With the Renaissance, Richard whether by Sir Thomas More or by Cardinal Morton, was a work of considerable impor tance; Utopia (1516) was unfortunately composed in Latin, which still held its own as a dangerous rival to the vernacular. In his Governor (1530 Sir Thomas Elyot added moral philosophy to the range of subjects thought proper for English prose. In the same year Tyndale began his version of the Bible, the story of which forms one of the most romantic episodes in the chronicles of literature ; at Tyndale's death in 1536 the work was taken up by Coverdale. The Sermons of Latimer (1549) introduced new ele ments of humour and vigour. The earliest true biography was the Life of Cardinal Wolsey, by George Cavendish, written about 1557, but not printed until 1641. In the closing scenes of this memorable book, which describe what Cavendish had personally experienced, the perfection of easy English style is reached for the first time. The prose of the middle of the 16th century—as exemplified in Sir Thomas Wilson, Roger Ascham, and Sir John Cheke—is clear, unadorned and firm, these Englishmen holding themselves bound to resist the influences coming to them from Italy and Spain. Equal simplicity marked such writers as Foxe, Stow and Holinshed, who desired a straightforward prose in which to present their information. But Hoby and North introduced not a few exotic graces, and prepared the way for the innova tions of Lyly in Euphues (1579). The extravagances of Lyly outdid those of his continental prototypes, and euphuism became a disturbing influence which, it may be, English prose has not, even yet, entirely thrown off. In spite of its popularity, it was opposed in its own day, not merely by the stately sobriety of Hooker, but by the sweetness of Sir Philip Sidney. Raleigh wrote an English prose perhaps more majestic than any which preceded it, but he revelled in length of sentence and ponderosity of phrase, so that the prestige of The History of the World on the whole delayed the emancipation of English prose. The direct influence of euphuism was seen for some time in the work of poets like Lodge and Greene, and divines like Andrewes; its indirect influ ence in the floweriness and violence of most prose down to the Restoration.
Donne had a sonorous majesty of style; and Burton could use English with humour and vivacity when he gave himself the chance. In spite of the skill with which, during the civil wars and the Commonwealth, authors like Jeremy Taylor, Fuller and Milton manipulated prose, and in spite of the magnificence of Sir Thomas Browne, it was not until shortly before the Revolution that Eng lish prose reached its perfection. According to Dr. Johnson, Sir William Temple (1628-99) was the first writer who gave cadence to English prose. The new tendency was all in favour of brevity and crispness of shorter sentences and easier constructions. Not a little of the majesty of the earlier age was lost ; but for practical purposes prose became a far more businesslike implement than it had hitherto been. The treatises of Halifax, or the sermons of South, mark the change. The power of English speech was first comprehended perhaps by Dryden, who combined dignity and even pomp of movement with an ease and laxity on occasion which gave variety to prose, and approximated it to ordinary speech. This then may be called the foundation of modern Eng lish prose, which has extended into no departments not recog nized, at least in essence, by Bunyan, Dryden and Temple. The ensuing varieties have been mainly matters of style. In the 18th century, for instance, there was a constant alternation between a quiet, rather cold elegance and precision, which was called the Addisonian manner, and a swelling, latinized style, of which John son is the most famous exemplar. But as far as arrangement and syntax are concerned, it cannot be said that English prose has altered essentially since about 1680. It is, however, to be noted
that in the course of the 19th century attempts were made to restore the beauty and variety of early i 7th-century diction.
Icelandic.—The independent invention of prose by the Icelanders is one of the most singular phenomena in history. It resulted from the fact that story-telling was a recognized form of amusement in the isolated life of an Icelandic household. Some thing of the same kind had existed in Norway before the exodus, but it was in Iceland that it was reduced to an art. It is remark able how suddenly the saga, as a composition, became a finished work. The deliberate composition of sagas began about the year 1030, and it is recorded that Ari FrOdi (1067-1148) was the first man in Iceland who wrote down stories. Many of Ari's books are lost, but enough survive to show what Icelandic prose was in his hands, and the impress of his rich and simple style is felt in all the succeeding masterpieces. Snorri, and the anonymous authors of Njala, Laxdaela, and the rest, exhibit simple prose style at its highest. The great historian, Sturla (1214-84), is the latest of these classic writers of Iceland, and after his death there was a rapid decline. The splendid prose of these two centuries stands unrelated, an unparalleled portent in European literature.
Spanish.—In Castilian, as elsewhere, verse is far advanced before we meet with any distinct traces of prose. A religious treatise is attributed to a monk of Navarre, writing in the I3th century. Between 1220 and 1250 a chronicle of Toledo was in dited. But the earliest prose-writer of whom Spain can really boast is King Alphonso the Learned (1226-84), in whose encyclo paedic treatises "Castilian makes its first great stride in the direc tion of exactitude and clearness" (Fitzmaurice-Kelly). Almost all the creditable prose of the end of the 13th century is attributed to Alphonso, who was helped by a sort of committee of authors. The king's nephew, Juan Manuel (1282-1347), author of Conde Lucanor, carried prose to a further point in delicacy and preci sion. The poet Ayala (1332-1407) was another gifted artificer of Spanish prose, which suffered a setback in the hands of his successors, Santillana and Mena. It rose once more in The Sea of Histories of Perez de Guzman (1378-1460), in whom the lucid purity of Castilian prose is for the first time seen. In the 15th century the shapeless novel of chivalry was predominant, while in the age of Ferdinand prose decayed. The next great writer whom we meet with is Guevara (d. 1545), whose Dial of Princes exercised an influence which even extended to English prose (in North's well-known version). The historians of this period were of less value. The earliest picaroon novel, Lazarillo de Tormes (1554), introduced a new form and exhibited Castilian prose style in a much lighter aspect. Still greater elegance is met with in the writings of Juan de Valdes and of Luis de Leon. Of the latter Fitzmaurice-Kelly says that "his concise eloquence and his classi cal purity of expression rank him among the best masters." The instrument, accordingly, was ready to the hand of the supreme magician Cervantes, whose Don Quixote was begun a few years (about 1591) after Los Nombres de Cristo of Luis de Leon. The prose of Lope de Vega is stately and clear, but admittedly has little importance in comparison with his verse. Quevedo's style had the faults of antithesis and obscure ingenuity; but his Visions (1627) are of course famous. The latest struggles of a decadent critical conscience, battling against affectation, are seen in Gracian (1601-58) and Molinos (1627-97). When Spanish prose revived in the 19th century, in the person of Larra (1809-37), the influ ence of French models was found to have deprived it of distinctly national character, while giving it a fresh fluidity and grace.