The listings consist of six sortable tables, in Word, listing quotations from, allusions to, and echoes of:
- The Bible
- Shakespeare
- Authors other than Shakespeare
- Anonymous Works
- Proverbs found in The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs
- Proverbs not included in The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs.
These databases have been developed by Dr J. H. Alexander, Honorary Reader in English at the University of Aberdeen. They may be used freely with or without acknowledgment.
Format: Tables inevitably use abbreviations; those used in these databases can be readily guessed, but a full list can be found here: Abbreviations used in the databases.
The first column in each table gives the ᴇᴇᴡɴ volume number and the abbreviated title of the novel, and the second the page and first line number in the EEWN explanatory notes. Except in the table of anonymous works, the third column gives the source reference.
The last column normally gives the text of the source, or, with longer references, the words of either the source or Scott’s text, with ellipses, placed between bars. When there is no difference in a clearly marked quotation (other than in spelling or punctuation) between the source and Scott’s text this is indicated by ‘√’; when the quotation or allusion is not marked the phrase common to both original and novel is given followed by ‘√’.
Scope: The individual ᴇᴇᴡɴ volumes include discussions of the predominating source books, primarily historical rather than narrowly literary, usually in the ‘Historical Essay’. The present database does not list debts to such historical works except when they are identified in the text of the novels, or where there is a specific verbal indebtedness. Texts identified by the ᴇᴇᴡɴ editors as being employed repeatedly in a particular novel are usually listed once for that work in bold.
Where ᴇᴇᴡɴ gives an extensive quotation, or where there is a particular reason for the reader to refer to the relevant explanatory note, this is indicated by ‘ᴇᴇᴡɴ’ plus the page number of the Edinburgh volume, either on its own or in addition to other material.
References and allusions to Scott's own poems are included, but those to preceding novels in the Waverley series are not. Inevitably there are many other compromises: for example, works introduced to illustrate a general point, or authors mentioned incidentally in the narrative, or editorial suggestions involving slight echoes or general comparisons are usually omitted.
Multiple references: Where up to three references identified by the ᴇᴇᴡɴ editors have equal force, all are included. When there are four or more references with equal force, only the first is noted with an added '(eg)'. The same '(eg)' is added for a single citation of a common usage.
Errors and acknowledgments: Anyone discovering errors is asked to send a note to one of the directors of the Walter Scott Research Centre, a.lumsden@abdn.ac.uk or david.hewitt@abdn.ac.uk.
The first acknowledgement is made to Regula Hohl Trillini of the University of Basel for three allusions to Hamlet included in the HyperHamlet database.