SOURCE: "Introduction: The Life and Milieu of Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke," in Elizabethan & Renaissance Studies, Institut fur Englische Sprache und Literatur Universitat Salzburg, 1977, pp. 1-65.

In the following introduction to his edition of Sidney's poetry, Waller presents an extensive survey of Sidney's work with a short biography. His careful attention to each of her major works and extant manuscripts includes speculations about the history of each and about her growth as a poet.

The Life and Milieu of Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke

 underneath this sable herse
Lies the subject of all verse:
Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother:
Death, ere thou has slain another,
Fair, and learn'd, and good as she,
Time shall throw a dart at thee.1 

Thus William Browne, in one of the Jacobean age's most famous epitaphs, and his praise of Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke (1561-1621) is echoed by many contemporary poets. For Spenser...