Son of Peter Lyly, a minor official at Canterbury Cathedral, and grandson of William Lily [sic], High Master of St Paul's School and author of a celebrated introduction to Latin grammar, John Lyly, the eldest of that group of sixteenth-century writers that has come to be known as “the university wits”, was born in Canterbury circa 1554. Having received his early education at the King's School, Canterbury (to which Marlowe was later to follow him), he proceeded to Magdalen College, Oxford, formerly attended by both his grandfather and uncle. Though he clearly nurtured ambitions of remaining within the academic sphere, he failed to obtain the fellowship that he looked for, and left Oxford, after obtaining his M.A. in 1575, to furt

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First published 28 October 2001

Citation: Scragg, Leah. "John Lyly". The Literary Encyclopedia. 28 October 2001.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5140, accessed 20 November 2009.]