30,000 Caledonians, who were defeated.  Stirling has a commanding geographical position, and all the roads converge there to cross the River Forth.  It was at Stirling Bridge that Wallace defeated the army of 50,000 soldiers sent against him in the year 1297 by Edward I, King of England.  The town had also a lively time in the days of Charles Edward Stuart, “Bonnie Prince Charlie,” whose father, during his exile in France, had been encouraged by the French to return and lay claim to the English Crown.  Landing in Inverness-shire in 1745, Prince Charlie was immediately joined by many of the Highland clans, and passed with his army through Stirling on his way towards London.  Not finding the support they expected from the south, they were compelled to return, followed closely along their line of retreat by the English Army, and they were soon back again at Stirling, where they made a desperate but unsuccessful effort to obtain possession of the castle, which was held for the English.  The Duke of Cumberland’s Army by this time was close upon their heels, and gave them no rest until they caught them and defeated them with great slaughter up at Culloden, near Inverness.

[Illustration:  STIRLING CASTLE AND NECROPOLIS.]

There was much in Stirling and its environs that we wished to see, so we were astir early in the morning, although the weather was inclined to be showery.  First of all, we went to see the cemetery, which occupies a beautiful position on a hill overlooking the wonderful windings of the River Forth, and here we found the tomb of the Protestant martyrs “Margaret and Agnes,” the latter only eighteen years of age, who were tied to stakes at low water in the Bay of Wigtown on May 11th, 1685, and, refusing an opportunity to recant and return to the Roman Catholic faith, were left to be drowned in the rising tide.  Over the spot where they were buried their figures appeared beautifully sculptured in white marble, accompanied by that of an angel standing beside them; the epitaph read: 

M. O A.

MARGARET

VIRGIN MARTYR OF THE OCEAN WAVE
WITH HER LIKE-MINDED SISTER

AGNES.

Love, many waters cannot quench!  GOD saves
His chaste impearled One! in Covenant true. 
“O Scotia’s Daughters! earnest scan the Page.” 
And prize this Flower of Grace, blood-bought for you.

PSALMS IX., XIX.

[Illustration:  THE PROTESTANT MARTYRS]

We stayed there for a few solemn moments, for it was a sight that impressed us deeply, and then we went to inspect an old stone with the following curious inscription cut on its surface: 

Some . only . breakfast . and . away: 
Others . to . dinner . stay . 
And . are . full . fed .
the . oldest . man . but . sups: 
And . goes . to . bed: 
large . is . his . debt: 
that . lingers . out . the . day: 
he . that . goes . soonest: 
has . the . least . to . pay: