Page:Essays and studies; by members of the English Association, volume 1.djvu/110

 point of time, and territorially, are beyond dispute. Wallace played havoc with Cumberland and Northumberland from Carlisle to Hexham and Newcastle in October and November, 1297, but never penetrated south to Yorkshire, and never personally encountered Edward I, who indeed was then in Flanders. But in Harry's poem the event assumes much grander dimensions: the story exalts the place of Wallace and debases that of Edward I to the degree of representing that, after prolonged sojourn in England, with the country and even Edward's queen at his feet, Wallace, fruitlessly challenging Edward to pitched battle, at last dictates, half way from St. Albans to Westminster, the terms of a peace which for a reason of sentiment Wallace only consents to ratify at Northallerton in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Mystery hangs over the origin of the entire episode, for in no single feature does it correspond with the facts of the actual invasion. There are signs that some such story was a misleading factor to the chronicler, Abbot Bower, and there is no need here to accuse Harry of inventing the exploit, however much poetic liberty he may have taken to ornament it. Historically Edward I was not in England; the poet makes him flee personally from battle with Wallace; he also makes him hold parliament at Pontefract. Historically the invasion never reached Yorkshire; in the poem Wallace