[1] The History of England by David Hume (1754‒62), which Scott admired above all others, gave him most of what he needed for the historical background, though for many details he was able to draw on his profound acquaintance with the literature of the seventeenth century.

For the goings-on at Woodstock Manor he was familiar with two accounts accepting a supernatural explanation in Satan's Invisible world Discovered by George Sinclair (1685) and Saducismus Triumphatus by Joseph Glanvil (1700).

He also knew, though not necessarily at first hand, the version of the story in The Natural History of Oxford-shire by Robert Plot (1677), adopting its more sceptical approach to the business.

[2] The first edition of Woodstock was published in Edinburgh by Archibald Constable and Co. and Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green in London on 28 April 1826.

[4] Scott does not seems to have revisited the novel until the spring of 1831 when he revised the text and provided an introduction and notes for the 'Magnum' edition, in which it appeared as Volumes 39 and 40 in August and September 1832.

Nehemiah Holdenough was compelled to cede the pulpit, which he had usurped from the late rector (Dr Rochecliffe), to Joseph Tomkins, who, in military attire, declaimed against monarchy and prelacy, and announced the sequestration of the royal lodge and park by Cromwell and his followers.

On arriving there they found Colonel Everard, a Roundhead who had come to offer them his own and his father's protection; but Sir Henry abused and spurned his nephew as a rebel, and at Alice's entreaty he bade them farewell, as he feared, for ever.

On his way to the lodge he met his Royalist friend, Captain Wildrake, whom he was sheltering in spite of his politics, and determined to send him with an appeal to Cromwell to reinstate his uncle at Woodstock.

On reaching Windsor, the captain, disguised as a Roundhead, obtained an interview with Oliver Cromwell, and a compliance with Everard's request, on condition that he would aid in securing the murdered king's son, in the event of his seeking refuge with the Lees.

Armed with the warrant of ejectment, the colonel and Wildrake, accompanied by the mayor and the minister, visited the Commissioners during their evening carouse, and took part in endeavouring to ascertain the cause of some startling occurrences by which they had been disturbed.

Meeting Wildrake as he regained the hall, they hurried off to the hut where they found Dr Rochecliffe reading the Church service to Sir Henry and his daughter; and, after a reconciliation between uncle and nephew, the cousins were allowed a private interview, during which Alice warned her lover against betraying the king.

The following day Sir Henry Lee was induced to resume his post, and his son Albert arrived with one "Louis Kerneguy", whom he introduced as his Scotch page.

Sir Henry having no suspicion who his guest really was treated him without ceremony; and while Dr Rochecliffe and the colonel were planning for his escape to Holland, the disguised Charles amused himself by endeavouring to gain Alice's love; but, in spite of a declaration of his rank, she made him ashamed of his suit.

The next evening Everard and his friend, and Holdenough, were unexpectedly made prisoners by Cromwell, who, having received intelligence of their knowledge of the king's sojourn at Woodstock, had brought a large force to secure him.

Wildrake, however, managed to send his page Spitfire to the lodge to warn them, and while Alice acted as Charles's guide, Albert, in his dress, concealed himself in Rosamond's tower.

Cromwell and his soldiers arrived soon afterwards with Dr Rochecliffe and Joliffe, whom they had seized as they were burying Tomkins, and, having searched all the rooms and passages in vain, they proceeded to blow up the tower.

In his rage he ordered the execution of the old knight and all his abettors, including his dog; but afterwards released them, with the exception of Albert, who was imprisoned, and subsequently fell in the battle of Dunkirk (1658).

Alice returned in safety, with the news that the king had effected his escape, and a letter from him to Sir Henry, approving of her marriage with Everard, whose political opinions had been considerably influenced by recent events.

In his progress to London, Charles, escorted by a brilliant retinue, amidst shouts of welcome from his assembled subjects, dismounted to salute a family group in which the central figure was the old knight of Ditchley, whose venerable features expressed his appreciation of the happiness of once more pressing his sovereign's hand, and whose contented death almost immediately followed the realisation of his anxious and long-cherished hopes.

Principal characters in bold Volume One Preface: The Author has extracted the following Memoirs from the papers of the [fictitious] 17th-century Rector of Woodstock the Rev.

1: Nehemiah Holdenough, a Presbyterian minister, is displaced in the pulpit of Woodstock parish church by an Independent [Joseph Tomkins] who is heckled by Josceline Joliffe, a royalist forester.

2: In the park, Tomkins overhears the staunch royalist Sir Henry Lee and his daughter Alice discussing their family's divided political allegiances.

After initially resisting, Sir Henry submits to him as a steward of the Parliamentary Commissioners, and the Lees leave to seek shelter in Joliffe's hut.

Wildrake fights a crazed Harrison, who believes the cavalier is the ghost of the actor Dick Robison whom he had murdered, before Markham calms the pair.

5 (16): Holdenough tells Markham that he believes he has seen the spirit of his fellow-student Albany, who had become a priest and had been killed at his instigation during an attack on a royalist house.

Inadvertently snubbed by Alice, Louis gets into a fight with Markham, who believes him to be Lord Wilmot, the original owner of the ring of Ch.

14 (37): [The final chapter is set in 1660] Wildrake brings news to Charles in Brussels of the political changes in Britain which make it possible for him to return as the restored monarch.

There was very general agreement among the reviewers that Woodstock occupied a middle rank in the Waverley novels, with a handful rating it highly and two or three condemning it.

A formidable essay in The Westminster Review analysed Scott's lack of historical verisimilitude in his presentation of the characters, concentrating on the stylistic incoherence of their dialogue.