What a fool, what a great fool, what an egregious fool he is! I
called upon him yesterday morning in Palace Yard, and as a particular
favourite was admitted into a bed-chamber up two pair of stairs to
breakfast with him and Madame. N.B. that Madame is incognito, sees
no company, has no cloaths, but seems however better satisfied with
the air of Westminster than with the solitude of Petersfield. The
conversation turned partly on the Hampshire Election,[146] and I
unwarily said things without any meaning, which made him stare, and
for which, had I then received your letter, I deserved to have had my
bones broken.
[Sidenote: REVOLUTION IN DENMARK.]
Very astonishing indeed these Denmark affairs.[147] We are just as
much in the dark about them in London, as you can be at Beriton. It
seems that the King, whether from nature or any _officious_ helps
of medicine, is totally incapable of Government. The Physician and
the Queen ruled him entirely, and had led him into measures which
had disgusted the old Ministry, the Nobility and at last the Army.
The Mal-contents linked themselves with the Queen Dowager and her
son, and the weak Monarch is now in their hands. Mothers-in-law are
very dreadful animals, and he stands a very poor chance indeed. His
wife is sent to a castle, and it seems to be the General opinion,
that if an Order of ---- Ladies were to be founded, she would be the
Sovereign of it. Do you not think that our wise K---- might have
suffered his Mama[148] to dye in peace without knowing it? They now
reckon her life by hours.
I will immediately send you the new Play[149] which is not much
liked. There is nothing else. The Spanish Romance[150] does not come
out till next month. I am totally a stranger to Mrs. Williams and her
misfortunes. You warded off the blow by talking of your journey to
Bath; but I hope you will seriously and speedily think of it, as I am
convinced that your health as well as spirits would find the greatest
benefit from such an excursion.--Business is at a stand till Holroyd
comes to town, which will be in a few days. I hope that soon after
his arrival I shall be able to write something to the purpose.
I am, dear Madam,
Most truly yours,
E. G.
[146] Lord Henley, M.P. for the county of Southampton, succeeded
his father as second and last Earl of Northington in January,
1772. At the election to fill this vacancy Sir Henry Paulet St.
John was elected.
[147] Caroline Matilda, posthumous child of Frederick, Prince
of Wales, was born in July, 1751. She married in October, 1766,
Christian VII., King of Denmark. Before her departure from
England, her portrait was painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, who
complained that she was so constantly in tears that he could
do justice neither to her nor to himself. The marriage proved
unhappy. Her husband appears to have been a low brute, whose
excesses impaired whatever mind he originally possessed. The
queen, on her side, was guilty, at the least, of imprudences
which were used against her by her enemies. During his travels,
the king had made a favourite of a young physician named
Struensee, who practically became Prime Minister, and, with his
friend Brandt, governed Denmark. The Queen Dowager, Juliana
Maria, stepmother of the king, placed herself, with her son
Frederick, at the head of the malcontents. In January, 1772,
Struensee and Brandt were arrested, and, after a protracted
inquiry, executed in the following April. The queen was
imprisoned at the Castle of Cronenbourg. From this prison she was
released by the intervention of her brother, George III., and
passed the few remaining years of her life at Zell, in Hanover,
where her great-grandmother, Sophia Dorothea, had died in
captivity. There she died in 1775, at the age of twenty-four.
[148] The Princess Dowager (1719-1772), youngest daughter of
Frederick II., Duke of Saxe Gotha, widow of Frederick, Prince of
Wales, mother of George III. and the Queen Caroline of Denmark,
died at Carlton House on February 8, 1772.
[149] Either Joseph Cradock's adaptation of Voltaire's play _Les
Scythes_, acted at Covent Garden under the title of _Zobeïde_,
with a prologue by Goldsmith, or Cumberland's _Fashionable
Lover_, as acted at Drury Lane. Both plays were published early
in 1772.
[150] _The History of the Famous Preacher, Friar Gerund de
Campazas, otherwise Gerund Zotes._ London, 1772. 2 vols., 8vo.
122.
_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._
London, 1772.
*DEAR HOLROYD,
The sudden Change from the sobriety of Sheffield-Place to the
Irregularities of this Town, and to the Wicked Company of
Wilbraham,[151] Clarke,[152] Damer, &c. having deranged me a good
deal, I am forced to employ one of my secretaries to acquaint you
of a Piece of News I know nothing about myself. It is certain, some
extraordinary Intelligence is arrived this Morning from Denmark, & as
certain that the Levee was suddenly prevented by it. The Particulars
of that Intelligence are variously & obscurely told. It is said, that
the king had rais'd a little Physician to the Rank of Minister &
Ganymede: such a mad Administration had disgusted all the Nobility,
that the Fleet and army had rose, and shut up the King in his Palace.
_La Reine se trouve mêlée la dedans_, & it is reported that she is
confined, but whether in Consequence of the Insurrection, or of some
amorous amusements of her own, does not seem to be agreed. Such is
the rough Draft of an Affair that nobody yet understands. _Embrassez
de ma Part Madame, et le reste de la chère Famille._
GIBBON.
_et plus Bas_--WILBRAHAM, Sec.*
[151] George Wilbraham, of Delamere Lodge, Cheshire.
[152] Godfrey Bagnal Clarke, M.P. for Derbyshire, who had made
the tour of Italy at the same time as Gibbon.
123.
_To his Stepmother._
Saturday Evening, near eleven, '72.