[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.