his fleeting and unequal work has
been reprinted, it is not very easy to decide off-hand on the relative bulk
of the authors' works. But the palm in this respect must be divided between
Robert Greene and Nicholas Breton, the former of whom fills eleven volumes
of loosely-printed crown octavo, and the latter (in prose only) a thick
quarto of very small and closely-printed double columns. Greene, who began
his work early under the immediate inspiration first of his travels and
then of Lyly's _Euphues_, started, as early as 1583, with _Mamillia, a
Looking-Glass for the Ladies of England_, which, both in general character
and in peculiarities of style, is an obvious copy of _Euphues_. _The Mirror
of Modesty_ is more of a lay sermon, based on the story of Susanna. _The
Tritameron of Love_ is a dialogue without action, but _Arbasto, or the
Anatomie of Fortune_ returns to the novel form, as does _The Card of
Fancy_. _Planetomachia_ is a collection of stories, illustrating the
popular astrological notions, with an introduction on astrology generally.
_Penelope's Web_ is another collection of stories, but _The Spanish
Masquerado_ is one of the most interesting of the series. Written just at
the time of the Armada, it is pure journalism--a _livre de circonstance_
composed to catch the popular temper with aid of a certain actual
knowledge, and a fair amount of reading. Then Greene returned to euphuism
in _Menaphon_, and in _Euphues, his Censure to Philautus_; nor are
_Perimedes the Blacksmith_ and _Tully's Love_ much out of the same line.
_The Royal Exchange_ again deviates, being a very quaint collection,
quaintly arranged, of moral maxims, apophthegms, short stories, etc., for
the use of the citizens. Next, the author began the curious series, at
first perhaps not very sincere, but certainly becoming so at last, of
half-personal reminiscences and regrets, less pointed and well arranged
than Villon's, but remarkably similar. The first and longest of these was
_Greene's Never too Late_, with its second part _Francesco's Fortunes_.
_Greene's Metamorphosis_ is Euphuist once more, and _Greene's Mourning
Garment_ and _Greene's Farewell to Folly_ are the same, with a touch of
personality. Then he diverged into the still more curious series on
"conny-catching"--rooking, gulling, cheating, as we should call it. There
are five or six of these tracts, and though there is not a little
bookmaking in them, they are unquestionably full of instruc