sing extravagances, possessing little dynamical importance. In this
way, short-lived and abortive as it seemed, euphuism anticipated the
literature of the _ancien regime_.

The movement, moreover, was only one aspect of the Renaissance; it was
the under-current which in the 18th century became the main stream.
Paradoxical as it may seem, the Renaissance in its most modern aspect
was a development of the middle ages, and not of the classics. This we
call romanticism. As an artistic product it was developed on strictly
national and traditional lines, born of the fields as it were, free as a
bird and as sweet, giving birth in England to the drama, in Italy to the
plastic arts. It is essentially opposed to the classical movement, for
it represents the idea as distinct from the form. Lyly belongs to both
movements, for, while he is the protagonist of the romantic drama, in
his _Euphues_ we may discover the source of the artificial stream which,
concealed for a while beneath the wild exuberance of the romantic
growth, appears later in the 18th century embracing the whole current of
English literature. Before, however, proceeding to fix the position of
euphuism in the development of English prose, let us sum up the results
we have obtained from our examination of its relation to the general
European Renaissance. Originating in that study of classical style we
find so forcibly advocated by Ascham in his _Schoolmaster_, it was
essentially a product of humanism. In every country scholars were
interested as much in the style as in the matter of the newly discovered
classics. This was due, partly to the lateness of the Latin writers
chiefly known to them, partly to the mediaeval preference for words
rather than ideas, and partly to the fact that the times were not yet
ripe for an appreciation of the spirit as distinct from the letter of
the classics. In Italy, in France, and in Spain, therefore, we may find
parallels to euphuism without supposing any international borrowings.
_Euphues_, in fact, is not so much a reflection of, as a _Glasse for
Europe_.

SECTION IV. _The position of Euphuism in the history of English prose._

A few words remain to be said about this literary curiosity, by way of
assigning a place to it in the history of our prose. To do so with any
scientific precision is impossible, but there are many points of no
small significance in this connexion, which should not be passed over.

English prose at the begi