Page:History of Sir William Wallace (1).pdf/135

 ( 135 ) some of them have been found there not many years ago. The same manceuvres were likewise carried on a little way along the front of the left wing: for there the banks, for about two hundred yards, being more flat than they are any-where else, it was the only place where the enemy could pass the river in any order. By means of these artificial improvements, joined to the natural strength of the ground, the Scotch army stood as within an entrench- mentward the invisible pits and ditches an- swered the purpoſe of the oconcealed batteries of more modern times. Amongst the other occurrence of this me- morable day. historians mention an incident of a singular nature. As the two armies were about to engage the Abbot of Inchaffery posting himself before the Scots with a crucifix in his Land they all fell down upon their knees in the act of devotion. The enemy observing them in so uncommon a posture, conciuded that they were frighted into submission, and that by kneeling when they should be ready to fight, they meant to surrender at discretion, and only to beg their lives; but they were soon undeceived when they saw them rise again and stand to their arms in the most usadaunted-like and courageous manner. The English begun the action, by a brisk charge upon the left wing of the Scotſ. com- manded by Randolph near the spot where M2 the