William Wallace

“ I have gained my point. My brave followers slew the Lord of Bothwell; my brave followers made the hitherto invincible Sir William Wallace retreat! I came in the power of my birthright; and, as your lawful king, I command you, this hour, to lay your rebel sword at my feet. Obey, proud knight, or to-morrow puts you into Edward's hand, and, without appeal, you die the death of a traitor."
"Unhappy prince," cried Wallace, now suspecting that Bruce had been deceived; "is it over the necks of your most loyal subjects that you would mount your throne? How have you been mistaken! ”

“ To his education the minister paid particular attention, and was proud of his pupil—for William Wallace, as he was called, did honour to the labour bestowed upon him. He was quick to learn, yet his mind was not given to literary pursuits—for he delighted in feats of strife, and dwelt with rapture on the feats of the warrior. Sir William Wallace was the hero of his youthful imagination—and he longed to be of man's stature, only that he might be a soldier. Thus years rolled on. William was now eighteen years of age; the labour of the farm, in which he engaged, was irksome to him ”

“ Wallace started at this salutation. The bard, with the same emotion, continued; "No choral hymns hallow thy bleeding corpse—wolves howl thy requiem—eagles scream over thy desolate grave! Fly, chieftain, fly!"
"What, venerable father of the harp," cried Wallace, interrupting the awful pause, "thus addresses one whom he must mistake for some other warrior?"
"Can the spirit of inspiration mistake its object?" demanded the bard. "Can he whose eyes have been opened be blind to Sir William Wallace—to the blood which clogs his mounting footsteps?" ”

“ So great was their jealousy of Sir William Wallace, that many of these great barons did not seem very willing to bring forward their forces, or fight against the English, because they would not have a man of inferior condition to be general. Yet, notwithstanding this unwillingness of the great nobility to support him, Wallace assembled a large army; for the middling, but especially the lower classes, were very much attached to him. He marched boldly against the King of England, and met him near the town of Falkirk. ”

“ He also was chamberlain to Bruce, and regent of the kingdom in the minority of David II. He married Lady Christian Bruce, sister of the immortal King Robert, by whom he had two sons, John and Robert. His brother William was the progenitor of the Murrays of Abercairnie. The present “Sir Andrew sat in parliament in 1290, and appears to have sworn fealty to Edward 1291. When Sir William Wallace raised the standard of national independence, and when the other powerful barons deserted the cause, he was the only person of consequence who adhered to Wallace.” ”

“ Sir William Wallace has never lost his heroic ascendancy over us, and we have steadily resisted every temptation to open the "popular edition" of the long-loved romance, lest what people will call "the improved state of the human mind", might displace the sweet memory of the mingled admiration and indignation that chased each other, while we read and wept, without ever questioning the truth of the absorbing narrative. ”

“ I hate to be confined to work that I detest, just for the sake of getting food from day to day. I will not do it. The world shall know that William Wallace was not born for no purpose. I will help some one, if it is savages and wild beasts.”
Thus spoke the stripling in his lonely home. For six long years did he cherish that one bright thought. It was all the hope he had to stimulate him when labor was his only portion, and life was scarcely worth the danger of preserving it. ”

“ As Hereward the Saxon had been stirred up against the Norman invaders, so a champion arose who kept alive the memory of Scottish independence.
William Wallace was the younger son of Sir Malcolm Wallace of Ellerslie, near Paisley, one of the lesser gentry, not sufficiently high in rank to be required to take oaths to the English King. ”

“ William Wallace was none of the high nobles of Scotland, but the son of a private gentleman, called Wallace of Ellerslie, in Renfrewshire, near Paisley. He was very tall and handsome, and one of the strongest and bravest men that ever lived. He had a very fine countenance, with a quantity of fair hair, and was particularly dexterous in the use of all weapons which were then employed in battle. Wallace, like all Scotsmen of high spirit, had looked with great indignation upon the usurpation of the crown by Edward, and upon the insolences which the English soldiers committed on his countrymen. ”

“ Through all the variety of fortunes which attended Sir William Wallace, and amid the desertions of some of his opulent countrymen, Stephen of Ireland adhered to him with inflexible fidelity, and also induced others of his countrymen to come over to the assistance of the Scots. ”

“ The exploits of Wallace, were soon generally known, and attracted the notice of many, who, dreading the stratagems of Edward to subvert their independence, had courage to hazard their lives for the liberty of their country. At the head of such men as these, Wallace performed such exploits as posterity has surveyed with astonishment. He would frequently sally out of his lurking places, and with an handful of men, defeat whole multitudes. ”

“ From time to time there came to Glen Cairn tales of the doings of that William Wallace who had, when the English first garrisoned the Scottish castles, while Edward was choosing between the competitors for her throne, killed young Selbye at Dundee, and had been outlawed for the deed. After that he went and resided with his uncle, Sir Ronald Crawford, and then with another uncle, Sir Richard Wallace of Riccarton. Here he gathered a party of young men, eager spirits like himself, and swore perpetual hostility to the English. ”

“ They found a hiding-place for the wounded earl, and Wallace went away, promising to be near at hand. Hardly had he gone when the door was burst open by a band of soldiers, and Lady Wallace was confronted by the governor of Lanark.
"Woman!" cried he, "on your allegiance to King Edward, answer me--where is Sir William Wallace, the murderer of my nephew?" ”

“ Wallace felt that this would be fatal—and it was so. He knew the condign contempt Ecclesiastical Registrars entertained for the literary world, from the little circumstance of hearing only the week before in another Registry, the most eminent historian of the present day, and our best archaic topographer, designated as “contemptible penny-a-liners.” Mr. Wallace was therefore not at all astonished when the Deputy-Registrar folded up his smiling countenance into a frown. He evidently knew what was coming. Literary men never pay, and Mr. William Wallace wanted to consult “his” registers gratis. ”

“ It was in this neighbourhood that William Wallace held out after all other resistance in Scotland had been stifled. But Wallace was now rather a fugitive than a belligerent, and great efforts were made to secure his capture. Blind Harry tells a long romance of a ‘plot’ entered into between Menteith and Aymer de Valence, Edward's general, to secure the person of the hero ”

“ The man who was destined to rouse his countrymen from their apathy; and work out the freedom of his native land; was at these times engaged in roaming the hills of Renfrewshire, at the head of a petty band of marauders; and he was that Sir William Wallace, famed through successive ages in song and story.... In those stormy times bodily strength and valor in the field were the first qualities necessary to success; and the strength of Wallace is described as having been prodigious. His size was gigantic; and as he grew towards manhood, there were few men who could meet him in single combat. ”

“ It was while in this temper that Wallace made his appearance. He was by nature formed to command, for with a firm, undaunted, and energetic mind, he possessed a physical strength that no fatigue could overcome, and a stature which rendered his attack irresistible — invaluable qualities, where so much depended on personal intrepidity, and strength, while his affability conciliated the affections of his followers, and his eloquence moulded their passions to his will. ”

“ In these juvenile bickerings, too unimportant to attract the attention of those in authority, Wallace had frequent opportunities of displaying that dexterity and strength, with which Nature had so amply endowed him. In him, his companions found united all the qualifications they could desire in a leader—a head to devise, and a hand to execute, the most daring enterprises—a fertile imagination ever teeming with stratagems—and a prudence and foresight which provided against all contingencies ”

“ He has killd full thirty man.
He put the house in sick a swither
That five o them he sticket dead,
Five o them he drownd in the river,
And five hung in the West-muir wood.
Now he is on to the North-Inch gone,
Where the maid was washing tenderlie;
'Now by my sooth,' said Willie Wallace,
'It's been a sair day's wark to me.'
He's put his hand in his pocket,
And he has pulld out twenty pounds;
Says, Take ye that, ye weel-fared maid,
For the gude luck of your half-crown.
=
G
=
WOUD ye hear of William Wallace,
An sek him as he goes,
Into the lan of Lanark,
Amang his mortal faes? ”

“ So we sot off one mornin’ with great anticipations, and each on us a satchel, for the forty milds trip.
Josiah wuz riz up in his mind about Sir William Wallace—more so than he wuz with Burns.
For the “Scottish Chiefs” had been read by him with avidity in his boyhood, and permeated his fancy, and he still thought it wuz the most thrillin’ book that wuz ever wrote, exceptin’ “Alonzo and Melissa.” “That,” he said, “never will be equalled for heart-breakin’ interest.”
So as we journeyed along he talked a sight about Wallace and that claymore of hisen. ”

“ The English, finding themselves assailed from so many quarters, conceived that they were surrounded by a multitude of enemies. Wallace, always first in the place of danger, according to the homely, but expressive phraseology of Blind Harry, “Gret rowme” about him “maid;” and the enemy had already begun to give way, when an additional force from the castle made its appearance. The battle was now renewed with redoubled fury on both sides; and the capture of our hero being the principal object in view, he became the subject of their most inveterate hostility. ”

“ Amid a crowd of knights in armour the conqueror entered; and as Helen raised her eyes she saw that the knight of her dream, the man who had saved her from worse than death, was Wallace himself!
"Scots, behold the Lord's anointed!" cried the patriot Bishop of Dunkeld, drawing from his breast a silver dove of sacred oil, and pouring it upon Wallace's head.
Every knee was bent, and every voice cried "Long live King William!"
"Rise, lords!" exclaimed Wallace. "Kneel not to me--I am but your fellow soldier. Bruce lives; God has yet preserved to you a lawful monarch." ”

“ From the following passage in the Minstrel it would seem, that a portrait of Wallace had been taken during his short stay in France, and forwarded to his friends in Scotland. What afterwards became of this precious relic, cannot now be discovered. Though there are many likenesses of him to be met with in the country, yet the pretensions to originality of all those we have yet seen, are extremely questionable. It would be difficult for a blind man to give his ideas of a picture in more appropriate language than the following. ”

“ Wallace heard of the infamous proceeding, and determined on severe retaliation. Selecting fifty of his confederates, he hastened to the spot, and being joined by a number of the retainers of the murdered gentlemen, they surrounded the buildings where the English were cantoned, and who, indulging in fancied security arising from the terror which they imagined the late severity was likely to impress upon the Scots, had, after a deep carousal, betaken themselves to rest, little dreaming of the vengeance that awaited them. ”

“ After many wanderings and adventures, Wallace got back to his mother at Ellerslie. She induced her brother, Sir Rainald de Crauford, King Edward's sheriff of Ayr, to obtain from Sir Henry de Percy, Warden of Galloway and Ayr, a protection for her son, and he was sent to Sir Walter Wallace of Richardstoun. One day William had caught a lot of fish in the Irvine, which were taken from him by a party of five soldiers riding past with the Warden. Wallace struck one of them with his fishing-rod, and made him drop his sword, which the lad seized and killed the soldier withal. ”

“ A report had circulated about the country, that on a day named, a celebrated English prize-fighter would exhibit on the esplanade at Ayr, as a general challenger. An occurrence of this kind had powerful attractions, in an age when every man required to know something of the use of a sword. Scots, as well as English, became deeply interested as the day of exhibition drew on; and Wallace, instigated partly by curiosity, and partly by100 a wish to acquire information respecting the numbers and the motions of his enemies, determined to be present. ”

“ The miln of Faill, and the crofthead of Fail, in the lordship of Failfurd, are mentioned in a retour regarding William Wallace, heir of William Wallace, minister of Failfurd, A. 1617. Inquis. Retour. Ayr, N. 162.
Thar man that day had in the merket bene.—V. 297.
In Edit. 1594, 1620, 1714, and Perth, it is that man; in 1648 and 1673, this man; either of which would immediately refer to Thomas of Ercildon. But thar, i.e. their man, respects the servant of the religious fraternity of Faile, as appears from v. 299, which cannot respect True Thomas;
His mastyr speryt, quhat tithingis at he saw. ”