Far, far from deadly pomp each thought remove,
And, as to me, their guardian angel prove!
Yes, Julia, now superior force prevails,
And all my boasted resolution fails!
Before taking leave of Kronborg, I may be permitted to insert an anecdote related by my grandfather in his "Travels in the North." When he visited Kronborg, in 1774, a poor fettered slave came up and addressed him in French. Mr. Wraxall then commenced a conversation with him, and asked him if he were here when Queen Matilda was in confinement.
"Ah! Monsieur," the prisoner replied, "I saw her every day. I had the honour to turn the spit for her Majesty's dinner. She even promised to endeavour to obtain me my liberty. I assure you," he added warmly, "that she was the most amiable princess in the world."
Whether the man said this because he believed it would please an Englishman, or whether it was the genuine effusion of respectful gratitude, my grandfather was unable to say, but could not resist the compliment to an English and injured queen.
By a royal resolution of March 18, 1773, all the documents connected with the dissolution of the marriage of Queen Caroline Matilda were made into four separate packets, and one of them, which contained the orders, protocols, and examinations, was deposited in the secret archives: the second, containing the perfect acts with the votes of all the commissioners, and a copy of the examination of the witnesses, was entrusted for safe keeping to the governor of Glückstadt: the third, consisting of a copy of the original articles and the examinations, was kept at the Norwegian fortress of Bergenhuus, in an iron chest, in a room the keys of which were held by the commandant and the viceroy: and the fourth packet, which only contained a copy of the articles, but not of the depositions, was placed in the archives of the Danish Chancery. This division of the documents also serves as a proof, how every possible care was taken that the queen's posterity should not hereafter find the whole of the documents at any one place.
The queen did not reach Stade till June 5, where she was received with all the respect due to crowned heads. The Hanoverian Privy Councillor von Bodenhausen, and the Land Marshal Chamberlain von Bülow, pulled on board the flag-ship to welcome the queen. At the landing-place, where the ladies and gentlemen selected to attend on her Majesty were awaiting her, the Danish escort took leave. The queen gave Count Holstein a diamond solitaire as a souvenir, and entrusted him with a gold snuff-box for the wife of General von Hauch, commandant of Kronborg.