Ivanhoe

INTRODUCTION

1 (p. 3) Parnell’s Tale: The poetry that follows is from Thomas Parnell’s “A Fairy Tale, in the Ancient English Style” (1729; lines 97-99), slightly altered.

2 (p. 4) Men bless their stars and call it luxury: The line, slightly altered, is from Thomas Addison’s Cato (1713; 1.4.70).

3 (p. 5) “wonder that they please no more”: From Samuel Johnson’s “The Vanity of Human Wishes” (1749; line 263).

4 (p. 5) Logan’s tragedy of Runnamede: John Logan (1748-1788) was forced to give up his ministry in the Church of Scotland because of his success as a playwright. Runnamede, which concerns the events surrounding the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215, was first staged in 1783.

5 (p. 6) trick upon trick: Scott misquotes from Maria Edgeworth’s Tales of Fashionable Life (1802; 3.95).

6 (p. 7) Il Bondocani: Stories of II Bondocani, a robber chief featured in The Arabian Nights, were known in Europe in various forms beginning in the late Middle Ages.

7 (p. 11) Tring, Wing, and Ivanhoe … And glad he could escape so: The historical circumstance of the rhyme is disputed, as these villages (with their manors) never belonged to the Hampden family. What is certain is that they are located in Buckinghamshire, far away from the action of the novel.

8 (p. 12) the freedom of the rules: Scott’s first profession was the law, and this refers to the right Scottish lawyers enjoyed to appear in English courts.