Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 2.djvu/58

 spirit characteristic of the days of chivalry, secretly withdrawing from her husband, repaired to Scone, and asserted the pretensions of her ancestors. It is not unlikely that this circumstance added to the popular interest felt for the young sovereign. The crown was a second time placed on the head of Bruce by the hands of the Countess; who was afterwards doomed to suffer, through a long series of insult and oppression, for the adventurous and patriotic act which has preserved her name to posterity.

Edward resided with his court at Winchester when the intelligence of the murder of Comyn, and the revolt of Bruce reached his ears. That monarch, whose long career of successful conquest was once again to be broken and endangered, had reached that period of life when peace and tranquillity even to the most indomitable spirits become not only desirable but coveted blessings. The great natural strength of his constitution had, besides, ill withstood the demands which long arduous military service, and the violent excitations of ambition had made upon it. He was become of unwieldy bulk, and so infirm in his limbs as to be unable to mount on horseback, or walk without difficulty. Yet the spirit which had so strongly actuated the victor on former occasions did not desert the king on the present emergency. He immediately despatched a message to the Pope, demanding in aid of his own temporal efforts, the assistant thunder of the holy see, a requisition which Clement V., who had formerly been the subject of Edward, readily complied with. The sentence of excommunication was denounced against Bruce and all his adherents, and their possessions placed under the dreaded ban of interdiction. The garrison towns of Berwick and Carlisle were strengthened; and the Earl of Pembroke, who was appointed guardian, was ordered to proceed against the rebels in Scotland, at the head of a small army, hastily collected, for the occasion.

Those were but preparatory measures. Upon Edward's arrival in London, he conferred knighthood upon his son the Prince of Wales, and nearly three hundred other persons, consisting, principally, of young men selected from families of rank throughout the kingdom; and conducted the ceremony with a pomp and magnificence well calculated to rouse the martial ardour and enterprise of his subjects. At a splendid banquet to which his nobility and the new made knights were invited, the aged king is recorded to have made a solemn vow to the God of heaven, that he would execute severe vengeance upon Bruce for the daring outrage which he had committed against God and his church; declaring, that when he had performed this duty, he would never more unsheath his sword against a Christian enemy; but should devote the remainder of his days to waging war against the Saracens for the recovery of the Holy Land, thence never to return from that sanctified warfare. Addressing his son, he made him promise, that, should he die before the accomplishment of his revenge, he should carry his body with the army, and not commit it to the earth, until a complete victory over his enemies should be obtained.

Pembroke, the English guardian, took early possession of the trust which had been confided to him; and marching his small army upon Perth, a walled and strongly fortified town, he there established his head-quarters. Bruce, during the short interval which had elapsed since his coronation, had not been altogether unsuccessful in recruiting the numbers and establishing order among his band of followers; nor did he think it prudent to delay engaging this portion of the English forces, greatly superior as they were, in every respect, to his own, prompted perhaps by the desire of striking an early and effectual blow, by which he might give credit and confirmation to his cause before the important succours expected by the enemy should arrive. On drawing near Perth, he sent a challenge, according to the chivalrous practice of the age, defying the English com-