entirely one, that when at the age of twenty-two the enraptured lover
was allowed to pledge that faith publicly at the altar, which he had so
often vowed in secret to his Marion, he clasped her to his heart, and
softly whispered: "Dearer than life! part of my being! blessed is this
union, that mingles thy soul with mine, now, and forever!"

Edward's invasion of Scotland broke in upon their innocent joys.
Wallace threw aside the wedding garment for the cuirass and the sword.
But he was not permitted long to use either-Scotland submitted to her
enemies; and he had no alternative but to bow to her oppressors, or to
become an exile from man, amid the deep glens of his country.

The tower of Ellerslie was henceforth the lonely abode of himself and
his bride. The neighboring nobles avoided him, because the principles
he declared were a tacit reproach on their proceedings; and in the
course of a short time, as he forbore to seek them, they even forgot
that he was in existence. Indeed, all occasions of mixing with society
he now rejected. The hunting-spear with which he had delighted to
follow the flying roebuck from glade to glade, the arrows with which he
used to bring down the heavy ptarmigan or the towering eagle, all were
laid aside. Scottish liberty was no more; and Wallace would have
blushed to have shown himself to the free-born deer of his native
hills, in communion of sports with the spoilers of his country. Had he
pursued his once favorite exercises, he must have mingled with the
English, now garrisoned in every town, and who passed their hours of
leisure in the chase.

Being resigned to bury his youth-since its strength could no longer be
serviceable to his country-books, his harp, and the sweet converse of
his tender Marion, became the occupations of his days. Ellerslie was