Collected works > Edinburgh edition, 1894-98 - Works of Robert Louis Stevenson > Volume 5, 1895 - Miscellanies, Volume II

CHARLES OF ORLEANS
passed into the silence and solitude of a political
prison.^
His captivity was not without alleviations. He
was allowed to go hawking, and he found Eng-
land an admirable country for the sport ; he was
a favourite with English ladies, and admired their
beauty ; and he did not lack for money, wine, or
books ; he was honourably imprisoned in the strong-
holds of great nobles, in Windsor Castle and the
Tower of London. But when all is said, he was
a prisoner for five-and-twenty years. For five-and-
twenty years he could not go where he would,
or do what he liked, or speak with any but
his jailers. We may talk very wisely .of allevia-
tions ; there is only one alleviation for which the
man would thank you : he would thank you to
open the door. With what regret Scottish James i.
bethought him (in the next room perhaps to Charles)
of the time when he rose 'as early as the day.'
What would he not have given to wet his boots
once more with morning dew, and follow his vagrant
fancy among the meadows ? The only alleviation to
the misery of constraint lies in the disposition of the
prisoner. To each one this place of discipline brings
his own lesson. It stirs Latude or Baron Trenck
into heroic action ; it is a hermitage for pious and
conformable spirits. Beranger tells us he found
prison life, with its regular hours and long evenings,
both pleasant and profitable. The Pilgrhns Progress
and Don Quiocote were begun in prison. It was
^ Sir H. Nicholas, Agincourt.
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