SCOTLAND. 293 



self, with a few followers, was pursued by Douglas to the gates of 

 Berwick, from whence he escaped in a fishing-boat. This great and 

 decisive battle happened in the year 1314. 



The remainder of Robert's reign was a series of the most glo- 

 rious successes ; and so well did his nobility understand the princi- 

 ples of civil liberty, and so unfettered were they by religious consi- 

 derations, that, in a letter they sent to the pope, they acknowledged 

 that they had set aside Baliol for debasing the crown, by holding it 

 of England ; and that they would do the same by Robert, if he should 

 make the like attempt. Robert, having thus delivered Scotland, 

 sent his brother Edward to Ireland, at the head of an army, with 

 which he conquered the greatest part of that kingdom, and was pro- 

 claimed its king ; but by exposing himself too much, he was killed. 

 Robert, before his death, made an advantageous peace with Eng- 

 land ; and died in 1328, with the character of being the greatest he- 

 ro of the age. 



The glory of the Scots may be said to have been in its zenith un~ 

 der Robert I, who was succeeded by his son David II. He was a 

 virtuous prince ; but his abilities, both in war and peace, were 

 eclipsed by his brother-in-law and enemy, Edward III, of England, 

 whose sister he married. Edward, who was as eager as any of his 

 predecessors to effect the conquest of Scotland, espoused the cause 

 of Baliol, son to Baliol the original competitor. His progress at first 

 was amazingly rapid, and he and Edward defeated the royal party in 

 many bloody battles ; but Baliol was at last driven out of his usurp- 

 ed kingdom by the Scottish patriots. David had the misfortune to 

 be taken prisoner by the English at the battle of Durham ; and, af- 

 ter continuing above eleven years in captivity, paid 100,000 marks 

 for his ransom ; and died in peace, without issue, in the year 1371. 



The crown of Scotland then devolved upon the family of Stuart, 

 by its head having been married to the daughter of Robert I. The 

 first king of that name was Robert II, a Avise and brave prince. He 

 was succeeded by his son Robert III, whose age and infirmities dis- 

 qualified him from reigning ; so that he was forced to confide the go- 

 vernment to his brother, the duke of Albany, an ambitious prince, 

 who seems to have had an intention to procure the crown for his own 

 family. Robert, upon this, attempted to send his second son to 

 France ; but he was most ungenerously intercepted by Henry IV, of 

 England ; and, after suffering a long captivity, he was obliged to pay 

 an exorbitant ransom. During the imprisonment of James in Eng- 

 land, the military glory of the Scots was carried to the greatest 

 height in France ; where they supported that tottering monarchy 

 against England, and their generals obtained some of the first titles 

 of the kingdom. 



James, the first of that name, upon his return to Scotland, disco- 

 vered great talents for government, enacted many wise laws, and was 

 beloved by the people. He had received an excellent education in 

 England during the reigns of Henry IV, and V, where he saw the 

 feudal system refined from many of the imperfections which still ad- 

 hered to it in his own kingdom ; he determined therefore to abridge 

 the overgrown power of the nobles, and to recover such lands as had 

 been unjustly wrested from the crown during his minority and the 

 preceding reigns : but the execution of these designs cost him his 

 life ; he being murdered in his bed by some of the chieif nobility in 

 \437, and the forty-fourth year of his age. 



