nces which
rendered him so early conspicuous, would also expose him to the shafts
of malice and envy; and that if his spirit had not been in reality
noble, and his conduct irreproachable, it would have exceeded all the
power of Leicester to shield the reputation of his nephew against
attacks similar to those from which he had found it impracticable to
defend his own.

Philip Sidney was educated, by the cares of a wise and excellent father,
in the purest and most elevated moral principles and in the best
learning of the age. A letter of advice addressed to him by this
exemplary parent at the age of twelve, fully exemplifies both the
laudable solicitude of sir Henry respecting his future character, and
the soundness of his views and maxims: in the character of his son, as
advancing to manhood, he saw his hopes exceeded and his prayers
fulfilled. Nothing could be more correct than his conduct, more laudable
than his pursuits, while on his travels; young as he was, he merited the
friendship of Hubert Languet. He also gained just and high reputation
for the manner in which he acquitted himself of an embassy to the
protestant princes of Germany, though somewhat of the ostentation and
family pride of a Dudley was apparent in the port which he thought it
necessary to assume on the occasion. After his return, he commenced the
life of a courtier; and that indiscriminate thirst for glory which was
in some measure the foible of his character, led him into an
ostentatious profusion, which, by involving his affairs, rendered it
necessary for him to solicit the pecuniary favors of her majesty, and to
earn them by some acts of adulation unworthy of his spirit: for all
these, however, he made large amends by his noble letter against the
French marriage. He afterwards took up, with a zeal and ability highly
honorable to his heart and his head, the defence of his father, accused,
but finally acquitted, of some stretches of power as lord-deputy of
Ireland. This business involved him in disputes with the earl of Ormond,
his father's enemy, who seems to have generously overlooked provocations
which might have led to more serious consequences, in consideration of
the filial feelings of his youthful adversary.

These indications of a bold and forward spirit appear however to have
somewhat injured him in the mind of her majesty; his advancement by no
means kept pace either with his wishes or his wants; and a subsequent
quarrel with the earl o