FOOTNOTES:
[1] Wraxall's "Historical Memoirs," vol. ii. p. 46, &c.
[2] Or Britain, as the king originally wrote it.
[3] How admirably "Lord Fanny" hits this off, when he says, in his "Memoirs of George II.:" "The king, talking of the people who had governed this country in other times, said: 'King Charles, by his mistresses; King James, by his priests; King William, by his men; and Queen Anne, by her women—favourites. His father, he added, had been by anybody who could get at him.' And at the end of this catalogue the heir of Dettingen asks: 'And who do they say governs us now?' Sporus answers the question to himself and his own satisfaction, by quoting four lines from a current lampoon, which are handed down to posterity, and smash the small king's prestige:—
"You may strut, dapper George, but 'twill all be in vain,
You govern no more than Don Philip of Spain;
Then, if you would have us fall down and adore you,
Lock up your fat wife, as your dad did before you."
[4] At the time when the "Historical Memoirs" were published, the critics fell foul of the king's remark, and denied its authenticity. But, I possess the letter in which Lord G. Sackville stated it. So the invention, be it one, rests with that nobleman, and not with my grandfather.
[5] "Walpole's Letters," vol. ii, p. 248.
[6] For this word I am indebted to Miss Prudence B—r—h—d, in "The New Bath Guide:"
Brother Sim has turned a rake-hell;
Balls and parties every day.
Jenny laughs at tabernacle.
Tabby Runt has gone astray.
Since writing this, however, it has occurred to me that Mr. Anstey may have merely invented the word for the sake of the rhyme.
[7] Proof that my statements are not too strong, will be found in the following works:—Letters of Lady M. W. Montagu; Junius; Gibbon's Miscellaneous Works and Memoirs; Walpole's Memoirs and Letters to Sir H. Mann; Burke's Anecdotes of the Aristocracy; Wraxall's Historical Memoirs; and a very curious German work, recently published, Chrysander's Händel, vol. ii.
[8] For convenience of reference, I will give here, once for all, a list of the children, as I shall have to allude to some of them pretty frequently in the course of my narrative. The list is taken from the "Gentleman's Magazine," 1772:—
1. Augusta, born July 31, 1737, O.S.; married to the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick.
2. George, born May 24, 1738, O.S.; king of Great Britain.
3. Edward, Duke of York, born March 14, 1739; died Sept. 7, 1767, at Monaco.
4. Elizabeth, born Dec. 30, 1740; died Sept. 4, 1759.
5. William, Duke of Gloucester, born Nov. 14, 1743.
6. Henry, Duke of Cumberland, born Oct. 27, 1745; married in Oct., 1771, to Mrs. Horton, widow, daughter of Lord Irnham, and sister to Col. Luttrell.
7. Louisa, born March 8, 1748; died an infant.
8. Frederick, born May 13, 1750; died Dec. 29, 1765.
9. Caroline, born July 11, 1751; married Nov. 8, 1766, to Christian VII., King of Denmark.
[9] "Walpole's Letters," vol. ii., p. 248.
[10] "George III., his Court, and Family," vol. iii., p. 134.
[11] "Memoirs of the Last Ten Years of the Reign of George II." By Horace Walpole. Vol. i. pp. 247-254.
[12] "George III., his Court and Family," vol. i. pp. 142-3.
[13] "George III., his Court and Family," vol. i. p. 172.
[14] How this remark reminds us of the lines in the New Bath Guide:—
"But Stephen, no sighing, no tears could recall,
So she hallowed the seventh, and went to the ball."
[15] "Last Ten Years of the Reign of George II." By Horace Walpole. Vol. ii. pp. 47-50.
[16] Baron von Seckendorf, writing to Mr. W. N. Wraxall, in 1776, remarks: "On m'a aussi parlé dernièrement d'une brochure qui vient de parôitre à Londres au sujet de notre chère et respectable maîtresse qui a pour titre, 'Memoirs of an Unfortunate Queen;' quoique l'authenticité de ces lettres est incontestablement fausse, je serois pourtant bien aise de les posséder." How on earth could the Baron be certain of the falsehood of a book which he had not seen?
[17] "Annual Register, 1765."
[18] Walpole's "Memoirs of Reign of George III.," vol. ii. pp. 330-31.
[19] "Memoirs and Correspondence of Sir R. Murray Keith," vol. i. p. 163. A book which contains a great deal of thrashed out straw, and is remarkable for the art by which every interesting or satisfactory document has been left out.
[20] "Memoirs of Sir R. M. Keith," vol. i. p. 165.
[21] This parallel at once proves the vital importance of Schleswig-Holstein to the Danes. England could afford to lose Hanover, and was not sorry to do so, as she thus escaped many German entanglements; but to Denmark the retention of the duchies is a life question, both politically and materially. They contain the sources of her power and prosperity; only so long as she retains Schleswig-Holstein can she hold her ground as a second-class power; but from the moment that she is forced to surrender the duchies, she will hopelessly sink to the rank of a third or fourth rate power. Indeed, it is not improbable that she would soon be absorbed altogether, for ere long, united Sweden and Norway would annex this small isolated fraction of Scandinavian nationality.
[22] During Queen Louisa's life Frederick is supposed to have only once gone astray with an Italian prima donna, the Scalabrini. The queen-mother, however, had him supplanted in the lady's favour by Captain Detlev von Ahlefeldt, a groom in waiting. When the king heard of it he was furious, kicked the singing woman out at a moment's notice, and shut the unhappy captain up for life in the fortress of Munkholm. The queen forgave her truant, and they lived happy ever after, as the fairy stories say. No one cared, as it seemed, for mamma's unhappy victim.
[23] The queen ruptured herself by suddenly stooping down, and concealed it for several days, until excessive pain compelled her to summon medical aid, and necessitated a painful operation, of which she died.
[24] The "Northern Courts." By Mr. T. Brown. The first volume contains a very interesting "Secret History of the Courts of Sweden and Denmark," copied and translated from a Danish MS. found aboard the United States merchantman the Clyde, which ship was detained off the Start by the Dapper gunboat, and sent into Plymouth in February, 1807. As the work has been quoted by all writers on the subject of Caroline Matilda, the startling revelations it contains cannot be passed over by a searcher after the truth.
[25] "Authentische Aufklärungen," a work translated from the MS. of Prince Charles of Hesse, brother-in-law of Christian VII., by Councillor of Legation Sturtz. It was also translated into English by Mr. Latrobe.
[26] "Northern Courts" adds, in confirmation of this story, that Brockdorf, being forbidden to appear in the prince's presence, was immediately engaged in the service of the step-queen, and placed as an officer in her palace.
[27] Brown's "Northern Courts," vol. i. p. 23.
[28] "Struensee et la Cour de Copenhague, 1760-1772. Mémoires de Reverdil, Conseiller d'État du Roi Chrétien VII. Paris, 1858."
[29] The prince had probably heard of the Art of Passau, which, according to a very wide-spread superstition in Germany, consists in rendering men hard and invulnerable by a secret incantation. Becker alludes to it in the "Monde enchanté."
[30] Höst's "Udsigt over de fem forste Aar of Christian den Syvendes Regjering."
[31] "Drei Hofgeschichten:" von Johann Scherr.
[32] "Gentleman's Magazine, February, 1766."
[33] "Denkwürdigkeiten des Barons Carl Heinrich von Gleichen," Leipzig, 1817. A very little-known book, which contains a fund of amusing anecdotes of the eighteenth century.
[34] "Mémoires de Falkenskjold," p. 317.
[35] Reverdil adds: "Nous jetterons un voile sur les désordres où Sperling put l'entrainer. Il en est un qui dut contribuer aux progrès de sa démence. Dans un âge avancé il en convenait et cependant il y retombait toujours."
[36] "Mémoires de mon Temps," pp. 37-38.
[37] The first Count of Danneskjold Samsöe was a son of Christian V., by Sophie Amalie, daughter of Paul Mothe, a surgeon. His daughter by his first marriage, Friderike Luise, married, on July 21, 1720, Christian Augustus, Duke of Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, which marriage plays an important part in the Schleswig-Holstein polemics, as regards the legitimacy of the Pretender. Christian, the present Duke of Augustenburg, as well as his brother, Prince Frederick, also married Countesses of Danneskjold Samsöe. A full account of the family will be found in vol. iv. of "Bülau's Geheime Geschichten und räthselhafte Menschen," in art. Natural Children of the Kings of Denmark.
[38] General St. Germain had been summoned to Copenhagen by Frederick V., in 1761, when Peter III. raised a claim to the Gottorp portion of the duchy united with the royal part of Schleswig, and menaced Denmark with a war afloat and ashore. Saint Germain was appointed commander-in-chief, but Catharine made a peace with Denmark on following her murdered husband on the throne. In after life, Saint Germain was minister-at-war to Louis XVI., and caused general dissatisfaction, by trying to introduce the Prussian regulations into the French army.
[39] Son of the Landgrave Frederick II. of Hesse and Mary, daughter of George II. of England. When his father embraced the Catholic faith, he, for fear of contagion, was placed with his brothers under the guardianship of the Protestant kings of Great Britain, Denmark, and Prussia. The county of Hanau was given to their mother for their support; and when the war broke out in Hanover, the boys were sent for greater security to Copenhagen, under the protection of Frederick V., who had married Prince Charles's maternal aunt. I shall have repeated occasions to allude to this prince.
[40] "Northern Courts," vol. i. p. 24.
[41] "Mémoires de mon Temps," dictés par S. A. le Landgrave Charles Prince de Hesse. (Printed by the King of Denmark for private circulation.)
[42] In spite of all my efforts I have been unable to discover the original documents. The above are, therefore, translated from Scherr's "Drei Hofgeschichten."
[43] It has been mentioned that Caroline Matilda received, on parting from her mother, a ring bearing the motto, "Bring me happiness." Four days after the marriage the royal couple dined in state with two hundred guests, and it was already observed that the rosy bloom on the young queen's cheeks had disappeared. She was seen to look thoughtfully at her ring, and sigh heavily. Her unhappiness showed itself more and more from day to day, while the king appeared to take no notice of it. One day, when his favourite, Count Holck, called Christian's attention to it, he replied, "Qu'importe? it is not my fault; I believe that she has the spleen. Passons là dessus."
[44] According to the "Mémoires de mon Temps," Fran von Plessen took a very high tone with everybody, and, like another Princess Ursini, claimed the right of pointing the arrows which the ministers were to fire.
[45] "Northern Courts," vol. i.
[46] According to the "Mémoires de mon Temps," this Princess was constantly tormented by the king. At first she would smooth her ruffled plumes, and smile on the king addressing her as the daughter of Frederick IV., but at last things got so bad that she withdrew to her bedroom, and would not come to meals. This cost the king and the royal family dear, for she left her large property in estates and precious stones, not to the king, as she often declared she would, but to the poor. The final cause of her withdrawal was a terrible fright she received through Warnstedt, the king's first page, crawling into the dining-room on all fours, disguised as a savage. What an idea this offers of court life in those days!
[47] The celebrated converter of Struensee. If we may believe a curious pamphlet called "Sittliche Frage; warum müssten die Königin von Dännemark, und die Grafen von Struensee und von Brandt in Kopenhagen arretiret u. s. w.? von einem dänischen Zuschauer gründlich beantwortet"—this preacher was not the cleanest of men, for, some years previously, he had been suspended for drinking, riding, joking, and card-playing.
[48] Reverdil's "Struensee," p. 74.
[49] "Annual Register, 1767."
[50] According to Reverdil, this woman was introduced to the king by Count von Danneskjold Laurvig. She had risen from the vilest state of prostitution to the rank of mistress of Sir John Goodricke, the English minister appointed to Sweden, but whom French intrigues prevented from residing at Stockholm. She was called, in consequence, Milady. At this time she was the very faithless mistress of the Viennese envoy.
[51] "Authentische Aufklärungen," p. 15.
[52] "Reverdil's Memoirs."
[53] "Reverdil's Memoirs."
[54] "Authentische Aufklärungen," p. 18.
[55] Reverdil.
[56] At the Danish court, chamberlains have the relative rank of major-generals; pages of the chamber that of lieutenant-colonels; and court hunting and riding pages that of captains.
[57] Evidently an allusion to the loss of Milady.
[58] Of this lady, the author of "Mémoires de mon Temps" says: "C'était une femme admirable et d'un grand esprit; beaucoup de lecture et beaucoup de monde."
[59] "Mémoires de Falckenskjold," to which the reader who desires to know further details is respectfully referred.
[60] In the "Mémoires de mon Temps" we read: "Il (le roi) manquait entièrement de l'application, mais avait beaucoup d'esprit, qui était très vif même, avait la repartie extrêmement prompte, très gaie, fort bonne mémoire, en un mot, un jeune homme charmant, qu'ou ne put qu'aimer.... Il avait une passion démesurée de connaitre des femmes," &c.
[61] "Mémoires de mon Temps," p. 49.
[62] "Memoirs of an Unfortunate Queen."
[63] Brown's "Northern Courts," vol. i.
[64] There is not the least truth in this scandal, I am bound to add, on the principle of giving even Clootie his due.
[65] "H. Walpole's Letters," vol. v. pp. 121-123.
[66] Now-a-days it is exactly vice versâ: first ball, and then supper.
[67] "Letters of H. Walpole," vol. v. pp. 128, 129.
[68] Brown's "Northern Courts," vol. i. p. 62.
[69] I have said that these lines were the worst ever written, but I retract. The very worst will be found in a poem called The Masquerade, inscribed to the King of Denmark. Here is a specimen:—
"Reflection lent the traveller her staff,
And hospitality began to laugh."
[70] "Northern Courts," vol. i.
[71] "Memoirs of Sir R. Murray Keith," vol. i.
[72] "Walpoleana," vol. ii. p. 24.
[73] "Memoirs of an Unfortunate Queen."
[74] Brown's "Northern Courts," vol. i.
[75] Fredensborg, or the Palace of Peace, was built by Frederick IV., in 1720, in testimony of the pleasure which the peace of Nystadt caused him. The death of Charles XII., that unhappy king, who was possessed by the monomania rather than the genius of war, was considered a blessing throughout the north, which his warlike temper plunged into disorder and ruin.—De Flaux, "Du Danemark."
[76] "Authentische Aufklärungen."
[77] "Memoirs of an Unfortunate Queen."
[78] "Vie privée de Louis XV." London, 1781.
[79] "Mémoires de M. le Baron de Bezenval," vol. i. p. 204.
[80] Although Carlyle has recently thrown a doubt on this anecdote, it is too well established as an historical fact for even that writer absolutely to demolish it.
[81] The sources whence I have drawn the above hasty sketch of Paris in the eighteenth century are—Duclos, Mémoires Secrets—Marmontel, Mémoires—Soulavie, Mémoires de Richelieu—Soulavie, Décadence de la Monarchie Française—Madame du Hausset, Mémoires—Madame de Campan, Mémoires—Bezenval, Mémoires—Dumouriez, Mémoires—Casanova, Mémoires—Vie privée de Louis XV.—Les fastes de Louis XV.—Voltaire, Siècle de Louis XV.—Mémoires Historiques et Anecdotales de la Cour de France—Chesterfield's Letters—Mercier, Tableau de Paris—Lacretelle, Histoire de la France pendant le XVIII. Siècle—Barbier, Journal du Règne de Louis XV.
[82] "Denkwürdigkeiten des Barons von Gleichen," p. 49.
[83] "Annual Register, 1768."
[84] "Memoirs of an Unfortunate Queen."
[85] An amusing counterpart to this had occurred during Christian's stay in London. One day, when his coach drove up to the door of his residence, a fine-looking girl burst through the double line of attendants, caught the King of Denmark in her arms, and, kissing him heartily, said, "Now kill me if you please, I can die contented, since I have kissed the prettiest fellow in the world." The king, far from being offended, gently liberated himself from her embrace, and ran, laughing and skipping, up-stairs.
[86] Written by l'Abbé de Beau de Voisenon, and to be found in the "Almanach des Muses" for 1769.
[87] "Authentische Aufklärungen," pp. 25, 26.
[88] "Mémoires de mon Temps." pp. 8, 9.
[89] It was on one of these occasions that Reverdil, on some courtiers bringing to the palace a morning star they had taken from a watchman, and boasting loudly of their exploit, uttered the sarcastic words, "Voilà un beau chemin à la gloire." This remark had something to do with his dismissal.
[90] "Northern Courts," p. 82.
[91] In a life of Carl August von Struensee, by Held, I find that the origin of the Struensee family was as follows:—One of his ancestors, of quite a different name, was, during the time of the Hanseatic League, a pilot of Lübeck. During a frightful storm, in which no other man dared to venture out to sea, he brought a richly laden fleet into port; acquired respect and credit in his native city for doing so; and, in memory of his courageous deed, received from the Lübeck magistracy the name of Strouvensee, which means a dark, stormy sea.
[92] In a tolerably impartial life of Struensee, published at Copenhagen while he was under sentence of death, the following portrait is drawn of him:—"He was a tall and very broad-shouldered fellow, almost of the height for the Guards; was not ill-looking, had a rather long nose, a merry look, playful and penetrating eyes, a free carriage, and sat his horse very well. Liberty followed all his movements, and he was as little affected in the presence of the king and among the courtiers, as if he were a born gentleman and had been educated at court. In short, through the qualities of his mind and person he might have been an amiable courtier and excellent statesman, if his heart had only been better."
[93] "Authentische Aufklärungen."
[94] "Besondere Nachrichten von den Opfern der Staaten," &c. Pelim. 1772. This was a town in Siberia, to which Marshal Münnich was banished; but I doubt whether it contained a printing press.
[95] "Besondere Nachrichten von den Opfern," &c.
[96] This name was probably derived from a conical mound, apparently an ancient tumulus, in the centre of the gardens, on which very fine ash trees grew.
[97] Reverdil, pp. 61, 62.
[98] Mr. N. W. Wraxall's Private Journal.
[99] Whenever the word dollar is used, its value must be taken at three marcs courant, or about 3s. 6d. of our money.
[100] The rank-order (rang-ordnung) is divided into nine classes in Denmark. To the first class belong the privy councillors of conferences, generals and lieutenant-generals, admirals and vice-admirals, and the Counts von Danneskjold Samsöe (by reason of their birth); to the second class, the councillors of conference, major-generals and rear-admirals; and to the third, actual councillors of state, colonels and commanders. Only these classes had the right to attend court up to the reign of Frederick VI.
[101] This private journal was kept in 1774. In 1796, when preparing his "Courts of Vienna, Berlin," &c., for press, my grandfather endorsed it: "The account of the Danish revolution and of Struensee is of the highest authenticity, and, at the same time, of the most delicate and secret nature." A great portion of this narrative has been worked into my text; but I have not thought it necessary, in every instance, to quote my authority.
[102] There was no truth in this report, for Struensee was devotedly attached to a Mrs. B——, whose acquaintance he had formed in England, and wore her miniature round his neck even at his execution.
[103] Reverdil, pp. 147, 148.
[104] In "Northern Courts" it is stated that the two men were in love with the wife of General von Gähler, and that the Russian, knowing that an ambassador could not meet a doctor with the sword, took the cowardly revenge of inflicting a severe castigation on Struensee with a cane—a mode of discipline to which he had himself been often subjected at Petersburg. It is also stated by the same author, that Frau von Gähler's motive for dismissing the Russian was, because he refused to join the queen's party. If this is authentic, we may conclude that the crafty envoy, even at that time, saw in the queen an opponent of the Philo-Russian policy of the Copenhagen cabinet.
[105] "Authentische Aufklärungen."
[106] "Authentische Aufklärungen."
[107] Struensee had taken riding lessons in England of Astley.
[108] Doctor Johann Scherr, one of the most inveterate assailants of the queen's honour, does not hesitate to quote in connection with the "reader," the beautiful episode of Paolo and Francesca, in the fifth canto of the Inferno, ending with the line:
"Quel giorno più non vi legemmo avante."
[109] "Authentische Aufklärungen," p. 49.
[110] The reader will please bear in mind that the definitive exchange of the Oldenburg counties was not carried out till after Struensee's downfall. The original agreement was, that it should be delayed till the Grand Duke Paul attained his majority, and then he gave it his sanction.
[111] "Authentische Aufklärungen," pp. 49-50.
[112] According to Falckenskjold ("Mémoires sur Struensee," p. 109), Rantzau tried to thwart the Holstein exchange, and made a conspiracy with Count Görtz and Borck, the Prussian minister at Copenhagen, to overthrow the Danish government, and bring into power a party hostile to Russia. This plot having been foiled by Saldern, Rantzau was exiled to Glückstadt.
[113] Mr. N. W. Wraxall's informant did not mince matters when alluding to Rantzau, for he said: "He is a most infamous man, a liar, a coward, a man capable, from the meanest motives, of betraying his longest and best friends." Cautious Sir R. M. Keith also judged Rantzau correctly, and wrote about him in a letter to his father: "Count Rantzau, at this moment Lieutenant-General, Confidential Councillor, Knight of the Queen's Order, &c., would, if he had lived within reach of Justice Fielding, have furnished matter for an Old Bailey trial any one year of the last twenty of his life."
[114] According to Reverdil, Rantzau proposed at this time to make a league with Bernstorff, the man whom he hated most in the world, and upset the Traventhal cabal. Of course, he only meant it as a trap; but it gives a further clue to the man's character.
[115] "Authentische Aufklärungen," p. 263.
[116] In the first number of his Magazine, Struensee had published an epigram, pointed at this state of matters in Copenhagen:—
"An die Fürsten.
Ihr heisst mit Recht die Fürsten dieser Erde,
Denn Ihr erschafft: o schöne That!
Ihr sprechet ein allmächtig: Werde!
Schnell wird aus dem Lakai ein—Rath."
(To the Princes.—You are justly called the princes of the earth, for you create; ah! glorious deed: you utter an almighty be! and quickly a lackey becomes a—Councillor.)
[117] "Authentische Aufklärungen," pp. 51, 52.
[118] Reverdil, p. 159.
[119] In the same way Frederick the Great writes: "L'accès que le médecin eut à la cour lui fit gagner imperceptiblement plus d'ascendant sur l'esprit de la reine qu'il n'étoit convenable à un homme de cette extraction."
[120] De Flaux: "Du Danemark."
[121] De Flaux: "Du Danemark."
[122] On this subject, the "Mémoires de Falckenskjold" and De Flaux's "Du Danemark" may be consulted with advantage.
[123] This and the subsequent royal decrees will be found in full in Höst's "Struensee's Ministerium," vol. iii.
[124] Colonel Keith writes home: "An abominable riding-habit, with a black slouched hat, has been almost universally introduced here, which gives every woman the air of an awkward postilion. In all the time I have been in Denmark I never saw the queen out in any other garb."
[125] De Flaux: "Du Danemark."
[126] "Memoirs of Sir R. M. Keith," vol. i. p. 199.
[127] "Coxe's Travels," vol. v. Not a trace of Hirschholm now exists. It was pulled down by order of Frederick VI., and not a stone was left on the other.
[128] Reverdil.
[129] "Authentische Aufklärungen," p. 59.
[130] A branch of the Danneskjold family, so called from a large iron foundry belonging to it, the only county in Norway. In Denmark the family had also large estates in the island of Langeland.
[131] Struensee hit upon a most ingenious plan for driving the nobles from the capital. He obtained a decree from the king by which any creditor could arrest his debtor if unable to pay. In a very short time the first gentlemen in the land were seen flying to their country seats; among them was Count von Laurvig, a man whose presence caused the favourite some alarm, and against whom the new law had been specially directed.
[132] The constitutional, almost democratic government of Denmark, has sinned grievously against this sensible rule. The late king, and I dare say the present, appointed surgeons, postmasters, custom-house officers, &c., councillors of justice, although these gentry understood nothing of law, and many a shopkeeper or farmer bears the title of war assessor, war councillor, or chief commissary of war. The reason alleged for this by the government of Frederick VI. was, that the titled persons paid a handsome tax to the Treasury.
[133] As the Norwegian language is merely a dialect, but the written language in both kingdoms is Danish, and the kingdom of Norway was at that time governed like a mere province, there was only a Danish chancery for the two kingdoms, and a German one for the duchies and counties.
[134] Charles X.'s attack of February 11, 1659.
[135] Reverdil and "Northern Courts."
[136] An affecting trace of this training was seen on the very last day of the life of Frederick VI. As is well known, he died of entire loss of strength; but on the afternoon before his death, he gave the parole for the day in his audience-room. While doing so, his three-cornered hat fell from his grasp; but he would not allow any one to pick it up, but did so himself with the utmost difficulty.
[137] Reverdil, p. 224.
[138] "Authentische Aufklärungen," p. 72.
[139] After the palace revolution of 1772, Thott joined the newly-formed ministry. Moltke Bregentved accepted no office, and died in 1793, at the age of 83. Reventlow eventually became curator of Kiel University, where he died in 1783. Rosenkrantz was recalled to the privy council in 1784, when the crown prince broke up Guldberg's ministry and became prince regent, but he was dismissed again in 1788. He died in 1802.
[140] The reader will please make a distinction between Frederiksberg and Frederiksborg. The former was hardly a league from the capital; the latter, about twenty miles off, in the vicinity of Fredensborg and Hirschholm.
[141] Brown's "Northern Courts," vol. i. p. 108.
[142] Höst, vol. iii. p. 20.
[143] Reverdil, p. 287.
[144] Sir R. M. Keith, writing to his father on October 30, 1771, says: "When I was upon the road to this city, I heard of the downfall of a Monsieur de W—, who had been in high favour with the sovereign, and raised from page to two or three handsome posts at court. This young gentleman had fancied to himself that he had become a man of importance, and began to vapour: when Struensee dismissed the mighty Maréchal de la Cour, Chambellan, &c., &c., in a very laughable manner, by creating him very unexpectedly lieutenant of Dragoons in a regiment in Jütland! and sending him to his garrison with a small pension. He became, probably, as awkward a lieutenant as he had been a courtier; however, his military progress is again at a stand, as he was called back to town yesterday (to my great amusement), and will immediately resume his functions as a wag of the court!"
[145] When a Copenhagen official was dismissed during Struensee's short reign, a groom of the royal stud mounted on a yellow horse, generally handed him his discharge. Hence it became a permanent question in the capital: "whom did the yellow visit last?"
[146] Reverdil, p. 142.
[147] According to Reverdil, these amusements only perpetuated what had been done for a fête given to the Duke of Gloucester, on his paying his royal sister a visit. The garden at Frederiksberg, which was much larger than that of Rosenborg, was on that occasion magnificently illuminated and decorated, and maskers visited it for three consecutive evenings.
[148] "Falckenskjold's Memoirs," p. 121.
[149] Peut-être lui donna-t-on des choses fortifiantes pour restaurer sa faiblesse, et qui eurent l'effet de lier les facultés de son esprit, sans les lui ôter tout-à-fait.—Mémoires de mon Temps, p. 56.
[150] This Berger was a surgeon-accoucheur, and favourite of Struensee. He must not be confounded with Etats-rath von Berger, the physician in ordinary, who had retired from court.
[151] "Authentische Aufklärungen."
[152] She was the mother of Christian Augustus, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein Sonderburg Augustenburg, who was deprived of his rights by the London treaty of 1852; of Prince Frederick of Noër; and of the Dowager Queen Amelia, widow of Christian VIII., King of Denmark.
[153] "Annual Register, 1771."
[154] This law, drawn up by the unfortunate Griffenfeldt, and signed on November 14, 1665, by Frederick III., the first absolute king of Denmark and Sweden, but not published till after his death in 1709, raises the king above the law, and makes him responsible to God alone for his actions as regent. The only condition imposed on him was, that he should belong to the Protestant religion, according to the Augsburg Confession. The Lex Regia remained in force till June 5, 1849, the day on which the late King of Denmark, Frederick VII., signed the democratic constitution of Denmark.
[155] Struensee, the liberal reformer, who made the nobility feel his sarcasm on every occasion, was yet weak enough to have this absurdity painted on his coach panels, to dress his servants in red and white liveries, and to have his coat of arms fastened on their caps. When his valet appeared for the first time in this livery—so La Mothe, the queen's chamber-woman, tells us—he stumbled on the palace stairs, his cap fell off his head and broke the badge, and the blood that flowed from his nose thoroughly ruined the new livery. On Struensee being told of this, he only gave his ordinary answer when anything disagreeable to him happened "As God pleases." On this occasion, though, it may have contained a deeper meaning.
[156] After Struensee's downfall, this system was introduced again under the title of the Commission of Inquisition. It was finally abolished, together with running the gauntlet in the army, by Frederick VI.
[157] The clergy protested against the marriage of cousins-german being allowed, although the king had given the example of such an alliance, and a dispensation had always hitherto been granted. Nothing can be urged, however, in favour of Struensee's permission for a man to marry his wife's niece, or even sister.
[158] This charge against Struensee can hardly be repeated too often. The breach between Dane and German, which produced such a terrible catastrophe in his case, has never since been healed, and it is in great measure owing to thin jealousy, that the inhabitants of the duchies have had cause to complain of their treatment by the triumphant, and, I fear, dictatorial, minority.
[159] Bernstorff mentioned this fact to Reverdil on the very day before his death, and Rantzau said to the Swiss, shortly after the negociation had been broken off, "Bernstorff would be here now if he could have trusted to me."
[160] Brandt and Rantzau.
[161] The king most frequently spoke German to Reverdil, which was the court language at the time, though formerly he had piqued himself on addressing everybody in his own language, and had always spoken to Reverdil in French, rarely in Danish, and never in German.
Transcriber Notes:
[P.8.] 'Gräfinn' changed to 'Gräfin'.
[P.154.] 'lappel' changed to 'lapel'.
[P.292.] 'someting' changed to 'something'.
[P.382.] 'her warm reception;', duplicate taken out of index.
[P.383.] 'madnesss' changed to 'madness'.
[P.390.] 'famly' changed to 'family'.
Fixed various punctuation.
Added index link to table of contents in html.