There never was a time on the march parts yet,

When Scottish with English met,

But it was marvel¹ if the red blood ran not

As the rain does in the street.

BATTLE OF OTTERBOURNE.

A considerable band of Scottish warriors² had joined the Crusaders, and had naturally placed themselves under the command of the English monarch³, being, like his native troops, most of them of Saxon and Norman descent, speaking the same languages, possessed⁵, some of them, of English as well as Scottish demesnes, and allied⁶ in some cases by blood and intermarriage. The period also preceded that when the grasping ambition of Edward I. gave a deadly and envenomed character to the wars betwixt the two nations — the English fighting for the subjugation⁷ of Scotland, and the Scottish, with all the stern determination and obstinacy⁸ which has ever characterized their nation, for the defence of their independence, by the most violent means, under the most disadvantageous circumstances, and at the most extreme hazard. As yet, wars betwixt the two nations, though fierce and frequent, had been conducted on principles of fair hostility⁹, and admitted of those softening¹⁰ shades by which courtesy and the respect for open and generous foemen qualify and mitigate¹² the horrors of war. In time of peace, therefore, and especially when both, as at present, were engaged in war, waged in behalf of a common cause, and rendered dear to them by their ideas of religion, the adventurers of both countries frequently fought side by side, their national

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