Chapter 3

_LYLY AND HIS "EUPHUES"_ 103

I. "Euphues," a book for women 103

II. "Euphuism," its foreign origin--How embellished and perfected by Lyly--Fanciful natural history of the time--The mediæval bestiaries--Topsell's scientific works 106

III. The plot of the novel--Moral tendencies of "Euphues"--Lyly's precepts concerning men, women and children 123

IV. Lyly's popularity--Courtly talk of the time--Translations and abbreviations of "Euphues" in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 135