The character of Philomela possesses strong traits of feminine virtue and wifely fidelity.  Philippo has little distinctiveness except in his extreme susceptibility to jealousy—­a fault which was exaggerated by the author to set off the opposite qualities of Philomela.  The story has no little merit in regard to the construction and sequence of the narrative, and holds up to admiration a high moral excellence.  But its interest is seriously impaired by the same defect which marks all the fiction of the time.  Philomela is almost the only tale which makes any pretence to being a description of actual life, or which deals with possible incidents.  Yet the language, although it has some elegance, is so affectedly formal, that all sense of reality is destroyed.  When Philippo’s treachery to his wife is discovered, and he himself is plunged in remorse, it is in such words as these that he speaks of his exposure:  “There is nothing so secret but the date of days will reveal; that as oil, though it moist, quencheth not fire, so time, though ever so long, is no sure covert for sin; but as a spark raked up in cinders will at last begin to glow and manifest a flame, so treachery hidden in silence will burst forth and cry for revenge."[64]

A prose idyl is the term which best describes the courtly and pastoral character of Lodge’s “Rosalynde,” the last work of fiction of any importance which distinctly bears the impress of euphuism.  Published in 1590, the ten editions through which it passed during the next fifty years are sufficient evidence of its popularity.  It is probably the only work of fiction of Elizabeth’s time which could be read through at the present day without impatience, and its story and personages are well known to all through their reproduction in Shakespeare’s “As You Like it.”  The author of “Rosalynde” was a man of very varied talents and experience.  The son, it is believed, of a Lord Mayor of London, he graduated at Trinity College, Oxford, and followed successively the professions of an actor, soldier, lawyer, and physician.  In the intervals of these occupations, he found time to join in two privateering expeditions to the Pacific, and to publish a number of literary productions, of which the most successful were dramas and poems.  He is thought to have died of the plague in 1625.

“Rosalynde.  Euphues’ golden LEGACIE:  Found after his death in his cell at Silexedra, Bequeathed to Philantus’ sonnes nursed up with their Father in England.  Fetched from the Canaries by T.L., Gent.” Such is the fanciful title of the story which Shakespeare transformed into “As You Like it.”  In the comedy, the characters of Touchstone, Audrey, and Jacques are added, but otherwise the dramatist has followed his original quite closely.  He made use, not infrequently, of the language as well as the incidents of Lodge, which in itself is sufficient praise.  “Rosalynde,” is, indeed, a charming tale, containing agreeable and well drawn characters, dramatic