Astrophil and Stella 84

By Sir Philip Sidney 1554–1586 Philip Sidney

Highway, since you my chief Parnassus be,

And that my Muse, to some ears not unsweet,

Tempers her words to trampling horses' feet

More oft than to a chamber melody.

Now, blessed you bear onward blessed me

To her, where I my heart, safe-left, shall meet:

My Muse and I must you of duty greet

With thanks and wishes, wishing thankfully.

Be you still fair, honour'd by public heed;

By no encroachment wrong'd, nor time forgot,

Nor blam'd for blood, nor sham'd for sinful deed;

And that you know I envy you no lot

Of highest wish, I wish you so much bliss,i

Hundreds of years you Stella's feet may kiss.

Biography

The grandson of the Duke of Northumberland and heir presumptive to the earls of Leicester and Warwick, Sir Philip Sidney was not himself a nobleman. Today he is closely associated in the popular imagination with the court of Elizabeth I, though he spent relatively little time at the English court, and until his appointment as governor of Flushing in 1585 received little preferment from Elizabeth. Viewed in his own age as the . . .

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