[11] It is probable that some of our readers may be displeased with our passing over the interview which Wallace is said to have had with Queen Margaret, during the time his army was encamped in the north of England; but we always wish to have some authority for what we commit to our pages; and as we can find nothing in support of it, either in English or Scottish records, we are inclined to look upon it as a minstrel’s tale, introduced for the purpose of effect. The subject excited the inquiries of the learned Dr Jamieson, who has been at considerable pains to ascertain whether or not such an interview actually took place; and all his researches tend rather to throw discredit on the affair, in addition to the doubt which naturally arises from the silence of history. Henry, in whose work the tale is only to be found, represents Edward as being then in Britain, while it is agreed on all hands that he was, at the time, prosecuting the war in Flanders. Though the Minstrel be a favourite with us, still we like to see his statements corroborated; and we conceive, that the English Queen appearing in the Scottish camp in the manner he describes, was a circumstance too flattering to the national pride of the Scots, to be left to the pen of one solitary narrator. [12] See Appendix, E. [13] Respecting these two meritorious individuals, few particulars appear to be known. Guthrie is said to have been the ancestor of the Guthries of that Ilk, and was frequently employed as the confidential agent of his countrymen. Bisset is also mentioned as the progenitor of the Bissets of that Ilk; and according to Henry, he was killed on this occasion by the hand of Siward, who, in his turn, was cut down by Wallace. By the chamberlain’s accounts it appears, that one John Bisset, a poor monk of Haddington, received from King Robert Bruce a pension of 20s. per annum for clothing. Whether this was given in consequence of any relationship to the gallant patriot of that name, is not stated. The battle of Blackironside appears to have been a protracted forest-fight for the greater part of the day; and the heat of the weather induced the combatants at times, as if by mutual consent, to pause amid the deadly strife. On one of those occasions, Wallace it is said unclasped the helmet of a dead Englishman, and, repairing to a neighbouring fountain, still unstained with the carnage of the day, he dipped it into the stream, and continued to carry the water along the ranks of his fainting soldiers. When he had in this manner allayed their thirst, he afterwards partook himself; and declared, that the cooling beverage was more grateful to his palate, than the richest wines he had ever tasted. The effect which this mark of attention produced on the minds of his followers, was evinced by the vigour they displayed in the charge which they soon afterwards made on the enemy.