Wyntown informs us that even in his day, long before that of the Minstrel, various works were written recording the deeds of Wallace; but he concludes that these fell short of the truth, as to their extent at least.
Of his gud dedis and manhad Gret gestis, I hard say, ar made: Bot sa mony, I trow, noucht As he in-til hys dayis wroucht. Quha all hys dedis of prys wald dyte, Hym worthyd a gret buk to wryte; And all thai to wryte in here I want bathe wyt and gud laysere.
The character given to Wallace, by Andro Hart, is worthy of being preserved:
“This was the end of this worthy man’s life, who, for high spirit in enterprising dangers, for fortitude in execution, comparable in deed to the most famous chiftains amongst the ancients, for loue to his natiue countrey second to none, he onely free, the rest slaues,--could neither bee bought with benefites, nor compelled by force to leaue the publike cause which he had once profest; whose death appeared more to be lamented, that being inuincible, to his enemy he was betrayed by his familiar, that in no case should have done so.” Pref. to Life of Wallace, p. 14.
Such is the affectionate remembrance of this illustrious defender of the liberties of Scotland, that his name is retained in many other places besides those mentioned in the preceding Notes.
On the hill of “Couthboanlaw, now by corruption called Quothquanlaw,--the common people, to this day, point out with much fond admiration, _Wallace’s Chair_, where he had his abode, and held conferences with his followers, before the battle of Biggar. The chair is a large rough stone, scooped in the middle.” P. Libberton, Lanarkshire, Stat. Acc. II. 235. This is called _Quodquen_ in a charter of the Duke of Albany. Robertson’s Ind. 167, 21.
In the town of Ayr they still point out the ancient tower[B] in which Wallace was imprisoned, and so cruelly treated, that he was at length thrown down from the battlements as dead. Common tradition gives the same account of this barbarous conduct as the Minstrel has done:
Quhen thai presumyt he suld be werray ded, Thai gart serwandys, with outyn langer pleid, With schort awiss on to the wall him bar; Thai kest him our out of that bailfull steid, Off him thai trowit suld be no mor ramede, In a draff myddyn, quhar he remannyt thar.--B. II. 252.