Many of the reviewers judged "Marmion" equal in merit to "The Lay of the Last Minstrel", though displaying different qualities: one critic for example thought that it 'is less sprightly, and less fanciful, but it is more heroic and more stately' But the tone of the comments tended to be more severe than before: thus, although Francis Jeffrey in "The Edinburgh Review" carefully balanced virtues and defects, his overall verdict tended to the negative. Several reviewers felt that faults evident in the earlier poem were less tolerable on a second appearance, especially a tendency to antiquarian pedantry. "Marmion" was also criticised for its style, the obscurity and improbability of the plot, the immorality of its main character, and the lack of connection between the introductory epistles and the narrative.