John Lyly (1553-1606)

 *John Lyly (1553-1606).* —In 1578 or 1579 appeared John Lyly’s Euphues, or the Anatomy of Wit, a romance written in a style that had a marked effect upon the literature of the time. This romance told of the adventures of a young Athenian who went to Naples for his education. It gave Lyly a chance to give his own views on love, friendship, and religion. So great was the success of Lyly’s first book, that in 1581 there appeared a second book, Euphues, and his England. The sentences in the two books were condensed in expression, epigrammatic, and proverb-like, and they helped to check the diffuse style of the old prose writers.