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BRU though at the head of only six hundred spearmen, agreed to meet him at Loudon hill; and, owing to his admirable dispositions, the English were completely defeated. This conflict, which was a kind of miniature of Bannockburn, may be regarded as the turning-point of Bruce's fortune, for his career from this time to his great crowning victory in 1314, presented an almost unbroken series of successes.

The English monarch was greatly incensed at the reverses which his troops had met with, and though worn out with age and disease, he resolved to march against the Scots, and to inflict signal punishment upon them for their insubordination. He had been detained at Carlisle during the winter by a wasting illness; but now, under the excitement caused by Bruce's successes, he put himself at the head of his army, and proceeded towards Scotland, though he was so weak that he required to be supported in the saddle. But in four days he advanced only six miles, and on the 7th of July he expired at the small village of Burgh-upon-Sands in Cumberland, within sight of that country which, in spite of all his efforts to add it to his dominions, was now on the eve of achieving its independence.

Fortunately for Scotland, Edward II., who now ascended the English throne, had neither the ability nor inclination to carry out the ambitious plans of his predecessor. After spending three weeks at Cumnock in Ayrshire, he made his way back into England, without having performed a single act of importance. He sent the earl of Richmond, however, into Scotland at the head of a formidable army; and Bruce, unable to make head against a force so much superior to his own, prudently retreated to the north of Scotland. In the course of this march he was attacked by a wasting distemper, which Fordun attributes to cold and hunger, and the hardships which he had been subjected to in his contests with the English. While lying at Inverury he was attacked by Comyn, earl of Buchan, and his own nephew, Sir David de Brechin, who having received intelligence of Bruce's situation, made a hasty march towards his encampment, and drove in his outposts, and even slew some of the soldiers who guarded his litter. Enraged at this military affront, as he reckoned it, the king instantly rose from his litter and mounted his horse, and although so weak that he was obliged to be supported in the saddle, he led on his troops in person, and entirely defeated the enemy with great slaughter. The efforts of Bruce were now directed to the capture of the strongholds of his kingdom, by means of which the English were enabled to retain their hold upon the country. His success in these efforts was uniform and steady. The citizens of Aberdeen declared in his favour, stormed the castle which commanded the town, and levelled the fortifications with the ground. The castle of Forfar was next taken by Philip, the forester of Platane, who put the garrison to the sword. Bruce himself captured the fortresses of Dumfries; Dalswinton, a stronghold of the Comyns; and Butel in Galloway, a seat of the Baliols. The strong castle of Linlithgow was surprised by a brave husbandman named Binnock or Binney. Sir James Douglas captured Roxburgh, one of the most important fortresses in the kingdom; and Randolph, earl of Moray, stimulated by this exploit of his companion in arms, carried the castle of Edinburgh—one of the most desperate adventures, says Barbour, that was ever achieved. While the English garrisons were thus expelled from the country, various districts were, at the same time, recovered out of the hands of those Scottish barons who had embraced the service of the enemy.

The measures of the English king were characterized by weakness and vacillation. No fewer than four expeditions into Scotland were successively undertaken, two of them headed by Edward in person, but without producing any permanent result. Bruce displayed admirable judgment in his mode of resisting these invasions. He cautiously avoided a general engagement, and contented himself with harassing the invaders on their march, cutting off their provisions, driving the flocks and herds into remote fastnesses, and laying waste the country as the enemy advanced. As soon as the scarcity of provisions, or the severity of the weather, compelled the invaders to retrace their steps, the Scots issued from the mountains and woods in which they had lurked, hung on their rear, and cut them off in detail. And, not contented with defending his own dominions, the Scottish king made several incursions into the northern counties of England, which he plundered and ravaged with merciless severity, and led back his army in triumph, laden with spoil. Bruce next made a descent upon the Isle of Man, to which his inveterate enemies, the Macdowalls, had retreated. He defeated the governor in battle, took the castle of Russin by storm, and subdued the whole island. While the king was absent on this expedition, his brother Edward expelled the English from Galloway and Nithsdale, and demolished the fortresses in these districts. He then made himself master of the castles of Rutherglen and Dundee, and proceeded to lay siege to Stirling castle, almost the only considerable fortress that still remained in the hands of the English. The governor. Sir Philip Mowbray, made a brave defence; but at length, provisions having become scarce, he offered to surrender the fortress if not relieved before the feast of St. John the Baptist—24th June—in the following year. Edward Bruce most imprudently consented to this proposal, all the advantages of which were on the side of the besieged. King Robert expressed the strongest displeasure when the terms of the truce were made known to him. He had every inducement to violate the engagement; and Edward had set him the example by compelling the governor of Dundee, only a few months before, to violate an agreement made under precisely similar circumstances. Bruce himself, in his earlier days, had by no means been distinguished for scrupulous adherence to his engagements. But the stern, though wholesome discipline of adversity, had now purified and strengthened his moral character, and he honourably determined, at all hazards, to abide by the treaty which his brother had made.

So far did the chivalrous generosity of King Robert extend, that he allowed Sir Philip de Mowbray to go in person to London, that he might make known to Edward and his council the terms of the truce which he had entered into with the Scots. The king and his barons at once felt that they could not without dishonour abandon Stirling to its fate, and immense preparations were accordingly made for the relief of the beleaguered fortress. The whole military array of the kingdom was summoned to meet at Berwick on the 11th of June. Auxiliaries were brought from Ireland, and a powerful fleet was equipped for the transportation of provisions and warlike stores for the use of the army. On the appointed day there assembled at the place of rendezvous the most magnificent army that England had ever sent forth, amounting in all to upwards of a hundred thousand men, including fifty thousand archers, and forty thousand cavalry. At the head of this formidable array Edward crossed the border and advanced towards Stirling. King Robert meanwhile had mustered his forces in the Torwood, midway between Stirling and Falkirk. They amounted to little more than thirty thousand, of whom only five hundred were cavalry. But his well-disciplined infantry were armed with long spears, and carefully trained to form in line, or squares, or circles, as the nature of the ground or of the fight might require; and he had the sagacity to perceive, what was satisfactorily proved at Bannockburn, as well as at Waterloo, that such a body was capable of offering an effective resistance to the charge of the best-equipped cavalry, though greatly superior in numbers. The place which he selected for the field of action was about two miles from Stirling, and was admirably adapted to the number and character of his troops. It was protected on either flank by defences, partly natural, partly artificial, and was so narrow in front as, in a great measure, to deprive the enemy of their immense superiority in numbers. The Scottish line of battle faced the south-east, from which direction the English were approaching. The right wing was protected by the steep and rugged banks of the rivulet called Bannockburn, and by a dangerous morass. The left, which extended to the village of St. Ninians, and was the most vulnerable part of Bruce's position, was defended against the assaults of cavalry by rows of pits about three feet deep with sharp stakes fixed in them, and covered with brushwood and green sods. The right wing was commanded by Edward Bruce, the centre by Thomas Randolph, earl of Moray, and the left wing by Douglas and the young Steward of Scotland. The king himself commanded the reserve, which was composed of his own vassals of Carrick, and of the men of Argyle, Cantire, and the isles. The camp-followers were stationed with the baggage behind an eminence in the rear, still called the Gillies' (i.e. the Servants') hill.

On the morning of June 23rd, the Scottish army heard mass, and made their shrift "full devoutly," says Barbour, like men who were resolved to free their country or to die in the field. King Robert then proceeded to arrange his men under their different banners, and to assign to them their proper positions;