The Scottish Chiefs

by Jane Porter

  Chapter LV.

  Church of Falkirk.

  No eye closed that night in the monastery of Falkirk. The Earl of Marawaked about the twelfth hour, and sent to call Lord Ruthven, SirWilliam Wallace, and his nephews, to attend him. As they approached,the priests, who had just anointed his dying head with the sacredunction, drew back. The countess and Lady Ruthven supported hispillow. He smiled as he heard the advancing steps of those so dear tohim. "I send for you," said he, "to give you the blessing of a trueScot and a Christian! May all who are here in thy blessed presence,Redeemer of mankind!" cried he, looking up with a supernaturalbrightness in his eye, "die as I do, rather than survive to seeScotland enslaved! But oh! may they rather long live under thatliberty, perpetuated, which Wallace has again given to his country;peaceful will then be their last moments on earth, and full of joytheir entrance into heaven!" His eyes closed as the concluding worddied upon his tongue. Lady Ruthven looked intently on him; she benther face to his, but he breathed no more; and, with a feeble cry, shefell back in a swoon.

  The soul of the veteran earl was indeed fled. The countess was taken,shrieking, out of the apartment; but Wallace, Edwin, and Murrayremained, kneeling over the body, and when they concluded, the prieststhrowing over it a cloud of incense, the mourners withdrew, andseparated to their chambers.

  By daybreak, Wallace met Murray by appointment in the cloisters. Theremains of his beloved father had been brought from Dunipacis to theconvent, and Murray now prepare to take them to Bothwell Castle, thereto be interred in the cemetery of his ancestors. Wallace, who hadapproved his design, entered with him into the solitary court-yard,where the war-carriage stood which was to convey the deceased earl toClydesdale. Four soldiers of his clan brought the corpse of their Lordfrom a cell, and laid him on his martial bier. His bed was the sweetheather of Falkirk, spread by the hands of his son. As Wallace laidthe venerable chief's sword and helmet on his bier, he covered thewhole with the flag he had torn from the standard of England in thelast victory. "None other shroud is worthy of thy virtues!" cried he."Dying for Scotland, thus let the memorial of her glory be the witnessof thine!"

  "Oh! my friend," answered Murray, looking on his chief with a smile,which beamed the fairer shining through sorrow, "thy gracious spiritcan divest even death of its gloom. My father yet lives in his fame!"

  "And in a better existence, too!" gently replied Wallace; "else theearth's fame were an empty shroud--it could not comfort."

  The solemn procession, with Murray at its head, departed toward thevalleys of Clydesdale, and Wallace returned to his chamber. Two hoursbefore noon he was summoned by the tolling of the chapel bell. TheEarl of Bute and his dearer friend were to be laid in their last bed.With a spirit that did not murmur, he saw the earth closed over bothgraves; but at Graham's he lingered; and when the funeral stone shuteven the sod that covered him from his eyes, with his sword's point hedrew on the surface these memorable words:

  "Mente manuque potens, et Walli fidus Achates. Conditus hic Gramus, bello interfectus ab Anglis."**

  **These lines may be translated thus:

  Here lies The powerful in mind and body, the friend of Wallace; Graham, faithful unto death! slain in battle by the English.

  While he yet leaned on the stone, which gently gave way to theregistering pen of friendship, to be more deeply engraved afterward, amonk approached him, attended by a shepherd boy. At the sound ofsteps, Wallace looked up.

  "This young man," said the father, "brings dispatches to the lordregent."

  Wallace rose, and the youth presented his packet. Withdrawing to alittle distance, he broke the seal, and read to this effect:

  "My father and myself are in the Castle of Durham, and both under anarrest. We are to remain so till our arrival in London renders itssovereign, in his own opinion, more secure: when there, you shall hearfrom me again. Meanwhile, be on your guard: the gold of Edward hasfound its way into your councils. Beware of them who, with patriotismin their mouths, are purchased to betray you and their country into thehands of the enemy! Truest, noblest, best of Scots, farewell!--I mustnot write more explicitly.

  "P.S.--The messenger who takes this is a simple border shepherd: heknows not whence comes the packet, hence he cannot bring an answer."

  Wallace closed the letter; and putting gold into the shepherd's hand,left the chapel. In passing through the cloisters he met Ruthven, justreturned from Stirling, whither he had gone to inform the chiefs of thecouncil of the regent's arrival. "When I summoned them to thecouncil-hall," continued Lord Ruthven, "and told them you had not onlydefeated Edward on the Carron, but in so doing had gained a doublevictory, over a foreign usurper and domestic traitors!-instead of theusual open-hearted gratulations on such a communication, a low whispermurmured through the hall; and the young Badenoch, unworthy of hispatriotic father, rising from his seat, gave utterance to so manyinvectives against you, our country's soul, and arm! I should deem ittreason even to repeat them. Suffice it to say, that out of fivehundred chiefs and chieftains who were present, not one of thoseparasites who used to fawn on you a week ago, and make the love ofhonest men seem doubtful, now breathes one word for Sir WilliamWallace. But this ingratitude, vile as it is, I bore with patiencetill Badenoch, growing in insolency, declared that late last nightdispatches had arrived from the King of France to the regent, and thathe (in right of his birth, assuming to himself that dignity) had puttheir bearer, Sir Alexander Ramsay, under confinement, for havingpersisted to dispute his authority to withhold them from you."

  Wallace, who had listened in silence, drew a deep sigh as Ruthvenconcluded; and, in that profound breath, exclaimed--"God must be ourfortress still; must save Scotland from this gangrene in her heart!Ramsay shall be released; but I must first meet these violent men. Andit must be alone, my lord," continued he; "you, and our coadjutors, maywait my return at the city gates; but the sword of Edward, if need be,shall defend me against his gold." As he spoke, he laid his hand onthe jeweled weapon which hung at his side, and which he had wrestedfrom that monarch in the last conflict.

  Aware that this treason, aimed at him, would strike his country, unlesstimely warded off, he took his resolution; and requesting Ruthven notto communicate to any one what had passed, he mounted his horse, andstruck into the road to Stirling. He took the plume from his crest,and closing his visor, enveloped himself in his plaid, that the peoplemight not know him as he went along. But casting away his cloak, andunclasping his helmet at the door of the keep, he entered thecouncil-hall, openly and abruptly. By an instantaneous impulse ofrespect, which even the base pay to virtue, almost every man arose athis appearance. He bowed to the assembly, and walked, with a composedyet severe air, up to his station at the head of the room. YoungBadenoch stood there; and as Wallace approached he fiercely grasped hissword. "Proud upstart!" cried he, "betrayer of my father! set a footfurther toward this chair, and the chastisement of every arm in thiscouncil shall fall on you for your presumption!"

  "It is not in the arms of thousands to put me from my right," repliedWallace, calmly putting forth his hand and drawing the regent's chairtoward him.

  "Will ye bear this?" cried Badenoch, stamping with his foot, andplucking forth his sword; "is the man to exist who thus braves theassembled lords of Scotland?" While speaking, he made a desperatelunge at the regent's breast; Wallace caught the blade in his hand, andwrenching it from his intemperate adversary, broke it into shivers, andcast the pieces at his feet; then, turning resolutely toward thechiefs, who stood appalled, and looking on each other, he said, "I,your duly elected regent, left you only a few days ago, to repel theenemy whom the treason of Lord March would have introduced into thesevery walls. Many brave chiefs followed me to that field! and more,whom I see now, loaded me as I passed with benedictions. Portentouswas the day of Falkirk to Scotland. Then did the mighty fall, and theheads of counsel perish. But treason was the parricide! The late LordBadenoch stood his ground like a true Scot; b
ut Athol and Buchandeserted to Edward." While speaking, he turned toward the furious sonof Badenoch, who, gnashing his teeth in impotent rage, stood listeningto the inflaming whispers of Macdougal of Lorn. "Young chief," criedhe, "from their treachery date the fate of your brave father, and thewhole of our grievous loss of that day; but the wide destruction hasbeen avenged! more than chief for chief have perished in the Southronranks, and thousands of the lowlier sort now swell the banks of Carron.Edward himself fell, wounded by my arm, and was born by his flyingsquadrons over the wastes of Northumberland. Thus have I returned toyou with my duties achieved in a manner worthy of your regent! What,then, means the arrest of my embassador? what this silence when therepresentative of your power is insulted to your face?

  "They mean," cried Badenoch, "that my words are the utterance of theirsentiments." "They mean," cried Lorn, "that the prowess of the haughtyboaster, whom their intoxicated gratitude raised from the dust, shallnot avail him against the indignation of a nation over which he daresto arrogate a right."

  "Mean they what they will," returned Wallace, "they cannot dispossessme of the rights with which assembled Scotland invested me on theplains of Stirling. And again I demand, by what authority do you andthey presume to imprison my officer, and withhold from me the paperssent by the King of France to the Regent of Scotland?"

  "By the authority that we will maintain," replied Badenoch; "by theright of my royal blood, and by the sword of every brave Scot, whospurns at the name of Wallace!"

  "And as a proof that we speak not more than we act," cried Lorn, makingassign to the chiefs, "you are our prisoner!"

  Many weapons were instantly unsheathed; and their bearers, hurrying tothe side of Badenoch and Lorn, attempted to lay hands on Wallace; buthe, drawing the sword of Edward, with a sweep of his valiant arm thatmade the glittering blade seem a brand of fire, set his back againstthe wall, and exclaimed:

  "He that first makes a stroke at me shall find his death on thisSouthron steel! This sword I made the puissant arm of the usurperyield to me; and this sword shall defend the Regent of Scotland againsthis ungrateful countrymen!"

  The chieftains who pressed on him recoiled at these words, but theirleaders, Badenoch and Lorn, waved them forward, with vehementexhortations.

  "Desist, young men!" continued he, "provoke me not beyond my bearing.With a single blast of my bugle I could surround this building with aband of warriors, who at sight of their chief being thus assaulted,would lay this tumult in blood. Let me pass, or abide the consequence!"

  "Through my breast, then," exclaimed Badenoch; "for, with my consent,you pass not here but on your bier. What is in the arm of a singleman," cried he to the lords, "that ye cannot fall on him at once, andcut him down?"

  "I would not hurt a son of the virtuous Badenoch," returned Wallace;"but his life be on your hands," said he, turning to the chiefs, "ifone of you point a sword to impede my passage."

  "And wilt thou dare it, usurper of my powers and honors?" criedBadenoch. "Lorn, stand by your friend--all here who are true to theCummin and Macdougal, hem in the tyrant."

  Many a traitor hand now drew forth its dagger, and the intemperateBadenoch, drunk with choler and mad ambition, snatching a sword fromone of his accomplices, made another violent plunge at Wallace, but itsmetal flew in splinters on the guard-stroke of the regent, and leftBadenoch at his mercy. "Defend me, chieftains, or I am slain!" criedhe. But Wallace did not let his hand follow its advantage; with thedignity of conscious desert, he turned from the vanquished, and castingthe enraged Lorn from him, who had thrown himself in his way, heexclaimed: "Scots, that arm will wither which dares to point its steelon me." The pressing crowd, struck in astonishment, parted before himas they could have done in the path of a thunderbolt, and unimpeded, hepassed to the door.

  That their regent had entered the keep was soon rumored through thecity; and when he appeared from the gate he was hailed by theacclamations of the people. He found his empire again in the hearts ofthe lowly, they whom he had restored to their cottages, knelt to him inthe streets, and called for blessings on his name; while they--oh!blasting touch of envy!-whom he had restored to castles, and elevatedfrom a state of vassalage to the power of princes, they raised againsthim that very power to lay him in the dust.

  Now it was, that when surrounded by the grateful citizens of Stirling(whom it would have been as easy for him to have inflamed to themassacre of Badenoch and his council, as to have lifted his bugle tohis lips), that he blew the summons for his captains. Every man in thekeep flew to arms, expecting that Wallace was returning upon them withthe host he had threatened. In a few minutes the Lord Ruthven, withhis brave followers, entered the inner ballium gate. Wallace smiledproudly as they drew near. "My lords," said he, "you come to witnessthe last act of my delegated power! Sir Alexander Scrymgeour, enterinto that hall, which was once the seat of council, and tell theviolent men who fill it, that for the peace of Scotland, which I valuemore than my life, I allow them to stand unpunished of their offenseagainst me. But the outrage they have committed on the freedom of oneof her bravest sons I will not pardon, unless he be immediately set atliberty; let them deliver to you Sir Alexander Ramsay, and then Ipermit them to hear my final decision. IF they refuse obedience, theyare all my prisoners, and, but for my pity on their blindness, shouldperish by the laws."

  Eager to open the prison door for his friend Ramsay, and littlesuspecting to what he was calling the insurgents, Scrymgeour hastenedto obey. Lorn and Badenoch gave him a very rough reception, utteringsuch rebellious defiance of the regent that the brave standard-bearerlost all patience, and denounced the immediate deaths of the wholerefractory assembly. "The courtyard," cried he, "is armed withthousands of the regent's followers, his foot is on your necks, obey,or this will be a more grievous day for Scotland than even that ofFalkirk; for the Castle of Stirling will run with Scottish blood!" Atthis menace Badenoch became more enraged, and Scrymgeour, seeing nochance of prevailing by argument, sent a messenger to privately tellWallace the result. The regent immediately placed himself at the headof twenty men, and, re-entering the keep, went directly to the warder,whom he ordered, on his allegiance to the laws, to deliver SirAlexander Ramsay into his hands. He was obeyed, and returned with hisrecovered chieftain to the platform. When Scrymgeour was apprised ofthe knight's release, he turned to Badenoch, with whom he was stillcontending in furious debate, and demanded:

  "Will you or will you not attend me to the regent? He of you all,"added he, addressing the chieftains, "who in this simple duty disobeys,shall receive from him the severer doom."

  Badenoch and Lorn, affecting to deride this menace, replied, they wouldnot for an empire do the usurper the homage of a moment's voluntaryattention; but if any of their followers chose to view the mockery,they were at liberty. A very few, and those of the least turbulentspirits went forth. They began to fear having embarked in a desperatecause; and, by their present acquiescence, were willing to deprecatethe wrath of Wallace, while thus assured of not exciting the resentmentof Badenoch.

  When Wallace looked around him and saw the space before the keep filledwith armed men and citizens, he ascended an elevated piece of ground,which rose a little to the left, and waving his hand in token that heintended to speak, a profound silence took place of the buzz ofadmiration, gratitude, and discontent. He then addressed the people:

  "Brother soldiers! friends! And--am I so to distinguish Scots?-enemies!"

  At this word, a loud cry of "Perish all who are the enemies of ourglorious regent!" penetrated to the inmost chambers of the citadel.

  Believing that the few of his partisans who had ventured out, werefalling under the vengeance of Wallace, Badenoch, with a brandishedweapon, and followed by the rest, sallied toward the door, but there hestopped, for he saw his friends standing unmolested.

  Wallace proceeded; and, with calm dignity, announced the hatred thatwas now poured upon him by a large part of that nobility who had beenso eager to invest him with th
e high office he then held.

  "Though they have broken their oaths," cried he, "I have fulfilledmine! They vowed to me all lawful obedience; I swore to free Scotlandor to die. Every castle in this realm is restored to its ancient lord;every fortress is filled with a native garrison; the sea is coveredwith our ships, and the kingdom, one in itself, sits secure behind herwell-defended bulwarks. Such have I, through the strength of theAlmighty arm, made Scotland! Beloved by a grateful people, I couldwield half her power to the destruction of the rest; but I would notpluck one stone out of the building I have raised. To-day I deliver upmy commission, since its design is accomplished. I resign the regency."

  As he spoke, he took off his helmet, and stood uncovered before thepeople.

  "No, no!" seemed the voice from every lip; "we will acknowledge noother power, we will obey no other leader!"

  Wallace expressed his sense of their attachment, but repeating to themthat he had fulfilled the end of his office, by setting them free, heexplained that his retaining it was no longer necessary. "Should Iremain your regent," continued he, "the country would be involved inruinous dissensions. The majority of your nobles now find a vice inthe virtue they once extolled; and seeing its power, no longer needful,seek to destroy my upholders with myself. I therefore remove the causeof contention. I quit the regency; and I bequeath your liberty to thecare of your chiefs. But should it be again in danger, remember, thatwhile life breathes in this heart, the spirit of William Wallace willbe with you still!"

  With these words he descended the mound, and mounted his horse, amidstthe cries and tears of the populace. They clung to his garments as herode along; and the women, with their children, throwing themselves ontheir knees in his path, implored him not to leave them to the inroadsof a ravager; not to abandon them to the tyranny of their own lords;who, unrestrained by a king, or a regent like himself, would soonsubvert his good laws, and reign despots over every district in thecountry. Wallace answered their entreaties with the language ofencouragement; adding, that he was not their prince, to lawfullymaintain a disputed power over the legitimate chiefs of the land."But," he said, "a rightful sovereign may yet be yielded to yourprayers; and to procure that blessing, daughters of Scotland, night andday invoke the Giver of every good gift."

  When Wallace and his weeping train separated, at the foot of FalkirkHill, he was met by his veterans of Lanark; who, having heard of whathad passed in the citadel, advanced to him with one voice, to declarethat they never would fight under any other commander. "Wherever youare, my faithful friends," returned he, "you shall still obey my word."When he entered the monastery, the opposition that was made to hisresignation of the regency, by the Bishop of Dunkeld, Lord Loch-awe,and others, was so vehement, so persuasive, that had not Wallace beensteadily principled not to involve his country in domestic war, he musthave yielded to the affectionate eloquence of their pleading. Butshowing to them the public danger attendant on his provoking the wildambition of the Cummins, and their multitudinous adherents, hisarguments, which the sober judgment of his friends saw conclusive, atlast ended the debate. He then rose, saying, "I have yet to perform myvow to our lamented Mar. I shall seek his daughter; and then, my bravecompanions, you shall hear of me, and, I trust, see me again!"