advantage of it to disown the Treaty of Northampton, which had been negotiated by the Mortimers during his minority, and which was extremely unpopular in England.  He at once recognized Edward Balliol as King of Scotland.  The only defence of Randolph’s action is the probability that he suspected Edward to be in search of a pretext for refusing to be bound by a treaty made in such circumstances, and if a struggle were to ensue, it was certainly desirable not to increase the power of the English party.  Edward proceeded to assist Balliol in an expedition to Scotland, which Mr. Lang describes as “practically an Anglo-Norman filibustering expedition, winked at by the home government, the filibusters being neither more nor less Scottish than most of our noblesse”.  But before Balliol reached Scotland, the last of the paladins whose names have been immortalized by the Bruce’s wars, had disappeared from the scene.  Randolph died at Musselburgh in July, 1332, and Scotland was left leaderless.  The new regent, the Earl of Mar, was quite incapable of dealing with the situation.  When Balliol landed at Kinghorn in August, he made his way unmolested till he reached the river Earn, on his way to Perth.  The regent had taken up a position near Dupplin, and was at the head of a force which considerably outnumbered the English.  But the Scots had failed to learn the lesson taught by Edward I at Falkirk and by Bruce at Bannockburn.  The English succeeded in crossing the Earn by night, and took up a position opposite the hill on which the Scots were encamped.  Their archers were so arranged as practically to surround the Scots, who attacked in three divisions, armed with pikes, making no attempt even to harass the thin lines of archers who were extended on each side of the English main body.  But the unerring aim of the archers could not fail to render the Scottish attack innocuous.  The English stood their ground while line after line of the Scots hurled themselves against them, only to be struck down by the gray-goose shafts.  At last the attack degenerated into a complete rout, and the English made good their victory by an indiscriminate massacre.

The immediate result of the battle of Dupplin Moor was that “Edward I of Scotland” entered upon a reign which lasted almost exactly twelve weeks.  He was crowned at Scone on September 24th, 1332, and unreservedly acknowledged himself the vassal of the King of England.  On the 16th December the new king was at Annan, when an unexpected attack was made upon him by a small force, led, very appropriately, by a son of Randolph, Earl of Moray, and by the young brother of the Lord James of Douglas.  Balliol fled to Carlisle, “one leg booted and the other naked”, and there awaited the help of his liege lord, who prepared to invade Scotland in May.  Meanwhile the patriotic party had failed to take advantage of their opportunity.  Sir Andrew Moray of Bothwell, the regent chosen to succeed Mar (who had fallen at Dupplin), had been captured in a skirmish near Roxburgh, either in November, 1332, or in April, 1333, and was succeeded in turn by Sir Archibald Douglas, the hero of the Annan episode, but destined to be better known as “Tyneman the Unlucky”.  The young king had been sent for safety to France.