THE SQUIEE AND HIS VOLUNTEERS. 155 



men were content with tlie good old Englisli sports 

 and pastimes of tlie period, and these caused them 

 to live on their own estates, surrounded by and in the 

 presence of those whom modern refinements serve to 

 separate ; and their dependants therefore were more 

 alive to those reciprocal, neighbourly, and social duties 

 out of which patriotism springs. They might not 

 have been better or wiser, but they appear to have 

 approached nearer to that state of society when every 

 citizen considered himself to be so closely identified 

 with the nation as to feel boimd to bear arms 

 against an invading enemy, and, as far as possible, 

 to avert a danger. Never was the rivalry of Eng- 

 land and France more vehement. Emboldened b}^ 

 successes, the French began to think themselves all 

 but invincible, and burned to meet in mortal com- 

 bat their ancient enemies, whilst our coimtrymen, 

 equally defiant, and with recollections of former 

 glory, sought no less an opportunity of measuring 

 their strength with the veteran armies of their 

 rivals. The embers of former passions yet lay 

 smouldering when the French Minister of Marine 

 talked of making a descent on England, and of 

 destroying the Government ; a threat calculated to 

 influence the feelings of old sportsmen like Squire 

 Forester, who nourished a love of country, whose 



