CHAPTER XII. AT WILTON. 1580. IDNEY may have paid more than one visit to his sister at Wilton in the course of the two and a half years following the summer of 1577, when he went down to congratulate her on her marriage, and he must certainly have seen much of her during her attendance at Court; but we have no record of his being again, before the early spring of 1580, in the stately mansion, since destroyed by fire, which had been built, according to Holbein's plans, in the loveliest part of Wiltshire. He was now to be there and in the neighbourhood for half a year or more. Withdrawing from the Court in dudgeon and disgrace, he could nowhere obtain so much refreshment as in the company of the Countess of Pembroke, the esteemed lady whom Spenser, and many others, never tired of praising. The gentlest shepherdess that lives this day, And most resembling, both in shape and sprite, Spenser calls her in one place; and in another he speaks of her as one In whose brave mind, as in a golden coffer, All heavenly gifts and riches locked are; Sidney was at Wilton on the 25th of March, 1580; and probably his mother was there, too, for a fortnight later his nephew William, afterwards the friend and patron of Shakespeare, was born. He was there, also on the 28th of April, the baby's christening day, when he represented the Earl of Leicester, who was one of the sponsors, the others being the Earl of Warwick and Queen Elizabeth-on whose behalf the Countess of Warwick appeared. Her Majesty was willing to pay a compliment to the Countess of Pembroke, for whom, from first to last, she had genuine liking, and with whom it was not possible for her to pick a quarrel. But she was angry with the rest of the family. Leicester was still out of favour, and with Sir Henry Sidney she was again displeased. Ever since his return from Ireland Sir Henry had been busy as Lord President of Wales, and in the early months of 1580 he often resorted to Wilton. Queen Elizabeth sent a message in June to say that she disliked this proceeding, and that, considering In Retirement at Wilton. the dangerous state of Wales and the need of keeping it in a proper state of defence, Sir Henry ought to be constantly at his post. In August she censured him again; this time for not being more zealous in hunting down Catholics and thus advancing the reformation of "recusants and other obstinate persons in religion." "Your lordship," Walsingham wrote to him, "had need to walk warily; for your doings are narrowly observed, and her Majesty is apt to give ear to any that shall ill you." Philip, holding no important office under the Crown, could not be taken to task. He was free, indeed, to go back to Court much sooner than he thought fit. The Earl of Leicester was restored to favour in July, and it seems that Philip was expected to at once rejoin his uncle. On the 2d of August he wrote to Leicester saying that he had a bad cold which kept him from Court, and that doubtless her Majesty would ask for him. "But," he added, "so long as her Majesty sees a silk doublet upon me, her Highness will think me in good case." * 1580] 211 He was in no hurry to return, and, when he did, it appears to have been by the persuasion of his friends, one of them being Languet, who, as soon as he found his fears that Sidney might be sent to prison were groundless, was anxious he should resume his services to his country and the Protestant cause in Europe. "All who are in these parts," Languet wrote from Antwerp on the 24th of September, "wonder that you should delight in this long re * MS. in the possession of Mr. Cottrell-Dormer, at Rousham, near Oxford. |