"to accompany your nephew Mr. Philip Sidney to "Heidelburg, died by the way at a place called Bladin in "Lorrain, who by divers conjectures I took to be the Dean " of Winchester, who, as I advertised your Lordship by “ Mr. Argall, I employed to encounter the evil practices of 66 your said nephew's servants. If therefore your Lordship, " he being now void, shall not speedily take order in that "behalf (if already it be not done) the young gentleman your nephew shall be in danger of a very lewd practice, "which were great pitie in respect of the rare gifts that "are in him. Touching news I refer your honor to these "inclosed occurrents, and the report of this bearer, to "whom I have given order to communicate certain things "unto you. And so leaving further to trouble your honor "at this present, I most humbly take my leave. At Paris "the 17th of October. "FR. WALSINGHAM." THE places which he visited in Germany, Hungary,. Italy, and Belgium, have been enumerated by different writers. Having left Paris, he pursued his journey through: Lorrain, by Strasburgh and Heidelburg to Frankfort. At the latter place he lodged at the house of a celebrated printer,, Andrew Wechel (4). Here he had the singular happiness of being first honoured with the friendship of one of the brightest ornaments of literature, HUBERT LANGUET, who was then a resident from the Elector of Saxony. To him he was principally indebted for his extensive knowledge of the customs and usages of nations, their interests, their governments, their laws (5). This excellent person was (4) The flourishing state of reviving literature is in a great measure to be attributed to the laudable industry of those ingenious printers, who lived in the sixteenth century.-Among these are to be classed Christian and Andrew Wechel, the father and the son, both natives of Paris. The Hebrew and Greek books, printed by the former, were admired for their correctness, the Bumber of the errata of the press in a folio book not exceeding two. Andrew Wechel, the son, was at Paris in 1572, on that day of blood, which will for ever disgrace the French calendar; and owed his safety to Hubert Languet, who lodged in his house. He afterward removed to Frankfort, where by his integrity, his learning, and professional skill, he acquired great reputation. It was usual for scholars to lodge in the houses of eminent printers. Robert Stephens had frequently ten learned men in his house, all of them foreigners, whose occasional employment it was to correct his impressions. Hubert Languet, while he resided at Antwerp, was the guest of Christopher Plantinus. (5) They might probably have not been unknown to each other at Paris, in 1572. Languet was there at the time of the massacre, as he intimates in a letter to Sidney, Jan. 1, 1574, in which he promises to send him an oration, which he spoke before the French King three years before, in the name of some German princes-" in quá sunt quædam ita liberè dicta, ut in tumultu "Parisiensi was born in 1518, at Viteaux in France. Having com pleted his studies in his native country, he went to Italy in 1547, and was elected professor of civil law in the uni versity of Padua. His intimacy with Philip Melancthon, the friend and companion of Martin Luther, arose from the perusal of a book written by that amiable man, whom he visited in 1549, at Wirtemberg, in Saxony, where he then publicly renounced the errors of Popery. Languet could not leave Melancthon, and Melancthon was no less charmed with Languet, whose conversation was equally instructive and delightful. He was universally admired and esteemed for his vast erudition, his capacious memory, his sagacity in discovering the real characters of men, his eloquence, the classic elegance of his language, his pru-dence, his temperance, the suavity of his manners, and his extraordinary modesty (6). No one knew more intimately the political history of his own times, the tempers, the views "Parisiensi valde metuerem, ne ea res esset mihi exitio,"-" in which are some things uttered with such freedom, that I was much afraid, lest, in the "Parisian tumult, that circumstance might have occasioned my dé-"struction." (6) "Ubi cum Langueto colloquutus fueris, delectaberis non solum ser-"monibus ejus, qui sunt pleni prudentiæ, sed etiam modestià, quæ in hoc “viro, quanquam penè totam Europam vidit, et multos cognovit, singularis › "est." P. Melancthonis Epistole.. views and pursuits of all the kings and princes of Europe. He possessed the confidence of Gustavus, King of Sweden; of Augustus, Elector of Saxony; and, above them all, of William, Prince of Orange, These exalted personages successively employed him in several important negotiations. To Thuanus, the historian, he endeared himself by his candour, his probity, his nice and exact judgment in public and private affairs. This incomparable writer, having at one time found him disengaged, spent three days with him, and was so rivetted to him, by the allurements of his conversation, that he could scarcely tear himself away from his presence. SUCH was the companion, such was the friend, of Mr. Sidney. Those traces of native goodness, which he perceived in the countenance and discourse of this young man, fixed so strong and favourable an impression in his mind, that he immediately determined to solicit his friendship. On his good fortune in possessing a treasure, which he deemed inestimable, he frequently felicitated himself. "That day," he said, on which I first beheld "him with my eyes, shone propitious to me." His attachment to him suffered no abatement; his affection for him was far from being common; he deeply interested himself 66 in all his concerns; he had no other object in view than to accelerate his advancement in learning, in virtue, in religion to render him useful to the public, and an ornament to his country. And nothing could be more honourable to a youth of the age of nineteen years, than the choice of such a companion and guide.. MR. SIDNEY has in grateful strains described the character of his beloved friend: The song I sang old LANGUET had me taught, For clarkly read, and hating what is naught, He said the musick best thilk powers pleased And lowest sink not down to jot of ill With old true tales he wont my ears to fill, How shepherds did of yore, how now they thrive He liked me, but pitied lustful youth: Arcadia. B. in IF (7) A word used by Shakespeare-" an exact concord."." H: 1 |