Chaucer's nature, however tried, was unmistakeably one gifted with the
blessed power of easy self-recovery. Though it was in a melancholy vein
that he had begun to write "Troilus and Cressid," he had found
opportunities enough in the course of the poem for giving expression to
the fresh vivacity and playful humour which are justly reckoned among his
chief characteristics. And thus, towards its close, we are not surprised
to find him apparently looking forward to a sustained effort of a kind
more congenial to himself. He sends forth his "little book, his little
tragedy," with the prayer that, before he dies, God his Maker may send him
might to "make some comedy." If the poem called the "House of Fame"
followed upon "Troilus and Cressid" (the order of succession may, however,
have been the reverse), then, although the poet's own mood had little
altered, yet he had resolved upon essaying a direction which he rightly
felt to be suitable to his genius.

The "House of Fame" has not been distinctly traced to any one foreign
source; but the influence of both Petrarch and Dante, as well as that of
classical authors, are clearly to be traced in the poem. And yet this
work, Chaucer's most ambitious attempt in poetical allegory, may be
described not only as in the main due to an original conception, but as
representing the results of the writer's personal experience. All things
considered, it is the production of a man of wonderful reading, and shows
that Chaucer's was a mind interested in the widest variety of subjects,
which drew no invidious distinctions, such as we moderns are prone to
insist upon, between Arts and Science, but (notwithstanding an occasional
deprecatory modesty) eagerly sought to familiarise itself with the
achievements of both. In a passage concerning the men of letters who had
found a place in the "House of Fame," he displays not only an acquaintance
with the names of several ancient classics, but also a keen appreciation,
now and then perhaps due to instinct, of their several characteristics.