d crippling
the overshadowing power of Spain. Still did he implore help for the
oppressed. Long did he carry in his heart a picture of the queen--whom
he adored in spite of her unworthiness--as the zealous and devoted
champion of a great cause. But Elizabeth was no zealot, nor could she be
made one. When Sidney at length realized that the queen could not be
induced to move in the cause of the Netherlands, he made up his mind to
go as a volunteer to the assistance of William, Prince of Orange, ruler
of that country.

The idea had to be abandoned, however, for a while; for Sir Henry
Sidney--still too honest to please the queen--was again having stormy
times with her Majesty, and appealed to his son to assist him in
bringing her to a right view of his Irish policy. Sidney espoused his
father's cause with his characteristic boldness. Shortly after his
arrival at court he was met face to face by the Earl of Ormond,--a
bitter enemy to his father, and the man who had traduced Sir Henry to
the queen. Ormond approached Sidney with a suave and condescending
greeting, but the young courtier only stared at him coldly for a
minute, then turned his back squarely on him. As Ormond was one of the
peers of the realm, and Philip Sidney but a plain commoner, this was a
most daring act. But this was not the limit of his daring. Incensed at
the injustice done his father, Sidney indited a most memorable letter to
the queen, which was at once a masterly defence of Sir Henry and a
trenchant attack on the queen's favorite, Ormond. Strange to say, Queen
Elizabeth seemed to be influenced by Sidney's plain and fearless
statements, for she sometime thereafter treated his father with more
consideration.

But a greater trouble than that in connection with his father's business
now stirred the passionate Sidney to the depths. The Duke d'Alencon, who
had become the Duke of Anjou, renewed his proposition of marriage to the
English queen. Sidney despised the private character of the duke, and he
had, besides, come to object to the proposed alliance for deep and
patriotic reasons; so he opposed the projected union with all the
fearless strength that was his.

As by far the greater number of Elizabeth's advisers approved of the
match, and the queen herself inclined to it, Sidney's position soon
made him unpopular with both queen and court. Another thing happened
about this time that rendered his relations at court exceedingly
strained. The Earl of Leic