Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 9.djvu/238

 prevent the English from throwing reinforcements into the castle of Stirling. Here, however, the cunning captor of Edinburgh Castle was about to be outwitted in turn, for 800 horsemen detached from the English army, under the command of Sir Robert Clifford, made a circuit by the low grounds to the east, and, unperceived by Randolph, whose post they had thus turned, were in full progress to the castle. The quick military eye of Bruce detected the movement, and riding up to the earl, he pointed to the detachment, and sharply exclaimed, "A rose has fallen from your chaplet!" Impatient to retrieve his lost honour, and recover the important pass, which was the key of the Scottish position, Randolph, at the head of 500 spearmen, hurried off with such speed, that he soon interposed his force between the enemy and the castle. The English thus interrupted, resolved to reach the castle by trampling down the little band with a single charge, and for this purpose came on with loosened rein. This contempt of foot soldiers, which was common to the chivalry of the period, cost them dear, for Randolph causing his men to place themselves in a ring, back to back, with their spears pointing outward, presented an impenetrable hedge to the enemy, through which they were unable to ride. Still, the appearance of that charge, as seen from the Scottish army, was so terrible, and the little phalanx was so eclipsed by the throng of cavaliers that surrounded and seemed to tread it under foot, that Sir James Douglas could endure the sight no longer, and cried to the king, " Ah, sir! the Earl of Moray is in danger unless he is aided: with your leave, therefore, I will speed to his rescue." "No," replied the king, "you shall not stir a foot for him: whether he may win or lose, I cannot alter my plan of battle." But Douglas was not to be thus silenced. "I may not stand by," he impetuously exclaimed, "when I can bring him aid, and therefore, with your leave, I will assuredly help him or die with him!" Having extorted from the king a reluctant assent, he hastened to the aid of his rival; but before he could reach the spot, he saw that the Scottish phalanx was still unbroken, while the English cavalry were reeling in disorder, and had already lost some of their bravest. On seeing this, Douglas cried to his party, "Halt! our friends will soon be victorious without our help; let us not therefore lessen their glory by sharing it!" His prediction was accomplished, for Randolph and his band so bestirred themselves, that the English were broken and chased off the field, while the earl, with the loss of only one yeoman, returned to his companions.

In the great battle that followed, by which the independence of Scotland was secured, the master-mind and towering form of the Bruce are so pre-eminent over every part of the field, that no room is left for meaner men. On this account we cannot discover the gallant Randolph amidst the dust and confusion of the strife, where he no doubt performed the office of a gallant man at-arms, as well as a wise and prompt captain. He figures, indeed, in Barbour, where, as leader of the left wing, he resisted the shock of the English cavalry, in which the enemy chiefly rested their hopes, and kept his ground so gallantly, although his troops looked "as thai war plungyt in the se," that

His name next appears in the parliament held at Ayr on the 26th of April,