James was taught to
read and write English, French, and Latin. He was taught to
fence and wrestle, and indeed to do everything as a knight
should. Prince James was a willing pupil; he loved his books,
and looked forward to the coming of his teachers, who lightened
the loneliness of his prison.
"But," says a Frenchman who has written a beautiful little book
about this captive King, "'stone walls do not a prison make, nor
iron bars a cage': the soul of the child, who grew to be a youth,
was never a prisoner. Behind the thick walls of the Tower, built
long ago by the Conqueror, he studied. Guards watched over him,
but his spirit was far away voyaging in the realms of poetry.
And in these thought journeys, sitting at his little window, with
a big book upon his knee, he visited the famous places which the
Gesta Romanorum unrolled before him. . . . The 'noble senator'
Boece taught him resignation. William de Lorris took him by the
hand and led him to the garden of the Rose. The illustrious
Chaucer invited him to follow the gay troop of pilgrims along the
highroad to Canterbury.
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