The fact is, I never expected they would agree to it."[102] Scott's review of Godwin's _Life of Chaucer_, one of the best known of his periodical essays, is altogether concerned with the manner in which Godwin did his work, and so exhibits Scott's ideas on the subject of biography and his methods of reviewing rather than his attitude towards Chaucer's poetry.

His most definite remarks concerning Chaucer are to be found in his comments upon Dryden's _Fables_, as for example: "The Knight's Tale, whether we consider Chaucer's original poem, or the spirited and animated version of Dryden, is one of the best pieces of composition in our language";[103] "Of all Chaucer's multifarious powers, none is more wonderful than the humour with which he touched upon natural frailty, and the truth with which he describes the inward feelings of the human heart."[104] Yet he once called _Troilus and Criseyde_ "a somewhat dull poem."[105] _The Cock and the Fox_, on the other hand, he speaks of as "a poem which, in grave ironical narrative, liveliness of illustration, and happiness of humorous description, yields to none that ever was written."[106] In estimating the importance of Scott's studies on any one period we have to think of them as part of a greater whole.

The wide range of his investigations would evidently make it impossible to expect a complete treatment of all the subjects he might choose to discuss, and we have found, in fact, that his criticism of mediaeval literature led to systematic results in no other lines than those of the ballad and the romance.

But these were large and important matters.

Moreover, to all that he wrote in connection with the Middle Ages there attaches a special interest; for with that work he made his real start in literature; and it reflected the peculiarly delightful vein in his own nature which was constant from youth to age, and which gave to his poems and novels some of their most brilliant qualities.[107] THE DRAMA Scott's fondness for the drama and his acquaintance with actors--His ideas about plot structure--His own dramatic experiments--His opinion of the theaters of his day--His knowledge of English dramatic literature--Familiarity with Elizabethan plays shown in his novels--His Essay on the Drama--Ancient drama--French drama--Dramatic unities--German drama--Elizabethan drama--Shakspere--Ben Jonson--Dryden and other Restoration dramatists--Morality of theater-going--Character of Scott's interest in the drama.
Like most of his characteristics, Scott's taste for the theater was exhibited in his childhood.