ers, which usually attend a simple answer
to a complex question. The idea that euphuism was originally an article
of foreign production was first set on foot by Dr Landmann. The real
father of Lyly's style, he tells us, was Antonio de Guevara, bishop of
Guadix, who published in 1529 a book, the title of which was as follows:
_The book of the emperor Marcus Aurelius with a Diall for princes_. This
book was translated into English in 1534 by Lord Berners, and again in
1557 by Sir Thomas North; in both cases from a French version. The two
translations are conveniently distinguished by their titles, that of
Berners being _The Golden Boke_, that of North being _The Diall of
Princes_. Dr Landmann is very positive with regard to his theory, but
the fact that both translations come from the French and not from the
Castilian, seems to me to constitute a serious drawback to its
acceptance. And moreover this theory does not explain the really
important crux of the whole matter, namely the reason why a style of
this kind, whatever its origin, found a ready acceptance in England: for
fourteen editions of _The Golden Boke_ are known between 1534 and 1588,
a number for those days quite exceptional and showing the existence of
an eager public. Two answers are possible to the last question; that
there existed a large body of men in the England of the Tudors who were
interested in Spanish literature of all kinds and in Guevara among
others; and that the euphuistic style was already forming in England,
and that this was the reason of Guevara's popularity. In both answers I
think there is truth; and I hope to show that they give us, when
combined, a fairly adequate explanation of the vogue of euphuism in our
country. Let us deal with external influences first.

The upholders of the Spanish theory have contented themselves with
stating that Lyly borrowed from Guevara, and pointing out the parallels
between the two writers. But it is possible to give their case a greater
plausibility, by showing that Guevara was no isolated instance of such
Spanish influence, and by proving that during the Tudor period there was
a consistent and far-reaching interest in Spanish literature among a
certain class of Englishmen. Intimacy with Spain dates from Henry VIII.'s
marriage with Katherine of Aragon, though no Spanish book had actually
been translated into English before her divorce. But the period from
then onwards until the accession of James I., a perio