Part 39

But he was not an ornament merely. He was soon elected to Parliament, and through his fearless and untiring zeal did much toward making England great.

Sidney was now becoming more and more prominent as a literary man, and was closely associated with Raleigh, Lyly, Hooker, Christopher Marlowe, Sir Francis Bacon, and Edmund Spenser. He was also one of the first to patronize a rising young actor and playwright by the name of Will Shakespeare.

In 1583 Philip Sidney was knighted, and became "Sir Philip Sidney, knight, of Penshurst." This was, however, but a poor acknowledgment of his virtues, his high attainments, and his services to the State. He was appointed by the queen to several minor offices, but he was never given what he merited at her hands--so much for being better and greater than those who have the power to reward.

For some years Sidney's friends had been pressing him to marry, for they felt that it would be an irrevocable loss to England for such a man to die without sons to perpetuate his talents and sterling qualities. But Sidney for a long time turned a deaf ear to their persuasions. He had loved one woman passionately, and she had become the wife of another man. Since that time he had paid devoted attention to none, though he always held the gentler sex in deepest respect.

Considering his natural attractions, and the exalted place he had won for himself among both the writers and the statesmen of the day, it is not to be wondered at that he was much sought after. One chronicle tells us that "many noble ladies ventured as far as modesty would permit to signify their affections for him."

Sidney himself thought it his duty to marry, and in the fall of 1583 took to wife the daughter of his old friend, Sir Francis Walsingham. The queen objected bitterly, being selfish enough to want her courtier's whole attention; but she finally relented. She afterwards stood godmother to Sidney's only child--a daughter--who was named for herself.

Sidney's married life was a very happy one. Frances Walsingham made him a good wife, and he was very tenderly attached to her.

Always jealous for his native country, Sidney now became much aroused by the continued success of Spain in the New World. The then recent discoveries in America, and the consequent advancement of the power of Philip II., were a menace to the political prestige of England. Sidney had been quick to perceive this, and had been stirred to a keen interest in English colonization in the New World. He rightly believed that the surest means of retarding the growth of the power of Spain was to plant in the New World colonies of English-speaking people. Disappointed in his desire to join in the warfare in the Netherlands against King Philip, he conceived a great scheme for crippling that monarch's power in America and on the high seas, and he threw himself into the project with his whole heart.

It is interesting to know that in his colonization schemes Sidney was intimately associated with such men as Martin Frobisher, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Sir Francis Drake.

His connection with Sir Francis Drake came near involving him in serious trouble, but ultimately ended by procuring him the commission he had so long desired. Tired of a life of inactivity, anxious to foil the Spanish in the New World, and sick to death of the busy idleness of the court, Sidney at length determined to go with Drake to a new world and a new career. Accordingly, he made ready, and actually went as far as Plymouth, where he was to take ship, when he was overtaken by a messenger bearing "grace in one hand and thunder in the other," and the queen's command that he return to court.

The grace was that he was to have his long-desired commission in the Netherlands, if he would but return. Her Majesty had evidently learned that she would have to compromise with her spirited subject.

Sidney did return, and received the commission promised. The queen signed a patent making him governor of Flushing and Rammekins in the Netherlands. Leicester she made commander-in-chief of the forces she had at last agreed to send to the aid of the oppressed Dutch.

Sidney was not one-and-thirty years of age when he received his appointment. He went into the project with all the fire of his youth and chivalry. At last he was free from court fetters; at last he could play a man's part in life. All the dreams of his boyhood now waked again. No mimic warfare of joust and tournament for him now! With naked sword he was to face the enemies of a weak and oppressed people.

When Sidney landed at Flushing, he had yet to learn that war demands more courage than is needed in merely facing the foe--the courage to endure delays, hardships, injustice, and all the cruel accompaniments of a campaign. He learned his lesson well and shortly, for when he was weighed in the balance, he was not found wanting in a single quality that belongs to the hero.

Flushing, which had been assigned to English control, was at the mouth of the Scheldt River, and on the opposite bank stood the Castle of Rammekins. These were important points, as they commanded the entrance from the sea. The people of the town hailed Sidney as a deliverer and protector, for they were worn with the long struggle against the Spanish, and were wellnigh disheartened. The defences of the place were in wretched condition, and the town itself in a most unhealthy state, so Sir Philip set to work at once to put the place in a more sanitary condition and to strengthen its fortifications.

Shortly after Sidney had begun to get ready for real war, his uncle, the Earl of Leicester, arrived in the Netherlands with the main body of the troops sent by her Majesty, and made a spectacular tour through several leading cities. He took up his position at the Hague, where he immediately began to live in almost royal state, spending the funds sent from England, wasting the resources of the people he had ostensibly come to help, and making no move against the Spanish, who were daily gaining ground.

If Sidney had hoped that, in changing her mind about assisting the Netherlands, Queen Elizabeth had changed some of her personal characteristics too, he was very quickly undeceived. The supply of men and money sent by her Majesty was entirely inadequate to existing necessities; and having shipped her small quota of troops, the queen apparently washed her hands of them.

With his superior officer, Leicester, wasting time and the resources of the troops, in dissipation, and the queen careless of their straits, Sidney was reduced almost to despair. Yet if he had come to hope little, he worked as if the whole responsibility of the cause rested on his shoulders. He not only put the places of his own command in as good condition as was possible, but he went from one city to another, assisting and advising. He made journey after journey to the Hague to rouse Leicester to a more active policy, and at one time went even into Germany to implore help for the wretched country. All this time he was writing to Leicester, to the queen, to her advisers, the most passionate letters. He set forth the condition of affairs in language that stripped truth of all dissembling, and implored her Majesty and her officers to let him do the work for which he had been sent. Like the king of the forest in the narrow confines of a cage, Sidney's fierce soul raged against the orders that kept his sword idle while the Spanish were wasting the land. There is not a more pathetically tragic figure in history than that of the heroic Sidney in the power of the unworthy Queen of England and of the doubly unworthy Earl of Leicester.

More than a year was wasted by the luxurious earl, Sidney the while chafing at his idleness, and the Spanish gaining post after post. Time and again, Sidney pleaded with Leicester to give him adequate troops and leave to act, but the troops were not given; and when, on his own responsibility, Sidney undertook to besiege Steenbergen, he was forbidden to prosecute the plan.

It was not until he had spent nearly two years of hard work and discouragement in the Netherlands that Sir Philip was at last allowed to proceed against the enemy in active warfare.

A most unwilling permission being wrung from Leicester, Sidney joined forces with Lord Willoughby and Count Maurice and proceeded against the town of Axel, which was then in the hands of the Spaniards.

A moonless night was chosen for the expedition, and the advance was made stealthily and swiftly. While the attacking forces approached the sleeping town, Sir Philip spoke so earnestly to the men that one who was with him afterwards said, "he did so link our minds that we did desire rather to die in that service than to live in the contrary."

Axel was surrounded by a wall and a moat, and was regarded as impregnable to all save overwhelming forces; but Sidney depended more on the spirit of his men than on mere numbers, and he pressed hardily forward. When the moat was reached, he plunged boldly in, and was soon followed by some fifty others. A few moments more, and they had gained the opposite bank and were scaling, as best they could, the wall of Axel. A little while of breathless suspense, and then their dark forms were outlined against the sky on the top of the wall, only to disappear quickly on the other side. Presently there were cries of surprise and terror and sounds of sharp fighting, then the drawbridge was lowered and the great gate opened to admit the crush of men who rushed to the assistance of Sir Philip and his valiant little band.

The scene inside told its own story. Sir Philip had surprised and slain the guard and opened the gate to his men. Instantly the startled city flew to arms, but it was too late. Over half the twelve hundred men who garrisoned the town were put to the sword, a great quantity of riches was captured, and a large amount of property destroyed. Besides this, four neighboring citadels were attacked and forced to surrender. Sir Philip then garrisoned the town with English soldiers, and cut the dikes, flooding a vast tract of country to hamper the movements of the Spanish.

When it was all over, Leicester wrote proudly to the queen, "My nephew, Sidney, is to be thanked for the bravest deed yet done by the English in the Low Countries."

But stanch old Sir Henry died a few weeks before his "darling Philip" thus won his first laurels in war, and Lady Sidney passed away shortly after the news of her boy's heroism reached her.

One would think that the knowledge of that heroism would have touched the fickle queen to do, at least, simple justice to the young officer who had stormed Axel; but unfortunately it did not. Not only could Sidney not persuade her Majesty to give him the necessary troops and money for better defences, but he could not move her to pay the wretched soldiers their hire. The wages of his men were already months in arrears, and the soldiers were daily threatening mutiny. So the time dragged on, and nothing of importance was accomplished for several more weary months.

Leicester had had as little patience with his nephew as the queen herself, "bearing a hand over him as a forward young man;" but after Sidney proved his sword at Axel, his uncle treated him with more respect, and was at last brought to take counsel of him.