82 aftfcBut'* afc. 



also by the conversation of strangers from the north, and 

 stimulated by the present favourable aspect of affairs, ( for 

 the English troops were mostly withdrawn to their own 

 country,) resolved to attempt the desperate enterprise of 

 delivering their native land from the dominion of 

 foreigners. Wallace was well-fitted for the purpose. He 

 was a man of gigantic strength, his nerves were braced 

 by a youth of hardihood and exercise; he possessed like- 

 wise ability to bear fatigue, and the utmost severity of 

 weather. Nor were his mental characteristics less 

 remarkable. He was endowed with heroic courage, with 

 disinterested magnanimity, and incredible patience. The 

 ill conduct of an English officer had provoked him 

 beyond endurance, and finding himself obnoxious to the 

 severity of the administration, he fled into the woods 

 which surrounded his once happy home, and invited to 

 his banner all those whom their crimes, or misfortunes, 

 or avowed hatred to the English, had reduced to a like 

 necessity. 



Beginning with small attempts, in which he was uni- 

 formly successful, Wallace gradually proceeded to momen- 

 tous enterprises. He was enabled by his knowledge of 

 the country to ensure a safe retreat whenever it was 

 needful to hide himself among the morasses and the 

 mountains; and it was said, that he once concealed him- 

 self, with three hundred of his men, among the branches 

 of the aged oak, beneath which he had played in child- 

 hood. But Ellerslie was not long a place for him, though 



