Most of them are inaccurate--Sir Walter Scott's wild attempt the most inaccurate of all.

They fail because their authors have imagined that "Euphuism" is simply a highly artificial and "flowery" way of talking.

As a matter of fact it is made up of a very exact and very definite series of parts.

The writing is done on a plan which has three main characteristics as follows.

First, the structure of the sentence is based on antithesis and alliteration; that is to say, it falls into equal parts similar in sound but with a different sense; for example, Euphues is described as a young gallant "of more wit than wealth, yet of more wealth than wisdom." All the characters in the book, which is roughly in the form of a novel, speak in this way, sometimes in sentences long drawn out which are oppressively monotonous and tedious, and sometimes shortly with a certain approach to epigram.