The history of Dunbar Author:James Miller Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER V. Now's the day, and now's the hour ! See the front of battle lower ! See approach proud Edward's power, Chains and slavery.—Burns. The patriot T... more »ell—the Bruce of Bannockburn ! Campbell. Bannockburn.—Edwards Escape To Dunbab.— Battlk Op Duplin Death Of Randolph. Defeat Of Sir John Crab With His Flemish Squadron. Battle Of Halidonhill. Edward's Retreat.—Earl Of Dunbar Joins Bruce. Patrick, ninth Earl of Dunbar and March, succeeded his father in 1309, at the age of twenty-four, and is first noticed in history as surety for the Earl of Strathern. As Berwick was still in the possession of the enemy, there were necessarily many English partisans in the Merse, who were reduced to great distress by the partial successes of the Brucian party ; while they were exposed to the " insolence of office" in the persons of the English authorities. The Earl of Dunbar and Sir Adam Gordon were delegated to the court of England, to solicit assistance and relief. Edward immediately ordered their grievances to be redressed; and, glad of the pretext, promised to be at Berwick by mid-summer in the ensuing year, with an army well calculated to overawe the refractory to obedience. This was indeed a pretext but too plausible and fatal. In 1314, Edward assembled forces from all quarters. He enlisted troops from Flanders and other foreign countries; he invited over numbers of the disorderly Irish, and joined to them a body of Welsh; and, assembling the whole military force of England, marched to the frontiers with an army, which amounted to 100,000 men. Hume's England, vol. ii. p. 14. These delegates, however, were unintentionally the means, in the hand of providence, of securing the freedom of their country. This immense armament, which was accompanied with all th...« less