is, therefore, highly probable, that the above money may have formed part of the contents of the military chest of MacFadyan, which, in that superstitious age, had found its way into the hands of the priesthood. Although Henry cannot be collated with his original, the truth or falsehood of his narrative may, in part, be ascertained by comparing him with those who preceded him on the same subject. The most reputable of these writers, and those whose characters for veracity stand highest in the estimation of the learned, are John de Fordun, and Andro de Wyntown, both original historians; for, though Wyntown outlived Fordun, he had not an opportunity of seeing his history. With respect to Fordun’s agreement with the Minstrel, the reader has the evidence of Nicholson, Archdeacon of Carlisle, who says, that “Hart’s _edition_ of Wallace contains a preface which confirms the whole of it out of the Scoti-Chronicon.”[5] Wyntown, who finished his history in 1424, being about 46 years before Henry, in alluding to those deeds of Wallace which he had left _unrecorded_, says, “Of his gud Dedis and Manhad Gret Gestis; I hard say, ar made; Bot sá mony, I trow noucht, As he in-till hys dayis wroucht. Quha all hys Dedis of prys wald dyte, Hym worthyd a gret Buk to wryte; And all thái to wryte in here I want báthe Wyt and gud Laysere.” B. viii. c. xv. v. 79-86. The first couplet may allude to Blair’s Diary, or perhaps to Fordun’s History, which he had no doubt heard of; and, in the succeeding lines, he doubts that, however much may have been recorded, it must still fall very short of what was actually performed. This is so far satisfactory, from one who lived almost within a century of the time, and who no doubt often conversed with those whose fathers had fought under the banners of Wallace; it is a pity that his modesty, and his want of “gud laysere,” prevented him from devoting more of his time to so meritorious a subject. The first transaction which he has narrated, is the affair at Lanark; but it is evident from what he says, that Wallace must have often before mingled in deadly feud with the English soldiers, and done them serious injury; otherwise, it would be difficult to account for their entertaining towards him the degree of animosity expressed in the following lines: “Gret Dyspyte thir Inglis men Had at this Willame Walays then. Swá thai made thame on á day Hym for to set in hard assay:” B. viii. c. xiii. v. 19-22.