Various stories are current as to the way in which Caroline Matilda and Struensee first became acquainted. Her enemies assert that she was guilty of dissimulation from the outset, and that, for some time after she had chosen the doctor as her partisan, she feigned an aversion for him; but there appears to be no foundation for this report beyond that of party spirit. After well weighing the various accounts, I am disposed to accept, in preference, the one given in Mr. N. W. Wraxall's private journal, because he had it from one of the principal actors while the events were fresh in his memory.[101]
About this time, Struensee became intimate with a lady whose sentiments seemed to harmonize with his own. This was Frau von Gabel, wife of the admiral, and née Countess Rosenkrantz, of Willestrup, in Jütland. This lady, who was at the time only twenty-three years of age, had formerly repulsed the king's coarse advances. Struensee, in order to secure the king's favour, thought it advisable, so it was said, to give him an ostensible mistress, of whom he himself would be the real lover.[102] He chose for this purpose Frau von Gabel, a very young and charming woman, animated with a real patriotism, but too much of a republican to live at court. Struensee began by persuading her that the king had been entirely changed during his tour; he had grown affable and attentive, and capable of devoting his attention to governing. He added, that he flattered himself with having greatly contributed to this change; that the patriots ought to thank him for it, but that the work was still imperfect, and could only be completed by a woman of sense and honest character undertaking to arouse in the sovereign a moral feeling, which had been blunted by his debauchery and the vices of his favourites.
Frau von Gabel, on hearing this, desired to become better acquainted with the king, and to please him. She received repeated visits from Christian during the early part of the year, though she lived some distance from court. The clever lady strove to employ the impression she produced on the king's mind in dragging him out of the inaction which degraded him, and helping him to cast off his inglorious bonds. Still Struensee did not agree with her on two points. The first was, that she and the Moltke party insisted on removing Holck from the king's person, which Struensee considered unnecessary, because an old favourite was less injurious than a new one. The other was, that she did not, like the doctor, regard a reconciliation between the royal husband and wife as absolutely necessary for the king's happiness.
Frau von Gabel soon discovered, however, that she had been deceived as to the king's pretended amendment. In proportion as he spoke with less reserve, he displayed the same vices she had known in him formerly, and, in addition, the mania which formed their basis. She fell into a state of profound melancholy, and died in the following August, showing, in her last moments, that Struensee, far from having been her lover, had only attracted her hatred.[103]
Caroline Matilda had discovered Frau von Gabel's desire of pleasing the king, and, as a woman, naturally placed a false construction on it. She regarded Struensee as an accomplice; hated them both; and always spoke of the doctor with the most supreme contempt. Holck behaved like the engineer who hoisted himself with his own petard. Seeing the queen's detestation of the doctor, he did his utmost to force the latter upon her, and revelled in the idea of causing her increased annoyance. Caroline Matilda was, at this time, melancholy and ill, and was supposed to be affected with symptoms of dropsy. The remedies she took had no effect either on her malady or her temper, and hence the king proposed to her to consult his young doctor; and, on her refusal, insisted on it. Struensee had even more knowledge of the human heart, the world, and women, than of his profession. After observing and questioning the queen, he assured her that she was not dropsical; that her illness was not serious; and pledged himself to cure her in a short time. His treatment was as agreeable as his diagnosis; and his promises were consolatory.
"Chagrin," he said, "ennui, and a sedentary life, have produced all the mischief; your Majesty does not want medicine so much as plenty of exercise, amusements, and distractions. Ennui, which dwells in courts, principally arises from etiquette; the latter must be proscribed, or, at least, restricted to certain days, which are specially consecrated to it. Danish ladies do not ride on horseback; but your Majesty must give them the example. They may be scandalised at the outset, but the fashion and custom will make them regard the thing with more favour."
The queen took riding lessons, and became, in a short time, a good and indefatigable horsewoman. The obstructions were soon dispersed, and gaiety, recalled to court in proportion as etiquette was banished from it, caused no apprehension of a relapse being entertained. This happy cure acquired confidence and easy access for the doctor. The queen soon saw that she had been unfairly prejudiced against Struensee. On conversing him on various subjects, she found him better informed and more agreeable company than the swarm of idlers and empty-headed fops who surrounded her. She liked the doctor the more on discovering that he was thoroughly informed of the cause of her sorrow. Nothing affected her so much as the indifference of the king and the insolence of his favourites. Holck had certainly tried to gain her favour; but whether he set to work awkwardly, or that the aversion was invincible, he had only irritated her the more by his tentatives. He was reported to have boasted that he could have gained the queen's favour by rendering homage to her charms, and his indifference was the cause of her ill-will. This boast, of which he was accused, justly or unjustly, had left ineffaceable traces, and convinced the queen that all the other accusations brought against the favourite were true.
Struensee, on the contrary, was a servant of no consequence. He offered his devotion; he assured the queen that he should esteem it a happiness to employ all his credit with the king in effecting a reconciliation. The king had treated his wife, for some time past, with a respect and a ceremonious tone that resembled derision. Struensee promised to restore familiarity and confidence: results followed closely on the promises; and he attached no value to this service. It was, he said, his own interest he was studying; he felt quite comfortable in his position; all he wanted was to acquire consistent support and the protection of a person who could not be turned from him. The preceding favourites had been very blind in trying to establish their credit on the disunion of the married couple; for, in such a struggle, they must necessarily succumb. Such interesting conversations naturally entailed greater assiduity. The king appeared to approve of them, because they rendered his own situation more agreeable; and the ascendancy he allowed the queen to regain increased his own amusements. Far from opposing Struensee's visits, he sent him to the queen at all sorts of hours, with all sorts of messages, and invited him to every court festivity.