The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-05-28
THE DISPATCH.



In one of the inimitable novels Of SiI
Walter Scott, the Antiquary, occurs thu
following scene:
aOur Antiquary, his head wrapped warn
in two double night caps, was quietly en-
;ovino his reposc, when Il was suddenly
broken by tho screams oil his sister, biz
niexe. and two maid servants.
nWhat the devil 10 the matter ~ said he
.,.,.;no no Ia his bed--s'womankind in m,
room at this hour Of night l--are ye all
1.-THE beacon, unclcl' said Miss McIn-
uThe French coming to murder us =
screamed Miss Grisclda.
ssThe beacon the beacon the french
the French murder, murder ana waar
than murder ~ cried the two handmaidens,
like the chorus Of an opera.
srrhs French % said 0ldbuck, starting
,c--ss,,st ont of the room, womankind
III 20. are. till get my things on--and,
bsrk ve bring me my sword"
sswhich Of them 2'' cried his sister, of.
sr;ng a Roman falchion of brass with the
one hand. with the other ON Andrea Ferra-
"a. without handle.
I"Give me-" said 0ldbuck, ',he sword
which nv fathers wore in the year forty
fve-i, bath no belt or baldrick, but we II
make shift"
$50 saying, he thrust the weapon through
the cover of his breaches pocket
Strikingly illustrative Of the spirit which
pervaded all classes in Great Britain, at the
prospect of the French invasion in the ear
ly part of this century, is the conversation
in the same chapter, between the aged men,
dicaut, Eide Ochiltree, and the Antiquary :
"What,n exclaimed the Antiquary,-
'your martial spirit rising again, Eide !!
Even in our ashes glow their wonted fres!
/ would not have thought you, Edie, had
30 much to fight for"
"lMs ma muckle to fight for, sir ?-isna
there the country to fight for, and the burn
sides that gang Laundering beside, and the
hearths o. the guidwives that gle me my
bit bread, and the bits o weans that come
toddliug to play wi me Dell ~ he CONT
nued, grasping his pikestaf with great en-
phasis, San l had as guide pith as | had
guide will, and a guide cause, should gle
some O. them days kemping."
"Bravo, bravo, Edie The country's in
little ultimate danger, when the beggar s
Is ready to fight for his dish as the laird for
his land"
In note to the succeeding chapter, the
illustrious author states that the false alarm
at Fairport, which led to the irruption Of
the female members of the Household into
the Antiquary' chamber, was taken from
real incident. At the present moment, when
the old apprehensions of French invasion
of England are revived, and when some of
the iuyeterate haters of Great Britain seem
to suppose that all the French have 10 do, in
order to conquer England, will be to take a
pleasant little voyage of twelve hours, step
ashore and occupy the island, it is instructive
to revive the "reminiscences OF a similar Pc
Rod, which are given by Sir Walter Scott,
in the note to which we have referred. AT
that time, the great Napoleon had concen-
trated in the French harbors an enormous
number of vessels, vast amount of
materials of war, &C., for descent upon
Britain ard In the latter country, almost
every individual was enrolled either in a
military or civil capacity, for the purpose of
contributing to resist the long-suspended
threats of invasion, which were echoed from
every quarter. Beacons were erected along
the coast, and all through the country, to
give the signal for every one to be at his
post. On the evening of the I'd of Febru-
ary, 1904, the watch at Home Castle, heing
deceived BY an accidental FIRE in Northnm-
berland county, lighted up his own beacon,
and the signal was Immediately repeated
through all the valleys on the English bor-
der. The old Cross Of Fire never caused
such a gathering of the clansmen. On no
occasion, even in the history of warlike
Scotland, was the summons to the field more
impetuously obeyed. The volunteers and
militia got under arms, and poured into the
alarm-ports on the sea coast in n state so
we'll armed and so completely appointed, as
was accounted by the best military judges
to render them fit for instant and effectual
service. The author adds more interesting
particulars, which occurred Immediately I'M
der his own eye.
The men of Lidderdale, be says, the most
remote point to the westward which the
alarm reached, were so much afraid of be-
ing late in the field, that they put in requi-
sition all the horses they could find and
when they had thus made forced march
out of their own county, they turned their
borrowed steeds loose, to find their own
way back through the hills, and they all
got safe back to their own stables. The
Selkirkshire yeomaury though some of them
lived at twenty and thirty miles distance
from the muster place, were at Dalkeith,
their aIarm-post, about one o'clock on the
day succeeding the first signal. with men
and horses in good order, though the roads
were in bad state, and many of the troop
ers must have ridden forty or fifty miles
without drawing bride. Two members OF
the CORPS adds Sir Walter, CHANGED to be
absent from their homes, and in Edinburg
on private business. The lately married
wife of one Of these gentlemen, and the wi
dowed mother of the other, sent the arms,
uniforms, and chargers of the two troopers,
that they might join their companions al
Dalkeith. The author says he was very
much struck by the answer made to him by
the aforementioned lady, when be paid her
some compliment on the readiness which she
showed in equipping her son with the means
of meeting danger, when she might have
left him fair excuse for remaining absent.
"Sir," she replied, with the spirit Of a
Roman Matron, None can know better
than you that my son is the only prop by
which, since his fathers death, our family
is supported. But would rather see him
dead on that hearth, than hear that he had
been horses length behind his COM
panions, in the defence of his King and
country" Such was the spirit Of Scotland,
and it was the same wherever the alarm
reached, everywhere through England
These circumstances, says Sir Walter, "may
be now held of too little importance for a
note upon work of fiction but, at the
period when it happened, 1T was hailed by the
country as a propitious omen, that the ma
tioual force, to which much must naturally
have been Entrusted, bad the spirit to look
in the face the danger which they had taken
arms to repel and every one was convinced
that on whichever size God might bestow
the victory the invaders would meet with