Without redress complains my careless Verse, And _Midas_ ears relent not at my mone; In some far Land will I my griefs rehearse, 'Mongst them that will be mov'd, when I shall grone. _England_ adieu, the Soil that brought me forth; Adieu unkind, where Skill is nothing worth.
He wrote moreover a witty Poem, entituled, _The White Herring and the Red_; and two Comedies, the one called _Summer's last Will and Testament_, and _See me and see me not_.
Sir _Philip Sidney_, the glory of the _English_ Nation in his time, and pattern of true Nobility, in whom the Graces and Muses had their domestical habitations, equally addicted both to Arts and Arms, though more fortunate in the one than in the other. Son to Sir _Henry Sidney_, thrice Lord Deputy of _Ireland_, and Sisters Son to _Robert_ Earl of _Leicester_; Bred in _Christ_'s Church in _Oxford_, (_Cambridge_ being nevertheless so happy to have a Colledge of his name) where he so profited in the Arts and Liberal Sciences, that after an incredible proficiency in all the Species of Learning, he left the Academical Life, for that of the Court, invited thither by his Uncle, the Earl of _Leicester_, that great Favourite of Queen _Elizabeth_. Here he so profited, that he became the glorious Star of his Family, a lively Pattern of Vertue, and the lovely Joy of all the learned sort. These his Parts so indeared him to Queen _Elizabeth_, that she sent him upon an Embassy to the Emperor of _Germany_ at _Vienna_, which he discharged to his own Honour, and her Approbation. Yea, his Fame was so renowned throughout all Christendom, that (as it is commonly reported) he was in election for the Kingdom of _Poland_, though the Author of his Life, printed before his _Arcadia_, doth doubt of the truth of it, however it was not above his deserts.
During his abode at the Court, at his spare hours he composed that incomparable Romance, entituled, _The Arcadia_, which he dedicated to his Sister the Countess of _Pembroke_. A Book (saith Dr. _Heylin_) which, besides its excellent Language, rare Contrivances, and delectable Stories, hath in it all the strains of Poesie, comprehendeth the whole art of speaking, and to them who can discern and will observe, affordeth notable Rules of Demeanour, both private and publick; and though some men, sharp-witted only in speaking evil, have depraved the Book, as the occasion that many precious hours are spent no better, they consider not that the ready way to make the minds of Youth grow awry, is to lace them too hard, by denying them just and due liberty. Surely (saith one) the Soul deprived of lawful delights, will, in way of revenge, (to enlarge its self out of prison) invade and attempt unlawful pleasures. Let such be condemned always to eat their meat with no other sawce, but their own appetite, who deprive themselves and others of those sallies into lawful Recreations, whereof no less plenty than variety is afforded in this _Arcadia_.