. From this root sprung Robert Bruce, the competitor for
the crown with Baliol, whose grandson was the more celebrated Robert
Bruce, the younger, Earl of Carrick in virtue of his mother's title, and
afterward King of Scotland. He was the eldest of three brothers and
seven sisters, whose marriages with some of the leading families of
Scotland proved an important element of success to the future hero. His
earliest years were passed at the castle of Turnberry, where his mother
resided; but as he grew older, his father, who considered himself an
English baron, thought proper that he should be removed to the English
court. The friendship subsisting between Edward the First and the Earl
of Carrick induced the former to adopt the earl's son; so that the
confiding monarch trained up his mortal enemy in the use of those arts
and weapons which were one day to be turned against himself.

[Illustration: Robert Bruce.]

The family of Bruce, as we have already noticed, were competitors for
the Scottish throne with Baliol, in whose favor an award was pronounced
by Edward, when called upon to arbitrate between them. At this time the
elder Bruce was far advanced in years; his son, the Earl of Carrick, was
still in the prime of life, and his grandson, Robert Bruce was eighteen
years of age. Upon the old man being required to do homage for his lands
in Scotland to the new monarch of that country, he indignantly refused,
exclaiming, "I am Baliol's sovereign, not Baliol mine; and rather than
consent to such a homage, I resign my lands in Annandale to my son, the
Earl of Carrick." But Carrick was not less proud, or averse to anything
that might call in question his claim to the crown of Scotland, and in
like manner refused to hold any lands of Baliol. As, however, according
to the feudal law, he must either divest himself of his estate, or do
homage for it, he adopted the former alternative, and resigned the lands
of Annandale in favor of his son, Robert. The young baron, less
scrupulous than his relatives, did not hesitate to accept his father's
gift, which, upon feudal principles, carried with it the title of Earl
of Carrick, and did homage for the same to Baliol. By his father's
death, in 1304, he became possessed of the family estates in England.

From this time Bruce played his part with skill, though in justice it
must be allowed that his patriotism was not altogether without the alloy
of a selfish ambition; and perhaps it would be ex