SOURCE: Stillinger, Jack. Introduction to Zelauto: The Fountaine of Fame, 1580, edited by Jack Stillinger, pp. vii-xxix. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1963.

In the following excerpt, Stillinger provides a thorough examination of Munday's Zelauto, assessing the nature of the work and its merit.

Anthony Munday's single original contribution to Elizabethan prose fiction appeared in 1580 with the following title page:

ZELAVTO. / THE FOVN- / taine of Fame. / Erected in an Orcharde / of Amorous Aduentures. / Containing / A Delicate Disputation, gallantly / discoursed betweene two noble / Gentlemen of Italye. / Giuen for a freendly entertainment / to Euphues, at his late ariuall / into England. / By A. M. Seruaunt to the Right Ho- / nourable the Earle of Oxenford. / Honos alit Artes. / Imprinted at London by Iohn / Charlevvood. 1580.

Chronologically it is the fifth or sixth of the Elizabethan novels, following Gascoigne's “The Adventures of Master F. J.” (1573), Grange's The Golden Aphroditis (1577), Lyly's Euphues. The Anatomy of Wyt...