he charmed all who had to do with him, whilst he was famous not only in England but also in Europe for his bravery as a soldier and his skill as a writer. He was amongst the first who was content to write on a serious subject in English, and expressed himself in his mother tongue in a way which makes us still look upon him as one of our great prose writers. His poems are even more famous than his prose writings, and make him worthy of a place beside the great poets of his day-Marlowe, Spenser, and Shakespeare. Besides all this Sidney was a truly earnest religious man. He loved and honoured his Queen, but he did not try to gain her favour by flattering her vanity and paying her empty compliments. He would speak the truth to her even when he knew it would offend her, and was never afraid to give her such advice as he thought needful for the good of the country. In this way he sometimes earned the Queen's displeasure, but Elizabeth could not help liking him and admiring his great qualities. She was glad to keep him at court, but she would not give him any office. He disliked leading an idle useless courtier's life and busied himself instead with writing books. But his great wish was to serve his country in some active way.

During the whole of Elizabeth's reign the great enemy that England had to fear was Spain. But Elizabeth knew that peace was needed by England, and was careful not to allow open war to break out with Spain. At last it became clear that peace could not be kept much longer. Elizabeth agreed to help the Protestants in the Netherlands, who with desperate bravery had long struggled against the tyranny of

Spain. It was the wish of her wisest advisers that, putting herself at the head of the Protestants in Europe, she should resist Spain-the enemy of them all. Sir Philip Sidney's longing for active work was at last satisfied, and at the age of thirty-one he was made Governor of Flushing, a town in the Netherlands which was given over to Elizabeth for a time in return for her promise to help the Protestants.

When Sidney reached Flushing he was very much pleased with the look of the place; it was a pleasant town in a strong situation. He set to work at once to try and find out all about the nature of its inhabitants, that he might be able to govern them well and wisely. His uncle, the Earl of Leicester, a great favourite of Queen Elizabeth's, had been chosen to command the English soldiers in the Netherlands. It was not a good choice, for Leicester was vain and selfish, and cared only to get a great name for himself, and he was not a good leader of men. But Sidney loved and trusted his uncle, and hoped that great things were going to be done in the Netherlands. All that he could do himself he did with great zeal, and was grievously disappointed that Elizabeth did not push the war more eagerly. As he saw more of Leicester's way of conducting the war he understood at last how bad a general his uncle was.

One of the things which the English wished to do was to take the town of Zutphen. The Spanish general, the Duke of Parma, a very clever soldier, tried to stock the town with food and men, so that it might be able to resist the English. But Leicester determined that these stores should not be