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I know not, in truth, a more decisive proof of the estimable character of the earl, than what this anxiety on the part of so great and good a man as sir Henry to obtain his alliance offers to our view. Yet the letter in which this anxiety is expressed cannot but afford pain to the reader, when he finds in it a confession of the utter inability of the parent to give an adequate portion to his daughter. It is addressed to the earl of Leicester, and, when the abilities and integrity of the writer are duly weighed, must be considered as reflecting no little discredit on the government which could leave such a servant to endure the stings of poverty and neglect. After expatiating on the honour which the projected alliance would confer on his house, sir Henry thus proceeds: "I have," he says, "so joyfully at heart this happy advancement of my child, that I would lie a year in close prison rather than it should break. But, alas! my dearest lord, mine ability answereth not my hearty desire. I am poor; mine estate, as well in livelod and moveable, is not unknown to your lordship, which wanteth much to make me able to equal that which I know my lord of Pembroke may have. Two thousand pounds, I confess, I have bequeathed her, which your lordship knoweth

I might better spare her when I were dead than one thousand living; and, in troth, my lord, I have it not; but borrow it I must, and so I will: and if your lordship will get me leave, that I may feed my eyes with that joyful sight of their coupling, I will give her a cup worth five hundreth pounds. Good, my lord, bear with my poverty; for, if I had it, little would I regard any sum of money, but willingly would give it, protesting before the Almighty God, that if he and all the powers on earth would give me my choice for a husband for her, I would choose the earl of Pembroke *.

"

It throws a powerfully alleviating light over the dark picture of Leicester's life, that he nobly and munificently came forward on this occasion, and a sufficient dower was no longer wanting to complete the gratification of sir Henry, and the happiness of his highly-deserving daughter.

It was about four years subsequent to this event that the countess of Pembroke, as I have mentioned in the preceding paper, had the pleasure of her brother's company during the summer months at Wilton, the beautiful seat of her lord; and here it

* Zouch's Memoirs of the Life of Sidney, p. 105.

was that, with the view of dissipating his chagrin, she engaged him in the composition of the ARCADIA. The tradition of the place records, that the greater part of this romance was written in the adjacent woods; and if So, the countess must, from the tenor of her brother's dedication to her, have been the constant companion of his walks. If any thing, indeed, were required to prove the love and reverence which this noble youth cherished for his sister, this Epistle Dedicatory, prefixed to the work in its manuscript state, and which I shall now copy for the satisfaction of my readers, would amply do it. It bears a striking testimony also to the modest estimation in which he held his own talents, not unfrequently one of the surest indications of true genius.

"To my dear Lady and Sister, the Countess of Pembroke.

"HERE now have you (most dear, and most worthy to be most dear lady) this idle work of mine, which, I fear, like the spider's web, will be thought fitter to be swept away than worn to any other purpose. For my part, in very truth, (as the cruel fathers among the Greeks were wont to do to

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the babes they would not foster) I could well find heart to cast out in some desert of forgetfulness this child which I am loth to father. But you desired me to do it, and your desire to my heart is an absolute commandment. Now, it is done only for you, only to you: if you keep it to yourself, or to such friends who will weigh errors in the balance of good will, I hope, for the father's sake, it will be pardoned, perchance made much of, though in itself it have deformities. For, indeed, for severer eyes it is not, being but a trifle, and that triflingly handled. Your dear self can best witness the manner, being done in loose sheets of paper, most of it your presence, the rest, by sheets, sent unto you as fast as they were done. In summe, a young head, not so well stayed as I would it were (and shall be, when God will), having many, many fancies begotten in it, if it had not been in some way delivered, would have grown a monster, and more sorry might I be that they came in than that they got out. But his chief safety shall be the not walking abroad, and his chief protection the bearing the livery of your name, which, if much good-will do not deceive me, is worthy to be a sanctuary for a greater offender. This say I, because I know the virtue so;

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be ever so, or, to say

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and this say I, because it may better, because it will be ever so. your idle times, and the follies your good judgment will find in it blame not, but laugh at. And so, looking for no better stuff than, as in a haberdasher's shop, glasses or feathers, you will continue to love the writer, who doth exceedingly love you, and most heartily prays you may long live to be a principal ornament to the family of the Sidneis. "Your loving brother,

"PHILIP SIDNEY *."

The premature and sudden death of sir Philip prevented not only the completion of the Arcadia, but his giving that revision, polish, and arrangement to the parts of it already written, which he had fully intended. So sensible was he, indeed, of its defects, that he is said on his death-bed to have requested, after the example of Virgil with regard

*From "The Countesse of Pembroke's Arcadia. Written by Sir Philip Sidney, Knight. Now the seventh time published, with some new Additions. With the supplement of a Defect in the third part of this History, by Sir W. A. Knight. Whereunto is now added a sixth Booke, by R. B. of Lincolne's Inne, Esq. London: Printed by H. and R. Y. and are sold by R. Moore, in S. Dunstan's Church-yard, 1629."

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