16 THE HISTORY OF from Gumming to king Edward, defiring that Bruce fhould be difpatched in hafte, left being a nobleman much favoured by the commons he fhould raife greater ftirs. The treachery of John Gumming, before only fufpected, was hereby made manifeft, which fo incenf- ed the Lord Bruce, that riding to Dumfries, and find- ing Gumming at the mafs of the Grey-Friers, after he had fhewn him his letters, in impatience, he ftabbed him with his dagger; and others who were about him doing the like, not only difpatched him, but alfo his coufin Sir Edward Gumming, and others who affifted him. This daughter fell out on the 9th of February, in the year 1306 as we now account. The Bruce thus rid of one enemy, found a great number as it were rifing out of his afhes, even the whole puifant name of Gumming, with their allies, the earl of March, the lord of Lorn, the lord of Aberne- thy, the lord of Brechin, the lord Souks, the moft part of the North, and all Galloway followed the Cummings: the earl of March, the lord William Soules commanded the Murfe, with Berwick and the border; all which they yielded to king Edward, and maintain- ed againft Robert Bruce. At the fame time his two brothers, Thomas and Alexander Bruce, with Ronald Crawford younger, fecretly landing in Galloway, were taken by Duncan Macdougnl a great man in Gallo- way, and fent to King Edward, who caufed them all- three to be hanged. On the other fide affembled to him, befide thefe above named, the young lord James Douglas, (who hearing of his father’s death, had re- turned from France, where he was at fchool, and ftaid a time with his kinfman, William Lamberton, bifhop of St. Andrews,) earl Malcom Lennox, earl John of Athol, (although of the Gumming blood, yet being father in-law to Edward Bruce,) Sir Neil Campbell, Sir Gilbert Hay, Sir Chriftopher Seaton, Sir Tho- mas Ronald, Sir Hugh Hay, John Somerville, David Barclay, Alexander and Simon Frazer, Sir Robert Boyd, Sir William Halyburton, with fundry who had ftood with Wallace before. With this company he paft into Scoon, and took upon him the crown of Scot- land, in April 1309. After this he gathered an army,
Page:Life and adventures of Sir William Wallace, General and Governor of Scotland (1).pdf/16
