The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-02-11

ssLcH<rIssA"--AS ACCOUNT OF
DOROTHY sIDNEY.
rhs rovei-rts Aim-Mrs, oiiphant's
Isiest-The Munkscsy Portrait in the
February Ceptury--New Books.

Everybody has seen or pictured TO him
sslf those beautiful vandyke women in
voluminous sleeves. love-lock curling over
tranquil brows. taperig throats clasped
BY pearls. and lovely hands lingering a
full-hlown rose. which hang I'm the dim
rooms Of Hampton Palace or cast n lu-
,ninous glance out Of old-fashioned frames
IN Trafalgar Square. These are the
nymphs and graces painted by Lely and
Kneller and the prince OF Flemish Vans
Vandyke, cOduetting still on immortal
canvascs and Inspiring with their mute
historic beauty the quivering quilts Of
poet and sonneteer. To them Waller war
hled and them the Tattler praised In n
later degenerate generation. and with
them Sir Roger danced in the courtly
times Of Charles and great Anne Essay
lists celebrate their awful mein." :heir
eraccs. their winning attraction; they
belonged 90 great families and were the
grandes danes OF an Age when Versailles
was beginning 10 rise under the magic
touch OF Mansard and every lady must
have her eyebrows sung in cadenced
etanzas.
or these great ladies one OF the greatest
md lovelest was Dorothy Sidney a scion
of that histroic house 10 which Sir Philip
aud her own brother. the Inflated Algar-
non, belonged. the Sidneys 81 Penshurst.
~ Arcadia" Of "AstrOphel." and "The
Defense OF Poesie." Their blood was al
vavs ready to be poured out on oattle-
field or scaffold and their pens were
equally mighty with their swords. Second
only 10 what they dld themselves was
what they inspired in others. The slender
- a. Of oil ha
brated lyric poet OF the seventeenth CEN
fury, hangs 20 the girdie Of Dorothy Sid
ney and breathes In the perfume Of a rose
Which he sung of in her honor. HIS
Verses on a Girdle' and "Song 20 the
Rose" are forever associated with the
subtle smile that flashes half Ironically
out IL Nondyke's picture and the minia-
ture at Ienshurst
Tho tickle and faithless widower dared
o. aspire to the eldest daughter of Robert
Earl Of Leicester. and when she disdained
his plea, he revenged himself only by en-
shrining her with "ces bellies danes du
TENS jadis." Beatrice and Laura and
Leonard, and all the beautiful and gra-
cious things that 'Thrsis' loved or
Phoebus shone upon. Her wit and dis
erection were as celebrated as her beauty,
and she wrote letters which sparkled
with gossip and sprightiiness when wo-
men could hardly write AT all. she llVeu
through the reign OF Charles I. and al
most through that of Charles IL, assem-
bling around her the scholars and states
men Of the age. and. later inspiring the
reign OF Anne with tender recOllections
Of her purity and high breeding. OF
course suitors were numerous in the train
Of so mighty lady, but her affections
settled not on the lovelorn Waller-in
spite Of his roses" and "girdles"-but
on the Earl Of Sunderland. whose early
death cast shadow over Dorothys life.
She passed through all the horrors Of the
civil war, but after a widowhood Of nine
years her bright eyes smiled again on an
admiring sutton. this time Sir Robert
smythe Of a powerful Kentish family.
Ultimately Lord Halifax became her SON.
ln-law, and we find the famous lady mix
ed UP In all the gossip OF the day. alert,
accomplished. dignihed, fit successor
OF the celebrated Stella whom Sir Philip
sang in his "Astrophew sonnets. About
two dozen letters are all that remain OF
her active correspondence; Miss julia
Cartwright CNirs. Henry Ady) has so I'm
terwoven them with history anecdote
and comment that a sklful and pictur-
esque tableau Of the times is the result
we know Sacharissa almost in the flesh
ana her iineaments light up from the
fading canvas rs If they had been newly
painted.