t express invitation to do so from
his uncle, the Earl of Leicester. It was, perhaps, only natural that the
elder man should be jealous of the younger, who had, when scarcely
four-and-twenty, already gained a reputation for statesmanship at home and
abroad. Brilliant as Leicester was, he was secretly conscious that there
were heights which he had failed to reach, and that his nephew, Philip
Sidney, had won a place in the favour of his sovereign, which even the
honest protest he had made against this marriage with the Duke of Anjou had
failed to destroy; a high place also in the esteem of the world by the
purity of his life and the nobleness of a nature which commended itself
alike to gentle and simple; while he had the reputation of a true knight
and brave soldier, pure, and without reproach, as well as a scholar versed
in the literature of other countries, and foremost himself amongst the
scholars and poets of the day.

Philip Sidney left the presence-chamber by another door as his uncle and
Lord Burleigh entered it, and went to his own apartments, where he expected
to meet some friends, and discuss with them topics more interesting and
profitable than the intrigues of the Court and the Queen's matrimonial
projects.

Edmund Spenser's dedication to the _Shepherd's Calendar_ is well known, and
there can be no doubt that he owed much to Sidney's discriminating
patronage.

That dedication was no empty compliment to win favour, and the friendship
between Edmund Spenser and Philip Sidney gathered strength with time. They
had often walked together under the trees at Penshurst, and a sort of club
had been established, of which the members were Gabriel Harvey, Edward
Dyer, Fulke Greville and others, intended for the formation of a new school
of poetry. Philip Sidney was the president, and Spenser, the youngest and
most enthusiastic member, while Gabriel Harvey, who was the oldest, was
most strict in enforcing the rules laid down, and ready with counsel and
encouragement.

The result of all the deliberations of this club were very curious, and the
attempt made to force the English tongue into hexameters and iambics
signally failed.

Philip Sidney and Spenser were the first to discover that the hexameter
could never take its place in English verse, and they had to endure some
opposition and even raillery from Gabriel Harvey, who was especially
annoyed at Edmund Spenser's desertion; and had bid him farewell till God or
some