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

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NOTES.
P. 188. Adomer de Vallance Earl of Pembroke.
“ This Earl seemed to have a divine interdict im¬
pending over him, and the immediate vindictive hand
of Providence to be upon him and his posterity, for
his atrocious deeds. He was a tool to his prince, and
servilely submitted to the mandate of the crown,
contrary to the dictates of humanity, honour, and
justice. He sat in judgment on Thomas Earl of
Lancaster, and impiously acquiesced in his sentence.
He was a chief instrument in apprehending the fa¬
mous Scottish patriot, Wallace, in 1305; accom¬
plishing his capture by the treachery of his most
intimate associates, and those in whom he placed his
utmost confidence. Sir John Monteith, and others,
of infamous memory. Adomer, on his hridal-day,
was slain in a tournament, held in honour of his
nuptials; and left a wife at once a maiden, bride, and
widow. It is said that for several generations of this
family, a father was never happy enough to see his
son, the proscribed parent being snatched off1 by the
hand of death before the birth of his issue.” Hut¬
chinson's Hist, of Northumberland.
It may also he remarked, as a singular coincidence,
the fatality which attended the Stuarts after they
came to the throne, not one of whom, for many
generations, died a natural death. John Monteith
was the son of Walter Stuart Earl of Monteith, and
of the same family which afterwards swayed the
Scottish sceptre.
Aymer, or Adomer, de Vallence is likewise charged
by the minstrel, as being the instrument made use