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

164
LIFE OF
to have broke into the English camp, on Lin¬
lithgow muir, and after killing a number of the
enemy, and spreading alarm through the whole
of their army, effected his retreat without losing
any of his men.
Edward, incensed at the frequency with which
these night attacks were repeated, determined
to pursue the Scots with his whole forces. His
nimble adversaries retired before him, and hav¬
ing burned Stirling, continued to waste the
country as they went along, so that the enemy
were put to the greatest inconvenience from the
want of forage for their numerous cavalry.
While the Guardian and his little army of
Patriots were thus engaging the attention of the
invader, Comyn and the partisans of Stewart
were loud in their expressions of disapprobation
of the conduct of our hero: the latter charging
him with the loss of the battle, by his refraining
to assist Stewart till it was too late; and the
former, conscious of his own misconduct, and
in order to supply something like a pretext for
his treacherous desertion of his countrymen,
became outrageously clamorous against him:
charging him with an intention of usurping the
a few shillings in making repairs about the walls where these figures
are reclining. It is, however, to be regretted that a little more atten¬
tion is not paid to the preservation of such valuable antiques.