It is seldom in his brief and casual comments that Scott is particularly interesting as a critic, except when he is speaking of living writers, for he lacked the gift of conciseness.

When he has a large canvas he is at his best, and this he has in the principal works described in this chapter:--_The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_, the _Works of Dryden_, the _Works of Swift_, and the _Lives of the Novelists_..