d beheld the powerful and relentless Edward
lying dead at his feet.

Who betrayed William Wallace in the end, is not quite certain. That he
was betrayed--probably by an attendant--is too true. He was taken to the
Castle of Dumbarton, under SIR JOHN MENTEITH, and thence to London, where
the great fame of his bravery and resolution attracted immense concourses
of people to behold him. He was tried in Westminster Hall, with a crown
of laurel on his head--it is supposed because he was reported to have
said that he ought to wear, or that he would wear, a crown there and was
found guilty as a robber, a murderer, and a traitor. What they called a
robber (he said to those who tried him) he was, because he had taken
spoil from the King's men. What they called a murderer, he was, because
he had slain an insolent Englishman. What they called a traitor, he was
not, for he had never sworn allegiance to the King, and had ever scorned
to do it. He was dragged at the tails of horses to West Smithfield, and
there hanged on a high gallows, torn open before he was dead, beheaded,
and quartered. His head was set upon a pole on London Bridge, his right
arm was sent to Newcastle, his left arm to Berwick, his legs to Perth and
Aberdeen. But, if King Edward had had his body cut into inches, and had
sent every separate inch into a separate town, he could not have
dispersed it half so far and wide as his fame. Wallace will be
remembered in songs and stories, while there are songs and stories in the
English tongue, and Scotland will hold him dear while her lakes and
mountains last.

Released from this dreaded enemy, the King made a fairer plan of
Government for Scotland, divided the offices of honour among Scottish
gentlemen and English gentlemen, forgave past offences, and thought, in
his old age, that his work was done.

But he deceived himself. Comyn and Bruce conspired, and made an
appointment to meet at Dumfries, in the church of the Minorites. There
is a story that Comyn was false to Bruce, and had informed against him to
the King; that Bruce was warned of his danger and the necessity of
flight, by receiving, one night as he sat at supper, from his friend the
Earl of Gloucester, twelve pennies and a pair of spurs; that as he was
riding angrily to keep his appointment (through a snow-storm, with his
horse's shoes reversed that he might not be tracked), he met an
evil-looking serving man, a messenger of Comyn, whom he killed, an