[15] This deed Baliol could have no great difficulty in executing; for though residing in the Tower, he enjoyed the full liberty of twenty miles round, and a princely retinue to attend him. That he transmitted a commission of Regency to Wallace, is not only highly probable, but placed almost beyond a doubt, not merely from the suspicions entertained by Edward, and the severe treatment which Baliol latterly experienced in consequence of his supposed duplicity, but also from the fact of Wallace _possessing_ and _using_, in his character of Regent of the kingdom, _the seal_ of the dethroned _monarch_; and that in the presence, and with the sanction of the assembled nobility. Evidence to this effect is furnished by the charter granted to Alexander Scrymgeour, given in the preceding note; and as the lands which were at that time conferred are declared to have belonged to the _crown_, the full and unrestricted authority with which Wallace was invested becomes thereby the more apparent. [16] Lord Hailes, on the authority of Hemingford, says ‘Temple-liston,’ and thus condescends to notice a respectable writer:--“_Sir Robert Sibbald_, Comment. in Relat. et Blair, p. 31, says ‘at _Torphichen_,’ because _Blind Harry_ says so. It was an admirable fancy to correct W. Hemingford by _Blind Harry_! Had Edward fixed his head-quarters at Torphichen, his communication with Edinburgh and the Frith of Forth would have been speedily cut off.” This is scarcely doing Sir Robert justice. It is more reasonable to suppose that he said so, after weighing the probabilities of the case. That Torphichen was a place of some importance, and possessed accommodation, appears certain, from the circumstance of Wallace having, only a few months before, assembled the Scottish Barons to a parliament there; and it was, as has been already mentioned, the station of a preceptory of the Templars, within the precincts of which Edward was more likely to fix his head-quarters, than in any part of the desolated country around him. During his stay, we also find him employed in conferring the honour of knighthood on a number of young esquires;--an idea very naturally produced by his residence in such a spot. That Edward’s communication with Edinburgh and the Frith of Forth became thereby liable to any interruption, is a supposition more to be admired for simplicity, than depth of reflection. The distance between Torphichen and Temple-liston, is but a very few miles. Edward was at the head of an army consisting of 7000 cavalry, and about 100,000 foot; a multitude that could find little more than tent-room in the space between the two places. Had the English monarch, therefore, been the most imbecile general that ever led men to the field,--with such a force he could have no difficulty in keeping open his communication to a much greater extent than what was required in such a position. That a portion of the English army was stationed at Temple-liston, is not