A genial antiquary presides over a comic tangle of disguise, romance, and a lost inheritance. One of Scott's own favorites among his novels.
Books mentioned in The Antiquary (14)
The Poems of Ossian by James Macpherson: “But not the same as Macpherson's English Ossian--you're not absurd enough to say that, I hope?”
As You Like It by William Shakespeare: “Full of wise saws and modern instances. As You Like It.”
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare: “Jonathan Oldbuck, that Lovel, had they not appeared at once, like Sebastian and Viola in the last scene of the "Twelfth Night," might have supposed that the figure before him was his old friend masquerading in female attire.”
Itinerarium Septentrionale by Alexander Gordon: “He lifted up his eyes with something of a sarcastic glance, as if he supposed the young querist would not relish, or perhaps understand, his answer, and pronounced the book to be Sandy Gordon's Itinerarium Septentrionale,* a book illustrative of the Roman remains in Scotland.”
King Lear by William Shakespeare: “Bring me but to the very brim of it, And I'll repair the misery thou dost bear. King Lear.”
Paradise Lost by John Milton: “So eagerly the Fiend-- Paradise Lost.”
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare: “Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts. Romeo and Juliet.”
The Alchemist by Ben Jonson: “--And this Doctor, Your sooty smoky-bearded compeer, he Will close you so much gold in a bolt's head, And, on a turn, convey in the stead another With sublimed mercury, that shall burst i' the heat, And all fly out in fumo.-- The Alchemist.”
King John by William Shakespeare: “Bell, book, and candle, shall not drive me back, If gold and silver beckon to come on. King John.”
The New Inn by Ben Jonson: “Sack, says my bush, Be merry and drink Sherry, that's my posie. Ben Jonson's New Inn.”
Augsburg Confession by Philip Melanchthon: “He was a foreigner, and wore his national dress, of which tradition had preserved an accurate description; and indeed there is a print of him, supposed to be by Reginald Elstracke, pulling the press with his own hand, as it works off the sheets of his scarce edition of the Augsburg Confession.”
The Complaynt of Scotland: “For that, mutilated copy of the Complaynt of Scotland, I sat out the drinking of two dozen bottles of strong ale with the late learned proprietor, who, in gratitude, bequeathed it to me by his last will.”
The Ordinary by William Cartwright: “By Woden, God of Saxons, From whence comes Wensday, that is, Wodnesday, Truth is a thing that I will ever keep Unto thylke day in which I creep into My sepulcre-- Cartwright's Ordinary.”