Page:History of Sir William Wallace the renowned Scottish champion (1).pdf/19

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violence which broke two of his ribs; but, disre- garding the pain, he mounted the horse and in- stantly led his troops to battle. The Scots were formed in a stony field on a slightly rising ground, in the near vicinity of Fal- kirk. Their infantry were drawn up in four cir- cular bodies, while the archers were disposed in le intervals. The horse, amounting only to a thousand, were posted in the rear. In front of the whole lay a morass. "Now," said Wallace, I have brought you to the ring; hop gift you in;"—-that is, “dance if you have skill." Ed- ward's chief dependence was on his cavalry, 4000 to whom were cased in complete armour. These he ranged in three lines. The first was led by igot, Earl Marshal, and the earls of Hereford Lincoln; the second by the bishop of Durham, having under him Sir Ralph Basset of Drayton ; the third, to act as a reserve, was commanded by the king in person. The assault was begun by the English horse, who, finding the passage of of the morass, which lay in front of the Scots, to the impracticable, made a simultaneous attack on the right and left flanks of their enemy. The left flank made a determined and bloody resist- ance; but the Scots cavalry, panic-struck by the overwhelming appearance of the English horse, which, as well as their riders, were equipped in