[Ads-l] Paul Revere Quote

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Below is an instance of "the British are coming! The British are
coming!" spoken by an unnamed messenger in an account from 1853.

Date: March 30, 1853
Newspaper: The Middlebury Register
Newspaper Location: Middlebury, Vermont

https://www.newspapers.com/image/49670892/

[Begin excerpt]
No wonder then, that consternation filled every mind, when on the
morning of the second of August, a messenger rushed through the
village proclaiming, "the British are coming! The British are coming!"
[End excerpt]

Garson


On Thu, Apr 13, 2017 at 12:34 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> The 1874 text displays an interesting transition which may be worth
> noting for list members. It contains two different exclamations. Paul
> Revere says "The regulars are coming", and Dr. Prescott says "The
> British are coming! The British are coming!"
>
> Year: 1874
> Title: Stories of a Grandfather about American History
> Author: N. S. Dodge (Nathaniel Shatswell Dodge)
>
> [Begin excerpt - page 82]
> But they discovered it, nevertheless. Dr. Warren sent Paul Revere
> across Charles river, and there a man lent him a horse. He stopped at
> every house on the road, saying, "The regulars are coming." Other men
> started off to tell their neighbors. At midnight, Revere rode up to a
> farm-house, where were Samuel Adams and John Hancock, two patriot
> leaders, and asked leave to go in.
> [End excerpt]
>
> [Begin excerpt - page 85]
> The British troops were in pursuit of the powder and cannon at
> Concord. This the Americans knew. As soon therefore, as Dr. Prescott,
> who had ridden hard from Boston, rushed into the little village,
> calling out, "The British are coming! The British are coming!" every
> man knew just what to do.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 13, 2017 at 12:03 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>> The earliest mention I have found of Paul Revere's alleged quotation "The British are coming" is in Nathaniel Shatswell Dodge, Stories of a Grandfather About American History (1874).  Can anyone supply any earlier occurrences?
>>
>>
>> Fred Shapiro
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org