Though Wallace was thus actively engaged in harassing the enemies of the country, the calamities and acts of oppression with which particular families or individuals were visited, neither escaped his attention, nor failed to call forth that interference which their circumstances demanded; and, amid the many cases of private suffering which came under his notice, none appeared to affect him more deeply than the desolation which had overtaken a respectable and ancient family in the neighbourhood of Lanark. Hew de Bradfute, a zealous advocate for the liberties of Scotland, possessed the lands of Lamington, and left them at his death to his son, who had imbibed, with all the ardour of youth, that love of liberty so fondly cherished by his father. For some display of these patriotic feelings, he had incurred the displeasure of Hasilrig, or Hasliope, the English governor of Lanark, who found a pretext for attacking him in his castle, and put him, along with a number of his friends, to the sword. The house and lands of Lamington now became the right of a surviving sister. The youth and beauty of this young gentlewoman attracted the notice of the murderer of her friends; and, under the pretence of a regard for her safety, obliged her to take up her residence in Lanark. For this _protection_, considerable sums were, from time to time, levied upon her property. The cupidity of Hasilrig, not satisfied with these exactions, intended her as a match either for himself or his son; and the helpless girl had no means of averting this hateful connection, but by pleading for delay, till her grief for her slaughtered kindred had abated. Every indulgence of this kind was accompanied by a fresh exaction on her property, till the victim of his avarice became an object of commiseration even to those who were themselves suffering under the hand of the oppressor. Henry draws a most fascinating picture of this lovely orphan; and we have no reason to doubt the assemblage of virtues and graces in which he has arrayed her person and character, particularly as he is borne out in what he says by the Prior of St Serf’s, and other respectable authorities. While attending her religious duties at a church near Lanark, Wallace first saw this interesting female. The beauty of her person, the grace and propriety of her demeanour, added to her forlorn situation, excited the tenderest sensations in the bosom of our hero. A circumstance, however, which occurred about this juncture, served to divide his attention with the fair object of his solicitude.