merit
approval--the fact that he held a priory (but only one, that of
Pittenweem) _in commendam_, "and the sumptuositie of his sepulchre."
That sepulchre, half destroyed--after having remained a thing of beauty
for three hundred years--by ignorant and foolish hands in the end of the
eighteenth century, may still be seen in the chapel of his college at
St. Andrews, the only existing memorial of the time when all Scotland
was governed from that stormy headland to the great advantage of the
commonwealth. It is difficult to make out from the different records
whether the young King remained in the Bishop's keeping so long as he
lived, which was but until James had attained the age of thirteen, or
whether the usual struggle between the two sets of guardians appointed
by Parliament, the Boyds and Kennedies, had begun before the Bishop's
death. It may be imagined, however, that the evident advantages to the
boy of Bishop Kennedy's care would outweigh any formal appointment;
although at the same time the idea suggests itself whether in the
perversity of human nature this training was not in itself partly the
cause of James's weaknesses and errors. He would learn at St. Andrews
not only what was best in the learning of the time, but as much of the
arts as were known in Scotland, and especially that noble art of
architecture, which has been the passion of so many princes. And no
doubt he would see the advancement of professors of these arts, of men
skilful and cunning in design and decoration, the builders, the
sculptors, and the musicians, whose place in the great cathedral could
never be unimportant. A Churchman could promote and honour such public
servants in the little commonwealth of his cathedral town with greater
freedom than might be done elsewhere; and James, a studious and feeble
boy, not wise enough to see that the example of his great teacher was
here inappropriate and out of place, learned this lesson but too well.
The King grew up "a man that loved solitariness and desired never to
hear of warre, but delighted more in musick and politie and building nor
he did in the government of his realm." It would seem that he was also
fond of money, which indeed was very necessary to the carrying out of
his pursuits. It is difficult to estimate justly the position of a king
of such a temperament in such circumstances, whether he is to be blamed
for abandoning the national policy and tradition, or whether he was not
rather consci