ABSTRACT
AlthoughtheliteraryimplicationsoftheMarprelateControversy havebeensuggestedwithtantalizingregularitybytheconstant repetitionofsuchdistinguishednamesasNashe,Lyly,Greene,and theHarveybrothers,itsimportancetothedevelopmentofElizabethanprosehasneverbeencloselyexamined.1Nashewasactive inthegroupemployedbyWhitgifttoanswertheMarprelatetracts/ andtheworkswhichhepublishedafterparticipationinthecontroversydifferradicallyinstyleandpurposefromhisearlierefforts TheMarprelatetractsbringmanyoftheelementsofpopular literatureintothearenaoflearneddisputation,andabalancingof theacademicwiththepopulari.safundamentalcharacteristicof Nashe'sstyle.TheMarprelatianmethodofexhibitinglearningin fashionableguisewasdemonstratedatjusttherighttimetoinfluenceayoungauthorwho,inhisearliestworks,hadbeenawkwardlyattemptingtobebothlearnedandpopular.InbothThe AnatomyofAbsurdity(1588)andthePrefacetoMenaphon (1589)NashewasvoicingtheopinionsofthearistocratictraditionalistswhogovernedCambridgeUniversity.Hethereforeattempted towritelikeavenerablephilosopher,and,insodoing,provokedthe censureofRichardHarvey.8Themannerofexpressionisas derivativeasthematter;Nashehimselfadmittedlater,"Euphues IreaddwhenIwasalittleapeinCambridge,andthenIthought itwasIpseille,"4andhetriedinhisfirsttwoworkstocasthis thoughtsintheeuphuisticmould.Hedidnotalwayssucceed: interspersedwitheuphuisticperiodsaresentenceswhichfore-
146 The Influence of the Marprelate Controversy
shadow his later manner. His transitions from one subject to another are uniformly clumsy, and there is little trace of that a extemporall wit" in his own writing which he praised in others and which was to become the keystone of his mature manner.
