ance to have worn an iron ring, or sack- | pacity proves the opinion of his diplocloth, or some such uneasy garment, ever macy entertained by the regents. The after, yet the crime was foully done, and the repentance was not very sincerely made; for the family name of his rival was for a time proscribed. latter defended the country by a steady adhesion to their system, against numerous armies, in the three following years. These years were passed by Sir Sir William Wallace might have perse- William Wallace in Paris, Rome, and vered at Falkirk with the Fabian and suc- Norway. He interested the French cessful tactics which the chiefs had adopt- court and king in the Scotch cause, and ed previously. The army were not so obtained a bull from the Pope against much entangled that they could not have further military proceedings by Edward in retreated without fighting. Comyn re- Scotland. He urged the Norwegian king to tired safely with his division early in the claim the crown of Scotland, to which he day; Wallace, after fighting during the held a right, and probably hoped to comday, and sustaining a defeat and loss, re- bine the rival nobles in favor of a canditired in excellent order, and burned the date superior to either of them in power town of Stirling as he passed, for the rea- and rank. Before this application, howsons which induced the Russians to burn ever, he had obtained the release of John Moscow. It is evident, therefore, that Baliol, in whose name he had acted invathey might have all retired, and quite as riably, from the Tower of London, upon evident that Edward could not have pur- the condition that he would reside aftersued. The solution of the matter proba- wards upon his French estates. The imprisbly is, that Stewart and the Southern Scots onment of the unfortunate monarch ceased wanted to fight because the English were only upon the intervention of the Pope's between them and home. Comyn and the nuncio; but that friendly act, doubtless, Northern Scots were between the English originated in the application of Wallace, and their homes, and they could afford to backed by the recommendation of Philip exercise more patience. Wallace consid- of France. The latter years of John ered himself bound in honor to stand by Baliol were passed in peace upon his Stewart, and risk an engagement in oppo- French estates. He survived his great sition to his system of tactics, which would general and minister by eight years; and have secured victory within a month. His lived to hear that Bannockburn had retreat from that fatal field was one of avenged the wrongs of both, but taken those masterly movements in war that at from him the shadow of a crown, which once attest the genius of a commander he never carried in peace, and his deand the excellent discipline of his soldiers. scendant in vain sought to recover. His conversation with Robert Bruce Baliol, like Comyn, suffers from the across the ravine, with the Carron flowing criticisms of historians upon his conduct. between them, tells a tale of profound He once did homage to Edward at Breself-possession that a great calamity could chin, according to them, for the Scottish not shake. His personal rencontre with, kingdom, under the fear of personal vioand slaughter of, Sir Bryan de Jaye, the lence. The feudal acknowledgments of the Knight Templar, who headed the pursuit Scottish monarchs for those estates that of the English, in Callendar wood, slack- they unfortunately held in England, gave ened the pace of the quickest rider in the countenance to spurious claims, made by southern host; and his destruction of Edward I. John Baliol may have perStirling testifies that the pursuit of infant-formed homage for his private estates, ry by horsemen was not very ardent, and that he forgot nothing. The resignation of his power as guardian occurred some time after, from a conviction that his authority was inadequate to combine the great barons. If he fought at Falkirk against his own judgment on a point of honor, he may have decided upon that course in expiation of the error. It at least shows his own opinion of Comyn's honesty, as the employment of Wallace in an official ca and Edward may have converted the act into homage for his crown; but in all nations deeds obtained by intimi dation were considered invalid. The acknowledgment which appears to bear John Baliol's signature has been proved to be a worthless forgery. During his long imprisonment in the Tower of London, no resignation was obtained from him. An instrument of that nature, combined with a disavowal of Wallace and his wars, would have secured his release and transmission to | ecclesiastical superior. The claim of Rome France. He refused to execute them to Scotland went very far back indeed— for he must have been frequently invited to take that course; and he continued to acknowledge with gratitude the efforts of his regent to support the independence of the crown and the kingdom. John Baliol's connection with Scotland was a great calamity to him. He was owner, probably, of more land in Europe than any other subject, when he succeeded by right to this northern throne. All the English estates belonging to Baliol, which extended over part of nine counties, were to be sold for his benefit, according to the contract between the Pope's legate and the King of England, upon his departure for France; but Edward observed no contracts, and immediately forfeited the estates in favor of his nephew. He seized the money belonging to Baliol, forfeited it also, but gave it to himself. Ability is, perhaps, the only good quality that belongs to the character of Edward I., and he converted it into crime. He was a bloody and deceitful man, who marred his own peace, died miserable, and his race sunk under calamities. And yet we have an example in current history of almost similar faithlessness to the rights of private property in a neighboring kingdom; only the Orleans estates were not bestowed upon a Bonaparte. Scotland might have prospered under the gentle rule of Baliol, as it prospered under his predecessors, if he had been permitted to reign in peace; but it was written that its liberties and prosperity were to originate in sufferings; and the desolating war of more than half a century, which crippled the power of the Norman monarchs, introduced the war of the Roses, and founded the liberties of England, at a cost to both nations of more nearly two than one million of lives, originated curiously in an arbitration. The diplomacy of Wallace in Paris obtained a short truce from England, which Comyn and Fraser improved at home. His visit to Rome excited the cupidity of the pontiff, who raised a claim to the crown of Scotland, and embarrassed Edward much in his dealings with the question; for Winchilsea, the Archbishop of Canterbury, served upon his haughty temporal monarch, in presence of his nobles and his army, the mandate of his back through the mists of many ages, to the days of the Judges in Israel. We know in what manner Wallace would have dealt with the claim if it had become serious; but he pitted the Pope against the Norman with diplomatic talent equal to his military skill. Edward, at one period, offered him the crown of Scotland as his feudal inferior, but the bribe was spurned. During the residence of Wallace at Paris and Rome, the English king negotiated with these courts for the apprehension of their guest; but both rejected the infamous proposals of a monarch who entertained no scruples in his transactions with an enemy, and estimated others by that standard with which he was best acquainted-his own corrupt mind. Edward led a splendid army into Scotland in 1300; but the commencement of the century was unfortunate to him, and little or nothing was done. The pontiff' embarrassed the king with his claim. The barons of England wanted a redress of their grievances, and the regents of Scotland pursued their Fabian tactics, until a truce was formed at the close of the season, but never well observed. The winter of 1301 was passed by Edward in Linlithgow, and during that year a semblance of peace was observed; but, upon the expiry of the truce, in 1302, Sir John Comyn and Sir Simon Fraser fought the battles of Roslin. Their forces were greatly reduced, and they only mustered eight thousand men. They had, however, seized a number of castles and strongholds that had been held by or for the English, and Sir John de Segrave, who was governor of Scotland, collected an army of twenty thousand men, and left Edinburgh to oppose their progress. The regents could not have successfully resisted this army if it had been kept together; but the men marched in three divisions, at a distance of several miles. Comyn and Fraser attacked Segrave's van early in a spring morning, and unexpectedly. This division was destroyed rapidly. Segrave was wounded and made prisoner, along with his brother, his son, and sixteen knights. Some of them were even caught in bed. The second column, under Ralph de Manton Comfrey, made a better resistance, but they were beaten by a late breakfast hour, and their commander was slain. The third, under Sir Robert de Neville, reinforced by the fugitives of two divisions, made a hard afternoon's battle, but they also were overpowered, scattered, and slaughtered. De Segrave had not suspected the vicinity of his enemies, and his gallant army were routed in three separate battles on one day. Their loss was great-equal, probably, to that of the Scots at Falkirk; for we fear that the victors, as usual, had no desire to make pri soners. Towards the close of 1302, the Pope was advised to renounce his claim to the sovereignty of Scotland, notwithstanding its long descent; and he was induced to urge submission to Edward, on the Scottish nation, as a duty. At this period, Wallace, probably, made his second visit to France. He had to fight his way on both occasions; and a glimpse of the commerce of the country is derived from the fact that his second voyage was made in a ship carrying wool to France. The French king, Philip, concluded peace with England but without arranging for Scotland; and, notwithstanding many promises of assistance, it would appear that Wallace returned home without any reasonable expectation of help from that quarter. His report was not calculated to encourage Comyn and Fraser in their resistance to the English crown. Baliol had retired to France, and no hope remained that he would ever revisit the north country. Bruce was in the ranks of the English. Comyn of Galway had long made his submission. The leading nobility had abandoned the regent. Their money failed. Their commissariat could not be supplied. They were compelled to disband their army. Still, these heroic men persevered. Their lands were forfeited. Their friends were alienated, or slainprisoners, or in exile; and, in 1303, they were reduced to the condition of outlaws. Wallace continued in their company, and many of their achievements were more astonishing at this period than when they scattered their enemies at Roslin; but Edward held all the towns with a numerous army. Sir Thomas Maule, an ancestor of Lord Panmure's, kept his own house, Brechin Castle, for a longer period than any of the subordinate forts, against the English-but it was taken ultimately by Edward, although not until its intrepid proprietor perished on the walls. While the cause of Scotland was reduced to this deplorable plight, Edward is said to have renewed the offer of the crown, under the condition of feudal inferiority, to Sir William Wallace, but it was indignantly refused; and so, when early in 1304, Stirling Castle fell, the greatest and the last of the Scottish strongholds, and Edward made peace with the disaffected, upon the conditions that Sir John Comyn of Buchan, the regent, Sir Simon Fraser, Sir John Saulis, and Sir Thomas du Bois, should be exiled for two years, the young Steward of Scotland, and Sir David Graham, for shorter periods, Sir William Wallace was excepted, and a reward of fered for his capture-living or dead. The activity of Wallace in organizing a new insurrection under the Bruce party, with whom he formed a correspondence after the peace between the regent Comyn, of Badenoch and Buchan, and Edward of England, was scarcely interrupted by the active search made for him. He was surrounded by friends who kept his secret when they could no longer give him support in the field. Edward Bruce, whose hatred of England was a passion, while that of his brother Robert was a policy, and who had long retired from the Eng lish court, agreed to meet Wallace at one of his haunts near Glasgow, in August, 1305. The story of his capture is told in different forms. He slept. A person whose brother he had slain, either while he was in the avowed or secret service of England, along with some followers, stole his arms and bugle, and attempted to bind him. He broke the cords, and with a piece of oak slew two of his aggressors. Finding escape from the house, which was surrounded by his enemies, impossible, he followed the advice of Sir John Monteith, the governor for England of Dunbarton Castle, and surrendered. This is the popular account. Monteith delivered his illustrious captive to Edward, claimed and received his reward. His memory has been held ever infamous in Scotland, and he nearly accomplished similar service against Robert Bruce, at a subsequent date. He has been styled the friend of Wallace, in ag gravation of his treachery; but the statement has no foundation in history. He was an Anglo-Scot, a greedy knight, who preferred private to public interests-a traitor to his country, like a thousand more of its natural leaders; but probably | lowed by that of Sir Simon Fraser, in preone of only a very few among that thou- cisely the same manner; of the three brosand who would have earned infamy and thers Seaton, who were more cruelly money by this crime. treated; and of others, who continued their opposition to the claims of Edward over Scotland. Wallace was tried at Westminster. A crown of laurel was placed upon his head by Edward's directions, who knew that he might have worn a crown of gold. He was charged with treason, and answered that he was never a subject of Edward's, and could not be guilty of treason against that king. He was charged with levying war against the king, storming his castles, burning his towns, slaying his subjectsand he replied that in defence of his own land, and in repelling violence, he had taken several of the enemies' castles, burned some of their towns, and slain many of their brave subjects. His answers exhibited neither bravado nor equivocation. He expected no mercy, and he sought none-but plainly avowed and defended his conduct. Among the barons of England the chained prisoner stood the most dignified man. They were slaves and he was free, in spirit, even while in bonds. Trial was a form in his case-and sentence had been long pronounced. He was ordered to be gibbeted, disembowelled, and his body burned-except his head, which was reserved for London Bridge; one arm kept for Newcastle, and another for Berwick, his right foot for Perth, and his left for Aberdeen. He was conveyed from Westminster to the Tower, and from thence to Smithfield, where his sentence was executed to the letter. Edward insisted that no ecclesiastic should be permitted to converse with him; and while the gallant barons of England abandoned a noble foe to the mean cruelty of a malignant king, the highest ecclesiastic braved his monarch's wrath -and Winchilsea, the Archbishop of Canterbury, told Edward that the Church must not suffer that infamy, and attended upon the patriot almost to his death. He was drawn on a hurdle to Smithfield, and on the way he requested Lord Clifford to restore his psalter, which he had carried from his early years. The book was given to him, and with this only memorial of Elderslie, amid the taunts of a mob, who knew not that he was the only freeman there, he commended his soul to God, and died, still in his early youth, leaving a name that will never perish in his own land, nor from the land of his martyrdom for freedom's sake. His death was fol That monarch now considered his conquest secure. It was the autumn of 1305. While yet the snow was on the ground, in the spring of 1306, Bruce had recommenced the war-which, more than ten years afterwards, he concluded deep in the heart of the English soil. The popular idea of Wallace, from the number of his achievements, is that of a man who reached an advanced period of life. Nine years served to earn his imperishable renown; and the object of Edward's hatred was a young man of thirty years. In that short life he acquired the highest military renown, combining personal daring and strength with the science of a consummate general. He formed a system of military tactics, and drilled his raw recruits into a phalanx of admirable strength. He evinced administrative talent of a high order, and an anxiety for and estimate of the value of commerce, unusual in his age. He acquired all the learning of his country and his time, and was acquainted with at least the Latin and French languages. His diplomatic skill was equal to his military success. He was the champion of the common people, and would have reformed their domestic wrongs as he repelled their foreign assailants. He was the friend of law and the supporter of order in troublous times; and thus he clung to the cause of Baliol while even Bruce compromised and schemed for his own advantage. His honesty was incorruptible, and his patriotism without a stain. No man ever more completely forgot himself in the public interest; and "posterity," not always just to the great and the dead, have acknowledged him as the first man of his land-the prince of patriots, who, scorning a crown while he lived, has reigned and ruled over hearts for centuries. And now they propose to build a monument to the man whose monument is Scotland-whose memorial is in every heart that values liberty, and the privileges wrung out of the prerogatives of Norman kings and the power of feudal chiefs. The proposal is just, but the execution may be weak. A monument to Wallace can not be a pillar like Lord Melville's, or an or nament to a street like Sir Walter Scott's. | estate, environed by its own lands, a home The plan and the site are not matured. to the worn and wounded soldier, a shelSome parties proposed a pyramid, bold and ter to the orphans or the widows of the high, like the patriot's deeds, on the field dead. Funds for this monument would of Stirling. That idea is, probably, more be found. It would supply a want, and consistent with the man and his time than be a grateful and wise acknowledgment any other which has been mentioned. of present services and sufferings in meBut he does not now require a monument morial of past achievements and worth. like a gauntlet of defiance, or towering to The committee who have accepted this the sky from a battle-field. His services business should proceed with its execution, and his worth are not less warmly ac- and first promulgate a scheme and a site. knowledged in England than in Scotland. We have monuments of the man everyHis value to English liberty was equal to where-the Forth and the Clyde, and the his efforts for Scottish independence; Cartlane rocks-every river from Spey to while no people more fully acknowledge Tweed-every mountain side, from Ben the merits of a foe than the English nation, Nevis to the Eildons, all our old strongespecially a foe who battled for right, and holds, from Dunbarton to Dunnottar, from emphatically of a man whose memory be- sea to sea, bear traditions of the patriot ; longs to Britain-for he placed the union but if we are to make a common centre to of its dissevered parts upon the only all in one spot, it should be done worthily, equitable, and, therefore, the only solid and for that work activity and energy are basis. requisite to clear us from another national disgrace-beginning to build without counting the cost. The memorial to Wallace might be a Chelsea Hospital, standing upon its own ROME FROM THE CAPITOL. THE engraving in this number of the ] In looking on the scene presented in the Eclectic, presents many interesting fea- engraving, the spectator is supposed to tures of ancient Rome. We offer a brief explanation of some of the objects presented. The accuracy of the view is verified by personal recollection. stand on the tower of the Capitol. In the foreground the eye looks down upon the ruins of all that made Rome the mistress of the world. Behind the spectator are the palaces and churches of the modern city; so that the Capitol may be said to separate the living from the dead-the city of the Popes from that of the Cæsars. There is no scene in the world more im Rome is situated in the central plain of the Campagna, fifteen miles from the sea-coast. The modern city is built on the low land which lies on each bank of the Tiber, and on the slopes of the three most northern of those seven hills which formed the well-pressive or magnificent than that comknown features of ancient Rome. The Tiber divides the city into two very unequal portions, traversing it from north to south in an irregular, winding course of not less than three miles from wall to wall, manded by this spot, which must be visited in person in order fully to appreciate the glorious panorama. In the distance may be seen the chain of the Sabine hills, and the Volscian mountains, which form the |