 Volume 2, Chapter 24th, of the Antiquary. This labor box recording is in the public domain. The Antiquary by Sir Walter Scott, Chapter 24th. Right a glare at the beacon on Balnell. On Skidaw, there were three. The bugle horn on Moore and Fell was heard continually. James Hogg. The watch, who kept his watch on the hill, and looked towards Burnham, probably conceived in self-dreaming when he first beheld the fated grove, put itself in a motion, for it to march to doonsoning. Even so old Caxon, as perked in his hut, he qualified his thoughts upon the approaching marriage of his daughter, and the dignity of being father-in-law to the tenant Taffrel, with an occasional peep towards the signal post, with which his own corresponded. He was not a little surprised by observing a light in that direction. He rubbed his eyes, looked again, adjusted his observation by a cross-staff, which had been placed so as to bear upon the point, and behold, the light increased, like a comet to the eye of the astronomer, with fear of change perplexing nations. The Lord preserve us, said Caxon. What's to be done now? But there would be wiser heads in mind to look to that. Xae's seen fire at the beacon, and he lighted the beacon accordingly, which threw up to the sky a long wavering train of light, startling the sea-fowl from their nests, and reflected far beneath by the reddening billows of the sea. The brother-warders of Caxon, being equally diligent, caught and repeated his signal. The lights glanced on headlands and capes and inland hills, and the whole district was alarmed by the signal of invasion. Our antiquary, his head wrapped warm in two double-night caps, was quietly enjoying his repose, when it was suddenly broken by the screams of his sister, his niece, and two maid-servants. What the devil's the matter? said he, starting up in his bed. Woman kind in my room at this hour of night. Are he all mad? The beacon, uncle, said Miss Mentire, the French coming to murder us, screamed Miss Griselda. The beacon, the beacon, the French, the French, murderer, murderer, and whore than murderer, cried the two handmaidens like the chorus of an opera. The French? said Old Buck, starting up. Get out of the room, woman kind, that you are, to like it my things on, and Harkie, bring me my sword. Look at them, Monk Barnes, cried his sister, offering a Roman falchion of brass with the one hand, and with the other, an Andrea Ferrara, without a handle. The longest, the longest, cried Jenny Witherout, dragging in a two-handed sword of the twelfth century. Woman kind, settled, buck, in great agitation. Be composed, and do not give way to vain terror. Are you sure they are come? Sure, sure, exclaimed Jenny, all are sure. High the sea-fencebos, and the land-fencebos, and the volunteers, and yeymenry, are on fit, and drive into Fairport as hard as horse and man can gang, and old Mokko Beckett's, kind with the lathe. Mokko good, he'll do. Hey, sirs, he'll be missed the morn, where would a served king in country bid. Give me, sir, old buck, the sword which my father wore in the year of forty-five. It hath no belt or balderick, but will make shift. So sane, he thrust the weapon through the cover of his bridge's pocket. At this moment Hector entered, who had been to a neighboring height, to ascertain whether the alarm was actual. Where are your arms, nephew? exclaimed old buck, where's your double-barreled gun? That was never out of your hand when there was no occasion for such fanities. Who pooser? said Hector, whoever took a felling-piece on action. I've got my uniform on, you see. I hope I shall be of more use if they will give me a command than I could be with ten double-barrels. And you, sir, must get to Fairport to give directions for quartering and maintaining the men in horses, and preventing confusion. You are right, Hector. I believe I shall do as much with my head as my hand, too. But here comes Sir Arthur Wardour, who between ourselves is not fit to accomplish much either one way or the other. Sir Arthur was probably of a different opinion, for, dressed in his lieutenancy uniform, he was also on the road to Fairport, and called in his way to take Mr. Old Buck with him, having had his original opinion of his sagacity much confirmed by late events. And in spite of all the entreaties of the womankind that the antiquary would stay to garrison monk barns, Mr. Old Buck, with his nephew, instantly accepted Sir Arthur's offer. Those who have witnessed such a scene can alone concede the state of bustle in Fairport. The windows were glancing with a hundred lights, which, appearing and disappearing rapidly, indicated the confusion within doors. The women of lower rank assembled and clamored in the marketplace. The yeomanry, pouring from their different glens, galloped through the streets, some individually, some in parties of five or six, as they had met on the road. The drums and fives of the volunteers, beating to arms, were blended with the voice of the officers, the sound of the bugles, and the towing of the bells from the steeple. The ships in the harbor were lit up, and boats from the armed vessels added to the bustle, by landing men and guns destined to assist in the defense of the place. This part of the preparations was super-intended by Taffel, with much activity. Two or three light vessels had already slipped their cables and stood out to sea, in order to discover the supposed enemy. Such was the scene of general confusion when Sir Arthur Wardour, Old Buck and Hector, made their way with difficulty into the principal square, where the townhouse is situated. It was lighted up, and the magistracy, with many of the neighbouring gentlemen, were assembled. And here, as upon other occasions of the light kind in Scotland, it was remarkable how the good sense and firmness of the people supplied almost all the deficiencies of inexperience. The magistrates were beset by the quarter-masters of the different corps, for billets, for men, and horses. Let us, said Bailey little John, take the horses into our warehouses and the men into our parlours, share our supper with the one and our forage with the other. We've made ourselves wealthy under free and paternal government, and now is the time to show we know its value. A loud and cheerful acquiescence was given by all present, and the substance of the wealthy, with the persons of those of all ranks, were unanimously devoted to the defence of the country. Captain Mentire acted on this occasion as military adviser and odd decombe to the principal magistrate, and displayed a degree of presence of mind and knowledge of his profession, totally unexpected by his uncle, who, recollecting his usual insouciance and impetuosity, gazed at him with astonishment from time to time, as he remarked the calm and steady manner in which he explained the various measures of precaution that his experience suggested, and gave directions for executing them. He found the different corps in good order, considering the irregular materials of which they were composed, in great force of numbers and high confidence and spirits. And so much did military experience at that moment overbalance all other claims to consequence, that even old Eddie, instead of being loved like diogenes at Sinope, to roll his tub when all around were preparing for defence, had the duty assigned him of superintending the serving out of the ammunition, which he executed with much discretion. Two things were still anxiously expected. The presence of the Glen Allen volunteers, who, in consideration of the importance of that family, had been formed into a separate corps, and the arrival of the officer before announced, to whom the measures of defence on that coast had been committed by the commander-in-chief, and whose commission would entitle him to take upon himself the full disposal of the military force. At length the bugles of the Glen Allen yeomanry were heard, and the Earl himself, to the surprise of all who knew his habits in the state of health, appeared at their head in uniform. They formed a very handsome and well-mounted squadron, formed entirely out of the Earl's lowland tenants, and were followed by a regimen of five hundred men, completely equipped in the Highland dress, whom he brought down from the upland glens with their pipes plain in the van. The clean and serviceable appearance of this band of feudal dependents called forth the admiration of Captain Mentire, but his uncle was still more struck by the manner in which, upon this crisis, the ancient military spirit of his house, seemed to animate and invigorate the decayed frame of the Earl, their leader. He claimed and obtained for himself and his followers the post most likely to be that of danger, displayed great alacrity in making the necessary dispositions, and showed equal acuteness in discussing their propriety. Morning broken upon the military council's affair-port, while all concerned, were still eagerly engaged in taking precautions for their defense. At length, the crime when the people announced, there's the brave major-nevel come at last with another officer, and their post-chase and fore drove into the square, amidst the huzzas of the volunteers and inhabitants. The magistrates, with their assessors of lieutenancy, hastened to the door of their townhouse to receive him. But what was the surprise of all present, but most especially that of the antiquary, when they became aware that the handsome uniform and military cap disclosed the personal features of the Pacific level? A warm embrace and a hearty shake of the hand were necessary to assure him that his eyes were doing him justice. Sir Arthur was no less surprised to recognize his son, Captain Wardor, in levels or rather major-nevels company. The first words of the young officers were a positive assurance to all present that the courage and zeal which they had displayed were entirely thrown away, unless and so far as they afforded an acceptable proof of their spirit and promptitude. The watchman, at Hulket Head, said major-nevel, as we discovered by an investigation which we made in our route hither, was most naturally misled by a bonfire, which some idle people had made on the hill above Glen Withershenes, just in the line of the beacon with which his corresponded. Old Buck gave a cautious look to Sir Arthur, who returned it with one equally sheepish and a shrug of the shoulders. It must have been the machinery which we condemned to the flames in our wrath, said the antiquary, plucking up heart, though not a little ashamed of having been the cause of so much disturbance. The devil takedouster civil with all my heart. I think he has bequeathed us a legacy of blunders and mischief, as if he had lighted some train of fireworks at his departure. I wonder what cracker will go off next among our shins. But yonder comes the prudent caxon. Hold up your head, you ass. Your betters must spare the blame for you. And here, take this—what do you call it? Giving him a sword. I wonder what I would have said to any man that would have told me I was to stick such an appendage to my tail. Here he found his arm gently pressed by Lord Glen Allen, who dragged him into a separate apartment. For God's sake, who is that young gentleman who is so strikingly like—like the unfortunate Evelyn? Interrupted, old buck. I felt my heart warmed him from the first, and your lordship has suggested the very cause. But who—who is he? Continued Lord Glen Allen, holding the antiquary with a convulsive grasp. Formerly I would have called him Lovell, but now he turns out to be Major Neville. Who my brother brought up as his natural son? Whom he made his heir? Gracious Heaven. The child of my Evelyn. Hold, my lord, hold, said old buck. Do not give too hasty way to such a presumption. What probability is there? Probability? None. There is certainty—absolute certainty. The agent I mentioned to you wrote me the whole story. I received it yesterday, not sooner. Bring him, for God's sake, that a father's eyes may bless him before he departs. I will, but for your own sake and his give him a few moments for preparation. And determined to make still farther investigation before yielding his entire conviction to so strange a tale, he sought out Major Neville and found him expediting the necessary measures for dispersing the force which had been assembled. Pray, Major Neville, leave this business for a moment to Captain Mordor and to Hector, with whom I hope you are thoroughly reconciled. Neville laughed and shook hands with Hector across the table, and grabbed me a moment's audience. You have a claim on me, Mr. Old Buck? We're my business more urgent, said Neville, for having passed myself upon you under a false name and rewarding your hospitality by injuring your nephew. You served him as he deserved, said Old Buck, though, by the way, he showed as much good sense as spirit today. He, God, if you would rub up his learning and read Caesar and Paulibus and the Stradigamata Pollyoni, I think you would rise in the army, and I will certainly lend him a lift. He is heartily deserving of it, said Neville, and I am glad you excuse me, which you may do the more frankly when you know that I am so unfortunate as to have no better right to the name of Neville by which I have been generally distinguished than to that of Lovell, under which you knew me. Indeed, then I trust we shall find out one for you to which you shall have a firm and legal title. Sir, I trust you not think the misfortune of my birth fits subject. By no means, young man, answered the antiquary, interrupting him. I believe I know more of your birth than you do yourself. And to convince you of it, you were educated and known as a natural son of Gerald and Neville, of Nevelsburg in Yorkshire, and I presume, as his destinaire. Pardon me, no such views were held out to me. I was liberally educated and pushed forward in the army by money and interest, but I believe my supposed father long entertained some ideas of marriage, though we never carried them into effect. You say your supposed father, what leads you to suppose Mr. Gerald and Neville was not your real father? I know, Mr. Oldbuck, that you would not ask these questions on a point of such delicacy for the gratification of idle curiosity. I will therefore tell you candidly, that last year, while we occupied a small town in French Flanders, I found in a convent, near which I was quartered, a woman who spoke remarkably good English. She was a Spaniard, her name Teresa de Acuna. In the process of our acquaintance, she discovered who I was, and made herself known to me as the person who had charge of my infancy. She dropped more than one hint of rank to which I was entitled, and of injustice stunned me, promising a more full disclosure in case of the death of a lady in Scotland, during whose lifetime she was determined to keep the secret. She also intimated that Mr. Gerald and Neville was not my father. We were attacked by the enemy and driven from the town, which was pillaged with savage ferocity by the Republicans. The religious orders were the particular objects of their hate and cruelty. The convent was burned, and several nuns perished, among others, Teresa. And with her all chance of knowing the story of my birth, tragic by all accounts it must have been, raw, antecedentum celestum, or, as I may here say, celestum, said Old Buck, desperate poina. Even Epicureans admitted that. And what did you do upon this? I remonstrated with Mr. Neville by letter, and to no purpose. I then obtained leave of absence, and, through myself at his feet, conjuring him to complete the disclosure which Teresa had begun. He refused, and, on my importunity, indignantly upbraided me with the favours he had already conferred. I thought he abused the power of a benefactor, as he was compelled to admit he had no title to that of a father, and we parted in mutual displeasure. I renounced the name of Neville, and assumed that under which he knew me. It was at this time, when residing with a friend in the north of England, who favoured my disguise, that I became acquainted with Miss Wardour, and was romantic enough to follow her to Scotland. My mind wavered on various plans of life, when I resolved to apply once more to Mr. Neville, for an explanation of the mystery of my birth. It was long ere I received an answer. You were present when it was put into my hands. He informed me of his bad state of health, and conjured me for my own sake, to inquire no farther into the nature of his connection with me. But to rest satisfied with his declaring it, to be such and so intimate, that he designed to constitute me his heir. When I was preparing to leave Fairport to join him, a second express brought me word that he was no more. The possession of great wealth was unable to suppress, the remorseful feelings with which I now regarded my conduct to my benefactor, and some hints in his letter appearing to intimate, there was on my birth a deeper stain than that of ordinary and legitimacy. I remembered certain prejudices of Sir Arthur. And you brooded over these melancholy ideas until you were ill, instead of coming to me for advice, and telling me the whole story, said Old Buck. Exactly. Then came my quarrel with Captain Mentire, and my compelled departure from Fairport and its vicinity. From love and from poetry, Miss Wardour and the Colledonian. Most true. And since that time, you have been occupied, I suppose, with plans for Sir Arthur's relief. Yes, sir, with the assistance of Captain Wardour at Edinburgh. And at the occultry here, you see I know the whole story. But how came you by the treasure? It was a quantity of plate, which had belonged to my uncle, and was left in the custody of a person at Fairport. Some time before his death he had sent orders that it should be melted down. He perhaps did not wish me to see the Glen Allen arms upon it. Well, Major Neville, or let me say Lovell, being the name in which I rather delight, you must, I believe, exchange both of your aliases for the style and title of the honourable William Geraldine, commonly called Lord Geraldine. The antiquary then went through the strange and melancholy circumstances concerning his mother's death. I have no doubt, he said, that your uncle wished the report to be believed, that the child of this unhappy marriage was no more. Perhaps he might himself have an eye to the inheritance of his brother. He was then a gay, wild young man. But of all intentions against your person, however much the evil conscience of Elspeth might lead her to inspect him from the agitation in which he appeared, to raise his story, and your own, fully acquit him. And now, my dear sir, let me have the pleasure of introducing a son to a father. We will not attempt to describe such a meeting. The proofs on all sides were found to be complete, for Mr. Neville had left a distinct account of the whole transaction with his confidential steward in the sealed packet, which was not to be opened until the death of the old Countess. His motive for preserving secrecy so long, appearing to have been an apprehension of the effect which the discovery, fraught with so much disgrace, must necessarily produce upon her haughty and violent temper. In the evening of that day, the Yeomanry, and volunteers of Glen Allen, drank prosperity to their young master. In a month afterwards, Lord Geraldine was married to Ms. Wardwar, the antiquary making the lady a present of the wedding-ring, a massy circle of antique chasing, bearing the motto of Aldebrand Oldenbuck, Kuhn smocked Guntcht. Old Eddie, the most important man that ever wore a blue gown, bowls away easily from one friend's house to another, and boasts that he never travels unless on a sunny day. Laterally indeed, he is given some symptoms of the coming stationery, being frequently found in the corner of a snug cottage between Mock Barnes and Nock Winnick, to which Caxon retreated upon his daughter's marriage, in order to be in the neighborhood of the three parochial wigs, which he continues to keep in repair, though only for amusement. Eddie has been heard to say, this is a gay wine-place, and to comfort I seek a corner to sit in in a bad day. It is thought as he grows stiffer in the joints, he will finally settle there. The bounty of such wealthy patrons as Lord and Lady Geraldine flowed copiously upon Mrs. Hadaway and upon the muckle-backets. By the former it was well employed, by the latter, wasted. They continue, however, to receive it, but under the administration of Eddie Oakletree, and they do not accept it without grumbling at the channel through which it is conveyed. Hector is rising rapidly in the army, and has been more than once mentioned in the Gazette, and rises proportionally high in his uncle's favor. And what scarcely pleases the young soldier less, he has also shot two seals, and must put an end to the antiquary's perpetual harping upon the story of the foca. People talk of a marriage between Miss Mentire and Captain Wardour, but this wants confirmation. The antiquary is a frequent visitor at Nockwinnick and Glen Allen House, ostensibly for the sake of completing two essays, one on the mail-shirt of the great Earl, and the other on the left-hand gauntlet of Helen Harness. He regularly inquires whether Lord Geraldine has commenced the Caledonian, and shakes his head at the answers he receives. On Entendant. However, he has completed his notes, which we believe will be of the service of anyone who chooses to make them public without risk or expense to the antiquary. Note J. Alarm of Invasion. The story of the false alarm at Fairport and the consequences are taken from a rural incident, those who witnessed the State of Britain and of Scotland in particular, from the period that succeeded the war, which commenced in 1803, to the Battle of Trafalgar. Must recollect those times with feelings which we can hardly hope to make the rising generation comprehend. 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 everyone to repair to the post where his peculiar duty called him, and men of every description fit to serve held themselves in readiness on the shortest summons. During this agitating period and on the evening of the 2nd February 1804, the person who kept watch on the commanding station of Home Castle, being deceived by some accidental fire in the county of Northumberland, which he took for the corresponding valleys on the English border. If the beacon at St. Abshead had been fired, the alarm would have run northward and roused all Scotland, but the watch at this important point judiciously considered, and if there had been an actual or threatened descent on our eastern sea coast, the alarm would have come along the coast and not from the interior of the country. Through the border counties, the alarm spread with rapidity, and on no occasion, when that country was the scene of perpetual and unceasing war, was the summons to arms more readily obeyed. In Berwickshire, Roguesburgshire, and Soulkirkshire, the volunteers of militia got under arms with a degree of rapidity and alacrity, which, considering the distance individual lived from each other, had something in it very surprising. They poured to the alarm posts on the sea coast, in a state so well armed and so completely appointed, with baggage, provisions, etc., as was accounted by the best military judges to render them fit for instant and effectual surface. There were some particulars in the general alarm which are curious and interesting. The men of Lidesdale, the most remote point to the westward which the alarm reached, were so much afraid of being late in the field, that they put in requisition all the horses they could find, and when they had thus made a forced march out of their own country, they turned their borrowed steeds loose to find their way back through the hills, and they all got back safe to their own stables. Another remarkable circumstance was the general cry of the inhabitants of the smaller towns for arms, that they might go along with their companions. The soul-cructure, Yeomanry, made a remarkable march. For although some of the individuals lived at twenty and thirty miles distance from the place where they mustered, they were nevertheless embodying and in order, in so short a period, that they were at Dahlkeith, which was their alarm post, about one o'clock on the day succeeding the first signal, with men and horses in good order, though the roads were in a bad state, and many of the troopers must have ridden forty or fifty miles without drawing bridle. Two members of the corps chanced to be absent from their homes, and in Edinburgh on private business. The lately married wife of one of these gentlemen, and the widowed mother of the other, sent the arms, uniforms, and chargers of the two troopers, that they might join their companions at Dahlkeith. The author was very much struck by the answer made to him by the last mentioned lady, when he 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 a 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 father's death, our family is supported, but I would rather see him dead on that heart, than hear that he had been a horse's length behind his companions in the defence of his king and country. The author mentions what was immediately under his own eye, and within his own knowledge, but the spirit was universal, wherever the alarm reached, both in Scotland and England. The account of the ready patriotism displayed by the country, on this occasion, warmed the hearts of Scottish men in every corner of the world. It reached the ears of the well-known Dr. Leiden, whose enthusiastic love of Scotland and of his own district of Teviotdale formed a distinguished part of his character. The account which was read to him, when on a sick bed, stated very truly that the different corps, on arriving at their alarm posts, announced themselves by their music, playing the tunes peculiar to their own districts, many of which have been gathering signals for centuries. It was particularly remembered that the lion's delmen, before mentioned, entered calso, playing the lively tune, oh, why dare meddle with me, and why dare meddle with me, my name it is, little Dr. Elliot, and what dare meddle with me. The patient was so delighted with this display of ancient border spirit that he sprung up in his bed and began to sing the old song with such vehemence of action and voice that his attendance, ignorant of the cause of excitation, concluded that the fever had taken possession of his brain, and it was only the entry of another borderer, Sir John Malcolm, and the explanation, which he was well qualified to give, that prevented them from resorting to means of medical coercion. The circumstances of this false alarm and its consequences may be now held of too little importance, even for a note upon a work of fiction. But at the period when it happened, it was hailed by the country as a propitious omen, that the national forest, to which much must naturally have been trusted, had the spirit to look in the face the danger which they had taken arms to repel, and everyone was convinced that on whichever side God might bestow the victory, the invaders would meet with the most determined opposition from the children of the soil. End Readers Note End Chapter 4 End of The Antiquary by Sir Walter Scott