'* afc. 83 



he still loved to linger in its beautiful retreats. They 

 were too well known to those who sought to take his 

 life, for the village in which his parents lived, lay not far 

 distant from one of the strong castles, in which the 

 English had a garrison. He went, therefore, to Torwood, 

 in the county of Stirling, and made the giant oak which 

 stood there his head-quarters. It was believed to be the 

 largest tree that ever grew in Scotland. Centuries were 

 chronicled on its venerable trunk, and tradition traced it 

 to the era of the Druids. The remains of a circle of 

 unhewn stone were seen within its precincts, and near it 

 was an ancient causeway. Wallace often slept in its 

 hollow trunk during his protracted struggles against the 

 tyranny of Edward, with many of his officers, for the 

 cavity afforded an ample space. 



The old Oak of Torwood was to him a favourite 

 haunt ; perhaps it was associated in his mind with the one 

 he had left at Ellerslie : but other, and far-off scenes, 

 were often the theatre of his most heroic actions, when, 

 having ensured a retreat from the close pursuit of the 

 enemy, he collected his dispersed associates, and unex- 

 pectedly appearing in another quarter, surprised and 

 routed the unwary English. Such actions soon gained 

 for him the applause and admiration of his countrymen. 

 They seemed to vindicate the nation from the ignominy 

 into which it had fallen, by its tame submission 

 to a foreign yoke; and although no man of rank ven- 

 tured as yet to join his party, he was universally 



