Page:Life and surprising adventures of Sir William Wallace.pdf/19

 19 land this was not the caſe. Each of them would have the honour of going firſt up- on the head of the van; Wallace, becauſe he was guardian of the kingdom; Cum- ine, on account of his more numerous vaſſalage, and royal birth; and Stewart, becauſe he acted that day in place of his brother, the lord high ſteward himſelf, whoſe vaſſals or military tenants would obey no commands but what he gave them; and he is ſaid to lave ſtood ſo much upon the punctilio cf honour, that he upbraided Wallace to his fare, char- ged him with ambition and pride, and compared him to the owl in the fable, which had nothing originally of its own, but begged a feather of every bird, and thus having acquired rich and gay plum- age, pretended to beauty and ſuperiority above all others. It is eaſy to conjecture what muſt be the reſult of a battle begun at ſuch a time, and in ſuch a manner. While the fatal debate was agitated with the greateſt heat, Edward, although he had that very morning got a fall from his horſe, by which two of his ribs were broken, cauſed a charge to be founded. The Scots were ſoon routed and loſt upwards of ten thouſand men. Sir John Cumine with thoſe under his command went away without fighting at all: Sir