The
picture drawn of him in early life, by the Scottish historians, is
highly captivating, and seems rather the description of a hero of
romance, than of a character in real history. He was well learnt, we
are told, "to fight with the sword, to joust, to tournay, to
wrestle, to sing and dance; he was an expert mediciner, right crafty
in playing both of lute and harp, and sundry other instruments of
music, and was expert in grammar, oratory, and poetry."*
* Translation of Hector Boyce.
With this combination of manly and delicate accomplishments, fitting
him to shine both in active and elegant life, and calculated to give
him an intense relish for joyous existence, it must have been a severe
trial, in an age of bustle and chivalry, to pass the spring-time of
his years in monotonous captivity. It was the good fortune of James,
however, to be gifted with a powerful poetic fancy, and to be
visited in his prison by the choicest inspirations of the muse. Some
minds corrode and grow inactive, under the loss of personal liberty;
others grow morbid and irritable; but it is the nature of the poet
to become tender and imaginative in the loneliness of confinement.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25