night. The next morning the two parties came to an agreement. The King had to promise to do as the barons wanted, and went with Simon to London. The people were full of joy when they saw them enter the town together. They thought that now there was good hope that the land would be well governed, and one of the songs of the day said,

"Now does fair England breathe again, hoping for liberty."

XIX.

EDWARD I. AND WILLIAM WALLACE.

A.D. 1297-1304.

EDWARD I. was one of the wisest and greatest of our English kings, and he was the first of our kings to understand that England could never be really strong and peaceful until England, Scotland, and Wales were all ruled by the same king. To bring this about was one of the great objects of his life. It happened that in his days there was a dispute who should be King of Scotland, and Edward was called upon to decide the dispute. The end of it was that he made himself master of Scotland; he chose one of his nobles, John de Warrenne, Earl of Surrey, to be Governor of Scotland; and he put English soldiers to keep order in the castles and strong towns.

As was natural, the Scots did not like being ruled and

F

kept in order by English soldiers. Their discontent was increased by the cruel treatment which they sometimes met with from the soldiers, and by the harsh ways which were used to get money from them. They were ready to rise against the English at any moment if only they could find a leader. It was not long before the leader whom they wanted showed himself. He was a Scottish gentleman named William Wallace. His bravery has made him a favourite hero in Scottish history, and so many stories have been told and sung about him that it is difficult to be sure which are true; but the Scottish story is worth knowing.

William Wallace was a fine, handsome, young man, who had married a lady of Lanark. It chanced one day that he was walking with his wife in the market-place of Lanark, dressed in a green tunic, with a rich dagger in his belt. An English soldier passing by, called out very rudely to him that a Scot had no business to wear so gay a dress, or so rich a weapon. Wallace had a fiery temper; he turned upon the soldier, and in the fight which followed killed him. He then fled to his own home, and very soon all the English soldiers in the place came after him and attacked his house. Wallace managed to escape by a back door and got safely to a wild rocky glen, where he knew he would be able to hide from his pursuers. Hazelrigg, the Governor of Lanark, meanwhile burned down Wallace's house, put his wife and servants to death, and declared Wallace himself to be an outlaw.

Soon many other desperate men gathered round Wallace. Some were already outlaws, others were willing to risk every

thing for the sake of doing some harm to the English. As soon as Wallace was strong enough he went to punish Hazelrigg, whom he naturally looked upon as his worst foe, and he succeeded in killing him. It was in vain that English soldiers were sent against Wallace. He and his men could always escape from them amongst the wild mountains which they knew so well, and they often succeeded in gaining little victories over the English. As people began to hear of Wallace's success, more and more of the Scots flocked to join him, till at last he was at the head of a large army. He was joined by Sir William Douglas, who had also got together a band of outlaws. But the Scottish nobles showed no wish to help the people in their fight for liberty. Many of them, doubtless, did not care to run the risk; and others, perhaps, were disgusted with the wild way in which Wallace carried on war, and the cruelties with which he revenged himself on the English and treated nuns and priests.

At first the English Government had paid little heed to him, thinking that he was only the chief of a small band of outlaws; but when his followers increased, John de Warrenne marched against him at the head of a large army.

Wallace was not afraid of the approach of the English army. He awaited it, encamped on the northern side of the river Forth, near the town of Stirling. The English came to the southern side of the river; and then Warrenne sent two priests over the long wooden bridge which crossed the river to offer Wallace and his followers pardon if they would lay down their arms. Wallace answered with proud scorn: "Go

back to Warrenne," he said, "and tell him we value not the pardon of the King of England. We are here not to treat of peace, but to abide battle, and restore freedom to our country. Let the English come on; we defy them to their very beards."

This answer enraged the English, who longed to rush upon the proud outlaw at once. Warrenne was against a battle, for he could not lead his troops against the Scots except by crossing the long narrow bridge across the river, and that would be most dangerous in the face of the enemy. But he was persuaded by the other leaders of the army to fight, and put an end to the war at once. So the English began to cross the bridge. Wallace allowed about half of them to get over undisturbed, and then, when the bridge was still crowded with those who were following, he rushed upon them with his whole army. Many of the English were slain; others were driven into the river and drowned. Those who were left on the other side first set fire to the wooden bridge, and then fled as fast as they could. They did not think themselves safe till they were out of Scotland.

Wallace was now master of Scotland, and won back most of the castles which the English had taken. He then led his army across the border and laid waste Cumberland and Northumberland, punishing the poor English peasants with terrible cruelty for the deeds of their King. His soldiers, who got no pay for their services, enriched themselves with plunder; they were wild fierce men, who shrank from no cruel deed, and when they went back to Scotland they left nothing but blood and ashes in their track.

Edward I. was away in Flanders at this time; but as soon as he came back, his first care was to lead an army against the Scottish rebels. Wallace did not wish to fight him till his great army should be weakened by want of food. But Edward, hearing where Wallace was, marched forward quickly, and met him at Falkirk. Wallace arranged his men very cleverly for the battle; he placed them in a mass, the archers in the centre, the spearmen outside close together with spear against spear. The spearmen knelt down, so that the archers could shoot over their heads.

The English army was strong both in well-mounted horsemen and in skilful archers. Edward ordered his horsemen to charge the Scots. It was a terrible sight to see the fine horses riding as hard as they could against the long lances, and a dreadful cry arose as they met. The Scots stood firm. Many of the English horses were thrown down; their riders were so weighted with their heavy armour that they could not get up, and were killed as they lay rolling on the ground. In vain the English horsemen tried to force their way through that wood of spears. Then Edward I. ordered his archers to advance. They poured out such a deadly shower of arrows that the Scots at last were thrown into confusion; and then the horsemen charged again, and this time they drove the Scots before them.

Wallace himself escaped alive from the battle of Falkirk ; but his power in Scotland was at an end. Edward offered free pardon to all the rebels who would submit to him, and most of the leading rebels yielded to him. Wallace would not