accession to the cause of liberty in the North; and he accordingly returned a haughty and scornful answer, no way calculated to allay the prejudice which his former contemptuous behaviour had excited against him. As soon, therefore, as the various objects which had engaged the attention of the parliament were disposed of, Wallace proceeded, with a select body of four hundred men, to reduce the turbulent chieftain. A little to the east of Dunbar, the Guardian found the Earl awaiting his approach at the head of nine hundred followers; and a desperate conflict immediately commenced, which ended in the flight of Patrick, who escaped to England.[4] The castle of Dunbar was in consequence surrendered to the victor, who gave it in charge to Sir Christopher Seton, with a competent garrison for its defence. 1297. Early in October a proclamation was issued for every one capable of bearing arms to appear on the moor of Roslin. An immense multitude attended. The most vigorous and the best equipped were then selected; and having thus embodied an efficient, numerous, and gallant army, Wallace excited their ardour by a short and animating address, in which he told them, that, united as they were, with only one glorious object in view, they had nothing but victory to expect,--their country had been stript of its wealth by their late oppressors, and it was now their duty and interest to recover it, and punish the aggressors. The army[5] then proceeded in high spirits towards the English frontier,--their leader rightly judging, that, by withdrawing so many men, a larger quantity of provisions would remain for those left behind; and by adopting this measure, his soldiers also, while they escaped from the contagion which had appeared in Scotland, would be moreover rewarded for their past labours, by the riches they would find in the more flourishing regions of the South; which, having enjoyed a long interval of peace, might be conceived to be overflowing with that description of wealth most desirable in the estimation of the needy adventurers of the North;--and the latter, no doubt, as they drove home their lowing and bleating prey from the rich pastures of Durham and the neighbouring counties, considered that they were merely removing their own property, of which they had been unjustly deprived by the tyranny of the English. In this expedition, Wallace divided the command of the army with Sir Andrew Murray of Bothwell, the promising son of the brave Sir Andrew, who fell in the late engagement. This honour he may have thought due to the patriotic conduct of the father, in adhering to the fortunes of his country, amidst the general defection of the Scottish barons. And--as it might tend to give the _lie_ to those reports which began to be circulated of an intention to aggrandize himself at the expense of the aristocracy,--the appointment was evidently a measure of judicious and honourable policy.