2. But as he passed, King Robert rose up in his stirrups, aud struck Sir Henry on the head with his battle-axe so terrible a blow, that it broke to pieces his iron helmet as if it had been a nut-shell, and hurled him from his saddle. He was dead before he reached the ground. This gallant action was blamed by the Scotch leaders, who thought Bruce ought not to have exposed himself to so much danger when the safety of the whole army depended on him. The king only kept looking at his weapon, which was injured by the force of the blow, and said, "I have broken my good battleaxe."

3. The next morning, June 24th, at break of day, the battle began in terrible earnest. The English as they advanced saw the Scots getting into line. The Abbot of Inchaffray walked through their ranks barefooted, and exhorted them to fight for their freedom. They kneeled down as he passed, and prayed to heaven for victory. King Edward, who saw this, called out, "They kneel down-they are asking forgiveness.' "Yes," said an English baron, "but they ask it from God, not from us,these men will conquer or die upon the field."

4. The English king ordered his men to begin the battle. The archers then bent their bows, and began to shoot so closely together, that the arrows fell like flakes of snow at Christmas. They killed many of the Scots, and might have decided the victory. But Bruce was prepared for them. He had in readiness a body of men-at-arms well mounted, who rode at full gallop among the

archers, and as they had no weapon save their bows and arrows, which they could not use when they were attacked hand to hand, they were cut

support their archers, and to attack the Scottish line. But coming over the ground which was dug full of pits, the horses fell into these holes, and the riders lay tumbling about, without any means of defence, and unable to rise from the weight of their armour. The Englishmen began to fall into general disorder, and the Scottish king, bringing up more of his forces, attacked and pressed them still more closely.

6. On a sudden, while the battle was obstinately maintained on both sides, an event happened which decided the victory. The servants and attendants on the Scottish camp had, as I told you, been sent behind the army to a place afterwards called the Gillies' Hill. But when they saw that their masters were likely to gain the day, they rushed from their place of concealment with such weapons as they could get, that they might have their share in the victory and in the spoil.

7. The English, seeing them come suddenly over the hill, mistook this disorderly rabble for a new army coming up to sustain the Scots, and, losing all heart, began to shift every man for himself. Edward himself left the field as fast as he could ride. A valiant knight, Sir Giles de Argentine, much renowned in the wars of Palestine,1 attended the king till he got him out of the press of the combat. But he would retreat no further. 'It is not my custom," he said, "to fly." With that he took leave of the king, set spurs to his horse, and calling out his war-cry of "Argentine!

Argentine!" he rushed into the thickest of the Scottish ranks and was killed.

Sir W. Scott (1771-1832), "Tales of a Grandfather."

1. Falkirk.-A town of Stirlingshire, not far from Stirling. In 1298 Edward I. defeated the Scotch under William Wallace in the neighbourhood of Falkirk.

2. Christendom. - A name given to all professing Christianity.

general countries

3. Inchaffray.-An abbey near

Perth.

4. Wars of Palestine.-That is, the Crusades, or series of wars undertaken by Christian princes of Europe to recover the Holy Land from Mohammedan rule. There were nine crusades. The last, or ninth, in which Louis IX., or St. Louis of France, met his death, and in which Edward I. took part, lasted from 1259 to 1291.

SUBMISSION TO PROVIDENCE.

What if the foot, ordained the dust to tread,
Or hand to toil, aspired to be the head?
What if the head, the eye, or ear repined
To serve mere engines to the ruling mind?

Just as absurd for any part to claim
To be another, in this general frame;
Just as absurd, to mourn the tasks or pains
The great directing Mind of all ordains.

All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose body nature is, and God the soul;
That, changed through all,1 and yet in all the same,
Great in the earth, as in th' ethereal frame,
Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,
Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees,
Lives through all life, extends through all extent,
Spreads undivided, operates unspent ;
Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part,
As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart;2
As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns,
As the rapt seraph that adores and burns:
To Him no high, no low, no great, no small;
He fills, He bounds, connects, and equals all.

Cease then, nor order imperfection name:
Our proper bliss depends on what we blame.
Know thy own point: this kind, this due degree
Of blindness, weakness, Heaven bestows on thee.
Submit. In this or any other sphere,
Secure to be as blest as thou canst bear :
Safe in the hand of one disposing Power,

Or in the natal, or the mortal hour. 4
All nature is but art, unknown to thee;

All chance, direction, which thou canst not see;5
All discord, harmony not understood;

All partial evil, universal good.

And, spite of pride, in erring reason's spite,
One truth is clear, "Whatever is, is right."

Pope (1688-1744).