Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/272

 408 SIR WILLIAM WALLACE.

bent his whole force to make a complete conquest of Scotland, which had long been the ruling object of his ambition and exertions. His passions were now exasperated to the utmost by the repeated failures of his attempts, and he de> clared his determination either to subjugate it entirely, or to raze it utterly with fire and sword, and blot it out from existence in the list of nations. With this purpose, he marched into Scotland at the head of an army too powerful to be resisted by an unfortunate people, already broken down by the accumu- lated miseries that attended their long continued conflict with an unequal enemy. The inhabitants fled before him, or submitted to his power, and his whole course was marked by scenes of slaughter, devastation, and ruin. The governor, Comyn, Sir Simon Fraser, and Sir William Wallace, with their fol. lowers, were driven into the fields and fastnesses of the country, from which they only issued in irregular predatory expeditions against detachments of the English. Edward continued his victorious progress as far as the extremity of the province of Moray, and the only fortress that opposed his course was the castle of Brechin, which, after an obstinate resistance, surrendered on the death of Sir Thomas Maule, its gallant commander, who was killed by a stone discharged from one of the besieging engines. Edward then returned to Dunfermline, where he spent the winter in receiving the submission of those who had not made their peace with him during his progress through the kingdom. Almost all the nobles gave in submissions. Bruce surrendered him- self to John de St John,'the English warden ; and at last Comyn, the governor, and his followers, delivered themselves up to Edward, under a stipulation for their lives, liberties, and lands, and a subjection to certain pecuniary penalties. From this stipulation Edward excepted the following, as being more obstinate in their rebellion : Wishart, bishop of Glasgow, James, the Steward of Scotland, Sir John Soulis, the late associate of Comyn in the government of the kingdom, David de Graham, Alexander de Lindesay, Simon Fraser, Thomas Bois, and William Wallace. The bishop of Glasgow, the Steward, and Soulis, were to remain in exile for two years ; Graham and Lindesay were to be banished from Scotland for six months ; and Fraser and Bois for three years. " As for WILLIAM WALLATK," says the deed, " it is covenanted, that if he thinks proper to surrender himself, it must be uncondi- tionally to the will and mercy of our lord the king." 19

Soon after, an English parliament was held at St Andrews, to which the king summoned all the Scottish barons and nobles. The summons was obeyed

19 Langtoft, in his Chronicle, says that Wallace proposed, on certain terms, to surrender himself. These terms mark his bold and unsubdued spirit. Their effect upon Edward was to throw him into a fit of rage. The passage is as follows :

Turn we now other weyes, unto our owen geste,

Andspeke of the Waleys that lies in the foreste;

In the forest he lendes of Dounfermelyn,

He praied all his frendes, and other of his kyn,

After that Yole, thei wilde beseke Edward,

That he might yelde till him, in a forward

That were honorable to kepe wod or beste,

And with his scrite full stable, and seled at the least,

To him and all his to haf in heritage ;

And none otherwise, als term tyme and stage

Bot als a propre thing that were conquest till him.

Whan thei brouht that tething Edward was fulle grim,

And bilauht him the fende, als traytoure in Loud,

And ever-ilkon his frende that him susteyn'd or fond.

Three hundreth inarkc he hette unto his warisoun,

That with him so mette, or bring his hede to toun.

Now flies William Waleis, of pres nouht he spcdis,

In mores and man is with robberie him fedis.