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by all, except Sir William Oliphant, Sir Simon Eraser, and Sir William Wallace. Oliphant held the castle of Stirling, and refused to capitulate. It was the only stronghold of Scotland not in the hands of the English; and Edward brought all his force to besiege it. Every engine known in those days was employed in the attack. After an obstinate defence for three months, of which the English historians speak with admiration, Sir William Oliphant and his little garrison were compelled to surrender at discretion. Fraser, too, despairing of further resistance, at last accepted the conditions of Edward, and offered himself up to the conqueror. remained unsubdued, amid this wreck of all that was free and noble, standing like a solitary monument among the ruins of an ancient dynasty destined then to be the emblem of his country's independence ; now, to be its watchword, its pride, and its praise.

Having gained the submission of the principal men of Scotland, and, in the capture of Stirling, reduced the last castle which had resisted his authority, Edward returned to England, in the pleasing conviction that he had, at length, finally accomplished the object upon which so much of the blood and money of England had been expended. Yet, while Wallace still lived, he felt his possession insecure; and he used every possible means to obtain the person of this his first, most dangerous, and uncompromising opponent. After the battle of Falkirk, and his resignation of the governorship of Scotland, little is authentically known of the particular transactions of Wallace. Great part of the time between 1298 and 1305, was no doubt spent in desultory attempts to annoy the English garrisons and migratory parties. But that a portion was also devoted to a visit to France, as has been related by Blind Harry, and disputed by subsequent writers, appears now to be equally certain; as a manuscript English chronicle, recently discovered by Mr Stevenson in the British Museum, speaks of such a visit, without the intimation of any doubt upon the subject. Wallace was probably induced to visit the French court, by a hope of obtaining some auxiliaries from Philip, for the purpose of carrying on the war against Edward; or, by a wish to urge the interests of Scotland, in the treaty which that monarch formed in 1303 with the English king, and in which Scotland was over- looked. Finding no success in either of these objects, he seems to have returned to his native country, to renew that partisan warfare, which was now the only method left to him of manifesting his patriotic feelings. That his deeds, however obscure, were of no small consequence, is shown by the eager solicitude which Edward evinced to secure his person, and the means which he took for effecting that end. Besides setting a great reward upon his head, he gave strict orders to his captains and governors in Scotland, to use every endeavour to seize him; and sought out those Scotsmen, who he had reason to think entertained a personal pique at Wallace, in the hope of bribing them to discover and betray him. Sir John de Mowbray, a Scottish knight, then at his court, was employed to carry into Scotland, Ralph de Haliburton, one of the prisoners taken at Stirling castle, with the view of discovering and seizing the deliverer and protector of his country. What these creatures did in this dishonourable affair, or with whom they co-operated, is not known; the lamentable fact alone re-