SIDNEY (Sir Philip), the eldest son of Sir Henry Sidney, and Mary the daughter of John Dudley duke of Northumberland, was born in the year 1554 at Penhurst in Kent. From a grammar-school at Shrewsbury he was sent to Christ-church, Cambridge, where he continued till the age of 18, and then set out upon his travels. Immediately on his arrival in France, Charles IX. made him one of his gentlemen of the bed-chamber; but he had hardly entered upon his office, before the horrid massacre of the Protestants began. He saved his life by taking refuge in the house of Sir Francis Walsingham the English ambassador. Not choosing to continue longer at the court of an infernal assassin, he travelled to Francefort, where he became acquainted with the learned Hubert Languet, whose future epistles to Sir Philip Sidney have been so much admired. In 1573, he set out for Vienna, whence he proceeded to Hungary, and thence to Italy, where he continued till the latter end of summer 1574. Returning thro' Germany and Flanders, he arrived in England in May 1575.
Our young traveller was at this time only in the 21st year of his age; nevertheless, the queen was so charmed with his abilities and address, that in 1576 she sent him ambassador to congratulate the emperor Rodolph II. on his accession, charging him at the same time with several important negotiations with other German princes.
In 1579, he wrote a private letter to the queen, dissuading her from the marriage then in agitation with the duke of Anjou; which letter seems to have been taken by her majesty in good part. In the following year Mr Sidney had a quarrel with the earl of Oxford in a tennis-court; which probably would have ended in a duel, had not the queen interfered. However, Sidney was disgusted, retired from court, and amused himself with writing his Arcadia. Whilst he was thus employed, the Spaniards having taken possession of the kingdom of Portugal on the death of the late king Don Antonio, the competitor for that crown earnestly solicited Mr Sidney's aid.
In 1581, we find our young hero again at court, principally engaged in jousts and tournaments, which were celebrated for the entertainment of the duke of Anjou, then in England; whom he accompanied, with several of the first nobility, to Antwerp. In 1583, the prince Palatine being installed knight of the garter, Mr Sidney was appointed to possess the stall in his name, and received the honour of knighthood on that occasion. In 1585, he projected an expedition to America, in conjunction with Sir Francis Drake; but when he was at Plymouth ready to sail, he received an express from the queen, brought by a peer of the realm, commanding him to return to court.
Soon after this disappointment, he was made governor of Flushing, and general of horse under his uncle the earl of Leicester, who at that time commanded the queen's troops in the Low Countries. In this service, his courage, prudence, and sagacity, were so eminently conspicuous, that his fame became universal; so universal, that the republic of Poland would probably have elected him their king, had not queen Elizabeth refused her assistance. On the 22d of September 1586, in a luckless hour, the gallant Sidney was sent out with a party to intercept a convoy marching towards Zutphen. The morning being hazy, they fell into an ambuscade of the enemy, and Sir Philip having just mounted his second horse, received a shot in the thigh, which broke the bone to pieces. He was carried to Arnhem, and on the 17th of October expired. Thus fell the amiable, the virtuous, the accomplished, the brave, Sir Philip Sidney, in the 32d year of his age; a polite scholar, the patron of learning and genius, and the object of universal panegyric. His body was brought to England, and buried with great pomp, at the queen's expence, in St Paul's cathedral. The funeral procession was so uncommonly magnificent, as to be deemed a subject worthy the pencil of Lant, an eminent designer. It was afterwards engraved on 34 plates by Theodore de Brie, a native of Liege.