Page:Life and adventures of Sir William Wallace, General and Governor of Scotland (2).pdf/20

20 AN ACCOUNT OF THE In the ſpring, 314, he aſſembled the moſt numerous army that had ever croſſed the borders, compoſed of different nations, and amounting to above 100,000 effective men, beſides, a huge multitude of attendants, who came along, in hopes of ſharing in the plunder of a conquered enemy. At the head of theſe he marched northward with an uncommon parade, and in full confidence of victory. Robert Bruce, the ſon of that Robert Bruce who held a conference with Wallace upon the banks of the Carron, and grandſon of him who had been competitor with Baliol, had, in 1306, been crowned king of Scotland, and being informed of Edward's formidable preparations, he raiſed an army of 30,000 of his ſubjects to oppoſe him. This armament bore but a ſmall proportion to that of Edward's; but it was compoſed of ſoldiers, who were hardened by long practice of war, and who now carried upon the point of the ſword, liberty and honour, and every thing that was dear to them. With theſe Robert took up his ſtation in the neighbourhood of Stirling, and waited for Edward's arrival. The two armies cane in ſight of each other, in the month of June, and ſoon after, a bloody, battle was fought, in which the Scots obtained a victory, the moſt celebrated of any in the annals of that kingdom, The procedure of that memorable event, was as follows.

The Engliſh, marched from Edinburgh to Falkirk in one day, and upon the morrow, ſetting out from thence towards Stirling, encamped to the northward of the Torwood. About upper Bannockburn, and backward upon the muir of Plean, in the neighbourhood of the ancient Roman cauſeway, pieces of broken pots, and other veſſels have been found; and upon rocks near the ſurface, marks of fire have been diſcovered, where it is ſuppoſed the ſoldiers had made ready their proviſions. Barbour, the author of king Robert Bruce's life, ſpeaks as if their camp had ſtretched ſo far northward, as to occupy a part of the Carle ground; and ſo vaſt a multitude muſt doubtleſs have covered a large tract of country.

The Scottiſh army was poſted about a mile to the northward, upon ſeveral eminences, ſouth from the preſent village of St. Ninians. Upon the ſummit of one of theſe eminences, now called Brock's Bare, is a ſtone ſunk into the earth, with a round hole in it, near three inches in diameter, and much the ſame in depth in which, accord-