When authors refer to other great works, people, and events, it’s usually not accidental. Put on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why.
Literary and Philosophical References
- Manichaeism (1.3.2)
- Hotspur in William Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part 1 (1.3.3, 5.7.1)
- Daniel Defoe, The History of the Devil (1.3.23)
- Aesop’s Fables (1.3.27)
- Jeremy Taylor, ‘Holy Living and Dying’: The Rule and Exercise of Holy Living (1.3.25)
- John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress (1.3.27, 1.5, 1.11, 4.1)
- Virgil, Aeneid (1.3.80)
- Cicero, De Senectute (1.3.80)
- Oliver Goldsmith, An History of the Earth and Animated Nature (1.4.13)
- Samuel Richardson, Sir Charles Grandison (1.4.23)
- Alsatia in Sir Walter Scott’s The Fortunes of Nigel (1.8.16)
- Ulysses (Odysseus) and Nausicaa in Homer's Odyssey (1.9.47)
- William Pinnock, Catechism of Geography (1.11.17)
- William Wordsworth's The Excursion: "familiar with forgotten years" (1.12.2)
- Sophocles, Oedipus the King (1.13.12)
- Captain Swing (2.1.5)
- Aristotle (2.1.10)
- The Eton Latin Grammar (2.1.10)
- Sophocles, Philoctetes (2.6.19)
- Homer (3.32)
- Sir Walter Scott (4.3.34, 35)
- Lucy Bertram from Walter Scott’s Guy Mannering (3.5.64)
- Sappho, Greek poet (3.5.74)
- Francois de Salignac de la Motte-Fenelon, Telemaque (4.3.34)
- Euclid (2.1.10, 4.3.34, various throughout book 2)
- The Spectator (4.3.34)
- Rasselas in Samuel Johnson, The Prince of Abissinia: A Tale (4.3.34)
- John Keble, The Christian Year (4.3.37)Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ (4.3.37, various)
- Sir Walter Scott, The Pirate (5.1.47)
- Hecuba and Hector in Homer's Iliad (5.2.1)
- Madame de Stael, Corinne (5.4.2, various)
- Sophia Western in Henry Fielding, Tom Jones (6.6.6)
- William Shakespeare, Hamlet (6.6.5)
- Buckland’s Treatise (6.2.85)
Biblical References
- Sisera, reference to Judges 4:7-22 (1.4.3)
- The Prodigal Son, Luke 15:11-24 (1.4.23)
- Teraphim in Judges 18:14-26 (3.2)
- Wheat and Tares from Matthew 13:24-30 (5.1)
- tomb inscription, 2 Samuel 1:23 (conclusion)
Mythological References
- Medusa, Greek mythology (1.10.1)
Historical References
- Pug’s Tour through Europe (1.4.9)
- Duke of Wellington (1.7.150)
- Battle of Waterloo (1.7.150)
- Theodore Hook (2.4.5)
- Jacques Benigne Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux (4.1)
- Edmund Burke (4.3.32)
- Michael Faraday (4.3.42)