"the most studious and peaceful imaginable. Up at six in the
morning, they prepared their tasks until it was time to go
to school. Lunch was at noon and tea at five. They went to
bed at nine or half-past. All their hours of leisure were
divided between lessons in French, English, music,
pistol-shooting, equitation, and walking. Now and then they
were allowed to play with boys of their own age, and on fete
days and their parents' birth-anniversaries they had the
privilege of choosing a play and seeing it performed at the
theatre. As pocket-money Prince William received 20s. a
month, and Henry 10s. Out of these modest sums they had to
buy their own notepaper and little presents for the servants
or their favourite companions."

As to Prince William's character as a schoolboy, Monsieur Ayme writes:

"I do not suppose William was ever punished while he was in
Cassel. He was too proud to draw down upon himself
criticism, to him the worst form of punishment. At the
castle, as at school, he made it a point of honour to act
and work as if he had made his plans and resolved to stick
to them. He was always among the first of his class, and as
for me I never had any need to urge him on. If I pointed out
to him an error in his task he began it over again of his
own accord. We did grammar, analysis, dictations, and
compositions, and he got over his difficulties by sheer
perseverance. For example, if he was reading a fine page of
Victor Hugo, or the like, he hated to be interrupted, so
deeply was he interested in the subject he was reading.
Style and poetry had a great effect upon him; he expressed
admiration for the form and was aroused to enthusiasm by
generous or noble ideas. Frederick the Great was the hero of
his choice, a model of which he never ceased dreaming, and
which, like his grandfather, he proposed as his own. It is
easy to conceive that after ten or twelve years of such
study, regularly and methodically pursued, the Prince must
have possessed a literary and scientific baggage more varied
and extensive than that of his companions. And he worked
hard for it, few lads so hard. To speak the truth, he was
much more disciplined and much more deprived of freedom and
recreation of all sorts than most children of his age."

_Par paranthe