"At Grabow, near Borstel, June 9, 1771."
Reverdil thought it advisable to accept all Bernstorff's prejudices against the favourite. Some of the arrangements Struensee had made and dictated, seemed to him useful and as announcing good intentions, but the advice of the ex-minister was no less wise, and he resolved to follow it. Hence, the sole conditions he made were, permission to return home whenever he thought proper, and that the king should pay his travelling expenses both ways.
Reverdil had finished about half his journey when he learned that Struensee and Brandt had been created counts, and that the former had been appointed cabinet minister, with unlimited power. Had he not gone so far, he would have turned back. He was well acquainted with the king's character: every favour the latter granted was a title to his hatred, and he never failed to be jealous of the credit, dignities, and presents which his favourites extorted from him. Moreover, as he advanced, Reverdil met en route better informed persons, who told him details of the worst possible augury.
In the duchies, Reverdil heard a number of reports, some of which proved to be true, but the thing that struck him most, was the horror which the names of Struensee and Brandt inspired. Public hatred could not be more excited or more universal. "They had transformed the court into a poisonous cavern, and filled the provinces with disgraced and unhappy men: nothing was safe from their sacrilegious hands, and, ere long, the throne and the altar would succumb in their turn. They had overthrown a negotiation from which the country expected its safety for future ages; while under the pretext of reform they reduced thousands of families to want, they squandered the fruit of these savings in profusion and scandalous excesses. Not satisfied with displaying the most depraved habits, they turned morality into derision, and sought to corrupt it. Such horrible conduct brought down on the nation the chastisements of Heaven. And by what means had they seized the power and ensured impunity? By shamelessly dishonouring the king's bed, and introducing their vile posterity in the place of the pure blood of Oldenburg. After dishonouring the king, they held him besieged, and allowed no one to approach him, save their minions, in order to degrade him, and keep honest men from his familiarity. He was generally left alone with two boys, one a negro, and the other picked up in the streets."
Some persons went further, and declared that their prince was ill-treated, and that he was governed by terror; others, that his reason was affected by drugs; the majority stated, however, that the absurd report of his imbecility was spread with sinister views against his person and the state.
At Schleswig, Reverdil had a private interview with the Princess Dowager of Culmbach, sister of the Prince of Brunswick-Bevern, whose husband was Christian's great-uncle. She spoke with grief of the king's wretched state, which she stated to have grown much worse since the tour of 1767. His remarks, she said, having no sense or coherence, produced the worst idea of his usual society. This lady and the Prince of Hesse and his court talked infinitely to Reverdil about the scandal produced in the province by the bevy that followed the king. The queen travelling in a man's dress, the impertinences of the favourites, their familiarity with the king and queen, the ignoble air of the court, had caused them an astonishment from which they had not yet recovered.
When Reverdil arrived at Hirschholm, the first person he saw was Brandt. He told the new comer of the king's wretched mental condition; the necessity he had, more than ever, of a constant companion, and the honour he destined for Reverdil by giving him this office. He had had some debates on this subject, he added, with Struensee, who had destined Reverdil for office, but the latter must promise to drive out every day with the king. Reverdil agreed to do so; but did not thank Brandt for the post which he designed for him. The king and Brandt had long grown weary of each other, and were continually quarrelling. Struensee felt the necessity of separating them, and had given the king the choice of two or three names: Reverdil was preferred, and that was the secret of his recall.
Reverdil was presented to their Majesties in the circle, and invited to dinner at their table. His reception was most flattering; the queen spoke to him kindly, and the king addressed the ordinary remarks to him, nothing revealing his malady. After dinner, the gentlemen on duty introduced the new comer to a private audience with the king. The latter referred to Reverdil's dismissal, and threw the blame on Holck, but added, that the tutor had wearied him by urging him to gain the love of his subjects; that, at that period, he did not wish to be beloved, &c. With this exception, nothing in the conversation displayed his lunacy; and it did not appear that he had been taught beforehand what to say. This fact proves that public rumour was unjust to the favourites, for it was generally believed that the king was guarded, and that no one reached him without having been prepared, and making a promise what he would talk about.