Page:Life and adventures of Sir William Wallace, General and Governor of Scotland (1).pdf/21

 BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN. 21 the point of the fword, liberty and honour, and every thing that was dear to them. With thefe Robert took up his ftation in the neighbourhood of Stirling, and waited for Edward's arrival. The two armies came in light of each other, in the month of June, and foon after, a bloody battle was fought, in which the Scots obtained a victory, the moft celebrated of any in the annals of that kingdom. The procedure of that memorable event, was as follows. The Englifh, marched from Edinburgh to Falkirk in one day, and upon the morrow, fetting out from thence towards Stirling, encamped to the northward of the Tor- wood. About upper Bannockburn, and backward upon the muir of Plean, in the neighbourhood of the ancient Roman caufeway, pieces of broken pots, and other veffels have been found ; and upon rocks near the furface, marks of fire have been difcovered, where it is fuppofed the fol- diers had made ready their provifions. Barbour, the au- thor of King Robert Bruce’s life, fpeaks as if their camp had ftretched fo far northward, as to occupy a part of the Carfe ground ; and fo vaff a multitude muft doubtlefs have covered a large tract of country. The Scottifh army was potted about a mile to the north- ward, upon feveral eminences, fouth from the prefent vil- lage of St. Ninians. Upon the fummit of one of thefe e- minences, now callled Btock’s-Bare, is a ftone funk into the earth, with a round hole in it, near three inches in diameter, and much the fame in depth, in which, accord- ing to tradition, King Robert’s ftandard was fixed, the royal tent having been crected near it. This ftone is well known in that neigbourhood, by the name of the Bore- ftane. The fmall river of Bannockburn, remarkable for its fteep and rugged banks, ran in a narrow valley between the two camps. The caftle of Stirling was ftill in the hands of the Eng- lifh, Edward Bruce, the King’s brother, had in the fpring of this year, laid fiege to it, but found himfelf obliged to abandon the enterprife; only by a treaty between that Prince, and Moubray the governor, it was agreed, that if the garrifon received no relief from England before a year expired, they fhould furrender to the Scots. The day preceding the battle, a ftrong body of cavalry, to the number of 800, was detached from the Englifh camp, under the conduct of Lord Clifford, to the relief of that garrifon. Thefe having matched through fome hollow grounds upon the edge of the Carfe, had paffed the Scots army before they were obferved. The King himfelf was the firft that perceived them, and defiring Thomas Ran- dolph, ear! of Murray. to lock towards the place where they were, told him, that a rofe had fallen from his chap-