78 S&allace'g afe, 



thus gained time for the furtherance of his ambitious view, 

 he pronounced sentence in favour of Baliol. Baliol was, 

 therefore, placed on the throne of Scotland, with the 

 shadow merely of royal authority, for many and humiliating 

 were the concessions which Edward required of the seem- 

 ing king. They were such as even his mild and yielding 

 disposition could not brook, and at length, taking advan- 

 tage of a favourable juncture, he resolved to make a des- 

 perate effort for the restoration of his rights. 



Rumours were soon afloat that an English army was 

 rapidly advancing, and scarcely was the intelligence 

 received, than it was also heard that some of the most 

 powerful among the Scottish nobles, with Robert Bruce, 

 the father and the son, and the Earls of March and 

 Angus, foreseeing the ruin of their country from the 

 concurrence of intestine divisions, and a foreign invasion, 

 had submitted to the English king. Other rumours fol- 

 lowed, fraught with distress for Scotland. Some related 

 that the English troops had actually crossed the Tweed 

 without opposition, at Coldstream; others that Baliol, 

 having procured for himself, and for his nation, Pope 

 Celestine's dispensation from former oaths, renounced 

 the homage which he had done to England, and was 

 already at the head of a great army. Some spoke what 

 they believed, others as they wished ; but there was little 

 ground for exultation as respected the movements of 

 the Scotch king. Instead of bringing into the field any 

 effective force, with which to oppose the encroachments 



