THE HAPPY COUPLE.
THE MEETING AT ROESKILDE--ENTRANCE INTO COPENHAGEN--THE QUEEN'S
HOUSEHOLD--THE ROYAL FAMILY--COURT AMUSEMENTS--TRAVELLING
IMPRESSIONS--THE CORONATION--THE FIRST QUARREL--THE KING GOES TO
HOLSTEIN--DEATH OF THE DUKE OF YORK--MILADY--REVERDIL LEAVES THE
COURT--THE NEW FAVOURITE--STRANGE CONDUCT OF THE KING.
The royal couple saw each other for the first time at Roeskilde, four
(German) miles from the Danish capital, where Christian VII., accompanied
by the hereditary Prince Frederick and his own brother-in-law, Prince
Charles of Hesse, welcomed Caroline Matilda. We can easily forgive the
young king, if, at the sight of such beauty as hers, he forgot court
proprieties, and embraced and kissed his bride at Roeskilde in the
presence of the company. My readers will remember a precisely similar
instance at the meeting of a princess of Denmark and a Prince of Wales,
not so very long ago.
Judging from the mere exterior, Christian VII. ought to have produced
an equally favourable impression on the heart of Caroline Matilda.
The person of the young king, though considerably under the middle
height, was finely proportioned: light and compact, but yet possessing
a considerable degree of agility and strength. His complexion was
remarkably fair; his features, if not handsome, were regular; his eyes
blue, lively, and expressive; his hair very light; he had a good forehead
and aquiline nose; a handsome mouth and fine set of teeth. He was elegant
rather than magnificent in his dress; courteous in his manners; of a very
amorous constitution; warm and irritable in his temper; but his anger, if
soon excited, was easily appeased; and he was generous to profusion.[40]
From Roeskilde, the young queen was conducted to the palace of
Frederiksberg, close to Copenhagen, where she stopped till Nov. 8, on
which day she made her solemn entrance into the capital, seated by the
side of her sister-in-law, the Landgravine Louise, and under the escort
of all the grand dignitaries of the crown. The marriage ceremony was then
performed in the palace chapel.
The _kehraus_ was danced at the ball, and was led by Prince Charles of
Hesse, who had his wife as partner, while Christian danced with Caroline
Matilda. Suddenly the king, who was in very good spirits, shouted to
Prince Charles, "Lead the kehraus through all the apartments." He passed
through several rooms, and, on reaching the queen's ante-room, the king
ordered him to enter her rooms, which he did. Frau von Plessen, however,
rushed at Prince Charles like a dragon, and declared that he should never
enter the queen's bedroom. The king, hearing this speech, said to the
prince, "Don't bother yourself about an old woman's twaddle." The prince,
therefore, continued the dance, and passed through the queen's bedroom.
Frau von Plessen made a tremendous noise, which greatly displeased the
king.[41]
In honour of the day, a large silver medal was struck, which displayed
on the obverse the busts and names of the newly-married pair; and on
the reverse, an allegorical female form, reclining upon an anchor, and
holding a wreath of flowers in her hand, with the motto, "_Recurrentibus
signis_." Numerous orders and titles were distributed in commemoration of
this auspicious event.
The young queen, it is evident, won golden opinions from all manner of
men. Even the Danish author of the "Secret History" is compelled to
avow: "I saw this ill-fated princess when she first set her foot on the
soil of. Denmark. I did not join in the shouts of the multitude; but I
was charmed with her appearance. Everything she saw was grandeur and
festivity; she was received like a divinity, and almost worshipped, at
least by those of the masculine gender. Her animated, beautiful features,
her fine blue eyes, beamed with delight on all around her."
The English envoy was so delighted at Caroline Matilda's reception, that
he wrote home at once:--"The princess seems to gain approbation and
affection wherever she shows herself, and those more closely connected
with her praise unanimously and in the highest terms her disposition
and conduct." The English cabinet, however, did not put entire faith in
this enthusiasm. The youth of the princess could not but cause anxiety,
because the king, her husband, was, so to speak, a child too. Hence the
court of St. James sent the British agent the following warning advice
in reply to the above outburst:--"Her Majesty is entering on the most
important period of her life. At so tender an age she has been sent
forth alone into a foreign distant ocean, where it will be necessary to
exercise the highest caution and good sense, and to steer with thoughtful
attention, in order that she may at the same time succeed in gaining the
love of her court and people, and maintain the dignity of the exalted
position to which Providence has summoned her."[42]
The warning was not unfounded. There are good grounds for believing that
Christian, during the period between his engagement and marriage, had
been entangled in other snares. It could hardly have been otherwise,
when we bear in mind the deleterious influences brought to bear on him,
and the temptations to which a boy who had been so severely educated
was exposed, when he found himself his own master at the unripe age of
seventeen. I do not hesitate to assert that the worst influences had been
at work on the young king's mind and senses, and the following confirms
my assertion. We have seen that the marriage took place on November 8,
and on November 25, Ogier, the sharp-sighted French envoy at Copenhagen,
considered himself justified in reporting to Paris:--"The princess
has produced hardly any impression on the king's heart, and had she
been even more amiable, she would have experienced the same fate. For,
how could she please a man who most seriously believes that it is not
fashionable (n'est pas du bon air) for a husband to love his wife?" A
pretty specimen, forsooth, of the effect of the mistress doctrine which
was omnipotent in the eighteenth century! We see that poor Christian, in
a few short months, had made frightfully rapid progress in the corruption
of his age. As Reverdil tells us, with a groan, "a royal person in his
bed appeared to him rather an object of respect than of love."[43]
The queen's household had been previously appointed, and Frau von
Plessen, daughter of Privy Councillor von Berkentin, was selected as
grand mistress so far back as August. The choice was a most unfortunate
one, for this lady, although respectable, was austere, haughty, and
decidedly in opposition.[44] Her apartments were twice a week the
meeting-place of all the malcontents, and the ministers and old
courtiers, after dining with the king, went there to lament over the
backslidings and corrupt society of the young people by whom the king was
surrounded. Still, this choice, though unwise, was not so pernicious as
that of Fräulein von Eyben as lady in waiting.
The good understanding among the other members of the royal family did
not at first appear to be disturbed by the king's marriage. It is true
that Sophia Magdalena, who was sixty-six years of age, and whose heart
was distracted between fear of God and ambition, could not thoroughly
sympathise with the girlish Caroline Matilda, but it is probable that she
was the more willing to forgive her her youth and beauty, because she did
not apprehend any political rival in her.
Juliana Maria, the king's step-mother, did not at first display any open
hostility to the young queen. That she hated her as an obstacle to the
advancement of her own son, there can be no doubt, or that she had made
various underhand efforts to prevent the marriage. She was obliged to
be cautious, however: she was not popular with the nation, and had held
no sway over her husband, who toward the end of his reign hated and
avoided a woman who was the opposite of his prematurely lost Louisa.
Hence Juliana Maria hailed Matilda as the consort of Christian VII. with
well-dissembled smiles and flattering blandishments. This task, however
painful, she performed in her best style, and if her malice had not been
so notorious, Matilda might have believed she should find an affectionate
friend--a second mother in Juliana Maria.[45]
Princess Charlotte Amelia, the king's aunt, only lived for religious
practices and charity. She inhabited the palace of Amalienborg, named
after her, in the great royal market, which is now the Academy, and the
memory of her benefactions to the poor still flourishes among the Danish
people.[46] Princess Louise, the king's dearly loved sister, had only
shortly before been married, and felt herself much too happy to envy her
sister-in-law.
After the arrival of the young queen one festival followed another,
to which the public were generally admitted, although some amusements
were reserved for the court, to which only the élite were invited. At
the commencement of Christian's reign only Danish plays and ballets
were performed at the theatre, but now the king ordered a French troupe
from Paris, who first gave their performances on the Danish stage, but
afterwards in a theatre expressly prepared for them in the Christiansborg.
On December 4, the first masquerade was given at the palace to the first
six classes, to which all the officers of the garrison and the foreign
envoys were invited. During the reign of Frederick V., jovial though it
was, no attempt had been made to introduce such mummeries, as the sober
Danes called them, but Christian considered that he could go to any
lengths.
The court, yearning for amusements of every description, even resolved
to give theatrical performances, in which the king and suite played the
chief parts. Among other pieces performed was Voltaire's _Zaire_, which
exactly suited Christian's taste. It was played in the original, and the
king represented one of the principal characters with great applause.
At first, only a select circle was admitted to the performances, but,
gradually, the public were invited as well.
But while the court amused themselves, the public, generally, murmured.
At the head of the malcontents was Reventlow, who would rush into Frau
von Plessen's apartments, brandishing the bills sent in to him for
payment, and objurgating fiercely. His nephew, Von Sperling, knew how to
stir up his bile, by casting on those whom he wished to injure the mad
expenses which he had himself suggested. It was he, in fact, who most
contributed to bring into fashion theatricals and masked balls. The youth
of the king, and the ennui which began at an early period to oppress him,
supplied an excuse for these expensive amusements, which were madness in
a poor and indebted state. Still, the public might have pardoned it if
the court had managed to attract respect, for nations, though victims
to the magnificence of their sovereigns, readily forgive, and even take
a pride in lavish expenditure when they believe they share it; but the
king, indulging in the most puerile amusements, running without object
from one palace to the other, and decried by the complaints of his own
ministers about his private conduct, entirely forfeited public respect.
A proof of this was furnished during the first winter of his reign. A
building belonging to the palace, from which it was only separated by
a canal, and in which was a brewery with an immense wood store, having
caught fire, Münter,[47] a German preacher, took advantage of the
occasion to preach a sermon against the king's person and the amusements
of the court. He represented the misfortunes of the nation as being
at their height and irremediable, unless Providence granted immediate
help, and unless the warning just given produced a salutary effect. This
sermon, it is true, caused the preacher a reprimand, but it was greatly
applauded by austere persons and devotees.[48]
And what did Caroline Matilda think of her reception? An opinion can
be formed from the following interesting letter which she wrote home,
describing her voyage and arrival in Copenhagen, to her brother the Duke
of York:--
_Copenhagen, December 25, 1766._
SIR AND DEAR BROTHER,
As this epistle will exceed the bounds of a common letter, you may call
it Travels through part of Germany and Denmark, with some cursory remarks
on the genius and manners of the people.
Our navigation, though fortunate enough, seemed to me tedious and
uncomfortable. I almost wished a contrary wind had driven me back to that
coast from which I had sailed with so much regret. Were I a man, I do
not think I should envy you the mighty post of admiral, as I am a true
coward on the main. Though I found the opposite shore very different
from that of England, in regard to populousness, agriculture, roads and
conveniences for travelling, I was glad to be safely landed, and vowed
to Neptune never to invade his empire; only wishing that he would be
graciously pleased to let me have another passage to the Queen of the
Isles. What I have seen of Germany exhibits a contrast of barren lands
and some few cultivated spots; here and there some emaciated cattle,
inhospitable forests, castles with turrets and battlements out of
repair, half inhabited by counts and barons of the Holy Empire, wretched
cottages, multitudes of soldiers, and a few husbandmen; pride and
ceremonial on one side, slavery and abjection on the other.
As for principalities, every two or three hours I entered the dominions
of a new sovereign; and, indeed, often I passed through the place of
their highnesses' residence without being able to guess that it was the
seat of these little potentates; I only judged by the antiquity of their
palaces, falling to ruins, that these princes may justly boast of a race
of illustrious progenitors, as it seemed they had lived there from time
immemorial. As we judge of everything by comparison, I observed that
there is more comfort, more elegance, more conveniency, in the villa of
a citizen of London than in these gloomy mansions, hung up with rotten
tapestries, where a serene highness _meurt d'ennui_, in all the state of
a monarch, amongst a few attendants, called master of the horse, grand
ecuyer, grand chamberlain, without appointments. There is no such thing
here as a middle class of people living in affluence and independence.
Both men and women of fashion affect to dress more rich than elegant.
The female part of the burghers' families at Hamburg and Altona dress
inconceivably fantastic. The most unhappy part of the Germans are the
tenants of the little needy princes, who squeeze them to keep up their
own grandeur. These petty sovereigns, ridiculously proud of titles,
ancestry, and show, give no sort of encouragement to the useful arts,
though industry, application, and perseverance, are the characteristics
of the German nation, especially the mechanical part of it.
The roads are almost impassable. The carriages of the nobility and gentry
infinitely worse than the stage-coaches in England; and the inns want all
the accommodations they are intended for.
You may easily imagine that the sight of a new queen, from the position
of the kingdom to the capital, brought upon my passage great crowds of
people from the adjacent towns and villages, yet I believe you may see
more on a fair day from Charing Cross to the Royal Exchange than I have
met upon the road from Altona to Copenhagen. The gentlemen and ladies who
were sent to compliment me, and increased my retinue, made no addition
to my entertainment. Besides the reservedness and gravity peculiar to
their nation, they thought it was a mark of respect and submission never
to presume to answer me but by monosyllables.
What I have seen of Danish Holstein and of the duchy of Schleswig, is
well watered, and produces plenty of corn. The inhabitants of those
countries differ little or nothing from other Germans. Some parts of
Jutland consist of barren mountains; but the valleys are, in general,
well inhabited and fruitful. The face of the country presents a number
of large forests, but I did not see a river navigable for a barge of the
same burden as those that come up the river Thames to London. Spring and
autumn are seasons scarcely known here; to the sultry heat of August
succeeds a severe winter, and the frost continues for eight months, and
with little alteration. It seems as if the soil were unfavourable to
vegetable productions, for those that have been procured for my table, at
a great expense, were unsavoury, and of the worst kind. As game is here
in plenty, and the coasts are generally well supplied with fish, I could
have lived very well on these two articles had they been better dressed,
but their cookery, which is a mixture of Danish and German ingredients,
cannot be agreeable to an English palate.
I shall not attempt to learn the language of the country, which is a
harsh dialect of the Teutonic. The little French and High-Dutch I know
will be of great service to me at court, where they are generally
spoken with a bad accent and a vicious pronunciation. The peasants,
as to property, are still in a state of vassalage; and the nobility,
who are slaves at court, tyrannize over their inferiors and tenants in
their dominions. These poor husbandmen, with such discouragements to
industry, are obliged to maintain the cavalry in victuals and lodgings;
likewise to furnish them with money. These disadvantages, added to their
natural indolence, make this valuable class of people less useful and
more needy than in free states, where they enjoy, in common with other
subjects, that freedom which is a spur to industry. You must not expect
any conveniency and accommodation in their inns; all those I found upon
the road had been provided by the court.
Copenhagen, though a small capital, makes no contemptible appearance at
a distance. All the artillery of the castles and forts, with the warlike
music of the guards and divers companies of burghers, in rich uniforms,
announced my entry into this royal residence. I was conducted, amidst
the acclamations of the inhabitants, to the palace, when the king, the
queen dowager, and Prince Frederick, her son, with the nobility of both
sexes, who had, on this occasion, displayed all their finery, received me
with extraordinary honours, according to the etiquette. The king's youth,
good nature, and levity, require no great penetration to be discerned
in his taste, amusements, and his favourites. He seems all submission
to the queen, who has got over him such an ascendancy as her arts and
ambition seem likely to preserve. Her darling son, whom she wished not to
be removed a step farther from the throne, is already proud and aspiring
like herself.
I have been more than once mortified with the superior knowledge and
experience for which the queen takes care to praise herself, and
offended at the want of respect and attention in the prince. As such
unmerited slights cannot be resented without an open rupture, I rather
bear with them than disunite the royal family, and appear the cause of
court cabals, by showing my displeasure. It seems the king teaches his
subjects, by example, the doctrine of passive obedience. Few of the
courtiers look like gentlemen; and their ladies appear, in the circle,
inanimate, like the wax figures in Westminster Abbey.
I have been lately at Frederiksborg. It is a magnificent house, built in
the modern taste, but ill-contrived, and situated in the most unhealthy
soil, in the middle of a lake. The paintings and furniture are truly
royal.
To remind me that I am mortal, I have visited the cathedral church of
Roeskilde, where the kings and queens of Denmark were formerly buried.
Several of their monuments still exist, which are, as well as this
ancient structure, of a Gothic taste.
As you flatter me with the pleasure of seeing you soon in Copenhagen, I
postpone mentioning other particulars till this agreeable interview, and
remain, with British sincerity,
Sir, and dear brother,
Your most affectionate sister,
MATILDA CAROLINE.
* * * * *
If any differences subsisted between the couple at this time, they did
not reach the public knowledge; and the conduct of Caroline Matilda
was that of a most devoted wife. Thus, when Christian was attacked in
April, 1767, by a scarlet fever, which was thought infectious, the queen
assiduously attended him; nor would she leave him, day or night, till
his life was out of danger. On the following May 1, their Majesties'
coronation was performed in the chapel of the Christiansborg Palace, by
the Bishop of Seeland. On this occasion, his Majesty assumed the motto
of _Gloria ex amore patriæ_. As the kings of Denmark do not receive the
crown from any other hands than their own, the ceremony of putting it
on is performed by themselves.[49] It was about this time that Prince
Charles first entertained doubts as to Christian's sanity. He imparted
his suspicions to Bernstorff, who acknowledged the truth of his remark,
for Count de St. Germain had spoken to him about it, and said: "The
king has a singular and very rare malady; in France we call it _fou de
cœur_."
And yet a cloud was gathering, at first no bigger than a man's hand,
which would soon overcast this apparently happy life. Frau von Plessen
strove for influence and power. If she could so contrive that Caroline
Matilda should attain as much mastery over Christian VII. as Sophia
Magdalena had held over Christian VI., she, as her confidante, would
easily be able to direct matters as she pleased. The speculating lady,
unfortunately, fancied she had discovered the best way of effecting
this, by advising the young queen to behave more reservedly towards her
husband, who--so the clever lady-in-waiting calculated--would become
all the more in love with his beautiful wife, and more indulgent to her
wishes.
The inexperienced Caroline Matilda but too readily followed the advice
of her grand mistress, and hence-forward behaved with coy reserve and
assumed coldness toward her hot-blooded husband. When he wished to pay
the queen an evening visit, he was put off with various excuses, and it
was not till he had repeatedly requested an interview with his wife that
he was admitted.
Christian, whom any opposition drove to a state bordering on madness,
determined to make a tour in Holstein, where he could give way to his
propensities unchecked. The queen greatly wished to accompany her
husband, which he declined, and the first serious quarrel took place.
She was the more to be pitied, honest Reverdil tells us, because she was
_enceinte_, and, through an instinct common to nearly all wives, had
grown into an inclination for the father of her child. She attributed her
disgrace to Count von Holck, who very probably strengthened the king in
his resolution. Consequently, she insisted that he should be left behind
as well, and it was not without difficulty that she obtained so weak and
humiliating a vengeance.
Reverdil did his best to patch up this quarrel. He urged the king to
write his wife the most affectionate letters, and, as Reverdil composed
them himself, the queen was to some degree pacified. The account which
Reverdil gives us of the royal tour is very lamentable. Christian
offended the old Danish nobility by his frivolity and recklessness, while
his amusements were so puerile, and the courtiers whom he appeared to
prefer so unfitted, that very unfavourable judgments were formed of him.
While staying at Traventhal, the king talked a great deal about the
travelling scheme, which he carried out soon after. He wanted it to be
different, however, from what it really became. He would have liked to
forget business and etiquette, become a private person, and try what
success his personal qualities would obtain him in society. He strove
very hard to persuade Reverdil to accompany him across the frontier with
one valet, and it was not till the Swiss refused point blank to go that
the king gave up his design.
During Christian's absence, Caroline Matilda received a terrible shock
from the death of her beloved brother, the Duke of York. The young
prince left England in August, and proceeded to Paris, where he was
magnificently fêted. While he was in France, the Queen of Denmark wrote
him the following letter:--
_To H.R.H. Edward, Duke of York._
SIR AND DEAR BROTHER,
You are now in a kingdom that I should like to see in preference to
all the countries in Europe, though I am sure my curiosity will never
be gratified in that respect. You may, perhaps, attribute this desire
to the levity of our sex, which has a strong analogy to the volatile
genius of the French. No,--my motive is, that I should be glad to see at
home those people who have been for so many centuries past our rivals
in arts and army. Pray write to me a good account of Paris, which, I am
informed, must yield the precedency to modern London. When you go to the
south of France, I am so unreasonable as to expect another account of the
provinces. Take care of your health, and let not all the princesses of
Europe make you forget.
Your most affectionate
CAROLINE.
* * * * *
The duke had reached Monaco in his travels, and died there on Sept.
17, after a malignant fever which lasted fourteen days. The blow, so
unexpected, was severely felt by the whole family, and by none more
than Caroline Matilda, who had been keeping her own troubles locked in
her bosom, till she could impart them to an affectionate brother, whose
arrival she so fully expected. In the first outburst of her sorrow, she
wrote the following touching letter to her mother, the Princess Dowager
of Wales:--
MADAM AND REVERED MOTHER,
Give me leave to condole with your royal highness in the loss of your
dutiful son, and my beloved brother, the Duke of York. I feel, with my
own grief, your sorrow. I beg you will convey the same sentiments to his
Majesty the King, my brother. When I reflect on the circumstances of the
untimely death of this amiable prince in a foreign land, and perhaps
deprived of the comfort and assistance he should have found in his native
country, I still more lament his fate. I am extremely concerned for your
royal highness's indisposition; but I hope this melancholy event, which
maternal tenderness cannot but severely feel, as it was ordered by the
unfathomable decrees of Providence, will be so far reconciled to your
superior understanding and piety, as to adore and to submit.
I am, with great deference,
Your Royal Highness's
Respectful daughter,
CAROLINE.
* * * * *
When the king returned from his Holstein tour, it was arranged that the
queen should drive seven or eight leagues from Copenhagen to meet him. He
received her with all the _empressement_ of which he was capable; he got
into her carriage, and those who were only imperfectly acquainted with
the state of things might imagine that he was resuming his true place.
But the conduct which the queen had before assumed in the hope of
entirely winning her husband's affection, was now dictated by resentment.
The party of Juliana Maria, who desired a separation between the couple,
had informed Caroline Matilda of her husband's conduct while absent, and
the result was a decided coldness. This produced such savageness in the
king, and he was so dissatisfied, that he complained about his consort
in the presence of his domestics. This was a famous opening for these
creatures, who took all possible trouble to direct Christian's attention
to other ladies. One of the royal runners, of the name of Hjorth, hence
said to the king one day that it would be easy to avenge himself for
the queen's coldness, as there were plenty of fair dames who would
accept the king's visits more than willingly. His Majesty only required
to keep a mistress, and such a person his most gracious master could
find at any moment. Hjorth proposed to the king a well-known Hetæra,
called "Stiefelett-Kathrine," on account of her beautiful feet, whose
acquaintance the pander had, probably, made beforehand.[50] Christian
willingly assented, saw the girl, found her pretty and insinuating, and
entered into the unfortunate connexion with her, by which he was led into
the most horrible and open profligacy.
The leader of these orgies was Count Conrad von Holck, a scampish and
good-tempered young fellow, of the same age as the king. The ministers,
who should have kept a watchful eye on everything that might have an
injurious effect on the character of the young king, were not sorry
to see the autocrat yielding to the seductive influences of his loose
favourite. But Count Conrad in no way betrayed the slightest desire to
interfere in the business of the state, and was consequently harmless.
The growing influence of this minion drove from court the only honest man
remaining at it. One evening, Holck promised Milady a box at the theatre,
and Reverdil saw her sitting above the maids of honour, who were facing
the queen. Being at the time close to Holck, the virtuous Swiss could
not refrain from speaking out. "Sir," he said, "though you may turn into
ridicule a hundred times an expression which I have frequent occasion
to repeat, I say again, that a man can be neither a good subject, nor a
good servant, who does not weep to see such a creature thus defy the
queen, and the king make himself, to the great peril of the state, the
_greluchon_ of a foreign minister." The next day Reverdil received a
written order from the king to leave Copenhagen in twenty-four hours.
The first important sign of the king's most favourable sentiments toward
the young protégé was Holck's appointment, on December 21, 1767, as Court
Marshal. From this time Count Holck managed all the festivities at court,
where comedies, balls, masquerades, and excursions followed each other
uninterruptedly. The king, however, preferred, to all these distractions,
any opportunity of yielding to his temperament without the trammels of
a court. Holck frequently gave brilliant luncheons at the Blaagard, a
castellated building outside the north gate, used at that time for all
sorts of festivities, and Christian took much pleasure in them. At night,
however, Holck accompanied the king on his visits to Milady and back
again, during which, street riots were but too frequent.
It has been urged in apology for Holck, that he did not really lead the
king into these excesses, but could not refrain from sharing in them,
through fear of incurring the king's displeasure. Moreover, he considered
his presence at these extravagances necessary, partly because he at times
succeeded in moderating the intended outrages, partly because he was able
to give the people offended by the damage sustained a secret hint that
the doer of the mischief was his most sacred Majesty the King. Only
in that way was it possible to save the king from abuse, or even from
personal violence. Holck, it is further said, did the reckless young
king a real service, because, in the end, he induced him to give up his
connexion with the notorious Milady, who had not only led the king into
illicit amours, but had also persuaded him to make nocturnal sallies
in the streets, to fight with the watchmen, and force his way into low
houses whose keepers had given her cause of offence, to break glasses,
bottles, and windows, and commit similar acts of folly. In truth, it may
have appeared evident to Holck that such almost incredible behaviour
would eventually rob the king of all respect, and expose him to the
ridicule of the nation.
It is not my intention to bring before the reader the lengthened
_chronique scandaleuse_ which I have been compelled to wade through. In
giving what I have, it was rather my purpose to offer a sketch of court
life a hundred years ago, as an introduction to an historical drama which
may seek its counterpart in vain in the world's annals.
Before concluding this chapter, space may be granted to a small paragraph
from the "Annual Register," which offers a further sign of the times:--
"Within the last few years a set of people have been discovered in
Denmark seized with a disorder of mind which is extremely dangerous to
society. This is an imagination that by committing murder, and being
afterwards condemned to die for it, they are the better able, by public
marks of repentance and conversion as they go to the scaffold, to prepare
themselves for death, and work out their own salvation. A little while
ago one of these wretches murdered a child out of the same principle. In
order, however, to take from these wretches all hope of obtaining their
end, and to extirpate the evil, the king has issued an ordinance, by
which his Majesty forbids the punishing them with death; and enacts, that
they shall be branded in the forehead with a hot iron and whipped; that
they shall afterwards be confined, for the rest of their days, in a house
of correction, in order to be kept there to hard labour; and, lastly,
that every year, on the day of their crime, they shall be whipped anew in
public."
In order to remove the bitter taste which the perusal of the above
paragraph has doubtless left in the mouth of the reader, let me add
another of a pleasanter nature:--
"Another mark of paternal goodness of his Danish Majesty to his subjects
has appeared in the encouragement and protection extended to the Society
of Artists lately established at Copenhagen, to which he has ordered a
yearly pension of 10,000 crowns, to be issued from the royal treasury,
to be applied in supporting the necessitous, and in rewarding those who
distinguish themselves by their merit."
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 40: "Northern Courts," vol. i. p. 24.]
[Footnote 41: "Mémoires de mon Temps," dictés par S. A. le Landgrave
Charles Prince de Hesse. (Printed by the King of Denmark for private
circulation.)]
[Footnote 42: In spite of all my efforts I have been unable to discover
the original documents. The above are, therefore, translated from
Scherr's "Drei Hofgeschichten."]
[Footnote 43: It has been mentioned that Caroline Matilda received, on
parting from her mother, a ring bearing the motto, "Bring me happiness."
Four days after the marriage the royal couple dined in state with two
hundred guests, and it was already observed that the rosy bloom on the
young queen's cheeks had disappeared. She was seen to look thoughtfully
at her ring, and sigh heavily. Her unhappiness showed itself more and
more from day to day, while the king appeared to take no notice of it.
One day, when his favourite, Count Holck, called Christian's attention to
it, he replied, "Qu'importe? it is not my fault; I believe that she has
the spleen. Passons là dessus."]
[Footnote 44: According to the "Mémoires de mon Temps," Fran von Plessen
took a very high tone with everybody, and, like another Princess Ursini,
claimed the right of pointing the arrows which the ministers were to
fire.]
[Footnote 45: "Northern Courts," vol. i.]
[Footnote 46: According to the "Mémoires de mon Temps," this Princess was
constantly tormented by the king. At first she would smooth her ruffled
plumes, and smile on the king addressing her as the daughter of Frederick
IV., but at last things got so bad that she withdrew to her bedroom,
and would not come to meals. This cost the king and the royal family
dear, for she left her large property in estates and precious stones,
not to the king, as she often declared she would, but to the poor. The
final cause of her withdrawal was a terrible fright she received through
Warnstedt, the king's first page, crawling into the dining-room on all
fours, disguised as a savage. What an idea this offers of court life in
those days!]
[Footnote 47: The celebrated converter of Struensee. If we may
believe a curious pamphlet called "Sittliche Frage; warum müssten die
Königin von Dännemark, und die Grafen von Struensee und von Brandt in
Kopenhagen arretiret _u. s. w._? von einem dänischen Zuschauer gründlich
beantwortet"--this preacher was not the cleanest of men, for, some years
previously, he had been suspended for drinking, riding, joking, and
card-playing.]
[Footnote 48: Reverdil's "Struensee," p. 74.]
[Footnote 49: "Annual Register, 1767."]
[Footnote 50: According to Reverdil, this woman was introduced to the
king by Count von Danneskjold Laurvig. She had risen from the vilest
state of prostitution to the rank of mistress of Sir John Goodricke, the
English minister appointed to Sweden, but whom French intrigues prevented
from residing at Stockholm. She was called, in consequence, _Milady_. At
this time she was the very faithless mistress of the Viennese envoy.]