AWED, but not intimidated by the prophecy of the seer, Wallace, next day, drew up his army in order for the new battle, near a convent of Cistertian monks, [Newbattle, the fine old family mansion of the Marquis of Lothian, now occupies the site of that ancient abbey; and so derives its name.] on the narrow plain of Dalkeith. The two rivers Eske, flowing on each side of the little phalanx, formed a temporary barrier between it and the pressing legions of De Warenne. The Earl’s troops seemed countless; while the Southron lords who led them on, being elated by the representations which the Countess of Strathearn had given to them, of the disunited state of the Scottish army, and the consequent dismay which had seized their hitherto all-conquering commander, bore down upon the Scots with an impetuosity which threatened their universal destruction. Deceived by the blandishing falsehoods of his bride, De Warenne had entirely changed his former opinion of his brave opponent; and by her sophistries having brought his mind to adopt stratagems of intimidation, unworthy of his nobleness. (so contagious is baseness, in too fond a contact with the unprincipled!) he placed himself on an adjoining height, intending from that commanding post to dispense his orders, and behold his victory. " Soldiers !" cried he, " the rebel’s hour is come.—The sentence of Heaven is gone forth against him. Charge resolutely, and he and his host are yours."

The sky was obscured; an awful stillness reigned through the air; and the spirits of the mighty dead seemed leaning from their clouds, to witness this last struggle of their sons. Fate did indeed hover over the opposing armies. She descended on the head of Wallace, and dictated from amidst his waving plumes. She pointed his spear, she wielded his flaming sword, she charged with him in the dreadful shock of battle. De Warenue saw his foremost thousands fall. He heard the shout of the Scots, the cries of his men—and the plains of Stirling rose to his remembrance. He hastily ordered the knights around him, to bear his wife from the field; and descending the hill, to lead forward himself, was met, and almost overwhelmed, by his flying troops: horses without riders, men without shield or sword, but all in dismay, rushed past him. He called to them, he waved the royal standard, he urged, he reproached ;—he rallied, and led them back again. The fight recommenced —Long and bloody was the conflict. De Warenne fought for conquest, and to recover a lost reputation. Wallace contended for his coyntry; and to show himself always worthy of her latest blessing, "before he should go hence, and be no more seen!"

The issue declared for Scotland. But the ground was covered with the slain, and Wallace chased a wounded foe, with troops which dropped as they pursued. At sight of the melancholy state of his intrepid soldiers, he tried to check their ardour, but in vain. "It is for Wallace that we conquer!" cried they, "and, we die, or prove him the only captain, in this ungrateful country."

Night compelled them to halt; and while they rested on their arms, Wallace was satisfied that he had destroyed the power of De Warenne. As he leaned on his sword, and stood with Edwin near the watch-fire over which that youthful hero kept a guard, he contemplated, with generous forbearance, the terrified Southrons, as they fled precipitately by the foot of the hill, towards the Tweed. Wallace now told his friend, the history of his adventure with the seer of the craigs; and finding, within himself, how much the brightness of true religion excludes the glooms of superstition, he added: "The proof of the Divine Spirit in prophecy, is its completion !—Hence let the false seer I met last night, warn you, my Edwin, by my exampIe, how you give credit to any prediction that might slacken the sinews of duty. God can speak but one language. It is not a man, that he should repent; neither a mortal, that he should change his purpose!—This prophet of Baal, beguiled me into a credence of his denunciation; but not to adopt the conduct, his offered alternative would have persuaded me to pursue. I now see that he was a traitor in both ; and, henceforth, shall read my fate in the oracles of God alone. Obeying them, my Edwin, we need not fear the curses of our enemy, nor the lying of suborned soothsayers."

The splendour of this victory struck to the souls of the council at Stirling; but with no touch of remorse. Scotland being again rescued from the vengeance of her implacable foe, the disaffected lords in the citadel, affected to spurn at her preservation; declaring to the Regent, that they would rather bear the yoke of the veriest tyrant in the world, than owe a moment of freedom to the man who (they pretended to believe) had conspired against their lives. And they had a weighty reason for this decision. Though De Warenne was beaten, his wife was a victor. She had made Edward triumphant, in the venal hearts of her kinsmen: gold, and her persuasions, with promises of future honours from the King of England, had sealed them entirely his. All but the Regent, were ready to commit everything into the hands of Edward. The rising favour of these other lords, with the court of England, induced him to recollect that he might rule as the unrivalled friend of Bruce, should that prince live; or, in case of his death, he might have it in his own power to assume the Scottish throne untrammelled. These thoughts made him fluctuate; and his country found him as undetermined in treason, as unstable in fidelity.

Immediately on the victory at Dalkeith, Kirkpatrick (eager to be the first communicator of such welcome news to Lennox, who had planted himself as a watch at Stirling,) withdrew secretly from Wallace’s camp; and, hoping to move the gratitude of the refractory lords, entered, full of honest joy, into the midst of their council.

He proclaimed the success of his commander. His answer, was accusations and insult. All that had been charged against the too fortunate Wallace, was re-urged with added acrimony. Treachery to the state, hypocrisy in morals, fanaticism in religion; no stigma was too extravagant, too contradictory, to be affixed to his name. They who had been hurt in the fray in the hall, pointed to their still smarting wounds, and called upon Lennox to say, if they did not plead against so dangerous a man? "Dangerous to your crimes, and ruinous to your ambition!" cried Kirkpatrick; "for, so help me God, as I believe, that an honester man than William Wallace lives not in Scotland! And that ye know :—and his virtues, overtopping your littleness, ye would uproot the greatness which ye cannot equal." This speech, which a burst of indignation had wrested from him, brought down the wrath of the whole party upon himself. Lord Athol, yet stung with his old wound, furiously struck him:—Kirkpatrick drew his sword, and the two chiefs commenced a furious combat, each determined on the extirpation of the other. Gasping with almost the last breathings of life, neither could be torn from their desperate revenge, till many were hurt in attempting to separate them; and then the two were carried on; insensible, and covered with wounds. 

When this sad news was transmitted to Sir William Wallace, it found him on the banks of the Eske; just returned from the citadel of Berwick, where, once more master of that fortress, he had dictated the terms of a conqueror and a patriot.

In the scene of his former victories, the romantic shades of Hawthorndean, he now pitched his triumphant camp; and from its verdant bounds, despatched the requisite orders to the garrisoned castles on the borders. While employed in this duty, his heart was wrung by an account of the newly-aroused storm in the citadel of Stirling: but as some equivalent, the chieftains of Mid-Lothian poured in to him on every side; and, acknowledging him their Protector, he again found himself the idol of gratitude, and the almost deified object of trust. At such a moment, when with one voice they were disclaiming all participation in the insurgent proceedings at Stirling, another messenger arrived from Lord Lennox, to conjure him, if he would avoid open violence, or secret treachery, to march his victorious troops immediately to that city, and seize the assembled abthanes [Abthanes, which means the great lords; was a title of pre-eminence given to the higher order of chiefs.] at once as traitors to their country. "Resume the regency," added he, "which you only know how to conduct; and crush a treason, which, increasing hourly, now walks openly in the day; threatening all that is virtuous, or faithful to you!"