His difpatch was confidered then as very great; A. D. having travelled from London to Loach. maban, which is near four hundred miles,

1306. in feven days. Cummin, who had in the beginning concurred in his fchemes, was privately known to have communicated the whole to Edward; and Bruce was refolved in the first place to take vengeance upon him for his perfidy. Hearing that he was then at Dumfries, he went thither, and meeting him in the cloifters of a monaftery belonging to the Grey Friars, reproached him, in fevere terms, with his treachery; and drawing his fword, inftantly plunged it in his breaft. Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick, one of Bruce's friends, afking him foon after if the traitor was flain, and Bruce anfwering that he believed fo, "What, replied the other, only belief; I will fe"cure him;" and going back to where Cummin was receiving abfolution at the altar, he ftabbed him to the heart. It is a difagreeable reflection, that actions begun in this manner fhould nevertheless, terminate in fuccefs.

Bruce had by this action not only rendered himfelf the object of Edward's refentment, but involved all his party in the fame guilt. They had now no refource left, but to confirm, by defperate valour, what they had begun in cruelty; and they foon expelled fuch of the English forces, as had fixed themselves in the kingdom. Bruce was folemnly crowned king, by the bishop of St. Andrew's, in the Abbey of Scone; and numbers flocked to his ftandard, refolved to confirm his pretenfions. Thus, after twice conquering the kingdom, and as often pardoned the delinquents; after having fpread his victories in every quarter of the country, and receiving the moft humble fubmiffions, the old king faw, that his whole work was to begin afresh; and that no

thing but the final destruction of the inhabitants could give him affurance of tranquillity. But no difficulties could reprefs the arduous fpirit of this monarch, who, though now verging towards his decline, yet refolved to ftrike a parting blow, and to make the Scotch once more tremble at his appearance. He vowed revenge against the whole nation; and averred, that nothing but reducing them to the completeft bondage could fatisfy his refentment. He fummoned his prelates, nobility, and all who held by knights fervice, to meet him at Carlisle, which was appointed as the general rendezvous; and, in the mean time he detached a body of forces before him into Scotland, under the command of Aymer de Valence, who began the threatened infliction by a terrible victory over Bruce, near Methuen, in Perthshire. That warlike commander fought with great obftinacy; he was thrice difmounted from his horfe in the action, and as often recovered: but at last he was obliged to fly, and take fhelter, with a few followers, in the Western Ifles. The earl of Athole, Sir Simon Frafer, and Sir Chriftopher Seton, who had been taken prifoners, were executed as traitors on the spot. Immediately after this dreadful blow, the refentful king himself appeared in perfon, entering Scotland with his army divided into two parts, and expecting to find, in the oppofition of the people, a pretext for punishing them. But this brave prince, who was never cruel but from motives of policy, could not strike the poor fubmitting natives, who made no refiftance. His anger was disappointed in their humiliations; and he was afhamed to extirpate thofe, who only oppofed patience to his indignation. It was chiefу upon the nobles of the country that the weight of his refentment fell. The fifter of Bruce, and the counters of Buchan, were shut up in wooden cages,

and

and hung over the battlements of a fortrefs, and his two brothers fell by the hands of the executioner. The obstinacy of this commander ferved to inflame the king's refentment. He ftill continued to excite fresh commotions in the Highlands; and though often overcome, perfifted in a feemingly fruitless oppofition. Edward, therefore, at laft, refolved to give no quarter; and at the head of a great army entered Scotland, from whence he had lately retreated, refolving to exterminate the whole body of those infurgents, who feemed fo implacably averfe to his government. Nothing Jay before the refractory Scotch, but projects of the most speedy and terrible vengeance; while neither their valour nor their mountains, were found to grant them any permanent protection. But Edward's death put an end to their apprehenfions, and effectually refcued their country from total fubjection. He fickened and died at Carlife, of a dyfentery; enjoining his fon, with his laft breath, to profecute the enterprize, and never to defift, till he had finally fubdued the kingdom. He expired in the fixty-ninth year of A. D. his age, and the thirty-fifth of his reign: 1307 after having added more to the folid inJuly 7 tereft of the kingdom, than any of those who went before, or fince fucceeded him. was a promoter of the happiness of the people; and feldom attempted exerting any arbitrary stretch of power, but with a profpect of encreafing the welfare of his fubjects. He was of a very majeftic appearance, tall in ftature, of regular features, with keen piercing black eyes, and an afpect that commanded reverence and esteem. His conftitution was robuft; his ftrength and dexterity unequalled, and his fhape agreeable except from the extreme length and fmallnefs of his legs, from whence he had the appellation of Longfhanks. He

He

feemed

feemed to have united all thofe advantages which, in that age, might be confidered as true glory. He gained renown by his piety in the Holy Land; he fixed the limits of juftice at home; he confirmed the rights of the people; he was the moft expert at martial exercifes of any man in the kingdom; and was allowed to be a conqueror, by his fuccefs over the kingdom of Scotland. Succeeding times have, with great juftice, queftioned the merit of fome of these claims; but none can deny him comparative excellence, if they look upon thofe princes, who either went before, or have fucceeded. Edward, by his firft wife, Eleanor of Caftile, had four fons, and eleven daughters; of the last, most died young; of the former, Edward the fecond alone, his heir and fucceffor, furvived him.

If we turn to the ftate of the people during his administration, we fhall find, that England acquir-ed not only great power, but great happiness, under his protection. The barons, who might, during this period, be confidered as a junto of petty tyrants, ready to cry out for liberty, which they alone were to fhare, were kept under; and their combinations were but feeble and ill fupported. The monarch was in fome measure abfolute, though he was prudent enough not to exert his power. He was fevere, indeed; and fome people tax this feverity as a stain upon his memory; but let it be remembered, that he was the first who began to distribute indifcriminate juftice. Before his time, the people who rofe in infurrections were punished in the most cruel manner, by the fword or the gibbet; while, at the fame time, the nobility, who were really guilty, were treated with a degree of lenity, which encouraged them to fresh infurrections. But what gave Edward's reign a true value with pofterity, was the degree of power,

which the people began to affume during this period. The king confidered the clergy and barons in fome measure as rivals; and to weaken their force, he never attempted to control the flow, but certain, advances made by the people, which, in time, entirely destroyed the power of the one, and divided the authority of the other.

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