ABSTRACT
On the evening of the fatal day in which the sun of Wallace set for ever on his country, the Earl of Gloucester was giving his latest directions for the night to the warden of the Tower, when the door of the chamber was suddenly burst open by a file of soldiers. A man in armour, with this visor closed, was in the midst of them. The captain of the band told the warden that the stranger before him had behaved in a most seditious manner. He had demanded admittance into the Tower; and on the sentinel to whom he spoke, answering that, in consequence of the execution of Sir William Wallace, orders had been issued 'that no strangers should enter the gates until the following morning,' he asked some questions relative to the condemnation of the Scottish chief; and finding that the sentence of the law had been executed to the uttermost, he burst into a passionate emotion, and uttered such threats against the King of England that the captain thought it his duty to have him seized and brought before the warden.
