Tollerators and Con-Tollerators, A Comedy

This one-act comedy Tollerators and Con-Tollerators (1703) provides a sharply-observed and remarkably even-handed perspective on Scottish politics and religion in the years just before the Act of Union. Set in Edinburgh, it features satiric portraits of the leading wheelers and dealers both in the Scottish parliament and the church's General Assembly. The only known source for the play does not name the author, but the text is closely connected through provenance with the Jacobite poet, playwright and physician Dr. Archibald Pitcairne (1652-1713). This reprint makes the play easily available for the first time to students and scholars, with a full introduction by Professor John MacQueen. The introduction discusses the historical background and the political and religious figures that the play satirizes, concluding with an assessessment of the case for Pitcairne's authorship. In the text itself, page-by-page annotation explains contemporary references, glosses words or syntax that are distinctive or likely to be misunderstood by future readers, and comments on the staging of the play and the interactions of the characters.