Like all of Scott's historical fiction, this novel is an accurate and fascinating portrayal of the time in which it was set.
From the author's introduction: "The present work completes a series of fictitious narratives, intended to illustrate the manners of Scotland at three different periods. Waverley embraced the age of our fathers, Guy Mannering that of our own youth, and The Antiquary refers to the last ten years of the eighteenth century."