John Lyly

John Lyly, by John Dover Wilson

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Title: John Lyly
Author: John Dover Wilson
Release Date: September 6, 2007 [EBook #22525]
Language: English
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[Transcriber's Note:
This e-text contains one Greek word that has been transliterated and
placed inside slashes: /Euphuês/.]

JOHN LYLY
BY
JOHN DOVER WILSON,

B.A., Late Scholar of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
Members' Prizeman, 1902. Harness Prizeman, 1904. Honours in
Historical Tripos.

Macmillan and Bowes Cambridge 1905

A MIA DONNA.

PREFACE.
The following treatise was awarded the Harness Prize at Cambridge in
1904. I have, however, revised it since then, and in some matters
considerably enlarged it.
A list of the chief authorities to whom I am indebted will be found at
the end of the book, but it is fitting that I should here make particular
mention of my obligations to the exhaustive work of Mr Bond[1]. Not
only have his labours of research and collation lightened the task for
me, and for any future student of Lyly, to an incalculable extent, but the
various introductory essays scattered up and down his volumes are full
of invaluable suggestions.
[1] The Complete Works of John Lyly. R. W. Bond, 3 Vols. Clarendon
Press.

This book was unfortunately nearing its completion before I was able
to avail myself of Mr Martin Hume's Spanish Influence on English
Literature. But, though I might have added more had his book been
accessible earlier, I was glad to find that his conclusions left the main
theory of my chapter on Euphuism untouched.
Much as has been written upon John Lyly, no previous critic has
attempted to cover the whole ground, and to sum up in a brief and
convenient form the three main literary problems which centre round
his name. My solution of these problems may be faulty in detail, but it
will I hope be of service to Elizabethan students to have them presented
in a single volume and from a single point of view. Furthermore, when
I undertook this study, I found several points which seemed to demand
closer attention than they had hitherto received. It appeared to me that
the last word had not been said even upon the subject of Euphuism,
although that topic has usurped the lion's share of critical treatment.
And again, while Lyly's claims as a novelist are acknowledged on all
hands, I felt that a clear statement of his exact position in the history of
our novel was still needed. Finally, inasmuch as the personality of an
author is always more fascinating to me than his writings, I determined
to attempt to throw some light, however fitful and uncertain, upon the
man Lyly himself. The attempt was not entirely fruitless, for it led to
the interesting discovery that the fully-developed euphuism was not the
creation of Lyly, or Pettie, or indeed of any one individual, but of a
circle of young Oxford men which included Gosson, Watson, Hakluyt,
and possibly many others.
I have to thank Mr J. R. Collins and Mr J. N. Frazer, the one for help in
revision, and the other for assistance in Spanish. But my chief debt of
gratitude is due to Dr Ward, the Master of Peterhouse, who has twice
read through this book at different stages of its construction. The
readiness with which he has put his great learning at my disposal, his
kindly interest, and frequent encouragement have been of the very
greatest help in a task which was undertaken and completed under
pressure of other work.
As the full titles of authorities used are to be found in the list at the end,

I have referred to works in the footnotes simply by the name of their
author, while in quoting from Euphues I have throughout employed
Prof. Arber's reprint. Should errors be discovered in the text I must
plead in excuse that, owing to circumstances, the book had to be passed
very quickly through the press.
JOHN DOVER WILSON.
HOLMLEIGH, SHELFORD, August, 1905.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION. PAGE
The problem stated--Sketch of Lyly's life 1
CHAPTER I.
EUPHUISM 10
Section I. The Anatomy of Euphuism 13
Section II. The Origin of Euphuism 21
Section III. Lyly's legatees and the relation between Euphuism and