134 



SYLVA SCOTICA. 



THE WALLACE OAK. 



There is perhaps no name in the annals of Scot- 

 land more justly celebrated than that of Wallace ; 

 one of the bravest of her heroes, and most disinte- 

 rested of her patriots. Hence his steps are pointed 

 out, wherever they can be traced, with almost re- 

 ligious reverence : the mountain path which he may 

 have tracked, the headlong torrent which he may 

 have crossed, the rugged fastness in which he may 

 have intrenched himself, still bear his name in many 

 parts of the country, and still invite the wanderings 

 and charm the imagination of those who are capable 

 of feeling the force of the sublime sentiment — 



" Dulce et decorum est pro patria niori." 



Among the memorials to the fame of Wallace 

 which the gratitude of posterity has delighted to 

 point out, the trees under which he is known to 

 have reposed or encamped, have been treated with 

 a degree of attachment which, defeating its aim in 

 its excess, has ultimately caused the destruction 

 of the object it wished to commemorate. Hence the 

 famous Oak in Torwood is no longer remaining. It 

 stood in the middle of a swampy moss, having a 

 causeway round it; but the last fragments of its 

 ruins have been carried off by the pilgrims whom its 

 fame attracted, and only the spot on which it stood 



