afe. 89 



amid the general defection, the abrogation of laws and cus- 

 toms, and the razing of all monuments of antiquity, still to 

 maintain her independence, was betrayed into Edward's 

 hands, by a false friend, whom he had made acquainted with 

 the place of his retreat. He was carried in chains to London, 

 to be tried as a rebel and a traitor, though he had never 

 made submission, nor sworn fealty to England, and to be 

 executed on Tower Hill. 



The old Oak of Ellerslie is still standing, and young 

 children play beneath its shade ; the birds fly in and out, 

 and around it the life and business of husbandry proceeds, 

 as if neither grief nor death, had ever visited the beautiful 

 hills and dales that lie around. 



More than five centuries have passed away since 

 young Wallace played with his companions beside the 

 tree, and a few short years, subtracted from that period, 

 since he took shelter with many of his playmates, when 

 grown up to manhood, among its ample branches. But 

 though long since barbarously executed, and though his 

 bones might not be laid to rest in the land which he sought 

 to save, he is not forgotten in the hallowed spot the birth- 

 place of his parents which he loved above all others. The 

 children of the village are still taught to lisp his name, 

 and are carried to hear of him beneath his own old tree. 

 All his favourite haunts by glen or burn, or up the moun- 

 tain-side, are fondly traced by the young men and 

 maidens when their work is done. Here, they say, he 

 used to sit and listen to the strain of the pibroch, and 



