Transcriber’s Note: Italics are enclosed in _underscores_. Additional
notes will be found near the end of this ebook.
THE
QUEENS OF ENGLAND
OF THE
HOUSE OF HANOVER
_VOL. I._
LONDON: PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
AND PARLIAMENT STREET
LIVES
OF THE
QUEENS OF ENGLAND
OF THE
HOUSE OF HANOVER
BY
DR. DORAN, F.S.A.
AUTHOR OF ‘TABLE TRAITS’ ‘HABITS AND MEN’ ETC.
FOURTH EDITION
_CAREFULLY REVISED AND MUCH ENLARGED_
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. I.
[Illustration]
LONDON
RICHARD BENTLEY & SON, NEW BURLINGTON STREET
Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty
1875
TO
HENRY HILL, ESQ., F.S.A.
ONE OF THE MOST ZEALOUS OF ANTIQUARIES
AND
MOST HOSPITABLE OF FRIENDS
This New and Revised Edition is Inscribed
BY
THE AUTHOR
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
_SOPHIA DOROTHEA, OF ZELL_,
WIFE OF GEORGE I.
CHAPTER I.
GEORGE OF BRUNSWICK-ZELL AND ELÉANORA D’OLBREUSE.
PAGE
Woden, the father of the line of Brunswick--The seven
brothers at dice, for a wife--D’Esmiers d’Olbreuse and
his daughter Eleanora--Love-passages, and a marriage--A
Bishop of Osnabrück--Birth of Sophia Dorothea 1
CHAPTER II.
WIVES AND FAVOURITES.
A ducal household--Elevation in rank of the mother of Sophia
Dorothea--Births and deaths--A lover for Sophia--The
Bishop of Osnaburgh an imitator of the _Grand Monarque_--Two
successful female adventurers at Osnaburgh 11
CHAPTER III.
THE BRUNSWICKER IN ENGLAND.
Prince Augustus of Wolfenbüttel, the accepted lover of Sophia
--Superstition of the Duke of Zell--Intrigues of Madame
von Platen--A rival lover--Prince George Louis: makes an
offer of marriage to Princess Anne--Policy of the Prince of
Orange--Prince George in England: festivities on account of
his visit--Execution of Lord Stafford--Illness of Prince
Rupert--The Bill of Exclusion, and the Duke of York at
Holyrood--Probable succession of the House of Brunswick--
Prince George recalled--Successful intrigues of Sophia,
wife of Ernest--A group for an artist--Ill-fated
marriage of Sophia--Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia--‘Goody
Palsgrave’--The Electress Sophia, and her intellectual
skirmishes 18
CHAPTER IV.
THE HOUSEHOLD OF GEORGE AND SOPHIA.
Reception of Sophia at the Court of Ernest Augustus--Similar
position of Marie Antoinette and Sophia--Misfortune of
the abigail Use--Compassionated by the Duchess of Zell
--Intrigues and revenge of Madame von Platen--A new
favourite, Mademoiselle Ermengarda von der Schulenburg--A
marriage _fête_, and intended insult to the Princess Sophia
--Gross vice of George Louis 33
CHAPTER V.
THE ELECTORATE OF HANOVER.
The House of Hanover ranges itself against France--Ernest
Augustus created Elector--Domestic rebellion of his son
Maximilian--His accomplice, Count von Moltke, beheaded--
The Electors of Germany 43
CHAPTER VI.
THE KÖNIGSMARKS.
Count Charles John Königsmark’s roving and adventurous life
--The great heiress--An intriguing countess--‘Tom of Ten
Thousand’--The murder of Lord John Thynne--The fate of the
count’s accomplices--Court influence shelters the guilty
count 49
CHAPTER VII.
KÖNIGSMARK AT COURT.
Various accomplishments of Count Philip Christopher Königsmark
--The early companion of Sophia Dorothea--Her friendship
for him--An interesting interview--Intrigues of Madame
von Platen--Foiled in her machinations--A dramatic
incident--The unlucky glove--Scandal against the honour
of the Princess--A mistress enraged on discovery of her
using rouge--Indiscretion of the Princess--Her visit to
Zell--The Elector’s criminal intimacy with Madame von der
Schulenburg--William the Norman’s brutality to his wife
--The elder Aymon--Brutality of the Austrian Empress to
‘Madame Royale’--Return of Sophia, and reception by her
husband 58
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CATASTROPHE.
The scheming mother foiled--Count Königsmark too garrulous
in his cups--An eaves-dropper--A forged note--A
mistress’s revenge--Murder of the count--The Countess
Aurora Königsmark’s account of her brother’s intimacy with
the Princess--Horror of the Princess on hearing of the
count’s death--Seizure and escape of Mademoiselle von
Knesebeck--A divorce mooted--The Princess’s declaration
of her innocence--Decision of the consistorial court--
The sages of the law foiled by the Princess--Condemned
to captivity in the castle of Ahlden--Decision procured
by bribery--Bribery universal in England--The Countess
Aurora Königsmark becomes the mistress of Augustus, King of
Poland--Her unsuccessful mission to Charles XII.--Exemplary
conduct in her latter years--Becomes prioress of the
nunnery of Quedlinburg 72
CHAPTER IX.
PRISON AND PALACE.
The prison of the captive Sophia Dorothea--Employment of
her time--The church of Ahlden repaired by her--Cut
off from her children--Sympathy of Ernest Augustus for
his daughter-in-law--Her father’s returning affection
for her--Opening prospects of the House of Hanover--
Lord Macclesfield’s embassy to Hanover, and his right-royal
reception--Description of the Electress--Toland’s
description of Prince George Louis--Magnificent present
to Lord Macclesfield--The Princess Sophia and the English
liturgy--Death of the Duke of Zell--Visit of Prince
George to his captive mother prevented 95
CHAPTER X.
THE SUCCESSION--DEATH OF THE ELECTRESS.
Marriage of Prince George to Princess Caroline of Anspach,
and of his sister to the Crown Prince of Prussia--Honours
conferred by Queen Anne on Prince George--Intention to
bring over to England the Princess Sophia--Opposed by
Queen Anne--Foundation of the kingdom of Prussia--The
establishment of this Protestant kingdom promoted by the
Jesuits--The Electress Sophia’s visit to Loo--The law
granting taxes on births, deaths, and marriages--Complaint
of Queen Anne against the Electress--Tom D’Urfey’s doggrel
verses on her--Death of the Electress--Character of her 112
CHAPTER XI.
AHLDEN AND ENGLAND.
The neglected captive of Ahlden--Unnoticed by her son-in-law,
except to secure her property--Madame von der Schulenburg
--The Queen of Prussia prohibited from corresponding with
her imprisoned mother--The captive betrayed by Count de
Bar--Death of Queen Anne--Anxiety felt for the arrival
of King George--The Duke of Marlborough’s entry--Funeral
of the Queen--Public entry of the King--Adulation of Dr.
Young--Madame Kielmansegge, the new royal favourite--
Horace Walpole’s account of her--‘A Hanover garland’--Ned
Ward, the Tory poet--Expression of the public opinion--
The Duchess of Kendal bribed by Lord Bolingbroke--Bribery
and corruption general--Abhorrence of parade by the King 119
CHAPTER XII.
CROWN AND GRAVE.
Arrival of Caroline, Princess of Wales--The King dines
at the Guildhall--Proclamation of the Pretender--
Counter-proclamations--Government prosecutions--A mutiny
among the troops--Impeachment of the Duke of Ormond
of high treason--Punishment of political offenders--
Failure of rebellion in Scotland--Punishment for wearing
oak-boughs--Riot at the mug-house in Salisbury Court, and
its fatal consequences--The Prince of Wales removed from
the palace--Dissensions between the King and the Prince--
Attempt on the life of King George--Marriage of the King’s
illegitimate daughter--The South-Sea Bubble--Birth of
Prince William (Duke of Cumberland)--Death of the Duchess of
Zell--Stricter imprisonment of the captive of Ahlden--Her
calm death--A new royal favourite, Mrs. Brett--Death of
the King--The alleged correspondence of Sophia Dorothea and
Königsmark 130
_CAROLINE WILHELMINA DOROTHEA_,
WIFE OF GEORGE II.
CHAPTER I.
BEFORE THE ACCESSION.
Birth of Princess Caroline--Her early married life--
Eulogised by the poets--Gaiety of the Court of the Prince
and Princess at Leicester House--Beauty of Miss Bellenden
--Mrs. Howard, the Prince’s favourite--Intolerable
grossness of the Court of George I.--Lord Chesterfield and
the Princess--The mad Duchess--Buckingham House--Rural
retreat of the Prince at Richmond; the resort of wit and
beauty--Swift’s pungent verses--The fortunes of the
young adventurers, Mr. and Mrs. Howard--The Queen at her
toilette--Mrs. Clayton, her influence with Queen Caroline
--The Prince ruled by his wife--Dr. Arbuthnot and Dean
Swift--The Princess’s regard for Newton and Halley--Lord
Macclesfield’s fall--His superstition, and that of the
Princess--Prince Frederick’s vices--Not permitted to
come to England--Severe rebuff to Lord Hardwicke--Dr.
Mead--Courage of the Prince and Princess--The Princess’s
friendship for Dr. Friend--Swift at Leicester House--
Royal visit to ‘Bartlemy Fair’ 153
CHAPTER II.
THE FIRST YEARS OF A REIGN.
Death of George I.--Adroitness of Sir Robert Walpole--The
first royal reception--Unceremonious treatment of the
late King’s will--The coronation--Magnificent dress of
Queen Caroline--Mrs. Oldfield, as Anne Boleyn, in ‘Henry
VIII.’--The King’s revenue and the Queen’s jointure, the
result of Walpole’s exertions--His success--Management
of the King by Queen Caroline--Unseemly dialogue between
Walpole and Lord Townshend--Gay’s ‘Beggars’ Opera,’ and
satire on Walpole--Origin of the opera--Its great success
--Gay’s cause espoused by the Duchess of Queensberry--Her
smart reply to a royal message--The tragedy of ‘Frederick,
Duke of Brunswick’--The Queen appointed Regent--Prince
Frederick becomes chief of the opposition--His silly
reflections on the King--Agitation about the repeal of the
Corporation and Test Acts--The Queen’s ineffectual efforts
to gain over Bishop Hoadly--Sir Robert extricates himself
--The Church made the scapegoat--Queen Caroline earnest
about trifles--Etiquette of the toilette--_Fracas_ between
Mr. Howard and the Queen--Modest request of Mrs. Howard--
Lord Chesterfield’s description of her 177
CHAPTER III.
THE MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS ANNE.
Violent opposition to the King by Prince Frederick--Readings
at Windsor Castle--The Queen’s patronage of Stephen Duck--
His melancholy end--Glance at passing events--Precipitate
flight of Dr. Nichols--Princess Anne’s determination to
get a husband--Louis XV. proposed as a suitor: negotiation
broken off--The Prince of Orange’s offer accepted--Ugly
and deformed--The King and Queen averse to the union--
Dowry settled on the Princess--Anecdote of the Duchess
of Marlborough--Illness of the bridegroom--Ceremonies
attendant on the marriage--Mortification of the Queen--
The public nuptial chamber--Offence given to the Irish
peers--The Queen and Lady Suffolk--Homage paid by the
Princess to her deformed husband--Discontent of Prince
Frederick--His anxiety not unnatural--Congratulatory
addresses by the Lords and Commons--Spirited conduct of
the Queen--Lord Chesterfield--Agitations on Walpole’s
celebrated Excise scheme--Lord Stair delegated to
remonstrate with the Queen--Awkward performance of his
mission--Sharply rebuked by the Queen--Details of the
interview--The Queen’s success in overcoming the King’s
antipathy to Walpole--Comments of the populace--Royal
interview with a bishop 200
CHAPTER IV.
FAMILY AND NATIONAL QUARRELS.
Retirement of Lady Suffolk--Tact of Queen Caroline--
Arrogance of Princess Anne--Private life of the royal
family--The Count de Roncy, the French refugee--German
predilections of the Queen--A scene at Court--Queen
Caroline’s declining health--Ambitious aspirations of
Princess Anne--Bishop Hoadly and the see of Winchester--
The Queen and the clergy--The Queen appointed Regent--The
King and Madame Walmoden--Lord Hervey’s imaginary post-obit
diary--The Queen’s farewell interview with Lady Suffolk
--Grief made fashionable--The temper of the King on his
return--A scene: _dramatis personæ_, the King, Queen,
and Lord Hervey--Lady Deloraine (Pope’s _Delia_) a royal
favourite--An angry scene; between the King and Queen--
The King’s opinion of Bishop Hoadly--Dissension between the
King and Prince--The royal libertine at Hanover--Court
revels--Lady Bolingbroke and the Queen 223
CHAPTER V.
THE MARRIAGE OF FREDERICK, PRINCE OF WALES.
The Queen’s cleverness--Princess Augusta of Saxe Gotha,
the selected bride of Prince Frederick--Spirited conduct
of Miss Vane, the Prince’s mistress--The King anxious
for a matrimonial alliance with the Court of Prussia--
Prussian intrigue to prevent this--The Prussian _mandats_
for entrapping recruits--Quarrels and challenge to duel,
between King George and the Prussian monarch--The silly
duel prevented--Arrival of the bride--The royal lovers
--Disgraceful squabbles of the Princes and Princesses
--The marriage--Brilliant assemblage in the bridal
chamber--Lady Diana Spencer proposed as a match for the
Prince--_Débût_ of Mr. Pitt, afterwards Lord Chatham, in the
House of Commons--Riot of the footmen at Drury Lane Theatre
--Ill-humour exhibited by the Prince towards the Queen 262
CHAPTER VI.
AT HOME AND OVER THE WATER.
The Queen and Walpole govern the kingdom--The bishops
reproved by the Queen--Good wishes for the bishops
entertained by the King--Anecdote of Bishop Hare--Riots
--An infernal machine--Wilson the smuggler and the
Porteous mob--General Moyle--Coldness of the Queen for
the King--Walpole advises her Majesty--Unworthy conduct
of Caroline and vice of her worthless husband--Questionable
fidelity of Madame Walmoden--Conduct of the Princess at the
Chapel Royal--The Princess and her doll--Pasquinades,
&c. on the King--Farewell royal supper at Hanover--
Dangerous voyage of the King--Anxiety of the Court about
him--Unjust blame thrown on Admiral Wager--The Queen
congratulates the King on his escape--The King’s warm reply
--Discussions about the Prince’s revenue--Investigation
into the affairs of the Porteous mob--The Queen and the
Bill for reduction of the National Debt--Vice in high
life universal--Represented on the stage, occasions the
censorship--Animosity of the Queen and Princess towards
Prince Frederick 282
CHAPTER VII.
THE BIRTH OF AN HEIRESS.
Russian invasion of the Crimea--Announcement of an heir
disbelieved by the Queen--The Princess of Wales convened to
St. James’s by the Prince in a state of labour--Birth of a
Princess--Hampton Court Palace on this night--The palace
in an uproar--Indignation of Caroline--Reception of the
Queen by the Prince--Minute particulars afforded her by
him--Explanatory notes between the royal family--Message
of the King--His severity to the Prince--The Princess
Amelia double-sided--Message of Princess Caroline to the
Prince--Unseemly conduct of the Prince--The Prince an
agreeable ‘rattle’--The Queen’s anger never subsided--The
Prince ejected from the palace--The Queen and Lord Carteret
--Reconciliation of the royal family attempted--Popularity
of the Prince--The Queen’s outspoken opinion of the Prince
--An interview between the King, Queen, and Lord Hervey--
Bishop Sherlock and the Queen--The King a purchaser of
lottery-tickets 316
CHAPTER VIII.
DEATH OF CAROLINE.
Indisposition of the Queen--Her anxiety to conceal the cause
--Walpole closeted with her--Her illness assumes a grave
character--Obliged to retire from the Drawing-room--
Affectionate attentions of Princess Caroline--Continued
bitter feeling towards the Prince--Discussions of the
physicians--The Queen takes leave of the Duke of Cumberland
--Parting scene with the King--Interview with Walpole--
The Prince denied the palace--Great patience of the Queen
--The Archbishop summoned to the palace--Eulogy on the
Queen pronounced by the King--His oddities--The Queen’s
exemplary conduct--Her death--Terror of Dr. Hulse--
Singular conduct of the King--Opposition to Sir R. Walpole
--Lord Chesterfield pays court to the Prince’s favourite 339
CHAPTER IX.
CAROLINE, HER TIMES AND CONTEMPORARIES.
Whiston patronised by Queen Caroline--His boldness and
reproof of the Queen--Vanity of the poet Young punished
--Dr. Potter, a high churchman--A benefice missed--
Masquerades denounced by the clergy--Anger of the Court--
Warburton, a favourite of the Queen--Butler’s ‘Analogy,’
her ordinary companion--Rise of Secker--The Queen’s
regard for Dr. Berkeley--Her fondness for witnessing
intellectual struggles between Clarke and Leibnitz--
Character of Queen Caroline by Lord Chesterfield--The
King encouraged in his wickedness by the Queen--General
grossness of manners--The King managed by the Queen--
Feeling exhibited by the King on sight of her portrait--The
Duchess of Brunswick’s daughters--Standard of morality low
--Ridicule of Marlborough by Peterborough--Morality of
General Cadogan--Anecdote of General Webb--Lord Cobham
--Dishonourable conduct of Lord Stair--General Hawley and
his singular will--Disgraceful state of the prisons, and
cruelty to prisoners--Roads bad and ill-lighted--Brutal
punishment--Insolent treatment of a British naval officer
by the Sultan--Brutality of a mob--Encroachment on Hyde
Park by Queen Caroline--Ambitious projects of Princess Anne
--Eulogy on the Queen--The children of King George and
Queen Caroline---Verses on the Queen’s death 359
CHAPTER X.
THE REIGN OF THE WIDOWER.
Success of Admiral Vernon--Royal visit to ‘Bartlemy Fair’--
Party-spirit runs high about the King and Prince--
Lady Pomfret--The mad Duchess of Buckingham--Anecdote of
Lady Sundon--Witty remark of Lady Mary Wortley--_Fracas_ at
Kensington Palace--The battle of Dettingen--A precocious
child--Marriage of Princess Mary--A new opposition--
Prince George--Lady Yarmouth installed at Kensington--
Death of Prince Frederick--Conduct of the King on heaving
of this event--Bubb Dodington’s extravagant grief--
The funeral scant--Conduct of the widowed Princess--
Opposition of the Prince to the King not undignified--
Jacobite epitaph on the Prince--The Prince’s rebuke for a
frivolous jeer on Lady Huntingdon--The Prince’s patronage
of literary men--Lady Archibald Hamilton, the Prince’s
favourite--The Prince and the Quakers--Anecdote of Prince
George--Princely appreciation of Lady Huntingdon 386
CHAPTER XI.
THE LAST YEARS OF A REIGN.
Princess Augusta named Regent in the event of a minority--
Cause of the Prince’s death--Death of the Prince of Orange
--The King’s fondness for the theatre--Allusion to the
King’s age--Death of the Queen of Denmark--Her married
life unhappy--Suffered from a similar cause with her mother
--Rage of Lady Suffolk at a sermon by Whitfield--Lady
Huntingdon insulted by her--War in Canada--Daily life of
the King--Establishments of the sons of Frederick--Death
of the truth-loving Princess Caroline--Deaths of Princess
Elizabeth and Princess Anne--Queen Caroline’s rebuke of her
--Death of the King--Dr. Porteous’s eulogistic epitaph on
him--The King’s personal property--The royal funeral--
The burlesque Duke of Newcastle 408
_CHARLOTTE SOPHIA_,
WIFE OF GEORGE III.
CHAPTER I.
THE COMING OF THE BRIDE.
Lady Sarah Lennox, the object of George III.’s early affections
--The fair Quaker--Matrimonial commission of Colonel
Græme--Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburgh--Her spirited
letter to the King of Prussia--Demanded in marriage by
George III.--Arrival in England--Her progress to London
--Colchester and its candied eringo-root--Entertained by
Lord Abercorn--Arrival in London, and reception--Claim
of the Irish peeresses advocated by Lord Charlemont--The
royal marriage--The first Drawing-room--A comic anecdote
--The King and Queen at the Chapel Royal--At the theatre;
accidents on the occasion--The coronation--Incidents and
anecdotes connected with it--The young Pretender said to
have been present--The coronation produced at the theatre 423
CHAPTER II.
COURT AND CITY.
The _levée_--The King goes to parliament--The first night
of the opera--Garrick grievously offended--The King
and Queen present on the Lord Mayor’s Day--Entertained
by Robert Barclay, the Quaker--Banquet at Guildhall to
the King and Queen--Popular enthusiasm for Mr. Pitt--
Buckingham House purchased by the King for Queen Charlotte--
Defoe’s account of it--The Duke of Buckingham’s description
of it--West and his pictures--The house demolished by
George IV.--First illness of the King--Domestic life of
the King and Queen--Royal carriage--Selwyn’s joke on the
royal frugality--Prince Charles of Strelitz--Costume--
Graceful action of the Queen--Birth of Prince George 462
CHAPTER III.
ANECDOTES AND INCIDENTS.
Scenes, and personal sketches of Queen Charlotte--Her
fondness for diamonds--Visit to Mrs. Garrick--Orphan
establishment at Bedford founded by the Queen--Her
benevolence on the breaking of the Windsor bank--Marriage
of Princess Caroline Matilda--Unfounded rumours about the
Queen--Hannah Lightfoot--The King’s illness--A Regency
recommended by the King--Discussions relative to it--
Birth of Prince Frederick--Failing Health of the Duke of
Cumberland 479
LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND.
_SOPHIA DOROTHEA, OF ZELL_,
WIFE OF GEORGE I.
Das Glänzende ist nicht immer das Bessere.
KOTZEBUE, _Bruder Moritz_.
CHAPTER I.
GEORGE OF BRUNSWICK-ZELL AND ELEANORE D’OLBREUSE.
Woden, the father of the line of Brunswick--The seven brothers
at dice, for a wife--D’Esmiers d’Olbreuse and his daughter
Eleonora--Love-passages, and a marriage--A Bishop of
Osnaburgh--Birth of Sophia Dorothea.
When George I. ascended the throne of England, the heralds provided him
with an ancestry. They pretended that his Majesty, who had few god-like
virtues of his own, was descended from that deified hero Woden, whose
virtues, according to the bards, were all of a god-like quality. The
two had little in common, save lack of true-heartedness toward their
wives.
The more modest builders of ancestral pride, who ventured to water
genealogical trees for all the branches of Brunswick to bud upon, did
not dig deeper for a root, or go farther for a fountain head, than
into the Italian soil of the year 1028. Even then, they found nothing
more or less noble than a certain Azon d’Este, Marquis of Tuscany,
who having little of sovereign about him, except his will, joined the
banner of the Emperor Conrad, and hoped to make a fortune in Germany,
either by cutting throats, or by subduing hearts whose owners were
heiresses of unencumbered lands.
Azon espoused Cunegunda of Guelph, a lady who was not only wealthy,
but who was the last of her race. The household was a happy one; and
when an heir to its honours appeared in the person of Guelph d’Este the
Robust, the court-poet who foretold brilliant fortunes for his house
failed to see the culminating brilliancy which awaited it in Britain.
This same Prince ‘Robust,’ when he had come to man’s estate, wooed
no maiden heiress as his father had done, but won the widowed
sister-in-law of our great Harold, Judith, daughter of Baldwin de
Lisle, Count of Flanders, and widow of Tostic, Earl of Kent. He took
her by the hand while she was yet seated under the shadow of her great
sorrow, and, looking up at Guelph the Robust, she smiled and was
comforted.
Guelph was less satisfactorily provided with wealth than the comely
Judith; but Guelph and Judith found favour in the eyes of the Emperor
Henry IV., who forthwith ejected Otho of Saxony from his possessions
in Bavaria, and conferred the same, with a long list of rights and
appurtenances, on the newly-married couple.
These possessions were lost to the family by the rebellion of Guelph’s
great-grandson against Frederick Barbarossa. The disinherited prince,
however, found fortune again, by help of a marriage and an English
king. He had been previously united to Maud, the daughter of Henry
II., and his royal father-in-law took unwearied pains to find some one
who could afford him material assistance. He succeeded, and Guelph
received, from another emperor, the gift of the countships of Brunswick
and Luneburg. Otho IV. raised them to duchies, and William (Guelph) was
the first duke of the united possessions, about the year 1200.
The early dukes were for the most part warlike, but their bravery was
rather of a rash and excitable character than heroically, yet calmly
firm. Some of them were remarkable for their unhappy tempers, and they
acquired names which unpleasantly distinguish them in this respect.
Henry was not only called the ‘young,’ from his years, and ‘the
black,’ from his swarthiness, but ‘the dog,’ because of his snarling
propensities. So Magnus, who was surnamed ‘the collared,’ in allusion
to the gold chain which hung from his bull neck, was also known as the
‘insolent’ and the ‘violent,’ from the circumstance that he was ever
either insufferably haughty or insanely passionate.
The House of Brunswick has, at various times, been divided into the
branches of Brunswick-Luneburg, Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Brunswick-Zell,
Brunswick-Danneberg, &c. These divisions have arisen from marriages,
transfers, and interchanges. The first duke who created a division was
Duke Bernard, who, early in the fifteenth century, exchanged with a
kinsman his duchy of Brunswick for that of Luneburg, and so founded the
branch which bears, or bore, that double name.
The sixteenth duke, Otho, was the first who is supposed to have
brought a blot upon the ducal scutcheon, by honestly marrying rather
according to his heart than his interests. His wife was a simple lady
of Brunswick, named Matilda de Campen. It became the common object
of all the dukes of the various Brunswick branches to increase the
importance of a house which had contributed something to the imperial
greatness of Germany. They endeavoured to accomplish this common object
by intermarriages; but the desired consummation was not achieved until
a comparatively recent period, when the branch of Brunswick-Luneburg
became Electors, and subsequently Kings of Hanover, and that of
Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Sovereign Dukes of Brunswick.
The grandfather of our George I., William, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg,
had seven sons, and all these were dukes, like their father. On the
decease of the latter, they affected to discover that if the seven
heirs, each with his little dukedom, were to marry, the greatness of
the house would suffer alarming diminution. They accordingly determined
that one alone of the brothers should form a legal matrimonial
connection, and that the naming of the lucky re-founder of the dignity
of Brunswick should be left to chance!
The seven brothers met in the hall of state in their deceased father’s
mansion, and there threw dice as to who should live on in single
blessedness, and which should gain the prize, not of a wife, but of
permission to find one. ‘Double sixes’ were thrown by George, the
sixth son. The lady whom he cavalierly wooed and readily won, was Anne
Eleanore, daughter of the Landgraf of Hesse-Darmstadt.
The heir-apparent of this marriage was Frederick Ernest Augustus, who,
in 1659, married Sophia, the daughter of Frederick and Elizabeth, the
short-lived King and Queen of Bohemia; the latter the daughter of
James I. The eldest child of this last marriage was George Louis, who
ultimately became King of Great Britain.
When Louis XIV. revoked the Edict of Nantes, the French Protestants
who refused to be converted were executed or imprisoned. Some found
safety, with suffering, in exile; and confiscation made beggars of
thousands. When towns, where the Protestants were in the majority,
exhibited tardiness in coming over to the king’s way of thinking,
dragoons were ordered thither, and this order was of such significance,
that when it was made known, the population, to escape massacre,
usually professed recantation of error in a mass. This daily accession
of thousands who made abjuration under the sword, and walked thence
to confession and reception of the Sacrament under an implied form in
which they had no faith, was described to the willingly duped king
by the _ultra-montane_ bishops as a miracle as astounding as any in
Scripture.
Of some few individuals, places at court for themselves, commissions
for their sons, or honours which sometimes little deserved the name,
for their daughters, made, if not converts, hypocrites. Far greater was
the number of the good and faithful servants who left all and followed
their Master. Alexander D’Esmiers, Seigneur D’Olbreuse, a gallant
Protestant gentleman of Poitou, preferred exile and loss of estate to
apostacy. When he crossed the frontier, a banished man, he brought
small worldly wealth with him, but therewith one child, a daughter, who
was to him above all wealth; and, to uphold his dignity, the memory of
being descended from the gallant Fulques D’Esmiers, the valiant and
courteous Lord of Lolbroire.
Father and daughter sojourned for a time beyond the northern frontier
of the kingdom, having their native country within sight. There they
tabernacled in much sorrow, perplexity, and poverty, but friends
ultimately supplied them with funds; and M. D’Esmiers, Seigneur
D’Olbreuse, found himself in a condition to appear in Brussels without
sacrifice of dignity. Into the gay circles of that gay city he led his
daughter Eleanora, who was met by warm homage from the gallants, and
much criticism at the hands of her intimate friends--the ladies.
The sharpest criticism could not deny her beauty; and her wit and
accomplishments won for her the respect and homage of those whose
allegiance was better worth having than that of mere _petits maîtres_
with their stereotyped flattery. Eleanora, like the lady in Göthe’s
tragedy, loved the society and the good opinion of wise men, while she
hardly thought herself worthy of either. She was a Frenchwoman, and
consequently she was not out of love with gaiety. She was the fairest
and the liveliest in the train of the brilliant Duchess of Tarento,
and she was following and eclipsing her noble patroness at a ball,
when she was first seen by George William, second son of George, Duke
of Brunswick-Luneburg, and heir to the pocket but sovereign dukedom of
Zell.
The heir of Zell became an honest wooer. He whose gallantry had been
hitherto remarkable for its dragooning tone, was now more subdued than
Cymon in the subduing presence of Iphigenia. He had hated conversation,
because he was incapable of sustaining it; but now love made him
eloquent. He had abhorred study, and knew little of any other language
than his own; but now he took to French vocabularies and dictionaries,
and long before he had got so far as to ask Eleanora to hear him
conjugate the verb _aimer_ ‘to love,’ he applied to her to interpret
the difficult passages he met with in books; and throughout long summer
days the graceful pair might have been seen sitting together, book in
hand, fully as happy and twice as hopeful as Paolo and Francesca.
George William was sorely puzzled as to his proceedings. To marriage he
could have condescended with alacrity, but unfortunately there was ‘a
promise in bar.’ With the view common to many co-heirs of the family,
he had entered into an engagement with his brother Ernest Augustus,
of Brunswick-Luneburg, and Bishop of Osnaburgh, never to marry. This
concession had been purchased at a certain cost, and the end in view
was the further enlargement of the dominions and influence of the House
of Brunswick. If George William should not only succeed to Zell, but
should leave the same to a legitimate heir, _that_ was a case which
Ernest Augustus would be disposed to look upon as a grievous wrong. A
price was paid, therefore, for the promised celibacy of his brother,
and that brother was now actively engaged in meditating as to how he
might, without disgrace, break a promise, and yet retain the money by
which it had been purchased. His heart leaped within him as he thought
how easily the whole matter might be arranged by a morganatic marriage
--a marriage, in other words, with the left hand; an union sanctioned
by the church but so far disallowed by the law that the children of
such wedlock were, in technical terms, _infantes nullius_, ‘children of
nobody,’ and could of course succeed to nobody’s inheritance.
George William waited on the Seigneur d’Olbreuse with his morganatic
offer; the poor refugee noble entertained the terms with much
complacency, but left his child to determine on a point which involved
such serious considerations for herself. They were accordingly placed
with much respect at Eleanora’s feet, but she mused angrily thereon.
She would not listen to the offer.
In the meantime, these love-passages of young George William were
productive of much unseemly mirth at Hanover, where the Bishop of
Osnaburgh was keeping a not very decorous court. He was much more of
a dragoon than a bishop, and indeed his flock were more to be pitied
than his soldiers. The diocese of Osnaburgh was supplied with bishops
by the most curious of rules; the rule was fixed at the period of the
peace which followed the religious wars of Germany, and this rule was,
that as Osnaburgh was very nearly divided as to the number of those
who followed either church, it should have alternately a Protestant
and a Romanist bishop. The result has been that Osnaburgh has had sad
scapegraces for her prelates, but yet, in spite thereof, has maintained
a religious respectability which might be envied by dioceses blessed
with two diverse bishops at once, for ever anathematising the flocks of
each other and their shepherds.
The Protestant Prince-Bishop of Osnaburgh made merry with his ladies
at the wooing of his honest and single-minded brother, whom he wounded
to the uttermost by scornfully speaking of Eleanora d’Olbreuse as the
duke’s ‘_Madame_.’ It was a sorry and unmanly joke, for it lacked
wit, and insulted a true-hearted woman. But it had the effect also of
arousing a true-hearted man.
George William had now succeeded to the little dukedom of Zell, not
indeed without difficulty, for as the ducal chair had become vacant
while the next heir was absent, paying homage at Brussels to a lady
rather than receiving it from his lieges in Zell, his younger brother,
John Frederick, had played his lord-suzeraine a shabby trick, by
seating himself in that chair, and fixing the ducal parcel-gilt coronet
on his own brows.
George William having toppled down the usurper from his ill-earned
elevation, and having bought off further treason by pensioning the
traitor, returned to Brussels with a renewal of his former offer. He
added weight thereto by the intimation, that if a morganatic marriage
were consented to now, he had hopes, by the favour of the emperor, to
consolidate it at a subsequent period by a legal public union, whereat
Eleanora d’Olbreuse should be recognised Duchess of Zell, without
chance of that proud title ever being disputed.
Thereupon a family council was holden. The poor father thought a
morganatic marriage might be entered upon without ‘derogation;’ _au
reste_, he left all to his daughter’s love, filial and otherwise.
Eleanora did not disappoint either sire or suitor by her decision.
She made the first happy by her obedience, her lover by her gentle
concession; and she espoused the ardent duke, with the left hand,
because her father advised it, her lover urged it, and the council and
the suit were agreeable to the lady, who professed to be influenced by
them to do that for which her own heart was guide and warrant.
The marriage was solemnised in the month of September, 1665, the bride
being then in the twenty-sixth year of her age. With her new position,
she assumed the name and style of Lady von Harburg, from an estate of
the duke’s so called. The Bishop of Osnaburgh was merrier than ever at
what he styled the mock marriage, and more unmanly than ever in the
coarse jokes he flung at the Lady of Harburg. But even this marriage
was not concluded without fresh concessions made by the duke to the
bishop, in order to secure to the latter an undivided inheritance of
Brunswick, Hanover, and Zell. His mirth was founded on the idea that
he had provided for himself and his heirs, and left the children of
his brother, should any be born, and these survive him, to nourish
their left-handed dignity on the smallest possible means. The first
heiress to such dignity, and to much heart-crushing and undeserved
sorrow, soon appeared to gladden for a brief season, to sadden for long
and weary years, the hearts of her parents. Sophia Dorothea was born
on the 15th of September, 1666. Her birth was hailed with more than
ordinary joy in the little court of her parents: at that of the bishop
it was productive of some mirth and a few bad epigrams. The bishop had
taken provident care that neither heir nor heiress should affect his
succession to what should have been their own inheritance, and, simply
looking upon Sophia Dorothea as a child whose existence did not menace
a diminution of the prospective greatness of his house, he tolerated
the same with an ineffable, gracious condescension.