Elsewhere he shows his interest in scientific inquiry by references to
such matters as the theory of sound and the Arabic system of numeration;
while the Mentor of the poem, the Eagle, openly boasts his powers of clear
scientific demonstration, in averring that he can speak "lewdly" (i.e.
popularly) "to a lewd man." The poem opens with a very fresh and lively
discussion of the question of dreams in general--a semi-scientific subject
which much occupied Chaucer, and upon which even Pandarus and the wedded
couple of the "Nun's Priest's Tale" expend their philosophy.

Thus, besides giving evidence of considerable information and study, the
"House of Fame" shows Chaucer to have been gifted with much natural
humour. Among its happy touches are the various rewards bestowed by Fame
upon the claimants for her favour, including the ready grant of evil fame
to those who desire it (a bad name, to speak colloquially, is to be had
for the asking; and the wonderful paucity of those who wish their good
works to remain in obscurity and to be their own reward, but then Chaucer
was writing in the Middle Ages. And as pointing in a direction which the
author of the poem was subsequently to follow out, we may also specially
notice the company thronging the House of Rumour: shipmen and
pilgrims, the two most numerous kinds of travellers in Chaucer's age,
fresh from seaport and sepulchre, with scrips brimful of unauthenticated
intelligence. In short, this poem offers in its details much that is
characteristic of its author's genius; while, as a whole, its abrupt
termination notwithstanding, it leaves the impression of completeness.
The allegory, simple and clear in construction, fulfils the purpose for
which it was devised; the conceptions upon which it is based are neither
idle, like many of those in Chaucer's previous allegories, nor are they so
artificial and far-fetched as to fatigue instead of stimulating the mind.
Pope, who reproduced parts of the "House of Fame" in a loose paraphrase,
in attempting to improve the construction of Chaucer's work, only