LILLY, JOHN, a dramatic poet, was born in the Wealds of Kent, about the year 1553, and educated in Magdalen-college, Oxford, where he took the degree of bachelor of arts in 1573, and that of master in 1575. From Oxford he removed to Cambridge; but how long he continued there, is uncertain. On his arrival in London, he became acquainted with some of Queen Elizabeth's courtiers, by whom he was cared for, and admired as a poet and a wit; and her majesty, on particular festivals, honoured his dramatic pieces with her presence. His plays are nine in number. His first publication, however, printed in 1580, was a romance called Euphues, which was universally read and admired. This romance, which Blount, the editor of six of his plays, says introduced a new language, especially among the ladies, is, according to Berkenhout, in fact a most contemptible piece of affectation and nonsense: nevertheless it seems very certain, that it was in high estimation by the women of fashion of those times, who, we are told by Whalley, the editor of Ben Johnson's works, had all the phrases by heart; and