Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/264

400 lace; but this brave and patriotic man rejected it with disdain. It is supposed that Sir John Grahame and Sir Robert Boyd were not present on this occasion; their names are not in the treaty; and historians say, that Sir Andrew Murray of Bothwell was the only baron who remained with Wallace, after this disgraceful desertion.

Undismayed by the occurrence, Wallace retired to the north, after venting his indignation on the castle and lands of the bishop of Glasgow, who was the negotiator of the treaty, and who, by his intrigues, had the common fortune of being suspected by both parties. There are no authentic memorials regarding the particular actions of Wallace during the summer months that intervened be- tween the treaty of Irvine and the battle of Stirling ; but he seems to have been active and successful in raising a formidable army. The spirit of his countrymen was now roused. Knighton, an old English historian, informs us, that "although the nobility of Scotland had attached themselves to England,, and the community of the land obeyed him as their leader and their prince." The cause of this is obvious. Many, or most of the nobles, were Normans, of recent connexion with Scotland, still disposed to look rather to England than to Scotland as their country, and to the English monarch, than to the Scottish, as their sovereign: while the common people had no attachment but to their native soil, and their native prince. Wallace was one of the Anglo-Normans who sided with the body of the people, in this quarrel, and it is easy to see that much of the jealousy of the nobility towards him, was excited by the reflection, that he deserted the cause of his kindred aristocracy, for the sake of popular and national rights.

It was when Wallace had succeeded in expelling the English from the castles of Forfar, Brechin, Montrose, and nearly all their strongholds on the north of the Forth, and had just begun the siege of the castle of Dundee, that intelligence reached him of the English army, under the command of the earl of Surrey and Cressingham, the treasurer, being on its march to oppose him. Charging the citizens of Dundee to continue, on pain of death, the siege of the castle, he hastened with all his troops to guard the important passage of the Forth, before Surrey had passed the bridge at Stirling, and encamped behind a rising ground in the neighbourhood of the abbey of Cambuskenneth. His army, at this time, amounted to forty thousand foot, and a hundred and eighty horse. That of the English was superior in numbers, being fifty thousand foot, and one thousand horse. The Steward of Scotland, the earl of Lennox, Sir Richard Lundin, and others of the Scottish barons, were now with the English, and, on the army reaching Stirling bridge, they requested Surrey to delay an attack, till they had attempted to bring Wallace to terms. They soon returned with the information, that they had failed in their efforts at a reconciliation, and that they had not been able to persuade a single soldier to desert. Surrey, who seems to have been aware of the danger of passing the bridge, as a last resource, sent two friars to offer a pardon to Wallace and his followers, on condition that they would lay down their arms. But the spirit of Wallace was unsubdued. "Go back to your masters," he said, "and tell them, that we stand not here to treat of peace, but to avenge the wrongs, and restore the freedom of our country. Let the English come on—we shall meet them beard to beard." On hearing this defiance, the English impatiently demanded to be led to the attack; but Surrey, alive to the strong position occupied by the Scots, hesitated, until overcome by the taunts and impatience of Cressingham. "Why, my lord," cried this insolent churchman, "should we protract the war, and spend the king's money? Let us forward us becomes us, and do our knightly duty."

The English army began to cross the bridge, led by Sir Marmaduke Twenge