Sidney

(Sir Philip), was the son of sir — Henry Sidney, lord deputy of Ireland and — president of Wales, by Mary, the daughter of — John Dudley duke of North umber land, and was born at Pens hurst in Kent, the 2oth of © November, 1554. He was sent young to ~ Christ Church college, Oxford, where he con= — tinued till he was about 17-years of age, and in — June 1572, was sent to travel; and, having | wisited France, Germany, Hungary, and Italy, returned to England in 1575. The earl of Leicester, his uncle, then introduced him at court, and he became one of queen Elizabeth’s favourites. That prince sent him, in 1576, to the emperor Rodolphus, and to other princes of Germany, when he behaved with such prudence and addre , that the Poles afterwards proposed to elect him for their king, bat queen Hlizabeth would not consent to it. In 1579 he addre ed the queen against her marriage with the duke of Anjou; and in 1581, when that treaty was renewed, was one of the tilters at the entertainment of the French amba ador; and at the duke of Anjou’s departure attended him to Antwerp. In 1582 he re- <eived the bonour of knighthood from her majesty, and in.1585 was sent into Flanders the a istance of the Dutch, when he was made governor of Flushing, one of the cautionary towns delivered to her majesty, and general of horse, in beth which posts he distinguished himself by his valour and prudence; particuarly at his taking Axil, and his preserving the lives and honour of the English army at the enter prize of Gravel in: but at the stand made against the Spaniards before Zutphen, on the 22d of September, 1586, after having two horses. killed under him, he was’ greatly wounded as he was mounting the third, by a musket shot, which broke his thigh-bone. The horse he rede being extremely mettlesome, then forced him to forsake the field, though not his back, when pa ing along by the rest of the army where his uncle the general was, and being thirsty with exce of bleeding, he called for drink, which was presently brought him, but as he was putting the bottle to his mouth, he saw a poor wounded soldier eartied along, who with a ghastly look fixed his eyes on the bottle, which sir Philip perceiving, took it from his head before he had tasted it, and delivered it to the poor man, crying, «« Thy nece ity is yet greater than mine,” and then having drank after him, was soon after carried to Arnheim, where he languished about 25 days, and died on the 16th of October, 15806. The states of Zealand became suitors to the erown, that they might have the honour of burying his body at the public expence of their government; but in this they were denied, for soon after his death his body was conveyed to Flushing, and being embarked with great solemnity, was landed at Tower-wharf on the 16th of November, and was interred with great pomp in St. Paul’s cathedral, the 16th of February following. It is remarkable, that in England the public were so afflicted at his lo , that for many ‘months it was thought indecent in any gentle- _ man to appear splendidly dre ed. The Uniwersity of Oxford wrote verses to his memory, ont in 15873; several writers of Cam- ‘bridge, as well as others, wrote poems on his death; and, many years after, king Jamés I. honoured him with an epitaph of his own composition, Sir Pailip Sidney wrote Arcadia, a pastoral romance, and a great many other pieces. S1pNEY (Algernon), was the second son of Robert earl of Leicester, and of Dorothy, eldest daughter of the earl of North umber land. He was born about the year 1017. During the civil wars he took part against the king, and distinguished himself as a colonel in the army of the parliament. He was afterwards appointed one of king Charles’s judges, but declined appearing in that court. During the usurpation of Cromwell, Sidney, who was ‘a violent republican, retired to the country, and spent his time in writing those discourses on government which have been so deserve diy celebrated. After the death of the Protector, he again took part in the public transactions of his country, and was abroad on an emba y to Denmark when king Charles was restored. Upon this he retired to Hamburg, and a(fterwards to Franc fort, where he resided till 1677, when he returned to England, and obtained from the king a pardon. It has been affirmed, but the story deserves no credit, that during his residence abroad king Charles hired ruffians to a a inate him. After his return he made repeated attempts to procure a seat in parliament, but all of them proved unsucce ful. After the intention of the commons to seclude the duke of York from the throne had been defeated by the sudden di olution of parliament, Sidney joined with eagerne the councils of Ru el, E ex, and Mon mouth, who had resolved to oppose the duke’s succe ion by force of arms. Frequent meetings were held at London; while, at the same time, a set of subordinate conspirators, who were not, however, admitted into their confidence, met and embraced the miost desperate resolutions, Keiling, one of these men, discovered the whole conspiracy; and Algernon Sidney, together with his noble a ociates, was immediately thrown into prison, and no art was left unattempted in order to involve them in the -guilt of the meaner conspirators. Howard, an abandoned nobleman, without a single spark of virtue or honour, was the only witne against Sidney; but as the law required two, his discourses on government, found unpublished in his closet, were construed into treason, and declared equivalent to another witne . It was vain for Sidney to plead that papers were no legal evidence; that it could not be proved they were written by him; and that, if they were, they contained nothing treasonable. ‘The defence was overruled; he was declared guilty, condemned, and executed. His attainder was reversed in the first year of king William. He was a man of extraordinary courage; steady even’ to obstinacy; of a sincere but rough and boisterous temper. Though he profe ed his belief in the Christian religion, he was an enemy to an established church, and even, according to Burnet, to every kind of public worship. In his principles he was a zealous republican: government was always his fayourite study; and his e ays on that subject are a proof of the progre which he made in it. -SIDON (ance. geog.), a city of Phoenicia in Asia, famous in scripture for its riches, arising from the extensive commerce carried on by its inhabitants. Heavy judgments were de- ‘nounced against the Sidonians on account of their wickedne , which were accomplished in the time of Ochus, king of Persia: for, that monarch having come against them with an army on account of their rebellion, the city was betrayed by its king; upon which the wretched inhabitants were seized with despair; they set fire to their houses, and 40,000, with their wives and children, perished in the flames. This city is now called Said. See below. Sipon, or Satp, a seaport of Palestine, anciently a place of great strength, and extensive trade. It is still of some note, has a good castle, and a well-frequented harbour, and is the residence of a Turkish bashaw. It is 45 miles W.S.W. of Damascus. Lon. 36. 5 E. Lat. 33. 33 N. 731 732