FIRST BATTLE OF FALKIRK. GRAHAM. 151 



improvement. The great advantages which nature has here disclosed to the 

 enterprising spirit of man, have been diligently cultivated, till the very surface 

 has assumed the appearance of one vast garden spreading itself over a soil rich 

 in mineral treasures.* 



On crossing the Avon, in our advance towards Stirling, we catch many beau- 

 tiful views of the Forth and the Ochil hills, bordered with a rich and highly 

 variegated foreground. Falkirk, which gives its name to two of the hostile 

 engagements referred to, is a large thriving town, and derives no small advantages 

 from the celebrated trysts, or cattle-markets, of which it is at several periods 

 annually the scene. In the churchyard are the memorials of Sir John the 

 Graham, and Sir John Stewart, who fell in the first battle of Falkirk. The 

 memory of the Graham, Wallace's staunch supporter in many a patriotic 

 struggle, is thus honourably recorded : — 



" Mente manuque potens, et Vallae fiJus Achates 

 Conditur hie Gramus, bello interfectus ab Anglis."f 



The first of the battles alluded to was fought on the 22d of July, 1298. 

 The Scottish army was divided into phalanxes, with their lances lowered 

 obliquely over each other, and so dense as to resemble, says an English historian, 

 " a castle walled with steel." These spearmen were the flower of the army, 

 and commanded by Wallace in person, who at the onset of battle addressed them 

 in these expressive terms : — " I have here brought you to the ring, dance as 

 ye best can." The archers under Sir John Stewart, whose fate has just been 

 mentioned, were drawn up between the different masses of infantry, and were 

 chiefly from Selkirk forest. In the rear was the cavalry, amounting only to 

 about one thousand men. The earl marshal of England having begun the action 

 by charging the Scottish front with his cavalry, became involved in a morass 



• Being plentifully supplied with coal-mines, the following lines seem not inapplicable to Stirling, 

 though intended by the author, Johnston, for Newcastle. 



" Rupe sedens celsa rerum aut miracula spectat 

 Naturae, aut solers distrahit ilia aliis ; 

 Sedibus cEtheriis quid frustra qutBritis ignem 

 Hunc alit, hunc terra suscitat isia sinUf*' &c. 



f The popular version of the epitaph is well known ; — 



" Of mind and courage stout, Wallace's true Achates, 



Here lies Sir John the Graham, felled by the English baties." 



After a long interval. Sir Robert Munro, of Foulis, was killed on the same field in the battle of 1746, 

 and has a monument in the same enclosure. 



