PREFACE
For the incidents in the life of Sir Philip Sidney, who is the central figure in this story of 'the spacious times of great Elizabeth,' I am indebted to Mr H. R. Fox Bourne's interesting and exhaustive Memoir of this noble knight and Christian gentleman.
In his short life of thirty-one years are crowded achievements as scholar, poet, statesman and soldier, which find perhaps few, if indeed any equal, in the records of history; a few only of these chosen from among many appear in the following pages. The characters of Mary Gifford and her sister, and the two brothers, Humphrey and George Ratcliffe, are wholly imaginary.
The books which have been consulted for the poetry of Sir Philip Sidney and the times in which he lived are—Vol. I. of An English Garner; M. Jusserand's Roman du Temps de Shakespere, and a very interesting essay on Sir Philip Sidney and his works, published in Cambridge in 1858.
Woodside, Leigh Woods,
Clifton, October 5, 1893.
CONTENTS | ||
| BOOK I. | ||
| PAGE | ||
| I. | [THE SISTERS,] | 1 |
| II. | [IN THE PARK,] | 17 |
| III. | [A STRANGE MEETING,] | 35 |
| IV. | [THE HAWK AND THE BIRD,] | 60 |
| V. | [RESISTANCE,] | 82 |
| VI. | [THREE FRIENDS,] | 101 |
| VII. | [WHITSUNTIDE, 1581,] | 121 |
| VIII. | [DEFEAT,] | 146 |
| IX. | [ACROSS THE FORD,] | 171 |
| BOOK II. | ||
| X. | [AT WILTON,] | 207 |
| XI. | [LUMEN FAMILIÆ SUÆ,] | 223 |
| XII. | [FIRE AND SWORD,] | 243 |
| XIII. | [RESTORED,] | 258 |
| XIV. | [WHAT RIGHT?] | 276 |
| XV. | [THE PASSING OF PHILIP,] | 296 |
| XVI. | [FOUR YEARS LATER—1590,] | 311 |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS | ||
| [THE ENTRANCE TOWER, PENSHURST CASTLE,] | Frontispiece | |
| [PENSHURST CHURCH AND CASTLE,] | PAGE 4 | |
| [THE LYCH GATE, PENSHURST,] | 64 | |
| [PENSHURST CASTLE, FROM THE PARK,] | 70 | |
| [OLD HOUSES BY THE LYCH GATE, PENSHURST,] | 130 | |
| [THE TILT YARD, WHITEHALL,] | 148 | |
| [THE GREAT HALL, PENSHURST CASTLE,] | 224 | |
| [THE BARON'S COURT, PENSHURST CASTLE,] | 288 | |
BOOK I.
|
'What man is he that boasts of fleshly might, And vaine assurance of mortality; Which, all so soone as it doth come to fight Against spirituall foes, yields by and by: Or from the field most cowardly doth fly? No, let the man ascribe it to his skill, That thorough grace hath gained victory. If any strength we have, it is to ill; But all the good is God's, both power and will.' The Faery Queene, Book I. Canto 10. |