ABSTRACT
The circulation of the Sidney Psalms by Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, established her as the heir of Philip Sidney’s poetic legacy. Though the psalm translations began as a joint project of the brother and sister,1 Philip Sidney was responsible only for the first 43 of the 150 psalms, and Mary Sidney seems to have edited those.2 Mary Sidney’s Psalms garnered praise from writers, poets, and theologians of her day. The embodiment of all of these, John Donne, enthusiastically salutes the Sidney translations declaring, “So though some have, some may some Psalmes translate / We thy Sydnean Psalmes shall celebrate” (“Upon the translation of the Psalmes” l. 55-6). In the course of his 56-line poem “Upon the translation of the Psalmes by Sir Philip Sydney, and the Countesses of Pembroke his Sister” (1621), Donne praises Philip and Mary Sidney as “this Moses and this Miriam” (l. 46), cleverly associating an admired Renaissance brother and sister with a renowned brother and sister of the Bible. The comparison makes sense: Moses’ divine selection paved the way for his siblings’ prophetic roles.3 Though Mary
1 Mary Sidney describes the psalms’ translators in her dedication to Queen Elizabeth as “Which once in two, now in one Subject goe” (“Even now that care” l.21). Margaret P. Hannay interprets this as Mary Sidney’s claim of participation from the beginning of the project. See Margaret P. Hannay, “Mary Sidney and the Sidney Legend” in M.J.B. Allen, Dominic Baker-Smith, and Arthur F. Kinney with Margaret M. Sullivan (eds), Sir Philip Sidney’s Achievements (New York, 1990), p. 221.
