[45] "Memoirs of Sir R. M. Keith," vol. i., p. 304.
[46] I have, perhaps, dwelt more fully on this subject than it deserves; but I have also suffered from this iniquitous system. My agent in Germany wrote me some months ago that he had made an invaluable trouvaille—no less than an apology for Caroline Matilda, written by herself. Of course, I at once secured it; but was rather disappointed to find that it was translated from the English. On reading, I found many discrepancies, but did not give up all hope of being able to make use of the pamphlet. I had the British Museum searched for the original, but in vain; and I began to think that the alleged translation was only intended to add value to a document which might have been drawn up by a German from expressions which had fallen from the queen. Imagine my disgust when, as the reward of all my trouble, I found in the list of pamphlets in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1772, the following:—
"The Queen of Denmark's own Account of the late Revolution in Denmark: Written while her Majesty was a Prisoner in the Castle of Cronenburgh, and now first published from the Original Manuscript sent to a noble Earl." 8vo., 1s. 6d. Wheble.
The publisher and the title were quite sufficient to convince me that the pamphlet issued from the great officina of Grub Street.
[47] Eldest sister of H.R.H. Caroline, Princess of Wales.
[48] I found this anecdote carefully preserved among my grandfather's papers. The person who wrote it down for him, added, "Tout cœur capable de sentiment, pourra imaginer combien dans la situation de la jeune Reine, si digne d'un meilleur sort, des scènes pareilles devoient être attendrissantes, et à quel point on devoit être touché et pénétré d'admiration, en voyant que ce n'étoit pas le Faste, les grandeurs, ce trône, l'objet de l'ambition, même des plus grands heros: mais l'éloignement de sa famille royale, et ses retours sur la situation de celle ci, qui étoient la source de cette douleur et de ces larmes d'autant plus amères qu'elle les cachait avec le plus grand soin." This opinion my readers will assuredly endorse.
[49] My narrative is made up from the "Private Journal" already mentioned, and a MS. entitled an "Historical Narrative of the Attempt to Restore the Queen." In the former, my grandfather gives the following account of the proposition:—"A momentary astonishment covered me, but it neither altered my cheek nor faltered on my tongue. I felt in the most unbounded degree where it might lead. I was conscious where it must lead. I felt myself born for the achievement, and I ardently embraced it. 'Yes,' I said in reply, 'I am the man you seek; give me the commission; I am ready in a day, an hour, a minute. My life, my labour,—dispose of them as your own. Enthusiasm I shall not want in such a cause so noble, so honourable to me.' 'It is well,' he said. 'I am satisfied; wait till this evening, or, at latest, to-morrow. You shall see and talk with this person. At the Comédie Française we meet this night. Adieu.'"
[50] In the "Private Journal" I find: "We conversed most closely, most familiarly, most unreservedly, more than an hour. Her graciousness and goodness knew no bounds. She described (as to an equal) the king, and her sister, the Princess of Brunswick, especially the last. Her dress was very simple and plain. It could scarce be more so." From the minutes of this conversation, I also find that the queen told my grandfather that three emissaries had reached her from Copenhagen. The first was a Dane of the name of Guldenstern, about a year and a half previously; the second mentioned the name of Count Holstein; he was a musician, and named some of the bourgeoisie, whom she had never heard of. The third came about a year before, but his communication was nothing.
[51] The "Private Journal" adds:—"Toward eleven at night, as we had finished business, our discourse took another turn, and fell on the Danish affairs. The baron gave me a most interesting and masterly account of Struensee's administration, his character, and his history. He explained the manner in which he acquired his Majesty's graces, and how he kept possession of them. He gave me the relation of the plot for massacring them all at the "Bœuf roti," and how they escaped it. He passed to the fatal night when the two counts were arrested, and the wonderful incident of the tea-party, which Madame de Schimmelmann broke off by her refusal. He ended with his own arrest and honorary exile. 'Twas a relation to listen to; and I devoured his words. They are inerasable from my memory."
[52] George III., it must be borne in mind, considered his public duties as superior to private feelings. In 1775, he, though overwhelmed with grief at his sister's death, obtained from Christian VII. a decree that the Danes were to give no sort of assistance to the American rebels.