s of the Bluecoat School, and of the King
Edward Grammar Schools in various parts of the country. They, at least,
will understand the gratitude which this generation owes to the good
young king who so materially advanced the learning of which he himself
was so fond, by the establishment of these schools. He was one of the
few of his day who saw that the glory of a country consists not in its
armies and exchequers, but in the religious and moral enlightenment of
its people; and to that glory his own life was, and remains still, a
noble contribution.

CHAPTER THIRTY.

HENRY STUART, THE BOY WHOM A NATION LOVED.

In the courtyard of a Scottish castle, over which floated the royal
banner, a curious scene might have been witnessed one morning nearly
three centuries ago. The central figures of the scene were a horse and
a boy, and the attendant crowd of courtiers, grooms, lackeys; while from
an open window, before which every one in passing bowed low, an
ungainly-looking man watched what was going on with a strangely anxious
excitement. The horse was saddled and bridled, but, with an ominous
roll of his eyes, and a savage expansion of his nostrils, which bespoke
only too plainly his fierce temper, defied every attempt on the part of
the grooms to hold him steady. The boy, scarcely in his teens, was
evidently a lad of distinction, as might be inferred from his gallant
dress, and the deferential demeanour of those who now advanced, and
endeavoured to dissuade him from a rash and perilous adventure.

"Beware, my lord," said one, "how you peril your life in this freak!"

"The animal," said another, "has never yet been ridden. See how even
now he nearly pulls the arms of the grooms from their sockets."

"Lad," cried the ungainly man from the window, "dinna be a fool, I tell
ye! Let the beast be."

But the boy laughed gaily at them all.

"Such a fuss about an ordinary horse! Let him go, men, and leave him to
me."

And he advanced and boldly took the rein, which the grooms unwillingly
relinquished.

There was something about the resolute bearing of the boy which for a
moment seemed to impress the horse himself, for, pricking his ears and
rolling his bloodshot eyes upon him, he desisted from his struggles and
stood still.

The lad put out a hand and patted his neck, and in doing so secured a
firm clutch of the mane in his hand; the next instant his foot was in
the stirrup, and the next he had vaulted into the