Page:History of Sir William Wallace, the renowned Scottish champion.pdf/18

18 dicated to the service of God. But Wallace had so deep a sense of the injuries which the English had done to his country, that he only laughed at the contrition of his soldiers,-" I will absolve you all myself," he said. " It is not half what the invaders deserved at our hands?” So deep- seated was Wallace's feeling of national resentment that it overcame, the scruples of a temper which was naturally humane. The Scots returned from England in triumph, laden with plunder; where they had spread terror along the whole border, to the gates of Newcastle. Edward once more resolved to invade Scotland, at the head of 80,000 infantry and 7000 horsemen he in person led on the march, holding his course northward he passed through Edinburgh, and fixed his head-quarters at Templeliston, a village between that city and Linlithgow, where he resolved to abide till his victualling-slips should arrive. While stationed here he received intelligence that the Scots were advancing upon Falkirk, a town about 12 miles distant. He resolved to give battle. But while the English passed the night under arms on a heath, an accident happened to their king while threatened for the present to suspend the attack. As he lay on the ground, his war-house struck him with a