This duchess, who married a grandson of Louis XIV. of France,
was older than Queen Isabella--thirteen years old; and as soon as the
wedding festivities were over, she was sent to school in a convent,
to learn at least to read, as she knew absolutely nothing save how to
dance. Queen Isabella, however, was not sent away to school, but was
placed under the care of a very accomplished lady, a cousin of the
king, who acted as her governess. In her leisure hours, the king, who
was a fine musician, would play and sing for her, and, history gravely
informs us, he would even play dolls with her by the hour!
But King Richard's days of quiet pleasure with his child-wife were at
last disturbed, and he was obliged to leave her and go to the war in
Ireland. The parting was very sad and affecting, and they never met
again.
While King Richard was in Ireland, his cousin, Henry of Lancaster,
afterward Henry IV., took possession of the royal treasury, and upon
the return of Richard from his unfortunate campaign, marched at the
head of an army and made a prisoner of him, lodging him in that grim
Tower of London from which so few prisoners ever issued alive.
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