In a small pamphlet I have picked up,[94] there is a curious anecdote, which serves to show the humorous side of Struensee's character. He once invited to dinner four persons, all of whom he knew to be on unfriendly terms. He delighted in the sour face cut by each new corner on seeing his aversion, but tried to reconcile them. Each of the guests whispered in his ear, "Why did you not tell me you were going to ask them, and then I would have come to you another time?" He laughed, and justly ridiculed an animosity which pedants are so fond of keeping up. Another curious circumstance is, that two skeletons stood by Struensee's bedside, holding burning candles in their hands. Whether he really read at night in this anything but agreeable company in order to habituate himself with death, cannot be positively asserted.
From 1760-62, Panning, a well-known literary man of the day, lived with Struensee, and the couple started, in July, 1763, a new literary experiment, called the "Monthly Journal, for Instruction and Amusement." The first number is now lying before me; but there is nothing very wonderful in it. It is supposed that an article, under the heading of "Thoughts of a Surgeon about the Causes of Depopulation in a given Country," was written by Struensee, because the essay contains ideas which were afterwards set in practice by him. Although the magazine contained various articles quite equal to the average of those days, it was dropped at the end of six months, and when Struensee was asked why he had not gone on with it, as it was generally popular, he replied that literature did not pay. Afterwards, he published some medico-scientific treatises, and an essay on the respect which an author ought to entertain for the public.
Struensee's studies and reading were not restricted to professional topics. One of his favourite authors was Voltaire; but he also had a great veneration for J. J. Rousseau. With Helvetius, he inclined to the opinion, that as all men have equal organisms, they must be competent to attain the same things, and this axiom he applied to himself through the flattery of others. With Boulanger, he also assumed at that time that fear of all mighty nature was the primitive source of all religions among the ancient nations. Although Struensee never swerved in his belief that the universe and the human race had their origin in Deity, he could never be brought to the conviction that man was composed of two substances. He assumed that God set human nature first in action, but that when the machine ceased acting, i.e., when a man died, he had nothing more to hope or fear.
In the meanwhile Struensee continued to work faithfully in his profession. Some successful cures gained him a reputation, and as he was sincere and frank, never condemned others or judged too severely, he acquired numerous friends. His agreeable person and pleasant manners helped to make him a popular physician, and we can quite understand how the ladies selected the good-looking doctor to attend to their maladies, real or pretended. After the fashion of the day, the ladies had their little jests with him, and he confessed, though always in a delicate manner, that he was an admirer of the fair sex. When, however, persons tried to make him blush by repeating to him some loose anecdote connected with himself, he always blunted its point by displaying the utmost discretion.[95] It is to be regretted that he did not follow the same good rule in the awful crisis of his life.
Struensee soon gained access to the first houses, and found a powerful patron in Privy Councillor Imperial Count Hans zu Rantzau-Ascheberg.[96] This count's son was Major General Schack Karl, Count zu Rantzau, who became one of the principal actors in the ensuing tragedy. He soon became intimate with the young doctor, and they made an agreement that if either of them attained power, he should help the other. They became the more intimate, because the doctor's help was often needed for the accouchement of persons with whom Rantzau had had adulterous intercourse. Struensee rendered these services with a generosity far above his fortune; even more, he supported Rantzau for some time, and advanced him the necessary funds to appear at court; so that Struensee, instead of being the count's protégé, rather played the part of protector. Rantzau, by his flattery, gave the doctor an exaggerated idea of his capacity, and fostered in him the ambition which became his ruin. The count, however, only thought of gaining a creature, and fully believed that if he ever became again a great lord and general officer, Struensee would no longer be his friend, but his client and physician. In the latter capacity Struensee rendered him a signal service. Countess zu Rantzau, while residing at Altona, was attacked by small-pox of a very malignant character. All the Rantzaus combined in demanding that another physician should be called in, but the husband insisted and declared that his friend had genius, which was better than science. The disease was very well treated, and the cure of the countess rendered the doctor dear to all the family, their friends, and protégés.[97]
Another house where Struensee met with a most friendly reception, was that of the administrator of the county, Privy Councillor Baron von Söhlenthal, who was the step-father of Enevold Brandt. Struensee was also physician to the Landrost of the Lordship of Pinneberg, Privy Councillor von Berkentin, whose wife, after the Drost's death, was appointed chief gouvernante of the hereditary Prince Frederick. At this house Struensee is stated often to have said, half in jest, half in earnest, "My ladies and patronesses, only contrive to get me to Copenhagen, and I will make matters all right." Struensee was also on very friendly terms with Equerry and Chamberlain von Bülow; and lastly, he made at Altona the acquaintance of the then Captain Falckenskjold, who was fated to suffer so terribly for this acquaintance, and of Count Conrad von Holck, when the King of Denmark came to the duchies in 1767.
This period was probably the happiest in Struensee's short life, but he found no satisfaction in his professional position. His restless, soaring mind suggested to him to resign his post, and take a voyage to Malaga or the East Indies. As his health at this time was not the best, he hoped a recovery in a milder climate. The exciting details he had read in descriptions of travels in India, and the prospect of acquiring a fine fortune there, the more urged him to the enterprise, as he had recently run into debt at Altona. At this moment a very different prospect was offered him.
When a physician in ordinary had to be appointed for Christian's projected tour abroad, Struensee was recommended by his patrons, Counts Rantzau-Ascheberg and Holck and Brandt, who had not yet fallen into disgrace, to occupy this post; and Frau von Berkentin, whose life Struensee had once saved in a dangerous illness, and Von Berger, the physician in ordinary to the king, supported this choice. Struensee himself saw in this a happy dispensation of fate, which opened to him an extensive career. He accepted the offer, and was appointed surgeon during the journey on April 5, 1768. On June 6, he joined the king's suite at Ahrensburg, and had a seat in the carriage of Legations rath Sturtz, with whom he eventually became very intimate.
During the entire tour Struensee, in consequence of his position, was frequently near the king's person, and carefully watched over his health. This often enabled him to work against the injurious influence of Count Holck over the passionate prince, for which purpose he generally had recourse to interesting conversation upon French literature. On the other hand, Struensee carefully avoided political discussions, and if ever such were brought up, he never made the slightest allusion to home affairs. Struensee even carried this precaution so far, that he either entirely broke off his correspondence with his Holstein friends, or else restricted it to indifferent topics. For the courtiers soon noticed the growing pleasure which the king found in conversing with his doctor, and perceived that Struensee possessed acquirements which fitted him to take part in other business. But Struensee still clung to his profession too much to grant room to a thought of giving it up, and was too sharp not to notice the suspicious glances which the king's entourage cast at the interesting doctor. Hence it was so little his object to overthrow Count Holck, that he completely neglected an apparently favourable opportunity. We have seen how Brandt was dismissed from court for his foolish letter to the king, and ordered to retire to Oldenburg. As he had neither salary nor pension, Bernstorff gave him a supernumerary post in the regency of that province. Growing tired of his employment, Brandt went off to Paris to have an interview with the king, and arrived just at the moment when Holck had fallen into temporary disgrace. As Struensee did not move in the matter, Brandt obtained no audience, and the favourite procured him 100 louis d'or to carry him back again.[98]
Struensee merely contented himself with weakening the immense power Holck exercised over Christian, by encouraging his feeble master to feel a greater pride in himself. As, too, Struensee never took advantage of his position to obtain gratifications for himself or his friends, he rose the higher in the respect of all persons whose respect was worth having, with whom he came in contact in foreign countries; and that the frivolous young king not only took pleasure in Struensee's clever conversation, but also granted him a certain degree of respect, he proved on every possible opportunity.