Liberated by the Countess-dowager of
Gloucester, who contrived to open their prison door with false keys, the
youthful captives escaped to the marshes of Wales, where, however,
they were overtaken by the emissaries of Henry, and brought back to
their former place of confinement
A few years later another illustrious prisoner was brought to Windsor--
namely, Prince James, the son of King Robert the Third, and afterwards
James the First of Scotland. This prince remained a captive for
upwards of eighteen years; not being released till 1424, in the second
of Henry the Sixth, by the Duke of Bedford, then regent. James's
captivity, and his love for Jane of Beaufort, daughter of the Duke of
Somerset, and granddaughter to John of Gaunt, to whom he was united,
have breathed a charm over the Round Tower, where he was confined;
and his memory, like that of the chivalrous and poetical Surrey, whom
he resembled in character and accomplishments, will be ever
associated with it.
In the "King's Quair," the royal poet has left an exquisite picture of a
garden nook, contrived within the dry moat of the dungeon.
" Now was there made, fast by the tower's wall,
A garden faire, and in the corners set
An arbour green with wandis long and small
Railed about, and so with leaves beset
Was all the place, and hawthorn hedges knet,
That lyf was none, walking there forbye,
That might within scarce any wight espy.
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