beginning of this year, when, according to the privilege of our birth,
we appeared in the field against the public enemy, fully demonstrated
what was the injury Baliol complains of, and how unjustly he drove us
from the standard of Scotland. 'None,' said he, 'shall serve under me,
who presumed to declare themselves the friends of Bruce.' Poor weak
man. The purchased vassal of England; yet so vain of his ideal throne,
he hated all who had opposed his elevation, even while his own
treachery sapped its foundation! Edward having made use of him, all
these sacrifices of honor and of conscience are insufficient to retain
his favor; and Baliol is removed from his kingdom to an English prison!
Can I feel anything so honoring as indignation against a wretch so
abject? No! I do indeed pity him. And now that I have cleared my
grandfather's name of such calumny, I am ready to hear you further."

Monteith, after remarking on the well-known honor of Sir Ronald
Crawford, resumed.

"During the massacre at the capture of Berwick, Lord Douglas, wounded,
and nearly insensible, was taken by a trusty band of Scots out of the
citadel and town. I followed him to Dunbar, and witnessed with him
that dreadful day's conflict, which completed the triumph of the
English. When the few nobles who survived the battle dispersed,
Douglas took the road to Forfar, hoping to meet King Baliol there, and
to concert with him new plans of resistance. When we arrived, we found
his majesty in close conversation with the Earl of Athol, who had
persuaded him the disaster at Dunbar was decisive, and that if he
wished to save his life, he must immediately go to the King of England,
then at Montrose, and surrender himself to his mercy.**

**This treacherous Scot, who persuaded Baliol to his ruin, was John