its opening Euphues and
Philautus, who have come to terms on a basis of common condemnation of
Lucilla, are discovered on their way to England. By way of enlivening
the weary hours, our hero, ever ready to play the preacher now that he
has ceased to be the warning, delivers himself of a lengthy, but highly
edifying tale, which evokes the impatient exclamation of Philautus
already quoted; we may however notice as a sign of progress that Euphues
has substituted a moral narrative for his usual discourse. The relations
between the two friends have become distinctly amusing, and might, in
abler hands, have resulted in comic situation. Euphues, having learnt
the lesson of the burnt child, is now a very grave person, proud of his
own experience and of its fruits in himself. Extremes met,

"Where pinched ascetic and red sensualist
Alternately recurrent freeze and burn,"

and it is interesting to note that Euphues embodies many of the
characteristics of the Byronic hero--his sententiousness, his misogyny,
his cynicism born of disillusionment, and his rhetorical flatulency; but
he is no rebel like Manfred because he finds consolation in his own
pre-eminence in a world of platitude. Conscious of his dearly bought
wisdom, he makes it his continuous duty, if not pleasure, to rebuke the
over-amorous Philautus, who was at least human, and to enlarge upon the
infidelity of the opposite sex. Lyly failed to realise the possibilities
of this antagonism of character, because he always appears to be in
sympathy with his hero, and so misses an opportunity which would have
delighted the heart of Thackeray. I say "appears," because I consider
that this sympathy was nothing but a pose which he considered necessary
for the popularity of his book. It is important however to observe that
the idea of one character as a foil to another, though undeveloped, is
here present for the first time in our national prose story.

The tale ended and the voyage over, our friends arrive in England, where
after stopping at Dover "3 or 4 days, until they had digested ye seas,
and recovered their healths," they proceeded to Canterbury, at which
place they fell in with an old man named Fidus, who gave them
entertainment for body and mind. To those who have conscientiously read
the whole history of Euphues up to this point, the incident of Fidus
will appear immensely refreshing. It seems to me, in fact, to mark the
highest point of Lyly's skill as a noveli