GREAT SCOTSMEN. SIR WILLIAM WALLACE (1269-1305). WILL WILLIAM WALLACE was born near Paisley about the year 1269. "His father was a manly knight, His mother was a lady bright," sang Blind Harry, the minstrel, and but little more is known of his parents. He lived for some time in Stirling, under the care of an uncle, who filled the boy's mind with ideas of freedom and liberty, and was never tired of telling him how the English oppressed Scotland. Wallace was a tall handsome boy, with a head of thick golden hair. He was strongly built, and as he grew to manhood his size and strength were very remarkable. He was hasty and violent, and a strong hatred of the English very soon began to show itself in the boy. One day, when still quite young, he went fishing on the river. He caught a good many trout, which were being carried in a basket by a boy walking beside him, when suddenly two or three Englishmen B |