They Were The French Scholars That Inured The Youth And Gentry Of
The Kingdom, And It Was A Militia, Where They Were Daily In
Acquaintance With The Discipline Of The Spaniards, Who Were Then
Turned The Queen's Inveterate Enemies.
And thus have I taken in observation her DIES HALCYONII - I.E., these
years of hers which were more
Serene and quiet than those that
followed, which, though they were not less propitious, as being
touched more with the points of honour and victory, yet were they
troubled and loaded ever, both with domestic and foreign
machinations; and, as it is already quoted, they were such as
awakened her spirits and made her cast about her to defend rather by
offending, and by way of provision to prevent all invasions, than to
expect them, which was a piece of the cunning of the times; and with
this I have noted the causes and PRINCIPIUM {57} of the wars
following, and likewise points to the seed-plots from whence she
took up these brave men and plants of honour who acted on the
theatre of Mars, and on whom she dispersed the rays of her grace;
who were persons, in their kinds of care, virtuous, and such as
might, out of their merit, pretend interest to her favours, of which
rank the number will equal, if not exceed, that of her gown-men, in
recount of whom I will proceed with Sir Philip Sidney.
SIR PHILIP SIDNEY.
He was the son of Sir Henry Sidney, Lord Deputy of Ireland, and
President of Wales, a person of great parts, and of no mean grace
with the Queen; his mother was sister to my Lord of Leicester, from
whence we may conjecture how the father stood up in the sphere of
honour and employments, so that his descent was apparently noble on
both sides; and for his education, it was such as travel and the
University could afford none better, and his tutors infuse; for,
after an incredible proficiency in all the spheres of learning, he
left the academical for that of the Court, whither he came by his
uncle's invitation, famed after by noble reports of his
accomplishments, which, together with the state of his person,
framed by a natural propensity to arms, soon attracted the good
opinions of all men, and was so highly praised in the esteem of the
Queen, that she thought the Court deficient without him; and
whereas, through the fame of his desert, he was in election for the
kingdom of Pole, {58} she refused to further his preferment, it was
not out of emulation of advancement, but out of fear to lose the
jewel of her time.
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