Mary Sidney

thumb| Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke (née Sidney, 27 October 1561 – 25 September 1621) was among the first Englishwomen to gain notice for her poetry and her literary patronage. Her brother was the poet and courtier Philip Sidney. Quotes If ever hapless woman had a cause    To breathe her plaints into the open air, And never suffer inward grief to pause,    Or seek her sorrow-shaken soul’s repair: Then I, for I have lost my only brother, Whose like this age can scarcely yield another. "If Ever Hapless Woman", st. 1. John Bartlet, A Booke of Ayres with a Triplicitie of Musicke (London, 1606) no. 2. Text: E. H. Fellowes (ed.) English Madrigal Verse, 1588–1632 (Oxford, 1920) p. 315 Quotes about Mary Sidney Underneath this sable hearseLies the subject of all verse,Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother;Death! ere thou hast slain another,Fair and learn'd, and good as she,Time shall throw a dart at thee. William Browne, "Epitaph on the Countess of Pembroke" (1660) External links Mary Sidney Herbert