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

LIFE OF
to tender their submission, and again repeat
their oaths of allegiance.
Comyn and some of the principal nobility, in
order to claim the merit of an early repentance,
met the invader on the borders, and thus pro¬
cured more advantageous terms than they other¬
wise would have done. Among those who thus
started for the goal of slavery, few shared more
largely in the wages of iniquity than Sir John
Monteith. Having met Sir Aymer de Vallence at
Annan, he found means to acquire so much of
his confidence, as to induce that favourite of
Edward to obtain for him, not only a confirma¬
tion of the governorship of Dumbarton castle,
but also an extention of his authority over the
whole of the district of Lennox.
While affairs were in this situation, accounts
were brought to the English camp, that the
bugle of Wallace had been heard at midnight
among the woods on the banks of the Tay;
and a body of troops, under the command of Sir
John Butler, were despatched in pursuit of him.
This officer, whose father and grandfather had
fallen by the hand of Wallace, set forward with
alacrity to execute the service assigned him.
However, after ranging the country in all di¬
rections, he was at last obliged to return with-