ing placed his hand upon his sword; the bridegroom
started to his feet, and the fair Isabella clung to his side. "Come,
children," said the merchant, "let us to the Hall--a happier hour may
bless your nuptials--this is no moment for bridal ceremony." And in
silence, each man grasping his sword, they departed from the chapel,
where the performance of the marriage rites was broken by the sounds
of invasion. The ramparts were crowded with armed citizens, and a
large English fleet was seen bearing round Lindisfarne. In a few hours
the hostile vessels entered the river, and commenced a furious attack
upon the town. Their assault was returned by the inhabitants as men
who were resolved to die for liberty. For hours the battle raged, and
the Tweed became as a sheet of blood. But while the conflict rose
fiercest, again the Bell Tower sent forth its sounds of death. Edward,
at the head of thirty-five thousand chosen troops, had crossed the
river at Coldstream, and was now seen encamping at the foot of Halidon
Hill. Part of his army immediately descended upon the town, to the
assistance of his fleet. They commenced a resolute attack from the
north, while the greater part of the garrison held bloody combat with
the ships in the river. Though thus attacked upon both sides, the
besieged fought with the courage of surrounded lions, and the proud
fleet was defeated and driven from the river. The attacks of the army
were desperate, but without success, for desperate were the men who
opposed them. Treachery, however, that to this day remains
undiscovered, existed in the town; and, at an hour when the garrison
thought not, the gates were deceitfully opened, and the English army
rushed like a torrent upon the streets. Wildly the work of slaughter
began. With the sword and with the knife, the inhabitants defended
every house, every foot of ground. Mild mothers and gentle maidens
fought for their thresholds with the fury of hungry wolves--and
delicate hands did deeds of carnage. The war of blood raged from
street to street, while the English army poured on like a ceaseless
stream. Shouts, groans, the clang of swords, and the shrieks of women
mingled together. Fiercer grew the close and the deadly warfare; but
the numbers of the besieged became few. Heaps of dead men lay at every
door, each with his sword glued to his hands by the blood of an enemy.
Of the warriors from Fife, every man perished; but their price was a
costly sacrifice of the b