Page:Life and surprising adventures of Sir William Wallace.pdf/15

15 to be incredibly numerous, the armour of the soldiers glittering, the equipage of the officers rich and elegant, and the found of their trumpets and noise of their drums pompous and terrible. Yet such was the ardour and bravery of many in the Scottish army, that they requested leave from the guardian to go a-pickering, and thus by conspicuously evincing their undaunted intrepidity, to aim at the honour of knighthood. But this favour Wallace was by no means disposed to confer. He issued a proclamation, commanding all his men upon pain of death to keep their ranks, to march with gravity, and to attempt nothing without his orders. Edward observed and admired the order, discipline, and formidable appearance of the same enemy he had been hitherto accustomed to despise. His own veteran and experienced soldiers had not arrived from Flanders, and in this situation he thought it improper to hazard his own glory, the lives of his nobles, and the forfeiture of his claim, with an undisciplined though numerous militia, against a small but resistless army, in which every officer and every soldier acted the part of a hero. Edward, therefore, wisely retired, and Wallace, with no less prudence, checked the impetuous courage of his men, who,