Stuart dynasty

UNDER TWO KINGS. 21
to the city, and retired on the main body. But as in
each invasion of Scotland it was always found diffi-
cult to pass northwards without taking- Stirling, so
on this occasion did the English, unsuccessful in their
endeavours before that fortress, learn the necessity of
making a retrograde movement; or running the risk
of having their communications cut off, for they had
put the river Forth between themselves and
England.*
Nor were the French and Scots idle, for they
made raids into Cumberland and Westmoreland,
burning villages and laying the country waste until,
the district having been drained of its resources
by the English army, they sat down before Carlisle.
Finding themselves unable to subdue this place, they
retired across the Border. Truly an inconsequent
conclusion for both nations. But the poor French
fared worst of all, inasmuch as the Scots declared
they had injured their allies much more than the
English enemy they were present to repel, because
in crossing the fields crops had been destroyed. In
requital for these losses they detained John de Yienne
and the other French barons, who had narrowly
escaped annihilation by the returning English. But
the opportunity was missed owing to inaction,
caused by the internal dissensions of King Richard's
followers.f Little wonder that the French were glad
to return to their own country.
. These details, belonging more to the national
records of the sister kingdom than to a history of the
* Froissart, translated edition, 1808, vol. vii. pp. 69, 70. t Ibid., p. 74.