Edward the Second, a weak and bad king, in every way unlike his father, resolved to save the Castle of Stirling, and led a great army to its relief. Bruce, who was now acknowledged by the Scots as their lawful king, met this army at Bannockburn, on the plain in front of Stirling, where with much smaller numbers he gained a victory which secured the freedom of Scotland, in June, 1314. Scott thus describes the battle:

2. Bruce studied how he might supply, by address aud stratagem, what he wanted in numbers and strength. He knew the superiority of the English both in their heavy-armed cavalry, which were much better mounted and armed than that of the Scots, and in their archers, who were better trained than any others in the world. Both these advantages he resolved to provide against.

3. With this purpose, he led his army down into a plain near Stirling, called the Park, near which, and beneath it, the English army must needs pass through a boggy country, broken with watercourses, while the Scots occupied hard dry ground. He then caused all the ground upon the front of his line of battle, where cavalry was likely to act, to be dug full of holes, about as deep as a man's knee. They were filled with light brushwood, and the turf was laid on the top, so that it appeared a level field, while in reality it was as full of these pits as a honeycomb is of holes. He also, it is said, caused steel spikes, called calthrops, to be scattered up and down in the plain,

where the English cavalry were most likely to advance, trusting in that manner to lame and destroy their horses.

4. When the Scottish army was drawn up, the line stretched north and south. On the south, it

was terminated by the banks of the brook called Bannockburn, which was so rocky that no troops could attack them there. On the left, the Scottish line extended near to the town of Stirling. Bruce reviewed his troops very carefully; all the useless servants, drivers of carts, and such like, of whom there were very many, he ordered to go behind a height, afterwards, in memory of the event, called the Gillies' Hill, that is, the servants' hill.

5. He then spoke to the soldiers, and expressed his determination to gain the victory, or to lose his life on the field of battle. He desired that all those who did not propose to fight to the last should leave the field before the battle began, and that none should remain except those who were determined to take the issue of victory or death, as God should send it.

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6. He then despatched James of Douglas, the founder of the great house of Douglas, and Sir Robert Keith, in order that they might survey, as nearly as they could, the English force, which was now approaching from Falkirk. They returned with information that the approach of the vast host was one of the most beautiful and terrible sights which could be seen-that the whole country seemed covered with men-at-arms on horse and foot-that the number of standards,

banners, and pennons (all flags of different kinds) made so gallant a show that the bravest and most numerous host in Christendom2 might be alarmed to see King Edward moving against them.

7. The van of the English army now came in sight, and a number of their bravest knights drew near to see what the Scots were doing. They saw King Robert dressed in his armour, and distinguished by a gold crown, which he wore over his helmet. He was not mounted on his great warhorse, because he did not expect to fight that evening. But he rode a little pony up and down the ranks of his army, putting his men in order, and carried in his hand a sort of battle-axe made of steel.

(See Notes at end of Lesson 54.)

LESSON LIII.

THE LAMENT OF SAMSON OVER HIS

BLINDNESS.

O loss of sight,1 of thee I most complain!
Blind among enemies, O worse than chains,
Dungeon, or beggary, or decrepit age!

Light, the prime work of God, to me is extinct,
And all her various objects of delight

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Annull'd, which might in part my grief have eas'd,
Inferior to the vilest now become

Of man or worm; the vilest here excel me,
They creep, yet see; I, dark in light, expos'd
To daily fraud, contempt, abuse, and wrong,
Within doors, or without, still as a fool,
In power of others, never in my own;

Scarce half I seem to live, dead more than half.
O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon,
Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse

Without all hope of day!

O first created Beam, and thou, great Word,
"Let there be light," and light was over all;

Why am I thus bereav'd thy prime decree ?1
The sun to me is dark

And silent as the moon,

When she deserts the night

Hid in her vacant interlunar cave. 5
Since light so necessary is to life,

And almost life itself, if it be true
That light is in the soul,

She all in every part; why was the sight
To such a tender ball as th' eye confin'd,
So obvious and so easy to be quench'd?
And not, as feeling, through all parts diffus'd,
That she might look at will through every pore?
Then had I not been thus exil'd from light;
As in the land of darkness, yet in light
To live a life half dead, a living death,
And buried; but (0 yet more miserable!)
Myself my sepulchre, a moving grave.
Buried, yet not exempt

By privilege of death and burial

From worst of other evils, pains, and wrongs;

But made hereby obnoxious more

To all the miseries of life,

Life in captivity

Among inhuman foes.

But who are these? for with joint pace I hear
The tread of many feet steering this way;
Perhaps my enemies who come to stare
At my affliction, and perhaps to insult, 7
Their daily practice to afflict me more.

"Samson Agonistes." Milton (1608.1674).

Samson Agonistes is the title of Milton's last poem, published in 1671, about three years before his death. The story of Samson is given in the Book of Judges, chap. xiii. to end of xvi. The Philistines learnt the secret of Samson's unusual strength through the treachery of his wife, Delilah, and they were thus enabled to put out his eyes, "and they brought him down to Gaza (one of the chief towns of the Philistines) and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house."-Judges xvi., 21.

Agonistes.-A Greek word signifying one who sometimes contended for prizes at the public games, but was not a professional wrestler or athlete.

1. Loss of sight. It must not be forgotten that Milton, the author of this splendid poem, was himself also blind for the last twenty years

LESSON

of his life. His great work "Paradise Lost," as well as this poem, and several other works, were composed while he was blind.

2. Light, the prime, or first work of God.-See Genesis i., 3: "And God said, Let there be light; and there was light." This was the work of the first day of Creation.

3. Bereav'd thy prime decree, that is, bereaved of the blessing of thy prime decree.

4. Annulled, reduced to nothing, destroyed.

5. Vacant interlunar cave. During the change of Moon, her light is not visible, therefore the word vacant or empty is used. The idea of a cave is due to Milton's own fancy.

6. Obnoxious.-Exposed.

7. Perhaps to insult. - Observe the omission: "Perhaps to insult me, as it is their daily practice," &c.

LIV.

THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN.-Part II.

1. When the king saw the English horsemen draw near, he advanced a little before his own men, that he might look at them more nearly. There was a knight among the English, called Sir Henry de Bohun, who thought this would be a good opportunity to gain great fame to himself, and put an end to the war, by killing King Robert. The king, being poorly mounted, and having no lance, Bohun galloped on him suddenly and furiously, thinking, with his long spear, and his tall, powerful horse, easily to bear him down to the ground. King Robert saw him, and permitted him to come very near, then suddenly turned his pony a little to one side, so that Sir Henry missed him with the lance-point, and was in the act of being carried past him by the career of his horse