And yet a cloud was gathering, at first no bigger than a man's hand, which would soon overcast this apparently happy life. Frau von Plessen strove for influence and power. If she could so contrive that Caroline Matilda should attain as much mastery over Christian VII. as Sophia Magdalena had held over Christian VI., she, as her confidante, would easily be able to direct matters as she pleased. The speculating lady, unfortunately, fancied she had discovered the best way of effecting this, by advising the young queen to behave more reservedly towards her husband, who—so the clever lady-in-waiting calculated—would become all the more in love with his beautiful wife, and more indulgent to her wishes.

The inexperienced Caroline Matilda but too readily followed the advice of her grand mistress, and hence-forward behaved with coy reserve and assumed coldness toward her hot-blooded husband. When he wished to pay the queen an evening visit, he was put off with various excuses, and it was not till he had repeatedly requested an interview with his wife that he was admitted.

Christian, whom any opposition drove to a state bordering on madness, determined to make a tour in Holstein, where he could give way to his propensities unchecked. The queen greatly wished to accompany her husband, which he declined, and the first serious quarrel took place. She was the more to be pitied, honest Reverdil tells us, because she was enceinte, and, through an instinct common to nearly all wives, had grown into an inclination for the father of her child. She attributed her disgrace to Count von Holck, who very probably strengthened the king in his resolution. Consequently, she insisted that he should be left behind as well, and it was not without difficulty that she obtained so weak and humiliating a vengeance.

Reverdil did his best to patch up this quarrel. He urged the king to write his wife the most affectionate letters, and, as Reverdil composed them himself, the queen was to some degree pacified. The account which Reverdil gives us of the royal tour is very lamentable. Christian offended the old Danish nobility by his frivolity and recklessness, while his amusements were so puerile, and the courtiers whom he appeared to prefer so unfitted, that very unfavourable judgments were formed of him.

While staying at Traventhal, the king talked a great deal about the travelling scheme, which he carried out soon after. He wanted it to be different, however, from what it really became. He would have liked to forget business and etiquette, become a private person, and try what success his personal qualities would obtain him in society. He strove very hard to persuade Reverdil to accompany him across the frontier with one valet, and it was not till the Swiss refused point blank to go that the king gave up his design.

During Christian's absence, Caroline Matilda received a terrible shock from the death of her beloved brother, the Duke of York. The young prince left England in August, and proceeded to Paris, where he was magnificently fêted. While he was in France, the Queen of Denmark wrote him the following letter:—

To H.R.H. Edward, Duke of York.

Sir and dear Brother,

You are now in a kingdom that I should like to see in preference to all the countries in Europe, though I am sure my curiosity will never be gratified in that respect. You may, perhaps, attribute this desire to the levity of our sex, which has a strong analogy to the volatile genius of the French. No,—my motive is, that I should be glad to see at home those people who have been for so many centuries past our rivals in arts and army. Pray write to me a good account of Paris, which, I am informed, must yield the precedency to modern London. When you go to the south of France, I am so unreasonable as to expect another account of the provinces. Take care of your health, and let not all the princesses of Europe make you forget.

Your most affectionate
Caroline.

The duke had reached Monaco in his travels, and died there on Sept. 17, after a malignant fever which lasted fourteen days. The blow, so unexpected, was severely felt by the whole family, and by none more than Caroline Matilda, who had been keeping her own troubles locked in her bosom, till she could impart them to an affectionate brother, whose arrival she so fully expected. In the first outburst of her sorrow, she wrote the following touching letter to her mother, the Princess Dowager of Wales:—

Madam and revered Mother,

Give me leave to condole with your royal highness in the loss of your dutiful son, and my beloved brother, the Duke of York. I feel, with my own grief, your sorrow. I beg you will convey the same sentiments to his Majesty the King, my brother. When I reflect on the circumstances of the untimely death of this amiable prince in a foreign land, and perhaps deprived of the comfort and assistance he should have found in his native country, I still more lament his fate. I am extremely concerned for your royal highness's indisposition; but I hope this melancholy event, which maternal tenderness cannot but severely feel, as it was ordered by the unfathomable decrees of Providence, will be so far reconciled to your superior understanding and piety, as to adore and to submit.

I am, with great deference,
Your Royal Highness's
Respectful daughter,
Caroline.