And yet for the scientific critic Lyly's work is still alive with significance. Worthless as much of it is from the aesthetic point of view, from the dynamical, the historical aspect few English writers are of greater interest. Waller was rescued from oblivion and labelled as the first of the classical poets. But we can claim more for Lyly than this. Extravagant as it may sound, he was one of the great founders of our literature. His experiments in prose first taught men that style was a matter worthy of careful study, he was among the earliest of those who realised the utility of blank verse for dramatic purposes, he wrote the first English novel in our language, and finally he is not only deservedly recognised as the father of English comedy, but by his mastery of dramatic technique he laid such a burden of obligation upon future playwrights that he placed English drama upon a completely new basis. Of the three main branches of our literature, therefore, two--the novel and the drama--were practically of his creation, and though his work suffered because it lacked the quality of poetry, for the historian of literature it is none the less important on that account. LIST OF CHIEF AUTHORITIES. ARBER. The Martin Marprelate Controversy. Scholar's Library. ASCHAM, ROGER. The Schoolmaster. Arber's English Reprints. ASCHAM, ROGER. Toxophilus. Arber's English Reprints. BAKER, G. P. Lyly's Endymion. BARNEFIELD, RICHARD. Poems. Arber's Scholar's Library. BERNERS, LORD. The Golden Boke of Marcus Aurelius. BERNERS, LORD. Froissart's Chronicles. Globe Edition. BOAS. Works of Kyd. Clarendon Press. BOND, R. W. John Lyly. Clarendon Press. 3 Vols. BRUNET. Manuel de Libraire. BUTLER CLARKE. Spanish Literature. CHILD, C. G. John Lyly and Euphuism. _Münchener Beiträge_ VII. CRAIK, SIR H. Specimens of English Prose. DICTIONARY of National Biography. EARLE. History of English Prose. FIELD, NATHANIEL. A Woman is a Weathercock. FITZMAURICE-KELLY. Spanish Literature. Heinemann. GAYLEY. Representative English Comedies. GOSSE. From Shakespeare to Pope. GOSSON. School of Abuse. Arber's English Reprints. GUEVARA, ANTONIO DE. Libro Aureo del emperado Marco Aurelio. HALLAM. Introduction to the Literature of Europe. HENNEQUIN. La Critique Scientifique. HUME, MARTIN. Spanish Influence on English Literature. JUSSERAND. The English Novel in the time of Shakespeare. LANDMANN, DR. Shakespeare and Euphuism. _New Shak. Soc. Trans._ 1880-2. LANDMANN, DR. Introduction to Euphues. Sprache und Literatur. LATIMER. Sermons. Arber's English Reprints. LEE, SIDNEY. Athenæum, July 14, 1883. LEE, SIDNEY. Huon of Bordeaux (Berners'). Early Eng. Text Soc. Extra Series XL., XLI. LEE, SIDNEY. Life of Shakespeare. LIEBIG. Lord Bacon et les sciences d'observation en moyen âge. LYLY. Euphues. Arber's English Reprints. MACAULAY, G. G. Introd. to Froissart's Chronicles. Globe Edition. MEREDITH, GEORGE. Essay on Comedy.