nd. Probably it was because they
knew this, and knew what troubles must arise even if they could hope to
get the better of the great English King, that the principal Scottish
people applied to the Pope for his interference. The Pope, on the
principle of losing nothing for want of trying to get it, very coolly
claimed that Scotland belonged to him; but this was a little too much,
and the Parliament in a friendly manner told him so.

In the spring time of the year one thousand three hundred and three, the
King sent SIR JOHN SEGRAVE, whom he made Governor of Scotland, with
twenty thousand men, to reduce the rebels. Sir John was not as careful
as he should have been, but encamped at Rosslyn, near Edinburgh, with his
army divided into three parts. The Scottish forces saw their advantage;
fell on each part separately; defeated each; and killed all the
prisoners. Then, came the King himself once more, as soon as a great
army could be raised; he passed through the whole north of Scotland,
laying waste whatsoever came in his way; and he took up his winter
quarters at Dunfermline. The Scottish cause now looked so hopeless, that
Comyn and the other nobles made submission and received their pardons.
Wallace alone stood out. He was invited to surrender, though on no
distinct pledge that his life should be spared; but he still defied the
ireful King, and lived among the steep crags of the Highland glens, where
the eagles made their nests, and where the mountain torrents roared, and
the white snow was deep, and the bitter winds blew round his unsheltered
head, as he lay through many a pitch-dark night wrapped up in his plaid.
Nothing could break his spirit; nothing could lower his courage; nothing
could induce him to forget or to forgive his country's wrongs. Even when
the Castle of Stirling, which had long held out, was besieged by the King
with every kind of military engine then in use; even when the lead upon
cathedral roofs was taken down to help to make them; even when the King,
though an old man, commanded in the siege as if he were a youth, being so
resolved to conquer; even when the brave garrison (then found with
amazement to be not two hundred people, including several ladies) were
starved and beaten out and were made to submit on their knees, and with
every form of disgrace that could aggravate their sufferings; even then,
when there was not a ray of hope in Scotland, William Wallace was as
proud and firm as if he ha