SIR HENRY SIDNEY. FEW English families have adorned the annals of their country with so many illustrious characters as the house of Sidney. In what may be called the Age of English Chivalry, the reign of our Maiden Queen, this name stood first upon the list; and Charles IX. of France thought the splendour of his court much enhanced when he adopted a foreign knight, Sir Philip Sidney, as one of the Gentlemen of his Chamber. But the Sidneys have a still dearer place in the hearts and affections of their countrymen than that to which their valour and chivalry might entitle them:-there is no family whatever to which there is so much of romantic interest attached, nor any name with which we so fondly associate all that the mind can frame to itself of what is noble and beautiful, accomplished and refined. It would, perhaps, be a title beneath his deserts, to call Sir Philip Sidney the Bayard of England; for he was a statesman, a scholar, a poet, and a patron of poets, as well as a "knight without fear and without reproach." Who that has ever conversed with the eloquent Muse of Waller, can forget with what fervent adoration the beauty and virtues of his mistress, Sacharissa, the Lady Dorothea Sidney, are celebrated? And who that feels the pure glow of patriotism within his breast, of whatever political creed he may be, but laments the untimely and cruel death of the high-spirited Algernon Sidney? · The ancestor of this romantic family, Sir Henry Sidney, if not himself the greatest of his name, may, from the tone of his domestic letters, be justly considered as the parent of those virtues and noble qualities which adorned his children for many generations, as well as the author of their personal existence. Yet although he was perhaps inferior to his eldest son, in the more shining accomplishments which embellished a court and were thought worthy of a crown*, he most probably surpassed him in the solid advantage of a sound practical understanding. In the year 1549, when but twenty-two years of age, he was appointed by Edward VI. his ambassador at Paris; and we find that on his return the king was so well satisfied with the manner in which he had discharged his important trust, that he bestowed upon him the honour of knighthood, constituting him at the same time his Chief Cup-bearer. But the most splendid scene of his exertions was the Sister Island, where he enjoyed four times the post of Lord Justice, and thrice that of Lord Deputy or * Upon the death of Stephen Botari, Sir Philip Sidney was one of those nominated to fill the vacant throne of Poland; but Queen Elizabeth was unwilling to lose the brightest gem of her court, and forbade his acceptance of the offer. |