id." But the parental responsibility and
merit must be attributed to him who hatches. It was Lyly who made
euphuism famous and therefore a power; and, despite the fact that he
marks the culmination of the movement, he is the most dynamical of all
the euphuists.

It remains to sum up our conclusions respecting the origin and
development of this literary phase. Difficult as it is to unravel the
tangled network of obscure influences which surrounded its birth, I
venture to think that a sufficiently complete disproof of that extreme
theory, which would ascribe it entirely to Guevara's influence, has been
offered. Guevara, in the translation of Berners, undoubtedly took the
field early, but, as we have seen, Berners was probably feeling towards
the style before he knew Guevara; and moreover the bishop's _alto
estilo_ must have suffered considerably while passing through the
French. Even allowing everything, as we have done, for the close
connexion between Spain and England, for the Spanish tradition at
Oxford, and for the interest in peninsular writings shown by Lyly's
immediate circle of friends, we cannot accord to Dr Landmann's
explanation anything more than a very modified acceptance. Nor would a
complete rejection of this solution of the Lyly problem render English
euphuism inexplicable; for something very like it would naturally have
resulted from the close application of classical methods to prose
writing; and in the case of Cheke and Ascham we actually see the process
at work. And yet Lyly owed a great debt to Guevara. A true solution,
therefore, must find a place for foreign as well as native influences.
And to say that the Spanish intervention confirmed and hastened a
development already at work, of which the original impulse was English,
is, I think, to give a due allowance to both.

SECTION III. _Lyly's Legatees and the relation between Euphuism and the
Renaissance._

The publication of _Euphues_ was the culmination, rather than the
origin, of that literary phase to which it gave its name. And the vogue
of euphuism after 1579 was short, lasting indeed only until about 1590;
yet during these ten years its influence was far-reaching, and left a
definite mark upon later English prose. It would be idle, if not
impossible, to trace its effects upon every individual writer who fell
under its immediate fascination. Moreover the task has already been
performed in a great measure by M. Jusserand[61] and Mr Bond[62].