Amidst the excruciating pains of a confirmed stone, he ceased not to discharge the duties of his office with activity and vigilance. He expired on the march* (20th July). A man he was to be remembered, while integrity, prudence, and valour, are held in esteem among men.

(Selkirkshire)'; Rolls, Robert I. NO. 24. Two persons bearing the name of Walter Comyn followed the fortunes of Balliol; the one was killed at Annan 26th December 1332, and the other was killed in the forest of Kilblain, September 1335; Fordún, L. xiii. c. 25. c. 36.

HENRY DE BALLIOL was the younger brother of Edward, who now asserted his pretensions to the crown of Scotland. A person of that name had a grant of the lands of Branksholme, with the exception of the parcel granted to Walter Comyn; Rolls, Robert I. NO. 24.; but whether he was the same person, I know not.

FULK FITZ-WARINE and ROGER DE SWINERTON are barons well known in English history; but what were the estates in Scotland to which they laid claim, I have not been able to dis

cover.

* At Musselburgh, five miles to the east of Edinburgh. It is said, Fordun, L. xiii. c. 19. that he died on the 13th of August. But this is a mistake of the transcriber; for the Earl of Marre was chosen guardian in his room, 2d August; Fordun, L. xiii. c. 22. Barbour, p. 442. says, that Randolph was poisoned by a friar; Fordun, L. xiii. c. 19. says, by his chaplain, an English friar; and he adds some circumstances, implying, that Edward III. was then on the borders of Scotland, and was privy to this base deed: Boeće, L. xv. fol. 310, 311. adds many more circumstances to the same purpose; and yet he confesses that Randolph was afflicted with a confirmed stone. This popular story has been examined, Remarks on the history of Scotland, c. iv. In support of what is there observed, I have to add, that Edward III. during the course of the summer and autumn 1332, was never within 200 miles of the Scottish borders. He resided at Woodstock, near Oxford, from 2d May to 28th July; Foedera, T. iv. p. 520-526.; at Wigmore in Herefordshire, 7th August; ibid. p. 529.; at Kidderminster in Worcestershire, 18th August; ibid. p. 530.; at Westminster, 13th and 20th September; ibid. p. 531-533. From examining dates, it is natural to draw this conclusion, that Edward III. was upon a progress through the interior parts of his kingdom, and that having heard of the changes in Scotland, he repaired to London.

The Scottish parliament assembled at Perth for electing a Regent.** After great diversity of opinions, it was agreed that Donald Earl of Marre, nephew of the late King, should be entrusted with that important charge,* (2d August). An unhappy choice! His connexion with the royal family appears to have been the principal merit of the person elected to supply the place of Randolph. The Earl of Marre, while a child, had been conveyed into England by Edward I. and remained in captivity for many years. After his release, he seems to have established his chief residence in England.t No military service of his is known, except a subordinate command which he held during the short campaign in the year 1327.** Having, probably, small knowledge of his native country, and being destitute of civil abilities, and experience in war, he assumed the reins of government at a most critical juncture, and amidst perils which it

* " Omnes magnates, tam ecclesiastici quam laici, apud Perth, quarto nonas Augusti congregati, post plures altercationes, et varias dissensiones, Dovenaldum Comitem de Mar unanimiter elegerunt in regni custodem;" Fordun, L. xiii. c. 22. It was indeed difficult to make a fit and unanimous choice. Most of the surviving companions of the victorious Bruce were far advanced in years; his grandson, the Stewart, was under age, and the pretensions of the other great Lords were nearly equal.

† He was present at the parliament of Seone 1318; but his name does not appear in the letter to the Pope 1320. This of itself affords reasonable evidence that he was not then in Scotland. There is a remarkable passage in Scala Chron. ap. Leland, T. i. p. 550. "Donald Earl of Marre in Scotland was made, by King Edwarde, guardian of the castel of Bristow, the which he delyverid to the Quene, and so repaired into Scotland." This was in summer 1326; Knyghton, p. 2545.

would have required the genius of Douglas, Randolph and Bruce, effectually to oppose.

After the disinherited Lords had embarked at an English port, in order to invade Scotland, Edward empowered Henry de Percy to punish all his subjects who should presume to array themselves in contempt of his prohibition: And, because he understood that the Scots were arming, he empowered Percy to arm for repelling them, (9th August).23 This tardy zeal for maintaining peace, and this pretext of self-defence, were thin disguises to cover the hostile intentions of the English government against an unhappy nation, now bereaved of its chief supports, and rendered feeble by the minority of its sovereign.

Edward Balliol, and his associates, appeared in the Frith of Forth, (31st July).24 He landed in the neighbourhood of Kinghorn,* (6th August), and routed the Earl of Fife, who opposed his landing with some troops hastily assembled. In this conflict, Alexander Seton, the son, was slain.t

* Although historians say Kinghorn, yet I suppose that Wester-Kinghorn, now called Burntisland, was the place where Balliol landed. The ground about Kinghorn would have been exceedingly inconvenient for the disembarkation of cavalry.

+ W. Heming ford, T. ii. p. 273. says that the Earl of Fife opposed the landing of Balliol with a body of 10,000 men, and that 900 Scots were slain in the action; but Fordun, L. xiii. c. 22. says, " Cui Alexander Seton filius cum paucis ei in facie resistens, eodem die cum tribus aut quatuor ibidem occubuit." The three or four mentioned by Fordun, were probably men of some rank. As to this Alexander Seton, the son, see Appendix.

Balliol marched next day to Dunfermline; and having ordered his fleet to sail round the east coast of Fife, and wait for him at the entrance of the river Tay, he proceeded northwards, and encamped on the Millar's acre at Forteviot, with the river Earn in front, (11th August).25

The Earl of Marre encamped with a numerous army on the opposite bank of the river Earn, in the neighbourhood of Duplin. Another army, nearly as numerous, under the command of the Earl of March, had advanced from the southern parts, through the Lothians and Stirlingshire, and had fixed its quarters at Auchterarder, eight miles to the west of Forteviot.*

No situation could be more perilous than that of Balliol: Within view of one army greatly superior in numbers to his own, and most advantageously posted, and, at the same time, hourly in hazard of seeing another formidable enemy advance on his flank. To retreat, in such circumstances, through Fifeshire, would have been impracticable; and, although it had been practicable, would have availed him nothing, for he had ordered

his fleet to depart from the Frith of Forth; neither would the danger have been less imminent, or the hopes of success more probable, had he marched towards the mouth of the river Tay, in the uncertain expectation of meeting his fleet.

He took the desperate resolution of crossing the river, and attacking the Regent in his camp.

Andrew Murray of Tullibardin directed the English to a ford.*

26

The Scots kept no watch, but abandoned themselves to intemperance and riotous mirth, while at midnight the English, led by Alexander de Moubray, crossed the river. They ascended a rising ground, came unperceived on the right flank of the Scottish army, and made a pitiless slaughter. At the first alarm, young Randolph, Earl of Moray, hasted with three hundred men at arms to oppose the enemy. Being gallantly seconded by Murdoch Earl of Menteth, Alexander Fraser, and Robert Bruce, a natural son of the late King, he checked the English impetuosity, and maintained the combat on equal terms. But the Regent, and the whole multitude, rushed to battle without order or discipline, and at once overwhelmed Randolph and his companions. In a moment all was unutterable confusion; and, while those behind still pressed on, the foremost were thrown down and trodden under foot, and suffocated. The English slaughtered

* He fixed a stake in the river to direct them, "fixit palum in le Dernford aquae de Erne;" Fordun, xiii. c. 25.