Page:Life and adventures of Sir William Wallace, General and Governor of Scotland (2).pdf/13

SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. 13 their lives ſafe: Notwithſtanding king Edward kept ſtill all the noblemen, together with the captain Sir William Oliphant; and ſuch as would not ſwear homage to him, (pretending to be the protector of Robert Bruce's right) he ſent priſoners to London. Having in this caſtle intercepted divers of John Cumming's friends, he procured them to draw him to a parley with him; in which he ſo blinded him with the hopes of the kingdom, and with fear of utter undoing, that he joined himſelf and his friends to the Engliſh; who, by this acceſſion, eaſily paſſed forward with the courſe of victory, as far as the utmoſt bounds of Roſs; and in his back coming, carried away with him into England all books, regiſters, hiſtories, laws and monuments of the kingdom: and among others, the fatal marble chair, whereupon the former Scots Kings uſed to be crowned at Scoon, on which was engraven a prophecy, bearing, That wherever this chair ſhould be tranſported, the Scots ſhould command there. He carried alſo with him all the learned men and profeſſors of Scotland, among others the famous Doctor John Duns, ſurnamed Scotus, thinking thereby to diſcourage and effeminate the minds of the Scots, that they ſhould caſt off all care of recovering their liberty, the memory thereof being drowned in oblivion. At his return into England, he left his couſin, Sir Aymer Vallance, earl of Pembroke, viceroy, having fortified all the caſtles with ſtrong garriſons.

The Scots who ſtood for the liberty of their country, being forſaken by John Cumming, ſent earneſt letters to France to move Wallace to return. He was then making war upon the Engliſh in Guienne; but hearing the miſchiefs of his country, he obtained leave of the French king to return: and ſecretly gathering ſome of his old friends, recovered divers caſtles and towns in the north, and having greatly increaſed his army, beſieged St. Johnſtoun, till it ſurrendered. But as he proceeded in the courſe of his victories, he was betrayed by his familiar fiend, Sir John Monteith, to Aymer de Vallance, who ſent him into England, where, by king Edward's command, he was put to death, and his body quartered, and ſent into the principal cities of Scotland, to be ſet up for a terror to others.

Notwithſtanding this cruelty prevailed little for the aſſuring of king Edward's conqueſt; new enemies ariſing whence he leaſt expected: for as he returned from his laſt