On retiring with his army, as stated in the last chapter, Edward left behind him a considerable force to protect that part of Scotland which lay contiguous to England, and which he seemed determined, if possible, to annex to his own dominions. Although his invasion had been productive of very disastrous consequences to the Scots, they did not suffer so much on this, as they had done on former occasions. The judicious orders issued by the Guardian, for driving the cattle--which formed the principal part of their wealth--to inaccessible parts of the country, contributed not only to their safety, but also to the disappointment and distress of the enemy. On the retreat, therefore, of the grand army of Edward, the inhabitants were far from being that wretched and disspirited race, which they had appeared after the battle of Dunbar. Several of the chieftains, it is true, had repeated their oaths of fidelity to the invader, but the defection from the cause of liberty was by no means general. The principal places of strength, with the exception of Stirling, were in the hands of the Scots; and the impregnable fortress of Dumbarton[33] had been given, by Wallace, in consequence of his services in the cause of his country, in charge to Sir John Stewart of Rusky, better known by the name of Menteith. This man had been present with Wallace at the burning of the barns of Ayr, as well as in many other situations of danger and difficulty. According to Henry, when the Guardian bestowed this charge upon him, he stipulated for the erection of a small house for himself within the fortress, in the building of which considerable progress had been made, when the English army entered Scotland. Some writers allege, that the reason which induced Wallace to make choice of such a situation, was the great friendship which existed between him and Menteith, to whose society, they say, he was much attached, and which, by this means, he would have a better opportunity of enjoying. With this opinion, however, we cannot agree. That Menteith was high in the confidence of Wallace, is sufficiently evident from his appointing him to so important a trust--for, besides the governorship of the castle, his situation naturally gave him the command of a considerable part of the district of Lennox--yet we conceive that Wallace had other motives for selecting such a place of retirement, than the mere pleasure of enjoying the society of a friend, however valued that friend might have been. The hostility which he had excited in the breast of Edward by his conduct in Scotland, as well as by his invasion of England, gave him every reason to dread the revenge of that haughty and crafty potentate; while the vacillating character of a great proportion of the nobility--joined to that inextinguishable jealousy which existed against him in the minds of some of the most powerful families--made it both desirable and prudent to look out for a place where, in the