Edward himself left the field as fast
as he could ride, and was closely pursued by Douglas, with a party of
horse, who followed him as far as Dunbar, where the English had still
a friend in the governor, Patrick, Earl of Mans. The earl received
Edward in his forlorn condition, and furnished him with a fishing
skiff, or small ship, in which he escaped to England, having entirely
lost his fine army, and a great number of his bravest nobles.
67. The English never before or afterward lost so dreadful a battle as
that of Bannockburn, nor did the Scots ever gain one of the same
importance. Many of the best and bravest of the English nobility and
gentry lay dead on the field; a great many more were made prisoners,
and the whole of King Edward's immense army was dispersed or
destroyed.
68. Thus did Robert Bruce arise from the condition of an exile, hunted
with blood-bounds like a stag or beast of prey, to the rank of an
independent sovereign, universally acknowledged to be one of the
wisest and bravest kings who then lived. The nation of Scotland was
also raised once more from the state of a distressed and conquered
province to that of a free and independent state, governed by its own
laws, and subject to its own princes; and although the country was,
after the Bruce's death, often subjected to great loss and distress,
both by the hostility of the English and by the unhappy civil wars
among the Scots themselves, yet they never afterward lost the freedom
for which Wallace had laid down his life, and which King Robert had
recovered no less by his wisdom than by his weapons.
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