_The Misfortunes of Arthur_, they transformed and refined both, lifting
them to higher levels of humour and passion, gracing them with many
witty inventions, and, above all, pouring into the pallid arteries of
drama the rich vitalizing blood of a new poetry. The seven men were
Lyly, Greene, Peele, Nash, Lodge, Kyd and Marlowe--named not in
chronological sequence but in the order of their discussion in these
pages.

* * * * *

Perhaps no dramatist is more out of touch with modern taste than John
Lyly. The ordinary reader, taking up one of his plays by chance, will
probably set it down wearily after the perusal of barely one or two
acts. And yet Lyly excels any of his contemporaries in witty invention,
and is the creator of what has been called High Comedy. His importance,
therefore, in the history of the growth of the drama is considerable.
Nor is his fancy found to be so dull when approached in the right
spirit. True, it requires an effort to step back into the shoes of an
Elizabethan courtier. But the effort is worth making, since the mind, as
soon as it has realized what not to expect, is better able to appreciate
what is offered. The essential requirement is to remember that Lyly the
dramatist is the same man as Lyly the euphuist, and that his audience
was always a company of courtiers, with Queen Elizabeth in their midst,
infatuated with admiration for the new phraseology and mode of thought
known as Euphuism. If we consider the manner in which these lords and
ladies spent their time at court, filling idle hours with compliment,
love-making, veiled jibe and swift retort; if we read our _Euphues_
again, renewing our acquaintance with its absurdly elaborated and
stilted style, its tireless winding of sentences round a topic without
any advance in thought, its affectation of philosophy and classical