afe. 79 



of the English, he was constrained to hear of their con- 

 tinual successes. The castle of Roxborough was taken ; 

 Edinburgh and Stirling opened their gates to the enemy. 

 All the southern portions of the country were readily 

 subdued, and Edward, still better to reduce the northern, 

 whose rocks and fastnesses afforded some security, sent 

 for a strong reinforcement of Welch and Irish. These 

 men, being accustomed to a desultory kind of warfare, 

 were best fitted to pursue the fugitive Scots into the 

 recesses of their glens and mountains. The quiet valleys 

 and the upland solitudes, which had been untrodden by 

 stranger steps for ages, were visited in consequence, and 

 hostile men sat down beneath the shade of the old Oak 

 of Ellerslie. 



The spirit of the nation was broken at this period. 

 Edward marched northward to Aberdeen and Elgin, 

 without meeting an enemy. No Scotchman approached, 

 but to pay him homage. Even the bold chieftains, ever 

 refractory to their own princes, and averse to the restraint 

 of laws, endeavoured to prevent the devastation of their 

 mountain homes, by giving the usurper early proofs of 

 obedience. The bards alone stood firm ; they sung to 

 the music of their harps the high and moving strains 

 which, in ancient days, had roused those who heard them 

 to a pitch of the wildest enthusiasm. 



Scotland being thus reduced to a state of seeming 

 dependence, the English forces generally repassed the 

 Tweed, although strong garrisons remained in every castle of 





