SIR PHILIP, was born, as is supposed, at Penhurst in Kent in the year 1554: His father was Sir Henry Sidney, an Irish gentleman, and his mother Mary the eldest daughter of John Dudley duke of Northumberland. He was sent when very young to Christchurch college at Oxford, but left the university at 17 to fit out on his travels. After visiting France, Germany, Hungary, and Italy, he returned to England in 1575, and was next year sent by Queen Elizabeth as her ambassador to Rodolph emperor of Germany. On his return he visited Don John of Austria, governor of the Netherlands, by whom he was received with great respect. In 1579, when Queen Elizabeth seemed on the point of concluding her long projected marriage with the duke of Anjou, Sir Philip wrote her a letter, in which he dissuaded her from the match with unusual elegance of expression, as well as force of reasoning. About this time a quarrel with the earl of Oxford occasioned his withdrawing from court; during which retirement he is supposed to have written his celebrated romance called Arcadia.

In 1585, after the queen's treaty with the United States, he was made governor of Flushing and master of the horse. Here he distinguished himself so much both by his courage and conduct, that his reputation rose to the highest pitch. He was named, it is pretended, by the republic of Poland as one of the competitors for that crown, and might even have been elected had it not been for the interference of the queen. But his illustrious career was soon terminated; for in 1586 he was wounded at the battle of Zutphen, and carried to Arnhem, where he soon after died. His body was brought to London, and buried in St Paul's cathedral. He is described by the writers of that age as the most perfect model of an accomplished gentleman that could be formed even by the wanton imagination of poetry or fiction. Virtuous conduct, polite conversation, heroic valour, and elegant erudition, all concurred to render him the ornament and delight of the English court: and as the credit which he enjoyed with the queen and the earl of Leicester was wholly employed in the encouragement of genius and literature, his praises have been transmitted with advantage to posterity. No person was so low as not to become an object of his humanity. After the battle of Zutphen, while he was lying on the field mangled with wounds, a bottle of water was brought him to relieve his thirst; but observing a soldier near him in a like miserable condition, he said, This man's necessity is still greater than mine; and resigned to him the bottle of water. Besides his Arcadia, he wrote several smaller pieces both in prose and verse, which have been published.

ALGERNON, was the second son of Robert earl of Leicester, and of Dorothy eldest daughter of the earl of Northumberland. He was born about the year 1617. During the civil wars he took part against the king, and distinguished himself as a colonel in the army of the parliament. He was afterwards appointed one of King Charles's judges, but declined appearing in that court. During the usurpation of Cromwell, Sidney, who was a violent republican, retired to the country, and spent his time in writing those discourses on government which have been so deservedly celebrated. After the death of the Protector, he again took part in the public transactions of his country, and was abroad on an embassy to Denmark when King Charles was restored. Upon this he retired to Hamburgh, and afterwards to Frankfort, where he resided till 1677, when he returned to England and obtained from the king a pardon. It has been affirmed, but the story deserves no credit, that during his residence abroad King Charles hired ruffians to assassinate him. After his return he made repeated attempts to procure a seat in parliament, but all of them proved unsuccessful. After the intention of the commons to exclude the duke of York from the throne had been defeated by the sudden dissolution of parliament, Sidney joined with eagerness the councils of Ruffell, Effex, and Monmouth, who had resolved to oppose the duke's succession by force of arms. Frequent meetings were held at London; while, at the same time, a set of subordinate conspirators, who were not, however, admitted into their confidence, met and embraced the most desperate resolutions. Keiling, one of these men, discovered the whole conspiracy; and Algernon Sidney, together with his noble associates, was immediately thrown into prison, and no art was left unattempted in order to involve them in the guilt of the meaner conspirators.

Howard, an abandoned nobleman, without a single spark of virtue or honour, was the only witness against Sidney; but as the law required two, his discourses on government, found unpublished in his closet, were construed into treason, and declared equivalent to another witness. It was in vain for Sidney to plead that papers were no legal evidence; that it could not be proved they were written by him; and that if they were, they contained nothing treasonable. The defence was overruled; he was declared guilty, condemned, and executed! His attainder was reversed in the first year of King William.