The Countess of Pembrokes Antonie

t the most beautiful praise of Lady Pembroke will ever be the first verse of the epitaph:J) ? "Underneath this sable Herse, Lyes the subject of all verse; Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother; Death, ere thou hast slain another, Faire and Learn'd, and good as she, Tyme shall throw a dart at thee." § 3. The Reediting of the Arcadia, Before passing to Lady Pembroke's original literary productions, let us consider the nature of her work in the revision of Sidney's Arcadia. The first edition of the Arcadia made by William Ponsonby in 1590, without the consent and against the wishes2) of Sidney's friends, so dissatisfied Lady Pembroke, that in 1593 a second edition appeared in folio form, reedited under her personal supervision. The nature of this supervision was stated in the publisher's preface as follows: ? ') Brit. Mus. Lausdowne Mss. 777. ) See: ? Letter of Lord Brooke to Sir Francis Walsingham, urging that steps be taken to prevent the printing of the Arcadia, notice of such an intention having been given him by "one ponsonby, a booke bynder in poles churchyard." State Papers, letter endorsed Nov. 1586. "The disfigured face, gentle Reader, wherewith this worke not long since appeared to the common view, moved that noble Lady to whose Honour it was consecrated, to whose protection it was committed, to take in hand the wiping away of those spottes wherewith the beauties thereof were unworthely blemished. But as often repairing a ruinous house, ...