observed, but the extant letters, more numerous on Languet's See also:side than on Sidney's, afford a considerable insight into Sidney's moral and See also:political development . Languet's letters abound with sensible and affectionate advice on his studies and his affairs generally . Sidney settled for some time in See also:Venice, and in See also:February 1574 he sat to See also:Paolo Veronese for a portrait, destined for Languet . His See also:friends seem to have feared that his zeal for Protestantism might be corrupted by his stay in Italy, and Languet exacted from him a promise that he would not go to See also:Rome . In See also:July he was seriously See also:ill, and immediately on his recovery started for Vienna .

From there he accompanied Languet to See also:

Poland, where he is said to have been asked to become a See also:candidate for the vacant See also:crown . On his return to Vienna he fulfilled vague See also:diplomatic duties at the imperial court, perfecting himself meanwhile, in company with Edward See also:Wotton, in the See also:art of See also:horsemanship under See also:John Pietro Pugliano, whose skill and wit he celebrates in the opening See also:paragraph of the See also:Defence of Poesie . He addressed a letter from Vienna on the See also:state of affairs to Lord See also:Burghley, in See also:December 1574 . In the See also:spring of 1575 he followed the court to See also:Prague, where he received a See also:summons to return See also:home, apparently because Sir Francis Walsingham, who was now secretary of state, feared that Sidney had leanings to Catholicism . His See also:sister, Mary Sidney, was now at court, and he had an influential See also:patron in his uncle, the earl of Leicester . He accompanied the queen on one of her royal progresses to See also:Kenilworth, and afterwards to Chartley Castle, the seat of See also:Walter Devereux, earl of See also:Essex . There he met See also:Penelope Devereux, the " Stella " of the sonnets, then a child of twelve . Essex went to Ireland in 1576 to fill his See also:office as earl See also:marshal, and in See also:September occurred his mysterious See also:death . Philip Sidney was in Ireland with his father at the time . Essex on his deathbed had desired a match between . Sidney and his daughter Penelope . Sidney was often harassed with See also:debt, and seems to have given no serious thought to the question for some time, but Edward See also:Waterhouse, an See also:agent of Sir Henry Sidney, See also:writing in November 1576, mentions " the treaty between Mr Philip and my See also:Lady Penelope " (Sidney Papers, i. p .

147) . In the spring of 1577 Sidney was sent to congratulate See also:

Louis, the new elector See also:Palatine, and See also:Rudolf II., who had become See also:emperor of See also:Germany . He received also See also:general instructions to discuss with various princes the See also:advancement of the Protestant cause . After See also:meeting See also:Don John of See also:Austria at See also:Louvain, March 1577, he proceeded to See also:Heidelberg and Prague . He persuaded the elector's See also:brother, John Casimir, to consider proposals for a See also:league of Protestant princes, and also for a See also:conference among the Protestant churches . At Prague he ventured on a harangue to the emperor, advocating a general league against See also:Spain and Rome . This address naturally produced no effect, but does not seem to have been resented as much as might have been expected . On the return See also:journey he visited William of See also:Orange, who formed a high See also:opinion of Sidney . In See also:April 1577 Mary Sidney married Henry See also:Herbert, and earl of Pembroke, and in the summer Philip paid the first of many visits to her at her new home at See also:Wilton . But later in the year he was at court defending his father's interests, particularly against the earl of See also:Ormonde, who was doing all he could to See also:prejudice Elizabeth against the lord deputy . Sidney See also:drew up a detailed defence of his father's Irish See also:government, to be presented to the queen . A rough draft of four of the seven sections of this See also:treatise is preserved in the See also:British Museum (See also:Cotton MS., See also:Titus B, xii. pp .

557-559), and even in its fragmentary See also:

condition it justifies the high estimate formed of it by Edward Waterhouse (Sidney Papers, p . 228) . Sidney watched with See also:interest the development of affairs in the See also:Netherlands, but was fully occupied in defending his father's interests at court . He came also in close contact with many men of letters . In 1578 he met See also:Edmund See also:Spenser, who in the next year dedicated to him his Shepherdes See also:Calendar . With Sir Edward See also:Dyer he was a member of the See also:Areopagus, a society which sought to introduce classical metres into English See also:verse, and many See also:strange experiments were the result . In 1578 the earl of Leicester entertained Elizabeth at See also:Wanstead, Essex, with a masque, The Lady of the May, written for the occasion by Philip Sidney . But though Sidney enjoyed a high measure of the queen's favour, he was not permitted to gratify his See also:desire for active employment . He was already more nor less involved in the disgrace of his uncle Leicester, following on that nobleman's marriage with Lettice, countess of Essex, when, in 1579, he had a See also:quarrel on the See also:tennis-court at See also:Whitehall with the earl of Oxford . Sidney proposed a See also:duel, which was forbidden by Elizabeth . There was more in the quarrel than appeared on the See also:surface . Oxford was one of the chief supporters of the queen's proposed marriage with Alencon, now duc d'See also:Anjou, and Sidney, in giving the See also:lie to Oxford, affronted the See also:leader of the See also:French party .

In See also:

January 158o he went further in his opposition to the match, addressing to Elizabeth a long letter in which the arguments against the See also:alliance were elaborately set forth . This letter (Sidney Papers, pp . 287-292), in spite of some judicious compliments, was regarded, not unnaturally, by the queen as an intrusion . Sidney was compelled to retire from court, and some of his friends feared for his See also:personal safety . A letter from Languet shows that he had written to Elizabeth at the instigation of " those whom he was See also:bound to obey," probably Leicester and Walsingham . Sidney retired to Wilton, or the neighbouring See also:village of Ivychurch, where he joined his sister in writing a See also:paraphrase of the See also:Psalms . Here too he began his See also:Arcadia, for his sister's amusement and See also:pleasure . In October 1580 he addressed a long letter of advice, not without affectionate and colloquial interruptions, to his brother See also:Robert, then about to start on his See also:continental tour . This letter (Sidney Papers, p . 283) was printed in Profitable Instructions for Travellers (1633) . It seems that a promise was exacted from him not to repeat his indiscretions in the See also:matter of the French marriage, and he returned to court . In view of the silence of contemporary authority, it is hardly possible to assign definite See also:dates to the sonnets of Astrophel and Stella .

Penelope Devereux was married against her will to Robert, Lord See also:

Rich, in 1581, probably very soon after the letter from Penelope's See also:guardian, the earl of See also:Huntingdon, desiring the queen's consent . The earlier sonnets are not indicative of overwhelming See also:passion, and it is a reasonable See also:assumption that Sidney's liking for Penelope only See also:developed into passion when he found that she was passing beyond his grasp . Mr A . W . See also:Pollard assigns the magnificent sequence beginning with No . 33 " I- might ! unhappy word—O me, I might, And then would not, or could not, see my blisse,"—to•the See also:period following on Stella's reappearance at court as Lady Rich . It has been argued that the whole See also:tenor of Philip's life and See also:character was opposed to an overmastering passion, and that there is no ground for attaching See also:biographical value to these sonnets, which were merely Petrarchan exercises . That Sidney was, like his contemporaries, a careful and imitative student of French and See also:Italian sonnets is patent . He himself confesses in the first of the See also:series that he " sought See also:fit words to paint the blackest See also:face of woe," by " oft turning others' leaves " before he obeyed the command of his muse to " look in his See also:heart and write." The See also:account of his passion is, however, too circumstantial to be lightly regarded as fiction . Mr Pollard See also:sees in the sonnets a description of a spiritual struggle between his sense of a high political See also:mission and a disturbing passion calculated to lessen his efforts in a larger See also:sphere . It seems certain, at any See also:rate, that he was not solely preoccupied with scruples against his love for Stella because she was already married . He had probably been writing sonnets to Stella for a year or more before her marriage, and he seems to have continued to address her after his own marriage .

See also:

Thomas See also:Nash defined the general See also:argument epigrammatically as " cruel chastity—the See also:prologue See also:Hope, the See also:epilogue Despair." But after Stella's final refusal Sidney recovered his earlier serenity, and the See also:sonnet placed by Mr Pollard at the end of the series—" Leave me, 0 Love, which reachest but to dust "—expresses the See also:triumph of the spirit . Meanwhile he prosecuted his duties as a courtier and as member for See also:Kent in See also:parliament . On the 15th and 16th of May 1581 he was one of the four challengers in a See also:tournament arranged in See also:honour of the visit of the See also:duke of Anjou . In 1579 See also:Stephen See also:Gosson had dedicated to Sidney his School of Abuse, an attack on the See also:stage, and incidentally on See also:poetry . Sidney was probably moved by this treatise to write his own Apologie for Poetrie, dating from about 1581 . In 1583 he was knighted in See also:order that he might See also:act as See also:proxy for See also:Prince John Casimir, who was to be installed as See also:Knight of the Garter, and in the autumn of that year he married Frances, daughter of his friend and patron Sir Francis Walsingham, a girl of fourteen or fifteen years of See also:age . In 1584 he met See also:Giordano See also:Bruno at the house of his friend Fulke Greville, and two of the philosopher's books are dedicated to him . Sidney was employed about this time in the See also:translation from the French of his friend Du Plessis See also:Mornay's treatise on the See also:Christian See also:religion . He still desired active service and took an eager interest in the enterprises of See also:Martin See also:Frobisher, Richard Hakluyt and Walter See also:Raleigh . In 1584 he was sent to Franee to condole with Henry III. on the death of his brother, the duke of Anjou, but the See also:king was at See also:Lyons, and unable to receive the See also:embassy . Sidney's interest in the struggle of the Protestant princes against Spain never relaxed . He recommended that Elizabeth should attack Philip II. in Spain itself .

Phoenix-squares

So keen an interest did he take in this policy that he was at See also:

Plymouth about to See also:sail with Francis See also:Drake's See also:fleet in its expedition against the See also:Spanish See also:coast (1585) when he was recalled by the queen's orders . He was, however, given a command in the Netherlands, where he was made See also:governor of See also:Flushing . Arrived at his See also:post, he constantly urged resolute See also:action on his See also:commander, the earl of Leicester, but with small result . In July 1586 he made a successful See also:raid on Axel, near Flushing, and in September he joined the force of Sir John See also:Norris, who was operating against See also:Zutphen . On the 22nd of the See also:month he joined a small force sent out to intercept a See also:convoy of provisions . During the fight that ensued he was struck in the thigh by a See also:bullet . He succeeded in See also:riding back to the See also:camp . The often-told See also:story that he refused a See also:cup of See also:water in favour of a dying soldier, with the words, " Thy need is greater than mine," is in keeping with his character . He owed his death to a quixotic impulse . Sir William See also:Pelham happening to set out for the fight without See also:greaves, Sidney also See also:cast off his See also:leg-See also:armour, which would have defended him from the fatal See also:wound . He died twenty-five days later at Arnheim, on the 17th of October 1586 . The Dutch desired to have the honour of his funeral, but the See also:body was taken to See also:England, and, after some delay due to the demands of Sidney's creditors, received a public funeral in St See also:Paul's See also:Cathedral on the 16th of February 1587 .

Sidney's death was a personal grief to See also:

people of all classes . Some two See also:hundred elegies were produced in his honour . Of all these tributes the most famous is Astrophel, A See also:Pastoral Elegie, added to Edmund Spenser's See also:Colin Clout's Come Home Again (1595)• Spenser wrote the opening poem; other contributors are Sidney's sister, the countess of Pembroke, Lodowick Bryskett and See also:Matthew Roydon . In the See also:bare enumeration of Sidney's achievements there seems little to justify the passionate admiration he excited . So See also:calm an observer as William of Orange desired Fulke Greville to give Elizabeth " his knowledge and opinion of a See also:fellow-servant of his, that (as he heard) lived unemployed under her . . . . If he could See also:judge, her See also:Majesty had one of the ripest and greatest counsellors of See also:estate in Sir Philip Sidney, that this day lived in See also:Europe " (Fulke Greville, Life of Sidney, ed . 1816, p . 21) . His fame was due first of all to his strong, radiant and lovable character . See also: