At home, Caroline Matilda appeared to have dropped out of memory with her landing at Stade. Her name is never found in the journals of the time. Grub-street alone took possession of her memory. In those days many literary scoundrels earned a precarious livelihood by deliberately forging pamphlets on topics of interest at the moment, and thought nothing of trying to enhance their veracity by assuming names and titles to which they had not the slightest claim. One of these hungry gentry received a severe discomfiture, and must have felt ashamed, if he could feel shame, from honest Reverdil, in the July number of the Monthly Review. Reverdil's letter, written in English, is tremendously to the point. The lie, with a circumstance, bore the title of—"The real Views and Political System of the late Revolution of Copenhagen. By Christian Adolphus Rothes, formerly Councillor of Conference, Secretary of the Cabinet to his Majesty Christiern (sic) VII., and Great Assessor of the Supreme Council at Altona."
To which Reverdil quietly makes answer:—
1. As I am pretty well acquainted with the Danish service, I can assure you that there is not in Denmark, Norway, or any of the Danish dominions, such a man as Mr. Christian Adolphus Rothes, in any employment whatever.
2. The dignity of Councillor of Conference being merely titular, there is no formerly Councillor.
3. The present king, Christian VII., has had three secretaries of the cabinet: the first is now in London (himself); the second, who followed his master on his voyage, is in the Court of Chancery at Copenhagen; the third was beheaded on April 28.
4. There is no supreme council at Altona; that town, being no capital, hath but a corporation, and no other council. In that corporation there is no assessor, great or little.
To this crushing reply Reverdil adds that every circumstance in the book is absolutely false, and grounded on facts and a state of things that never existed. For instance, the conduct of the queen dowager in the king's council is very circumstantially described; but she never sat in the king's council.[46]