Page:Life and surprising adventures of that renowned hero, Sir Wm. Wallace.pdf/8

 Wallace was, by the majority of the kingdom, elected guardian of Scotland, and vicery in the absence of Baliol. The castle of Dundee was the only place that withstood the arms of Wallace in the north. While besieging this fort he got intelligence of the approach of the English army, commanded by John Earl of Surrey, and Sir Hugh Cressingham, and joined by many disaffected Scots, to the number altogether of about thirty thou- sand men; Wallace commanded the burghers, upon pain of death, to prosecute with vigour the siege he had begun, and he himself with ten thousand faithful adherents, marched towards Stirling, and encamped in an advantageous situation upon a hill above the monastery of Cambuskenneth, on the north side of the Forth; which, having no fords at that place, was passable only by a wooden bridge. The English army lay on the south of the Fourth; and their generals being desirous of bringing matters to an accommodation, sent two Dominican friars with overtures of peace to Wallace. These terms, insulting in the last degree to the honour and independence of Scotland, were rejected with disdain. "Tell your officers, (said Wallace,) that we have not come to this place to sue for peace, that now we are ready to