[61] The artist selected as a worthy subject for his pencil the gallery which runs parallel with “the Brown Gallery,” on the upper floor. It is peculiarly striking and characteristic; and Time has shaken it into “the picturesque.” It is known as “the Retainers’ Gallery;” the sleeping apartments of the domestics branch off from it. The marble chimney-piece, although much dilapidated, is of the finest marble, and of rare workmanship. [62] According to Hasted, the name is derived from _Pen_, an old British word signifying the top of anything; and _hyrst_, a wood. [63] It has been the fortune of the “Arcadia” to be too highly valued in one age, and far too much underrated in another. Immediately after its publication it was received with unbounded applause:--“From it was taken the language of compliment and love, it gave a tinge of similitude to the colloquial and courtly dialect of the time, and from thence its influence was communicated to the lucubrations of the Poet, the Historian, and the Divine.” The Book is a mixture of what has been termed the heroic and the pastoral Romance, interspersed with interludes and episodes, and details the various and marvellous adventures of two friends, Musidorus and Pyrocles. It was not intended to be published to the world; but was written merely to pleasure the Countess of Pembroke--“a principal ornament to the family of the Sidneis.” [64] The touching incident to which, perhaps, more than to any other circumstance, Sir Philip is indebted for his heroic fame, is thus related by his friend and biographer, Fulke Greville, Lord Broke:--“In his sad progress, passing along by the rest of the army, where his uncle, the General, was, and being thirsty with excess of bleeding, he called for drink, which was presently brought him; but, as he was putting the bottle to his mouth, he saw a poor soldier carried along, who had been wounded at the same time, ghastly casting up his eyes at the bottle. Which Sir Philip perceiving, took it from his head before he drank, and delivered it to the poor man, with these words, ‘Thy necessity is yet greater than mine.’” He lived in great pain for many days after he was wounded, and died on the 17th of October, 1586. The close of his life affords a beautiful lesson. “Calmly and steadily he awaited the approach of death. His prayers were long and fervent--his bearing was indeed that of a Christian hero. He had a noble funeral. Kings clad themselves in garments of grief--a whole people grieved for the loss of the most accomplished scholar, the most graceful courtier, the best soldier, and the worthiest man of the country and the age. He was buried in state, in the old Cathedral of St. Paul’s, on the 16th of February. Both Universities composed verses to his memory; and so general was the mourning for him, that, “for many months after his death, it was accounted indecent for any gentleman of quality to appear at Court, or in the City, in any light or gaudy apparel.”