author:Allan Boyd

“ Soon after, a bloody battle was fought, in which the Scots obtained the most decisive victory in the annals of Scotland.
The English, having marched from Edinburgh, encamped to the northward of Torwood. The Scottish army was posted about a mile south from the present village of St. Ninians. On the summit of an eminence, called Brock's Brae, is a stone sunk in the earth, with a hole in it, in which, according to tradition, Robert's standard was fixed. ”

“ Though wont to wen, may be subdu'd,
⁠And come in under yoke,
Strangers may reign and destroy,
⁠What likes him by sword's stroke.
A foreign foe, whom neither the force,
⁠Nor manners do approve,
Woe is to thee by guilt and flight,
⁠Will only win above. ”

“ Of all the prophets that ever were in Scotland, none had attained to such credit as Sir Thomas Learmont because most of his predictions referred to our own country, and were accomplished in the last and present century. ”

“ In Fife and on the four chief rivers of the realm, there would be a battle, that should make the rivers run with blood, viz. Tweed, Clyde, Forth, and Tay.— A bloody battle in Northumberland, on the river Tyne. ”

“ Goyseford-green, and Seton, saying, "Between Seton and the sea, sorrow should be wrought by the light of the moon." Which act really came to pass, that morning the battle of Preston-Pans was fought. But how the Lion was hurt at this time, and not perceived, is yet a mystery. Some are of opinion, that it was by taking the power or superiority from the Chiefs of the Highland Clans, so that they cannot raise men in such a short time as formerly. ”

“ In the spring, of 1314, he assembled the most numerous army that had ever crossed the borders, composed of different nations, and amounting to above 100,000 effective men, beside a huge multitude of attendants, who followed, in hopes of sharing in the plunder of a conquered enemy. ”

“ He was on the point of being taken prisoner, when he was received into the castle of Dunbar, and then conveyed to England, in a small boat. —The Scots lost only 4,000 men, while the loss of the English amounted to above 30,000. ”