Folger Shakespeare Library
CELM

Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke

1561–1621

Introduction

Mary Herbert (née Sidney), Countess of Pembroke, has a traditional place in literary history as the sister of Sir Philip Sidney who sanctioned the posthumous publication of his Arcadia (his magnum opus dedicated to her) in 1593 and 1598 (following the edition of 1590 chiefly engineered by Fulke Greville). She was also generally known as a literary patron, the recipient of dedications by many aspiring writers of her time, whom she encouraged, although this reputation may perhaps have been somewhat exaggerated (see Mary Ellen Lamb's discussions in The Myth of the Countess of Pembroke: The Dramatic Circle, Yearbook of English Studies, 11 (1981), 194-202, and The Countess of Pembroke's Patronage, English Literary Renaissance, 12/2 (Spring 1982), 162-79). More recently, however, Lady Pembroke has attracted considerable attention by scholars as an author in her own right.

The Canon

Two thirds of the verse rendition of the Psalms, which in manuscripts was almost invariably attributed to Philip Sidney alone, were written by her (Psalms 44-150), probably after his death. She was responsible for other writings, notably translations of Robert Garnier's verse play Antonius (thus producing the first English dramatization of the Antony and Cleopatra story), of Petrarch's verse Trionfo della morte, and of the prose Excellant discours de la vie et de la mort by Philippe de Mornay, seigneur du Plessis-Marly, as well as producing a few original poems of her own. The translations of works by Mornay and Garnier were published by her in 1592 and 1595 respectively. Other works remained unpublished until long after her death.

Clearly the work most widely circulated and copied in manuscript was the complete Sidney/Pembroke psalter, eighteen extant contemporary or near-contemporary manuscripts of which are recorded below in the Philip Sidney section (SiP 72-88), in addition to copies of a few individual psalms. Two of the Countess's poems preface a manuscript of the Psalms possibly made for presentation to Queen Elizabeth (PeM 1, PeM 2), although an early draft of one of these, To the Angell spirit of the most excellent Sir Philip Sidney, is known to have been among Samuel Daniel's papers. The Triumph of Death survives in a single manuscript (PeM 3) associated with Sir John Harington, who is known to have collected various works by the Sidneys. There would otherwise seem to be no surviving evidence of any notable manuscript circulation of the Countess's own writings, although she may well have written more than what is known today.

Five other poems possibly by the Countess have been discovered in a verse miscellany of the 1640s by June and Paul Schlueter (PeM 4-8). A case is made for this attribution, but it will no doubt remain open to discussion.

Letters

The only other manuscript remains of the Countess are her original letters. Some nineteen of them are known to date (PeM 10-27). These are supplemented in the Collected Edition (II, 298-301) by a reference to a lost, possibly genuine, letter to her son, and the texts of three undated letters supposedly written by her to Sir Tobie Matthew, published by John Donne Jr in A Collection of Letters made by Sir Tobie Matthew, Knight (London, 1660). The authorship of these letters is rendered doubtful, not only by the unreliable editorship of the younger Donne (who was not above changing the names of writers and recipients in other publications by him), but also by the style of the letters, which does not resemble the Countess's and would seem to belong to a later generation.

Miscellaneous

One other uncertain item relating to the Countess is a printed exemplum of the Arcadia (London, 1613) now at Harvard (HEW 7.10.3). It is inscribed This was the Countess of pembrokes owne booke given me by the Countess of montgomery her daughter 1625. Ancram, and the later red morocco binding of the volume bears a lozenge in gilt with the letter M surrounded by four examples of the S-fermé. The authenticity of this inscription has been questioned (e.g. see Bent Juel-Jensen in The Book Collector, 11 (Winter 1962), 474). It is possible, however, that the title-page has been transplanted into this volume from another exemplum of the work.

Abbreviations

Collected Works
The Collected Works of Mary Sidney Herbert Countess of Pembroke, ed. Margaret P. Hannay, Noel J. Kinnamon and Michael G. Brennan, 2 vols (Oxford, 1998).
Schlueter
June Schlueter and Paul Schlueter, Half maim'd? Five unknown poems by Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, TLS, 23 July 2010, pp. 14-15.

Verse

'Even now that Care which on thy Crowne attends'

A dedicatory verse epistle to Queen Elizabeth. First published in Whole Workes of Samuel Daniel (London, 1623). Collected Works, I, 102-4.

PeM 1

A manuscript of The Psalms of David, i + 145 folio leaves, in contemporary vellum richly gilt, the volume possibly prepared for presentation to Queen Elizabeth.

Late 16th century

Formerly in the library of Walter Aston (1583-1639), Baron Aston of Forfar, of Tixall, Staffordshire, diplomat. Bequeathed by Dr Bent Juel-Jensen (1922-2006), Oxford physician and book collector.

David Vaisey ([no shelfmark] ff. 1r-2v)
The Psalmes of David

Collected Works, Vol. II.

See SiP 72-88.

To the Angell spirit of the most excellent Sir Philip Sidney ('To thee pure sprite, to thee alone's addres't')

Collected Works, I, 110-12 (a variant text on pp. 113-15).

See SiP 81.

PeM 2

Copy.

Facsimile in Noel Kinnamon, The Sidney Psalms: The Penshurst and Tixall Manuscripts, EMS, 2 (1990), 139-61 (p. 145).

A manuscript of The Psalms of David, i + 145 folio leaves, in contemporary vellum richly gilt, the volume possibly prepared for presentation to Queen Elizabeth.

Late 16th century

Formerly in the library of Walter Aston (1583-1639), Baron Aston of Forfar, of Tixall, Staffordshire, diplomat. Bequeathed by Dr Bent Juel-Jensen (1922-2006), Oxford physician and book collector.

David Vaisey ([no shelfmark] ff. 3r-4v)
The Triumph of Death ('That gallant Ladie, gloriously bright')

Collected Works, I, 273-82.

PeM 3 Early 17th century

Copy, in an italic hand, headed The Triumph of death translated out of Italian by the Countesse of Pembrooke.

Edited from this MS in Collected Works. Also in The triumph of death, and other unpublished and uncollected poems by Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, 1561-1621, ed. G.F. Waller (Salzburg, 1977), and in The Triumph of Death: A critical edition in modern spelling of The Countess of Pembroke's translation of Petrarch's Trionfo della Morte, ed. Gavin Alexander, Sidney Journal, 17/1 (Spring 1999), 2-18.

A folio composite volume of state tracts and miscellaneous papers, in various largely professional hands, 480 leaves, in red morocco gilt.

Inner Temple Library (Petyt MS 538, Vol. 43 ff. 286r-9r)

Poems of Uncertain Authorship

The Countesse of Pembrokes meditation & sonnet ('Out of ye depth of all afflictions smart')

First published, and attributed to Mary, Countess of Pembroke, in Schlueter (2010).

PeM 4

Copy.

A folio verse miscellany, comprising 162 poems in English, in a single hand, 273 pages, in brown morocco gilt.

c.late 1640s

Formerly (before 1686) in the Palatine Library at Heidelberg. Possibly acquired by Charles Louis (1617-80), Elector Palatine, while at the English court of his uncle, Charles I, from 1635 to 1649.

This volume discovered, and announced in the TLS, 23 July 2010, pp. 14-15, by June Schlueter and Paul Schlueter.

Of a little River in Oxfordshire neare Kiddington ('By silver'd streams sweet murmur, sad delight')

First published, and attributed to Mary, Countess of Pembroke, in Schlueter (2010).

PeM 5

Copy.

Edited from this MS in Schlueter.

A folio verse miscellany, comprising 162 poems in English, in a single hand, 273 pages, in brown morocco gilt.

c.late 1640s

Formerly (before 1686) in the Palatine Library at Heidelberg. Possibly acquired by Charles Louis (1617-80), Elector Palatine, while at the English court of his uncle, Charles I, from 1635 to 1649.

This volume discovered, and announced in the TLS, 23 July 2010, pp. 14-15, by June Schlueter and Paul Schlueter.

Of a little spring hard by Kiddington house which droppes out of a Rock ('Teare-like from aged Rocks incased side')

First published, and attributed to Mary, Countess of Pembroke, in Schlueter (2010).

PeM 6

Copy.

Edited from this MS in Schlueter.

A folio verse miscellany, comprising 162 poems in English, in a single hand, 273 pages, in brown morocco gilt.

c.late 1640s

Formerly (before 1686) in the Palatine Library at Heidelberg. Possibly acquired by Charles Louis (1617-80), Elector Palatine, while at the English court of his uncle, Charles I, from 1635 to 1649.

This volume discovered, and announced in the TLS, 23 July 2010, pp. 14-15, by June Schlueter and Paul Schlueter.

Of the River Bankes between Meziers & Liege ('So huge, so faire so goodly to behold')

First published, and attributed to Mary, Countess of Pembroke, in Schlueter (2010).

PeM 7

Copy.

Edited from this MS in Schlueter.

A folio verse miscellany, comprising 162 poems in English, in a single hand, 273 pages, in brown morocco gilt.

c.late 1640s

Formerly (before 1686) in the Palatine Library at Heidelberg. Possibly acquired by Charles Louis (1617-80), Elector Palatine, while at the English court of his uncle, Charles I, from 1635 to 1649.

This volume discovered, and announced in the TLS, 23 July 2010, pp. 14-15, by June Schlueter and Paul Schlueter.

Upon the death of the Countesse of Rutland daughter to Sr Philip Sydney ('That thou art dead (faire life) & cannot dye')

First published, and attributed to Mary, Countess of Pembroke, in Schlueter (2010).

PeM 8

Edited from this MS in Schlueter.

A folio verse miscellany, comprising 162 poems in English, in a single hand, 273 pages, in brown morocco gilt.

c.late 1640s

Formerly (before 1686) in the Palatine Library at Heidelberg. Possibly acquired by Charles Louis (1617-80), Elector Palatine, while at the English court of his uncle, Charles I, from 1635 to 1649.

This volume discovered, and announced in the TLS, 23 July 2010, pp. 14-15, by June Schlueter and Paul Schlueter.

Prose

A Discourse of Life and death, written in French by Ph. Mornay. sieur du Plessis Marly

Collected Works, I, 229-54.

See RiE 1.

Letters

Letter(s)
*PeM 10 1578
Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, [c.15 August 1578].

Edited in Collected Works, II, 285.

Composite volume of papers.

The Marquess of Bath, Longleat House (Dudley Papers, Vol. 2 f. 187)
*PeM 11 1591
Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to the Countess's sister-in-law Barbara, Lady Sidney, from Wilton, 9 September 1590 (altered from 1591).

Edited in Collected Works, I, p. 286. Facsimile in W.W. Greg et al., English Literary Autographs, 1550-1650, 3vols (Oxford, 1925-32), No. XLII(a).

A quarto verse miscellany, in nine secretary and italic hands, 42 leaves (including blanks), in old marbled boards within modern reversed calf.

Late 1580s

Inscribed names (on front pastedown) John [?]roper and (f. 40r) ffraunces [?]ington of the [?]. Later owned by Benjamin Heywood Bright (1830-84), merchant and author (with a note by him on f. 39r). Sotheby's, 18 June 1844 (Bright sale), lot 240.

This MS (the Bright MS) described in Ringler, pp. 538-9.

PeM 12 1594

Copy of a letter by the Countess of Pembroke, to Sir Edward Wotton, 1594.

Edited in Collected Works, II, 286-7.

A volume of state papers and correspondence, including original letters by Francis Bacon.

Volume IV of the papers of Anthony Bacon (1558-1601), political intelligencer, subsequently among the collections of Thomas Tenison (1636-1715), Archbishop of Canterbury.

Lambeth Palace Library (MS 650 f. 346r)
*PeM 13 1595
Autograph

A brief letter by the Countess of Pembroke, in the hand of an amanuensis, with her autograph subscription and signature, to John Thynne, 1 October 1595.

Edited, with a facsimile, in Steven W. May, Two Unpublished Letters by Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, EMS, 9 (2000), 88-97.

A folio composite volume of papers.

The Marquess of Bath, Longleat House (Thynne Papers, Vol. VI f. 311r)
*PeM 14 1596
Autograph

Letter in the hand of an amanuensis, with the Countess of Pembroke's autograph signature, to Julius Caesar, from Wilton, 1 June 1596.

Edited in Collected Works, II, 287.

A folio composite volume of state letters.

Comprising papers of Sir Julius Caesar (1558-1636), Master of the Rolls.

*PeM 15
Autograph

Autograph letter signed by the Countess of Pembroke and by her husband Henry Herbert, and on his behalf, to Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, [1596?].

1596?

Edited in Collected Works, II, 288, and also in Margaret P. Hannay, Unpublished Letters by Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, Spenser Studies, 6 (1986), 165-90 (pp. 166-7), with a facsimile. A facsimile also in Sotheby's sale catalogue 21 July 1983, lot 7 (on p. 8).

Princeton (RTC01 Box 13, fl. 3)
*PeM 17
Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to William Cecil, Lord Burghley, 16 August 1597.

1597

Edited in Collected Works, II, 288-9.

National Archives, Kew (SP 12/264/85)
*PeM 20
Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Sir Robert Sidney, from Cardiff Castle, 3 August 1602.

1602

Edited in Collected Works, II, 292-3.

*PeM 21 1603
Autograph

Letter by the Countess of Pembroke, in the hand of an amanuensis, with her autograph signature, to Sir Julius Caesar, from Windsor, 4 July 1603.

Edited in Collected Works, II, 293-4, and also in Margaret P. Hannay, Unpublished Letters by Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, Spenser Studies, 6 (1986), 165-90 (pp. 170-2).

A folio volume of state letters and papers.

Papers of Sir Julius Caesar (1558-1636), Master of the Rolls.

*PeM 22 1603
Autograph

Letter by the Countess of Pembroke, in the hand of an amanuensis, with her autograph signature and postscript, to Sir Julius Caesar, from Burham, 8 July 1603.

Edited in Collected Works, II, 294-5, and also in Margaret P. Hannay, Unpublished Letters by Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, Spenser Studies, 6 (1986), 165-90 (p. 172). Facsimile in W. W. Greg et al., English Literary Autographs, 1550-1650, 3 vols (Oxford, 1925-32), No. XLII(b-c).

A folio volume of state letters and papers.

Papers of Sir Julius Caesar (1558-1636), Master of the Rolls.

*PeM 23 1603
Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Sir Julius Caesar, 14 July 1603.

Edited in Collected Works, II, 295, and also in Margaret P. Hannay, Unpublished Letters by Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, Spenser Studies, 6 (1986), 165-90 (p. 173).

A folio volume of state letters and papers.

Papers of Sir Julius Caesar (1558-1636), Master of the Rolls.

*PeM 24 1603
Autograph

Letter by the Countess of Pembroke, with her autograph signature, to Sir Julius Caesar, from Greenwich, 6 September 1603.

Edited in Collected Works, II, 295-6, and also in Margaret P. Hannay, Unpublished Letters by Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, Spenser Studies, 6 (1986), 165-90 (pp. 174-5).

A folio volume of state letters and papers.

Papers of Sir Julius Caesar (1558-1636), Master of the Rolls.

*PeM 25 1603
Autograph

Letter by the Countess of Pembroke, in the hand of an amanuensis, with her autograph subscription and signature, to Sir John Thynne, 27 September 1603.

Edited, with a facsimile, in Steven W. May, Two Unpublished Letters by Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, EMS, 9 (2000), 88-97.

A folio composite volume of papers.

The Marquess of Bath, Longleat House (Thynne Papers, Vol. VII f. 280r)
*PeM 26 1604
Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury, from the Savoy, 29 September 1604.

Edited in Collected Works, II, 296-7 (No. XV), and also in Margaret P. Hannay, Unpublished Letters by Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, Spenser Studies, 6 (1986), 165-90 (pp. 183-4).

A folio composite volume of state letters and papers, in various hands.

Papers of the Talbot family, Earls of Shrewsbury.

Formerly in the College of Arms, MS Talbot L.

Lambeth Palace Library (MS 3202 f. 259r)
*PeM 27
Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, from Ditchley, 27 July 1607.

1607

Edited in Collected Works, II, 297-8.

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