horoughly
trustworthy,"[164] though the editor considers them somewhat excessive,
especially as sometimes containing illustrative material from perfectly
worthless contemporaries. On the other hand, the "explanation of word
and phrase is a little defective."[165]

The most notable quality of the _Life of Dryden_ which composes the
first of the eighteen volumes is its breadth of scope. Scott's aim may
best be given in his own words in the Advertisement: "The general
critical view of Dryden's works being sketched by Johnson with
unequalled felicity, and the incidents of his life accurately discussed
and ascertained by Malone, something seemed to remain for him who should
consider these literary productions in their succession, as actuated by,
and operating upon, the taste of an age where they had so predominant
influence; and who might, at the same time, connect the life of Dryden
with the history of his publications, without losing sight of the fate
and character of the individual."[166]

Errors of judgment appear in places; sometimes they are due to the
imperfect scholarship of the time; sometimes they arise from prejudices
of Scott's own. In the very first chapter we find him condemning Lyly
and all writers of "conceited" language--particularly of course the
Metaphysicals--with a thoroughness that a truly catholic critic ought
probably to avoid. Scott had a constitutional dislike for a labored
style, and at the same time a fondness for the direct and
straightforward way of looking at things. So, though he was open to the
emotional appeal of a poem like _Christabel_, he took no pleasure in the
devious processes by which the cold intellect has sometimes tried to
give fresh interest to familiar words and ideas. They quite prevented
him from seeing the passion in the work of Donne, for example, and he
considered all metaphysical poets, in so far as they showed the traits
of their class, to be without poetical feeling.

Scott placed Dryden after Shakspere and Milton as third in the list of
English writers. I think he would even have been willing to say that
Dryden was the third as a poet. For greatly as he admired Chaucer, Scott
did not feel Chaucer's full power, and indeed it was only beginning to
be possible to read Chaucer with any appreciation of his metrical
excellence. Spenser, of whom he once wrote: "No author, perhaps, ever
possessed and combined in so brilliant a degree the requisite qualities
of a poet,"[167] w