Lilly, Or Lyly, John, an English author, born in Kent about 1553, died about 1600. He became a student in Magdalen college, Oxford, about 1570, received the degree of master in 1575, and was at that time a noted university wit. He soon after went to London, was reputed a rare wit and poet at the court of Elizabeth, and published his " Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit (1580), followed by "Euphues and his England " (1581), the elaborate, fanciful, and dainty style of which became the model of court conversation. (See Euphuism.) He enjoyed success also as a dramatic poet, producing eight plays, which, however, being designed for representation by children at court entertainments or private theatres, scarcely came into competition with the public drama. He was engaged in the Mar-Prelate controversy, and wrote "Pap with the Hatchet" (1589), a once famous pamphlet against the Martinists. A few modern critics, as Malone, Hazlitt, and Charles Lamb, have been enthusiastic admirers of his best pieces, as "Endymion" and the song on Cupid and Campaspe. His dramatic works, with a life and notes by F. W. Fairholt, were published in 1858 (2 vols., London).