Even the enemy who
recounted the particulars, showed a truth in the recital which shamed
the man who had benefited by the patriotism he affected to despise, and
for which Sir William Wallace was now likely to shed his blood.
"I was present," continued the pilot, "when the brave Scot was put on
the raft, which carried him through the Traitor's Gate into the Tower.
His hands and feet were bound with iron; but his head, owing to
faintness from the wounds he had received at Lumloch, was so bent down
on his breast as he reclined on the float, that I could not then see
his face. There was a great pause, for none of us, when he did appear
in sight, could shout over the downfall of so merciful a conqueror.
Many were spectators of this scene whose lives he had spared on the
fields of Scotland; and my brother was amongst them. However, that I
might have a distinct view of the man who has so long held our warlike
monarch in dread, I went to Westminster Hall on the day appointed for
his trial. The great judges of the land, and almost all the lords
besides were there, and a very grand spectacle they made. But when the
hall-door was opened, and the dauntless prisoner appeared, then it was
that I saw true majesty.
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