jli.ili l< ■• ^a /. '''^^ai4.6^Qya//ia^:^^. .^vjc/,.. //,,y..y .7/C'>/. THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE GIFT OF Dr. Richard Hostetter >v--L-i*iii'^ m^ THE QUEENS OE ENGLAND OP THE HOUSE OF HANOVER VOL. I. LONDON' : PllISTKI) IIY 'rolTIsWOCUK AM> 10.. KKW-STICKKT (^QfARK AND IVMM.IAJIKXT .STUKKT LIVES QUEENS OE ENGLAND OF THE HOUSE OF HANOVEE DE. DOBAN, F.S.A. AUTHOR OF -TABLK TRAITS' 'IIABITS ANIl MKx' KTC. FOURTH EDITION CAREFULLY REVISED ASD MUCH ESLARGED IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. I. LONDON RICHARD BENTLEY & SON, NEW BURLINGTON STREET ^iiblisljcvs in ©rbiniTrn to fitr JIfajfstn 1875 TO HENEY HILL, Esq, E.S.A. ONE OF THE MOST ZKAI.UUS OF ANTIQUARIES AND MOST HOSPITABLE OF FRIEXDS ^hb ijcbi anb ilcbiscb (!:Ditioii is fasmbeb Br THE AUTHOR CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. SOPHIA DOROTHEA, OF ZELL, WIFE OF GEORGE I. CHAPTER I. GEORGE OF BRUNSWICK-ZELL AXD ELEANORA 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 Elt?anora — Love-passages, and a mamage — A Bishop of Osnabriick — 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 Monarqtie — Two success- ful female adventurers at Osnaburgh . . . . . .11 CHAPTER III. THE BRUNSWICKER IN ENGLAND. Prince Augustus of Wolfenbiittel, the accepted lover of Sophia — Superstition of the Duke of Zell — Intrigues of Madame von Platen — A rival lover — Prince George Louis : makes an oft'er 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 — Tlio Bill of Exclu- Vlll CONTENTS OF PACK sion, 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 au artist — Ill- fated marriage of Sophia — Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia — ' Goody Palsgrave ' — The Electress Sophia, and her intellectual skirmishes 1 CHAPTER IV. THE HOUSEHOLD OF GEORGE AND SOPHIA. Reception of Sophia at the Court of Ernest Augu.stus — Similar posi- tion of Marie Antoinette and Sophia— Misfortune of the abigail Use — Compassionated by the Duchess of Zell — Intrigues and revenge of Madame von I'laten — A new favourite, Mademoiselle Erraengarda von der .Schulenburg — A marriage /(^^e, and intended insult to the Princess Sophia — Grdss vice of George Louis . CHAPTER V. THE ELECTORATE OF HANOVER. The House of Hanover ranges itself against France — Ernest Augustus created Elector — Domestic rebellion of Ids son Maximilian — His accomplice, Count von Mollke, beheaded — The Electors of Germanv ........... 4'] CHAPTER VI. THE KONIGSMARKS. Count Charles Ji^hn Konigsniark's roving and adventurous life — The great heiress— An intriguing countess — 'Tom of Ten Thousand ' — 'i'he murder of Lord John Thynue — The fate of the count's iv- complices — Court influence shelters the guilty count CHAPTER VII. KONIGSMAKK AT COURT. \'arious accomplishments of Count Philip Christopher Konigsmark — The early compaidon id" 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 iigainst the honour of the Trincess— A unstress THE FIRST VOLUME. IX PAGE euragecl on discovery of her using rouge — Indiscretion of the Princess — Her visit to Zell — The Elector's criminal intimacy with Madame von der Schnlenburg — William the Xorman's brutality to his wife — The elder Aymon — Brutality of the Austrian Empress to ' Madame Royale " — Return of Sophia, and reception by her husband 08 CHAPTER VIII. THE CATASTROPHE. The scheming mother foiled — Count Konigsmark too garrulous in his cups — An eaves-dropper — A forged note — A mistress's revenge — Murder of the count — The Countess Aurora Konigsmark's accoujit • of her brother's intimacy with the Princess — Horror of the Princess un healing of the count's death — Seizure and escape of Mademoi- selle vou Ivnesebeck — A divorce mooted — The Princess's declara- tion 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 Konigsmark becomes the mis- tress of Augustus, King of Poland — Iler unsuccessful mission to Charles XTI. — Exemplary conduct in her latter years — Becomes pi'ioress of the nunnery of Quedlinburg . . . . . I'l CHAPTER IX. PRISON AND PALACE. The prison of the captive Sophia Dorothea — -Employment other time — The church of Ahlden repaired by lier — Cut off from her children — Sympathy of Ernest Augustus for his daughter-in-law — Her lather's returning atlection for her — Opening prospects of the House of Hanover — Lord ^lacclesfield's embassy to Hanover, and his right-royal reception — Description of the Electrt-ss — Toland's de- scription of Prince George Louis — AlagniMceut 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 ........... M CHAPTER X. THE SUCCESSION DEATH OF THE ELECTRESS. Marriage of Prince George to Princess Caroline of Anspach, and of his sisier to the Crown Prince of Prussia — Honours conferred by Queen Anne on Prince George — Intenrion to bring over to England the CONTENTS OF Princess Sophia — Opposed by Queen Anne — Foundation of the Idugdom of Prussia — The establishment of this Protestant kingdom promoted by the Jesuits — The I^lectress Sophia's visit to Loo — The law granting taxes on birtlis. deaths, and marriages — Com- plaint of Queen Anne againt^t the Electress — Tom D'L'rfey's 11: CHAPTER XI. AHLDEN AND ENGLAXD. 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 Marl- borough's entry — Funeral of the Q.ueeu — 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 GKAVE. Arrival of Caroline, Princess of Wales — Tlie King dines at the Guild- hall — I'rocliimation of the Pretender — Counter-proclamations — Government prosecutions — A mutiny among the troops — Impeach- ment of the Duko 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 ille- gitimate daughter — The South-Sea Bubble — Birth of Prince William (Duke of Cumberland) — Death of the Duchess of Zell — Stricter iraprisonmt>nt of the captive of Ahlden — Her calm death — A new royal favourite, Mrs. Brett — Death of the King — The alleged correspondence of Soplii.i Dorothea and Kiiiiigsmark . . . 1,'U) THE FIRST VOLUME. xi CAROLINE WILHELMINA DOROTHEA, WIFE OF GEORGE II. CHAPTER 1. BEFORE THE ACCESSION. PAGK 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— Bucking- ham 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 rebufl" 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 ' 15;^ CHAPTER n. THE FIRST TEAKS OF A REIGN. Death of George I. — Adroitness of Sir Robert Walpole— The first royal reception — L^nceremonious treatment of the late King's will — The coronation — Magnificent dress of Queen Caroline — Mrs. Oldfield, as Anne Boleyn, in < Henry VIIL' — The King's revenue and the Queen's jointure, the result of Walpole's exertions — His success — Management of the King by Queen Caroline- — Unseemlv dialogue between Walpole and LordTownshend — Gay's 'Beggars' Opera,' and satire on Walpole — Origin of the opera — Its great success — Gav'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 inefl'ectual efforts to gain over Bishop Iloadly — Sir Robert extricates himself — The Church made the scapegoat — Queen Caroline earnest about trifles — Etiquette of the toilette — Frui^aa betwepu INIr. Howard and the Queen — Modest re- quest of Mrs. Howard — Lord Chesterfield's description of her . 177 XI I CONTENTS OF CHAPTER III. THK MARRIAGE OF IHK PRINCESS ANNE. PAGE Violent opposition to the King by Triuce Frederick — Readings at Windsor Castle— The Queen's patronage of Stephen Duck — His melancholy end — Cxlance at passing events — Precipitate flight of Dr. Nichols — Princess Anne's determination to get a husband — Louis XV. proposed as a suitor : negotiation broken oft' — The Prince .if Orange's oUer accepted — Ugly and deformed — The King and (^ueen averse to the union — Dowry settled on the Princess — Anec- dote of the Duchess of Marlborough — Rlness of the bridegroom — Ceremonies attendant on the marriage — Mortification of the Queen — The public nuptial chamber — Olfence given to the Irish peers — — The Queen and Lady Sutlblk — 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 witli the Queen— Awkward performance of liis mission — Sharply rebuked by the Queen — Details of the in- terview — The Queen's success in overcoming the King's antipathy to Walpole — Comments of the populace— Royal interview with a bisliop ' . . . . l-'OO CHAPTER IV. KAMU-V AXl) NATIONAL t^UAUIiELS. Keliicuie-nt ol' Lady Suflblk — Tact of Queen Caroline— Arrogance of I'rince.^s .\nne — Private life of the royal family — The Count de Ivoncy, the French refugee — German predilections of the Queen — A scene at (!ourt — Queen Caroline's declining health — Ambitious aspirations of Princess Anne — Bishop Hoadly and the see of Win- chester — The Queen and the clergy — The Queen appointed Regent — The King and Madame Walnioden — Lord Ilervey's imaginary post-obit diary — Tiie (Queen's farewell interview with Lady Suffolk — Grief made fashionable — The temper of the King on his return — A scene : ihamniis pcrnufifi; the King, (iueen, and Lord Ilervev — Lady Deloraini^ (Pope's Delia) a royal favourite — An iingry scene between the King and (^ucen — Tlie King's opinion of Iiifhu]) Ilondly — Di.s,sension between the King and I'rince — Tlie royal libertine at Hanover — Court revels — Lady I'oliniibroke and the Queeu i'2.'^ THE FIRST VOLUME. XIU CHAPTER V. THE MARBUGE OF FREDERICK, I'RINCE OF WALES. VAOE The Queeu'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 witli the Court of Prussia — Prussian intrigue to prevent this — 'J'he Prussian inandaU 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 tlie Princes and Princesses — The marriage — Brilliant assemblage in the bridal chamber — Lady Diana Spencer proposed as a match for the Prince — Debut 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 ....... 21 i2 CHAPTER VI. AT HOME AND OVER THE WATER. The Queen and Walpole govern the kingdom — The bishops reproved by the Queen— Good ui.shes 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 — Que.stion- able 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 AVager — The Queen congratulates the Eng 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 — .■\nimosity of the Queen and Princess towards Prince Frederick .......... 282 CHAPTER VII. THE BIRTH OF AN HEIRESS. Ru.ssian invasion of the Crimea — Announcement of an heir disbe- lieved by the Queen — The Princess of Wales conveyed to St. Jame.s's bv the Prince in a state of labour — Birth of a Princess — XIV COA'TEXTS OF PAGK Ilauipton Court Palace on this uiglit — The palace iu au uproar — Indignation of Caroline — Reception of the Queen by the Prince — .Minute particulars aflbrded her by him — Explanatory notes be- tween 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 — Tiie Prince ejected from the palace — The Queen and Lord Carteret — Keconciliation of the royal family attempted — Popu- larity 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 CAKOLINE. Indisposition of the Q.iieen — Pier anxiety to conceal the cause — "Wal- pole 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 Dulce of Cumberland — Parting scene with the King — Interview with Wal- pole — The Prince denied the palace — (h-eat patience of the Queen — The Archbishop summoned to the palace — Eulogy on tlie Queen pronounced by the King — His oddities — The Queen's ex- emplary conduct — Iler death — Terror of Dr. Hulse — Singular conduct of the King — Opposition to Sir II. Walpole — Lord Chesterfield pays court to the Prince's favourite .... .'i.'.D CHAPTER IX. CAUOLINK, HER TIMKS AND COXTPnU'OHARIES. Whi&ton 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 — Ilise of Seeker — Tiie Queen's regard for Dr. Berkeley — Iler fondness for witnessing intellectual struggles between Clarke and Leibnitz — Character (tf (^ueen (.'aroline 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 — Ilidicule of Marlborough by Peter- borough — Morality of (Jenernl Cadogan — Anecdote of (Jeneral THE FIRST VOLUME. XV PAGE Webb — Lord Cobham — Dishonourable conduct of Lord Stair — General PLiwley 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 ........ oo9 CHAPTER X. THE REION OF THE WIDOWER. Success of Admiral Vernon — Royal visit to 'Bartlemy Fair'— Party- spirit runs liigh 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 in- stalled at Kensington — Death of Prince Frederick — Conduct of the King on hearing of this event — Bubb Dodington's extravagant grief — The funeral scant — Conduct of the widowed Princess — Op- position 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 LLamilton, the Prince's favourite — The Prince and the Quakers — Anecdote of Prince George — Princely appreciation of Ladv Huntinodon .......... oSO CHAPTER XI. THE LAST TEARS OF A REIGX. J'rincess 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 — Suftered from a similar cause with her mother — Rage of Lad}- Suftblk at a sermon bv Whitfield — Lady Huntingdon insulted by her — AVar 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 Iving — Dr. Porteous's eulogistic epitaph on him — The King's personal property — -The royal funeral — The biu'lesque Duke of Newcastle ......... 408 XVI CChyTEAys OF THE FIRST VOLUME. CllA HL TTE SOPHIA, \\\VK OF GEORGE III. CHAPTER I. ■IHI-: coMiNc; ov TH1-: uride. I'Acii-: iit to Mrs. Garrick — Orphan establishment at Bed- ford foimded by tiie Queen — Her benevolence on the breaking of th(! Windsor bank — Marriage of I'rincess Caroline Matilda — Un- founded rumours about the Queen — Hannah Lightfoot — The King's illnew.s — A Regency recommended by the King— Discus- sions relative to it — Birth of Prince Frederick— Failing Health of the Duke of Cumberland . . ' . -170 )( LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND, SOPHIA DOROTHEA, OF ZELL, WIFE OF GEORGE I. Das Glanzende ist uicht immer das Bessere. KoTZEBUE, Binder Moritz. CHAPTEE 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-pas- sages, 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-hke 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 VOL. I, B 2 LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. of Brunswick to bud upou, did not dig deeper for a root, or 20 ilirther for a fountain liead, than into tlie 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 Eobust, the court-poet who foretold brilliant fortunes for his house failed to see the culminating brilliancy Avhich awaited it in Britain. This same Piince 'Eobust,' 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 liand while she was yet seated under the shadow of her great sorrow, and, looking up at Guelph the Eobust, she smiled and was comforted. Guelph was less satisfactorily provided witli wealth than the cornel}^ Judith ; but Guel[)h and Judith found favour in the eyes of the Emperor Henry IV., who forth- with ejected Othoof Saxony from his possessions in Bavaria, and conferred the same, with a long list of rights and ai)purtenances, on the newly-married couple. These possessions were lost to tlie iamily Ijy the rebellion of Guelph's great-grandson against Frederick Jiarban^ssa. Tiie disinherited prince, however, found fortune again, by help of a marriage and an English king. He Jiad l)een pieviously united to Maud, the daughter of SOPHIA DOROTHEA. Henry II., and liis royal father-in-law took unwearied pains to find gome 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 posses- sions, 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 buU 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, Bruns- wick- Wolfenbiittel , 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 sup- posed 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 B 2 4 LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. the i'.nportaiice of a liouse wliicli luid 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 com- paratively recent period, when the branch of Brunswick- Luneburg became Electors, and subsequently Kings of Hanover, and that of Brunswick- Wolfenbiittel, Sovereign Dukes of Brunswick. The grandfather of our George I., William, Duke of Bnuiswick-Luneburg, had seven sons, and all tliese were dukes, like their father. On the decease of tlie 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 Bruns- Avick 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 wlio 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 Ilesse-Darmstadt. The heir-a})parent of this marriage was Frederick Ernest Augustus, who, in 1659, married Sophia, the daughter of Frederick and Ehzal^eth, the short-lived King and Queen of Bohemia ; the latter the daughter of James I. The eldest cliild of this last marriage was Getjrge L(juis, wlio ultimately became King of Great l^ritain. When Louis XIV. revoked the Edict of Nantes, the French Protestants who refused to be converted were SOPHIA DOROTHEA, 5 executed or imprisoned. Some found safety, with suffering, in exile ; and confiscation made l)eggars of thousands. When towns, wdiere tlie 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 w^as 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 Sacra- ment under an implied form in which they had no faith, was described to the willingly duped king by the idira- monfane bishops as a miracle as astounding as any in Scripture. Of some few individuals, places at court for them- selves, 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 w^orldly 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 Pulques 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 6 LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. of that gay city lie 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 jpeiiU maitres with their stereotyped flattery. Eleanora, like the lady in Gothe'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 Avith gaiety. Slie 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. lie whose gallant ry luid been liitherto 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. lie had abhorred study, and knew little of any other language than his own ; but now he took to French vocabularies and dictionaries, and Ions before he had got so far as to ask Eleanora to hear him conjugate the verb aimer ' to love,' he apphed 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 ha[)j)y ,111(1 twice as hopeful as Paolo and Francesca. George WilHam was sorely puzzled as to his pro- ceedings. To marriage he could have condescended with alacrity, but unfortunately there was 'a promise in bar.' With the view romiiion to many co-heirs of the family, SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 7 he had entered into an engagement with his brother Ernest Augustus, of Brunswick-Luneburg, and Bishop of Osnaburgli, 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 Wilham 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 wed- lock were, in technical terms, infantes nullius^ ' children of nobody,' and could of course succeed to nobody's in- heritance. 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 deter- mine 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 Han- over, where the Bishop of Osnaburgli was keeping a not very decorous court. He was much more of a dragoon than a bishop, and indeed his flock wei'e 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 8 LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. at tlie 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 Pro- testant 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 respecta- bility 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 sinfjle-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 duke- dom of Zell, not indeed without difficulty, for as tlie 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 Fred- erick, liad played his lord-suzeraine a shabb}^ 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 ])ensioning 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. SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 9 Tliereiipon a family council was holden. The poor father thought a morcranatic marriaEje micfht be entered upon Avithout ' derogation ; ' au reste^ he left all to his daughter's love, fihal 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 Septem- ber, 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 tlie 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 lieirs, 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 sor- row, 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 mirtli and a few bad epigrams. The bishop had taken provident care that neitlier heir nor heiress should affect his succession to what sliould have lO LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. been their own inheritance, and, simply lookincj upon Sopliia Dorotliea as a cliild whose existence did not menace a diminution of the prospective greatness of his house, he tolerated the same with an ineffable, gracious condescension. 1 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 Grmid Monarque — Tvfo successful female adventurers at Osnaburgh. Such a household as the one maintained in sober happi- ness and freedom from anxiety by the duke and his wife was a rare sight in German courts. The duke was broadly ridiculed because of his ftiithful affection for one who was worthy of all the truth and esteem which a true-hearted wife could claim. The only fault ever brought by the bitterest of the enemies of the wife of the Duke of Zell against that unexceptionable lady was, that she was over-fond of nominating natives of France to little places in her hus- band's little court. Considering that the Germans, wlio looked upon her as an intruder, would not recognise her as having become naturalised by marriage, it is hardly to be wondered at that she gathered as much of France around her as she could assemble in another land. Three other children were the fruit of this marriage, whose early deaths were deplored as so many calamities. Their mother lived long enough to deplore that Sophia Dorothea had survived them. The merits of the mother won, as they deserved to do, increase of esteem and affec- tion on the part of the duke. His most natural wish was to raise her to a rank equal to his own, as far as a mere name could make assertion of such equality. It was 12 LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. tlioiiiilit a wonderful act of condescension on the part of the emperor, tliat lie gave his ini})erial sanction to the elevation of the Lady of Harbiirg to ihe rank and title of Countess of Wilhc^lmsburg. The Bishop of Osnaburgh was harder to treat with than the emperor. He bound down his brother by stringent engagements, solemnly engrossed in lengthy phrases, guarding against all mistake by horribly technical tautoloo'v, to aszree that the encirclin" his wife with the coronet of a countess bestowed upon her no legal i-ights, and conferred no shadow of legitimacy, in the eye of the law, on the children of the marriage, actual or prospective. For such children, modest j^et sufficient provision was secured ; but they were never to dream of claiming cousin- ship with the alleged better-born descendants of Henry the Dos, or Mac^nus the Irascible. Duke George William, however, was resolved not to rest until his wife should also be his duchess. He ap- pealed to the Estates of Germany. The Estates thought long and adjourned often before they came to a tardy and reluctant conclusion, by which the boon sought was at length conceded. The em]:)eror added his consent. The concession made by the Estates, and the sanction su})eradded by the emperor, were, however, only ob- tained upon the military bishop withholding all opposition. The princely prelate was, in foct, bougiit ofl'. Again his muniment-box was unlocked ; once more he and his .stall' of lawyers were deep in parchments, and curious in the geography of territorial maps and plans. The result of much dry labour and heavy speculation was an agree- ment entered into by the two l)rotheis. The Duke of Zell contracted that the children of his marriage with the daughter of the Poitevin seigneur should inherit only Iiis private j)roperty, and the empty title of Counts, or Countesses, of Wilhelinshurg. Tlie tei-ritory of Zell SOPHIA DOROTHEA. I 3 with other estates added to the sovereign dukedom were to pass to tlie prince-bishop or his heirs. On these terms Eleanora of Olbreuse, Lady of Harburg, and Countess of Wilhehnsburg, became Duchess of Zell. ' Ah ! ' exclaimed the very apostohc bishop to the dis- solute disciples at his court, on the night that the family compact was made an accomplished ftict, ' my brother's French Madame is not a jot the more his wife for being duchess ' — which was true, for married is married, and there is no comparative degree of intensity which can be applied to the circumstance. ' But she has a dignity the more, and therewith may Madame rest con- tent ' — which was not true, for no new title could add dignity to a woman like the wife of Duke George William. When k^ophia Dorothea was but seven years old, she had for an occasional playfellow in the galleries and gardens of Zell and Calenberg, a handsome lad, Swedish by birth, but German by descent, whose name was Philip Christopher von Konigsmark. He was a few years older than Sophia Dorothea (some accounts say ten years older), and he was in Zell for the purpose of education, and he fulfilled the office of page. Many of his vacation hours were spent with the child of George William, who was his ftitlier's friend. When gossips saw the two hand- some children, buoyant of spirit, beaming with health, and ignorant of care, playing hand in hand at sports natural to their age, those gossips prophesied of future marriage. But their speculation had soon no food whereon to live, for the young Konigsmark was speedily withdrawn from Zell, and Sophia bloomed on alone, or with other companions, good, graceful, fair, accomplished, and supremely happy. But, even daughter as she was of a left-handed mar- riage, there was hanging to her name a dower sufficiently 1 4 LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. costly to dazzle and allure even princely suitors. To one of these she was betrothed before she .was ten years old. The suitor was a soldier and a prince. Augustus Frederick, Crown Prince of Brunswiek-Wolfenbiittel, was allured by the ' beaux yeux de la casette ' of the little heiress, which contained, after all, only one hun- dred thousand thalers, fifteen thousand pounds sterling ; but an humble dower for a duke's only daughter. In the meantime the affianced lover had to prove himself, by force of arms, worthy of his lady and her fortune. To the siege of Philipsburg, in the year 167 6, repaired the chivalrous Augustus of Brunswick- Wolfenbiittel. He bore himself with a dignity and daring which entitled him to respect, but a fatal bullet slew him suddenly : a brief notice in a despatch was his soldierly requiem, and when the affianced child-bride was solemnly informed by circumstance of Hof-Marshal that her lord was slain and her heart was free, she was too young to be sorry, and too unconscious to be glad. Meanwhile, the two courts of the Bishop of Osna- burgh and the Duke of Zell continued to present a striking contrast. The bishop was one of those men who think themselves nothing unless they are imitating some greater man, not in his virtues but his vices. There was one man in Europe whom Ernest Augustus described as a ' paragon,' and that distinguished personage was Louis XIV. The vices, extravagance, the pomposity of the great king, were the dear delights of the Httle prince. As Louis neglected his wife, so Ernest Augustus disregarded his. Fortunately, Sophia, the wife of the latter, had resources in her mind, wliich made her con- sider with exemplary indifference the faithlessness of her lord. At this court of Hanover, two sisters, Catherine and Elizabeth von Meisenbuch, had, for some time, set the SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 1 5 fashion of a witchery of costume, remarkable for its taste, and sometimes for outraging it. They possessed, too, the great talent of Madame de Sillery Genlis, and were in- imitable in their ability and success in getting up little fetes.^ at home or abroad, in the salon or al fresco — formal and full-dressed, or rustic and easy — where major- generals were costumed as agricultural swains, and ladies of honour as nymphs or dairymaids, with costumes rural of fashioning, but as resplendent and costly as silkman and jeweller could make them. At a sort of Masque, in- vented by the sisters von Meisenbuch, one appeared as Diana, the other as Bellona, and they captivated all hearts, from those of the prince-bishop and his son to that of the humblest aspirant in the court circle. These young ladies came to court to push their fortunes. They hoped in some way to serve the sovereign bishop ; or, failing him, to be agreeable to' his lieir, George Louis (afterwards George I. of England). But even tliis prince, a little and not an attractive person, to say nothing of the bishop, seemed for a time a flight above tliem. They could wait a new opportunity ; for as for defeat in their aspirations, they would not think of it. They had the immense power of those persons who are possessed by one single idea, and who are under irresistible compulsion to carry it out to reality. They could not all at once reach the prince-bishop or his heir, and accordiiigly they directed the full force of their enchantments at two very unromantie-looking personages, the private tutors of the young princes of Hanover. The ladies were soon mighty at Greek particles, learned in the aorists, fluent on the digamma, and familiar with the mysteries of the differential calculus. Catherine and Elizabeth von Meisenbuch opened a new grammar before their learned pundits, the Herrn von Busche and von Platen (the latter was of a noble 1 6 LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. and ancient house) ; and truth to tell, the philoso|)hers ^vel•e nothing lolh to pursue the new study tauglit by- such professors. ^V^lcll this educational course had come to a close, the public recognised at once its aim, quality, and etfects, by learning that the sage preceptors had actually married two of the liveliest aud lightest-footed of girls who had ever danced a hranle at the balls in Brunswick. The wives, on first appearing in public after their marriage, looked radiant with joy. The tutors wore about them an ah' of constraint, as if they thought the world needed an a})ology, by way of explaining how two Elders had permitted themselves to be vanquished by a brace of Susannas. Their ideas were evidently confused, but they took courage as people cheerfully laughed, though they may have lost it again on discovering that tliey had been drawn into matrimony by two gracefully-graceless nymphs, whose sole object was to use theu' spouses as stepping-stones to a higher greatness. There must have been many attendant advantages in connection with such an object, or the two mariied phi- losophers would hardly have worn the air of content which they put on as soon as they saw the aim of their estimable wives, and felt the gain thence accruing. Elizabeth von Meisenbuch, the wife of von Platen, was the true mistress of the situation. Von Platen, principally through her intrigues, had been ai)})ointed prime-minister of the sovereign bishop. The time passed by von Platen with his sovereign master aflorded him ample leisure to talk of his wife, praise her i)olitical abilities, and over-eulogise her. The prince-bishop felt his curiosity excited to study more nearly tliis jihoenix of a woman. It was, thereibre, the most natural of con- sequences that von Platen should lead his lady to his master's feet, though it perhaps was not so natural that he should leave her there to ' improve ' the position thus reached. SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 17 Tlie lady lost no time in justifying all that her hus- band had advanced in warranty of her talent, skill, and willingness to use them for the advantage of the bishop and his dominions ; the powerful prelate was enchanted with her — enchanted with her in every sense. To sum up all, Madame von Platen became the mistress of her husband's master ; and her sister, who had given her hand to von Busche, gave herself body and soul to the bishop's son, George Louis. This arrangement seemed in no way to disturb the equanimity of the bishop's wife, the prince's mother. VOL. I. 1 8 LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. CHAPTER III. THE BRUNSWICKER IN ENGLAND. rrinco Aupustus of "NVolfenLiittel, 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 Pill 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. WiliLE all was loose and lively at the court of the bishop, the daily routine of simple pleasures and duties alone marked the course of events at the modest court of the Duke of Zell. The monotony of the latter locality was, however, agreeably interrupted by the arrival there of his Serene Highness Prince Augustus William of Wolfen- blittel. He had just been edified by what he had witnessed during his brief sojourn in tlie episcopal circle of Osnaburgh, where lie had seen two ladies exercising a double influence, Madame von Platen ruling her husband and his master, while her sister Caroline von Busche was equally obeyed by her consort and his Highness Geoi'ge Louis, the bishop's son. Prince Augustus of Wolfenbiittel was the brother of that early suitor of the little Sophia Dorothea who had met a soldier's death at the siege of P]iilipsl)urg. He was, like his brother, not so rich in gold pieces as in good qualities, and was more wealthy in virtues than in acres. SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 19 He was a bachelor prince, with a strong inchnation to lay down his bachelorship at the feet of a lady who would, by addition of her dowry, increase the greatness and material comforts of both. Not that Augustus of Wolfen- blittel was mercenary ; he was simply prudent. A little princely state in Germany costs a great deal to maintain, and when the errant prince went forth in search of a lady with a dower, his last thought w^as to offer himself to one who had no heart or could have no place in his own. If there was some system, a little method, and an air of business about the passion and principle of the puissant Prince Augustus, something thereof must be laid to the charge of the times, and a little to the princely matter-of- fact good sense : he is a wise and mercifiil man who, before he comes to conclusions with a lady on the chapter of matrimony, first weighs prospects, and establishes, as ftir as in him lies, a security of sunshine, Augustus Wolfenblittel had long suspected that the sun of his future home was to be found at Zell, and in the person of his young cousin Sophia Dorothea, Even yet, tradition exists among Brunswick maidens as to the love- passages of this accomplished and handsome young couple. Those passages have been enlarged for the purposes of romance writers, but divested of all exaggeration there I'emains enough to prove, as touching this pair, that they were well assorted both as to mind and person ; that their inclinations were towards each other ; and that they were worthy of a better fate than that which fell upon the honest and warm affection which reigned in the hearts of both. The love of these cousins was not the less ardent for the fact of its being partially discouraged. The Duke of Zell looked upon the purpose of Prince Augustus with an unfavourable eye. The simple-minded duke had an un- feigned superstitious awe of the new lover ; and the idea c2 20 LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF- ENGLAND. of conseutim:: to a match under the circumstances as they presented themselves, seemed to him tantamount to a species of sacrilege, outraging the mams and memory of the defunct brother. The duke loved his daughter, and the daughter assuredly loved Augustus of Wolfenbiittel ; and, added thereto, the good Duchess Eleanora was quite disposed to see the cherished union accomplished, and to bestow her benediction upon the well-favoured pair. The father was influenced, however, by his extensive reading in old legendary ballad-lore, metrical and melancholy German romances, the commonest incident in which is the interruption of a marriage ceremony by a spiritual person- age professing priority of right. The opposition to the marriage was not, however, all surmounted when the antagonism of the duke had been successfully overcome. Madame von Platen has the credit of having carried out her opposition to the match to a very successful issue. It is asserted of this clever lady, that she was the first who caused the Bishop of Osnaburgh thoroughly to com- prehend that Sophia Dorothea would form a very desirable match for his son George Louis. The young lady had lands settled on her which might as well be added to the territory of that electoral Hanover of which the prince- bishop was soon to be the head. Every acre added to the possessions of the chief of the family would be by so much an increase of dignity, and little sacrifices were worth making to effect great and profitable results. The worthy pair, bishop and female prime-minister, immediately pro- ceeded to employ every conceivable engine whereby they might destroy the fortress of the hopes of Sophia Dorothea and Augustus of Wolfenbiittel. They cared for nothing, save that the hand of the former should be conferred u[)on tlie l)islio[)'s eldest son, George Louis, who Jiad as little desire to l)e matciu'd witli his cousin, or his cousin SOPHIA DOROTHEA _ 21 with him, as kinsfolk can have who cordially detest each other, George Louis was not shaped for a lover. He was mean in person and in character. George was brave indeed ; to none of the princes of the House of Brunswick can be denied the possession of bravery. In all the bloody and useless wars of the period, lie had distinguished him- self by his dauntless courage and his cool self-possession. He was not heroic, but he really looked heroic at the head of his squadron, charging across the battle-field, and carrying his sword and his fringed and feathered hat into the very thickest of the fray. He did not fail, it may be added, in one of the characteristics of bravery, liumanity on the field. For a wounded foe he had a thorough respect. Out of the field of battle George Louis was (ui extremely oixlinary personage, except in his vices. He wns coarsely minded and coarsely spoken, and his profligacy was so extreme of character — it bore about it so little of what Lord Chesterfield recommended when he said a man might be gentlemanlike even in his vices — that the bishop, easy as he was both as parent and prelate, and rich as he was himself in evil example to a son who needed no such warrant to plunge headlong into sin — even the bisho[) felt uncomfortable for awhile. He thouglit, however, tliat marriage would cure profligacy. George Louis was now in his twenty-second year. He was born in 1660, and he had recently acquired increase of importance from the fact of his sire having succeeded to the estates, grandeur, and expectations of his predecessor, Duke John Frederick. The latter was on his way to Home, in 1679, a city which he much loved, holding in respect a good portion of what is taught there. He was proceeding thither with a view of a little more of pleasure and something therewith of instruction, when a sudden attack of illness carried him ofl'; and his death excited as 22 LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. much grief in tlie bishop as it ])Ossibly could in one who had Uttle reverence for tlie duke, by whose death he profited largely. When the bishop (now Duke Ernest Augustus, of Hanover), as a natural consequence of this death, esta- blished a gayer court at Hanover than had ever yet been seen there, and had raised George Louis to the rank of a ' Crown Prince ' — a title given to many heirs who could inherit nothing but coronets — the last-named individual began to consider speculatively as to what royal lady he might, with greatest prospect of advantage to himself, make offer of his hand. At this time Charles 11. was King in England. The King's brother, James, Duke of York, had a daughter, ' Lady Anne,' who is better known to us all b}' her after- title of ' good Queen Anne.' In the year 1680, George of Hanover came over to England with matrimonial views respecting that j^oung princess. He had on his way visited William of Orange, at the Hague ; and when that calcu- lating prince was made the confidential depository of the views of George Louis respecting the Princess Anne of England, he listened with much complacency, but is sus- pected of having forthwith set on foot the series of intrigues which, helped forward by Madame von Platen, ended in the recall of George from England, and in his hapless marriage with the more hapless Sophia Dorothea. George of Hanover left the Hague with the con- viction that he had a friend in William ; but William was no abettor of marriages with the Princess Anne, and least of all could he wish success to the hereditary prince of Hanover, whose union with one of the heiresses of the British throne might, under certain contingencies, miser- ably mar his own prospects. The Sidney Diary fixes the arrival of George liOuis at Greenwich on the Gtli of December, 1G80. On the 29th of the month, Viscount SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 23 Stafford was beheaded on Tower Ilill, and at this hvely spectacle George of Hanover was probably present, for on the 30th of the niontli he sends a long letter to her Serene Highness, his mother, stating that ' they cut off the head of Lord Stafford yesterday, and made no more ado about it than if they had chopped off the head of a pullet.' In this letter, the Aviiter enters into details of the incidents of his reception in England. The tenor of his epistle is, that he remained one whole day at anchor at ' Grunnwitsch ' (which is his reading of Green- wich) while his secretary, Mr. Beck, went ashore to look for a house for him, and find out his uncle Prince Eupert. Scant ceremony was displayed, it would appear, to render hospitable welcome to such a visitor. Hospitahty, how- ever, was not altogether lacking. The zealous Beck found out ' Uncle Eobert,' as the prince ungermanises Eupert, and the uncle, having little of his own to offer to his nephew, straightway announced to Charles H. the circumstance that the princely lover of his niece was lying in the mud off Grunnwitsch. ' His Majesty,' says George Louis, ' immediately ordered them apartments at Writhall ' — and he then proceeds to state that he had not been there above two hours when Lord Hamilton arrived to conduct him to the King, who received him most obhgingly. He then adds, ' Prince Robert had pre- ceded me, and was at Court when I saluted King Charles. In making my obeisance to the King, I did not omit to give him the letter of your Serene Highness ; after which he spoke of your Highness, and said that he " remem- bered you very well." When he had talked ^vith me some time, he went to the Queen, and as soon as I arrived, he made me kiss the hem of her Majesty's pet- ticoat. The next day I saw the Princess of York (tlie Lady Anne), and I saluted her by kissing her, with the consent of the King. The day after I went to visit Prince 24 LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. Itohert^ wlio received me in bed, for lie has a malady in Ids leg, which makes him very often keep his bed. It ap- pears that it is so, without any pretext, and he has to take care of himself. He had not failed of coming to see me one day. All the lords come to see me, sans pretendre la main chez moi ' (probably, rather meaning without ceremony, without kissing hands, than, as has been sug- gested, that ' they came without venturing to shake hands Avitli him '). Cold and deaf did the Princess Anne remain to the suit of the Hanoverian wooer. The suit, indeed, was not ])ressed by any sanction of the lad3''s father, who, during the three months' sojourn of George Louis in England, remained in rather secluded state at Holyrood. Neither was the suit opposed by James. James was troubled but little touching the suitor of his daughter. He had per- sonal troubles enough of his own wherewith to be con- cerned, and therewith sundry annoyances. Among the ' celebrations ' of the visit of George Louis to this country, was the pomp of the ceremony which welcomed him to Cambridge. Never had the groves or stream of Cam been made vocal by the echoes of such laudation as was given and taken on this solemnly hilarious occasion. There was much feasting, which included very much drinking, and much expenditure of heavy com- pliment in very light Latin. George and his trio of fol- lowers were made doctors of law by the scholastic au- thorities. The honour, however, was hardly more ap- j)ropriate than when a similar one was conferred, in after years, upon Blucher and the celebrated artillery officer, Gneisenau. ' Ah ! ' exclaimed the veteran leader, ' they are going to make me a doctor ; but it was Gneisenau that furnished all the pills.' That parliament was convened at Oxford whereby there was, as Evelyn remarks, 'great expectation of his Koyal Highness's cause, as, to the succession against which SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 2$ the lioiise was set,' and therewith there was, according to the same diarist, ' an extraordinary sharp, cold spring, not yet a leaf upon the trees, frost and snow lying while the whole nation was in the greatest ferment.' Sucli was the parliament, and such the spring, when George Louis was suddenly called home. He was highly interested in the bill, which was read a first time at that parliament, as also in the ' expedients ' which were proposed in lieu of such bill, and rejected. The expedients proposed instead of the Bill of Exclusion in this parhament, were that the wliole government, upon the death of Charles II., should be vested in a regent, the Princess of Orange, and if she died without issue, then the Princess Anne sliould be regent. But if James, Duke of York, should have a son educated a Protestant, then the regency should last no longer than his minorit}^, and that the regent sliould govern in the name of the father while he lived ; but that the father should be obliged to reside live hundred miles fi'om the British dominions ; and if the duke sliould return to these kingdoms, the crown should immediately devolve on the regent, and the duke and his adherents be deemed guilty of high treason. Here was matter in which the Hanoverian suitor was doubly interested both as man and as lover. Nor was there anything unnatural or unbecoming in such concern. The possible inheritance of such a throne as that of England was not to be contemplated without emotion. An ex- clusive Protestant succession made such a heritage pos- sible to the House of Brunswick, and if ever the heads of that house, before the object of their hopes v/as realised, ceased to be active for its realisation, it w^as when a^^sur- ance was made doubly sure, and action was unnecessary. It is not easy to determine what part William of Orange had in the recall of George Louis from England, but the suddenness of that I'ccall was an object of some admiring perplexity to a lover, who left a lady who was 26 LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. by no means inconsolable, and who, two years afterwards, was gaily married at St. James's to tlie Prince of Den- mark, on the first leisure day between the executions of Eussell and of Sidney. George Louis, however, obeyed the summons of his sovereign and father, but it was not until his arrival in Hanover that he found himself called upon to transfer the prosecution of his matrimonial suit from one object to another. The ruling idea in the mind of Ernest Au- gustus was, that hov/ever he might have provided to secure his succession to the dominion of Zell, the marriage of his son with the duke's only child would add many broad acres to his possessions in Hanover. Sophia Dorothea was still little more than a child ; but that very circumstance was made use of in order to procure the postponement of her marriage with Augustus of Wol- fenbuttel. The Duke of Zell did not stand in need of much argument from his brother to understand that the union of the young lovers might more properly be cele- brated when the bride was sixteen than a year earher. The duke was ready to accept any reasoning, the object of which was to enable him to retain his daughter another year at his side. The sixteenth birthday of Sophia Dorothea had ariived, and George Louis had made no impression on her heart — the image of the absent Augustus still lived there ; and tlie whole plot would have failed, but for the sudden, and active, and efficient energy of one who seemed as if she had allowed matters to proceed to ex- tremity, in order to exhibit tlie better her own powers wlien she condescended to interfere personally and remedy the ill-success of others by a triumph of her own. That person was Sophia, the wife of Ernest, a lady wlio rivalled Griselda in one point of her patience — that which she felt for her husband's infidelities. In other respects SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 27 she was crafty, pliilosopliical, and frec-tliiokiiig ; but she was as ambitious as any of her family, and as she had resolved on the marriage of her son, George Louis, with Sophia Dorothea, she at once proceeded to accomphsh that upon which she had resolved. It had suddenly come to her knowledge that Augustus of Wolfenblittel had made his reappearance at the Court of Zell. Coupling the knowledge of this fiict with the remembrance that Sophia Dorothea was now sixteen years of age, and that at such a period her marriage had been fixed, the mother of George Louis addressed herself at once to the task of putting her son in the place of the favoured lover. She ordered out the heavy coach and heavier Mecklenburg horses, by which German poten- tates w^ere wont to travel stately and leisiu^ely by post some two centuries ago. It was night when she left Hanover ; and although she had not further to travel than an ordinary train could now accomplish in an hour, it was broad daylight before this match-making and match-breaking lady reached the portals of the ducal palace of Zell. There was something dehghtfully primitive in the method of her proceeding. She did not despise state, except on occasions when serious business was on hand. The present was such an occasion, and she therefore waited for no usher to marshal her way and announce her coming to the duke. She descended from her pon- derous coach, pushed aside the sleepy sentinel, who ap- peared disposed to question her before he made way, and, entering the hall of the mansion, loudly demanded of the few servants who came hurrying to meet her, to be conducted to the duke. It was intimated to her that he was then dressing, but tliat liis Highness would soon be in a condition to descend and wait upon her. Too impatient to tarry, and too eager to care for 28 LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. ceremony, slic mounted tlie stairs, bade a groom of the chamber ])oint out to her tlie door of the duke's room ; and, lier order liaving been obej^ed, she forthwith pushed open the door, entered the apartment, and discovered the dismayed duke in the most neglige of deshabilles. She neither made a]:)oIogy nor would receive any ; but, inti- mating lliat slie came u])on business, at once asked, ' Where is your wife ? ' The flurried Duke of Zell pointed througli an open door to a capacious bed in the adjacent room, wherein lay the wondering duchess, lost in eider-down and deep amazement. The ' old Sophia ' could have wished, it would seem, tliat she had been further off. She was not quite rude enough to close the door, and so cut off all connnunica- tion and listening ; but, remembering that the Duchess of Zell was but very indifferently acquainted with German, she ceased to speak in the language then common to the German courts — French — and innnediately addressed the duke in hard Teutonic phrase, which was" luiintelli- gible to the vexed and suspecting duchess. Half undressed, the duke occupied a chair close to his toilet-table, while the astute wife of Ernest Augustus, seated near him, inifolded a narrative to which he listened with every moment an increase of complacency and con- viction. The Duchess Eleanora, from her bed in the adjacent room, could see the actors, but could not com- prehend the dialogue. I5ut, if tlie narrative was unin- telligible to her, slie could understand the drift of the argument, as the names of her daughter and lover were being constantly pronounced witli that of George Louis. Tlie case was forcibly put by the mother of George. She showed how union makes strength, how little profit could arise from a match between So])hia Dorothea and Augustus of Wijlfcnbiiltel, and liow advantageous nuist be an union between llic licir of Hanover and the heiress SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 29 of the domains which her provident fatlier liad added to Zell, and had bequeathed to his daughter. She spoke ot the certainty of Ernest Augustus being created nrch- standard-bearer of the empire of Germany, and there- with Elector of Hanover, She hinted at the possibihty even of Sophia Dorothea one day sharing with her son the throne of Great Britain. The hint w^as something prematiue, but the astute lady may have strengthened her case by reminding her hearer that the crown of Eng- land would most probably be reserved only for a Pro- testant succession, and that her son was, if a distant, yet not a very distant, and certainly a possible heir. The obsequious Duke of Zell was bewildered by the visions of greatness presented to his mind by his clever sister-in-law. With ready lack of honesty he consented to break off the match between Sophia Dorothea and her lover, and to bestow her hand upon the careless prince for whom it was now demanded by his mother. The latter returned to Hanover perfectly satisfied with the work of that night and morning. The same satisfaction was not experienced by the Duchess Eleanora. When she came to learn the facts, she burst forth in expressions of grief and indignation. The marriage which had now been definitely broken, had been with her an affair of a mother's heart. It had not been less an affair of a young girl's heart with Sophia Dorothea. Duke Anton Ulrich of Wolfenbiittel came in person to Zell, to ask tlie fulfilment of the promise of her hand to his son. On learning tliat the alleged promise had been broken, he left Zell with the utmost indigna- tion ; and romance, at least, says of Konigsmark, that he too, had left it with a feeling of sorrow that Sophia Dorothea was to be sacrificed to such an unworthy per- son as George Louis. It was a pitiable case ! There were three persons who were to be rendered irretrievably 30 LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. wretched, in order, not thut any one might be rendered happy, but that a man without a heart might be made a httle more rich in the possession of dirt. Tlie acres of Zell were to bring misery on their heiress, and every acre was to purcliase its season of sorrow. No entreaty could move the duke.^ In his dignity he forgot the father : and tlie prayers and tears of his child failed to touch the parent, who really loved her Avell, but ^vdiose affection was dissolved beneath the fiery heat of his ambition. lie was singularly ambitious ; for the possible effect of a marriage with George Louis was merely to add his own independent duchy of Luneburg to the dominions of Hanover, His daughter, moreover, detested her cousin, and his wife detested her sister-in- law ; above all, the newly accepted bridegroom, if he did not detest, had no shadow, nor affected to have any shadow of respect, regard, or affection for the poor young victim who was to be flung to him with indecent and unnatural disregard of all her feelinojs as daughter and maiden. Sophia Dorothea's especial distaste for George Louis was grounded not only in her knowledge of his character, but also of his want of respect for her mother, of whom he always spoke in contemptuous terms, Sophia Dorothea's inclinations, her father said, he would never constrain ; but when tliis seemed to give her some hope of release, her father observed that a good daughter's inclinations were always identical with those of her parents. She had a heart to listen to, she thought. She had a father whom she was bound to obey, he said — and said it with terrible iteration. Her aversion is reported to have been so determined that, when ^ It is even alleged that he had been, through his representative, M. de Gourville, at tlie Court of Hanover, the lirst to suggest the expediency of a marriage between his daughter and George Louis. The suggestion was made as coming, not only from himself, hut from the Duchess of Zell also, who certainly was no party to ?uch a proposition. SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 3 I the portrait of her future lord was presented to her, she flung it against the wall with such violence that the glass was smashed, and the dismounted diamonds were scat- tered over the room. The matter, however, was urged onward by Sophia of Hanover ; and in formal testimony of the freedom of inclination with which Sophia Dorothea acted, she was brought to address a formal letter to the mother of her proposed husband, expressive of her obedience to the will of her father, and promissory of the same obedience to the requirements of her future mother-in-law. It is a mere formal document, proving nothing but that it was penned for the assumed -writer by a cold-hearted inventor, and that the heart of the copier, subdued by sickness, was far away from her words. This docimient is in the British Museum. During the time that intervened before George Louis arrived at Zell to take his bride to Hanover, Sophia Dorothea seemed to have passed years instead of weeks. It was only when her mother looked sadly at her that she contrived painfully to smile. She even pro- fessed a sort of joyful obedience ; but when the bride- groom dismounted at her father's gate, Sophia Dorothea fainted in her mother's arms. After a world of misery and mock wooing, crowded into a few months, the hateful and ill-omened marriage took place at Zell on the 21st of I^ovember, 1682. The bride was sixteen, the bridegroom twenty-two. Of the splendour which attended the ceremony court historio- graphers wrote in loyal ecstasy and large folios, describing every character and dress, every incident and dish, every tableau and trait, with a minuteness almost inconceivable, and a weariness saddening even to think of. They thought of everything but the heart of the principal pei-sonage in tlie ceremony — that of the bride. They could describe the superb lace which veiled it, and prate of its value 32 LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. and workmanship ; but of the worth and woe of the heart "wliioh beat beneath it, these courtly historians knew no more than they did of honesty. Their flattery was of the grossest, but they had no comprehension of ' the situa- tion,' To them all mortals Avere but as ballet-dancers and pantomimists ; and if they were but bravely dressed and picturesquely grouped, the describers thereof thought of nothing beyond. The bride preserved her mournful dignity on that dark and fierce November day. Tradi- tion says that there was a storm Avithout as well as sorrow within ; and that the moaning of the wind and strange noises in the old castle seemed as if the elements and the very home of the bride's youth sympathised with her present and her future destiny. 33 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 — Compas- sionated by the Duchess of Zell — Intrigues and revenge of Madame von Platen — A new favourite, Mademoiselle Ernieugarda von der Schulenburg — A marriage fete, and intended insult to the Princess Sophia — Gross vice of George Louis. It is said that a certain becomiiigness of compliment was paid to the bride in an order given to Katharine von Busche to absent herself from the palace when the bride was brought home. The mistress, it is alleged, deferred her departure till it was too late, and from a window of Madame von Platen's bedchamber the sisters witnessed the sight of George Louis dismounting from his horse, and hastening to help his wife to descend from the carriage. Madame von Platen, as she gazed, may have thought that her sister's influence was over. If she did, Madame von Busche felt convinced of the contrary. The latter took her departure, for a season. The other prepared herself to join in the splendid court festivities held in honour of the event by the command of Ernest Augustus. Sophia Dorothea, subdued by past suflering, was so gentle that even Madame von Platen would have found it difii- cult to have felt offended with her sister's rival. For a few months after Sophia Dorothea's husband had taken her to Hanover, she experienced, perhaps, a VOL. L D 34 LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. less degree of uiihaj^piuess than was ever her lot subse- qllentl3^ Her open and gentle nature won the regard even of Ernest Augustus. Tliat is, he paid her as much regard as a man so coarsely minded as he was could feel for one of such true womanly dignity as his daughter- in-law. His respect for her, however, maybe best appreciated by the companionship to which he sometimes subjected her. He more frequently saw her in society with the immoral Madame von Platen than in the society of his own wife. Ernest looked gratefully upon her as the pledge of the future union of the two duchies under one duke. On this account, even if she had possessed less attractive qualities, he would have held Sophia Dorothea in great esteem. A certain measure of esteem Ernest experienced for all wlio had in any way furthered his scheme. His mistress, Madame von Platen, had always pretended to think favourably of the scheme, and ad- nmdngly of the wisdom of the schemer ; in return for which, Ernest made his mistress's husband a baron, and afterwards a count. Let us employ the higher dignity. In the beginning, George Louis seemed fairly in love with his w^ife ; there appeared a promise of increased felicity Avhcn the first child of this marriage was born at Hanover, on the 30 til of October 1683 ; his father conferred on him the names of George Augustus, he expressed pleasure at liaving an heir, and he even added some words of reo^ard for the mother. The second child of this marriao-o was a daughter, born in IG87. She was that Sophia Dorothea who subsequently married the King of Prussia. In tending these two children the mother found all the happiness she ever experienced dui'ing her married life. Soon after the birtli of the daughter, George Louis openly neglected and openly exhibited his hatred of his wife. He lost no opportunity of inltatiiig and outraging her. SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 35 and she could not even walk through the rooms of the palace which she called lier home witliout encountering the abandoned female flxvourites of her husband, whose presence beneath such a roof was the most flagrant of outrages. Her very sense of lielplessness was a great grief to her. All that her own motlier could do when her daughter complained to her of the presence near her of her husband's mistress, was to advise her to imitate, on this point, the indifference of her mother-in-law, and make tlie best of it ! The Countess von Platen kept greater state in Hanover than Sophia Dorothea herself. In her own palatial mansion two dozen servants helped lier helplessness. Every morning she had ' a cucle,' as if she were a royal lady holding a court. Her dinners were costly banquets ; her ' evenings ' were renowned for the brilliancy of her fetes and the reckless fury of gambling. Sophia Dorothea, whose talent for listening and for putting apt and sympa- thetic questions when the conversation required it, gave considerable satisfaction to her clever, but somewhat pedantic mother-in-law, failed to at all satisfy the Countess von Platen. This lady had tried to bring the princess into something like sympathy with herself, but she found only antipathy. She detested Sophia Dorothea accord- ingly, and she obtained permission to invite her sister, Madame von Busche, to retmii to Hanover. The prime mover of the hatred of George Louis for his consort was the Countess von Platen, and this fact was hardly known to George Louis himself. There was one thing in which that individual had a fixed belief: liis own sagacity and, it may be added, his own imaginary independence of outward influences. He was profound in some things ; but, as frequently happens with persons who fancy themselves deep in all, he was very shallow in many. It was often impossible to guess his purpose, but 36 LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. quite as often his thoiiglits were as clearly discernible as the pebbles in the bed of a transparent brook. The C'oinitess von Platen saw througli him thoroughly, and she employed her discernment for the furtherance of her own detestable objects. Sophia Dorothea had, however, contrived to wAw the good opinion of her mother-in-law, and also the wai'm fiivour of Ernest Augustus. The latter took her with him on a journey he made to Switzerland and Italy. It was on this journey that her portrait was taken, at Venice, by Gascar, who, when in England, had painted, among others, that of I^ouise de Querouaille, Duchess of Ports- mouth. This portrait of Sophia Dorothea is still in exist- ence in Germany. The beauty of the lady represented is so remarkable, it is said, as to justify the admiration she generally excited. This admiration sometimes went beyond decent bounds. One French adorer, the cele- l^rated and eccentric Marquis de Lassay, was impudent enough, not only to address declarations of love to her, but subsequently, in his ' Memoirs,' to publish liis letters. It has not yet occurred to the ever-busy autograph fabri- cators on the continent to forge the supposed replies of the princess. After the return of Ernest Augustus and liis daughter- in-law to Hanover, the praise of Sophia Dorothea was ever the theme wliicli hung on the lips of the former, and such eidogy was as poison poui-ed in the ears of Madame von Platen. She dreaded the loss of her own influence over the father of George Louis, and she fancied she might preserve it by destroying the happiness of the wife of his son. Her hatred of tliat poor lady had been increased by a circinnstance with which slie could not be counectetl, l)ut wliicli nearly concerned the Duchess (jf Zell. Ernest Augustus used occasionally to visit Madame SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 37 von Platen at her own residence, with more than enough of pubhcity. He was nK^re inclined to conversation with her than with his prime- minister, her husband ; and she had wit enough, if not worth, to give warrant for such preference. Now and then, however, the ducal sovereign would repair to pay his homage to the lady without previous notice being forwarded of his coming ; and it was on one of these occasions that, on arriving at the mansion, or in the gardens of the mansion of his minister's spouse, he found, not the lady of the house, who was absent, but her bright-eyed, ordinary-featured, and quick- witted handmaid, who bore a name which might have been given to such an official in Elizabethan plays by Ford or Fletcher. Her name was ' Use.' Ernest AuQ;ustus found the wit of Use much to his taste ; and the delighted abigail was perfectly self-possessed, and more brilliant than common in the converse which she sustained for the pleasure of the sovereign, and her own expected profit. She had just, it is supposed, come to the point of some exquisitely epigrammatic tale, for the prince was laughing with his full heart, and her hand in his, and the 'tiring maiden was as radiant as successful wit and endeavour could make her, when Madame von Platen interrupted the sparkling colloquy by her more fiery presence. She affected to be overcome with indignation at the boldness of a menial who dared to make merry with a sovereign duke ; and when poor Use had been rudely dismissed from the two presences — the one august and the other angry — the Countess von Platen probably remon- strated with Ernest Augustus, respectfully or otherwise, upon his deplorable want of dignity and good taste. Revenge certainly followed, whether remonstrance may or may not have been offered. Ernest Augustus went to sojourn for a time at one of his rural palaces, and he had no sooner left his capital than the countess committed the 3 8 LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. terrified Use to close imprisonment in tlie common gaol. The history of little German courts assures us that this exercise and abuse of power were not at all uncommon with the ' favourites ' of German princes. Their word was ' all potential as the duke's,' and doubtless the Countess von Platen's authority was as good warrant for a Hano- verian gaoler to hold Use in custody as if he had shut up that maid, who offended by her wit, under the sign manual of Ernest Augustus himself Use was kept captive, and very shabbily treated, until the Countess von Platen had resolved as to the further course which should be ultimately adopted towards her. She could bring no charge against her, save a pretended accusation of lightness of conduct and immorality scandalous to Hanoverian decorum. Under this charge she had her old handmaid drummed out of the town ; and if the elder Sophia heard the tap of the drums which accompanied the alleged culprit to the gates, we can only suppose that she would have expelled the countess to the same music. But, in the first place, the wives of princes were by no means so powerful as their favourites ; and secondly, the friend of the philosophical Leibnitz was too much occupied with the sage to trouble herself with the affairs which gave concern to the Countess von Platen. Use found herself outside the city walls, friendless, penniless, with a damaged character, and nothing to cover it but the light costume which she had worn in the process of her march of expulsion to the roll of ' dry drums.' When she had found a refuge, her first course was to apply to Ernest Augustus for redress. The prince, however, was at once oblivious, ungrateful, and powerless; and, confining liiniself to sending to the poor petitioner a paltry eleemosy- nary half-dozen of gold ])ieces, he forbade her return to Hanover, counselled her to settle elsewhere, and congratu- lated her that she had not received even rougher treatment. SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 39 Use next made full statement of her case to the Duchess of Zell ; and that lady, deeming the case one of peculiar hardship, and the penalty inflicted on a giddy girl too unmeasured for the pardonable offence of amusing an old prince who encouraged her to the task, after much con- sideration, due weighing of the statement, and befitting inquiry, took the offender into her own service, and gave to the exiled Hanoverian a refuge, asylum, and employment in Zell. These are but small politics, but they illustrate the nature of things as they then existed at little German courts. They had, moreover, no small influence on the happiness of Sophia Dorothea. The Countess von Platen was enraged that the mother of that princess should have dared to give a home to one whom she had condemned to be homeless ; and she in consequence is suspected of having been fired with the more satanic zeal to make desolate the home of the young wife. She adopted the most efficient means to arrive at such an end. Her wicked zeal was stimulated by the undisguised contempt with which Sophia Dorothea treated her on all public occasions. She urged her sister, Madame von Busche, to recover her power over George Louis. Madame von Busche embraced with alacrity the mission with which she was charged, again to throw such meshes of fascination as she was possessed of around the heart of tlie not over-susceptible prince. But George Louis stolidly refused to be charmed, and Madame von Busche gave up the attempt in a sort of offended despair". Her sister, like a true genius, fertile in expedi- ents, and prepared for every emergency, bethought herself of a simple circumstance, whereby she hoped to attain her ends. She remembered that George Louis, though short himself of stature, had a predilection for tall women. At the next fete at which he was present at the mansion of Madame von Platen, he was enchanted by a majestic young 40 LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. lady, with a name almost as long as lier person — it was Ermengarda Melusina von der Schulenburg. She was more shrewd tlian witty, this ' tall mawkin,' as the Electress Sophia once called the lofty Ermengarda ; and, as George Louis was neither witty himself, nor much cared for wit in others, she was the better enabled to establish herself in tlie most worthless of hearts. This was tliL" work of the countess, who saw in the tender blue eyes, the really fine features, the imposing figure, and the nine- teen years of Ermengarda, means to an end. When the countess hinted at the distinction that was within reach of her, tlie tall beauty is said to have blushed and hesitated, and then to have yielded herself w4th alacrity to the glittering circumstance. She and the prince first met on liis return from a campaign in Hungary, He was at once subjected to her magic influences. She was an inimitable flatterer, and in this way she fooled her victim to ' the very top of his bent.' She exquisitely cajoled him, and with exquisite carelessness did he sin-render himself to be cajoled. Gradually, by watching his inclinations, anticipating his wishes, admiring even his coarseness, and lauding it as candour, she so won upon the lazily excited feelings of George Louis that he began to think her presence indis- pensable to liis well-being. If he hunted, she was in the field, tlie nearest to his saddle-bow. If he went out to walk alone, he invariably fell in with Ermengarda. At the court theatre, when he was present, the next conspicuous object was the towering von der Schulenburg, ' in all her diamonds,' beneath the glare of which, and the blazing impudence of tlieir wearer, the modest Sophia Dorothea was almost extinguislied. Ermengarda was speedily established at Hanover, as hof-dame, or lady-in-waiting. Madame von Platen hnd ainiounccd a festival, to be celebrated at her mansion, which was to surpass in splen- dour anything that had ever been witnessed by the existing SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 4 1 generation. The occasion was the second marriage of her sister, Madame von Busche, who had worried the poor ex-tutor of George Louis into the grave, with General Weyhe, a gallant soldier, equal, it would seem, to any feat of darini^. Whenever the Countess von Platen desio-ned to appear with more than ordinary brilliancy in her own person, she was accustomed to indulge in the extravagant luxury of a milk bath ; and it wa^ added by the satirical or the scandalous, that the milk which had just lent softness to her skin was charitably distributed among the poor of the district wherein she occasionally affected to play the character of Dorcas. The fete and the giver of it were not only to be of a splendour that had never been equalled, but George Louis had promised to grace it with his presence, and luid even pledged himself to ' walk a measure ' with the irresistible Ermengarda Melusina von der Scliulenbiir