 Complete the following phrase:  Scott was an almost exclusively historical novelist. Of his 27 novels only one Saint Ros Well has an entirely modern setting. The dates of the action in the others range from 1794 in The Antiquary back to 1096 or 1097, the time of the First Crusade, in Count Robert of Paris. Sixteen take place in Scotland. The first nine, from Waverley 1814 to A Legend of Montrose 1819, all have Scottish locations, and 17th- or 18th-century settings. Scott was better versed in his material than anyone: he was able to draw on oral tradition as well as a wide range of written sources in his ever-expanding library many of them rare, and some of them unique copies. In general it is these pre-1820 novels that have attracted the attention of modern academic criticsespecially: Waverley with its presentation of those 