[19] As an instance of this, take the questions proposed for solution in the "Magazine of Periodical Literature"—Is it possible that the lover of a woman can be her husband's sincere friend and faithful adviser? And if the husband accepts him as his confidant, what consequences will result from it for all three and for the children?
[20] The reader is aware that the king was already quite imbecile, and had frequent attacks of mania. But, in order to remove the slightest doubts about Christian VII.'s condition of mind at this time, I will quote the following instances from Molbeck's "Historic Journal for 1852:"—
"One Sunday, during divine service, when the queen was diverting herself in the riding-house in the rear of Christiansborg Palace, the king was standing on the balcony over the gateway with his black and his white boys, and threw from thence logs of fire-wood, tongs, shovels, books, papers, and entire drawers, down into the court-yard, and at last wanted to hurl his favourite Gourmand and the negro boy over the balustrade. Among the papers thrown down was a secret list of the fleet and the condition of each ship, which the lackey of a foreign minister found and carried to his master. In the following June the king broke all the windows in his own and the queen's apartments at Hirschholm, smashed looking-glasses, chairs, tables, and costly china vases, and threw the fragments through the windows into the yard, in which his playmates helped him with all their might. At first such amusements on the part of the sovereign excited great surprise among the public, but they soon grew accustomed to them through their frequent repetition."
[21] One of the king's amusements was to fight with his young companions, and as he himself tried to hurt and even kill them, they generally leagued against him; but he was never beaten, except by his own express wish.—Reverdil.
[22] It is rather difficult to decide about this old soldier's character. According to Reverdil and other authorities, he was a regular old woman, and was solely appointed as a cover for Falckenskjold, who was the real commander. Still, Wiwet, in his indictment of Struensee, states that Gude was a man "who could frighten the whole city by his loud voice and savage looks."
[23] I give this anecdote on the authority of a pamphlet published in Amsterdam in 1773, under the title of "Die Struensee und Brandtische Kriminalsache," a translation of a pamphlet published on behalf of the British ministry in Copenhagen during the previous year.
[24] Reverdil, p. 307.
[25] Reverdil, p. 312.
[26] Reverdil, p. 314. During Struensee's trial much use was made of the form of this order and the absence of the king's signature. The order in itself was most imprudent, for the queen dowager and her son were living in the palace which it was proposed to storm.
[27] Reverdil, p. 309.