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 state