When the proposal to travel was laid before Christian, he accepted it with delight, and Holck was no less pleased at the opportunity of showing off. As Saldern was unable to accompany the king, he contrived to place in his suite, as a spy and confidential agent, a Major Düring, who had passed from the service of Russia into that of Christian, as aide-de-camp. Saldern's real motive for urging the tour appears to have been that, in this case, the King of Denmark could not well avoid paying a visit to Petersburg, and complimenting the empress on the ratification of the exchange. This hope, however, was not realized.
In the meantime, Holck continued to revel in his good fortune. He was betrothed to Fräulein von Stockfleth, step-daughter of the bailiff of Aggerhuus, although the young lady had not yet attained the legal age for confirmation. The bridegroom's longing for his young bride, or her fortune—which he very quickly spent, by the way—was so great, however, that he obtained an order from the king to the bishop of the diocese, in which the latter was requested, himself, to examine and confirm the young lady, and so soon as this was done, her step-father brought the girl, who was not fifteen years of age, to Copenhagen, in April, for the purpose of being married to the count. But a menacing story was gathering on the favourite's hitherto cloudless horizon.
Christian VII. found pleasure in the society of Page of the Chamber Enevold Brandt, as well as in that of Count Conrad von Holck. This man, who plays a principal part in the tragedy which will be presented to the reader hereafter, was born at Copenhagen in 1738, and was consequently thirty years of age at this time. His father was Conferenzrath Brandt, private secretary and intendant of Queen Sophia Magdalena, and his mother a daughter of Conferenzrath Berregaard. The father died before his son's birth, and his mother afterwards married Baron von Söhlenthal, administrator of the county of Rantzau, in Holstein. Young Brandt was brought up in his step-father's house, and at an early age went to Copenhagen, in order to attend the lectures of the celebrated jurisconsult Kofod Ancher. In July 18, 1755, he was nominated court page,[56] and afterwards studied at the noble academy of Soroe, where he passed a brilliant examination in law, on September 26, 1756. On May 12, 1759, he was appointed an assessor auscultans in the Danish Chancery; on May 26, 1760, a page of the bed-chamber; and on February 24, 1767, an assessor of the supreme court. In September of the same year he made a tour on the Continent, and on his return met with a favourable reception at court. Brandt was anything but good looking, and Falskenskjold describes him to us as positively ugly. There was something repellent in his face, which was pitted with small-pox, and his physical constitution was as ruined as his morals. Although he could not be denied talent, his behaviour often rendered him ridiculous. Thus, for instance, he was fond of singing in public, though he had a weak voice; and he was equally fond of dancing, though he cut a very awkward figure.
As page of the bed-chamber, Brandt took part in all the court festivities. He was one of the performers in Zaire, and was a good deal about the king's person; but, like all the courtiers, he was eclipsed in the autocrat's favour by Count Holck. Either through envy, or because he really considered the count's conduct worthy of blame, Brandt ventured to write, on May 2, a letter of accusation to the king, in which he very evidently displayed the intention of overthrowing the favourite. In it, he first accused the favourite of ingratitude; "for Count Holck leaves your Majesty at all moments, in order to amuse himself on his own account." Not long before, his Majesty had given up a beloved object with forced resignation, and felt deep sorrow at doing so.[57] He (Brandt) had hurried to Schimmelmann and Holck, for the purpose of describing to them his Majesty's great grief; which, however, had not made the slightest impression on Holck, although his Majesty frequently sacrificed his own amusements for Holck's sake. Hardly three months before, Holck had said to him (Brandt) that he was terribly tired of the king, who constantly repeated the same ideas; in short, his Majesty was unsupportable. If Danneskjold came, the king yielded to his will, and revoked what he had just sanctioned, and was so weak as to allow the person who last spoke to him to be in the right. Thus Holck had expressed himself to him (Brandt), of whom he was in his heart afraid.
This was nothing, however, in comparison with the contemptuous terms the count employed to others about his Majesty. So long as the king remained in his own country, a single moment would suffice to reveal everything to his most gracious master, who would say to himself: "This man was never devoted to me: he only pursues his own pleasure, and wishes me to sacrifice my name and money. Though I have been so attached to this my favourite, yet he, whose friendship and devotion I purchase with money, whose relations I overwhelm with honours and lustre, and whom I have raised to a position which no other man ever reached at his age; yet this man, who pretends to be faithfully attached to me, who assumes a character which is beyond his abilities, has only served me with feigned love and falsehood. He has employed me to distinguish all his friends, and I have thus given a public testimony of the power which he exercises over me."
Assuredly his Majesty, like so many other enlightened persons, would have made such reflections; and he (Brandt) would have awaited their result, had his most gracious king remained in Denmark. But now the moment had arrived to ring the alarm bell, for the king, in his impending tour, would certainly present Count von Holck to all the nations of Europe as the most distinguished man in Denmark, and as connected with the king by a close friendship. But then the favourite would be put on his trial; he would be judged; and what an opinion would be entertained about his Majesty! The point now was not a sacrifice to be made, but solely to regard matters as they really were. He (Brandt) implored his Majesty not to punish Holck for his audacity. Equally incapable of thinking as of blushing at his bad thoughts, Holck would seek a support in his worthlessness. "But, dearest, best of kings," Brandt concluded his charge, "be free, and do not stake your own respect before the greatest part of Europe! Your star announces to you the admiration of the whole world: my predictions will be fulfilled, for my head gives me the most varied assurances of it; and, I may add, that my heart gives me still sweeter ones."
This wretched twaddle, which Suhm has before me quoted as a moderate proof of the mental qualities of the usually so talented Brandt, may serve here as a specimen of the cabals and miserable intrigues that went on at the Danish court in the reign of Christian VII. When the king had informed his favourite of the contents of Brandt's letter, Count Holck's papa-in-law attempted a defence in an equally worthless parody of the denunciation, which he handed to the king. In this we find as conclusion, that Count Holck was a young man, according to the laws of nature given to pleasure; but he had never appealed to the king's privy purse to defray his expenses. He had, on many occasions, aided most zealously in executing his commissions. Brandt, however, had offended against the duties of gratitude, friendship, and virtue; and the king's sharp eye would be able to estimate this black conduct at its true value. Brandt had assailed his friend, but the weapons which he employed had turned against himself, for he had called in question his Majesty's power of judgment. Still, it would become his Majesty to forgive the offence, for Brandt's moderate abilities must serve as his excuse.
It is true that Brandt had as many powerful friends at court as Hoick had enemies, for even Caroline Matilda was regarded as his protectress. But the ministers were on Holck's side, and hence he succeeded in retaining his master's favour. On May 4, just as Brandt was leaving the Supreme Court, a letter written in French, and signed by the king, was handed to him. It was to the effect, that the atrocious conduct of which he had been guilty, the step he had dared to take, and the object of which was plain to everybody, naturally drew down on him the king's deepest contempt. His Majesty, therefore, ordered him to quit the capital within twenty-four hours, and the states of the realm in eight days, under penalty of the severest displeasure if he dared ever to return. The next day Brandt left Copenhagen in a melancholy mood, for he had spent his own fortune in Paris, and his step-father, Von Söhlenthal, had just died.
On the day after this court interlude King Christian quitted the capital, in order to commence his travels in foreign parts. The queen had desired to accompany him, but this was refused her, and she wept bitterly when he took leave of her. In Frau von Plessen she had lost a maternal friend, and in Frau von der Lühe, who took her place, she only saw a guardian and spy. Hence it is not surprising that Caroline Matilda acted on the wise resolution of living in the strictest retirement during her husband's absence. How could she, a girl of seventeen, sympathise with the ladies who graced or disgraced the court at that day? Among these were, in addition to Frau von der Lühe and the maid of honour, Von Eyben, Frau von Gähler, the Baroness von Bülow, the Melleville, and a number of other ladies, none of whom, however, had an unsullied reputation, but all their cavaliers and adorers.