9. Sir Philip Sidney

Once there was a fierce battle in which a brave and courteous knight and soldier, named Sir Philip Sidney, was wounded while charging to the front on horseback. He reached the camp bleeding and faint with great pain and thirst. A soldier brought him some water, saying, “Here, Sir Philip, I have brought you some clear, cool water from the brook. I will raise your head so that you can drink it.” He stooped low to raise his head, and was just placing the water to his lips when Sir Philip saw a foot-soldier, who was being carried past, looking with longing eyes at the water.

The generous knight instantly pushed the cup toward the dying soldier, saying, “Give it to him. His need is greater than mine.”

Sir Philip Sidney died of this wound, when he was only thirty-two years of age. On the day of his funeral in Saint Paul’s Cathedral the rich and poor, high and low, all felt they had lost a friend, and mourned for him as the kindest, gentlest man that they had ever known. His kindness to the dying soldier has caused his name to be remembered ever since with admiration and affection, and as long as stories of noble deeds are told to future boys and girls, this story will never be forgotten.

It is thought that Shakespeare, who settled in London while all the world was talking of Sidney’s life and its heroic ending, had him in mind when he made Ophelia speak of Hamlet as