72 Wallace'* <Dafe. 



Five guardians, the Bishops of St. Andrew's and Glasgow, 

 the Earls of Fife and Bucan, and James Steward, were 

 appointed to take charge of the young princess. These 

 men, who were distinguished for their talents and inte- 

 grity, entered peaceably upon the administration, and the 

 infant queen, under the protection of Edward, her great 

 uncle, and Eric her father, set forth on her voyage to- 

 wards Scotland. But either the fatigue attendant on an 

 expedition by sea, or else, in her young mind, grief at 

 leaving the companions of her childhood, affected her 

 health; she suddenly became ill, and died on the passage. 

 There were sad hearts in Scotland, when the heavy 

 tidings reached her of the young queen's death ; and 

 when it was heard by those who met at evening around 

 the oak of Ellerslie, they looked anxiously one upon the 

 other, for they knew not what to say ; it seemed to them 

 that all hope for the weal of Scotland was about to be 

 extinguished. They knew that Edward was both powerful 

 and crafty ; that having lately, by force of arms, brought 

 Wales under subjection, he had designed, by the 

 marriage of Margaret with his eldest son, to unite the 

 whole island under one monarchy. With this view he 

 had dispatched an embassy to the states of Scotland, 

 when the late king died, and the proposal being favour- 

 able to the happiness and security of the kingdom, it 

 was readily assented to. It was even agreed by the five 

 guardians, that their young sovereign should be educated 

 at the English court, while they at the same time, 



