very
demand which had been made of restitution to the English barons, had
always confessed the justice of their claim, and had only given an
evasive answer, grounded on plausible pretences, Edward resolved not to
proceed by open violence, but to employ like artifices against him. He
secretly encouraged Baliol in his enterprise; connived at his assembling
forces in the north; and gave countenance to the nobles who were
disposed to join in the attempt. A force of near two thousand five
hundred men was enlisted under Baliol, by Umfreville, earl of Angus,
the lords Beaumont, Ferrars, Fitz-warin, Wake, Stafford, Talbot, and
Moubray. As these adventurers apprehended that the frontiers would be
strongly armed and guarded, they resolved to make their attack by sea;
and having embarked at Ravenspur, they reached in a few days the coast
of Fife.

Scotland was at that time in a very different situation from that in
which it had appeared under the victorious Robert. Besides the loss
of that great monarch, whose genius and authority preserved entire the
whole political fabric, and maintained a union among the unruly barons,
Lord Douglas, impatient of rest, had gone over to Spain in a crusade
against the Moors, and had there perished in battle:[*] the earl of
Murray, who had long been declining through age and infirmities, had
lately died, and had been succeeded in the regency by Donald, earl of
Marre, a man of much inferior talents: the military spirit of the Scots,
though still unbroken, was left without a proper guidance and direction:
and a minor king seemed ill qualified to defend an inheritance, which
it had required all the consummate valor and abilities of his father to
acquire and maintain.

* Froissard, liv. i. chap. 21.

But as the Scots were apprised of the intended invasion, great numbers,
on the appearance of the English fleet, immediately ran to the shore,
in order to prevent the landing of the enemy. Baliol had valor and
activity, and he drove back the Scots with considerable loss.[*] He
marched westward into the heart of the country; flattering himself
that the ancient partisans of his family would declare for him. But
the fierce animosities which had been kindled between the two nations,
inspiring the Scots with a strong prejudice against a prince supported
by the English, he was regarded as a common enemy; and the regent found
no difficulty in assembling a great army to oppose him. It is pretended
that Mar