[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."