CAMEO XXVI. Leicester in Holland. 1586. However, it was on him that the Queen fixed for the office of Governor- The wishes of Earl Walter of Essex had not been carried out with regard to his daughter Penelope and Sidney, though they seem to have been warmly attached to one another; but Lady Penelope was coerced into marrying Lord Rich, and, some short time after, Sidney wedded Frances, the only surviving child of Sir Francis Walsingham. The strange thing is that he went on all this time addressing sonnets and songs of an ardent description to Lady Rich, till they amounted to 119, and nobody seems to have seen anything amiss in the matter; but he was viewed as the model of all the virtues, and was a pious, devoted man, sharing with his graceful sister, Mary, Countess of Pembroke, in the work of translating the Psalms, and composing a pastoral romance called the Arcadia, full of pure and chivalrous fancies. The whole of this poetical correspondence must have been to him a mere imitation of Dante and Petrarch, but on Penelope it probably had a much worse effect, to judge by her after career. Walsingham had as usual to plead hard with the Queen to obtain forgiveness for marrying his daughter to Sidney; but the pair seem to have been very happy together, and Lady Sidney accompanied her husband to his government at Flushing. While there, he lost both his father and mother, people much respected. The States welcomed Leicester with rapture, struck medals in his honour, and even permitted his coat of arms to appear on their shields, paying him, in fact, all the honours that the Duke of Anjou had received, and which his vanity was not slow to accept, without considering the effect at home, where Elizabeth was extremely angry at his presumption. His ideas of government were very vague, and included coining base money to pass for double its value, opposing the hiring of German mercenaries, and inciting the people against the magistrates, as well as insisting on a severe passport system, which perhaps was needful. Parma had taken the field and was besieging Grave, which Hohenlohe and Sir John Norreys vainly tried to relieve. The Spaniards continued to take the fortresses on the Maes, till at Birk they were checked by an English officer named Morgan. To summon them back, Leicester sent orders that Maurice of Nassau and Sir Philip Sidney should invade Guelderland. They took Axel, but failed before Gravelines. Shortly after, Leicester himself joined them with the choicest of the English volunteers, and the siege of Zutphen began, but the place was not completely invested, and Parma, coming to its relief, was able to throw in provisions. A convoy of these munitions was on the way to the town, and on the 2nd of October, 1586, an English force went to intercept them. It was strongly suspected that a certain English adventurer, named Roland Yorke, was employed by Parma to lead them into the ambuscade prepared by the Spaniards. At five in the morning Sir John Norreys and five hundred men were in the saddle, and were joined by twenty gallant young English volunteers with their esquires, Sir Philip Sidney, his brother Robert, the young Earl of Essex, and Lord Willoughby-the number altogether about fifty. There was a heavy fog, and the carts with the provisions could only be heard through it; but at sunrise the mist drew up, and the small body of English found themselves in the face of 3,000 men, the most formidable of the Spanish cavalry, under the Marquis de Vasto, and pikemen and musqueteers all along the hedges for the protection of the carts. The Englishmen's minds were made up in an instant. Norreys called out to Sir William Stanley, with whom he had lately had a quarrel"There hath been ill blood between us; let us be friends to-day, and die side by side, if need be, in her Majesty's cause.” 66 "If you see me not serve my prince with faithful courage now," replied Stanley, account me for ever a coward. Living or dying, I will stand by you in friendship." Young Essex, who was general of the horse, called out Follow me, good fellows! for the honour of England, and of England's Queen." So saying, he put his lance in rest, and dashed headlong against the enemy, overthrowing the first man and breaking his own lance, but swinging round his battleaxe, carrying all before him like a paladin of old. The little troop absolutely pierced through the Spaniards by their impetus, and forced them back on the musqueteers, then wheeled round for another charge. This time Philip Sidney's horse was shot, but he mounted another in haste. He had no armour but his breastplate, for he had taken off his cuisses out of chivalrous punctilio, on seeing Sir William Pelham, a much older man, without them. Lord North had been in bed with a wounded leg, but had been set on horseback with one boot on and one off, and did his part. Lord Willoughby rolled the Epirot General Crescia into a ditch. "I yield me; thou art a preux chevalier!" said Crescia, And Willoughby rode on, charging wherever he saw five or six of the enemy together. Gonzaga, general of the Spanish horse, was mortally wounded, Vasto was almost made prisoner, and there was desperate fighting round the waggons, which the English strove to capture and turn back, but they were outnumbered, and could not hinder the waggoners from drawing on nearer the town. Sir Philip Sidney, at the third charge rode right through the enemy's troops up to their entrenchments, and there received a musket ball above the knee, on his undefended thigh. He would still have continued the fight, but his horse grew restive, and he could no longer guide him, so he turned and rode. slowly back to the camp, passing on his way the dying soldier to whom he gave the water that had been almost to his own lips, saying—"Thy necessity is greater than mine." САМЕО XXVI. Death of Sidney. 1586. Immediately after, he met Leicester, who cried "Oh, Philip, I am truly grieved to see thee in this plight." The brave Russell, whom the Spaniards called rather a devil than a man, threw his arms round his friend, and wept bitterly. The gallant little English troop was not supported by the reserve, and though these 500 had three times driven back the 4,000 Spaniards, the advance of 2,000 men from the city forced them at last to withdraw and allow the convoy to enter the town. Thirty-two horse and twentytwo foot on the English side had been killed, according to Leicester, and 250 Spaniards; while Parma only owned to nine killed and twentynine wounded, and declared 200 English to be slain. The thigh-bone of Sidney's leg was shattered, but he was expected to recover, and to be lame for life. He was carried by water to Arnheim, where his wife came to him. Count Hohenlohe, though wounded, the next day sent his surgeon to attend on Sidney, and, becoming much worse, followed in a litter to Arnheim. Philip meanwhile had written a poem on his wound called La Cuisse Rompue, but he soon saw that his case was hopeless. The surgical skill of the time was not equal to the case, and fever and much suffering set in. He wrote several letters to his friend, Hubert Languet, and others, spent much time in devotional reading and prayer, wrote more verses on the near prospect of death, and made a most just and affectionate will, which he drew up with his own hand, and signed on the last day of September, a week after receiving his wound. He seems to have been in the act of dictating a codicil, leaving rings to two of his friends, when the mortal agony came on, and he died on the 17th of October, 1586. He was mourned most affectionately. The court and nobles wore mourning. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, and Sir Fulke Greille, his dearest friend, published a life of him. His Arcadia, his Sonnets, and his Defence of Poesy, were given to the world. Spenser celebrated the loves of Astrophel and Stella, as he termed Philip and Penelope, in a poem, concluding with these beautiful lines, put into the mouth of Astrophel's sister, i.e. Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke. After exclaiming She continues "Ah me, can so divine a thing be dead?" "Ah, no, it is not dead, nor can it die; Lady Sidney was left with one little daughter. Another child was hoped for, but seems to have died at its birth, and Sidney's brother Robert became the heir of the Earls of Leicester and Warwick. Sidney left heavy debts, for a man could not shine at Elizabeth's court, nor bear her commission, without paying dearly for the honour; and Walsingham, who had a private conscience, though not a public one, reduced himself to poverty by clearing off the debts. The siege of Zutphen continued. A great fort, which had detained Count Hohenlohe for a year on a previous occasion, was won by Edward Stanley, brother to Sir William. There was a breach, but not a very practicable one, and Edward Stanley led an assault on it. A great strong Spaniard, with a pike, stood ready to thrust him down, but Stanley caught hold of the weapon, and held it with both hands, though thrust at and shot at by the other Spaniards. His dress was yellow, and he could be plainly seen by Leicester and his army while thus struggling. The ground was so shifty and sandy that the soldiers who strove to follow him lost their footing. To the amazement of all, Stanley allowed himself to be lifted from the ground by his adversary, and setting his foot against the wall, scrambled over the breach, and, sword in hand, dashed among the enemy; while his followers, full of the same spirit, climbed on one another's shoulders and hurried after him, gained the fort, and opened its doors to Leicester, who, in a transport, knighted Stanley on the spot, gave him 40/. in gold, and an annuity of 100 marks for life, writing to Elizabeth, "Since I was born, I never saw a man behave himself as Stanley did. I shall never forget it if I live a thousand years." Winter was now setting in, and Leicester departed to the Hague, leaving Zutphen still besieged by Sir William Stanley and Roland Yorke. Leicester was in difficulties. His royal mistress was not well satisfied with him, though he was really doing his work so well and industriously, that it seems as if he might have been a much better man if his lot had cast him in active life, instead of making him a minion and flatterer. As usual, the Queen kept him short of money, and though he received from the merchants of London ten times what she sent him, his army was half starved, and so ragged that the new recruits from England deserted at the sight of them. Out of 1,100 newly arrived men, 500 ran away in two days, and Leicester wrote that he had rather be hanged than have such a charge without being in possession of payment for his men. His safety lay in the fact that Philip was, in the same manner, starving his soldiers. Leicester, always a Puritan, and after the fashion of his time separating piety from morality, was a devout attendant on the Calvinist worship, and a great favourite with the clergy; but the States of Holland and Zealand, with the young Maurice of Nassau at their head, hated him extremely, and there were perpetual disputes and quarrels. All were agreed in thinking these might best be ended by Elizabeth's assuming the sovereignty of the country, but from this she still shrank, unwilling to put her hand so forward that drawing back should be impossible. Leicester then decided on going back to attend parliament, and see the Queen, the States presenting him with a silver-gilt vase of the height of a man. VOL. V. S CAMEO XXVI. Siege of Zutphen. 1586. CAMEO XXVII. Philip's claim to England. Isabel m. Charles V. Philip II. CONSIDERING the genealogy of Henry VII., and the flaw in the birth of Queen Elizabeth herself, it was no wonder that Philip II. declared himself the only legitimate descendant (except of course his Austrian cousins) of John of Gaunt. As soon as Mary of Scotland was dead, Philip had no further scruple in resolving to put forward his claim to the crown he had once worn as Mary Tudor's husband. The house of Austria had at that moment hopes of dominion over all the west of Europe. Not only were the crowns of the Peninsula and all Italy, except Venice, already in Philip's possession; but his daughter was viewed by a large party in France as their resource |