Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable/Sidney (Algernon)

by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer

Sidney (Algernon), called by Thomson, in his Summer, "The British Cassius," because of his republican principles. Both disliked kings, not from their misrule, but from a dislike to monarchy. Cassius was one of the conspirators against the life of Cæsar, and Sidney was one of the judges that condemned Charles I. to the block (1617–1683).