By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A. 33 



the ways of Peace, some have been conspicuous by the accident of 

 high birth and position, some by their literary merit, some for the 

 rather romantic incidents of their career. It is most convenient to 

 name them in chronological order ; and please to bear in mind that 

 we are speaking only of those who belong to our county. We begin 

 at the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 



Eveiybody has heard those celebrated verses (written, not by Ben 

 Jonson, but by William Browne, author of the Pastorals) 1 upon 

 Mary Sidney, sister of Sir Philip Sidney, and by marriage Countess 

 of Pembroke, and mother of the Earl of Pembroke of that day : — ? 



" Underneath this sable herse 

 Lies the subject of all verse, 

 Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother : 

 Death, ere thou hast slain another 

 Learn'd and wise and fair as she, 

 Time will throw a dart at thee. 



Marble piles let no man raise 

 To her name ; for, after days, 

 Some kind woman, born as she, 

 Beading this, like Niobe, 

 Shall turn marble, and become 

 Both her mourner and her tomb." 



This lady is spoken of by contemporaries (by the poet Spenser 

 among others) as a model of excellence, resembling in form and 

 spirit her brother Philip ; but as to her learning, it turns out that 

 she was rather a patroness of poets and scholars than much of a 

 performer herself in that line. She is said to have assisted her 

 brother Philip in his Arcadia, a long wearisome kind of novel, such 

 as novels then were, but nevertheless written in good wholesome 

 sterling old English, and containing many beautiful ideas and 

 passages. Some of the verses in it are said to have been written by 

 her. If so, there is no particular reason for regretting that she did 

 not write more. The epitaph just recited is very pretty, but without 

 wishing to detract in the least from merit justly due, it may be 

 observed that one rather mistrusts praise extravagantly bestowed ; 



1 The epitaph is found in the MS. volume of poems by W. Browne iu the 

 Lansdowne MS., No. 777. 



VOL. XX. — NO. LVIII. D 



