The  soliloquies  and  monologues,  indeed,  are  often
tainted  with  the  author's  mannerism.  Antitheses  and
classical  allusions  abound.  All  the  characters,  from
the  highest  to  the  lowest,  use  the  same  refined  lan-
guage, and  seem  to  have  enjoyed  a  polite  education.
L  L  2


Si6  SHAKSPERE'S  PREDECESSORS.
But  the  dialogue  is  for  the  most  part  free  in  style,  and
terse  even  to  bareness.  The  lyrics  are  as  neat  and
delicate  as  French  songs.  Some  of  the  scenes  suggest
antique  sculpture,  or  the  subjects  of  engraved  gems.
After  making  due  allowance  for  the  alloy  of  conceits,
which  mingles  with  the  finer  ore  of  his  production,
Lyly's  style  deserves  to  be  called  Attic.
In  '  Euphues '  he  had  given  signal  proof  of  his  origin-
ality. His  Comedies  were  no  less  new  creations.  No-
thing of  the  same  sort  had  previously  been  known  in
England.  They  combined  the  qualities  of  the  Masque
and  the  Drama,  interwove  classical  fable  with  allegory,
and  made  the  whole  work  of  art  subservient  to  compli-
ment. We  cannot  call  them  Comedies  of  character,  of
intrigue,  or  of  manners.  They  are  devoid  of  plot,  and
deficient  in  dramatic  movement.  But  the  succession  of
their  scenes  is  brilliant,  their  dialogue  sparkling,  their
allegory  interesting.  The  title  under  which  they  were
published  in  Blount's  edition  of  1632  sufficiently  de-
scribes them.  There  they  are  termed  Court  Come-
dies. The  curious  rarity  of  their  invention  is  well,
though  euphuistically,  characterised  in  the  same  editor's
panegyric  on  the  author  :  '  The  spring  is  at  hand,  and
therefore  I  present  you  a  Lily  growing  in  a  Grove  of
Laurels.  For  this  poet  sat  at  the  sun's  table.  Apollo
gave  him  a  wreath  of  his  own  bays,  without  snatching.
The  lyre  he  played  on  had  no  borrowed  strings.'


'ENDIMION.'  517


VI.
