As to Prince William's character as a schoolboy, Monsieur Ayme writes:
"I do not suppose William was ever punished while he was in Cassel. He was too proud to draw down upon himself criticism, to him the worst form of punishment. At the castle, as at school, he made it a point of honour to act and work as if he had made his plans and resolved to stick to them. He was always among the first of his class, and as for me I never had any need to urge him on. If I pointed out to him an error in his task he began it over again of his own accord. We did grammar, analysis, dictations, and compositions, and he got over his difficulties by sheer perseverance. For example, if he was reading a fine page of Victor Hugo, or the like, he hated to be interrupted, so deeply was he interested in the subject he was reading. Style and poetry had a great effect upon him; he expressed admiration for the form and was aroused to enthusiasm by generous or noble ideas. Frederick the Great was the hero of his choice, a model of which he never ceased dreaming, and which, like his grandfather, he proposed as his own. It is easy to conceive that after ten or twelve years of such study, regularly and methodically pursued, the Prince must have possessed a literary and scientific baggage more varied and extensive than that of his companions. And he worked hard for it, few lads so hard. To speak the truth, he was much more disciplined and much more deprived of freedom and recreation of all sorts than most children of his age."
_Par paranthèse_ may be introduced here a reference to Prince Henry, of whom Monsieur Ayme writes less enthusiastically.
"One day," the tutor writes, "I was dictating to him something in which mention of a queen occurs. I came to the words '... in addition to her natural distinction she possessed that August majesty which is the appanage of princesses of the blood royal....'
"Prince Henry laid down his pen and remarked, 'The author who wrote this piece did not live much with queens.'
"'Because I never observed the August majesty which attaches to princesses of the blood royal, and yet I have been brought up among them,' was the reply.
"William, however," continues Monsieur Ayme, "was the thinker, prudent and circumspect; the wise head which knew that it was not all truths which bear telling. He was not less loyal and constant in his opinions. He admired the French Revolution, and the declaration contained in 'The Rights of Man,' though this did not prevent his declaiming against the Terrorists."