“Came I early, came I late,
   I found Agnes at the gate”,

they sang as the explanation of their failure.

The defence of Dunbar was followed by the surrender of Perth and the capture of the castles of Stirling and Edinburgh, and in June, 1341, David II returned to Scotland, from which Balliol had fled.  David was now seventeen years of age, and he had a great opportunity.  Scotland was again free, and was prepared to rally round its national sovereign and the son of the Bruce.  The English foe was engaged in a great struggle with France, and difficulties had arisen between the English king and his Parliament.  But the unworthy son of the great Robert proved only a source of weakness to his supporters.  The only redeeming feature of his policy is that it was, at first, inspired by loyalty to his French protectors.  In their interest he made, in the year of the Crecy campaign, an incursion into England, thus ending a truce made in 1343.  After the usual preliminary ravaging, he reached Neville’s Cross, near Durham, in the month of October.  There he found a force prepared to meet him, led, as at Northallerton and at Mitton, by the clergy of the northern province.  The battle was a repetition of Dupplin and Halidon Hill, and a rehearsal of Homildon and Flodden.  Scots and English alike were drawn up in the usual three divisions; the left, centre, and right being led respectively, on the one side, by Robert the Steward, King David, and Randolph, and, on the other, by Rokeby, Archbishop Neville, and Henry Percy.  The English archers were, as usual, spread out so as to command both the Scottish wings.  They were met by no cavalry charge, and they soon threw the Scottish left into confusion, and prepared the way for an assault upon the centre.  Randolph was killed; the king was captured, and for eleven years he remained a prisoner in England.  Meanwhile Robert the Steward (still the heir to the throne, for David had no children) ruled in Scotland.  There is reason for believing that, in 1352, David was allowed to go to Scotland to raise a ransom, and, two years later, an arrangement was actually made for his release.  But Robert the Steward and David had always been on bad terms, and, after everything had been formally settled, the Scots decided to remain loyal to their French allies.  Hostilities recommenced; in August, 1355, the Scots won a small victory at Nesbit in Berwickshire, and captured the town of Berwick.  Early in the following year it was retaken by Edward III, who proclaimed himself the successor of Balliol, and mercilessly ravaged the Lowlands.  So great was his destruction of churches and religious houses that the invasion is remembered as the “Burned Candlemas”.  Peace was made in 1357, and David’s ransom was fixed at 100,000 marks.  It was a huge sum; but in connection with the efforts made to raise it the burgesses acquired some influence in the government of the country.