ABSTRACT
Robert Sidney, first Earl of Leicester, is known in literary circles was the younger brother of Sir Philip Sidney and of Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, and father of Lady Mary Sidney Wroth. The collection of 332 letters from Robert to his wife Barbara Gamage is a remarkable record of an affectionate marriage that endured long absences, a frustrating lack of political advancement, crushing financial problems, and the declining health. Robert Sidney uses a more affectionate and informal style in writing to his wife than in his business or political correspondence. Although we can never fully know the past, and we have no diaries for Robert and Barbara Sidney, we can reconstruct much of their life together from the unusual amount of documentation preserved by the Sidney family. In preparing the reading text of the letters of Robert Sidney the authors have attempted to modernize the originals but also to preserve their distinctive features.
