Life and Times of Her Majesty Caroline Matilda, Vol. 1 (of 3) Queen of Denmark and Norway, and Sister of H. M. George III. of England

INDEX TO VOL. I., Justiz-rath Struensee, the favourite's brother, had by this time attained an influential position. He was at the head of the German Chancery of Finances, but in spite of his valuable qualities, had a high opinion of himself, and was evidently striving for more extended influence, both on his own account and that of the college to which he belonged. He wrote in July to a friend, that he was really, if not nominally, the sole manager of the finances of the monarchy. He also strove to obtain the post of a Controller-General of the Finances; but though his brother placed great confidence in him, he opposed the establishment of such a high office. The Mint and the Bank were, as a compensation, placed entirely under the management of Justiz-rath Struensee, and he conducted these important institutions skilfully and honestly. As director of the Mint, he coined very handsome christians d'or and species ducats, but also meditated the erroneous plan of publicly letting the salt and tobacco trades as monopolies. Fortunately for the country, the catastrophe that ensued soon after prevented the execution of this scheme. One of the most humane ameliorations during Struensee's ministry was the abolition of what was called "the sharp examination," by which a confession was extorted from any prisoner against whom there was strong evidence by employing the dagg, or knout. In the order issued to this effect it was stated that the king would sooner let a criminal escape than see one possibly innocent man ill-treated. [156] Foreign affairs toward the close of 1771 stood much on the same footing as in the past. The greatest cordiality subsisted with Sweden. Chamberlain Baron von Gyldencrone was appointed envoy at Stockholm, and instructed not to interfere in Swedish home affairs, and not to act like his predecessor upon an understanding with England and Russia, but to join the policy of Sweden and France. Moreover, Count Joachim Göttsche von Moltke was sent as envoy extraordinary to the Swedish court, to congratulate Gustavus III. on his accession. As a present for the new king, Moltke took with him a fine apple-grey saddle-horse from the royal stud, with which Gustavus was so pleased, that he resolved to ride it at his approaching coronation. A present was also made the King of France, consisting of nineteen Icelandic hawks, for Struensee displayed a predominant attachment for the courts of France and Sweden. As a return for these sentiments, the ministers of these two courts were on very friendly relations with him, and alone of all the foreign envoys attended his levees. Struensee behaved with great coldness and reserve to the newly appointed English minister, Colonel Keith, as he had done to his predecessor, Gunning, and did not even offer him the ordinary courtesy. But he behaved in a precisely similar manner to the Russian chargé d'affaires , Filosofow's successor. We can easily understand that Struensee had raised himself an ample crop of foes by the numerous reforms he had undertaken in the government. The nobility, owing to their traditional belief that they had a right to the most profitable offices, were excessively annoyed that the privy council was abolished, that presidential posts were not filled up, that orders and rank no longer possessed their former value, and that people of bourgeois origin exercised an influence in the government. The officials dismissed with no pension, or a very small one, were indignant at the humiliation and the loss of income. The abolition of the numerous Church holidays, and the alleged desecration of the Sabbath; the order that the church of the Frederick's Hospital, and the chapel of the Convalescents' Home at Sölleröd, near Copenhagen, should be converted into wards for venereal patients; the rare appearance of the court at church; and lastly, the changes made in the law, by which the mothers of illegitimate children were no longer punished; marriages within the hitherto prohibited degrees were allowed; [157] and a charge of adultery could only be brought by the offended party,—all this had aroused the whole of the clergy and many laymen against Struensee. The pietists even went so far as to declare the hard winter of 1770, and the bad harvest of 1771, a punishment from Heaven for these offences against the Christian religion. The income of the industrial classes was lessened, because many families who lived expensively had quitted the capital; poor persons complained about the use of stamps and augmented taxes, and the sailors and dockyard-men were offended at having been excluded from all the grand doings on the king's birthday, and the loss of their perquisites in the shape of chips, &c., which they carried home for firewood. Many persons even believed that Struensee entertained far higher plans, and saw in him a nascent Cromwell. All patriots disapproved of the contradictory conduct of the government, which was constantly talking of retrenchment, and yet, at the same time, threw away large sums in the prosecution of the useless war against the Dey of Algiers. In addition, many persons were grieved that ladies who had a bad reputation still possessed great influence in the highest circles, although, by a public promise, offices of state were no longer to be filled up by favour and recommendation, but solely through ability and merit. All Danish patriots felt most insulted, because the cabinet minister still thought it not worth his trouble to acquire the Danish language, and that all the government decrees were issued in German, though everybody knew that the king both spoke and wrote Danish. Not only were the cabinet orders drawn up in Danish, but the colleges, which had formerly reported in Danish, were now forced to have their reports to the cabinet translated into German, so that the minister might understand them. The Danish Chancery and the Admiralty, it is true, still continued to draw up their reports in Danish; but it was also said that the minister took no trouble to discover their contents, but merely read a short German précis which was laid before him, and then issued a resolution in German, which had to be translated into Danish in the colleges, if found necessary to be brought to the public knowledge. Petitioners who wished to apply to the cabinet generally had their letters translated into German, because they thought that a Danish petition would not be heeded; but these translations were often so unsuccessful, that their meaning could hardly be understood. In excuse for Struensee's offences against the national pride of the Danes, it may be alleged, however, that several of the ministers before him did not understand Danish. The same was the case with Schulin, the recently-dismissed Bernstorff, Berkentin, Ahlefeldt, and many high officials, both military and civil, but never in the Admiralty. [158] Many men of position, who had either caused Struensee's summons to court, or had been devoted to him, became gradually indisposed, and, at last, even hostile to him. At the head of the latter stood Count Rantzau-Ascheberg. If there was any man in the kingdom from whom Struensee might justly think he had nothing to fear, it was Rantzau: but he was detested by him. This hatred sprung up on the day when Struensee, recognising the falsity of all the views he had heard in his conversations with the count at Altona, and how much the count mingled passion with a few flashes of genius, entirely neglected his advice. Rantzau, far from sharing the power of a minister whom he regarded as his creature, was given the third post in the Council of the Generalty. Thus, after so many successful intrigues, after succeeding in routing his principal enemies, and commanding for a short period, he saw himself the client of a doctor, and neglected by the man whom he had trained: he was reduced, like him, to be the mark of public hatred, without enjoying the credit, and gathering the favours of every description, which he had expected from this ungrateful man. Rantzau was probably most indignant because Struensee refused to pay his heavy debts, and even intimated that he had no influence over the cabinet. Rantzau was, in truth, in great difficulties, and yet retained his taste for extravagance. He fancied that he had at least found a right to live at peace, while his creditors did not leave him alone, even amid the faction to which he belonged. The revenue of his patrimonial estate of Ascheberg scarcely sufficed to pay the interest of his own debts and those of his father. In the hope that, at the worst, court presents would enable him to liquidate them, he suggested a new law, which would afford the nobles a sure protection against their creditors. His duns becoming importunate, he wished to employ his right as a gentleman of Holstein, and send them to do their best and worst on his estates. The creditors asked the advice of the Chancery, which answered, with the knowledge of the cabinet, that his person was no more inviolate than his property. Rantzau compared himself to a hare whom the hunters had pursued to its form. Disappointed in all his expectations, Rantzau began to speculate on Struensee's downfall, and for this purpose made common cause with the two colonels, Von Köller and Von Sames, who were also greatly in debt. He even sent his tool, Beringskjold, to negotiate with Count von Bernstorff, who was the idol of the patriots, and whom his disgrace had rendered very popular. Bernstorff at first listened very attentively, as long as the conversation turned on the bad government of the state, and the hope of an accommodation with Russia, but at the name of the Count von Rantzau he at once broke off the interview. "The count is well aware," he replied, "that I cannot trust to him, or enter into any affair in which he mixes himself up." [159] Rantzau next turned his attention to the watchful Queen Juliana Maria, whom, though at first turned against him, and suspicious of his designs, he soon won over by his cajolery. Still he did not quite trust the royal lady, because he had himself helped to transfer the power at Petersburg to other hands, and had been poorly rewarded for doing so. Struensee's next important enemy was Lieutenant-General von Gähler, with whom he had formerly stood on intimate terms, and who had greatly assisted in overthrowing the old form of government, but had been indisposed toward the cabinet minister since his appointment. Yet there was no open breach between the two men, for the general and his wife, who had both received the Order of Matilda, belonged to the queen's immediate entourage . Von Berger, the physician in ordinary, and Councillor of Legation Sturtz, also formerly adherents of Struensee, were now becoming more and more estranged from him. Sturtz's dissatisfaction dated from the downfall of Bernstorff, with whom he maintained a regular correspondence; but though he was displeased with the favourite, he equally detested Rantzau, in whom he saw a personal foe. But even the man who owed everything to Struensee, whom the latter had made what he now was at court—Count Brandt—was not at all a trustworthy friend. Having long been tired of his position at court, he wrote to Struensee, and proposed to him to appoint Colonel von Falckenskjold in his place as permanent attendant on the king. At the same time, he applied personally to Von Falckenskjold, and offered him his post and a sum of 20,000 dollars. But the colonel again declined, even though Struensee urged his acceptance, alleging his invincible repugnance for court offices. They therefore resolved to recall Reverdil, whom the king liked, and who was a mutual friend of Brandt and Struensee, and appoint him reader and librarian to the king. During the king's journey in 1768, Reverdil heard from several quarters that his ex-master spoke of him without bitterness, and with esteem. Schumacher, Reverdil's successor in the post of cabinet secretary, an honest man and no courtier, solicited his predecessor to pay his court at Paris or Strasburg. Reverdil heard from all quarters that the king, since his return, was entirely changed, that he had corrected his causticity, and dismissed those who had an audience quite satisfied. All this induced Reverdil to write the king a letter of congratulation on his return to his states, and he learned that this letter was favourably received, and that the king would have answered it had he not been dissuaded from doing so by Holck. When this favourite was dismissed, Reverdil received an autograph letter from his Majesty, in which he stated that he had not forgotten Reverdil's good services, and begged him to transmit any reflections which his retirement had suggested to him. Not receiving any further orders, Reverdil remained quiet till he was surprised by a letter from Struensee, to the effect that the king desired his return; that he wished to resume with him the operation of enfranchising the serfs, and to employ him in drawing up other laws he projected, and that Reverdil had only to propose his conditions. Reverdil raised some objections, which gave him time to consult a friend in Copenhagen, in whom he placed the most perfect confidence, and who had been promoted by Struensee, and to ask the advice of Count von Bernstorff, who had such cause to complain of the favourite. The answers were precisely the contrary of what might have been expected. The man promoted by Struensee sent a long list of persons removed, transferred, and dismissed, in less than a year, and gave Reverdil to understand that he need not calculate on greater stability. Bernstorff, on the other hand, urged him to return. The letter is in every respect worthy of quotation:— "Of everything I have hitherto seen of Struensee nothing has so much surprised and struck me, sir, as the letter written to you, for it is the only one of his actions and measures that has caused me pleasure. I confess that I did not at all expect it. You are aware of the reasons which persuaded me that, far from recalling you, you were one of the men whose absence would be most desired. I see that I was mistaken, but I do not see the causes of my error, and though I have reflected during the two or three days that have elapsed since the receipt of your letter, I cannot discover them. If I could flatter myself that they had changed their plans, that their intentions had become pure, that they were seeking in good faith to revive the mind and the heart; that they consented to share merit and confidence; that they had determined to reopen a door, hitherto triply bolted against those who have not taken an oath of fidelity in their favour, and adopted their deplorable principles; if, I say, I could conceive any shadow of a hope of this nature, I could understand the invitation that has been made you as the most natural, most just, and best conceived thing in the world; but I do not see in the other measures that are daily taken, anything authorising me to form such an opinion, or anything announcing an alteration in the maxims hitherto established and followed. Favour, credit, politics, and administration, are still founded on principles diametrically opposed to yours and to your way of thinking. What, then, can be the object that determines them to recall you who are free, virtuous, and humane; you, who, thinking as you do, cannot and will not play the part of a silent witness of the scenes which may take place in your presence, and to bring you nearer the person of a king who, in his heart, esteems you more than all those who surround him, and from whom, moreover, they keep every thinking and feeling being aloof with an exaggerated affectation? It is true, and I do this justice to the favourite, and those who share his confidence, that their intentions are sincere in favour of the liberty of the serfs, for this liberty does not cross any of their views. Hence, this is a good thing they have resolved to do, the more securely because, having resolved mortally to afflict the other orders of the state, they are seeking a support in the affection of the people and the troops. It is very possible that in this respect they sincerely desire the aid of your zeal and information; but can they imagine that you will be satisfied with sharing with the members of the commission already established the painful labour of the infinite arrangements and details of this operation, and applaud the rest of their manœuvres? I repeat, that I do not at all understand it, unless Divine Providence, which has possibly destined you to recall the claims of virtue and humanity at a spot where they are only remembered to be jeered at, and which gains its ends even by the ministration of its most avowed enemies, has ordered their prevailing passions to fall asleep, and prepare the way for your return. This idea is the sole one which I like, and which I believe I ought to cling to. Please Heaven that the event may justify it. "You see, sir, from what I have just told you, that my information will be of but slight use to you, and that my heart, filled with esteem, tenderness, and confidence for you, could not venture to advise your return to the unfortunate country to which I am alluding: but that it passionately desires that, without its advice, you may form the resolution of doing so. If there is, in these deplorable conjunctures, a man who is capable of being useful to the king, and through him to the state, it is yourself. But God alone knows, as yet, whether He has granted this succour to a prince, so long the object of our affection, and now of our tears. On this point, I am unable to form any opinion. Still, without fear of committing myself, I can applaud what you have hitherto done, and the measures you have taken. Your friend and mine, the elder Carsten, who has remained pure amid the corruption, will tell you more. He sees things closely, and being, perhaps, a little less affected and touched than myself, he will represent to you more fully that of which I can only afford you a glimpse, and which my mental emotion prevents me from expressing more clearly. He will, above all, counsel you to preserve your liberty in a country where the philosophic tone is to preach licence in morals and despotism, in every case where it is important for men not to depend on the will of another: and it is in this sole hint that I sum up all the advice you have requested me to give you. Go to Copenhagen, appear at court, but do not enter into engagements, till you have reconnoitred the ground for yourself. If you can do good, do not refuse to do it to a country that needs it, and may Heaven deign to grant you the merit and glory of it. But, if you see that the means are refused you, do no allow yourself to be drawn into any subaltern, doubtful, and odious employment, directed by harsh and evil-doing natures. Do not suffer your name to be associated with those of men, about whom the nation is already weeping, and posterity will weep for a long time. "You see, my dear sir, that I brave the risks of the post, in order, faithfully, to respond to the confidence with which you honour me, and to carry out the duties of the friendship I have vowed to you. This motive obliges me to add one word to my long letter. Among the number of unfortunate men who believe themselves so happy now, because they have the power and pleasure of rendering others wretched every day, you will find two, who call themselves your friends: if they were ever worthy of being so, it is not for me to decide; but what I can not and must not conceal from you, is, that they are no longer so, and do not deserve to bear the name: [160] you will recognise the truth of my remarks when you see them. "May my fears be unfounded, and be proved false by the result! But I am afraid lest the answer you are expecting from the favourite may not be such as you have the right to have; and that, falling back into his usual character, he may impede rather than facilitate your return; I impatiently long to hear that I am deceived. "It will be pleasanter to me to see you again than I am able to express. Grant me and mine this pleasure, and be assured that you have no warmer friend or more faithful servant than myself, &c. "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. On the next day after Reverdil's arrival, the king and he took the promised drive with Brandt. Our authority gives a most sarcastic account of Brandt's behaviour during the drive: how he occupied the entire back of the carriage, with one of his elbows out of the window to announce his presence to passers-by. The poor king was crouched up in a corner, with a sad and constrained air, and appeared relieved when they returned home. Reverdil felt the greatest pity for him, and, on the spot, accepted Brandt's offer to leave him to drive out alone in future with the king. Reverdil remained by himself in the royal apartments with the monarch. His mania, which he concealed from some persons, and which even the physicians in daily attendance on him had not yet noticed, began at once to manifest itself. "You are Brandt," he said to his visitor; then, breaking into a rapid and incoherent babble, he repeated some verses from Zaire , in which tragedy he had acted with Reverdil four years before. Then he said, "You are Denize; you are Latour;" two French actors who had been in his service; and eventually addressed Reverdil by his right name. These extravagances, or a profound silence, or questions about the signs of a change which was incessantly about to take place in his person, occupied nearly three-fourths of the tête-à-tête, during the four months that Reverdil was almost solely with the king, either in his apartments, or driving out, with no other suite but the postilion and a mounted lackey. At times pride exalted the king; he had been greeted like a god by the English nation; other kings were eclipsed; it was too much wit that had turned his head. At other times the king was oppressed and melancholy: after all that he had done; after braving everything: he would never be more than a "little man;" that is to say, a weak and dependent man. He often talked about killing, and asked Reverdil whether he might not do so only once with impunity and without scandal, or whether, if he did so, he would be hopelessly wretched. On other occasions he pretended to attack his own life. "Shall I drown myself?" he would say; "shall I throw myself out of window, or dash out my brains against the wall?" His object was to alarm Reverdil, and by leaving him the choice, he soon forgot this folly. Still it is true that he often desired death, but feared it at the same time. One of the amusements was pulling in a two-oared boat on the small lake round the palace, and the poor king often said to Reverdil, with the most unhappy face in the world, "I should like to throw myself into the lake and be pulled out again directly." His imagination only found a refuge in a state of apathy, which was the object of his hopes and desires. There were three marked shades in his madness, which he indicated by three German expressions. [161] According to the stage of his trouble, he often wound up his remarks by saying, with a groan, "I am confused" (Ich bin confus); or else, "There is a noise in my head" (Es rappelt bei mir); or, lastly, "I am quite beside myself" (Er ist ganz übergeschnappt). At times, his muttered and confused remarks ended with the words, "I can stand it no longer." The king was evidently very unhappy; and honest Reverdil was equally so. The latter usually passed an hour with Christian after the dinner; and as he had been his reader, the king, at times, put a book in his hand, not to listen to what he read, but that he might indulge in his own melancholy reveries, and talk to himself in a low voice. The first book Reverdil took up was a dictionary of celebrated men, marked at the history of Rizzio, the lover of Mary Stuart, assassinated by Darnley, her husband. If this was the trick of a valet, it failed in its effect, for the king never listened. Besides, the king had not the slightest tendency to jealousy, for he spoke twice to Reverdil about a thing which would have aroused that feeling in any other husband. Once he said that Struensee was the queen's Cicisbeo; on another occasion, he asked his visitor whether he believed that the King of Prussia slept with Queen Matilda. "Why, who is the King of Prussia?" Reverdil asked. "Oh! Struensee." This way of designating the favourite proved, at any rate, what power the latter possessed over the weak-minded monarch. The details which Reverdil gives us about the habits of the court are very curious. When they did not go hunting, they assembled to breakfast between eleven and twelve o'clock. The king, the queen, Counts Struensee and Brandt, with some of their male and female favourites, were always present; and when the state of the weather allowed it, breakfast was followed by a walk, in which Struensee gave his arm to the queen; the king, to the only maid-of-honour who was admitted to this familiarity; each of the other gentlemen to a lady; and chance did not decide the selection. From time to time, the same party dined at some summer-house, a distance away. Etiquette was banished from these parties; and the newly-appointed pages waited at table. They only entered when a bell was rung, and left the room when they had done what was wanted. On these excursions, the queen drove out in the same carriage with the king and Struensee. She placed herself between them at table; and if the king misbehaved himself, Reverdil led him out of the room. The queen even returned at night alone with the favourite. This princess, who, on her arrival from England, had been extremely affable and ingenious in finding occasions to say agreeable things to everybody, now only spoke with eagerness to the favourite; and if before and after dinner she addressed any one, whether male or female, Struensee was listening. With this exception, the indecent tone supposed by the public did not prevail in this company; they resembled the servants of a large house who had sat down to table in their master's absence. A new comer must have been struck by the familiar tone, and at seeing a court where there were no great noblemen, and hardly any gentlemen. Reverdil was astonished at not hearing a word about the queen dowager and her son, who lived at Fredensborg, about nine miles from Hirschholm. There seemed a settled determination to keep Prince Frederick apart from his brother; no appanage was granted him, though it was full time to think about it, nor was he initiated into affairs of state. Reverdil resolved to do what he could to satisfy the queen dowager by inducing the king to drive over and see her; but the latter would not consent. Hence the estrangement came from Christian, and not from the queen dowager. We have seen how Prince Frederick was kept out of the king's box at the play; and Brandt was blamed for it, although it was done by the monarch's express order. Equal anger was felt because Brandt did not invite the prince to the private theatricals and dancing which filled up a portion of the evenings at Hirschholm. For this, so Reverdil says, Struensee was mainly to blame. He had seen at London and Berlin the princes paying their court to the king, and mixing themselves up with the grandees in the ante-chamber. On his return, he was shocked by the old Danish fashion, by which the courtiers did not come to the king's ante-room till they had paid their respects to the royal princes and princesses, who were thus placed on a level with the sovereign. He therefore resolved to make Prince Frederick undergo these humiliations until he had learned his duty. It required a great occasion for the queen dowager and her son to be invited, at lengthened intervals, to dine at Hirschholm. When they arrived, they were kept waiting; and the frigid reception granted them left them but little doubt that their presence was disagreeable. They were not angry with the king, and did not explain this contempt by his caprices or his indolent apathy, but they blamed the young queen and her adherents. Hence serious aid frivolous subjects combined to foment the misunderstanding in the royal family and between relations. The lightest insults are not those which hurt the least. Serious complaints were being raised about this time at the court of the queen dowager, in the capital and the provinces, about the education of the prince royal, or rather, because his education was not yet begun. He was said to be left in the gardens of Hirschholm to the inclemency of the seasons and his own imprudence, with no other society but that of two lads of the lowest rank. The most reasonable and the warmest patriots said bitterly, that a retarded education was a great fault in the case of a boy whose majority began at the age of thirteen; as if the natural progress of a boy could be accelerated in accordance with human institutions. Such were the universal prejudice, and the language of the most moderate men. At the court, on the contrary, they were so satisfied with the method adopted, that the queen and Struensee actually had drawings made of the childish amusements of their young Emile, which were engraved and published. He could be seen in them entering his cold bath, playing at ball, or using his little rake and spade. They fancied that the entire universe would applaud this unique example of a truly royal education. The queen might be mistaken as to her son's education, as it was carried on by a man of systems, but she was an excellent mother, and paid as much attention to her children as her position allowed. When on any rainy day the court was obliged to remain in-doors, the queen did not fail to appear after dessert, carrying her daughter on one of her arms, and leading her son by the other hand, while his two little playmates clung to her skirt. She seemed thoroughly to enjoy the happiness of being a mother. The prince was neither timid, nor indocile, nor fretful; but his education was very much behindhand. At the age of nearly four years, he did not yet know any language, but had made a jargon of Danish and German, which he had learned from his two playmates. The conclusion at which Reverdil arrives, though displaying an evident bias, is probably correct:— "If the temperature had been less damp; if the young prince had had a sufficiently strong constitution to withstand these trials; if an intelligent and almost imperceptible but continued inspection had caused his amusements to help in developing his reason, this education would have been worth more than that of all his ancestors." But this inspection was not made, owing to the jealousy of Struensee, who considered everything badly done that did not pass through his hands, and who had undertaken this inspection himself, like all the rest, without reflecting that he already had a great deal more work than he could do in the course of the day. END OF VOL. I. INDEX TO VOL. I., HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL. A. Academicians, of Paris, dine with King Christian, 180 . Administration, retrenchment in the, 329 . Administrative changes in Denmark, 318 . Adultery, punishment for, mitigated, 326 . Agricultural Commission, appointed by Christian VII., 7 . Agnate and cognate, the different lines of succession explained, 50 , 51 . Algiers, Danish war with, and naval expedition against, 260 , 261 , 262 . Altona, Caroline Matilda's enthusiastic reception at, 47 , 48 . Anne, Queen, governed by her favourite women, 4 , note . Aristocracy, murders committed by the, 12 . Arnould, Sophie, the celebrated prima donna of Paris, 179 . Arts and sciences become an object of attention to Struensee, 332 . Augusta, Princess of Brunswick; her marriage, 39 . Augusta, Princess of Wales, (see Wales, Princess of). Augustenburg, duke of, his genealogy and family connexions, 75 . Auteroche, Comte de, anecdotes of, 174 . B. Baltimore, Lord, his vicious eccentricities, 9 . Beauveau, Madame de, 169 . Berger, von, surgeon, accoucheur, and favourite of Struensee, 346 . Berkentin, Frau von, appointed governor of Prince Christian, 50 ; dismissed from the Danish Court, 117 . Bernis, cardinal, 172 . Bernstorff, count, the Danish minister, 75 , 76 ; court triumvirate formed by, 77 ; appointed director of the Sound dues, 81 ; his influence, 111 ; his servility, 115 ; declines in favour, 229 ; his dismissal, 268 ; his character, 269 ; his kindness, 303 ; anecdote of, 362 ; his advice to Count Reverdil, 365 . Bestucheff, Madame, 303 . Binet, Sieur, 166 . Bishop militant, 24 . Bontemps, the fortune-teller, 173 . Brockdorf, nurse to Prince Christian of Denmark, 55 . Brandenburg Kulmbach, dowager Margravine of, 127 . Brandt, Enevold, page of the chamber, and a court favourite, 121 ; biographical notices of, ib. ; his character, 122 ; his charges against Count Holck, 122 , 124 ; his visit to Paris to see the king, 210 ; his promotion, 231 ; his policy, 285 ; court festivities arranged by, 342 , 343 ; his beloved Frau von Holstein, 344 ; made a Danish count, 352 ; public hatred of, 370 . Bülow, von, 230 . Bute, lord, his influence over the Princess of Wales, 15 ; his frequent visits to Leicester House, and scandals about him, 27 , 28 , 31 . C. Cabal, the, 252 . Cagliostro, the charlatan, 173 . Caroline Matilda , Princess; birth of, 15 ; account of her youth, 33 ; her vivaciousness and sweetness of temper, 34 ; her manners and person, 35 ; her education, ib. ; her character, 35 , 36 ; her correspondence, 37 - 43 ; proposal of marriage on behalf of, 40 ; her feelings, 41 ; makes her public appearance at Court, ib. ; her letter to the Princess Mary of Cassel, 42 ; public opinion favourable to her marriage, 43 ; message from the crown for a grant upon the occasion of her marriage, 44 ; her marriage solemnized at the Chapel Royal of St. James', ib. ; her departure for Copenhagen, 45 ; her anxious feelings, 45 , 46 ; her letter to her brother, the Duke of York, 45 ; her enthusiastic reception at Altona, 47 ; loyal addresses to, 48 ; her youth and inexperience, 48 , 49 ; her arrival at Copenhagen, 81 ; her marriage, 84 ; her warm reception, 85 ; warnings respecting her 86 , 87 ; her household, 88 ; feelings of the royal family of Denmark towards, 88 , 89 ; various festivals and amusements in honour of, 90 ; her own account of the journey to Copenhagen, written to her brother, the Duke of York, 92 et seq. ; her description of Holstein and Copenhagen, 94 , 96 ; her coronation, 98 ; her first quarrel, 99 ; her letter to her brother previous to his death, 101 ; letter to her mother, the Princess Dowager of Wales, 102 ; insulted by her husband, 103 , 104 ; gives birth to a son and heir, Frederick VI., 108 ; her ladies and maids of honour, 126 ; her life at home during her husband's absence, 159 et seq. ; her letter to Princess Amelia, respecting her husband's dissolute life, 161 ; her letter to Princess Mary of Hesse Cassel, 196 ; visit of her brother, the Duke of Gloucester, 198 ; greatly humiliated by the insignificant part she played at court, 213 ; her acquaintance with Dr. Struensee, 215 et seq. ; her familiarities with him create suspicion, 226 , 227 ; accompanies her husband in his journey to Schleswig and Holstein, 228 ; her incautious levity, 232 ; interview with her mother, the Dowager Princess of Wales, 248 , 249 ; coldness of, towards her brother, George III., 249 , 250 ; her favourite residence, the palace of Frederiksborg, 250 , 251 ; her free and easy manners and masculine dress give offence, 264 ; her fondness for hunting, 282 , 283 ; her costume and personal improvement, 283 ; her beautiful appearance described in the recollections of an old chamberlain, 284 ; mad freaks of her husband, 291 , 292 ; her dissipated habits, 292 , 293 ; establishes the Order of Matilda, 314 ; gives birth to a princess, 345 ; her close intimacy with Struensee, 377 ; an affectionate mother but neglectful of her son's education, 380 . Casanova, the cabalist, 173 . Cassel, Princess Mary of, Caroline Matilda's letter to, 42 . Castries, Mary, de, anecdote of, 174 . Catherine II., Empress of Russia, 238 , 301 , 302 . Chanceries, subjected to reorganization, 325 . Charles, Landgrave of Schleswig, 230 , 231 ; his account of the queen's levity of conduct, 232 , 233 . Charles, Prince of, Denmark, 74 , 75 . Charles II. of England, governed by his mistresses, 4 , note . Charlotte Amelia, Princess of Denmark, her character, 89 ; the benefactress of the poor, 345 . Chartres, Duchesse de, her profligacy, 171 . Chassé, the comedian, 172 . Chateauroux, Duchesse de, 163 . Choiseul, duc de, 176 . Christian V., King of Denmark, 254 . Christian VII. of Denmark, his proposed marriage with the Princess Caroline Matilda of England, 40 ; his accession to the throne on the death of Frederick V., 43 ; married by proxy to Caroline Matilda, 44 ; biographical notice of, 50 ; his hereditary claims to the Schleswig Holstein duchies, 50 , 51 ; suspected plots against his life, 55 ; his education, 56 et seq. ; his sarcasms, 58 ; Reverdil's account of him when twelve years old, 61 et seq. ; his progress in the polite arts, 64 ; proclaimed King of Denmark, 69 ; his religious notions, 72 ; court anecdotes of, 73 , 74 ; under the influence of a triumvirate, 77 ; pleasant anecdote of, 79 ; marriage of his two sisters, 81 ; his marriage in contemplation, 82 ; affianced to Princess Caroline Matilda, ib. ; sees her for the first time at Roeskilde, 83 ; traits of his character and person, 84 ; his entry with the princess into Copenhagen, 84 ; their marriage and festivities, 84 , 85 ; various festivals and amusements introduced by, 90 ; his coronation, 98 ; his first quarrel, 99 ; his journey to Holstein, 100 ; insults his wife on his return, 103 ; his dissolute orgies, 104 , 105 ; birth of his son and heir, Frederick VI., 108 ; appoints a general commission for agricultural improvements, 111 ; his debaucheries and dissipated career, 112 ; his domestic orgies, 113 ; list of his ministry, 114 ; his court favourites, 121 et seq. ; his travels in foreign parts, 126 et seq. ; his journey through Jütland, Schleswig, and Gottorp, 127 ; his presents to Voltaire, who sang the praises of his benefactor, 131 ; his visit to Hanau and his brother-in-law, Landgrave Charles, 132 ; sails down the Rhine, ib. ; visits Amsterdam, the Hague, and Brussels, 133 ; his arrival in England, ib. ; his visit not agreeable to George III. 134 ; his cold reception, 135 et seq. ; list of the royal suite, 136 ; his stay in London, 137 ; Walpole's satirical sketches of his visit and its amusements, 137 et seq. ; his interview with the Princess Dowager, 139 ; his journey to Yorkshire, 142 ; his visits to Cambridge, and also to Oxford, where he received the honorary degree of D.C.L., 143 ; magnificently entertained by the City of London, 144 , 148 ; entertained at Richmond Lodge, Carlton House, &c., 148 , 149 ; his sarcasm against the Princess Dowager, 149 ; gives a grand masked ball at the Opera House, 149 , 150 ; his departure from England, 151 ; execrable verses on, ib. ; sketches of his private life and character, 152 - 158 ; his adventure with the money lender, 154 -6; Walpole's character of him, 157 ; his wife's letter respecting him, 161 ; his journey to France, and arrival at Paris, 175 ; his reception by Louis XV., 175 ; his private interview with him, 177 ; his reception at Paris, and his visits to the various institutions, 178 et seq. ; dines with the Academicians, 180 ; his high opinion of Paris, 182 ; his munificence, 183 ; his return home, 185 ; his joyous reception, 187 ; the members of his ministry, 188 ; distressed state of the country on his return, 191 ; his trip to Schleswig and Holstein with the queen, 228 ; dismisses his court, 235 ; state of his court, 240 -2; state reforms effected by his minister, 270 et seq. , ( see Denmark ); his madness and hopeless condition, 290 , 291 ; his freaks of madness, 291 , 292 ; suppresses his council by public decree, 305 ; becomes absolute, 307 ; celebration of his birthday, 314 ; his administrative changes and reforms, 318 et seq. ; appoints Struensee privy cabinet minister, with all the power of grand vizier, 347 , 350 ; his insanity clearly manifested, 374 , 375 . Christiansborg, palace of, 311 . Chudleigh, Miss, at the fancy ball, 31 . Civic council of Copenhagen, reorganization of the, 325 . Condé, prince de, 181 . Conti, prince de, 172 . Copenhagen, institutions and laws of extensively reformed, 325 et seq. ; "Court and Town Council" of established, 327 . (See Denmark , and Christian VII. ) Council of Conferences, established after the suppression of the Privy Council, 307 . Court of Denmark, state of the, 240 -2 changes and reductions in the, 327 , 328 ; amusements of the, 84 , 85 ; intrigues connected with the, 29 , 77 , 80 , 122 et seq. , 363 , 364 . Court language of Denmark, 309 . Court reforms in Denmark, 277 . Cresset, the favourite of the Princess Augusta, 20 ; anecdote of, 22 . Cumberland, duke, anecdote of, 16 .

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