Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/268

 404 SIR WILLIAM WALLACE.

my enemies at the same time." Worn out, however, by a daily increasing fa- mine, Edward was at last obliged to abandon his prospects of ambition and re. venge, and to issue orders for a retreat to the eastern borders. It was at this critical moment, when the English army began to break up their quarters, that Edward, through the treachery of two Scottish lords, Patrick, earl of Dunbar, and the earl of Angus, received information that the Scots lay encamped in the forest of Falkirk ; and that it was the intention of Wallace to surprise him by a night attack, and to hang upon and harass his rear. " Thank God," cried Edward: " they shall not need to follow me; I shall go and meet them." His army was immediately marched to wards Falkirk, and on the evening of the dayon which he received the information, encamped on a heath near Linlithgow.

Next morning, (July 22nd, 1298,) the Scottish army was descried forming on a stony field at the side of a small eminence in the neighbourhood of Fal- kirk. It did not amount in number to the third part of the English, and, weak as it was, is said by the Scottish historians to have been still further weakened by fatal dissensions. Wallace, however, seems to have availed himself of every advantage which his situation and circumstances permitted. He placed his army on the front of a morass, and divided his infantry into four compnct bodies of a circular form. In these masses composed of his spearmen, and called Shiltrons, 12 consisted the strength of the Scottish army ; for they were linked together so closely that it was extremely difficult to break them. 13 In the spaces between the Shiltrons were placed the archers, commanded by Sir John Stewart, of Bonkill, and at some distance in the rear was drawn up the cavalry, amounting to no more than a thousand. When he had thus drawn up his little army, and the enemy appeared in view, Wallace said pleasantly to his men, " I have brought you to the ring ; let me see how you can dance." 14

The English monarch arranged his army into three divisions; the first headed by Bigot, earl Marshall, and the earls of Hereford and Lincoln ; the second by the bishop of Durham and Sir Ralph Basset of Drayton ; and the third by Edward himself, who, although wounded on the previous night by a kick from his horse, was yet able to mingle in the engagement. The first division led on the attack ; but was checked by the morass that stretched along the front of the Scottish position, and obliged to make a circuit to the west. Meanwhile, the second line, under the command of the bishop of Durham, and Basset, inclined to the right, turned the morass, and advanced towards the left flank of tlie Scottish army. The bishop proposed to defer the attack till the rest of the army should advance. " Return to thy mass, bishop," said Basset, sneeringly. " Not so," answered the bishop : " we are all soldiers to-day ; lead on !" At the same moment the first division made its appearance,

12 This word is used by Harbour, in Ms description of the battle of Bannockburn : ' For Scotsmen that them hard essayed,

That then were in a shiltrum all.' M Ther formost convey ther bukkis togidere sette, Ther speres, point over point, so sure, and so thikkc And fast togidere joynt, to se, it was ferlike, Als a castelle the! stode, that were walled with stone, Thei wende no man of blode thorgh them suld haf gone.*

Langtofts Chronicle, book 11.

14 The words of Wallace were, " I half brockt you to the ring; hap, gif you cun." Tlte ring means the danse a la ronde. Hap is an old word for dance. ' The dansand priestis, clepit Salii, Hafijiaiui and singand.'

Douglas's JEneid, viii. 21.

Lord Hailes supposes cun to be an obsolete verb of the noun and adjective cunning, still used as, " Let my right hand forget its cunning" &c. ; and translates " gif you cun," i/ you have skill. But we should imagine cun to be simply can, corruptly spelt : " Gff you cun," if you can.