DOI issue:
September 25, 1869
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16884#0129
September 25, 1869.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
117
WALLACE WIGHT."
assailed, nor paused on the devoted Scot the ceaseless fury of their
shot till scarce a foeman was there found alive save those who on the
ground groaned in their agonv.
" All is lost except honour," said Walla.ce. But I knew not that
they had breech-loaders. There is time, however," he added, taking
out his watch, " to win a battle yet. Meat and prayer never hindered
man, let us therefore refresh ourselves at yon hostelry, kept, or I mis-
remember, by a hostess named De Puteis." He galloped thither,
and the excellent inn, still in the possession of a descendant of the
family, is pointed out to strangers as the place where Sir William
Wallace drank during the great battle of Drumnadrochit. Having
slaked his thirst, and treated his staff, the Hero of Scotland resumed
The Scottish have finished the Wallace Memorial at last, and have
inaugurated it, and it is now open to English visitors v, hose shillings
will in a short time make up the amount which Northern enthusiasm
has not been able to raise, and then the Memorial will be paid tor.
We do not say this complainingly; for, considering that we cut oil
Wallace's head, the least we can do is to subscribe for his monu-
m<Nor do we see the necessity -or affecting to doubt whether there
ever was such a personage as Sir William Wallace, or for saying
that nobody knows much about him. The facts ot his lite are very his post) and Deueicl King Edward fiercely waving his telescope, as a
familiar to every Scotsman, and ought be so to every Englishman. sjgI1 for ljs army to advance. "Ruin seize thee, ruthless King, con-
As Thackeray wrote,
" He robs us half our glory who says the ' Scots' had none."
Sir William Wallace, baronet (so created by his kinsman James
the First), after defeating the Southrons many times—at Flodden,
Sheriff-Muir, Culloden, and other famous spots—resolved on a grand
effort for freeing Scotland from the "English Epicures." Gathering
all his forces together at Inverness, he marshalled them around the hill
called Tam na Hurich (now a cemetery), from the top of which he
addressed them in a Latin speech of extraordinary power, composed
for him by the celebrated Buchanan. In this speech, the original of
which is to be found in the Library of Advocates in Edinburgh, a good
deal stained with the tobacco_ which the hero, like Charles the
Twelfth, used to carry loose in his misericorde, or pouch, Sir Wil-
liam asserted the right of liberty and property, deprecated centralisa-
tion, declared himself in favour of trial by jury and a reduced income-
tax, and professed his fidelity to the U. P. Church of his forefathers.
He then gave out a few verses from the hymn by his friend and protege,
robert Bdrns,
" Scots, wha hae with Wallace bled,"
fusion on thy manners ! Wait!" cried Wallace, in indignation at
the bloodthirstiness of the British monarch. He then divided the
residue of his forces into five parts, placing four of them under the
command, respectively, of the Admirable Crichton, Napier of the
Bones, the Begent Murray, and Balfour of Burley, and giving each
a copy of the Ordnance map of the county, he directed them to make
wide circuits and assail the English from different quarters simul-
taneously. "Le Liable a quatre" laughed a gay French knight,
Georgius du Kiki, who was serving as a volunteer in the Scottish
ranks. "Carte and tierce," wittily rejoined another knight whose
name is seen in the Ragman roll, and that of Hastings, Grumpius de
Maida. Such was the high courage evinced in the midst of deadly
peril.
The masterly manoeuvre of Wallace, which he owned that he had
imitated from Marlborough's tactics at Dettingen, had almost met
with the success it merited. But the fatal gift of the starry Galileo
was the evil genius of Wallace on that day. The wary Edward
spied the moving mass of Scotchmen, and exclaimed, "Odds-fish!
E pur si muove /" He sent word to Cromwell. "Ha!" exclaimed
the Protector, "then, ifackins, Providence has delivered them into
and a benediction having been pronounced by Archbishop Sharp our hands, aye, marry, come up The last words were addressed
(previous to his murderUhe Scots army returned across the suspen- to r™ charger Suiting the action to the speech, the dauntless
sion-bridge to Inverness, the Provost-Marshal paying the tolls for every regicide spurred his steed, and as the four divisions moved away,
cannon and artillery-waggon, for Wallace's orderly habits forbad his leaving ^ allace with a small band on y the Ironsides swept down
wronging the collector, even at this supreme moment. A council of upon him like Cedron in flood. The partridge might the falcon mock
war was held at the famous Stone, and resolutions of a patriotic charac- cou]d that slight party stand the shock In sooth they awaited it not,
ter were drawn up, and sent for three insertions in the Inverness ' gr scarcely did the dread notes ot Luther s Hymn, sung by the
Courier, that all might be done in accordance with the Solemn League as they charged reach the ears of the Scots, than, their horror
and Covenant. Spies then brought word to Wallace that the English j of Lutheramsm being added to their natural terrors they separated
armv, under King Edward the First, was advancing upon Drumna- |nd %d- William Wallace alone was firm in that dreadful hour,
drochit. "They shall hear my drum," said the hero, with a grim smile, ?ia Humphrey de Bohun sought to seize him, but was a corpse ere
adding, "I'm just droukit mysell with that mist, so here's their health fej reached the ground to which he was stricken by the hero s mace,
in a dram." lie next caused drink to be distributed to every soldier, \ L¥ ^ord Mayor> flashed from his Wat Tyler feat, snatched at the
unless he belonged to the Band of Hope, observing, "Their necessity ! rAem of Wallace, and the proud office was vacant in an instant. Sir
is greater than mine." The march then commenced, the right wing Alexander Iden the slayer of Catje found his burly form no protec-
led by Robert Bruce, and the left by the Black Douglas, Wallace ; pon against the thunderstroke of the Scottish chief, and went down
himself commanding the centre, where was displayed the Banner of Ito rise no V10™. I welve or fourteen other warriors of historical name
Scotland, with the lion ramping in gold, and the proud legend, " We 're \ and uncl°ubted prowess succumbed to the fierce blows of the hero, and
nae that fou, but gaily yet" jt was from a pile of dead enemies that he was at last dragged by
Again crossing the Ness, Wallace proceeded by Craig Phaidric
and Belladrum, where he was joined by Jacobus de Meri, on his
famous war-horse, named from his house, and theme of many a bard,
and on the next day came in sight of the foe. The King's army was
drawn out in Glen Urquhart, but the monarch himself observed the
Scotch through a telescope (the priceless gift of Galileo) from the top
of the mountain called Mealfourvony. "Row," exclaimed Wallace,
in the true spirit of chivalry, " now to kick those English droddums
overwhelming numbers.
The rest is known. Dispirited by the loss of their great leader, the
other divisions lost heart, and the day was over. Cromwell, from
religious scruples, refused the knighthood that was given on the field
of battle to Raleigh, but accepted a handsome interleaved copy of
Dr. William Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, bound by Eeles. The
Scottish rebellion was at an end. Wallace was brought to London
to be tried, and though the trial was moved by certiorari into the Court
Be it mine, thane,, to bear your challenge," exclamed eagerly the ' °^ Chancery, Sir Thomas More was too determined to destroy the
gallant young knight, Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, Lord Lion
kmg-at-Arms. Sir Walter Scott has preserved the response,
" ' In battle day,' the Chief replied,
' Nice tourney rules are set aside.' "
"What say'st thou, Macbeth?" he added, turning to that terrible
c net tam. _ Let us unseam them from the nave to the chaps, and
place their heads upon our battlements," was the savage reply
Wmf,LAQCE en gave the order for a general charge by both wings.
1 tie Scots rushed to their work like men, amid the maddening strains
ot the pibroch and the wild notes of the Lament of Mary Queen of
Scots on the approach of Spring. Soldiers of ordinary mark and
likelihood would have gone down like corn before the reaper But
the assailants were confronted by troops who had been trained in the
ars of. t^ looses and the Great Rebellion, and who had swept
through the South like a tempest, bearing Jeffreys up to the bench
ot the Bloody Assjze. " A thousand centuries are looking down upon
you from Ben Nevis " cried Sir Walter Raleigh, the poet. " Smite
Bel and smash the Dragon," growled the sterner voice of Oliver Crom-
well and the English fire leaped forth like a blasting torrent. Vain
was then the Douglas brand, vain the Campbell's vaunted hand
The FnSu^w?*8 CTSOni makin° sure ot' murder's work!
ihe English shafts m volleys hailed, with headlong charge their horse
champion of freedom to give him a chance of escape, and Erasmus
exchanged a classic jest with Theodore Beza as they heard the
Doomster give sentence. The efforts of Serjeants Ballantine and
Parry were superhuman, but all was in vain; and the Tower block,
scarce dry from the execution of Lord Lovat, was again brought
forth.
Eight or nine hundred years later grateful Scotland still adores her
William's holy shade, and raises a stately tower in honour of him for
whom England raised a gloomy scaffold. Since Wallace lost his
head, England has found hers, and has the sense to know that the
stronger and nobler are her provinces, the stronger and nobler is the
United Kingdom. Therefore let Englishman, Scot, and Irishman
join hands around the Wallace Monument, and unite in singing, with
Shakspeare,
" Here we are met, three merry boys,
Three merry boys, I trow, are we,
And many a night we've merry been,
And many a night we '11 merry be."
The Battle of Jenner.
_ Our advice to anxious Mothers who are alarmed about Vaccination
is, Don t be frightened—though you're Cowed.
117
WALLACE WIGHT."
assailed, nor paused on the devoted Scot the ceaseless fury of their
shot till scarce a foeman was there found alive save those who on the
ground groaned in their agonv.
" All is lost except honour," said Walla.ce. But I knew not that
they had breech-loaders. There is time, however," he added, taking
out his watch, " to win a battle yet. Meat and prayer never hindered
man, let us therefore refresh ourselves at yon hostelry, kept, or I mis-
remember, by a hostess named De Puteis." He galloped thither,
and the excellent inn, still in the possession of a descendant of the
family, is pointed out to strangers as the place where Sir William
Wallace drank during the great battle of Drumnadrochit. Having
slaked his thirst, and treated his staff, the Hero of Scotland resumed
The Scottish have finished the Wallace Memorial at last, and have
inaugurated it, and it is now open to English visitors v, hose shillings
will in a short time make up the amount which Northern enthusiasm
has not been able to raise, and then the Memorial will be paid tor.
We do not say this complainingly; for, considering that we cut oil
Wallace's head, the least we can do is to subscribe for his monu-
m<Nor do we see the necessity -or affecting to doubt whether there
ever was such a personage as Sir William Wallace, or for saying
that nobody knows much about him. The facts ot his lite are very his post) and Deueicl King Edward fiercely waving his telescope, as a
familiar to every Scotsman, and ought be so to every Englishman. sjgI1 for ljs army to advance. "Ruin seize thee, ruthless King, con-
As Thackeray wrote,
" He robs us half our glory who says the ' Scots' had none."
Sir William Wallace, baronet (so created by his kinsman James
the First), after defeating the Southrons many times—at Flodden,
Sheriff-Muir, Culloden, and other famous spots—resolved on a grand
effort for freeing Scotland from the "English Epicures." Gathering
all his forces together at Inverness, he marshalled them around the hill
called Tam na Hurich (now a cemetery), from the top of which he
addressed them in a Latin speech of extraordinary power, composed
for him by the celebrated Buchanan. In this speech, the original of
which is to be found in the Library of Advocates in Edinburgh, a good
deal stained with the tobacco_ which the hero, like Charles the
Twelfth, used to carry loose in his misericorde, or pouch, Sir Wil-
liam asserted the right of liberty and property, deprecated centralisa-
tion, declared himself in favour of trial by jury and a reduced income-
tax, and professed his fidelity to the U. P. Church of his forefathers.
He then gave out a few verses from the hymn by his friend and protege,
robert Bdrns,
" Scots, wha hae with Wallace bled,"
fusion on thy manners ! Wait!" cried Wallace, in indignation at
the bloodthirstiness of the British monarch. He then divided the
residue of his forces into five parts, placing four of them under the
command, respectively, of the Admirable Crichton, Napier of the
Bones, the Begent Murray, and Balfour of Burley, and giving each
a copy of the Ordnance map of the county, he directed them to make
wide circuits and assail the English from different quarters simul-
taneously. "Le Liable a quatre" laughed a gay French knight,
Georgius du Kiki, who was serving as a volunteer in the Scottish
ranks. "Carte and tierce," wittily rejoined another knight whose
name is seen in the Ragman roll, and that of Hastings, Grumpius de
Maida. Such was the high courage evinced in the midst of deadly
peril.
The masterly manoeuvre of Wallace, which he owned that he had
imitated from Marlborough's tactics at Dettingen, had almost met
with the success it merited. But the fatal gift of the starry Galileo
was the evil genius of Wallace on that day. The wary Edward
spied the moving mass of Scotchmen, and exclaimed, "Odds-fish!
E pur si muove /" He sent word to Cromwell. "Ha!" exclaimed
the Protector, "then, ifackins, Providence has delivered them into
and a benediction having been pronounced by Archbishop Sharp our hands, aye, marry, come up The last words were addressed
(previous to his murderUhe Scots army returned across the suspen- to r™ charger Suiting the action to the speech, the dauntless
sion-bridge to Inverness, the Provost-Marshal paying the tolls for every regicide spurred his steed, and as the four divisions moved away,
cannon and artillery-waggon, for Wallace's orderly habits forbad his leaving ^ allace with a small band on y the Ironsides swept down
wronging the collector, even at this supreme moment. A council of upon him like Cedron in flood. The partridge might the falcon mock
war was held at the famous Stone, and resolutions of a patriotic charac- cou]d that slight party stand the shock In sooth they awaited it not,
ter were drawn up, and sent for three insertions in the Inverness ' gr scarcely did the dread notes ot Luther s Hymn, sung by the
Courier, that all might be done in accordance with the Solemn League as they charged reach the ears of the Scots, than, their horror
and Covenant. Spies then brought word to Wallace that the English j of Lutheramsm being added to their natural terrors they separated
armv, under King Edward the First, was advancing upon Drumna- |nd %d- William Wallace alone was firm in that dreadful hour,
drochit. "They shall hear my drum," said the hero, with a grim smile, ?ia Humphrey de Bohun sought to seize him, but was a corpse ere
adding, "I'm just droukit mysell with that mist, so here's their health fej reached the ground to which he was stricken by the hero s mace,
in a dram." lie next caused drink to be distributed to every soldier, \ L¥ ^ord Mayor> flashed from his Wat Tyler feat, snatched at the
unless he belonged to the Band of Hope, observing, "Their necessity ! rAem of Wallace, and the proud office was vacant in an instant. Sir
is greater than mine." The march then commenced, the right wing Alexander Iden the slayer of Catje found his burly form no protec-
led by Robert Bruce, and the left by the Black Douglas, Wallace ; pon against the thunderstroke of the Scottish chief, and went down
himself commanding the centre, where was displayed the Banner of Ito rise no V10™. I welve or fourteen other warriors of historical name
Scotland, with the lion ramping in gold, and the proud legend, " We 're \ and uncl°ubted prowess succumbed to the fierce blows of the hero, and
nae that fou, but gaily yet" jt was from a pile of dead enemies that he was at last dragged by
Again crossing the Ness, Wallace proceeded by Craig Phaidric
and Belladrum, where he was joined by Jacobus de Meri, on his
famous war-horse, named from his house, and theme of many a bard,
and on the next day came in sight of the foe. The King's army was
drawn out in Glen Urquhart, but the monarch himself observed the
Scotch through a telescope (the priceless gift of Galileo) from the top
of the mountain called Mealfourvony. "Row," exclaimed Wallace,
in the true spirit of chivalry, " now to kick those English droddums
overwhelming numbers.
The rest is known. Dispirited by the loss of their great leader, the
other divisions lost heart, and the day was over. Cromwell, from
religious scruples, refused the knighthood that was given on the field
of battle to Raleigh, but accepted a handsome interleaved copy of
Dr. William Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, bound by Eeles. The
Scottish rebellion was at an end. Wallace was brought to London
to be tried, and though the trial was moved by certiorari into the Court
Be it mine, thane,, to bear your challenge," exclamed eagerly the ' °^ Chancery, Sir Thomas More was too determined to destroy the
gallant young knight, Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, Lord Lion
kmg-at-Arms. Sir Walter Scott has preserved the response,
" ' In battle day,' the Chief replied,
' Nice tourney rules are set aside.' "
"What say'st thou, Macbeth?" he added, turning to that terrible
c net tam. _ Let us unseam them from the nave to the chaps, and
place their heads upon our battlements," was the savage reply
Wmf,LAQCE en gave the order for a general charge by both wings.
1 tie Scots rushed to their work like men, amid the maddening strains
ot the pibroch and the wild notes of the Lament of Mary Queen of
Scots on the approach of Spring. Soldiers of ordinary mark and
likelihood would have gone down like corn before the reaper But
the assailants were confronted by troops who had been trained in the
ars of. t^ looses and the Great Rebellion, and who had swept
through the South like a tempest, bearing Jeffreys up to the bench
ot the Bloody Assjze. " A thousand centuries are looking down upon
you from Ben Nevis " cried Sir Walter Raleigh, the poet. " Smite
Bel and smash the Dragon," growled the sterner voice of Oliver Crom-
well and the English fire leaped forth like a blasting torrent. Vain
was then the Douglas brand, vain the Campbell's vaunted hand
The FnSu^w?*8 CTSOni makin° sure ot' murder's work!
ihe English shafts m volleys hailed, with headlong charge their horse
champion of freedom to give him a chance of escape, and Erasmus
exchanged a classic jest with Theodore Beza as they heard the
Doomster give sentence. The efforts of Serjeants Ballantine and
Parry were superhuman, but all was in vain; and the Tower block,
scarce dry from the execution of Lord Lovat, was again brought
forth.
Eight or nine hundred years later grateful Scotland still adores her
William's holy shade, and raises a stately tower in honour of him for
whom England raised a gloomy scaffold. Since Wallace lost his
head, England has found hers, and has the sense to know that the
stronger and nobler are her provinces, the stronger and nobler is the
United Kingdom. Therefore let Englishman, Scot, and Irishman
join hands around the Wallace Monument, and unite in singing, with
Shakspeare,
" Here we are met, three merry boys,
Three merry boys, I trow, are we,
And many a night we've merry been,
And many a night we '11 merry be."
The Battle of Jenner.
_ Our advice to anxious Mothers who are alarmed about Vaccination
is, Don t be frightened—though you're Cowed.