Excerpt from The Life of Sir Philip Sidney In telling the story, however, I have constantly tried to remember that details find their chief value in the degree in which they throw new light on the character or amplify the conceptions which we have already formed. In one of his letters Mr George Meredith writes: We cannot come to the right judgment in Biography unless we are grounded in History. It is knowledge of the World for the knowing of men. Question the character, whether he worked, in humanity’s mixed motives, for great ends, on the whole: or whether he inclined to be merely adroit, a juggler for his purposes. Many of the famous are only clever interpreters of the popular wishes. Real great ness must be based on morality. These platitudes are worth keeping in mind. I have tried to keep in mind similar con siderations and to deduce as just an estimate from the facts as possible.

To my late colleague and friend, Professor George S. Stevenson, I am indebted for the deep interest which he took in my work, for many helpful suggestions, and for reading the proof of the first half of the book. It is a melancholy pleasure to record here my sense of the supreme loss which his death means to his friends and to the university.

In preparing the Notes on Sidney’s Portraits I am much indebted to the courtesy and wide knowledge of Mr Milner of the National Portrait Gallery.

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