Metrical Romances, though in some instances sent to the press, were not
very fit to be published in this form. The dull amplifications, which
passed well enough in the course of a half-heard recitation, became
intolerable when subjected to the eye." "The Metrical Romances in some
instances indeed ran to great length, but were much exceeded in that
particular by the folios which were written on the same or similar
topics by their prose successors. Probably the latter judiciously
reflected that a book which addresses itself only to the eyes may be
laid aside when it becomes tiresome to the reader; whereas it may not
always have been so easy to stop the minstrel in the full career of his
metrical declamation." Flaws like this may be picked in the details of
Scott's method, just as we may sometimes find fault with the lapses in
his mediaeval scholarship. We do him no injustice when we say that aside
from certain aspects of his work on the ballads and _Sir Tristrem_, his
achievement was that of a popularizer of learning.

But if he lacked some of the authority of erudition, he escaped also the
induration of pedantry. In writing of remote and dimly known periods,
critics are perhaps most apt to show their defects of temper, and Scott
often commented on the acerbity of spirit which such studies seem to
induce. "Antiquaries," he said, "are apt to be both positive and
polemical upon the very points which are least susceptible of proof, and
which are least valuable if the truth could be ascertained; and which
therefore we would gladly have seen handled with more diffidence and
better temper in proportion to their uncertainty."[90] Of Ritson he says
many times in one form or another that his "severe accuracy was
connected with an unhappy eagerness and irritability of temper." Scott
rode his own hobbies with an expansive cheerfulness that did not at all
hinder them from being essentially serious.

_Other Studies in Mediaeval Literature_

Scott's attitude on the Ossianic controversy--His slight
acquaintance with other northern literatures--Anglo-Saxon
scholarship of the time--Character of his familiarity with
Middle-English poetry--His opinions in regard to Chaucer--General
importance of Scott's work on mediaeval literature.

Part of Scott's critical work on mediaeval literature falls outside the
limits of the two divisions we have been considering--those of ballad
and romance. He knew comparatively little