Probably both Sidney's friends felt that they referred to what was too sacred to be touched by a careless hand; and, indeed, there was no one, even amongst Philip's dearest friends, except his sister Mary, the Countess of Pembroke, who ever approached the subject of his love for Stella--that rose which Philip had not gathered when within his reach, and which was now drooping under an influence more merciless than that of age--the baneful influence of a most unhappy marriage. The Queen had that very morning spoken out with a pitiless bluntness, which had made Philip unusually thoughtful. The very words the Queen had used haunted him--'tale-bearers, who had neither clean hearts nor clean tongue.' Edward Dyer, according to the custom of the friends when they met, read some verses he had lately composed, and Fulke Greville followed. Then Philip Sidney was called upon to contribute a sonnet or stanza. If he never reached the highest standard of poetry, and, even in his best stanzas of _Stella and Astrophel_, rivalled the sweet flow of Edmund Spenser's verse, he had the gift of making his verses vividly express what was uppermost in his mind at the moment, as many of the _Stella and Astrophel_ poems abundantly testify. In early youth Philip Sidney had been influenced by a distinguished convert to the Reformed Faith, Hubert Languet, whom he met at Frankfort. Between this man of fifty-four and the boy of eighteen, who had gone abroad for thoughtful travel and diligent study, a strong--even a romantic--friendship had sprung up, and the letters which have been preserved show how unwavering Hubert Languet was in his devotion to the young Englishman, whose fine and noble qualities he had been quick to discover. About this time Philip was anxious as to the health of his old friend. His letters had been less frequent, and the last he had received during the present year, had seemed to tell of failing powers of body, though the mind was as vigorous as ever. Thus, the two verses which Philip now read from his _Arcadia_ had reference to his old and dearly-loved counsellor and friend, and were inspired by the lifelong gratitude he felt for him. They are clothed, as was the two frequent custom of the time, in pastoral images; but Fulke Greville and Edward Dyer listened spellbound as the words were uttered, in musical tones, with a strength of feeling underlying them, which gave every line a deep significance. 'The song I sang, old Languet had me taught, Languet, the shepherd, best swift Ister knew; For, clerkly read, and hating what is naught For faithful heart, clean hands, and mouth as true, With his sweet skill my skilless youth he drew, To have a feeling taste of Him that sits Beyond the heaven, far more beyond our wits.