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A neglected education left him almost totally ignorant of letters, but not without a high relish for their beauties. He delighted in poetry, and possessed mind attuned to all its finer sympathies.

The design of the rebel lords in taking arms against their sovereign, James III., being merely to free themselves from his weak and tyrannical government, without prejudice to his heirs, his son James IV. was, immediately after the death of his father, proclaimed king, and was formally invested with that dignity at Scone. However violent and unlawful were the proceedings which thus prematurely elevated James to the throne, the nation soon felt a benefit from the change which these proceedings effected, that could scarcely have been looked for from an administration originating in rebellion and regicide. The several parliaments which met after the accession of the young king, passed a number of wise and salutary laws, encouraging trade, putting down turbulence and faction, and enjoining the strict execution of justice throughout the kingdom.

The prince and his nobles placed the most implicit confidence in each other, and the people in both. This good understanding with the former, the king encouraged and promoted, by inviting them to frequent tournaments and other amusements, and warlike exercises, in accordance with his own chivalrous spirit, and adapted to their rude tastes and habits. These tournaments were exceedingly splendid, and were invested with all the romance of the brightest days of chivalry. Ladies, lords, and knights, in the most gorgeous attire crowded round the lists, or from draperied balconies, witnessed the combats that took place within them. James himself always presided on these occasions, and often exhibited his own prowess in the lists; and there were few who could successfully compete with him with spear, sword, or battle axe. Stranger knights from distant countries, attracted by the chivalric fame of the Scottish court, frequently attended and took part in these tournaments, but, it is said, did not in many instances prove themselves better men at their weapons than the Scottish knights. One of the rules of these encounters was, that the victor should be put in possession of his opponent's weapon; but when this was a spear, a purse of gold, a gift from the king, was attached to the point of it. These trophies were delivered to the conqueror by the monarch himself. The people were delighted with these magnificent and warlike exhibitions, and with their generous and chivalrous author. Nor were the actors themselves, the nobles, less gratified with them, or less affected by the high and princely spirit whence they emanated. They brought them into frequent and familiar contact with their sovereign, and nothing more was necessary in the case of James to attach them warmly and devotedly to his person. His kind and affable manner accomplished the rest.