In the account of this affair, we have adhered to the statement of Wyntown,[89] who adds, that Wallace, from a place of concealment, had the heart-rending misfortune to be a spectator of the execution of his mistress, without having the power of attempting a rescue. This would not have been the case, if he had, as the Minstrel says, been attended by Sir John Graham, and twenty-four of his associates. Wyntown represents it as a mere personal adventure of Wallace; and states, that, _after_ the melancholy catastrophe, he went in search of his friends, to assist him in revenging the atrocity. Having collected thirty of his followers, he returned with them, for that purpose, to Lanark. At the dead hour of night, the door of the sheriff’s apartment was burst from its hinges, and the iron-grasp of Wallace awakened Hazelrig from his sleep. On being dragged headlong to the street, after a stern reproof for his cowardly conduct, the trembling victim instantly received the reward due to his villany. The alarm now spread, and the garrison soon engaged with Wallace and his party; but deeply incensed at the late disgusting act of barbarity, the people of Lanark rose _en masse_ against their oppressors, who, unable to stand their ground, were soon overpowered, and driven with great slaughter from the town. The inhabitants of Lanark, having thus identified themselves with the cause of Wallace, saw no alternative left them, but to join heart and hand with the avenger of their country’s wrongs; and the number that now flocked to his standard enabled him to take the field openly, and bid defiance to the enemy. Indeed, so formidable was the force under his command, that he met and defeated a considerable body of the English in a regular engagement in the neighbourhood of Biggar. It has been alleged, that, on this memorable occasion, Edward commanded in person; but such could not have been the case, as the English monarch was not in the country at the time. That a considerable battle was fought in the neighbourhood, there is reason to believe, as well from current tradition, as from the number of _tumuli_ which are still to be seen. In the statistical account of Biggar, the subject is thus taken notice of:--“At the west end of the town is a tumulus, which appears never to have been opened; and there are vestiges of three camps, each of a roundish figure, at different places in the neighbourhood. There is a tradition of a battle having been fought at the east of the town, between the Scots, under Sir William Wallace, and the English, who were said to be sixty thousand strong, wherein a great slaughter was made on both sides, especially among the latter.”