Wallace was martyred, the trueth to you to tell,
As were _Osweld, Edmond, Edward_ with paine fell.
_Osauold_ must be Osuald, the King of Northumbria, who, having embraced
Christianity, was slain by Penda the pagan king of Mercia. Bed. Hist.
Eccl. III. 9. Eng. Martyrol. p. 213, 214. _Edmunt_ is St Edmund, King
of the East Angles, barbarously slain by the Danes of Northumbria for
confessing Christ. Martyrol. p. 319. _Eduuard_ seems to be St Edward,
King of the West Saxons, slain at the instigation of his step-mother.
Ibid. p. 72. _Thomas_ is most probably the well-known Thomas a Becket.
* * * * *
Wyntown informs us that even in his day, long before that of the
Minstrel, various works were written recording the deeds of Wallace;
but he concludes that these fell short of the truth, as to their extent
at least.
Of his gud dedis and manhad
Gret gestis, I hard say, ar made:
Bot sa mony, I trow, noucht
As he in-til hys dayis wroucht.
Quha all hys dedis of prys wald dyte,
Hym worthyd a gret buk to wryte;
And all thai to wryte in here
I want bathe wyt and gud laysere.
CRON. VIII. c. 15. ver. 79.
The character given to Wallace, by Andro Hart, is worthy of being
preserved:
“This was the end of this worthy man’s life, who, for high spirit in
enterprising dangers, for fortitude in execution, comparable in deed
to the most famous chiftains amongst the ancients, for loue to his
natiue countrey second to none, he onely free, the rest slaues,--could
neither bee bought with benefites, nor compelled by force to leaue the
publike cause which he had once profest; whose death appeared more to
be lamented, that being inuincible, to his enemy he was betrayed by
his familiar, that in no case should have done so.” Pref. to Life of
Wallace, p. 14.
Such is the affectionate remembrance of this illustrious defender of
the liberties of Scotland, that his name is retained in many other
places besides those mentioned in the preceding Notes.
On the hill of “Couthboanlaw, now by corruption called
Quothquanlaw,--the common people, to this day, point out with much
fond admiration, _Wallace’s Chair_, where he had his abode, and held
conferences with his followers, before the battle of Biggar. The
chair is a large rough stone, scooped in the middle.” P. Libberton,
Lanarkshire, Stat. Acc. II. 235. This is called _Quodquen_ in a charter
of the Duke of Albany. Robertson’s Ind. 167, 21.
In the town of Ayr they still point out the ancient tower[B] in which
Wallace was imprisoned, and so cruelly treated, that he was at length
thrown down from the battlements as dead. Common tradition gives the
same account of this barbarous conduct as the Minstrel has done:
Quhen thai presumyt he suld be werray ded,
Thai gart serwandys, with outyn langer pleid,
With schort awiss on to the wall him bar;
Thai kest him our out of that bailfull steid,
Off him thai trowit suld be no mor ramede,
In a draff myddyn, quhar he remannyt thar.--B. II. 252.
[B] This building was taken down in 1835 and rebuilt.
The building still bears his name, and appears to be the very same as
it was in his time. It has been more fully brought into notice by the
allusion of a poet, who, whatever were his defects, had power to stamp
a deathless name on the subject of his muse, although it had not been
otherwise entitled to this distinction.
The drowsy Dungeon-clock had number’d two,
And _Wallace-Tower_ had sworn the fact was true.
BURNS’S _Brigs of Ayr_.
“In one of the hills above Wandel mill there is _Wallace’s Camp_, so
called from that great Scotch warrior, who encamped here.” The walls
of the castle of Lamington “still remain some stories high, very thick
and strong. It was built by a laird of Lamington, of the ancient and
honourable name of Baillie, _with_ whom the aforesaid Sir William
Wallace was _allied by marriage_; in proof of which, and as a piece of
curiosity, Wallace’s chair is now in Bonnington, in the possession of
Lady Ross Baillie, the representative of the family of Lamington, being
removed from the tower of that place. The chair is remarkably broad and
stout.” P. of Lamington, Stat. Acc. VI. 557, 558. V. Note on B. VI. 47,
above, p. 374, &c.
I have seen this chair at Bonnington, which is of oak, the posts of
it at least, and otherwise corresponding with the description given
in the Statistical Account. I am informed that there is a rock in the
Pap Craig, a part of Tinto, which is still called _Wallace’s Chair_;
and that another in the parish of Symington bears the same name, in a
place called the Castlehill.
On the estate of Gladswood, parish of Mertoun, Berwickshire, are still
pointed out what are called the _Camp-braes_, where, according to the
harmonious voice of popular tradition, Wallace had his camp before one
of his battles. It has had two ditches with ramparts; and being situate
on the neck of land at the confluence of Leader with the Tweed, might
have been rendered almost unassailable, in that age, by a line of
communication between the two rivers.
“On the west side of Clatto-moor, are the traces of a camp. It is
generally believed to have been occupied by a part of Agricola’s
army, and afterwards by Alpin, Wallace, and Monk. Tradition reports
that ‘Wallace pitched his camp on Clatto-hill, and ground his corn at
Philaw’s mill,’ which is about half a mile from the place where the
traces of the camp are seen.” P. Strathmartin, Forfarshire, Stat. Acc.
XIII. 99.
“Tradition says, that the Figget Whins, formerly a forest, afforded
shelter and a place of rendezvous to Sir William Wallace and
his myrmidons, when they were preparing to attack Berwick.” P.
Duddingstone, county of Edinburgh, Stat. Acc. XVIII. 877.
“On the face of the hill” of Kinnoul, “there is a cave in a steep part
of the rock, which, it is said, will contain about a dozen of men. It
is called the _Dragon-hole_. There is a tradition among the common
people, that Sir William Wallace hid himself in this hole of the rock,
when he absconded for some time.” P. Kinnoul, Perthshire, Stat. Acc.
XVIII. 560.
The same useful work contains an anecdote, which, at least from the
circumstances, is worthy of insertion here. The article was written A.
1795 or 1796.
“There is a very respectable man in Longforgan, [Perthshire,] of the
name of Smith, a weaver, and the farmer of a few acres of land, who
has in his possession a stone, which is called _Wallace’s Stone_. It
is what was formerly called in this country a _bear stone_, hollow
like a large mortar, and was made use of to unhusk the bear or barley,
as a preparation for the pot, with a large wooden mell, long before
barley-mills were known. Its station was on one side of the door, and
covered with a flat stone for a seat, when not otherwise employed. Upon
this stone Wallace sat on his way from Dundee, when he fled, after
killing the governor’s son, and was fed with bread and milk by the
goodwife of the house, from whom the man, who now lives there, and is
proprietor of the stone, is lineally descended, and here his forbeers
(ancestors) have lived ever since, in nearly the same station and
circumstances, for about 500 years.” Stat. Acc. XIX. 561, 562. This
refers to what is related in Book I. 257, &c.
In the castle of Dunbarton they pretend to shew the mail, and, if I
mistake not, also the sword of Wallace. If he was confined in that
fortress by Menteith, before being sent into England, as some have
supposed, it is not improbable that his armour might be left there.
The popular belief on this head, however, is very strong; of which
I recollect a singular proof, which took place many years ago, and
of which I was an eye-witness. In the procession of King Crispin, at
Glasgow, his majesty was always preceded by one on horseback, appearing
in armour, as his _champion_. In former times, this champion of the
awl thought it enough to wear a leathern jerkin, formed like one of
mail. One fellow, however, was appointed, of a more aspiring genius
than his predecessors, who was determined to appear in real mail; and
who, having sent to Dunbarton castle, and hired the use of Wallace’s
armour for a day, made his perambulations with it through the streets
of Glasgow. I can never forget the ghastly appearance of this poor
man, who was so chilled and overburdened by the armour, that, as the
procession went on, he was under the necessity of frequently supporting
himself with a cordial. It was said that he took to bed immediately
after the termination of this procession, and never rose from it. From
that time forward, his successors in office were content to wear the
proper badge of their profession.
* * * * *
It is generally admitted that our hero was the son of Sir Malcolm
Wallace of Ellerslie in Renfrewshire, by the daughter of Sir Ranald
Crawfurd, High Sheriff of Ayr, of whom the Minstrel says;
Malcolm Wallas hir gat in mariage,
That _Elrislé_ than had in heretage,
_Auchinbothé_, and other syndry place.--Book I. ver. 27.
It appears that the metre, corresponding with the modern pronunciation,
requires that this word should have been accented as above.
_Ellerslie_, also written _Elderslee_, is about three miles to the
south-west of Paisley, Renfrewshire. The old house, called by Crawfurd,
“the castle,” is still habitable. Near it is a tree, which, according
to the account I received on the spot, was planted by Wallace himself:
but this, like most other traditions, assumes a very different aspect,
according to Semple’s narration. “The large oak-tree,” he says,
“called _Wallace’s Tree_, is still growing, standing alone in a little
enclosure, a few yards south from the great road between Paisley and
Kilbarchan, being on the east side of Elderslee rivulet, the manour of
Elderslee being a few yards distant from the rivulet. They say that Sir
William Wallace and 300 of his men hid themselves upon that tree among
the branches (the tree being then in full blossom) from the English.
The tree, indeed, is very large, and well spread in the branches,
the trunk being about twelve feet in circumference.” Crawfurd’s
Renfrewshire, p. 260.
About the year 1769, Ellerslie was sold to Alexander Speirs, Esq., who
took his designation from it, by Archibald Campbell, Esq., W.S., who
had married Helen Wallace, a lady lineally descended from a collateral
branch of the family of Wallace.
_Auchinbothé_ is in some old writings called _Auchinbothie-Wallace_,
as distinguished from the lands of _Auchinbothie-Blair_. Thus, in an
old Valuation Book, made A. 1654, in the time of Cromwell, we have
the following account:--“The 5 mark (land) of Auchinbothie-Wallace
subdivydit as s^d is, Mastar [the proprietor]
33 lib. 6sh. 8d. Feuars 366 lib. 13sh. 4d. 400 0 0
The 5 m^k land of Auchinbothie-Blair 383 6 8”
It is supposed that Auchinbothie-Blair belonged to Blair, the companion
of Wallace, who was of the Blairs of that ilk in Renfrewshire. The
lands of Thornley, in the same county, are said to be designed, in some
old writs, the lands of _Thornley-Blair_, alias Thornley-Wallace; and
it has been also supposed that these lands had been given by Wallace to
his companion of this name. But the latter is undoubtedly a mistake;
for in our records _Thornylé_ or _Thornley_, as it is also written,
appears as the property of the Wallaces till the time of Robert III.,
when it was given, by John Wallace of Craigie, to the Abbey of Paisley.
Ind. Chart. 142, 80. V. also 97, 324.--131, 25.
The Valuation Book above quoted also mentions Wallace of Neilstonside,
Wallace of Dungraine, Wallace of Bardraine, &c. I am informed that
there is now no proprietor of this name in the county of Renfrew,
excepting Wallace of Kelly, in the parish of Innerkip, whose ancestors
resided in that of Neilston.
In the Edinburgh Evening Courant of May 19, 1817, it is said that
“the statue of Sir William Wallace, erected by the Earl of Buchan at
Dryburgh, was designed exactly from the authentic portrait of him,
painted in water-colours during his residence in France, which was
purchased by the father of the late Sir Philip Ainslie of Pilton,
knight. The hero is represented in the ancient Scottish dress and
armour, with a shield hanging from his left hand, and leaning lightly
on his spear with his right.”
I shall conclude these miscellaneous notices with the just and
beautiful reflection made by a statistical writer. After remarking
that the principle cascade, in one of the rivulets in the parish of
Greenock, “bears the name of Wallace, our brave and disinterested
patriot,” he subjoins: “How many monuments, far more durable than
statues or columns, has grateful posterity bestowed throughout Scotland
on this distinguished friend of liberty! In this part of the country,
steep precipices, high falls of water, huge rocks, and Roman stations
and encampments, not unfrequently bear his name.” Stat. Acc. V. 566.
* * * * *
The editor takes the liberty of subjoining, as a slender tribute to the
memory of one to whom our country owes so much, a few verses written a
considerable number of years ago, in consequence of a visit to a place
in the vicinity of Lanark, which has acquired celebrity from having
afforded Wallace a temporary shelter from the fury of his enemies.