Part 14
_Euphues._--It was not, however, as a dramatist, but as the author of _Euphues_, that Lyly made most mark upon the Elizabethan world. His plays amused the court circle, but the "new English" of his novel threatened to permanently change the course of English style. The plot of _Euphues_ is extremely simple. The hero, whose name may very possibly have been suggested by a passage in Ascham's _Schoolmaster_, is introduced to us as still in bondage to the follies of youth, "preferring fancy before friends, and this present humour before honour to come." His travels bring him to Naples, where he falls in love with Lucilla, the governor's light-minded daughter. Lucilla is already pledged to Euphues's friend Philautus, but Euphues's passion betrays his friendship, and the old lover finds himself thrown over by both friend and mistress. Euphues himself, however, is very soon forsaken for a more attractive suitor. He and Philautus make up their quarrel, and Euphues writes his friend "a cooling card," to be "applied to all lovers," which is so severe upon the fair sex that Lyly feels it necessary to balance it by a sort of apology addressed "to the grave matrons and honest maidens of Italy." Euphues then leaves Naples for his native Athens, where he gives himself up to study, of which the first fruits are two long treatises--the first, "Euphues and his Ephoebus," a disquisition on the art of education addressed to parents, and the second, "Euphues and Atheos," a discussion of the first principles of religion. The remainder of the book is filled up with correspondence between Euphues and his friends. We have letters from Euphues to Philautus on the death of Lucilla, to another friend on the death of his daughter, to one Botonio "to take his exile patiently," and to the youth Alcius, remonstrating with him on his bad behaviour at the university. Finally a pair of letters, the first from Livia "at the emperour's court to Euphues at Athens," answered by "Euphues to Livia," wind up the first part, and announce to us Euphues's intention of visiting England. An address from Lyly to Lord Delawarr is affixed, to which was added in the second edition "An Address to the Gentlemen Scholars of England."
_Euphues and his England_ is rather longer than the first part. Euphues and Philautus travel from Naples to England. They arrive at Dover, halt for the night at Fidus's house at Canterbury, and then proceed to London, where they make acquaintance with Surius, a young English gentleman of great birth and noble blood; Psellus, an Italian nobleman reputed "great in magick"; Martius, an elderly Englishman; Camilla, a beautiful English girl of insignificant family; Lady Flavia and her niece Fraunces. After endless correspondence and conversation on all kinds of topics, Euphues is recalled to Athens, and from there corresponds with his friends. "Euphues' Glasse for Europe" is a flattering description of England sent to Livia at Naples. It is the most interesting portion of the book, and throws light upon one or two points of Lyly's own biography. The author naturally seized the opportunity for paying his inevitable tribute to the queen, and pays it in his most exalted style. "O fortunate England that hath such a queene, ungratefull if thou praye not for hir, wicked if thou do not love hir, miserable if thou lose hir!"--and so on. The book ends with Philautus's announcement of his marriage to Fraunces, upon which Euphues sends characteristic congratulations and retires, "tormented in body and grieved in mind," to the Mount of Silexedra, "where I leave him to his musing or Muses."
Such is a brief outline of the book which for a time set the fashion for English prose. Two editions of each part appeared within the first year after publication, and thirteen editions of both are enumerated up to 1636, after which, with the exception of a modernized version in 1718, _Euphues_ was never reprinted until 1868, when Dr Arber took it in hand. The reasons for its popularity are not far to seek. As far as matter was concerned it fell in with all the prevailing literary fashions. Its long disquisitions on love, religion, exile, women or education, on court life and country pleasures, handled all the most favourite topics in the secularized speculation of the time; its foreign background and travel talk pleased a society of which Lyly himself said "trafic and travel hath woven the nature of all nations into ours and made this land like arras full of device which was broadcloth full of workmanship"; and, although Lyly steered clear in it of the worst classical pedantries of the day, the book was more than sufficiently steeped in classical learning, and based upon classical material, to attract a literary circle which was nothing if not humanist. A large proportion of its matter indeed was drawn from classical sources. The general tone of sententious moralizing may be traced to Plutarch, from whom the treatise on education, "Euphues and his Ephoebus," and that on exile, "Letter to Botonio to take his exile patiently," are literally translated, as well as a number of other shorter passages either taken direct from the Latin versions or from some of the numerous English translations of Plutarch then current. The innumerable illustrations based upon a kind of pseudo natural history are largely taken from Pliny, while the mythology is that of Virgil and Ovid.
It was not the matter of _Euphues_, however, so much as the style which made it famous (see EUPHUISM). The source of Lyly's peculiar style has been traced by Dr Landmann (_Der Euphuismus_, _sein Wesen_, _seine Quelle_, _seine Geschichte_, &c. Giessen, 1881) to the influence of Don Antonio de Guevara, whose _Libro Aureo de Marco Aurelio_ (1529)--a sort of historical romance based upon Plutarch and upon Marcus Aurelius's _Meditations_, the object of which was to produce a "mirror for princes," of the kind so popular throughout the Renaissance--became almost immediately popular in England. The first edition, or rather a French version of it, was translated into English by Lord Berners in 1531, and published in 1534. Before 1560 twelve editions of Lord Berners's translation had been printed, and before 1578 six different translators of this and later works of Guevara had appeared. The translation, however, which had most influence upon English literature was that by North, the well-known translator of Plutarch, in 1557, called _The Dial for Princes, Compiled by the Reverend Father in God Don Antony of Guevara, Byshop of Guadix, &c., Englished out of the Frenche by Th. North_. The sententious and antithetical style of the _Dial for Princes_ is substantially that of _Euphues_, though Guevara on the whole handles it better than his imitator, and has many passages of real force and dignity. The general plan of the two books is also much the same. In both the biography is merely a peg on which to hang moral disquisitions and treatises. The use made of letters is the same in both. Even the names of some of the characters are similar. Thus Guevara's Lucilla is the flighty daughter of Marcus Aurelius. Lyly's Lucilla is the flighty daughter of Ferardo, governor of Naples; Guevara's Livia is a lady at the court of Marcus Aurelius, Lyly's Livia is a lady at the court "of the emperor," of whom no further description is given. The 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th chapters of the _Dial for Princes_ suggested the discussion between Euphues and Atheos. The letter from Euphues to Alcius is substantially the same in subject and treatment as that from Marcus Aurelius to his nephew Epesipo. Both Guevara and Lyly translated Plutarch's work _De educatione liberorum_, Lyly, however, keeping closer than the Spanish author to the original. The use made by Lyly of the university of Athens was an anachronism in a novel intended to describe his own time. He borrowed it, however, from Guevara, in whose book a university of Athens was of course entirely in place. The "cooling card for all fond lovers" and the address to the ladies and gentlemen of Italy have their counterparts among the miscellaneous letters by Guevara affixed by North to the _Dial for Princes_; and other instances of Lyly's use of these letters, and of two other treatises by Guevara on court and country life, could be pointed out.
Lyly was not the first to appropriate and develop the Guevaristic style. The earliest book in which it was fully adopted was _A petite Pallace of Pettie his Pleasure_, by George Pettie, which appeared in 1576, a production so closely akin to _Euphues_ in tone and style that it is difficult to believe it was not by Lyly. Lyly, however, carried the style to its highest point, and made it the dominant literary fashion. His principal followers in it were Greene, Lodge and Nash, his principal opponent Sir Philip Sidney; the _Arcadia_ in fact supplanted _Euphues_, and the Euphuistic taste proper may be said to have died out about 1590 after a reign of some twelve years. According to Landmann, Shakespeare's _Love's Labour Lost_ is a caricature of the Italianate and pedantic fashions of the day, not of the peculiar style of _Euphues_. The only certain allusion in Shakespeare to the characteristics of Lyly's famous book is to be found in _Henry IV._, where Falstaff, playing the part of the king, says to Prince Hal, "Harry, I do not only marvel where thou spendest thy time, but also how thou art accompanied; for, though the camomile the more it is trodden on the faster it grows, yet youth the more it is wasted the sooner it wears." Here the pompous antithesis is evidently meant to caricature the peculiar Euphuistic sentence of court parlance. (M. A. W.)
See Lyly's _Complete Works_, ed. R. W. Bond (3 vols., 1902); _Euphues_, from early editions, by Edward Arber (1868); A. W. Ward, _English Dramatic Literature_, i. 151; J. P. Collier, _History of Dramatis Poetry_, iii. 172; "John Lilly and Shakespeare," by C. C. Hense in the _Jahrbuch der deutschen Shakesp. Gesellschaft_, vols. vii. and viii. (1872, 1873); F. W. Fairholt, _Dramatic Works of John Lilly_ (2 vols., 1858); _Shakespeare's Euphuism_, by W. L. Rushton; H. Morley, "Euphuism" in the _Quarterly Review_ (1861); R. W. Bond, "John Lyly, Novelist and Dramatist," in the _Quarterly Review_ (Jan. 1896); J. A. Symonds, _Shakespeare's Predecessors_ (1883); J. D. Wilson, _John Lyly_ (Cambridge, 1905); A. Ainger, "Euphuism," in _Lectures and Essays_ (1905); and Albert Feuillerat, _John Lyly. Contribution à l'histoire de la Renaissance en Angleterre_ (1910).
FOOTNOTE:
[1] The evidence for his authorship may be found in Gabriel Harvey's _Pierce's Supererogation_ (written November 1589, published 1593), in Nash's _Have with you to Saffron Walden_ (1596), and in various allusions in Lyly's own plays. See Fairholt's _Dramatic Works of John Lilly_, i. 20.
LYME REGIS, a market town and municipal borough and watering-place in the western parliamentary division of Dorsetshire, England, 151 m. W.S.W. of London by the London & South Western railway, the terminus of a light railway from Axminster. Pop. (1901) 2095. It is situated at the mouth of a narrow combe or valley opening upon a fine precipitous coast-line; there is a sandy shore affording excellent bathing, and the country inland is beautiful. The church of St Michael and All Angels is mainly Perpendicular, but the tower (formerly central) and the portion west of it are Norman. A guildhall and assembly rooms are the chief public buildings. The principal industries are stone-quarrying and the manufacture of cement. There is a curved pier of ancient foundation known as the Cobb. The harbour, with a small coasting trade, is under the authority of the corporation. The borough is under a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Area, 1237 acres.
No evidence of settlement on the site of Lyme Regis exists before that afforded by a grant, dated 774, purporting to be by Cynewulf, king of the West-Saxons, of land here to the church of Sherborne, and a similar grant by King Aethelstan to the church of Glastonbury. In 1086 three manors of Lyme are mentioned: that belonging to Sherborne abbey, which was granted at the dissolution to Thomas Goodwin, who alienated it in the following year; that belonging to Glastonbury, which seems to have passed into lay lands during the middle ages, and that belonging to William Belet. The last was acquired by the family of Bayeux, from whom it passed by marriage to Elias de Rabayne, whose nephew, Peter Baudrat, surrendered it to the crown in 1315-1316 when the king became lord of one moiety of the borough, henceforth known as Lyme Regis. Lyme ranked as a port in 1234, and Edward I. in 1284 granted to the town a charter making it a free borough, with a merchant gild, and in the same year the mayor and bailiffs are mentioned. In the following January the bailiffs were given freedom from pleading without the borough, freedom from toll and privileges implying considerable foreign trade; the importance of the port is also evident from the demand of two ships for the king's service in 1311. In 1332-1333 Edward III. granted Lyme to the burgesses at a fee-farm of 32 marks; on the petition of the inhabitants, who were impoverished by tempests and high tides, this was reduced to 100 shillings in 1410 and to 5 marks in 1481. In 1591 Elizabeth incorporated Lyme, and further charters were obtained from James I., Charles II. and William III. Lyme returned two members to parliament from 1295 to 1832 when the representation was reduced to one. The borough was disfranchised in 1867. The fairs granted in 1553 for the 1st of February and the 20th of September are now held on altered dates. Trade with France in wine and cloth was carried on as early as 1284, but was probably much increased on the erection of the Cobb, first mentioned in 1328 as built of timber and rock. Its medieval importance as the only shelter between Portland Roads and the river Exe caused the burgesses to receive grants of quayage for its maintenance in 1335 and many subsequent years, while its convenience probably did much to bring upon Lyme the unsuccessful siege by Prince Maurice in 1644. In 1685 Lyme was the scene of the landing of James, duke of Monmouth, in his attempt upon the throne.
LYMINGTON, a municipal borough and seaport in the New Forest parliamentary division of Hampshire, England, 98 m. S.W. from London by the London & South Western railway. Pop. (1901) 4165. It lies on the estuary of the Lymington, which opens into the Solent. The church of St Thomas à Becket is an irregular structure, dating from the reign of Henry VI., but frequently restored. There is some coasting trade, and yacht-building is carried on. Regular passenger steamers serve Yarmouth in the Isle of Wight. In summer the town is frequented for sea-bathing. It is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Area, 1515 acres.
There was a Roman camp near Lymington (_Lentune_, _Lementon_), and Roman relics have been found, but there is no evidence that a town existed here until after the Conquest. Lymington dates its importance from the grant of the town to Richard de Redvers, earl of Devon, in the reign of Henry I. No charter has been found, but a judgment given under a writ of _quo warranto_ in 1578 confirms to the burgesses freedom from toll, passage and pontage, the tolls and stallage of the quay and the right to hold two fairs--privileges which they claimed under charters of Baldwin de Redvers and Isabel de Fortibus, countess of Albemarle, in the 13th century, and Edward Courtenay, earl of Devon, in 1405. The town was governed by the mayor and burgesses until the corporation was reformed in 1835. A writ for the election of a member to parliament was issued in the reign of Edward III., but no return was made. From 1585 two members were regularly returned; the number was reduced to one in 1867, and in 1885 the representation was merged in that of the county. Fairs on the 13th and 14th of May and the 2nd and 3rd of October, dating from the 13th century, are still held. The Saturday market probably dates from the same century. Lymington was made a port in the reign of Henry I., and its large shipping trade led to frequent disputes with Southampton as to the levying of duties. The case was tried in 1329 and decided against Lymington, but in 1750 the judgment was reversed, and since then the petty customs have been regularly paid. From an early date and for many centuries salt was the staple manufacture of Lymington. The rise of the mineral saltworks of Cheshire led to its decline in the 18th century, and later the renewed importance of Southampton completed its decay.
See E. King, _Borough and Parish of Lymington_ (London, 1879).
LYMPH and LYMPH FORMATION. Lying close to the blood-vessels of a limb or organ a further set of vessels may be observed. They are very pale in colour, often almost transparent and very thin-walled. Hence they are frequently difficult to find and dissect. These are the lymphatic vessels, and they are found to be returning a fluid from the tissues to the bloodstream. When traced back to the tissues they are seen to divide and ultimately to form minute anastomosing tubules, the _lymph capillaries_. The capillaries finally terminate in the spaces between the structures of the tissue, but whether their free ends are closed or are in open communication with the tissue spaces is still undecided. The study of their development shows that they grow into the tissue as a closed system of minute tubes, which indicates that in all probability they remain permanently closed. If we trace the lymphatic vessels towards the thorax we find that in some part of their course they terminate in structures known as lymphatic glands. From these again fresh lymphatic vessels arise which carry the fluid towards the main lymph-vessel, the _thoracic duct_. This runs up the posterior wall of the thorax close to the aorta, and finally opens into the junction of the internal jugular and left subclavian veins. The lymph-vessels from the right side of the head and neck and from the right arm open, however, into the right subclavian vein (see LYMPHATIC SYSTEM below).
_Chemical Constitution of Lymph._--The lymph collected from the thoracic duct during hunger is almost water clear and yellowish in colour. Its specific gravity varies from 1015 to 1025. It tastes salt and has a faint odour. It is alkaline in reaction, but is much less alkaline than blood-serum. Like blood it clots, but clots badly, only forming a soft clot which quickly contracts. The lymph collected from a lymphatic before it has passed through a lymph gland contains a few leucocytes, and though the number of lymphocytes is greater in the lymph after it has flowed through a gland it is never very great. In normal states there are no red blood corpuscles.
The total solids amount to 3.6 to 5.7%, the variations depending upon the amount of protein present. The lymph during hunger contains only a minute quantity of fat. Sugar (dextrose) is present in the same concentration as in the blood. The inorganic constituents are the same as in blood, but apparently the amounts of Ca, Mg and P2O5 are rather less than in serum. Urea is present to the same amount as in blood. If the lymph be collected after a meal, one important alteration is to be found. It now contains an abundance of fat in a very fine state of subdivision, if fat be present in the food. The concentrations of protein and dextrose are not altered during the absorption of these substances.
_The Significance of Lymph._--In considering the significance and use of lymph we must note in the first place that it forms an alternative medium for the removal of water, dissolved materials, formed elements or particles away from the tissues. All materials supplied to a tissue are brought to it by the blood, and are discharged from the blood through the capillary wall. They thus come to lie in the tissue spaces between the cells, and from this supply of material in a dissolved state the cells take up the food they require. In the opposite direction the cell discharges its waste products into this same tissue fluid. The removal of material from the tissue fluid may be effected either by its being absorbed through the capillary wall into the bloodstream, or by sending it into the lymphatic vessels and thus away from the tissue. From this point of view the lymphatics may be looked upon in a sense as a drainage system of the tissues. Again, besides discharging fluid and dissolved material into the tissue spaces, the blood may also discharge leucocytes, and under many conditions this emigration of leucocytes may be very extensive. These also may leave the tissue space by the path of the lymph channels. Moreover, the tissues are at any time liable to be injured, and the injury as well as damaging many cells may cause rupture of capillaries (as in bruising) with escape of red blood-cells into the tissue spaces. If this occurs we know that the damaged cells are destroyed and their débris removed either by digestion by leucocytes or by disintegration and solution. The damage of a tissue also commonly involves an infection of the damaged area with living micro-organisms, and these are at once admitted to the tissue spaces. Hence we see that the lymphatics may be provided as channels by which a variety of substances can be removed from the tissue spaces. The question at once arises, is the lymph channel at all times open to receive the materials present in the tissue space? If such be the case, lymph is simply tissue fluid, and anything that modifies the constitution or amount of the tissue fluid should in like proportion lead to a variation in the amount and constitution of the lymph. But if the lymph capillary is a closed tubule at its commencement this does not follow.