Wyseby

OP THE FIRST IRVINGS.
35
sembled. The hearts of the brave were troubled.
At midnight our council met — a council of heroes —
each wise as brave. Night girt them round with a
wall of impenetrable darkness. It seemed as if they
were a council of disembodied voices. The King
spoke. Invisible was the lofty port, the calm deter-
mined brow, the steady, piercing eye; — but his
words came to the spirit of each, and they knew
them to be the words of a royal soul. ' Warriors,'
he said, ' much have ye endured, and yet much must
ye endure. In the fair fields of your native land, by
the side of your lawful sovereign, as freemen — for
ye are still free — striving for the freedom of your
own land : or as subjects, nay, slaves — for conquerors
have no subjects — of Edward — that man of blood.
Say, warriors, — sons of the free ! — of those whose
spirits look down upon us at this hour, — say, in which
way will ye suffer ? ' The king paused. For some
moments, silence the most profound reigned. In mo-
ments such as these, the destinies of nations balance
themselves. ' What answer ye, warriors ?' cried the
Bruce. ' Shall we Ha ! What sound is that ?'
The fierce voice of battle arose, — wild on the mid-
night air it came. ' To your posts'all !' shouted the
King. ' Strike for Scotland !'
" Boots not to tell the issue of that disastrous
night. We were scattered — not as the birds of the
lonely rock, by the descent of the broad-winged
eagle, — No ! But as the strong vessels of a gallant
fleet, torn apart by the sudden down-rushing, dark,
impetuous wrath of the midnight tempest.
" Night, — night, — night,. — no moon, no stars ; —
behind defeat, ruin, havock, and before — earth and
the dispehsations of God, — all else unknown. On-