CAMPAIGN IN THE NETHERLANDS.

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Drake projected his famous enterprise against the West Indian colonies of Spain, Sidney threw himself into it heart and soul, and made great pecuniary sacrifices in order to provide for the fit equipment of the fleet. It was agreed that the joint command should be vested in Drake and Sidney; but nominally in Drake alone, until the fleet left England, for Sidney desired to conceal from the Queen his intention of sailing, lest she should prohibit him. In due time all was ready, and the fleet, fully manned and largely supplied, lay at Plymouth. Sidney contrived to leave Richmond without exciting suspicion, and joyfully hastened to his fellow-adventurers; but Drake, afraid of incurring Elizabeth's serious displeasure, and unwilling, perhaps, to share either the glory or the booty with another, plotted to delay the sailing of the fleet, and intimated to the Queen the danger she incurred of losing the "jewel of her times," and the great ornament of her Court. She accordingly forbade his departure on pain of losing her favour and countenance; but to reconcile him, in some measure, to his disappointment, offered him the governorship of Flushing, with the military rank of General of Horse. Sir Philip he had been knighted in 1583, when, as the Queen's proxy, he invested the Prince Palatine with the Order of the Garter -submitted to the royal mandate, and arrived at Flushing on the 18th of November 1584.

His uncle, the Earl of Leicester, was the generalissimo of the army despatched by Elizabeth to the assistance of the Dutch in their revolt against the oppressions of Spain. Between uncle and nephew an active correspondence soon arose, in which the latter did not hesitate to denounce the mismanagement of the war, and the

deplorable manner in which the heroic exertions of the English soldiery were uselessly expended. He was

equally frank and plain spoken in his remonstrances with the Government at home; and loudly complained that his troops were half-starved, badly clothed, and irregularly paid. The year 1585 was passed in expeditions which led to no result, and attempts which had no adequate conclusion; and all that we have read of late years, in relation to the mismanagement of the Crimean war, is exceeded by the deplorable facts revealed through the able researches of the author of the "History of the United Netherlands."

On the 28th of August 1586, Leicester held a grand review of his army, which mustered 5000 English and Irish infantry, 1400 cavalry, and 2000 Dutch and German troops of both arms. Two days later, he invested Doesburg, a place of moderate strength, which lay upon the road to Zutphen. All the English leaders were present with the besieging force. Sir John Morris, knighted for his heroic conduct at the relief of Grave, commanded the foot; the young and impetuous Earl of Essex, the horse; Sir William Pelham directed the engineering operations; Sir Thomas Cecil, Sir Philip Sidney, and his brother Robert, served as volunteers. There was no lack of enthusiasm or courage, but only of military genius, without which neither enthusiasm nor courage wins victories or captures fortified places. Doesburg, however, did not long withstand the English. As soon as two breaches had been declared practicable, and preparations made for an assault, the garrison wisely surren

Sidney distinguished himself, in July 1586, by his well-conceived and wellexecuted surprise of Axil, and by his gallantry and presence of mind at Gravelines.

AN AMBUSH OF THE SPANIARDS.

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dered, stipulating only for their own lives, and abandoning the town to Leicester. Orders were immediately given that the property of the citizens should be respected, and no one subjected to ill usage; but the English generals were constrained to interfere with blows before they could check the wild insolence of their soldiery.

Leicester next advanced upon Zutphen, a fortified place of so much importance, and occupying so commanding a position, that the Spaniards were unwilling to abandon it without a struggle, and the Prince of Parma despatched thither a large convoy of stores and provisions. Sir William Stanley, with 300 pikemen, and Sir John Morris, with 200 horse, were ordered to intercept. it; and these were joined, without Leicester's knowledge, by about fifty volunteers, the very élite of the English. army, and flower of English chivalry, including Philip and Robert Sidney, the Earl of Essex, Sir William Russell, Pelham, and Willoughby (September 22, 1586).

Through a thick fog the troopers rode on merrily, until close upon the village of Warnsfeld, when the morning shadows scattering before a fresh wind, they discovered a body of Spaniards, nearly three thousand in number, drawn up on either side of the road. Involved in this perilous ambush, there was no resource for the English but to cut their way through the enemy; and Essex, with his wonted daring, put spurs to his horse, and galloped forward, crying, "Follow me, my fellows, for the honour of England!" Sidney was close upon him, and the other volunteers rode gallantly to the charge, with lance in rest. When hand to hand with the enemy, they cast aside their lances, and with their curtal-axes

dealt such heavy blows, that the hostile cavalry were content to seek shelter behind the serried array of their pikemen. But the numbers were too unequal; as fast as Sidney and his comrades broke through the ranks of the foe, those ranks were closed up with fresh troops, and a heavy fire of musketry poured upon them.

In this fight, indeed, Sidney should not have been present. His squadron of horse was at Deventer; and it was only a romantic courage bordering upon rashness that had brought him to the fatal field. He was not even half armed, but, like a true Paladin of old, spurred vehemently into the very press of the battle. His horse was shot under him; but he mounted another, and rode furiously straight upon the hostile camp. It was then that he was stricken on the thigh by a musket-shot, a little above the knee, shattering the bone, and cruelly lacerating the flesh. He sought, however, to make another charge, but found himself unable to control his horse. Slowly, therefore, and in a keen agony, which, nevertheless, he heroically concealed, the wounded hero returned to the English entrenchments. As he rode along occurred the incident immortally associated with his name. "Being thirsty," writes his friend, Lord Brooke, "with excess of bleeding, he called for drink, which was presently brought him; but as he was putting the bottle to his mouth, he saw a foot-soldier carried along, who had eaten his last at the same feast, ghastly casting up his eyes at the bottle, which Sir Philip perceiving, took it from his head before he drank, and delivered it to the poor man, with these words, 'Thy necessity is yet greater than mine.' He afterwards

WOUNDED AT ZUTPHEN.

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pledged the soldier in what remained of the refreshing draught."*

Continuing his way, he met his uncle Leicester, who was advancing to the scene of action with a considerable reinforcement. "O Philip!" exclaimed the Earl, "I am sorry to see thy hurt." "O my lord!" replied Sidney, "this have I done to do you honour, and Her Majesty some service." When he reached the camp, Sir William Russell, observing his sad condition, wept painfully, and sighed, "O noble Sir Philip! there was never man attained hurt more honourably than you have done, nor any served like unto you." Sidney observed, with Christian patience, "God directed the bullet;" and desired the surgeons to examine his wound at once, while he had strength to bear the pain. They set the bone, but were unable to extract the bullet. He was then conveyed in Leicester's own barge to Arnheim on the Rhine, where he was joined by his affectionate wife, whose tender care soothed his deathbed, and assuaged his mental sorrows. For, apart from his own acute agony, he was lamenting the death of his parents, Sir Henry having died in the preceding May, and Lady Mary in September.

Little hope of his recovery was entertained from the first; but he bore his sufferings with equanimity, and looked forward to the end with cheerful resignation. By the people of England his illness was regarded with sincere anxiety. The Queen wrote to him with her own hand, and desired that reports of his health should be forwarded to her daily. His uncle and his comrades waited upon him with assiduous affection, and endeavoured

* Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke, "Life of Sir Philip Sidney" (ed. 1652).