Scotland/Scots > Life of Sir William Wallace, Knight of Ellerslie, and Guardian of Scotland

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LIFE OF
contributions on all those whose sentiments Avere
suspected to be adverse to the interest of his mas¬
ter. This relentless tool had already, by the
severity of his proceedings, excited the hatred
and indignation of great numbers of the poorer
class of gentlemen, who, having nothing to ex¬
pect from either of the factions which ruined and
betrayed their country, had hitherto remained
passive spectators of their misconduct. Wallace,
though he felt indignant at the treatment of his
friends, saw, with pleasure, the spirit of insur¬
rection spreading among that portion of his
countrymen, on whose services he could most
rely in the day of trial.
His adventure at Ayr had become the subject
of conversation among all parties, and many of
the discontented gentry resorted to him in his
places of concealment, by which means the num¬
ber of his followers began daily to increase.
Understanding that Cressingham had taken up
his abode, for the time, with Percy, at Ayr, he
determined to pay another visit to that town,
for the purpose of ascertaining the practicability
of striking a blow by which the country might
be delivered from its arch-enemy. Having dis¬
guised himself in a dress taken from the body
of one of the attendants of Percy, slain in the