John Lyly | Page 8

"sour in the smack," and so
on. The former of these antitheses is an example of transverse
alliteration, of which so much is made by Dr Landmann, but which, as
Mr Child shows, plays a subordinate, and an entirely mechanical, part
in Lyly's style[21]. Lyly's most natural and most usual method of
emphasizing is by means of simple alliteration. On the other hand it
must be noticed that he employs alliteration for the sake of euphony
alone much more frequently than he uses it for the purpose of emphasis.
So that we may conclude by saying that simple alliteration forms the
basis of the euphuistic diction, just as we have seen antithesis forms the
basis of the euphuistic construction. This brief survey of the framework
of euphuism is far from being an exhaustive analysis. All that is here
attempted is an enumeration of the most obvious marks of euphuism, as
a necessary step to an investigation of its origin, and to a determination
of its place in the history of our literature.
[14] Child, pp. 6-20, for an account of chief writers who have dealt
with euphuism.
[15] John Lyly and Euphuism. C. G. Child.
[16] On Euphuism, Phil. Soc. Trans., 1870-2.
[17] Child, p. 43.
[18] id., p. 44.
[19] Euphues, p. 90.

[20] Child, p. 39.
[21] id., p. 46.
Before, however, leaving the subject entirely, we must mention two
more characteristics of Lyly's prose which are very noticeable, but
which come under the head of ornamental, rather than constructional,
devices. The first of these is a peculiar use of the rhetorical
interrogation. Lyly makes use of it when he wishes to portray his
characters in distress or excitement, and it most frequently occurs in
soliloquies. Sometimes we find a string of these interrogations, at
others they are answered by sentences beginning "ay but," and
occasionally we have the "ay but" sentence with the preceding
interrogation missing. I make a special mention of this point, as we
shall find it has a certain connexion with the subject of the origins of
euphuism.
The other ornamental device is one which has attracted a considerable
quantity of attention from critics, and has frequently been taken by
itself as the distinguishing mark of euphuism. In point of fact, however,
the euphuists shared it with many other writers of their age, though it is
doubtful whether anyone carried it to such extravagant lengths as Lyly.
It took the form of illustrations and analogies, so excessive and
overwhelming that it is difficult to see how even the idlest lady of
Elizabeth's court found time or patience to wade through them. They
consist first of anecdotes and allusions relating to historical or
mythological persons of the ancient world; some being drawn from
Plutarch, Pliny, Ovid, Virgil, and other sources, but many springing
simply from Lyly's exuberant fancy. In the second place Euphues is a
collection of similes borrowed from "a fantastical natural history, a sort
of mythology of plants and stones, to which the most extraordinary
virtues are attributed[22]." "I have heard," says Camilla, bashfully
excusing herself for taking up the cudgels of argument with the learned
Surius, "that the Tortoise in India when the sunne shineth, swimmeth
above the water wyth hyr back, and being delighted with the fine
weather, forgetteth her selfe until the heate of the sunne so harden her
shell, that she cannot sink when she woulde, whereby she is caught.

And so it may fare with me that in this good companye displaying my
minde, having more regard to my delight in talking, than to the ears of
the hearers, I forget what I speake, and so be taken in something I
would not utter, which happilye the itchyng ears of young gentlemen
would so canvas that when I would call it in, I cannot, and so be caught
with the Tortoise, when I would not[23]." And, when she had finished
her discourse, Surius again employs the simile for the purpose of
turning a neat compliment, saying, "Lady, if the Tortoise you spoke of
in India were as cunning in swimming, as you are in speaking, she
would neither fear the heate of the sunne nor the ginne of the Fisher."
This is but a mild example of the "unnatural natural philosophy" which
Euphues has made famous. An unending procession of such similes,
often of the most extravagant nature, runs throughout the book, and
sometimes the development of the plot is made dependent on them.
Thus Lucilla hesitates to forsake Philautus for Euphues, because she
feels that her new lover will remember "that the glasse once chased will
with the least clappe be cracked, that the cloth which stayneth with
milke will soon loose his coulour with Vinegar; that the eagle's wing
will waste the feather as well as of the