ually practised as a master before the _Euphues_ saw light[89]; and,
therefore, we have every reason to suppose that this little treatise
was a labour of love. Possibly Ascham's _Schoolmaster_ inspired him with
the idea of writing it. Certainly, when we have allowed everything for
Plutarch's work, enough remains over to justify Mr Quick's inclusion of
John Lyly, side by side with Roger Ascham, in his _Educational
Reformers_.

[89] Bond, I. p. 10.

But such excellent work has but little to do with the business of
novel-writing, and, when we turn to this aspect of the _Anatomy of Wit_,
there is little to be said for it from the aesthetic point of view.
Indeed, it cannot strictly be called a novel at all. It is the bridge
between the moral Court treatise and the novel, and, as such, all its
aesthetic defects matter little in comparison with its dynamical value.
It was a great step to hang the chestnuts of discourse upon a string of
incident. The story is feeble, the plot puerile, but it was something to
have a story and a plot which dealt with contemporary life. And lastly,
though characterization is not even attempted, yet now and again these
euphuistic puppets, distinguishable only by their labels, are inspired
with something that is almost life by a phrase or a chance word.

I have said that it is very important to distinguish between the two
parts of _Euphues_. Two years only elapsed between their respective
publications, but in these two years Lyly, and with him our novel, had
made great strides. In 1578 he was not yet a novelist, though the
conception of the novel and the capacity for its creation were, as we
have just shown, already forming in his brain. In 1580, however, the
English novel had ceased to be merely potential; for it had come into
being with the appearance of _Euphues and his England_. Here in the same
writer, in the same book, and within the space of two years, we may
observe one of the most momentous changes of modern literature in
actual process. The _Anatomy of Wit_ is still the moral Court treatise,
coloured by the influence of the Italian _novella_; _Euphues and his
England_ is the first English novel. Lyly unconsciously symbolizes the
change he initiated by laying the scene of his first part in Italy,
while in the second he brings his hero to England. That sea voyage,
which provoked the stomach of Philautus sore, was an important one for
us, since the freight of the vessel was nothing less t