MARY,

COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE,

THE celebrated sister of sir Philip Sidney*,

wrote

"Poems and Translations in Verse of several Psalms,"

said to be preserved in the library at Wilton3.

"A Discourse of Life and Death. Written in French by Phil. Mornay. Done in English by the Countesse of Pembroke.”

Dated the 13th of May 1590, at Wilton*. Printed at London, for W. Ponsonby, 1600.

12mo.

"The Tragedie of Antonie; done into English by the Countesse of Pembroke 5."

[To whom he dedicated that popular romance entitled, "The Countesse of Pembroke's Arcadia, first printed in 1590."] Ballard, p. 260.

4

[Gabriel Harvey stiles this "Divine Discourse of Life and Death, a restorative electuary of gems; the author of whom," he adds, "I do not expressly name, not because I do not honour her with my heart, but because I would not dishonour her with my pen, whom I admire, and cannot blason enough." Letter of notable Contents, &c. 1593.]

' [Dated at Ramsbury, 26 Nov. 1590. Printed by P. S. for W. Ponsonby, 1595, 16mo.]

[This distinguished lady was born about the middle of the sixteenth century, and was daughter of sir Henry Sidney, by Mary eldest daughter of John, duke of Northumberland. She had an

⚫ The illustrious parents of lady Pembroke cannot be silently passed by without injustice to departed worth and talent. "It is to the glory of queen Elizabeth's reign," says Collins, "that she had the wisdom to distinguish and employ persons of eminent abilities, integrity, and honour; and there cannot be a greater instance of it than in her choice of sir Henry Sidney, whose letters shew how true a judgment he made of men, and of all affairs under his cognizance, as well as his piety, prudent conduct, and all moral virtues, and will be a lasting monument of his great worth and a laudable example to posterity. He held both the chief offices of Ireland and Wales together, which was as much honour as a subject could well have, those offices being never before or since held by any at the same time. This caused him some undeserved envy; for in truth, as Molineux observes, in these services he spent his youth and his whole life; sold his lands and consumed much of his patrimony, without any great recompense or reward. He died on May 5, 1586, aged fifty-six.

"The lady Mary Dudley, his wife, as she was by descent of great nobility, so was she by nature of a noble and congenial spirit. She survived him but a very short time, being interred on the 11th of August following in the same grave, in the chancel of Penshurst."

Their united affection and solicitude for their son and heir, sir Philip Sidney, that lumen familiæ suæ, when a child of twelve years old, is pleasingly evinced by an admonitory letter ad

a Memoirs of the Sidneys, p. 89.

excellent natural genius, says Ballard 3, and having the advantage of a polite education, when (according to the custom of that age) literature was reckoned a

dressed to him while at school, with Mr. Astone of Shrewsbury. Sir Henry's portion of that epistle is printed with the Sidneian papers published by Collins, from an original manuscript, and in lord Somers' collections; but an unique printed copy of the same letter is in the hands of the present editor, which contains a Postscript so replete with maternal tenderness and conjugal regard, that the prseervation of it ought no longer to depend on the casual existence of one solitary copy. "A Postscript by my Lady Sidney, in the skirts of my L. Presidents Letter', to her sayd Sonne Phillip.

"Your noble and carefull father hath taken paynes (with his owne hand) to give you in this his letter, so wise, so learned, and most requisite precepts, for you to follow with a diligent and humble thankefull minde, as I will not withdrawe your eies from beholding and reverent honoring the same; no, not so long time as to read any letter from me: and, therefore, at this time I will write unto you no other letter then this; wherby I first blesse you, with my desire to God to plant in you his grace; and, secondarily, warne you to have alwaies before the eyes of your mind, these excellent counsailes of my lord, your deere father, and that you fail not continually once in foure or five daies to reade them over.

"And for a finall leave-taking for this time, see that you shewe your selfe as a loving obedient scholar to your good maister, to governe you yet many yeeres; and that my lord and I may heare that you profite so in your learning, as thereby you may encrease our loving care of you, and deserve at his handes the continuance of his great joy, to have him often

• In return for two received from his son in Latin and French, Printed at London by T. Dawson, 1591, with an epitaph on sir Henry Sidney, signed Wm. Gruffith, extending to several pages.