, _Lit. of Europe_, ed. 1855, vol. I. p. 403 n. Brunet in
his _Manuel de Libraire_ gives Hallam's view without comment, tome II.
"Guevara."

[51] Underhill, p. 69.

[52] Bond, vol. I. p. 137.

In face of these facts, the Guevara theory is no longer tenable; and in
consequence the whole situation is reversed, and we approach the problem
from the natural side, the side from which it should have been
approached from the first--that is from the English and not the Spanish
side. I say the natural side, because it seems to me obvious that the
popularity of a foreign author in any country implies the existence in
that country, previous to the introduction of the author, of an
atmosphere (or more concretely a public) favourable to the
distinguishing characteristics of the author introduced. And so it now
appears that Guevara found favour in England because his style, or
something very like it, was already known there; and it was the most
natural thing in the world that Berners, who shows that style most
prominently, should have been the channel by which Guevara became known
to English readers. The whole problem of this 16th century prose is
analogous to that of 18th century verse. The solution of both was for a
long time found in foreign influence. It was natural to assume that
France, the pivot of our foreign policy at the end of the 17th century,
gave us the classical movement, and that Spain, equally important
politically in the 16th century, gave us euphuism. Closer investigation
has disproved both these theories[53], showing that, while foreign
influence was undoubtedly an immense factor in the _development_ of
these literary fashions, their real _origin_ was English.

[53] For 18th century v. Gosse, _From Shakespeare to Pope_.

The proof of this does not rest entirely on the case of Berners. We
might even concede that he was acquainted with an earlier edition of
Guevara, and that his style was actually derived from Spanish sources,
without surrendering our thesis that euphuism was a natural growth.
Berners' euphuism, whatever its origin, was premature; and, though the
_Golden Boke_ passed through twelve editions between 1534 and 1560, we
cannot say that its style influenced English writing until the time of
Lyly, for its vogue was confined to a small class of readers, designated
by Mr Underhill as the "Guevara-group." On the other hand, it is
possible to trace a feeling towards euphuism among writers who we