KING ROBERT THE BRUCE: FAMOUS SCOTS SERIES _The following Volumes are now ready_:-- THOMAS CARLYLE. By HECTOR C. MacPHERSON. ALLAN RAMSAY. By OLIPHANT SMEATON. HUGH MILLER. By W. KEITH LEASK. JOHN KNOX. By A. TAYLOR INNES. ROBERT BURNS. By GABRIEL SETOUN. THE BALLADISTS. By JOHN GEDDIE. RICHARD CAMERON. By PROFESSOR HERKLESS. SIR JAMES Y. SIMPSON. By EVE BLANTYRE SIMPSON. THOMAS CHALMERS. By Professor W. GARDEN BLAIKIE. JAMES BOSWELL. By W. KEITH LEASK. TOBIAS SMOLLETT. By OLIPHANT SMEATON. FLETCHER OF SALTOUN. By G. W. T. OMOND. THE "BLACKWOOD" GROUP. By Sir GEORGE DOUGLAS. NORMAN MacLEOD. By JOHN WELLWOOD. SIR WALTER SCOTT. By Professor SAINTSBURY. KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE. By LOUIS A. BARBÉ. ROBERT FERGUSSON. By A. B. GROSART. JAMES THOMSON. By WILLIAM BAYNE. MUNGO PARK. By T. BANKS MacLACHLAN. DAVID HUME. By Professor CALDERWOOD. WILLIAM DUNBAR. By OLIPHANT SMEATON. SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. By Professor MURISON. ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. By MARGARET MOYES BLACK. THOMAS REID. By Professor CAMPBELL FRASER. POLLOK AND AYTOUN. By ROSALINE MASSON. ADAM SMITH. By HECTOR C. MacPHERSON. ANDREW MELVILLE. By WILLIAM MORISON. JAMES FREDERICK FERRIER. By E. S. HALDANE. KING ROBERT THE BRUCE. By A. F. MURISON. [Illustration] KING ROBERT THE BRUCE BY A. F. MURISON FAMOUS SCOTS SERIES PUBLISHED BY OLIPHANT ANDERSON & FERRIER · EDINBURGH AND LONDON The designs and ornaments of this volume are by Mr Joseph Brown, and the printing from the press of Messrs Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh. _July 1899._ ALMAE MATRI VNIVERSITATI ABERDONENSI "O, ne'er shall the fame of the patriot decay-- De Bruce! in thy name still our country rejoices; It thrills Scottish heart-strings, it swells Scottish voices, As it did when the Bannock ran red from the fray. Thine ashes in darkness and silence may lie; But ne'er, mighty hero, while earth hath its motion, While rises the day-star, or rolls forth the ocean, Can thy deeds be eclipsed or their memory die: They stand thy proud monument, sculptur'd sublime By the chisel of Fame on the Tablet of Time." PREFACE The present volume on King Robert the Bruce is the historical complement to the former volume on Sir William Wallace. Together they outline, from the standpoint of the leading spirits, the prolonged and successful struggle of the Scots against the unprovoked aggression of Edward I. and Edward II.--the most memorable episode in the history of Scotland.