Page:History of the Scottish patriot, Sir Wm. Wallace, Knight of Ellerslie.pdf/19

Rh suddenly interrupted by the approach of a hostile body of horse.

The number of English present at the engagement is stated at 90,000 men, while the Scottish army did not amount to 30,000. The loss on both sides was very great. Amongst the slain on the Scottish side none was more sincerely mourned than Sir John Graham, the bosom-friend of Wallace, who, giving way to his usual gallantry, had advanced too far, was surrounded, and slain. Wallace, having withdrawn his troops to a place of safety, returned to the battle-field in search of his beloved friend, whom he passionately loved; and when he found him, he lifted him in his arms, and gave vent to his feelings. On July 22, 1298, was this fatal battle fought; and in the churchyard of Falkirk was Sir John Graham buried, a tombstone still marking the place.

Wallace, reflecting upon the conversation which he had with Bruce, in which he unjustly charged him with an attempt upon the Crown, and in order, if possible to unite the jarring nobles, to convince them and all future ages that he had no sinister designs upon the Crown, which belonged to another, he called an assembly of the barons and other noblemen in the kingdom at Perth, and there resigned both his important trust as guardian of the kingdom and his chief command of the army. No part of Wallace’s history is more difficult to trace than after he relinquished his public command. Some suppose that he retired to France after the memorable battle of Roslin. There was at that period a strong alliance between France and Scotland; and it is reported that Philip the Fair of France, allured by the fame of our hero, invited Wallace to the French Court. He sailed, according to report, from Kirkcudbright with 50 of his faithful followers, and, in the course of the voyage, fell in with Red River the pirate, whom he captured by a combination of valour and stratagem. Wallace obtained Longueville’s, which was the pirate’s true name, pardon from the French