His family was aroused late one night by the sound of a carriage hurrying down the steep and narrow street.

Lord Napier was bringing, probably from Hawick, the tidings that the beacons were ablaze.

The town-bell was instantly rung, the inhabitants met in the marketplace, where Scott's statue now stands, and the whole force, with one solitary exception, armed and marched to Dalkeith.

According to the gentleman whose horse and arms were sent on to meet him, it was intended, if the French proved victorious, that the population of the Border towns should abandon their homes and retire to the hills.
No characters in the "Antiquary," except Monkbarns and Edie Ochiltree, seem to have been borrowed from notable originals.

The frauds of Dousterswivel, Scott says, are rendered plausible by "very late instances of the force of superstitious credulity to a much greater extent." He can hardly be referring to the career of Cagliostro, but he may have had in his memory some unsuccessful mining speculations by Charles Earl of Traquair, who sought for lead and found little or none in Traquair hills.