Life of Sir William Wallace, of Elderslie. (Volume 53)

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1830. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER V. Wallace Again Takes Refuge iy The Woods Organizes A SYSTEM OF WARFARE. HARASSES THE ENGLISH IN THEIR CANTONMENTS. CONFLICT OF BEG.--BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF HIS EARLY COMPANIONS. HIS DRESS AND ARMOUR. ANECDOTE OF THE RELATIVE PERSONAL PROWESS OF WALLACE AND BRUCE. Wallace, who bad been stigmatized by the English as an outlaw and a robber, found it necessary, after the battle of Dunbar, to withdraw to his former mountainous retreat, from whence he would, no doubt, observe the gaudy pageant of the feudal power of England, as it traversed the devoted land in all the insolent security of conquest. And while the national distress deepened around, and every tale that reached him was fraught with tidings of the misery of his enslaved and degraded countrymen, the resources of the enemy, and the possibility of emancipating the beloved land of his nativity, formed the subject of his unceasing reflections. He had observed, that the reverses which the Scots bad sustained in the field, arose more from a want of subordination and discipline among themselves, than from any superior valour on the part of their enemies. He was aware of, and deeply lamented, the jealousy and treachery VOL. 1. K which existed among the nobility, and their readiness to stoop in the most servile manner* to the will of the Usurper, if they might thereby obtain even a temporary exaltation for their party; and he justly conceived, that by banding together a few resolute spirits, allied to no faction, but, like himself, attached to the general good, that more could be done toward the restoration of his "country's independence, than by all the tumultuous hordes which the treacherous and disunited chieftains could bring together. Fully impressed with this conviction, his days and nights were passed in extending the ...