Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: PREFACE. Some severe animadversions on the character of Sir Philip Sidney gave rise to the following work. Whatever aspersions have been cast upon his memory, the candid and ingenuous reader will regard them with caution. The shafts of ridicule, when aimed against a virtuous man, lose their edge, and fall upon him blunted and despoiled of their force. The complexion of Sir Philip Sidney's conduct through life, was without a stain or a blemish. He admitted none into his friendship but good and wise men. His habits of intimacy with them, prove, beyond the possibility of a doubt, the congeniality of their ; . minds. ..In companions That do converse and waste the time together, Whose souls do bear an equal voke of love, There must be needs a like proportion Of lineaments, of manners, and of spirit. Shakspeahe. It has been remarked of him by an eminent writer, distinguished by his superior knowledge of English biography, Lord Orford's Works, vol. i. p. 342. chapter{Section 4he approaches more nearly to the idea of a perfect " man as well as of a perfect knight, than any character of " any age or nation." The letters, to which a reference is frequently made in this work, are those of Hubert Languet to Mr. Philip Sidney. They were originally printed at Frankfort in 1632. They were reprinted at Edinburgh in 1776, under the direction of Sir David Dalrymple. This collection of letters extends to a period nearly of seven years, from November 1573, to October 1580. The portrait prefixed to this volume, is taken from a very fine picture by Diego Velasquez de Silva, and now in the possession of Henry Vernon, Esquire, at Wentworth Castle, in Yorkshire. Aikin's Aunual Review, Vo!, lit p. 919. chapter{Section 5MEMOIRS THE LIFE AND WRITINGS o r ...