THE CABINET MINISTER.
BIRTH OF A PRINCESS--THE CABINET MINISTER--THE LEX REGIA--GENERAL
DISSATISFACTION--THE NEW COUNTS--STRUENSEE'S COAT OF ARMS--FOREIGN
AFFAIRS--A FAVOURITE HAS NO FRIENDS--THE GERMAN GRIEVANCE--A
DANGEROUS FOE--INGRATITUDE OF BRANDT--RETURN OF REVERDIL--ARRIVAL
AT COURT--HOMICIDAL MANIA--THE KING OF PRUSSIA--HABITS OF THE
COURT--THE PRINCE ROYAL.
The court remained till June 6 at the palace of Christiansborg. The
festivities that took place here were all arranged by Brandt, who
felt quite in his element while doing so, and never displayed any
inclination to interfere in affairs of state. But Struensee demanded
resolution, even in court matters, and acted on the principle that, if
a man wanted to reform an intriguing court, it could not be effected
with paternal indulgence. Still he was frequently obliged to give way.
At the small court balls, natural merriment at first prevailed, until a
dancing-master, favoured by the Countess Holstein, introduced pomp and
art. That she was able to effect this, although the king and queen did
not care fix formal dances, was ascribed to the power which she possessed
over Brandt.
As regards the theatre, both the king and queen preferred comedies to
tragedies, and Struensee demanded that their Majesties' wishes should be
carried out; more especially, as there were no good tragic actors. He
was also of opinion that the cheapest troupe of comedians was the best,
and that the music required at the performances could be entrusted to
the regimental bands. Brandt, on the contrary, entertained different
views: he wished to introduce another and purer taste at court, and did
not like to run the risk of being laughed at by foreign guests at court
festivities. This was allowed him, on condition that he undertook the
most responsible duty of being with the king day and night. He dressed
him, which formerly the valet and Von Warnstedt had done; and had to
introduce all those persons who were allowed admission to the king, but
report to Struensee everything that occurred during the interview.
The connexion between the king and his chamberlain, however, was not that
of a master with his servant, but exactly like that between two men of
equal rank; for King Christian would not have any ceremony, and desired
perfect freedom of action on the part of his immediate _entourage_. Thus
his most gracious Majesty had behaved to Holck and Warnstedt, and he
expected the same from Brandt. It was the king's expressed wish, that
any one who was continually about him should forget that he was the
king. Whenever Brandt attempted to show his Majesty the reverence which
became a subject, the king at once ridiculed him, by bowing to him with
a sarcastic "your most obedient servant." But Brandt found no pleasure
in this free and easy style, and was generally dissatisfied with his
position, which forced him to be constantly with the king, and deprived
him of every opportunity to enjoy the society of his beloved Frau von
Holstein. This amour even rendered him indifferent to Struensee, with
whom he was angry besides, because he did not consider himself honoured
in proportion to his fancied merits; for it had been he who recommended
Struensee to Holck as travelling doctor, and had satisfied Bernstorff
as regarded him. Lastly, Brandt was annoyed at his and his lady-love's
repeated heavy losses at cards, although he himself had insisted on
high stakes, and the king and queen liked the fascinating game of loo.
And even though Brandt's losses amounted to nearly 2,000 dollars in a
single month, still, what he lost in this way was amply made up by royal
presents. He received, in the first instance, a gratification of 10,000,
and afterwards 50,000, dollars from the king's privy purse.
When the winter amusements were at an end, the summer days were employed
for excursions to the palace of Frederiksborg. On June 6, their Majesties
removed to Hirschholm, after being present on the previous day at the
last races of the year. This palace and the park now became the scene
of incessant festivities, concerts, balls, French plays, and hunting
parties, succeeding each other rapidly; but the queen's interesting
situation did not allow her to take an active part in them. The king
drove at times to town to attend the French plays, but he was in such
a weak state of health, that, by the advice of Berger, his physician,
he began taking cold baths again in June, and continued to do so till
the following September. The physician paid the greatest attention to
the king, and sent in a daily report to Struensee about his patient's
condition and the progress of his cure. That stimulants were given the
king to enable him to carry on his amorous excesses, is untrue, even
though Landgrave Charles, his brother-in-law, states the fact.[149]
Queen Juliana Maria and her son Frederick had retired on May 24 to
Fredensborg, where they lived in great seclusion, and left the palace
as rarely as they received visitors. Princess Charlotte Amelia, the
benefactress of the poor, was staying at the palace of Frederiksborg.
The royal couple had been residing a month at Hirschholm, when Queen
Caroline Matilda was delivered of a daughter, at eleven on the morning
of July 7. A military and a naval officer at once conveyed the glad
tidings to Copenhagen, where the birth of a princess was announced to the
people from the balcony of the Christiansborg, and commemorated by salvos
of artillery from the ramparts and the arsenal, and by the playing of
trumpets from the Town Hall and the church towers.
Unfortunately, Struensee assisted in the accouchement with Berger,[150]
and no other physicians were afterwards called in. This gave fresh
animation to the impertinent speeches and remarks which had long been
made, and they became the more serious because it was said that they
were frequently heard at Fredensborg. Here they could no longer retain
the quality of a harmless satire, which people easily forget: they were
repeated and dipped in gall by persons of rank, who only too willingly
listened to them, and in whose hands they might turn into dangerous
weapons. Here, too, they were no longer the frivolous gossip of an
impotent mob, but might give rise to serious measures.[151]
The royal patient progressed so favourably that she was able to suckle
her child; and on July 22, the twenty-first birthday of the young queen,
the newborn princess was christened at Hirschholm, with the names of
Louisa Augusta,[152] after the late queen of Denmark and H.R.H. the
Princess Dowager of Wales. The sponsors present were his Majesty the King
of Denmark, with his brother, Prince Frederick, and the Dowager Queen,
Juliana Maria.[153]
While these events were taking place at court, a change occurred in the
government, which was followed by the most weighty consequences, and was
an unique instance in Danish history.
Up to the present time, Struensee had been _maître des requêtes_, with
the title of Councillor of Conference, and had occupied, as we have seen,
the Mezzanine, in Christiansborg Palace. But we have also seen that, in
this capacity, he governed the state and the court. The king gave his
assent to everything that Struensee proposed; and the latter had hitherto
employed this influence in carrying out useful reforms in the government
and legislature. At the same time, however, he obtained large sums for
himself and his friends out of the resources of the state. Although
he had no expenses of his own, not even for the banquets he gave, he
received, a couple of months after his appointment as _maître des
requêtes_, a present of 10,000 dollars from the king, and obtained the
same sum for Brandt. But not satisfied with this, he proposed, in April,
that what was called the "treasure," or a sum of money set apart for
unforeseen expenses, should be paid into the public exchequer, and then
obtained an order to pay 250,000 dollars of this amount into the privy
purse, which was under his sole control. But this large sum had been
reduced, by the end of May, to 118,000 dollars, the deficit having been
expended in presents,--Struensee and Brandt receiving 100,000 dollars to
divide between them; and they did so at a time when so many salaries and
pensions were reduced.
But it was now shown that Struensee would not be satisfied with being
the favourite of the king and queen, and having decided influence in all
affairs of state. Hence he induced the king to appoint him, on July 14,
1771, Privy Cabinet Minister, with an authority which no subject had ever
before held in Denmark. The document is so remarkable, that I quote it
_in extenso_:--
_To the ---- College._
Having appointed Master of Requests Struensee my Privy Cabinet Minister,
I have prescribed to him, by an order under my own hand, the following
points, which he must observe in drawing up cabinet orders:
1. All orders which I may give him orally shall be drawn up by him
in accordance with my meaning; and he shall lay them before me for
signature, or issue them in my name, under the cabinet seal.
2. All orders addressed to a college, on the representation of another
college, shall be drawn up by him, and no longer be effected through an
order in the college, or through the "communication."
3. An extract from the cabinet orders issued shall be laid before me
weekly for approval.
4. The cabinet orders issued in this way shall have the same validity
as those drawn up by my hand. They shall be immediately obeyed, both by
the colleges and subaltern officials, in case there is no royal order or
resolution to the contrary; in which case it will be at once reported to
the cabinet. In all other cases, the colleges and departments must send
to me the contents of the order and a report of its execution.
* * * * *
In consequence, this is made known to the ---- College; and it is ordered
punctually to obey the points affecting the college herein contained, and
make them known, for the same purpose, to its subordinate officials.
CHRISTIAN.
---------------
STRUENSEE.
HIRSCHHOLM, _July 15, 1771_.
* * * * *
We may notice here the favourite's ignorance of forms. When his patent as
Count was granted him, he would have countersigned it himself, had not
Hoier, who was present, warned him. But the royal order appointing him
prime minister was communicated to the departments and the ministers of
the foreign courts by copies countersigned by himself alone.
As Reverdil very justly remarks, the king, after declaring to all Europe
that he intended himself to govern, suddenly delegated his whole power
to one man; and it was conferred with less pomp and formality than
would have been used in former times with an order of the Treasury.
No one attested to having been present at so important a deliberation
except the man who was the subject of it. Struensee suddenly found
himself transformed from an officer of the palace into a grand vizier,
and invested with greater power than had ever been granted to the
chancellors, or even the lieutenant-generals of the kingdom,--known
in the time of the aristocracy by the name of grand masters. Thus was
accomplished what Struensee had announced at the outset of his career.
He had told Reverdil's faithful friend, Hoier, and probably many other
persons, that everything was vicious in the government of the state, and
that he would not leave one stone of it upon the other.
The nation, revolted by so rapid a fortune, by this unlimited power
entrusted to a stranger and a parvenu, considered it a crime on his
part to accept it; and even a crime foreseen by the regulations of the
_Lex Regia_,[154] the only unchangeable law in the kingdom. Article
twenty-six of this law enjoins the future kings to defend their
hereditary rights, and never allow them to be encroached on; declares
null and void any powers granted to the prejudice of the royal authority;
and proclaims those who had obtained them guilty of high treason. It was
asserted that the man whose orders were to be obeyed without any external
proof that they emanated from the king, had arrogated a portion of the
sovereign authority; and this interpretation, forced though it was, was
seriously alleged hereafter.
It is plain that the rescripts and orders of the government were, as
before, drawn up in accordance with article seven of the _Lex Regia_
in the king's name and under his seal; and Struensee could not be
responsible because the king did not always think proper to sign with his
own hand, as the article demands. But even the signature in the king's
name could not be regarded as an encroachment on the king's autocracy;
for, by article twenty-six the king is left at liberty either to sign
orders himself, or to let them be signed in his name by other persons,
whenever he thinks proper. That the _Lex Regia_ also does not regard the
autograph signature of the king as a material component of autocracy is
clearly seen from article nine, in which it is prescribed that in cases
when the king is not of age, the regent shall sign in his name, but the
royal authority remain undiminished. Lastly, it is proved that the
letter of the law had not hitherto been so explained as to render the
royal signature of such consequence as the drawing up of the deed in his
name, by the fact that not only the colleges, but also officials up to
very recent times, made known the king's will in his name but without
his signature. Yet it is a very difficult question to solve, whether
Struensee did not misapply the king's confidence by issuing orders that
differed from those which the monarch had given him.
Struensee's best friends were shocked by the sudden display of his
favour revealed in this new appointment. Thus, Von Berger, the physician
in ordinary, and other respected men at court, expressed their
dissatisfaction at Struensee's unreflecting step. Even Lieutenant-General
von Gähler, though usually devoted to the favourite, felt aggrieved,
though it is but fair to allow that he had sunk in the daring reformer's
favour by opposing the disbandment of the _gardes du corps_.
It was not stated in the royal proclamation what rank was to be connected
with the new post of a cabinet minister, but people at court already
began addressing Struensee by the title of Excellency. Scarce a week
after this elevation, another took place, by which Brandt also profited.
Both men were raised to the rank of Danish Counts on July 30, 1771, but
the Latin diplomas, in which they were justified to call their ancestors
up to the third generation Counts and Countesses, were not drawn up till
September 30.
The coat of arms selected by Struensee, and engraved on the cabinet seal,
was a remarkable allusion to his regency and system of government. The
escutcheon (symbolical of the state) was divided into five fields, the
centre one of which represented a sailing vessel (the symbol of commerce)
with a crown over it, typical of the monarch and the persons representing
him. The first and fourth quarters displayed four rivers (exports and
imports idealized) on a field _or_, which was the symbol of Denmark, rich
in corn, and Norway, abounding in metal, wood, and fish. In the third
and second quarters was a crown surrounded with palm leaves (the symbol
of peace and victory) and two crossed keys (the image of authority and
might) on a field _azure_, which allegorically typified fidelity and
constancy. Below the coat of arms was the royal crown with the badge of
the Matilda order, surrounded by a laurel wreath (the symbol of fortune,
joy, and honour), from which flowed two rivers running round the chief
escutcheon (the state), supported by two beavers (the representatives of
industry and architecture), and guarded by bourgeois helmets (emblems
of national armament), counts' crowns (the symbol of the servant of the
state), and an owl holding a key in its mouth (as allegories of thought
and reflection). Above the whole was displayed between two eagle wings
(the symbols of power, strength, and victory) a man-of-war in full
sail (typical of the navy), and above this, again, a suspended crown,
surrounded by palm branches (the type of peace).[155] Brandt, on the
other hand, took the seal of his ancestor, Councillor of the Exchequer
Peter Brandt, as his coat of arms.
No estates were connected with the dignity of the new counts. It was
certainly reported that the large domains of Wemmetofte and Wallô, in
Seeland, were intended for Struensee, and other estates for Brandt. But
that Struensee was of a different opinion was proved by the answer he
gave to a letter which Brandt wrote him on this subject. He said that if
the king really intended so exaggerated a mark of kindness for him, he
should in no way promote it, but, on the contrary, oppose it.
Within two short years, Struensee had made really gigantic strides on the
slippery path of court favour. By his elevation to the rank of a privy
cabinet minister and of count, fourteen months after his appointment as
reader to the king and cabinet secretary to the queen, he had attained
the highest post in the kingdom. Possessing the unbounded confidence
of the most absolute monarch in Europe, he stood immediately next to
the throne, and the world gazed in amazement upon his fortune and his
reforms.
In the new period commencing with Struensee's cabinet ministry, so many
changes and improvements no longer took place. The necessity for them,
indeed, was not so great, as reforms had been undertaken in nearly every
branch of the administration. In the highest government colleges better
management and simplification, and a more rapid settlement of business,
had been introduced. The finances were managed on a fixed plan; all
the various in-comings and out-goings of the state were entrusted to
a single direction, and retrenchments introduced to pay off the state
debts. The administration of justice had been partially improved, and the
privileges of the nobles restricted. Men of birth and of no birth were
henceforth equally obliged to work their way up to the highest offices
from the lowest round of the ladder. Catholics and reformers were allowed
to worship as they pleased, and religious liberty existed _de facto_,
if not by law. We may assume that the clergy of the strictly Lutheran
country were not particularly edified by this, but no one dared to oppose
it openly, and hence the only measure taken was drawing up a private
list of the supposed attacks on the state religion. The liberty of the
press knew no bounds, but was shamefully employed in disgraceful attacks
upon its founders. For people not only ventured openly to abuse many of
Struensee's useful reforms, but made the most impudent attacks both on
the minister and their reigning Majesties. Struensee, however, considered
it beneath his dignity to punish these attacks, and did not even take
the slightest trouble to discover the authors.
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.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 149: Peut-être lui donna-t-on des choses fortifiantes pour
restaurer sa faiblesse, et qui eurent l'effet de lier les facultés de son
esprit, sans les lui ôter tout-à-fait.--_Mémoires de mon Temps_, p. 56.]
[Footnote 150: This Berger was a surgeon-accoucheur, and favourite of
Struensee. He must not be confounded with Etats-rath von Berger, the
physician in ordinary, who had retired from court.]
[Footnote 151: "Authentische Aufklärungen."]
[Footnote 152: She was the mother of Christian Augustus, Duke of
Schleswig-Holstein Sonderburg Augustenburg, who was deprived of his
rights by the London treaty of 1852; of Prince Frederick of Noër; and of
the Dowager Queen Amelia, widow of Christian VIII., King of Denmark.]
[Footnote 153: "Annual Register, 1771."]
[Footnote 154: This law, drawn up by the unfortunate Griffenfeldt, and
signed on November 14, 1665, by Frederick III., the first absolute king
of Denmark and Sweden, but not published till after his death in 1709,
raises the king above the law, and makes him responsible to God alone
for his actions as regent. The only condition imposed on him was, that
he should belong to the Protestant religion, according to the Augsburg
Confession. The _Lex Regia_ remained in force till June 5, 1849, the day
on which the late King of Denmark, Frederick VII., signed the democratic
constitution of Denmark.]
[Footnote 155: Struensee, the liberal reformer, who made the nobility
feel his sarcasm on every occasion, was yet weak enough to have this
absurdity painted on his coach panels, to dress his servants in red and
white liveries, and to have his coat of arms fastened on their caps.
When his valet appeared for the first time in this livery--so La Mothe,
the queen's chamber-woman, tells us--he stumbled on the palace stairs,
his cap fell off his head and broke the badge, and the blood that flowed
from his nose thoroughly ruined the new livery. On Struensee being told
of this, he only gave his ordinary answer when anything disagreeable to
him happened "As God pleases." On this occasion, though, it may have
contained a deeper meaning.]
[Footnote 156: After Struensee's downfall, this system was introduced
again under the title of the Commission of Inquisition. It was finally
abolished, together with running the gauntlet in the army, by Frederick
VI.]
[Footnote 157: The clergy protested against the marriage of
cousins-german being allowed, although the king had given the example of
such an alliance, and a dispensation had always hitherto been granted.
Nothing can be urged, however, in favour of Struensee's permission for a
man to marry his wife's niece, or even sister.]
[Footnote 158: This charge against Struensee can hardly be repeated too
often. The breach between Dane and German, which produced such a terrible
catastrophe in his case, has never since been healed, and it is in great
measure owing to thin jealousy, that the inhabitants of the duchies have
had cause to complain of their treatment by the triumphant, and, I fear,
dictatorial, minority.]
[Footnote 159: Bernstorff mentioned this fact to Reverdil on the very
day before his death, and Rantzau said to the Swiss, shortly after the
negociation had been broken off, "Bernstorff would be here now if he
could have trusted to me."] [Footnote 161: The king most frequently
spoke German to Reverdil, which was the court language at the time,
though formerly he had piqued himself on addressing everybody in his own
language, and had always spoken to Reverdil in French, rarely in Danish,
and never in German.]
[Footnote 160: Brandt and Rantzau.]
[Footnote 161: The king most frequently spoke German to Reverdil, which
was the court language at the time, though formerly he had piqued himself
on addressing everybody in his own language, and had always spoken to
Reverdil in French, rarely in Danish, and never in German.]
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.
D.
Dames de la Halle, 183.
Damiens, execution of, 173.
Danish language, complaints against the disuse of, 359, 360.
Danneskjold Samsöe, count, 75;
his genealogy, 75, _note_;
his court intrigues and influence, 76;
his dismissal, 109.
Danneskjold Laurvig, count von, the Danish minister, 188;
his high character, 190;
his daughter married to Count Holck, 198.
---- admiral, dismissed, 271.
Dehn, baron von, 47.
DENMARK, Caroline Matilda's journey to, 47;
court of, 50;
the royal family of, and right of succession to the throne, 51;
possession of Schleswig-Holstein vital importance to, 51, 52,
_note_;
government of, under Frederick V., 68;
subsidies paid to, 68;
ruinous condition of, 69;
names of the royal family of, 78;
and their feelings towards Caroline Matilda, 88, 89;
various festivals and amusements introduced into, 90;
enactment for the punishment of fanatics and murderers, 107;
protection extended to the Society of Arts at Copenhagen, _ib._;
composition of the ministry, 114;
heavy debts of, when Christian VII. ascended the throne, 127;
state of the kingdom, 128, 129;
the members of the ministry, 188;
public discontent, 190;
depressed state of, 193;
existence of serfdom in, 193;
changes at court, 195;
state of the court, 240-2;
general anarchy of the kingdom, 243;
state of, under Struensee, 253;
historical retrospect of, 254 _et seq._;
the _Lex Regia_, _ib._;
foreigners in, 254;
titles and honours bestowed, 256, 257;
useless expenses incurred, 257, 258;
her increasing debt, 258;
war with Algiers, 260, 261;
her naval expedition against Algiers, 261;
abolition of the censorship, 262;
great changes and proposed reforms, 270, 271;
her foreign affairs, 273;
Russian alliance with, 273;
her home affairs, 274;
collection of the taxes, 275;
court reforms, 277;
public morals, 278;
the council of state reorganised, 279;
changes in the privy council, 281;
levity of the court, 285;
bad harvest in, 294;
visit of the princes of Sweden to, _ib._;
letter of the government to the Empress of Russia, 297;
reorganisation of the privy council, 304;
council suppressed by royal decree, 305;
council of conferences established, 307;
the king becomes absolute, _ib._;
reforms in, 308;
freedom of the press, _ib._;
the court language of, 309;
great reforms in every department of the state, 324 _et seq._;
state debts of, 330;
negotiations with Russia, 340;
Struensee's absolute power, 348, 353;
dissatisfaction with the government measures., 348, 359;
her foreign relations, 357.
Desnoyers, the French dancing master, 1.
Divorces, number of, in George the Third's reign, 11.
Dorchester, lady, ex-mistress of George II., anecdote of, 8.
Dorset, Sackville, duke of, 192.
Dubarry, Madame, the mistress of Louis XV., 168, 169.
Dubois, cardinal, 172.
Duras, duc de, presents to the, 183.
Düring, Major, 120.
Durfort, duc de, 171.
E.
Edwin, Lady Charlotte, 17.
Eighteenth century, habits and manners of the, 7-9;
excessive gambling of the, 9;
vices of the, 10 _et seq._
English, poetical sketch of the, 186.
Ennui, arises from etiquette, 218.
Etioles, Madame de, 166;
afterwards Madame Pompadour, 167.
Executions, for robbery and murder in the 18th century, 12.
Eyben, Fräulein von, 88.
F.
Fair Amazon, the, 165.
Falckenskjold, Seneca Otho von, biographical notices of, 320;
employed by Struensee in diplomatic matters with Russia, 321
_et seq._
Filosofow, major-general, chevalier, the Russian diplomatist,
insults Struensee, 221;
intrigues of, 244, 245;
appointed minister plenipotentiary of Russia, 253.
Finances, college of, 330;
deputies appointed to, 331.
Flavecourt, Madame de, 178;
valuable present to, 184.
Flaxboom, curious mistake in the translation of, 310.
Foreign affairs of Denmark, 273.
Foundling Hospital, established by Struensee, 295.
France, wretched state of, in 1745, 163;
the degraded noblesse of, 163, 164;
all the signs of an impending revolution manifested under Louis
XV., 167;
destruction of the ancien regime, 168;
matrimony entirely disregarded in, 171;
universal libertinism in, 171 _et seq._;
prevalence of superstition in, 173;
chivalry of, 174.
Frederick, crown prince of Denmark, his refractory temper, 286;
his course of education, 287 _et seq._;
at court, 378.
Frederick, Prince of Wales (_see_ WALES, prince of).
Frederick III. of Germany, 254.
Frederick V. of Denmark, surnamed "the Good," 52;
anecdote of, _ib. note_;
inconsolable at the loss of his wife, 52, 53;
married to the Princess Juliana Maria of Wolfenbüttel, 53;
his illness, 65;
his death, 43, 66;
sorrow caused thereby, 67;
his government, 68.
Frederick VI. of Denmark, birth of, 108.
Frederiks_berg_ and Frederiks_borg_, the distinction between,
311, 312.
Frederiksborg, palace of, 250, 251.
Frederikson, the money lender, 154;
King Christian's adventure with, 155.
Funerals, expenses of, curtailed, 326.
G.
Gabel, Frau von, her acquaintance with Dr. Struensee, and intrigues
with the king, 216.
Gähler, General von, wife of, 222;
the enemy of Struensee, 363.
Gambier, Admiral, 151.
Gambling of the eighteenth century, 9.
Gardes du corps, 336.
Garrick's interview with King Christian, 150.
George I., his mistresses, 8;
coarseness of manners introduced by, _ib._
George I. and II., their family life one long offence against
propriety, 8;
the feeling of hatred betwixt them, _ib._
George II., his detestation of his son, 3;
his character, 3, 4;
lampoon on, 4, _note_;
his unforgiving spirit, 4.
George, Prince of Wales (afterwards George III.), 14;
anecdotes of his early life, 16 _et seq._;
his governors and tutors, 20 (_see_ George III.).
George III., his first speech after ascending the throne, 3;
vices of his reign, 10;
character of, 25;
anecdotes of, 26;
his speech respecting the marriage of Caroline Matilda, 40;
his dislike to Christian VII., 134;
his cold reception of him, 135 _et seq._;
Walpole's sarcastic account of the meeting, 137, 138;
treated with coldness by his sister Caroline Matilda, 249;
his feelings and impressions respecting his sister's conduct, 250.
German, the language of Denmark, 209;
Struensee's use and abuse of, _ib._
Gesvres, duc de, 172.
Gleichen, von, the Danish envoy to France, 68, 176.
Gloucester, duke of, juvenile anecdotes of, 16.
Gottorp, von, raised to the rank of count, 129.
Government, mode of, by different sovereigns, 4, _note._
Grafton, duke of, and Nancy Parsons, 11.
H.
Hanoverian dynasty, 7;
coarseness of manners introduced by the, 8.
Harcourt, lord, his resignation as governor to Prince George, 18, 19;
anecdotes of, 20.
Hay, lord Charles, anecdote of, 174.
Hayter, bishop, 20.
Hell-fire club, blasphemous travesties of the, 9.
Hesse, Prince Charles of, 81;
biographical notices of, 81, _note_.
Hesse Cassel, Princess Mary of, Caroline Matilda's letter to, 196.
Hirschholm, palace of, presented to Count Moltke, 57;
the most magnificent of all the royal residences, 265-7;
royal hunt at, 282.
Hjorth, a royal runner, 103.
Holck, Conrad von, Count, 100;
the courtier, 104;
his insolence towards the young queen, 104;
appointed court marshal, 105;
his influence, 109;
invested with the Star of the Dannebrog order, 117;
his marriage, 120;
charges against, 123;
appointed grand maître de la garderobe et des plaisirs, 191;
his offer of marriage refused by Lady Bel Stanhope, 192;
his boundless extravagance, 194;
his second marriage, 198;
his impertinent assumption, 199;
his intrigues, 227;
his dismissal, 235.
Holderness, lord, secretary of state, 21.
Holidays, abolition of superfluous ones, 281.
Holm, von, dismissed, 318.
Holstein, Russians claims to, 130;
its maritime importance, _ib._
Holstein, count, his appointment, 325.
Holstein Gottorp, Charles Frederick
sovereign duke of, 129;
house of, a formidable power, _ib._
Horace, prince of Scandalia, 32.
Horse races, established by Von Warnstedt, 285.
Hunting, the queen's fondness for, 282;
incident recorded in, 289.
Hotel de Ville, of Paris, grand ball at, 166.
I.
Intrigues at the court of Denmark, 29, 77, 80, 122 _et seq._, 363, 364.
J.
James II. governed by his priests, 6, _note_.
Juliana Maria, of Denmark, her secret dislike to Caroline Matilda, 89;
her retired life, 160;
her intrigues, 161;
Princess, Caroline Matilda's character of her, 197;
retires to Fredensborg, 345;
See WOLFENBÜTTEL.
Jütland, oppressed state of, 193.
K.
Keith, Sir R. Murray, his memoirs and correspondence, 47, _note_.
Kirchoff, John, valet of the Danish king, 71, 72.
Köppern, von, his dismissal, 317.
L.
Lackeydom, abolition of, 310.
Law courts, number of abolished, 227;
ameliorations in, 324.
Leczinska, Maria, 163.
Legge, his court intrigues, 28, 29, 30.
Lex Regia, of Denmark, 254, 350 _et note_, 351.
Litterateurs, in Denmark, 308.
London, city of, entertains King Christian, of Denmark, 114-8;
remarkable bill of fare, 146, 147.
Lottery, establishment of the, 313.
Louis XV., of France, 163;
his voluptuous court, 165, 166;
influenced by Madame Pompadour, 167;
his debaucheries and low propensities, 168 _et seq._;
his interview with King Christian, 177;
his expensive visits to the Théâtre Français, 179.
Louisa, Queen of Denmark, her goodness and beauty, 52;
her death, _ib._
Louisa, Princess of Denmark, 89, 90.
Louisa Augusta, Princess, birth and christening of, 346;
mother of Christian Augustus, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein Sonderburg
Augustenburg and other royal personages, 346 _note_.
Lühe, Frau von der, the queen's lady in waiting, dismissed, 235.
Luxembourg, Maréchal de, 171.
M.
Marble church, the, 328.
Masquerades first given at the Danish court, 90.
Matilda, order of, established, 314, 315;
members on whom the order was conferred, 316.
Matrimony, ridiculed in the eighteenth century, 10.
Melcombe, lord, 4;
his feelings towards Frederick Prince of Wales, 5;
his anecdotes of Augusta Princess of Wales and the royal family, 16
_et seq._
"Memoirs of an Unfortunate Queen," authenticity of the work, 34.
Moltke, count, of Denmark, 54, 57;
sarcasm on, 58;
his arbitrary rule, 66;
court triumvirate formed by, 77;
his dismissal, 80;
his death, 317.
Monaco, prince de, 178.
Monaldeschi, executed, 178.
Münter, the German preacher, his sermon against the royal amusements,
91, 92.
Murders, by the aristocracy, 12.
Murray, solicitor-general, 20.
N.
Navy, reforms in the administration of the, 320.
Nevers, duchesse de, 178.
Nielson, instructor of Prince Christian of Denmark, 58, 59.
No-Popery, riots of 1780, 12.
North, lord, anecdote of, 11.
"Northern Courts," by T. Brown, its secret history of Sweden and
Denmark, 53, 54, 55 _note_.
Norwegians, discontent of the, 190.
O.
Oginsky, count, 302.
Oldenburg, count Christian of, elected Prince of Schleswig-Holstein,
51.
Opera House, grand masked ball at the, 149, 150.
Orkney, lady, ex-mistress of William III., 8.
Orléans, duc de, 175, 176.
Osten, count von der, appointed to the Foreign Office, 299;
his birth and chequered fortunes, 299 _et seq._
Oxford University confers the honorary degree of D.C.L. on King
Christian and many of his suite, 143.
P.
Parc aux Cerfs, at Paris, 168, 170.
Paris, city ball at the Hotel de Ville, 163, 164;
immorality of, 164.
Parsons, Nancy, 11.
Père d'Orleans' "Révolutions d'Angleterre," 21, 24.
Peterborough, Dr. T., bishop of, preceptor to the Prince of Wales, 24.
Plessen, Frau von, her influence, 85, 88, 89;
her removal and dismissal, 116, 117.
Poisson, Mademoiselle, 166;
afterwards Madame Pompadour, 167.
Police of Copenhagen, reorganized, 326.
Polish election, 302.
Pompadour, Madame, 167;
her power over the king, and despotic rule, 167, 168;
spread of her evil example through France, 168.
Poniatowski, biographical notices of, 301.
Pope, Alex., Prince of Wales's visit to, 5.
Popelinière, M., the pretty wife of, 173.
Portsmouth, duchess of, ex-mistress of Charles II., 8.
Press, freedom of the, in Denmark, 308.
Prince Royal of Denmark, his education neglected, 379.
Princess, birth of a, 346. (See LOUISA AUGUSTA.)
Privy Council suppressed, and the ministers dismissed, 307.
Provisions, scarcity of in Denmark, 294.
R.
Rake-hell, 12;
verses on the word, 13, _note_.
Rantzau-Ascheberg, count von, biographical notices of, 114, 115, 235
_et seq._;
his libertine habits, 236, 237;
Mr. Wraxall's remarks on his infamous character, 238, _note_;
introduced to the king and queen, 239;
entertained at court, 240;
colours presented by the queen to the regiment commanded by him, 245;
his appointments, 252;
his factious advice, 322, 323;
his dislike to Struensee, 361, 362;
his heavy debts, _ib._;
his intrigues against Struensee, 362, 363.
"Recollections of an Old Chamberlain," a novel, describes the
appearance of Caroline Matilda, 284.
Reventlow, count, tutor of Prince Christian, 56;
his severity as a taskmaster, 57, 62;
his administration, 70;
grand chamberlain,
anecdotes of, 73 _et seq._;
court triumvirate formed by, 73;
at the head of the malcontents, 91;
his dismissal, 111;
his death, 307, _note_.
Reverdil, von, tutor of Prince Christian, 60;
his account of Prince Christian when twelve years of age, 61;
his manly reproof, as minister, of the dissolute Count Holck, 104;
ordered to leave Constantinople, 105;
invited to resume office, 6, 365;
Count Bernstorff's letter, to, _ib._, his journey, 370;
his introduction to court, and his interview with Christian,
372, 373;
his details about the king and the habits of the court, 374
_et seq._
Robbers of the eighteenth century, 12.
Roeskilde, in Denmark, meeting of Christian VII. and Caroline Matilda
at, 83.
Roman-Coupier, Mademoiselle, 168.
Rosenkranz, privy councillor von, appointed minister of war, 77;
his dismissal 80; his death, 307, _note_.
Rothe Thyge, of the College of Finances, 331.
Royal Family of Denmark, 90;
their amusements, 90, 91.
Royal hunt at Hirschholm, 282.
Royal quarrel, 293.
Royal successions, remarks on, 51.
Russia, her influence, 115;
her bullying spirit, 244;
alliance with Denmark, 273;
letter from the Danish government to the empress, 297;
cavalier treatment of the Danish minister, 298;
quarrel with, 322;
negociations with, 339;
rumours of war with, 340, 341.
S.
St. Germain, count, manufacturer of the elixir of life, 173;
president of the war ministry, 77;
biographical notices of, 77, _note_;
his dismissal, 110;
his excellent reforms in the army, 275.
Saldern, Herr von, 115;
his letter against Count Rantzau, _ib._;
takes his leave, 117;
his career and character, 118.
Schack opposes the reform of the privy council, and is dismissed, 304.
Schimmelmann, baron von, 113;
biographical notices of, 119.
Schleswig-Holstein, hereditary claims of the royal family of Denmark,
50;
historical notices, 51 _et seq._;
Count Christian of Oldenburg elected, 51;
decided that the duchies "should remain eternally undivided and
together," _ib._;
rule of succession, _ib._;
its possession of vital importance to Denmark, 51, 52, _note_.
Schleswig-Holstein Sonderburg Augustenburg, duke of, his descent, 316,
_note_.
Schrödersee, von, dismissed, 318.
Schumacher, his government of Denmark, 254;
the cabinet secretary, 364.
Scott, Mr., tutor to the Prince of Wales, 19, 20.
Seckendorf, baron von, his letter to Mr. W. N. Wraxall, 34, _note_.
Serfdom, existence of in Denmark, 193.
Serfs, emancipation of the, 367.
Sesquier, advocate-general, 181.
Sèvres, King Christian's visit to, 179.
Shauenburg race, expiration of the, 51.
"Sharp examination" of prisoners abolished, 356.
Schleswig, royal visit to, 230.
Small pox, its ravages in Zeeland, 223.
Smith, Mrs. Gillespie, 46.
Söhlenthal, baron von, 121.
Sophia Magdalena, Queen of Denmark, 74;
her influence over public affairs, 78, 79;
her feelings towards Caroline Matilda, 88, 89;
her death, 228.
Sperling, von, equerry of Christian VII., 71;
appointed bailliff of Hütten, 111;
his vicious character, 115.
Stanhope, Lady Bel, refuses the offer of Count Holck, 192.
Stiefelett-Kathrine, mistress of Christian VII., 103, 104;
her shameful career, 113;
arrested and sent to prison, _ib._
Stockfleth, Fräulein von, married to Count Holck, 120.
Stone, Mr., sub-governor to Prince George, 18, 19.
Struensee, Dr. John Frederick, the physician of Altona, 130;
his visit to the Galerie des Cerfs, 178;
biographical notices of, 200;
origin of his family, _ib._, _note_;
his person and character, _ib._;
his growing influence with the king, 209;
his appointment as state councillor, 211;
his first introduction to Caroline Matilda, 215;
his acquaintance with Frau von Gabel, 216;
his intimacy with, and influence over, Caroline Matilda, 219, 221;
gains the confidence of the king, 220;
insulted by Filosofow, the Russian diplomatist, 221;
conciliates the royal pair, 223;
his constant access to the queen, 225;
her familiarities with him create suspicion, 226, 227;
his great influence over her, 232;
his proposed reforms, 233, 234, 241;
his first decree, 259;
dissatisfaction with, 263;
his proposed reforms, 271, 272;
his maxims, 276;
his plan for driving the nobles from Copenhagen, 276, _note_;
reorganises the council of state, 279 _et seq._;
his wise measures in providing against the effects of a bad
harvest, 294;
continues his reform, and establishes a foundling hospital, 295, 296;
privy council suppressed by, 305;
his almost absolute power, 306;
his reforms, 311 _et seq._;
establishes a public lottery, 313;
his administrative changes and reforms, 318 _et seq._;
his further reforms and ameliorations in every department of the
state, 324 _et seq._;
his sudden alarm and resignation of office, 337;
his desire to maintain the independence of Denmark, 338;
his absolute power and extravagance, 347;
appointed privy cabinet minister, 348;
made a Danish count, 352;
his coat of arms, 353;
his progress in reforms, 355;
his management of foreign affairs, 357;
growing dissatisfaction with, 358 _et seq._;
intrigues against, 362, 363;
public dislike to, 370.
Struensee, Charles Augustus, of the college of finances, brother of
the secretary, 331.
Struensee, Justiz-rath, his influential position, 356.
Superstition in France, _temp._ Louis XV., 173.
Sweden, princes of, visit Copenhagen and Paris, 295.
T.
Talbot, lady, beauty of, 140, 152.
Theatre Royal, royal quarrel at the, 293, 294.
Theatricals, introduced into the Danish court, 90.
Thott, count von, the Danish Minister, 188;
his high character, 189;
his dismissal, 307;
joins the newly formed ministry in 1772, 307, _note_.
V.
Vices of the eighteenth century, 9 _et seq._
Villeroy, Magdaleine de, Duchesse de Boufflers, libertinism of, 171.
Voltaire sings the praises of Christian VII., 131.
W.
Waldegrave, lord, 30.
Wales, Augusta princess of, 1;
state of society at the time of her husband's death, 13;
her family, _ib. et note_;
her income, 14;
delivered of a princess, Caroline Matilda, 15;
libels on, _ib._;
Melcombe's anecdotes of, 16 _et seq._;
her encouragement of native industry, 26;
anecdote of, 26, 27;
her unbounded sway over the king, 31;
her departure for the continent, 246;
her meeting with the King and Queen of Denmark, 248;
coldness between her and her daughter, _ib._;
her return to England, 249.
Wales, Frederick prince of, his death, 1;
his character, 2;
retrospect of his life, 2 _et seq._;
his reply to the city addresses on the birth of his son, 2;
to whom his bad qualities were attributable, 5;
his visit to Pope, _ib._;
his extravagance, _ib._;
satirical epitaph on, 6;
influenced by the manners of the age, 7;
state of society at the time
of his death, 7-13;
his widow and family, 13 _et note_;
Walpole's account of, 26 _et seq._;
court intrigues in his family, 29. (See GEORGE, PRINCE of).
Walpole, Horace, his biographical sketches and anecdotes, 15, 16, 19;
his account of Frederick prince of Wales, 26 _et seq._;
his satirical sketches of King Christian's visit to London, 137
_et seq._;
his character of the king, 157.
Warnstedt, chamberlain von, 211, 227, 230;
his treatment at Petersburg, 298;
his dismissal, 318;
Sir R. M. Keith's notices of, _ib. note_.
Wasmer, von, dismissed, 318.
Wegener, lieutenant-colonel von, made intendant of the court, 317.
Weilburg, princess of, 47.
Wessel, Peter, appointed assessor of the new court at Copenhagen, 327.
Whitehead, Mr., the poet-laureat, 48.
William III. governed by his men, 4, _note_.
Wolfenbüttel, Princess Juliana Maria of, married to Frederick V. King
of Denmark, 53;
marriage of her sisters to Frederick, and Prince Augustus William,
of Prussia, _ib._;
her character, 53, 54;
suspicions against her, 55, 56.
Woodford, Mr., British minister in Lower Saxony, 249.
Worsley, lady, suit against, for divorce, 10, 11;
her vicious propensities, 11.
Wraxall, Mr., of Bristol, his letter to his son respecting the queen,
36.
Y.
"Yellow Horse," the, 319, _note_.
York, duke of, Caroline Matilda's letters to, 94-96;
his death, 101, 102.
Z.
Zeeland, oppressed state of, 193.
LONDON:
LEWIS AND SON, PRINTERS, SWAN BUILDINGS, MOORGATE STREET.
* * * * *
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Transcriber Notes: |
| |
| P.8. 'Gräfinn' changed to 'Gräfin'. |
| P.154. 'lappel' changed to 'lapel'. |
| P.292. 'someting' changed to 'something'. |
| P.382. 'her warm reception;', duplicate taken out of index. |
| P.383. 'madnesss' changed to 'madness'. |
| P.390. 'famly' changed to 'family'. |
| Fixed various punctuation. |
| |
| The equals sign is used to surround =bold text=; |
| underscores to surround _italic text_. |
| |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+