(_From Lives of Scottish Worthies_, vol. 2.)
[James I. king of Scotland was born in 1394. In 1405, he was sent by
his father, Robert III., to France to escape the danger to which he
was exposed by the ambition of his uncle, but being taken by an
English squadron, he and his whole suite were carried prisoners to the
Tower of London. Here he received an excellent education from Henry
IV. of England, who placed him under the care of Sir John de Pelham,
constable of Pevensey Castle, to which the youthful and royal captive
was conducted. Pelham was a man of note, both as a statesman and a
warrior, and on all occasions, Henry appears to have manifested for
him a high esteem and consideration. The youthful portrait of James is
thus drawn by Mr. Tytler in the above-named work.]
He had just reached the age of eleven years, when the young candidate
for knighthood was usually taken out of the hands of the women to whom
his infancy and extreme boyhood had been intrusted and when it was
thought proper for him to commence his education in earnest. It was at
this age that the parents selected some veteran and able soldier of
noble family, under whose roof their son was placed, and in whose
castle, commencing his services in the capacity of a page, he received
his instruction in the exercises and accomplishments befitting his
condition. Thus Edward the Black Prince delivered his young son
Richard, afterwards Richard II., to Sir Guiscard d'Angle as his
military tutor; esteeming him one of the most experienced and
distinguished knights in his service. We read also that Henry IV.
intrusted the education of his son Henry, afterwards the great Henry
V., to Sir Thomas Percy, a brave and veteran warrior, afterwards Earl
of Worcester; and on the same principle the English king, although,
for reasons of state, he determined to retain the King of Scotland in
his own hands, generously selected for him a military governor, whose
character was a guarantee for his being brought up in a manner
suitable to his royal rank.
It was soon seen that the pupil was not unworthy of the master. In all
athletic and manly exercises, in the use of his weapons, in his skill
in horsemanship, his speed in running, his strength and dexterity as a
wrestler, his firm and fair aim as a jouster and tourneyer, the young
king is allowed by all contemporary writers to have arrived at a pitch
of excellence which left most of the competitors of his own age behind
him; and, as he advanced to maturity, his figure, although not so tall
as to be majestic or imposing, was, from its make, peculiarly adapted
for excellence in such accomplishments. His chest was broad and full,
his arms somewhat long and muscular, his flanks thin and spare, and
his limbs beautifully formed; so as to combine elegance and lightness
with strength. In throwing the hammer, and propelling, or, to use the
Scottish phrase, "putting" the stone, and in skill in archery, we have
the testimony of an ancient chronicler, that none in his own dominions
could surpass him; so that the constable of Pevensey appears to have
done ample justice to his youthful charge.
But this formed only one division of his education. To skill in these
warlike exercises, every youthful candidate for honour and for
knighthood was expected to unite a variety of more pacific and elegant
accomplishments, which were intended to render him a delightful
companion in the hall, as the others were calculated to make him a
formidable enemy in the field. The science of music, both instrumental
and vocal; the composition and recitation of ballads, roundelays, and
other minor pieces of poetry; an acquaintance with the romances and
the writings of the popular poets of the times; were all essential
branches in the system of education which was then adopted in the
castle of every feudal chief; and from Pelham, who had himself been
brought up as the squire of the Duke of Lancaster, we may be confident
that the Scottish king received every advantage which could be
conferred by skilful instructors, and by the most ample opportunities
of cultivation and improvement. Such lessons and exhibitions, however,
might have been thrown away upon many; but James had been born with
those natural capacities which fitted him to excel in them. He
possessed a fine and correct musical ear; a voice which was rich,
flexible, and sufficiently powerful for chamber music; and an
enthusiastic delight in the art, which, unless controlled by strong
good sense, and a feeling of the higher destinies to which he was
called, might have led to a dangerous devotion to it. The peril of
such over-cultivation of this fascinating art does not appear to have
been so common in those days as in our own. The brave and accomplished
military leader, Sir John Chandos, sang sweetly, and solaced his
master, Edward III., on a voyage, by his ballads; the same veteran
soldier did not think himself demeaned by introducing a new German
dance into England; and the Count de Foix frequently requested his
secretaries, in the intervals of severer occupation to recreate
themselves by chanting songs and roundelays.[21]
[21] Archaeologia, vol. xx. p. 59.
Cut off for a long and tedious period from his crown and his people,
James could afford to spend many hours in each tedious day of his
captivity in the cultivation of accomplishments to which, under other
circumstances, it would have been criminal to have given up so much of
his time. And this will easily account for that high musical
excellence to which he undoubtedly attained, and will explain the
great variety of instruments upon which he performed. Besides, to use
the words of a learned and amusing writer, it is well known that
"music constituted a part of the quadrivium, a branch of their system
of education, and it was more or less cultivated by persons of all
conditions;"--churchmen studied it by profession; and the students at
the Inns of Court learned singing and all kinds of music. Richard II.
understood something of the practical part of it; for, on the day of
his departure for Ireland, he assisted at divine service; with the
canons of St. George, and chanted a collect. An old annalist,
enumerating the qualifications of Henry IV., describes him as of
shining talents in music [_in musica micans_]; whilst Stow says of
Henry V., "he delighted in songs, meeters, and musical instruments."[22]
These examples appear amply sufficient to defend King James from any
imputation of over-refinement or effeminacy in the cultivation of an
art which was the favourite amusement of such monarchs as Henry IV.
and his illustrious son.
[22] Ibid pp. 60, 61.
But during the leisure which was afforded by his tedious captivity, it
is certain that James applied himself to severer studies than either
his military exercises or his cultivation of music. He was acquainted
with the Latin language, as far, at least, as was permitted by the
rude and barbarous condition in which it existed previous to the
revival of letters. In theology, oratory, and grammar, in the civil
and the canon laws, he was instructed by the best masters; and an
acquaintance with Norman French was necessarily acquired at a court,
and amongst a people, where it was still currently spoken, and highly
cultivated. Devoted, however, as he was to these pursuits, James
appears to have given his mind with a still stronger bias to the study
of English poetry, choosing Chaucer and Gower for his masters in the
art, and entering with the utmost ardour into the great object of the
first of these illustrious men,--the improvement of the English
language, the production of easy and natural rhymes, and the
refinement of poetical numbers, from the rude compositions which had
preceded him.[23] In the concluding stanza of the King's Quair, a work
composed by the Scottish King shortly before his return to his
kingdom, he apostrophizes Gower and Chaucer as his dear masters, who
sat upon the highest steps of rhetoric, and whose genius as poets,
orators, and moralists, entitled them to receive the most exalted
honour.
[23] Ellis's Specimens, vol. i. p. 205.
Unto the hymis of my maisteris dere,
Gowere and Chaucere, that on steppis satt
Of rhetorick, quhill thai war lyvand here,
Superlative as poets laureate,
In moralitee and eloquence ornate,
I recommend my buik in lynis seven,
And eke their saulis unto the blisse of hevin.
* * * * *