diff options
| author | www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> | 2025-11-15 09:06:45 -0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> | 2025-11-15 09:06:45 -0800 |
| commit | 65179ebf0463b583e9fecd654e7ca2290fa71062 (patch) | |
| tree | 2c1aa29b55dd427272aba5069f029c7cecc88691 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 77237-0.txt | 16695 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 77237-h/77237-h.htm | 22161 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 77237-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 586731 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
6 files changed, 38872 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/77237-0.txt b/77237-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b2eb9d1 --- /dev/null +++ b/77237-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16695 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77237 *** + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + Transcriber’s Note: + +This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects. +Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_. In the +idiosyncratic French text, a ‘t’ with a cicumflex is emploted, this will +appear as, for instance, ‘d’aut̂re’. Some passages in French were +underlined, and appear here in _italics_ + +Footnotes have been moved to follow the paragraphs in which they are +referenced. + +Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please +see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding +the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation. + + + + + THE + ELECTRESS SOPHIA + AND THE + HANOVERIAN SUCCESSION + + + + + THE + + ELECTRESS SOPHIA + + AND THE + + HANOVERIAN SUCCESSION + + + BY + + ADOLPHUS WILLIAM WARD + + LITT.D., HON. LL.D., F.B.A., MASTER OF PETERHOUSE + + + + + _SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED_ + + + + + LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. + + 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON + + NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA + + 1909 + + All rights reserved + + _BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE_ + + ---------- + + _First published with numerous illustrations by + Messrs. Goupil & Co. in October 1903_ + + _Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged, cr. 8vo. + published by Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co. + in October 1909_ + + + + + PREFACE + TO + SECOND EDITION + + +The long and eventful life of the Electress Sophia admits of being +treated from various points of view, each of which possesses an interest +of its own. A Stewart by descent and breeding, and naturally enough in a +large measure by sentiment also, she likewise, by reason of her birth +and through the traditions and experiences of her youth, had an +immediate part in the declining fortunes of the Palatine House. The +title acquired by her, for herself and her descendants, to the +succession to the throne of her maternal ancestors, was a Parliamentary +title; but it rested ultimately on the relation of herself and the House +of Brunswick-Lüneburg to the political and religious conflicts—the +struggle against France and the resistance to Rome—on whose issue the +future of Europe, and that of England in particular, mainly depended. +Personally, thanks to the unflagging vivacity and unfailing candour of +her mind, fostered by an education carried on by her through life, she +became one of the foremost feminine representatives of the intellectual +liberalism of her age. + +In the succeeding pages, the aspect of the Electress Sophia’s career to +which prominence has been designedly given, is the part played by her, +on her own behalf and on that of her descendants, in the history of the +question of the British Succession. To this one aspect it has been +necessary to subordinate the rest, without, it is hoped, unduly +neglecting any one of them. It has not been easy to refrain from +dwelling at some length on the story, often but never yet quite +adequately told, of the Queen of Bohemia, with its alternations of light +and shadow. And it would have been an interesting task to seek to put +into shape all that we know as to the extraordinarily varied +experiences, in Court and camp, and in the contiguous spheres of +religious and intellectual activity, of Sophia’s brothers and sisters. +But, with her marriage, there opens the period of her life at the close +of which, as the ancestress and the source of the Hanoverian dynasty of +British sovereigns, she stands forth by herself as an important +historical figure; and it was her connexion with the House of +Brunswick-Lüneburg that moulded her own future and rendered it +propitious for the destinies of Great Britain. In the present narrative, +there has accordingly been included an account of so much of the history +of that House in the period preceding Sophia’s marriage as might suffice +to indicate, not only its main dynastic purposes and principles of +policy, but also the share which it had come to take in the general +progress of European affairs. On this there follows a more special +consideration of the attitude consistently maintained by the Hanoverian +family, as the representative branch of the whole House, towards the +question of the British Succession, which gradually became one of the +chief questions of European politics at large. In these transactions the +chief responsibility, on the Hanoverian side, necessarily devolved upon +the Electress Sophia, though her eldest son pursued his own course, in +general but not in invariable conformity with her own. And thus, both +the House of Hanover and Sophia herself contributed directly to a result +of high historical significance. + +In describing the ambitions, the achievements, and the experiences, good +or evil, of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg, in the period more +immediately preceding its accession to the British throne, I have not +thought it right to draw a veil over episodes which have often been +intentionally slurred over or misrepresented. On one of these episodes, +the most vexed and the most painful among them, fresh light, but not +such as to disturb conclusions already to all intents and purposes +established, is thrown, in an Appendix to the present volume, by a +supplementary series of documents now (with two exceptions) for the +first time made public. Such episodes a truthful narrator cannot pass +by; but they should not be allowed to affect his judgment on questions +connected with his story which possess a far higher historical interest. +In my opinion, the debt of the British nation to the House of Hanover, +from the times of the Electress Sophia to those of Queen Victoria, is +one to which no conscientious student of the history of the dynasty, in +both the one and the other period, ought to refuse to bear witness. + +The materials for a history of the Electress Sophia, in its connexion +with the Hanoverian Succession, are so abundant that they could only be +satisfactorily enumerated in an elaborate bibliography, for which room +could hardly be found in the present volume. A succinct bibliography of +the history of the Succession, so far as it enters into the general +course of European history, will be found in Vols. v. and vi. of the +_Cambridge Modern History_, in connexion with the chapter on _Party +Government under Queen Anne_ and the section on the _Hanoverian +Succession_, by Mr. H. W. V. Temperley and by the author of the present +work respectively. The materials in question may be summarised as +follows. They consist primarily of Sophia’s own _Memoirs_ (which, +however, only reach the beginning of the year 1681) and of her +voluminous correspondence, preserved in the State Archives at Hanover. +Among her letters, the collections of those addressed to her mother, to +the Elector Palatine Charles Lewis, to her nephews and nieces, the +Raugraves and Raugravines, and to her Mistress of the Robes, Frau von +Harling, have been admirably edited by Dr. E. Bodemann, and that of her +letters to her son-in-law, King Frederick I. of Prussia, by Professor E. +Berner; and to these has recently been added a very interesting +collection of her (and her daughter’s) letters to Hanoverian diplomats +(more especially the younger Schütz and Bothmer). None of these +collections, however, equals in general interest the correspondence of +the Electress Sophia with Leibniz, published several years ago by the +late Onno Klopp, the author of the monumental _Fall of the House of +Stuart_. Besides her own letters, we have many from the hand of her +mother, the Queen of Bohemia. So much of her correspondence as was in +her hands at her death, went to her son Prince Rupert, and was +published, in whole or in part, by Sir George Bromley, Bart., the +great-grandson of Prince Rupert’s illegitimate daughter Ruperta, under +the title of _A Collection of Original Letters_ (1787). Some of her +letters to Sir Edward Nicholas in 1654-5 were printed by Mr. J. Evans +for the Society of Antiquaries, and another set appeared with the +private correspondence of Charles I. and Sir Edward Nicholas appended to +Wheatley’s edition of Bray’s _Diary and Correspondence_. Many of the +Queen’s letters are, of course, to be found in the late Mrs. Everett +Green’s _Life of Elizabeth_, a work which has long held its own and is +on the point of being republished in a new edition, carefully revised by +the expert hand of Mrs. Lomas, of the Record Office, and provided by her +with an admirable Introduction. In this Mrs. Lomas refers to a very +interesting set of Elizabeth’s letters, addressed by the Queen to her +son, the Elector Charles Lewis, accompanied by a few drafts of his +replies, which was a few years ago edited by Miss Anna Wendland for the +Stuttgart Literary Society.[1] The letters of Charles Lewis himself and +his family have been edited by Dr. W. L. Holland for the Stuttgart +Literary Society; and there is, in addition, the inimitable and endless +series of letters by Charles Lewis’ daughter, Sophia’s beloved niece and +second self, Elizabeth Charlotte Duchess of Orleans, among which mention +need only be made of the selection of letters to her aunt, edited in two +volumes by Dr. Bodemann. The letters addressed by Sophia’s youngest son, +Prince Ernest Augustus (afterwards Bishop of Osnabrück and Duke of +York), to his friend J. F. D. von Wendt, edited by Count Erich +Kielmannsegg, together with the editor’s notes, throw much light on +certain passages and personages of Hanoverian history; unfortunately, +their continuous sequence breaks off in November, 1713. To these may be +added the letters and memoranda of Ilten, Schulenburg and other +Hanoverian politicians and courtiers, including Bernstorff’s +correspondence and autobiographical fragment; the numerous contributions +of Leibniz, in the historical section of Pertz’s edition of his +_Collected Works_, to the politics and later history of the House of +Brunswick-Lüneburg; and Toland’s account of his visit to Hanover, told +well if not too wisely. Of the despatches of our envoys and residents +preserved in the Record Office and elsewhere, part only have been given +to the world by J. M. Kemble and others; while a vast amount of matter +of this kind, especially from the despatches of the Imperial envoys and +residents in London, preserved in the Vienna Archives, is embedded in +Onno Klopp’s _magnum opus_. A very useful guide to the _personnel_ of +the diplomatic representation of England and the North German +Governments at the respective courts is furnished by the _List of +Diplomatic Representatives and Agents, England and North Germany, +1689-1727_, contributed by Mr. J. F. Chance to Professor Firth’s _Notes +on the Diplomatic Relations of England and Germany_. The _Memoirs_ of de +Gourville have not been lost sight of; and the records of the court of +Hanover, selected for publication by the experienced hand of C. E. von +Malortie, and illustrated by him with much additional matter, have been +of occasional use. + +----- + +Footnote 1: + + The reader may like to be referred to certain contributions to the + biography of the Queen of Bohemia, besides Häusser and Söltl’s + well-known _Elizabeth Stuart_; viz. J. O. Opel, _Elizabeth Stuart von + der Pfalz_ (_Histor. Zeitschrift_, Vol. xxiii.); K. Hauck, _Elizabeth, + Königin von Böhmen, Kurfürstin von der Pfalz, in ihren letzten + Lebensjahren_ (_Kleine Schriften zur Geschichte der Pfalz I_); A. + Wendland, _Hannoverische Erinnerungen an die Winterkönigin_ (, Jahrg. + 1903). The last named contains some notes on portraits. + +----- + +There seems no necessity for referring in this place to the secondary +authorities to which, as a matter of course, I have made more or less +frequent reference—from Spittler to Havemann and O. von Heinemann and to +the late Professor Adolf Köcher’s standard _History of Hanover and +Brunswick, from 1648 to 1674_, beyond which date the author +unfortunately did not live to carry his invaluable work. Häusser’s +_History of the Rhenish Palatinate_, a work which satisfied the +requirements of its day, and is most readable into the bargain, has been +in constant use. Among earlier biographical sketches of the Electress +Sophia I may mention, besides J. G. H. Feder’s and W. Nöldeke’s +monographs, Dr. E. Bodemann’s account of her in the _Historische +Taschenbuch_ for 1888; H. Forst’s article on _Sophie Herzogin von +Braunschweig Lüneburg, Frau von Osnabrück, 1661-1679_, in the 1889 +_Jahrgang_ of the _Mittheilungen of the Osnabrück Historical Society_ +(kindly made accessible to me by Mr. S. Jaffé of Sandfort), in which, +however, there is little as to her life at Osnabrück and Iburg, of which +one would gladly know more, besides what is to be found in her +correspondence; and R. Fester’s and H. Schmidt’s biographical essays, to +the latter of which is appended a contribution by Professor A. Haupt on +_Art (plastic and pictorial) at Hanover in the times of the Electress +Sophia_. The masterly chapters in the late Kuno Fischer’s great book on +Leibniz which deal with his political and religious activity, and with +his relations to the Electress Sophia and her family, are certain to be +consulted by serious students; nor will the late M. Foucher de Careil’s +_Leibniz et les deux Sophies_ be overlooked. Of Sophia’s brothers, +Charles Lewis has found a careful as well as sympathetic biographer in +Dr. K. Hauck, who has printed a large number of the Palatine family +letters in the _Neue Heidelberger Jahrbücher_; and Miss Eva Scott has +recently published a useful _Life of Prince Rupert_. The Princess +Palatine Elizabeth would no doubt have preferred to live in her +correspondence with her great friend Descartes, which will be found in +Victor Cousin’s edition, and in Vols, iii., iv., and v. of the +definitive edition of the philosopher’s works by C. Adam and P. Tannery. +Several attempts have, however, been made to put the materials for the +biography of this fair sage—and saint—into form. Among these are G. E. +Guhrauer’s exhaustive essay in the _Historische Taschenbuch_ for 1850 +and 1851; the admirable monograph by Foucher de Careil, _Descartes et la +Princesse Palatine_, and M. V. de Swarte’s _Descartes Directeur +Spirituel_, which contains a commentary on his correspondence with both +the Princess Elizabeth and Queen Christina. The reader should not fail +to consult Miss E. S. Haldane’s _Descartes, His Life and Times_. I may +also mention M. J. Bertrand’s paper _Une Amie de Descartes_ in the +_Revue des Deux Mondes_, Vol. cii., and another contributed by the +present writer to _Owens College Historical Essays_ (1901). I have not +seen an essay on the Princess by Dr. J. Witte in the _Neue Heidelberger +Jahrbücher_ (1901), which is described as very attractive. A biography +of the Princess has quite recently been published by Miss Elizabeth +Godfrey, under the title of _A Sister of Prince Rupert_. I am not aware +of any attempt to put together in more than outline the curious life’s +story of another member of the family—the Princess Louisa Hollandina; +the source of most of what I have been able to add to details generally +accessible on the subject is acknowledged below. I have, of course, used +Guhrauer, Varnhagen, and the later memoir writers for various kinds of +collateral information; and on the Succession question I have, besides +the works mentioned above, consulted divers essays as to special points +by A. Schaumann, O. Meinardus, Reinhold Pauli, and others. It has not +been part of my design to trace the way in which the progress of the +Succession question was affected by the course of English party history +on the one hand, or on the other by the action of the exiled Stewarts, +and of the Jacobite interest at home and abroad. But I have endeavoured +to keep both influences in view, noticing any Parliamentary transactions +of importance, and attempting to utilise such information as is afforded +by the Reports of the Royal Historical MSS. Commission, including those +on the Stuart Papers at Windsor, and on the Harley MSS. Among recent +secondary works on the subject, I am greatly indebted to Dr. F. +Salomon’s extremely valuable research relating to the history of the +last four years of Queen Anne; I have also referred to Mr. W. Sichel’s +_Bolingbroke_, Mr. E. S. Roscoe’s _Oxford_, and Mr. Percy M. Thornton’s +useful _Brunswick Succession_. I may take this opportunity of noting the +fairness of tone which characterises Mr. Lewis Melville’s now completed +book, _The First George in Hanover and England_. Finally, I have sought +to keep abreast of the learning which, I am glad to say, continues to +stream into the exemplary _Journal of the Historical Society for Lower +Saxony_. I have to thank Mr. John Murray and Messrs. Longmans, Green & +Co., as well as the Editors of the _Quarterly, Edinburgh_, and _English +Historical Reviews_, and of the _Owens College Historical Essays_, for +allowing me to make use of various articles by me which have appeared in +these quarters on subjects treated in this volume. For a remarkably full +account of the Abbey of Maubuisson and of the connexion with it of the +Princess Louise Hollandina, its twenty-sixth Abbess—many details of +which I have reproduced—I am indebted to the excerpts made by M. L. +Toyant from the _History and Cartulary of the Abbey_, edited from +original documents by MM. A. Dutilleux and J. Depoin for the Societé +Historique du Vexin Français (1882). M. Toyant rendered me this service +at the request of Mr. H. Tinson (late of Messrs. Goupil & Co.), without +whose skilled assistance, most readily and courteously given, the first +(illustrated) edition of the present work could not have been produced. +In revising the last chapter of the present edition, I had the advantage +of utilising some notes kindly made by Mr. J. F. Chance on the section +entitled _The Hanoverian Succession_ contributed by me to Vol. vi. of +the _Cambridge Modern History_, which volume also contains a most +valuable section by Mr. Chance on the earlier foreign policy of George +I—a subject closely connected with that of his European policy before +his accession to the English throne, which is discussed in the present +volume. Mr. R. W. Goulding, Librarian to the Duke of Portland, was so +kind as to communicate to me in 1903 extracts from three letters from +the Electress Sophia to the Earl of Portland, dating from the years +1703-4, preserved, together with eight others, at Welbeck Abbey. Of +these extracts I have in my last chapter taken the liberty of +translating that which has reference to the death of King William III. I +desire also to thank Miss A. D. Greenwood (who has just published a +work, based on careful research, dealing with parts of the subject +treated in this volume), and Mr. A. T. Bartholomew, M.A., of Peterhouse, +and the Cambridge University Library, for aid given in the preparation +of one of the Appendices to the present edition. + +In this Appendix will, as already indicated, be found, a series of +letters between the Electoral Princess Sophia Dorothea and Count Philip +Christopher in Königsmarck. This correspondence, which supplements the +much longer series deposited in the University of Lund, is preserved in +the Royal Secret Archives of State at Berlin, and is now (with the +exception of two letters forming part of it) printed for the first time. +I have to offer special thanks to the authorities of these Archives for +allowing this correspondence to be transcribed for me. I request the +eminent historian, Geh. Oberregierungsrath Dr. Koser, who holds the +office of Director of the Archives, to accept the expression of my +sincere obligations; and I desire very particularly to thank the Second +Director, Geh. Archivrath Dr. Bailleu, to whose historical works I owe a +debt which the present is not the occasion for recording at length, for +his courtesy in arranging for the transcription of these letters and +thereby facilitating the execution of my task. For the translation of +the letters I am myself responsible, as well as for some elucidatory +remarks concerning these documents. The Appendix on the Religious +Situation in Scotland, as it affected the Hanoverian Succession, I owe +to Mr. R. S. Rait, of New College, Oxford, whose command of Scottish +history is well known. + +The present edition of this book necessarily appears without the +illustrations which adorned the first. In the Preface to that edition I +expressed my own gratitude and that of my publishers (Messrs. Goupil & +Co.) for services rendered in many quarters both at home and abroad, +towards the collection and reproduction of the illustrations in +question. More especially, I asked leave to offer the respectful thanks +of publishers and author to the present Head of the House of Hanover, +His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, K.G.,who had, +through Privy Councillor and Chamberlain von der Weise, kindly granted +permission for the reproduction of a series of family portraits +preserved at Herrenhausen and in the Fideicommiss. Gallery in the +Provinzial-Museum at Hanover. I expressed at the same time our gratitude +to the Right Hon. the Earl of Craven for allowing the reproduction of +several of the pictures forming the unique collection at Combe Abbey, +which contains so many of the portraits of the Queen of Bohemia.[2] Next +to the collection of Palatine portraits at Combe Abbey, the most +interesting is that at Blair Castle, of the existence of which Miss +Haldane, the translator of Descartes, was so good as to apprise me. His +Grace the Duke of Athol, whom the Marchioness of Tullibardine had, at +the instance of Miss Haldane, informed of my interest in the pictures, +kindly wrote to me that there are at present in Blair Castle original +portraits in panel by Gerard Honthorst of the Princess Palatine +Elizabeth, Louisa Hollandina and Henrietta Maria (married to Prince +Sigismund of Transylvania). These portraits, together with two of the +Queen of Bohemia and Prince Rupert, likewise by Honthorst, and ‘head and +shoulders’ portraits on panel, belonged to John, first Duke of Athol, +who probably inherited them from his mother, daughter of James, seventh +Earl of Derby. At the Duke’s death in 1724 he left the furniture of +Huntingtower to his widow (who had been his second wife); and the +last-named two pictures being there, were after her death removed to +England by her eldest son, Lord John Murray, from whom they descended to +W. H. G. Bagshawe, Esq., of Ford Hall, Chapel-in-the-Frith, Derbyshire; +but the portraits of the three Princesses, being at Dunkeld, went to the +Duke’s heir and successor. Mr. Bagshawe (who informs me that the +portrait of the Queen is extremely like that of her in the National +Portrait Gallery) in 1886 allowed copies of these two portraits to be +made for the Duke of Athol, which are now with the three originals of +the three Princesses at Blair Castle. I recollect seeing a charming +portrait of at least one of the Palatine Princes at Ford Castle, +Northumberland. + +----- + +Footnote 2: + + I may perhaps take this opportunity of observing that the many + portraits of the Queen of Bohemia which I have seen at Combe Abbey, at + Herrenhausen, in the National Portrait Gallery, in Corpus Christi + College Lodge, Cambridge, and elsewhere, do not all agree in details + of feature, or, of course, of costume, though in most of them the + Queen wears one of those mighty farthingales which her father (poor + man!) in vain attempted to moderate. In most of her portraits her eyes + are dark, in one at least they are slate-grey. In a contemporary + account of her wedding special mention is made of the long flow of her + amber-coloured hair, which descended to her waist; and I notice that + Miss Wendland speaks of her children as ‘fair’ (_blond_) ‘like their + beautiful mother.’ But of her appearance in later life we have a + different account from the trustworthy hand of the Duchess of Orleans, + who says that she remembered her grandmother as if she had been in her + presence on the day of writing, and who notes her black hair, long + face, and powerful nose. Elizabeth Charlotte adds that there was a + great likeness between the Queen and her eldest son, of whom, as of + her second, she was in his early days fond of speaking to the King, + his father, as her ‘petit black babie.’ Altogether there can be no + doubt that she was one of the ‘dark ladies’ to whom Shakespeare and + others have attributed so peculiar a fascination, and for whom Goethe + had so marked a preference. The other feature noted by the Duchess of + Orleans was inherited by all of Elizabeth’s children whose portraits + are accessible—notably by Prince Rupert and the Princesses Elizabeth + and Sophia and her family, including numerous Honthorsts and some + works ascribed, I suppose traditionally, to Louisa Hollandina’s active + brush. More than a quarter of a century has passed since I had the + privilege of paying a visit to Combe Abbey; but the memory of it has + never left me. + +----- + +M. Toyant’s researches, communicated to me by Mr. Tinson, showed that, +besides the portraits of the Princess Louise Hollandina at Combe Abbey, +Hanover, and Herrenhausen (to which has to be added that at Blair +Castle), there exists one at Wilton House, the Earl of Pembroke’s seat +near Salisbury. + +Of the Electress Sophia herself, one of the two portraits by Gerard +Honthorst at Combe Abbey served as the frontispiece to the first edition +of this book. The other, and a third of her and her daughter, Sophia +Charlotte, said to be the work of the Princess Louisa Hollandina, were +reproduced at later points in the volume; in which also appeared +engravings of Engelhard’s statue of the Electress, in a sitting +position, in the gardens at Herrenhausen, and of a gold medal in her +honour designed by Lambelet, of which a plaster cast is in the British +Museum. Other medals struck in her honour are depicted in Rehtmeier’s +_Hannöverische Chronik_. On the occasion of the serious illness, in +October, 1701, of an old and confidential friend, the Electress Sophia +wrote that ‘if she was to have her medal made of her portrait, she ought +to do it now; for, should Frau von Harling recover, she would not allow +me to spend so much on _ma vieille trogne_.’ Personal vanity, or +personal self-consciousness of any kind, was not among the shortcomings +traceable in the character of the brave and high-minded Princess of +whose life I have attempted to trace the unblemished record. + + A. W. WARD. + + PETERHOUSE LODGE, CAMBRIDGE. + _April, 1909._ + + + + + CONTENTS + + CHAP PAGE + + + PREFACE v + + + INTRODUCTORY 1 + + + I. DESCENT AND PARENTAGE; CHILDHOOD AND GIRLHOOD 11 + + + II. EARLY WOMANHOOD AND MARRIAGE 87 + + + III. THE DUCHESS SOPHIA 143 + + + IV. THE ELECTORAL HOUSE OF HANOVER 209 + + + V. THE HEIRESS OF GREAT BRITAIN 327 + + + + APPENDICES + + + A. GENEALOGICAL TABLES 445 + + + B. CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN PRINCESS SOPHIA DOROTHEA AND COUNT 447 + KÖNIGSMARCK. FROM THE BERLIN SECRET ARCHIVES OF STATE. + WITH INTRODUCTORY NOTE AND TRANSLATION + + + C. NOTE ON THE RELIGIOUS SITUATION IN SCOTLAND, AS IT 550 + AFFECTED THE HANOVERIAN SUCCESSION. BY R. S. RAIT + + + INDEX 553 + + + + + _Corrigenda._ + + + _Page_ 21, _line_ 7 from bottom: _for_ Henry Frederick _read_ + Frederick Henry. + + ” 71 ” 15: _for_ his _read_ her. + + ” 97 ” 10: _for_ Tarento _read_ Taranto. + + ” 141, note, _line_ 12: _for_ Scroope Emmanuel _read_ Emmanuel Scroope. + + ” 151, _line_ 15: _for_ Charles _read_ Christian. + + ” 164, note, _line_ 4 from bottom: _for_ Court _read_ Coat. + + ” 195, _line_ 23: _for_ 1685 _read_ 1687. + + ” 224 ” 7 _et al_: _for_ Cressett _read_ Cresset. + + ” 224 ” 6 from bottom: _for_ 1696 _read_ 1694. + + ” 292 ” 4 from bottom: _for_ his _read_ this. + + ” 333 ” 11: _dele_ better. + + ” 371 ” 8 from bottom: _for_ 1694 _read_ 1704. + + ” 371, note, _line_ 2 from bottom: _for_ 1902 _read_ 1702. + + ” 392 ” ” 4 from bottom: _after_ Howes _read_ (or Hughes). + + ” 393, _line_ 5: _after_ clause _read_ as. + + + + + THE + ELECTRESS SOPHIA + AND THE + HANOVERIAN SUCCESSION + + + + + INTRODUCTORY + + +In the burial-vault of the Guelfs, at Hanover, stands a coffin enclosing +the remains of the Electress Sophia, and bearing the inscription: _Magnæ +Britanniæ Hæres_. These words sum up her story as that of a great hope, +long cherished but never fulfilled. Yet a biography of this Princess, +who died, though herself uncrowned, the ‘mother of our Kings to be,’ +will, if truthful, be found to treat a nobler theme than a personal +ambition born of chance upon chance, vexed by prolonged delays, and +doomed to final disappointment. The Electress Sophia was in herself +worthy to be the source of a dynasty whose last and most august member +left to her successor a throne far securer than that which was mounted +by Sophia’s eldest son. But the nation, of whose institutions a limited +monarchy has long formed an integral part, also owes a debt to the very +fact of the accession of the House of Hanover, and therefore to the +insight and self-control exhibited by that House, and conspicuously by +the Electress Sophia, during the entire preceding period of uncertainty. +At a highly critical date in the course of those years, when the +Electress and her family were most anxious to avoid any rash or false +step on their own part, she told a correspondent that, at the English +Court, it was held indispensable to pretend to wish for the succession +of the Electoral line—_because of the people_. Although there were, in +those days, Jacobites enough and to spare in London and other parts of +the kingdom, and although the stolidity of our first Hanoverian King, +and the self-conceit of his successor, retarded the growth of personal +sympathy between monarch and subjects, yet the perception, in both +dynasty and nation, of a definite community of interests formed a +sufficient beginning for the growth of a close mutual attachment. To +this the Electress Sophia contributed, it is not too much to say, both +by the circumstances of her birth and by the conduct of her life. She +was the daughter of a Stewart Princess, on whose Protestant marriage the +nation had set its hopes, and whom it had seen condemned, because of her +husband’s youthful venture in the cause of militant Protestantism, to +long years of exile and privation. In her own conduct Sophia displayed a +prudence, a dignity, and a sincerity, which have rarely, under +conditions so trying, been so consistently combined. The legend, indeed, +of her having often declared that she would die content if those other +words, ‘Sophia, Queen of Great Britain,’ could be inscribed on her tomb, +is irreconcileable with the whole tenor of her known private thoughts, +as well as of her public acts. She was far from indifferent to the +greatness that might be in store for her, or to the necessity, in the +interests of her House, of constant vigilance, promptitude, and tact. +But she deemed it enough to be found, at no stage of her career, either +unequal to her present fortunes or unready for those responsibilities of +a greater future which cast their shadow before them. Thus it is largely +due to her, and, as it is but just to acknowledge, with her and after +her, to the next heir to her expectations, that, so far as the House of +Hanover is concerned, the history of its succession to the British +throne may be reviewed without the feelings of humiliation too often +aroused by narratives of disputed inheritances. At the same time, the +essential significance of that history would, in any case, have to be +sought deeper than in the vicissitudes of personal ambitions or the +machinations of families or factions. The Hanoverian Succession was, in +fact, only another name for the Protestant Succession in flesh and +blood, and, as such, represented the principal gain which most +Englishmen and Scotchmen were intent upon bringing home out of the long +struggle against the Stewart monarchy. Not that the disputes and efforts +connected with the Hanoverian Succession throughout, or, at times, +mainly addressed themselves to the religious issue; but it would be +futile to ignore, or to seek to obscure, the origin and basis of the +great political transaction in which the Electress Sophia was called +upon to play so prominent a part. She was fitted to play it, alike by +the circumstances of her descent and marriage, and by the qualities of +her character and intellect, and above all by a perfect self-control, +joined to a freedom of spirit in which, during the efforts and trials of +her life, she found encouragement and consolation. + +From the relation in which the Electress Sophia stood to the question of +the British Succession, that loomed so large on the political horizon +during her later years, the story of her life derives its paramount +interest. Even on the experiences of her earlier years, whose memories +carry us back to the time of the Thirty Years’ War and of the great +Civil Conflict in this island, it is impossible to dwell without +thinking of the great destiny reserved for her line, and of the many +helps and hindrances which were to facilitate or to impede its +accomplishment. But in the semi-obscurity of her youth, as under the +gaze of inquisitive eyes to which her maturity was exposed, she remains +true to herself; and few biographical records could prove more +fascinating than one covering her fourscore years, were it but possible +to depict her from first to last in the same life-like colours in which +she has portrayed herself in her _Memoirs_, and in which she reappears +on almost every page of her correspondence. Unfortunately, it is +difficult to convey by extracts, and impossible to preserve in +translation, the constant alertness of thought, and refreshing vivacity +of expression, frequently touched by real humour, and, at all times, +free from any tinge of affectation, which are not less characteristic of +her letters than they must have been of her conversation. As for her +autobiography, it breaks off as early as 1681, and thus fails to cover +that longer half of her life in which she was to become a figure of +importance in European affairs. For it was the ‘abdication’ by flight of +King James II and the subsequent passing of the Bill of Rights which +brought about and established the restriction of the English Succession +to Protestants, and which first placed Sophia and her line, though not +as yet by name, in direct relation to that Succession as a question of +practical politics. + +It is accordingly proposed, in the following pages, to speak, in the +first instance, of Sophia’s descent and parentage; of her mother, who, +while remaining, even throughout the woful sequel of her Bohemian +Queenship, conscious of her position as a Stewart Princess, never +faltered in her adherence to the Protestantism for whose sake her +husband had cast a long blight upon the fortunes of the Palatine House; +and of her brothers and sisters, Princes and Princesses of that House, +not one of whom, in spite of their many distinctions and qualities, +brilliant or solid, succeeded altogether in rising above the depression +which had fastened upon the family, as Sophia herself rose in the eyes +both of her contemporaries and of posterity. The task will thus become +easier of describing, in turn, the three stages of that part of her life +which preceded the acquisition by her and her House of a definite +expectation of the succession to the British throne. During her +childhood and girlhood she was virtually confined to the refugee Court +of her parents, afterwards that of her widowed mother, in the +Netherlands. She next passed some years at Heidelberg, in the land of +her forefathers, then restored in part to the Palatine rule. The earlier +years of her married life, divided between Osnabrück and Hanover, +introduced her to new personal relations and to new political interests; +but, though these at times conflicted with each other, she learnt how to +identify herself more and more with the dynastic policy of the House, to +the fortunes of whose future head she had united her own. A second +period of her life may be said to open when the question of the British +Succession unexpectedly comes into the foreground of European political +life; and in this period, again, two stages are very clearly +distinguishable. The earlier of these extends from the passing of the +Bill of Rights (1689), with its strict limitation of the Crown to +Protestants, up to the Act of Settlement (1701). Within these years the +House of Hanover, while actually or in prospect consolidating the +various territorial interests of the Brunswick-Lüneburg line, firmly +established its position as an electorate in the Empire, and began to be +taken into account by the ambition of France, the chronic disturber of +the peace of Europe. Incidentally, the skilful management and the stern +resolution by which this advance of the House was effected, led to +unhappy consequences; and no narration of its history in this period can +pass by the catastrophe of one of Sophia’s sons, or pretend to ignore +the tragic story of her daughter-in-law, Sophia Dorothea. In the second +stage of this period we recognise, in the Electress Sophia, a personage +of importance in the great theatre of general European history, but +calmly standing back herself from the glare of the footlights. By the +Act of Settlement the Succession was settled upon her and the heirs of +her body, being Protestants. She thus obtained a Parliamentary title for +herself and for her descendants. + +Before this point is reached in our narrative, it will have shown how +largely fortune had contributed to the genesis of this title. Of James +I’s two sons, the elder, Henry, had died in the early flower of his +youth. Charles I left three sons, of whom the third, another Henry, also +died young and unmarried. Since Charles II left no lawful issue, the +Crown fell to James II, and, having been transferred from him to his +son-in-law, William of Orange, and to his elder Protestant daughter, +Mary, passed in turn to his second Protestant daughter, Anne. Mary had +left no issue, and her widowed husband, on whose issue by another wife +the Crown had been eventually settled, should Anne die childless, +declined to marry again. Of Anne’s numerous progeny, none survived their +infancy except the Duke of Gloucester, and he died in 1700. Nor could +there be any question of the conversion to Protestantism of any child of +James II by his second, Catholic, wife except the Prince afterwards +known as the Old Pretender; for all the others died in their infancy, +with the exception of Marie Louise, who survived into her twelfth year. +The chance passed away of finding a Protestant successor to the Crown +among the grandchildren of Charles I’s youngest daughter, Henrietta, +Duchess of Orleans, in the House of Savoy and it was therefore necessary +to turn to the offspring of James I’s only daughter, Elizabeth, the +Protestant consort of a Protestant prince. But of the sons born from +this union who survived to maturity, the eldest, Charles Lewis, died in +1680; his only legitimate son, Charles, died without issue in 1685; his +only daughter, Elizabeth Charlotte, became a Catholic on her marriage to +the Duke of Orleans. Of the others who remained Protestants, Rupert +persistently refused to marry, and died in 1682; Maurice and Philip, +both of them homeless wanderers, had perished in 1654 and 1650 +respectively. Edward, alone among the younger brothers, married and +became the father of a family; but he had been carried away from the +traditions of his House by the wave of Catholic propaganda, of which +this biography will repeatedly have to take note; and his three +daughters all became the wives of Catholic husbands. Of Sophia’s elder +sisters, one, Louisa Hollandina, fell under the same religious +influence, and became the Abbess of a Catholic convent; another, the +eldest of the sisterhood, who came to hold the same position in a +Protestantised foundation, likewise elected to remain the votaress of an +unmarried life; a third, Henrietta Maria, died in 1652, soon after she +had been wedded to a Transylvanian prince. No other personage possessed +a claim of birth equal to Sophia’s, yet even of pretensions palpably +inferior to her own on this score, fortune, which seemed in this +question always on her side, disposed in her favour. + +The Electress Sophia’s later years were chiefly spent in the +tranquillity of Herrenhausen, more especially after she had become a +widow in 1698; and here she held intellectual intercourse with Leibniz, +her own and her daughter’s friend, and with other fit companions of her +solitude, while keeping up her voluminous correspondence with her +favourites of heart and mind, among them her inimitable niece, the +Duchess of Orleans. She lived to see the territorial power of the House +of Hanover fully established at home, and its foreign policy completely +merged into that of the Grand Alliance against France; and there +remained now nothing but the consummation of the British Succession. +This she was not destined to see accomplished in her own person; but +less than two months after her death, on June 8th, 1714, her eldest son, +the Elector George Lewis of Hanover, was proclaimed King George I of +Great Britain and Ireland. + + + + + I + + DESCENT AND PARENTAGE; CHILDHOOD AND GIRLHOOD + + (LEYDEN, THE HAGUE, AND RHEENEN, 1630-1650) + + +Sophia, the youngest daughter and the youngest but one of the thirteen +children of Frederick, sometime Elector Palatine and King of Bohemia, +and of his wife Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of King James I of +England, was born at the Hague on October 14th, 1640 (N.S.). She was +thus, by only a few months, the junior of her first cousin Charles, +afterwards King Charles II, whose ‘star’ was so long to remain under a +cloud in the period of her youth, and who was himself in those dubious +days to play a transient part in her personal history; while the date of +her birth was preceded, at a not much longer interval, by that of the +landing of Gustavus Adolphus in Pomerania, the turning-point of the +Thirty Years’ War, although not, as her family had hoped, also that of +their fortunes. Her baptismal name of Sophia she doubtless owed to the +remembrance of her mother’s youngest sister, buried in Westminster Abbey +in 1607, the ephemeral flight of whose earthly existence strangely +contrasts with the long life in store for the younger Sophia. + +It was by her marriage to Frederick V, Elector Palatine, on St. +Valentine’s Day, 1613, that James I’s only surviving daughter Elizabeth +was first brought into contact with the political problems that were +agitating Europe. The bridegroom, it is true, was only a boy of sixteen, +who would not till August, 1614, be entitled to assume the government of +his paternal inheritance. Elizabeth was only a year older than he, and +her previous life had been marked by but one personal experience of +general interest. As early as 1603 she was consigned to the care of Lord +and Lady Harington, and with them she soon took up her residence at +Combe Abbey, near Coventry, in Warwickshire—the lordly castellated +mansion which, whether or not she re-visited its moated solitude towards +the close of her life, still remains as it were consecrated to her royal +memory.[3] King James, in the early years of his English reign, had good +reason for dreading the designs of some of his Roman Catholic subjects, +and Elizabeth’s mother, Queen Anne, the sister of Christian IV of +Denmark, had not yet given way to the influences which (as is now +ascertained beyond all doubt) afterwards caused her to become a secret +convert to the Church of Rome. The sound Protestantism, of the +Puritanising type, but probably intermingled on both sides with strains +of literary sentiment, that had marked out Lord and Lady Harington for +this charge, was unmistakably the primary source of those feelings of +attachment to the Reformed religion from which in times both fierce and +fickle Elizabeth never swerved a hair’s breadth. In her childhood the +country round Combe Abbey was full of more or less open adherents of the +Church of Rome; and by some of these a conspiracy was hatched, which was +to co-operate with, and supplement, the Gunpowder Plot. On the day at +last fixed for the demonstration in chief at Westminster, the +eight-year-old Princess at Combe Abbey was to be seized by a body of +gentlemen who had agreed to assemble for the purpose on the pretext of a +meet of hounds, and so soon as the throne became vacant she was to be +proclaimed Queen, professing herself at the same time a member of the +unreformed Church. But _non tali auxilio_ was this future ancestress of +our sovereigns herself to ascend a throne. Combe Abbey was warned, the +moat was drawn up, and the towers were manned, and the Princess was +conveyed in safety to the loyal town of Coventry, where the townsmen +armed in her defence. As fate would have it, John Digby, the young +Warwickshire gentleman who bore to King James I the tidings of his +daughter’s peril and preservation, was afterwards to be the most +prominent agent of the royal policy which, with admirable intentions, +only served to thwart the English nation’s hope of helping to restore, +at least in part, the fortunes of Elizabeth and her children. + +----- + +Footnote 3: + + Lord and Lady Harington, as will be seen, accompanied Elizabeth after + her marriage to Heidelberg. From them Combe Abbey descended to their + daughter Lucia, Countess of Bedford, Drayton’s ‘sweet nymph of Ankor’ + (on whose banks the Abbey is situated) and earlier ‘Idea,’ and the + recipient of other poetic tributes from Ben Jonson and Donne. (See + Courthope’s _History of English Poetry_, Vol. iii. pp. 29 _sqq._) It + was her prodigal tastes which made it necessary to sell Combe Abbey, + which was finally purchased by the Earl of Craven. (See the notes to + _Combe Abbey_, a historical tale of the reign of James I, by Selina + Bunbury (Dublin, 1843)—the first work of the authoress, written in an + ardently Protestant spirit. In this novel are cited the stanzas, ‘This + is a joye, This is true pleasure,’ said to have been composed by the + Princess Elizabeth in her childhood.) + +----- + +The political significance of the marriage, which in 1613 brought the +Princess Palatine Elizabeth’s girlhood to a close, was perfectly patent +alike to James I’s subjects and to those Powers which more or less +benevolently interested themselves in his foreign policy. In 1612, when +the marriage was arranged, that policy had not yet fully revealed its +visionary purpose and its shifty methods; while at home his quarrels +with his Parliaments had scarcely more than begun. Three years earlier +the affairs of Europe had, with the death of Henry IV of France, assumed +a wholly new aspect, and it had become evident that the struggle between +the House of Habsburg and its adversaries, in which James I had long +hoped to play the august part of a pacificator, must take place under +quite new conditions. This aspiration, together with a pride of descent +natural to a Stewart and a Scot, had led him to scheme marriages for his +children with half the chief reigning houses in Europe, including those +of France, Spain, and Sweden (whose youthful King, Gustavus II Adolphus, +was, however, soon put aside as unequal to a match with a daughter of +the House of Stewart). But when, in 1610, friendly relations, soon to be +sealed by a double marriage, had set in between the French and Spanish +Courts, James I was not slow in perceiving how this turn of affairs must +affect the political prospects of his own kingdom. On the outbreak of +the European conflict which was expected on all sides, it would go hard +with the Protestant interest, unless it contrived to consolidate itself +into an alliance capable of confronting the great Catholic Powers. When, +in March, 1611, the Count of Cartignano arrived in England as a special +ambassador from Duke Charles Emmanuel of Savoy to negotiate a double +marriage between the Houses of Savoy and England, James, though he +refused to enter into this scheme, seemed willing to approve of the +marriage of his daughter to the Prince of Piedmont. In November, +Cartignano reappeared with fresh instructions, and at the audience in +which he asked Elizabeth’s hand for the Prince Sir Henry Wotton, who had +had a hand in the negotiations, was present. But the King had +practically already decided how to dispose of his daughter’s hand, and +the Savoyard returned home in dudgeon. The step which was now taken by +James I, and by means of which a Protestant Succession was ultimately to +be secured to the English throne, was in full accordance with the +identification of England with militant Protestantism, which had been +accomplished as a matter of fact rather than of deliberate purpose in +the great age of Queen Elizabeth. After, in March, 1612, concluding an +alliance with the Union of German Protestant Princes, of which the +Palatine House had from the first assumed the leadership, James, to the +delight of the large majority of his subjects, resolved upon the +marriage of his only surviving daughter to the young ‘Palsgrave,’ as he +was called in England, Frederick V. + +The line of the Electors Palatine boasted a high antiquity and dignity; +and though it would take us too far to account for the claims maintained +by them to the first place among the temporal Electors, the familiar +fact may be recalled that early in the fourteenth century the Elector +Rupert III, of the older Electoral line of the Wittelsbach House to +which the Simmern line had since succeeded, had worthily held the high +dignity of German King.[4] It is after him that Elizabeth is supposed to +have named her third son, whose name of Prince Rupert is so familiar to +our ears; but she may also have been aware that an earlier English +Princess who had become Electress Palatine—Blanche, daughter of King +Henry IV and wife of the Elector Palatine Louis II—had named her son +Rupert, and that during his short life he bore the cognomen ‘England.’ +Though portions of the Palatine territory had from time to time been +split off in accordance with the German tendency to subdivision which no +systematic effort was made to repress till after the times of the Thirty +Years’ War, the electorate about the time of the opening of that war +extended far on both banks of the Rhine, being on one side contiguous +with the kingdom of Bohemia. If not equal in size to any of the other +temporal electorates, it was not far inferior to Saxony, and hardly at +all to Brandenburg, in territorial importance, being largely composed of +districts peerless among the German lands in beauty and +productivity—amidst whose orchards and vineyards throve a busy and +light-hearted population. The religious sympathies of the electorate +were in so far divided, that the Upper Palatinate (on the left bank of +the Rhine) adhered to Lutheranism, while the inhabitants of the Lower or +Rhenish were, like the dynasty, Calvinists. The electoral residence was +Heidelberg, whose castle and its treasures were reckoned among the +wonders of the Western world. To its graceful earlier buildings, the +florid taste of the Elector Frederick IV had added the splendid but +pretentious structure, in the artificial style of the latest Renascence, +of which a characteristic remnant is the inner side, decorated, +something after the manner of Alnwick, with statues of defunct +Palsgraves. The outside commands the wondrous view over the valley of +the Neckar, to which nothing but the genius of a Turner could have +imparted an additional charm. The choicest possession of the castle was +the electoral Library, the finest collection of books in Germany and far +beyond, thrown open with rare liberality to the use of all qualified +comers. And the pride of both court and town was the University, now +again, as it had been under the single-minded rule of the Elector +Frederick III, the foremost Calvinist seminary of higher learning in +Europe. + +But though the Electoral Palatine House honoured learning, and, as both +the bringing-up of Frederick V and that bestowed by him on his own +children showed, set a high value upon a many-sided intellectual as well +as upon a careful religious and moral education, its interests had in +the early years of the seventeenth century become engrossed by public +affairs, and it had acquired a political importance out of proportion to +its territorial power. Partly by force of circumstances and because of +the situation of the Palatinate, on the confines of France and on the +water-way to the Netherlands, but still more by their own zeal and +ambition, its Princes and certain of their statesmen stood in the front +of that active party in the Empire which might be termed the advanced, +or militant, Protestant Opposition. This party, among whose other +members Landgrave Maurice of Hesse and Count Christian of Anhalt are +pre-eminent, derived its impulse entirely from Calvinist sources. +Palatine blood had been shed and treasure spent under the Elector +Frederick III and the Administrator John Casimir on behalf of the Revolt +of the Netherlands and the cause of the French Huguenots; and under his +successor, Frederick IV, these designs had taken a wider range. He was a +man of great intellectual force; and, more especially in connexion with +the later history of his dynasty, it is interesting to note that in the +later years of his life he was much occupied with the scheme of a union, +on a broad basis, between all Protestant confessions.[5] But the young +Elector Frederick V had probably been more especially influenced by the +pure Calvinism of his mother the Electress Dowager Louisa Juliana, the +daughter of William the Silent and of Charlotte de Montpensier, who had +taken refuge at the Palatine Court for the sake of the Religion. Louisa +Juliana, though at the crisis of the Palatine fortunes her judgment was +not obscured by her sympathies, was one of those women the fervour of +whose religious convictions communicates itself as a legacy of faith and +love to the minds of their descendants for generation upon +generation.[6] Maurice of Hesse-Cassel also had a Nassau Juliana to +wife, so that the three Houses at the head of the Calvinistic movement +were closely linked together by intermarriage. In his father’s lifetime, +the young Frederick had been placed at the Court of the Calvinist Henry +Duke of Bouillon, whose second wife was likewise a daughter of the great +William of Orange, and to Sedan he afterwards returned, with fit +diplomatic and theological counsellors by his side, for a second sojourn +till the year before his marriage. To these multiplied influences the +Princess Elizabeth’s husband may in part have owed the fortitude of +spirit which, although not naturally a man of strong character, he +exhibited under a long and heavy pressure of trouble; while to the +liberality of his education may fairly be ascribed something of the +refined and lovable gentleness which he preserved to the last. + +----- + +Footnote 4: + + In the fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries respectively, two + Palatine Electors, Frederick II and Frederick III, aspired to the + German Kingship. + +Footnote 5: + + See Häusser, _Geschichte der Rhein-Pfalz_, Vol. ii. pp. 243-4. + +Footnote 6: + + A memoir of her was published in 1645 by the scholar and diplomatist + Ezechiel Spanheim, of whom Sophia frequently makes respectful mention + in her correspondence with her brother Charles Lewis. + +----- + +Under the Elector Frederick IV, the first head of the Union, vast +designs had been set on foot against the Catholicising policy of the +House of Habsburg, and for a dismemberment of its dominions. In 1612, +the hopes of the Palatine House and its counsellors were already +directed towards the attainment of the Bohemian Crown; moreover, as the +Spanish ambassador, Don Alonso de Velasca, informed the Spanish Council +early in 1613, James I was then of opinion that in a few years Frederick +V would be King of Bohemia. Thus, the expectation of the Bohemian Crown +unmistakably contributed to bring about the marriage which determined +the course of Elizabeth’s life.[7] To the English public, of course, +‘the Palsgrave’ was a handsome and courtly Prince, the nephew of Maurice +of Orange, heroic father’s heroic son,[8] and in their eyes his union +with the Princess Elizabeth promised to connect the royal family not +only with the great Protestant Houses already mentioned, but with the +Protestant interest at large.[9] As a matter of fact, English royalty +was thus to become connected with the dynasties of Brandenburg, Sweden, +and Transylvania. + +----- + +Footnote 7: + + See Gindely, _Geschichte des dreissigjähr. Krieges_, Vol. i. p. 186, + and note. It may perhaps be added, by way of a _curiosum_, that at + this time there survived in England the lineal descendant of a + declared heir to the Bohemian Crown in the person of Humphrey Tyndall, + Dean of Ely, who died in 1614 and whose brass still remains in Ely + Cathedral. See Bentham’s _History and Antiquities of the Conventual + and Cathedral Church of Ely_. + +Footnote 8: + + On his visit to England in 1612 Frederick was accompanied by Count + Henry of Nassau (who in 1625 became Henry Frederick Prince of Orange). + His companion duly fell in love with a daughter of the Duke of + Northumberland. (_Letters of George Lord Carew._) + +Footnote 9: + + A Count Palatine Frederick (Frederick II of the old line) had visited + England early in the sixteenth century; but he had come in the service + of the House of Habsburg. + +----- + +The young Elector Frederick V had hardly presented himself at the +English Court, when a deep shadow passed over the sunny prospect +seemingly opening before Elizabeth, and she and her possible descendants +were suddenly brought nearer to a Succession undreamt of by her for +them. In November, 1612, Henry Prince of Wales, whose heart was entirely +with his sister’s in her Protestant preferences as in other matters, +died suddenly of typhoid fever, though, in accordance with the evil +fashion of the age, credulous or clamorous Protestants, perhaps not +quite inexcusably, attributed his death to poison. At the Court of James +and Anne, or in its vicinity, for which the Princess had since 1608 +exchanged the retirement of Combe Abbey, she had continued to carry on +her studies, which were specially directed to the French and Italian +tongues and to the art of music, while the general guidance of Lord and +Lady Harington still continued to sustain the serious impulses that +contended with the frivolous in her receptive and responsive nature. As +a matter of course, the brother and sister, who dearly loved one +another, were companions in the elaborate entertainments that absorbed +so large a share of their royal parents’ attention, and in the +field-sports by which the masques and tilts were diversified, and in +which Elizabeth long retained an eager interest. There is some evidence +that she also shared the higher aspirations discernible in the +many-sided and ambitious activity of the brother who was taken so +suddenly from her side.[10] But youth and the exigencies of her position +exercised their effacing powers; and thus, within little more than three +months, the brother’s funeral was followed by the sister’s wedding. +Indeed, while the echoes of both events are loud in the literature of +the time, the same poetic voices occasionally attune themselves in turn +to condolence and to congratulation. But, though the show was great that +carnival week, and though besides so much of the powder as would go off +for the fireworks, plenty of incense was burnt on the occasion by +Chapman, Beaumont, Thomas Heywood, Campion,[11] Francis Bacon, Taylor +the Water-poet, and the rest, an undertone of doubt or apprehension was +audible among the rejoicings. The bride laughed too much at the wedding, +and her father yawned too soon in the course of the ensuing festivities, +which he finally felt obliged to cut short in fear of the bill and of +the House of Commons. And most ill-omened of all was the fact that among +the representatives of foreign Powers bidden to the solemnity the +Spanish ambassador remained away. Count Gondomar ‘was, or would be, +sick.’ + +----- + +Footnote 10: + + The theatrical company (formerly the Lord Admiral’s) which had been + under the patronage of the Prince of Wales, sought and, on January + 4th, obtained that of the Palsgrave, the Fortune continuing to be + their playhouse. After 1625, they appear to have ceased to be under + the Elector’s ‘patronage.’ (_Henslowe’s Diary_, ed. Greg, Part ii. pp. + 98-9.) + +Footnote 11: + + Part of a stanza in a song in _The Lords’ Masque_, accompanying a + dance of stars, may be quoted, if only to suggest the contemporary + pronunciation of the King’s name: + + ‘So bravely crown it [the night] with your beams, + That it may live in fame + As long as Rhenus or the Thames + Are known by either name.’ + +----- + +It was not till after Easter that the young Electress and her husband +were allowed to take their departure from London, nor till the beginning +of June that, after a semi-royal progress from Holland up the Rhine, +they at last set foot in Heidelberg. The greater part of the Electress’ +English suite, which included Francis Quarles and Nicolas Ferrar, soon +afterwards left her—Lord Harington, by a pathetic fate, dying on the way +at Worms, so that his wife returned home a widow. Elizabeth’s life in +her new home was for many a day much what it had latterly been in her +old—a round of Court festivities, banquets, and hunting-expeditions. Nor +does she, after the protracted honeymoon was over, seem to have ceased +to be preoccupied with the trivialities of her daily life. We may +discount the report of a divine who visited her husband’s Court, that +‘she is not often heard to speak of God ... she is fond of grandeur and +the precedence of rank.’ And we may excuse her for not allowing the +ascendancy of the Court-preacher, Abraham Scultetus, to dominate her +thoughts and conduct, in spite of the potent authority exercised by this +divine, afterwards one of the most vigorous of the anti-Remonstrants at +Dort (where he had the satisfaction of seeing that Heidelberg Catechism, +which Sophia was so ruefully to remember as the religious _pabulum_ of +her youth, adopted as the symbol of the Dutch Church). At Heidelberg she +had her own English Chaplain.[12] For the rest, it seems to have been +the use of her horse and gun which, on the occasion of the death of her +firstborn child, assuaged the first sharp sorrow of her married life. +While the high state kept by King James’ daughter—with her army of +ladies-in-waiting, chamberlains, chaplains, and the rest—could not fail +to heighten the splendour and swell the outlay of the Palatine Court, +her influence must have helped to soften and refine its tone, though in +neither respect was the ground unprepared. It may safely be ascribed to +Elizabeth and to her bringing-up that the place of German was taken by +French as the Court tongue at Heidelberg. Her husband, whose favourite +extravagance was that of building, was much engaged at this time in +perfecting the Castle gardens in the most approved French style, and in +adding a new ‘English wing’ to the Electoral residence itself. On +January 1st, 1617, she gave birth to her eldest son, and half the +Protestant Powers of Europe were represented round the baptismal font. +The fortunes of the family had sunk low, when, fifteen years later, this +Prince—Henry Frederick—was, in his unhappy father’s sight, drowned off +Haarlem. On December 22nd, 1617, another son was born to the Electoral +couple, Charles Lewis, afterwards Elector Palatine; and on December +26th, 1618, followed the birth of their eldest daughter, Elizabeth. + +----- + +Footnote 12: + + Alexander Chapman, Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, D.D. + 1610, and Archdeacon of Stow and Prebendary of Lincoln in the same + year. In 1618 he was appointed Prebendary of Canterbury, where, on his + death in 1629, ‘an elegant Monument of blue and white Marble, with a + demy Effigie of him thereon, was erected to his memory by his + Brother.’ See R. Masters’ _History of C.C.C._, pp. 264-5. He was + possibly the donor of the speaking likeness of Elizabeth which hangs + in the Master’s Lodge at Corpus. + +----- + +There were, however, certain drawbacks to the perfect contentment of +Elizabeth in the ‘merry’ Heidelberg days, which readily revealed +themselves to the eye of the sympathising observer. Even at a distance +she dwelt as it were in the shadow of the paternal throne; and the pride +of her father, to which her own seems to have very readily responded, +obliged her to assert extravagant claims in matters of precedence. As to +these pretensions full information is furnished by the communicative pen +of Sir Henry Wotton, who in April, 1616, when on his way to Turin and +Venice, spent six days in the Electoral Court at Heidelberg. He had some +public business of moment to transact with the Elector, to whom he +submitted a plan for a league with Savoy, which Frederick approved and +promised to lay before the Princes of the Union. But it was his chief +duty to give some account to the King of the Court of Heidelberg, and of +the treatment there extended to the King’s daughter in those matters +which her father had so much at heart. Sir Henry Wotton, whose deep +admiration for Elizabeth, expressed in undying verse, has indissolubly +linked his name with her own, addressed himself to his task with even +more than his usual diligence. He describes the Electoral Court as one +‘of great sobriety,’ and very well attended. The Elector he found ‘_par +boutades_ merry, but for the most part cogitative, or, as they here call +it, melancolique; his chiefest object was money, and his principal +delight architecture.’ The Electress, although already at that time ‘the +mother of one of the sweetest children,’ still retained ‘her former +virginal verdure in her complexion and features.’ Very manifestly, +though the ambassador approaches the subject with many courtly +involutions, things had not at first, and did not even now, run quite +smoothly between the Elector and his consort. At first, some trouble was +caused by the ‘emulation’ of servants—in other words, rubs between the +English and the German members of the Court; and now there remained the +cardinal difficulty about ‘placing her Highness.’ The claim which James +I had set up before his daughter’s departure from England, and which +Frederick had then promised to allow, that she should have precedence in +her husband’s and other non-royal Courts, had proved one which Frederick +found it impossible in practice to reconcile with self-respect; and +Wotton hardly bettered the situation by trying to prove too much.[13] +The problem was ultimately settled in no very satisfactory fashion; the +Electoral pair decided to pay no further visits to other Courts; and +Louisa Juliana, the Electress Dowager, whom Elizabeth had expected to +give her the _pas_, withdrew for some time from her son’s Court. + +----- + +Footnote 13: + + ‘My Lady,’ he argued, ‘was not to be considered only as the daughter + of a King, like the daughters of France, but did carry in her person + the possibility of succession to three Crowns.’ + +----- + +Wotton had judiciously recommended the Elector to state his case to the +King through a nobleman particularly valued by the Electress—Hans +Meinhard von Schönberg (Schombergh), Marshal of the Palatinate. +Schönberg had, in March, 1615, married Anne Sutton, daughter of Lord +Dudley, a favourite lady-in-waiting of Elizabeth, with whom she had +remained after Lady Harington’s departure; but she had been taken from +him by death in the following December. Schönberg’s advice, the +Electress informed Wotton, had been of the utmost value to her, ‘though +by divers provocations and offences, of the greatest part for her sake, +he had been moved and had himself resolved to be gone.’ (He was now +serving as a colonel under Maurice of Nassau.) She also spoke with +gratitude of the attentions of Frau von Pless (who had been her +husband’s governess), though she desiderated the company of another +English lady of Anne Sutton’s age. With the services of the English +secretary, Albertus Morton (Wotton’s nephew), whom her father had sent +to her, Elizabeth was well content. + +We must conclude from this report that the English-born Electress had to +bear at Heidelberg some of the unpopularity incurred by her countrymen +who, in search of amusement or employment, swelled her Court without +being attached to it; and that she had also to suffer from the +consequences of a self-consciousness fostered by her father. It is +further clear that, in one way or another, she came at this early period +of her career to be oppressed by a burden of debt which it was not easy, +with or without good advice, to shake off. Perhaps these features of her +life as Electress Palatine should be called to mind, before the +customary version of her conduct at the crisis of her consort’s +destinies and her own is unhesitatingly followed. In 1619, the great +opportunity for which the Palatine diplomatists had been so long +scheming arrived at last. It has been seen that the idea of the Bohemian +Crown had been present to them for some time; probably, the first +suggestion of it arose in the course of the negotiations carried on by +the Palatine Government in 1605-7, the chief advocate of the notion +being Lösenius, while it was actively supported by Christian of +Anhalt.[14] But, though the chance of carrying it into execution was now +before the Palatines, it found them and their allies, great and small, +unprepared. They had not succeeded in turning to account the strong +feeling which prevailed in many quarters against the choice as Emperor +of the Archduke Ferdinand of Styria, the destined head of the House of +Austria, and the formally acknowledged successor to the Bohemian and +Hungarian thrones. They had dallied with idle thoughts of the King of +France and the Duke of Lorraine, and had then concentrated their efforts +upon the paradoxical device of securing as a candidate the head of the +Catholic branch of the House of Wittelsbach, Duke Maximilian of Bavaria, +who was also the head of the Catholic League. But Maximilian, though by +the tradition of his House jealous of Habsburg, better knew his own mind +and his own interests. Thus, when (in March, 1619) the Emperor Matthias +passed away, the Elector Palatine wasted the little time remaining in +protests; and, when the day of election arrived (August 28), after some +empty words accepted the predetermined vote in favour of Ferdinand of +Styria. The pupil of the Jesuits was seated on the Imperial throne; but, +on the very evening when this defeat of the Palatine policy was +proclaimed at Frankfort, the news arrived that it had scored a victory +at Prague. Here, only a year previously (1618), the troubles between the +government and the Utraquists had come to an outbreak, and on the +Hradschin had been perpetrated the _defenestration_ (ejection through +the window) of certain Ministers of the Crown, which it is usual to +regard as the opening of the Thirty Years’ War. Quite unable to +establish his authority in Bohemia, Ferdinand had been actually menaced +in his palace at Vienna by the Utraquist chiefs, with an army at their +back. And now it was announced that, after deposing Ferdinand, the +Bohemian Estates had elected Frederick V Elector Palatine King of +Bohemia in his stead. + +----- + +Footnote 14: + + See M. Ritter, _Deutsche Geschichte in der Zeit d. dreissigjähr. + Krieges_, Vol. ii. p. 201. + +----- + +‘Thou hast it now.’ After a few diplomatic operations by Achatius von +Dohna, the Elector Palatine had only to stretch his hand from Amberg +across the Bohemian frontier, and a great historic throne was his,[15] +with its large territorial dependencies, and with a second electoral +vote ensuring the majority in the College to the Protestant interest. He +was Calvinist enough in his habits of mind to be able afterwards to +declare conscientiously that, in accepting this Crown, he obeyed an +inner voice, which he thought spoke the will of God. And, certainly, +there was no pressure of advice to urge him in this direction. His +Council, setting forth the _pros_ and _cons_ in the argumentative +fashion of the day, could only find six reasons in favour of acceptance +to balance fourteen against; and the gist of their opinion was after all +that everything depended on the support the Elector would receive in a +forward policy. But at most of the friendly Courts opinion was found to +be adverse; and while Maurice of Orange and others eagerly advised +acceptance, Maximilian of Bavaria with honourable candour raised a clear +voice of warning. As for Frederick’s father-in-law King James, he was +not at present prepared to depart from his masterly attitude of +declining to pronounce against acceptance, while desiring not to be +supposed to have advised in favour of it. Whether or not a strong +protest from James before Frederick’s formal acceptance of the Crown +might have arrested that final step, no such protest was made. + +----- + +Footnote 15: + + ‘Then County Palatine, and now a King.’ (_Tamburlaine_, Part II, Act + i, Sc. i. l. 103.) + +----- + +Frederick’s mother, Louisa Juliana, though a woman cast in no ignoble +mould, is said to have burst into tears and fallen ill on hearing of her +son’s election to the Bohemian throne. On the other hand, it has again +and again been asserted, or at least represented as highly probable, +that it was the urgent representations of the Electress Elizabeth which +determined her consort to cast the die; and everybody has heard the +anecdote of her taunting him with the avowal that she would rather +partake of sour-krout with a King, than of a joint of roast meat with an +Elector. Elizabeth is unlikely either to have forgotten herself so far, +or to have sought for any analogy between her own position and that of +the Bohemian Princess who shortly after Wyclif’s death had mounted the +English throne. Moreover, we have the statement of her grand-daughter, +the free-spoken Duchess of Orleans, that at the time of the Bohemian +offer the Electress knew nothing at all about the matter, her thoughts +being in those days entirely absorbed by plays, masquerades, and the +reading of romances. No doubt the Duchess, though deeply attached to her +father’s house, is not to be absolutely trusted in her statements as to +all the members of her father’s family; but her account of the condition +of Elizabeth’s mind at the time when she was first brought face to face +with the chief problem of her life, harmonises with all we know as to +its previous current. After all, however, the point is not very +material. Even before her husband had actually decided to become a King, +she stood forth every inch a Queen; nor was it with a light heart, or in +a spirit inflated with vanity or ambition, that at the last she left the +decision in his hands. She was, in her own words, prepared to bow to the +will of God, and, if need were, to suffer what He should see fit to +ordain. Of her worldly goods she at the same time declared herself ready +to make any reasonable sacrifice, by pledging her jewels, or whatever +else of value she possessed. Early in October (1619) the last bridge had +been burnt. + +From this time forward, Elizabeth’s troubles came thick upon her; and +indeed, but for a very imperfect return of prosperity towards the close +of her life, they may be said never to have ceased again on earth. When, +with Frederick, she quitted the Palatinate for Bohemia towards the end +of October, they left behind them at Heidelberg, in the care of the +Electress Dowager Louisa Juliana, their two children Charles Lewis and +Elizabeth; but, though the former was long his mother’s favourite, it +was hardly in her way to be deeply affected by a separation from her +babes. The part which the new King and Queen were called upon to play +during the twelve-month of their residence at Prague was from the outset +the reverse of easy. The self-conscious and stiff-necked Bohemian +Estates had not the least intention of being ruled in fact as well as in +name by the sovereign of their making; while part at least of the +population was steeped in ignorance like the peasants who welcomed his +entry with shouts of ‘Vivat rex _Ferdinandus_!’[16] In Frederick’s +mistake of importing and maintaining among Utraquist (i.e. Lutheran) +surroundings, a rigid and aggressive Calvinism, incarnate in the +iconoclastic Scultetus, Elizabeth probably had no share; for, as is +worth remembering in connexion with the rather complicated religious +history of her children, she never became a Calvinist herself or +displayed any liking for Calvinistic ways. She did her best to gain +popularity for herself and her consort, checking the insolence provoked +among her courtiers by the uncouth manners and customs of her new +subjects, and delighting all and sundry by pleasant English +‘hand-shakes.’ Now and then, offence was given by such innovations as +the holding of Court balls on great Church holidays, and by the fashions +of the attire worn on these occasions by the Queen and her ladies; and +more serious umbrage was taken at the King’s conclusion of an alliance +with the Calvinist Transylvanian, and at the project of another with the +Sultan himself. Finally, there was the eternal difficulty as to ways and +means, alike in Silesia (where the royal pair had been received with +great rejoicing) and in Bohemia itself. Among all these agitations +Elizabeth’s spirits from time to time flagged, both before and after the +birth of her third son; for the changeful story of Prince Rupert’s life +began at Prague in December, 1619. + +----- + +Footnote 16: + + The entry of Frederick into Prague, and his handsome reception by the + three Estates ‘after the manner of our ancient Kings,’ was witnessed + by Jacob Böhme. + +----- + +Within less than a year from this date the brief glories of her Bohemian +royalty had ‘turned to coal.’ In July King James, while sending Sir +Edward Conway and Sir Richard Weston to Prague, ordered Sir Henry Wotton +to repair to Vienna, where, if the King of Bohemia consented, he was to +propose the settlement of the difficulty by means of an Imperial Diet; +while to all Princes visited by him on the way he was to protest his +master’s abstinence from any participation in the election to the +Bohemian Crown. The choice of Wotton for this singularly futile mission +was in itself extraordinarily infelicitous; very naturally, however, his +task impressed itself at once upon the chosen ambassador’s vivid +imagination. For it was on the eve of his departure for Vienna that +Wotton, ‘being in Greenwitche Parke, made a sonnet to the Queen of +Bohemia,’ of which he sent copies to Lady Wotton and Lord Zouche, and as +to which Wotton’s latest biographer remarks, with perfect truth, that +‘such is the magic of art, these verses have done more than anything +else, perhaps, to make both’ Ambassador and Queen ‘remembered.’[17] +Neither the Prague nor the Vienna mission had any effect whatever; +indeed, before Conway and Weston’s reply reached Wotton, all was over. +Early in September the Leaguers under Maximilian of Bavaria, the head of +the rival Wittelsbach line, had joined their forces against him, while +Spinola’s Spaniards were approaching the Palatinate. Soon the enemies of +the new Bohemian monarchy had closed in upon it. The battle of the White +Hill was waged and lost in an hour (November 8th); and, though Frederick +can hardly be blamed for the actual loss of the battle, in his +accidental absence from which there was nothing disgraceful,[18] he had +entirely failed to take precautions for the event of such a catastrophe, +and lacked the self-confidence which alone could have made possible +further resistance on the spot. Thus, though he did not at first quite +understand the full significance of his overthrow, Bohemia had passed +for ever out of the weak hands of the Winter—or Twelfth Night—King. +When, on the evening of the rout, the long stream of vehicles, headed by +Queen Elizabeth’s coach, ebbed out of Prague, bearing with it whatsoever +was portable of the Protestant interest, no hopes remained except such +as were wholly illusory. But Elizabeth intended that, even though +Bohemia was lost and the Palatinate, which, as Louisa Juliana had +formerly lamented, had ‘gone into Bohemia,’ might prove to be lost with +it, the drama so swiftly played out should have no ignoble epilogue. She +had resolved—in her own words—‘not to desert her husband, and, if he was +to perish, to perish by his side.’ Fate dealt with her after no such +sudden fashion; but she was true to the spirit of her vow. + +----- + +Footnote 17: + + See L. Pearsall Smith, _Life and Letters of Sir Henry Wotton_, Vol. i. + p. 171. + +Footnote 18: + + The _Mercure Français_ stated that he took part in the battle, and + lost his ribbon of the Garter on the occasion! (Charvériat, _Histoire + de la Guerre de Trente Ans_, Vol. i. p. 235, note.) + +----- + +From Prague Frederick and Elizabeth first made their way into Silesia, +then still a dependency of Bohemia; but soon Frederick, though, owing to +Wotton’s protest against the invasion of the Palatinate, the ban of the +Empire did not descend on him till the following January, had to realise +the position to which he was reduced. He sent on his wife before him, to +seek shelter in the dominions of his brother-in-law, the Elector George +William of Brandenburg. This Prince, a Calvinist and one of those who +had advised the acceptance of the Bohemian Crown, was afraid at the same +time of the Swedes and of the Emperor, to whose policy he had not yet +rallied; and in after days the great Elector’s sister, the brave Duchess +Louisa Charlotte of Courland, recognising in the experiences of her own +married life some analogy to those of her Aunt Elizabeth’s, recalled as +memorable the impunity with which her father had afforded a passing +refuge to his unfortunate relatives.[19] The intimacy between the two +Calvinist Electoral Houses was to survive backslidings on the part of +Brandenburg in the course of the great War, and was at a later date to +be very notably renewed, in spite of the perennial jealousy between the +two dynasties and governments, by the marriage of Elizabeth’s +grand-daughter Sophia Charlotte with the future first Prussian King. +But, in these early days, the welcome extended by the Elector George +William to his fugitive kinsfolk was limited to the coldest courtesies. +At Küstrin, where on Christmas Day, 1620, Elizabeth gave birth to her +fifth child, the Prince Maurice to be known in later life as Rupert’s +_fidus Achates_, the royal mother and her attendants are said to have +hardly had enough to eat, and, when in January, 1621, they were joined +by her husband from Breslau, he brought no good tidings with him. The +Union was on the eve of dissolution; an offer of aid from the Sultan, so +at least it was rumoured, had been refused by Frederick; and the +vacillations of King James were more hopeless than ever. At Berlin, +where the fugitives were received by Frederick’s sister, the Electress +Elizabeth Charlotte, they were glad to leave behind them the infant +Maurice in the faithful charge of his grandmother Louisa Juliana, who, +with his elder brother and sister in her care, had taken her departure +from Heidelberg even before the battle of Prague. Her own estates, +together with those of her second son Lewis Philip, long remained +sequestrated; though neither of them had taken any part in the Bohemian +business. The boys were afterwards removed to Holland; but the young +Princess Elizabeth continued under her grandmother’s care till her ninth +year, chiefly at Krossen in Silesia. This early training and the closer +connexion into which it brought her with the Brandenburg Electoral +family, were to exercise a notable influence upon her character and upon +her later personal history. + +----- + +Footnote 19: + + See A. Seraphim, _Eine Schwester des grossen Kurfürsten_, &c. + (_Quellen und Untersuchungen zur Gesch. d. Hauses Hohenzollern II._). + Berlin, 1901. + +----- + +From Berlin her parents, luckless emigrants, had still been obliged to +move on, Queen Elizabeth journeying to Wolfenbüttel, the residence of +the elder branch of the House of Brunswick, Frederick roaming about the +Lower Saxon Circle in quest of military or other aid. Finally, they +entered the Netherlands together by way of the Rhine. Everywhere in the +Low Countries they were warmly welcomed, not only as kinsfolk of the +House of Orange, but also as fellow-martyrs of those Protestant refugees +to whom, in the Elector Frederick III’s days, the Palatinate had +accorded so hospitable a reception. On April 14th, 1621, they were +received with the utmost cordiality by the great Stadholder, Maurice of +Orange, in the midst of a large assemblage of princes, nobles, and +foreign ambassadors; and soon the States-General of the United +Provinces, and the States of Holland and Friesland in particular, gave +substantial expression to the universal warmth of the public welcome. + +But the arm of the young Dutch Republic, though strenuous, was not long +enough to reach effectively into the heart of the Empire. In the +previous autumn, Frederick Henry of Nassau, the Stadholder’s brother, +had made a show of protecting the Palatinate with a couple of thousand +men, among whom there was an English contingent; but the effort had come +to nothing. Already in 1620 the greater part of the Lower Palatinate had +been occupied by the Spaniards; and in 1621, after Frederick had been +placed under the ban of the Empire and the execution of the sentence had +been entrusted to the expectant Duke of Bavaria, the inhabitants of the +Upper Palatinate were called upon to forswear their allegiance. +Frederick’s cause was upheld only by the English volunteers under Sir +Horace Vere and by Mansfeld’s mercenaries. The Union had dissolved +itself in the spring, and after midsummer James, while still cherishing +the hope of bringing to pass a friendly intervention by Spain, was +attempting through his ambassador Digby to obtain favourable terms at +Vienna. Before the year was out, Maximilian of Bavaria had, with the aid +of Rome, obtained an imperial promise of the reversion of the forfeited +Electorate; and the future, as well as the present, seemed wholly dark +for the Electoral couple and their children. Near or far, no ally seemed +prepared to strike a blow in their interests, except that already, in +1621, the Queen of Hearts—as she came to be called in the days when she +exercised no other sovereignty[20]—had found a true knight neither +anxious, like King James, about probabilities of failure, nor, like the +great _condottiere_ Mansfeld, solely intent upon the main chance. This +was Duke Christian of Brunswick, the administrator or (as an English +letter of the time aptly calls him) the ‘temporal bishop’ of the see of +Halberstadt.[21] There is no evidence of his having ever met, or so much +as corresponded with, the Queen; but Sir Thomas Roe distinctly states +that it was only for her sake that he had engaged in the war, and he +made much the same confession himself to his mother; while the story of +his having worn in his helmet a glove belonging to the Queen, which he +had vowed to restore to her in reconquered Prague, can be traced back as +far as 1646. After losing an arm, he rode forth in 1624 with a +substitute made of iron. Though a poet’s son, he was as rough a +campaigner as any of the captains of the age; and in 1625 a flagrant act +of violence placed him under a cloud. In the following year a fever +ended the excesses of his military career, his wild defiances of Spain +and the League, and his romantic passion, which, as we know from a +letter written by his sister, Sophia of Nassau-Dietz, pined almost to +the last for some mark of recognition by its object.[22] Elizabeth’s +power of attracting the sympathy of soldiers, which had been so +conspicuously exhibited in the case of Christian of Halberstadt, and to +which afterwards Lord Craven’s life-long devotion was to testify, was +further exemplified by the goodwill shown to her in these times of +distress by her martial kinsmen of the House of Orange. The readiness of +the great captain Maurice of Nassau to further her interests so far as +in him lay was shared by his younger brother, Prince Frederick Henry, +who, in 1625, succeeded him in the stadholdership, and between whom and +one of Elizabeth’s ladies-in-waiting, attached to her person since her +Heidelberg days, Maurice a few weeks before his death arranged a +marriage. But the new Princess of Orange proved to be as proud as the +beautiful Countess Amalia von Solms had been poor; and, before long, her +desire of furthering the interests of the House into which she had been +admitted made her hostile to those of the family of her former mistress. + +----- + +Footnote 20: + + The origin of the application of this title seems unknown. It had been + formerly connected in a peculiar fashion with Elizabeth’s august + godmother. (See the weird story in H. Clifford’s _Life of Jane + Dormer_, how not long before Queen Elizabeth’s death a playing-card, + the Queen of Hearts, with an iron nail knocked through the head, was + found at the bottom of her chair. Soon afterwards all hopes of her + recovery were abandoned.) + +Footnote 21: + + Halberstadt was one of those sees which had by special treaties with + the Chapters been made hereditary in particular Protestant princely + families. (Opel, _Niedersächs. Krieg_, Vol. i. p. 193.) + +Footnote 22: + + It must at the same time be allowed that the epithets applied to James + I by Christian after the breakdown of the scheme of 1623 could hardly + under any circumstances have been condoned by the King’s daughter. + (See Ritter, _Deutsche Geschichte_, &c., Vol. iii. p. 253.) + +----- + +The charm of Elizabeth’s beauty, and the stimulus of her high spirit, +also inspired with a warm personal concern in her affairs, those of her +father’s numerous diplomatists who were or became known to her. Sir +Henry Wotton seems never to have seen her again after their ‘merry hour’ +of meeting at Heidelberg; but he remained stedfast in his admiration for +his ‘Royal Mistress,’ and among the intimate letters of the days of his +retirement at Eton are those which he addressed to her, then a +half-forgotten exile at the Hague. In his will he left to the Prince of +Wales her picture, with an inscription[23] which reappears, with slight +modifications, in two of his published pieces. Wotton’s successor at +Venice, Sir Dudley Carleton (afterwards Viscount Dorchester), who had +likewise been received by the Electoral pair at Heidelberg, and who was +English ambassador at the Hague when the fugitives arrived there, +cheerfully gave up his house for their use; besides judiciously exerting +himself in their interest both in this and in his second embassy to the +United Provinces. Lord Herbert of Cherbury was warmly thanked by +Elizabeth for his exertions at Paris; and Lord Conway did his best for +her cause with the Emperor at Prague. Lord Doncaster (afterwards Earl of +Carlisle) had, during his futile mission before the Bohemian crisis, +gained her goodwill in such a degree as to be honoured by her with the +intimate nickname of ‘camel-face’; and it was through him that his +eloquent chaplain Donne was privileged to ‘deliver mesages’ to the Queen +when in sore straits. More to the purpose were the active services of +Sir Thomas Roe, the ‘honest fatt Thom’ of her correspondence; but, +although these had begun before this diplomatist’s return from Eastern +Europe, he does not seem to have come into much personal contact with +her before 1628. + +----- + +Footnote 23: + + ‘_Inter Fortunæ sortem, extra Imperium._’ (See L. Pearsall Smith, + _u.s._, Vol. i. p. 297, note.) + +----- + +Only a few brief indications can be given here of the general course of +the exiled family’s fortunes during the quarter of a century which +elapsed, before a definitive settlement of the Palatinate problem was at +last reached in the Peace of Westphalia. Negotiations were at first +carried on in Sweden, through Ludwig Camerarius, who from 1623 directed +the diplomacy of the Palatine House, with the purpose of engaging King +Gustavus Adolphus in offensive operations, in the course of which the +latter intended that Frederick should appear in the Palatinate at the +head of an army; but the perennial Danish jealousy of Sweden put a stop +to the plan. About the same time (1623-4) the faithful Rusdorf sought, +by negotiations in London, to obtain fair terms for his master at +Vienna, Frederick signifying his willingness to allow his eldest son +(Frederick Henry) to be educated at Vienna, with a view to his marriage +with an Imperial Princess; but the overtures came to nothing, as did the +specious offers of the disguised Capuchin della Rota. These latter +proved, in truth, to be mere pretences on the part of Maximilian of +Bavaria, who, in 1624, was received into the College of Electors in +Frederick’s place. Towards the close of 1623, King James I, who earlier +in the year had broken off negotiations with Mansfeld and Christian of +Halberstadt and concluded a truce with the Infanta at Brussels, which +Frederick was obliged to ratify, had at last been undeceived as to the +intentions of Spain. He saw at last how during the Spanish marriage +negotiations he had been tricked into the false hope that good terms +would be obtained by Spanish mediation for the Palatines; and, during +the last year of his reign, when war with Spain was becoming more and +more imminent, a treaty promising an English army for the recovery of +the Palatinate was concluded with Mansfeld, who was for the moment the +lion of London, whither he was soon followed on a similar errand by +Christian of Halberstadt. Thus, when in March, 1625, James I was +succeeded on the English throne by Charles I, Elizabeth’s hopes rallied +with pathetic buoyancy, and she cherished the hope that her brother’s +approaching French marriage would further advance the interests of her +family. There can be no doubt of Charles I’s intention to serve his +sister and her children; and his wishes on this head were shared by +Buckingham. The Duke is even said, when visiting the Palatine family at +Leyden, not long before his assassination in January, 1629, to have had +in his head a scheme—which, if fate had so willed it, might have had +strange consequences for the British Succession—of a marriage between +his daughter Lady Mary Villiers and Elizabeth’s eldest son, Prince +Frederick Henry. But, as is well known, the history of Charles I’s +foreign policy during the first part of his reign, in which the question +of the recovery of the Palatinate could not possibly hold the central +place as it had in his father’s, had, as Eliot summed it up in his +scathing speech, been one of constant and utter failure. Afterwards, of +course, the King was so hopelessly at issue with his Parliament, that +all chance of effective intervention had come to an end. Mansfeld’s army +at first remained inactive in the Low Countries, where it was not +increased, except by fragments of the levies of Christian of +Halberstadt, which a tempest had scattered at sea. Instead of +reinforcing the mercenary troops, the English expedition which sailed +under Lord Wimbledon in October, 1625, had orders for Cadiz. When, in +1625, Elizabeth’s uncle, Christian IV of Denmark, at last took the field +as chief of the Lower Saxon Circle, the death of his namesake soon +deprived him of his best commander; and, in 1626, Mansfeld, after being +defeated by Wallenstein at Dessau, was ‘chased’ by him into Hungary, +whence, after making over his army to Bethlen Gabor, he took his +departure only to die. In August of the same year, Tilly entirely +overcame Christian IV at Lutter, and the ‘Danish War’ was virtually at +an end. Henceforth, no further intention was entertained either at +Vienna or at Munich of granting any terms to Frederick, although, on +Cardinal Khlesl’s principle of never either dropping negotiations or +concluding them, conditions were still offered him. In return for the +restoration of part of his paternal dominions, he was, while renouncing +both the Bohemian Crown and the Electoral dignity, to pay the costs of +the war, and to consent to bring up his children as Catholics; but the +former condition he could not, and the latter he would not, accept. It +is said that, at this very time (1627), the unhappy ex-Elector paid a +secret visit to the Palatinate, whose fate seemed sealed for ever by the +Austro-Bavarian treaty of the following year. The Spaniards held the +left bank of the Rhine and the Bavarians the right; conversion was +forced upon the inhabitants, who began to emigrate rather than submit to +it; and, when, in June, 1630, Rusdorf presented a letter from his master +at Ratisbon, where the Bavarian policy was conspicuously to the front, +the Emperor had no answer to return except a demand of unconditional +submission. Had the Palatine family yielded to this demand, and accepted +the further condition of conversion to the Church of Rome, they might +perhaps have been allowed some sort of domicile in the Empire. But they +were of a different metal, and held out, though their prospects had +never been gloomier; for, in the same year, peace was concluded between +England and Spain, and whatever hopes had been placed upon King Charles’ +anti-Spanish policy were thus brought to nought. + +Yet, soon after these events—in July, 1630—Gustavus Adolphus landed on +the Pomeranian coast, and in him the Palatine family hoped to find both +an avenger and a deliverer. The Electress Dowager Louisa Juliana met him +at Berlin, and after his great victory at Breitenfeld he approached the +Palatinate. Before the end of 1631 most of it had been recaptured and +re-Protestantised; and early in the following year Frederick was on his +way to meet the conquering hero. Frederick’s Dutch hosts had furnished +him forth with great liberality, and the number of state coaches with +which he arrived at Frankfort, in February, 1632, had been increased to +two score by Gustavus Adolphus himself, who treated him with great +courtesy as King of Bohemia. But the future of the Palatinate was left +undiscussed between the two Kings; nor was it till after Gustavus had +continued his victorious progress through Bavaria, that he proposed a +settlement. It showed unmistakably that the treatment of the Palatinate +formed but a subsidiary part of his great design, and filled Frederick, +who was looking for restoration to his patrimony, with alarm. For, +besides other onerous conditions, there were imposed on him the +admission of Swedish garrisons to some of his chief towns, the +concession of the supreme military command to Gustavus, and the grant of +equal rights to the Lutherans in the Calvinistic half of the Palatinate. +Hard as these terms seemed to Frederick, amicable negotiations were +still in progress between him and the great Swedish King, when the awful +news arrived of the death of Gustavus on the field of Lützen. Frederick +had a little before this fallen ill of a fever; but, as if driven by his +doom, he once more began to wander from town to town, till, on November +29th, 1632, thirteen days after the death of Gustavus, he breathed his +last at Mainz. The homeless wanderer’s heart was buried in the church at +Oppenheim, in his own Palatinate; his corpse was hurriedly borne hither +and thither—being carried off from Frankenthal by Bernhard of Weimar on +his retreat in 1635, to preserve it from desecration—till it was at last +composed in peace within the walls of Metz.[24] + +----- + +Footnote 24: + + Elizabeth bore no love to the Swedish royal family, partly because of + these memories, partly perhaps because of the Danish blood in her. + (‘The States,’ she writes on one occasion, ‘are justly punished for + assisting the Queen of Sweden against my uncle’ (Christian IV). She + detested Gustavus’ daughter Christina. On the death of the Queen + Dowager Maria Eleonora, she writes: ‘Queen Mother is dead, which makes + her rap out with many an oth.’ (_Unpublished Letters of the Queen of + Bohemia to Sir Edward Nicholas_, _Antiq. Soc. Publ._ 1857 (xvi).) + +----- + +After Frederick’s death, the regency of the Palatinate was assumed by +his brother Louis Philip, who was married to a Brandenburg Princess +(Maria Eleonora); but though under his rule Heidelberg was recovered, +and with the aid of foreign (especially Scottish) beneficence the +prosperity of the Palatinate began to revive, the fatal day of +Nördlingen (September 6th, 1634) undid all the work of the previous two +years, and the sufferings of the Palatinate from both ‘friends’ and +foes—from Swedes and Bavarians—began afresh. After the Peace of Prague, +in 1635, the Swedes fell back upon the Main, and after Heidelberg had +been once more occupied by the Imperialists, the Palatinate remained for +some five years under the government of the Emperor, which banished all +Calvinist and Lutheran preachers with their families and households, and +in every way promoted the decay of University and schools. It cannot be +said that the general condition of the population, whose sufferings were +of the most heartrending description, and productive of that awful +brutalisation which is so characteristic of the later period of the +Thirty Years’ War, was much affected by changes in the occupation of the +country.[25] The renewal of warfare in these parts, in 1640 and again in +1644, brought in the French and their German allies and the Bavarians to +augment these troubles. It will be noted below how the dispossessed heir +of the Palatinate bore himself in these evil years, and what he finally +saved for his House out of so pitiful a wreck. The Bohemian Crown was, +of course, a thing of the past, though to the end Elizabeth retained the +royal title.[26] + +----- + +Footnote 25: + + The project of despatching a Scottish army in 1639 to occupy the + Palatinate broke down because of a disagreement between Leslie and the + Covenanters. + +Footnote 26: + + It would seem as if after her husband’s death she had for a time + approved the style of ‘the King’s only sister.’ (See Wotton’s letter + _ap._ L. P. Smith, _u.s._, Vol. ii. p. 342.) When, on the marriage of + her daughter Princess Henrietta in 1651, her son Charles Lewis took + exception to the title ‘Queen of Bohemia,’ Elizabeth wrote to him + indignantly that ‘leauing it you doe me so much wrong as to the + memorie of your dead father, as if you disapproved his actions’; and + declared that whatever public instrument she might at any time have to + sign, she would never sign it without the royal style. _Letters_, &c., + ed. by A. Wendland, p. 16. + +----- + +The birth at the Hague, on October 14th, 1630, of Sophia, the youngest +of the children of Frederick and Elizabeth, had preceded the death of +her father by very little more than two years. Her mother, it must be +remembered, was then still in the full flower of her womanhood—in the +thirty-fifth year of her age—an eager horsewoman and fond of the +pleasures of the chase; and in mind she remained not less vigorous than +in body, venting her wrath freely on both enemies and neutrals—on that +‘devil’ the Emperor and that ‘beast’ the Elector of Saxony, just as at a +later date she had to search in the Book of _Revelation_ for analogues +fitly expressing her sentiments concerning Oliver Cromwell. Yet private +as well as public griefs had helped to sadden her heart as well as to +sober her spirit even before the death of her husband, whose affection +towards her had remained unchanged, showing itself in little expressions +of care and tenderness such as abound in his letters almost to the day +of his death. In 1624, they had lost an infant son, Lewis; and, in +January, 1629, their first-born, Frederick Henry, a boy of fifteen, was +(as already noted) drowned off Haarlem as he was travelling back in the +common passengers’ boat with his father from Amsterdam, whither +Frederick had gone to collect the share of the profits from a captured +Spanish treasure-fleet assigned to him by Maurice of Nassau. The infant +Princess Charlotte was laid in the grave by her brother’s side only +three days before the christening of Sophia. But, as there survived five +brothers (to whom a sixth, significantly named Gustavus, was added two +years after Sophia’s birth), the statement may perhaps be credited with +which her _Memoirs_ open, that her arrival in this world caused no +excess of joy to her parents. She relates that her name—the name which +narrowly missed marking the beginning of a new English dynasty, and +which, in token of its popularity in this country, was bestowed upon his +heroine by the author of one of the masterpieces of our literature—was +drawn by lot out of several written for the purpose on slips of paper, +because of the small choice of godmothers remaining in the case of so +large a family. Sophia’s destinies were not encumbered by a second name +like that which her sister Louisa Hollandina bore in honour of her +godfathers; although the States of Friesland, who undertook the same +responsibility for the infant Sophia, presented her with a pension of +forty pounds for life and handsome supplementary gifts. So soon as it +was possible to transport her, she was sent to Leyden by her mother, who +preferred that her children should be brought up at a distance from +herself, ‘since,’ says Sophia, ‘the sight of her monkeys and dogs was +more pleasing to her than that of ourselves.’ At Leyden, therefore, +Sophia spent her early childhood, chiefly in the company of her youngest +brother Gustavus, who died nine years after his birth. Her graphic +reminiscences of her tender years chiefly turn on the cumbrous etiquette +(_tout à fait à l’allemande_) by which she was environed, and on the +lessons in the Heidelberg Catechism (which she ‘knew by heart without +understanding it’) imparted by her venerable governess, Frau von Pless, +with the assistance of her two daughters, ladies of ‘awe-inspiring’ +presence, whose age seemed to the child almost equal to her own. ‘Their +ways were straight in the eyes of Heaven as before men.’ The good +ex-Elector had been consistently careful as to providing sound +Calvinistic instruction for his children, and Frau von Pless had been +his own instructress in his infancy; but his English wife, at least +during part of her residence in the Netherlands, continued to employ the +services of a Church of England chaplain. In general, it is clear that +at Leyden, and afterwards at the Hague, Sophia, while her wits quickly +opened to the demands of life, passed, like the rest of her brothers and +sisters, through a training which equipped them more or less efficiently +for the struggle before them. In her case, it must also have helped to +regulate the remarkable intellectual curiosity with which she was +naturally endowed, and which, though it cannot be shown to have carried +her to great heights or depths of study or thought, at least enabled her +in later life to rise serene above the troubles and trials of the hour. +The usual training of the Palatine Princes and Princesses, while +including some mathematics, history, and law, appears to have been based +in the main upon the study of languages, of which most of them came to +have several at command. Their mother they always addressed in English, +but among themselves they used French, as had been the custom of their +father in his letters to his wife, and as continued to be the practice +of Sophia’s son and grandson in domestic conversation, even when they +had become British sovereigns. + +On Prince Gustavus’ death, in 1641, Sophia, who was herself suffering +from illness, quitted Leyden for the Hague, bidding farewell to her +_bonnes vieilles_, whom she said she had loved from gratitude and habit, +‘for sympathy rarely exists between old age and youth’—a maxim to be +flatly contradicted by the experience of her own later years. At the +Hague, where, during the rule of Frederick Henry, his consort Amalia +strained every nerve to prove the authority of the House of Orange equal +to that of a royal dynasty, the Queen of Bohemia was beginning to find +some of the conditions of her life oppressive, and, worst of all, the +continuous pressure of debt unbearable. Already in her husband’s time, +the generosity of Maurice had furnished them with a pleasant summer +retreat at Rheenen, in the wooded country on the Rhine, not far below +Arnhem, described by Evelyn as ‘a neate palace or country house, built +after the Italian manner, as I remember.’[27] But Sophia, on first +arriving at the Hague, found the change so delightful as to make her +think that she was ‘enjoying the pleasures of Paradise.’ This early +glamour must, however, have soon passed off; for, though blessed with +good spirits even in her later years, Sophia was without that +gift—sometimes enviable, sometimes dangerous—of seeing things rather as +one wishes them to be than as they are, which her brother Charles Lewis +described himself as having inherited from their mother. And it was this +mother herself to the flaws in whose brilliant and in many respects +noble personality Sophia seems to have been from the first unable to +shut her eyes. It cannot have been only her love of horses and dogs, or +her _penchant_ for what may be called the pleasures of the toilet which +affected both Sophia and her eldest sister Elizabeth unsympathetically; +there seems to have been in the Queen a vein of frivolity, inherited +perhaps from her own mother, which estranged from her these and perhaps +some other of her children, though they could not fail to recognise that +her life was devoted to the interests of her family as a whole. It must, +however, have been to his sister Elizabeth, and not to Sophia, that +their brother Charles Lewis refers in expressing a hope that their +mother may not find reason ‘to use her with the former coolness.’ + +----- + +Footnote 27: + + As to Rheenen, the best account appears to be contained in J. + Kretzschmar, _Mittheilungen zur Geschichte des Heidelberger + Schlosses_, pp. 96-132, which I have not seen. There seems at one time + to have been a notion of making it over to Prince Rupert; but it + afterwards became the property of Sophia, who says that it had cost + 40,000 crowns to build (_Briefe an Hannov. Diplomaten_, p. 229). The + Electress Sophia, not being able to sell the property at its estimated + value, made it over to her son Ernest Augustus. + +----- + +Of her eldest brother, Charles Lewis himself, Sophia can have seen but +little in the days of the family life at the Hague and Rheenen, although +she afterwards grew warmly attached to him and came to regard him, as +she says, in the light of a father rather than of an elder brother. He +was a prince of remarkable intellectual gifts, which, till on his +father’s death he by his mother’s wish took service under William II, +Prince of Orange, he had cultivated to so much purpose at the University +of Leyden, that he was afterwards credited with a share in the writings +of Pufendorf, the chief glory of the restored University of Heidelberg. +His disposition resembled his youngest sister’s in not a few points, as +their correspondence shows. His nature, like hers, was at bottom both +kindly and humorous, and, while both had a turn for sarcastic wit, there +was, one must confess, a coarse fibre in both for which the habits and +traditions of Palatinate life are not to be held altogether responsible. +It must have been because of this natural wit, rather than because of +the avarice born of necessity which Charles Lewis displayed in later +passages of his career, that he was called _Timon_ by his brothers and +sisters, to whom Shakespeare, with whose plays Charles Lewis was not +unacquainted, is quite as likely as Lucian to have suggested the +nickname. He was through life a friend of English literature, and, so +late as 1674, John Philpot’s edition of Camden’s _Remains_ was dedicated +to him. There is evidence of his having had other literary tastes—among +the nicknames which he gave to his eldest son by Louisa von Degenfeld +were those of ‘Pantagruel’ and ‘Lancelot du Lac.’ But his favourite book +was the Bible (‘_meinliebotes Evangelium_’). At the same time he was, +like his sister Sophia, free-spoken on all subjects; though, on +occasion, as is not wonderful when his experiences are remembered, a +pathos welled up in him which she, not so much from cynicism as from +habitual self-control, steadily repressed.[28] Nor was he free-spoken +only; he might be called a free-thinker but for that aforesaid love of +the Bible which, together with a double share of his intellectual +alertness, he bequeathed to his daughter Elizabeth Charlotte, Duchess of +Orleans. + +----- + +Footnote 28: + + See his extraordinary outburst of passionate woe on receiving the news + of the death of a daughter (in 1674) in _Briefe des Kurfürsten Karl + Ludwig an die Seinen_, pp. 234-5: ‘I do not know, why the Lord God + seeks to try me so—when I have but a few years more to live, and after + all did not create myself, and have no conscious desire of committing + any sin,’ &c. + +----- + +After his father’s death, Charles Lewis had been acknowledged as Elector +Palatine by King Charles I and some of the German Protestant Princes; +and his mother, though he was and always remained the darling of her +heart, would have urged him to assume his place in the Palatinate, had +not the battle of Nördlingen placed any such attempt out of the +question. Charles Lewis and his brother Rupert were accordingly sent to +England (1635). Here for two or three years they led a life of gaiety +and dissipation; but they could hardly, in any case, have effected +anything to the purpose, even had the young ‘Elector’ devised some more +practical scheme than that of asking the hand of the young Queen +Christina of Sweden. After their return to Holland, however, the two +Princes were, in 1638, stirred to a more vigorous activity on their own +account. They began badly by the loss of all their stores at Meppen in +Frisia; but they, notwithstanding, resolved to make an armed attempt +upon the Palatinate, of which the cost was defrayed by Lord Craven, who +himself held a command in it. They were supported by a Swedish force +under Major-General King (the Lord Eythin of Marston Moor); but, after +siege had been laid to Lemgo, the gallant raid came to an unfortunate +end at Vlotho on the Weser, both Rupert and Craven remaining behind in +captivity. Hereupon, Charles Lewis, in 1639, once more set forth from +Holland with the design of placing himself at the head of the army left +without a leader by the death of Duke Bernhard of Weimar; but Cardinal +Richelieu, whose schemes the success of the adventure would have +thwarted, gave it an unexpected turn by causing Charles Lewis to be +arrested and detaining him, for the most part in prison, during several +months. In 1640, he used the freedom which he had regained for new +efforts, first in Denmark, and then at the Diet of Ratisbon, upon whose +walls Swedish guns were playing. Once more, there was much excitement in +the ‘Palsgrave’s’ favour in both England and Scotland—it was in fact the +last occasion on which King and Parliament might have united in a policy +approved by the nation at large; and when, in 1642, the Emperor +Ferdinand III propounded a settlement which would, on stringent terms, +have restored a portion of the Palatinate, the English ambassador (Sir +Thomas Roe) joined the agents of Charles Lewis in protesting against its +inadequacy. The horrors of war were renewed in the exhausted Palatinate, +and Charles Lewis once more betook himself to England (1644), where he +presented a memorandum to Parliament, which allowed him £30 a day for +his stay in London, but limited it in the first instance to a fortnight. +Early in this year, Louisa Juliana had died, and it almost seemed as if +the hopes of her descendants were to be buried with her; for, though a +dim prospect of a general peace was opening, there seemed little hope +that, in the conflict between the great Crowns, thought would be taken +of the Palatinate. In England, the Civil War had been for nearly two +years in progress; both Rupert and Maurice had, to their brother’s +actual or pretended displeasure, taken service under the King; and it is +hardly possible that, at such a time, Charles Lewis could have reckoned +on obtaining military or pecuniary support for his schemes for the +recovery of his patrimony. He has, accordingly, been supposed to have +harboured deeper designs, and these have been connected with Sir Harry +Vane’s proposal, rather earlier in the year, of dethroning King Charles +I. But whether or not the idea of supplanting his uncle had entered into +Charles Lewis’ mind—and Sophia’s mention in her _Memoirs_ of Vane’s +previous visit to the Hague lends some colour to the conjecture (she +calls him Vain and speaks of him and his large chin without +seriousness)—it is certain that the Prince was well received by the +Parliamentary leaders.[29] In return for his supposed goodwill to their +cause, to which he is stated to have testified even by taking the +Covenant and sitting in the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, he was +granted an annual allowance of £8,000 and assigned the Deanery at +Windsor as a residence, where he thought it most prudent for the time to +give himself up to his scientific studies.[30] + +----- + +Footnote 29: + + As to the possibility of an offer of the Crown to Charles Lewis by the + Parliamentary leaders, see W. Michael, _Englische Geschichte_, &c., + Vol. i. p. 282. + +Footnote 30: + + It should be remembered that in this morigeration Charles Lewis had + the support, up to a certain point, of his mother, who in the days of + the Civil War blamed Queen Henrietta Maria for opposing the attempts + of Charles Lewis to bring about a reconciliation between his uncle and + the Parliament. Gradually, however, all that the King did seemed right + to his sister, and she blamed Charles Lewis for remaining on good + terms with the Parliament. See K. Hauck, _Elizabeth, Königin von + Böhmen_ (Heidelberg, 1905). + +----- + +The career of Prince Rupert, whose personal attractions had eclipsed +those of his elder brother during their former joint visit to England, +was widely to diverge from Charles Lewis’, now that they both found +themselves once more in the land of their maternal ancestry. In those +earlier days, Sir Thomas Roe had informed Elizabeth how the King took +pleasure in the sprightliness of her second son, from whom, in her +fondness for his senior, she had expected so little; and Charles Lewis +himself reported to his mother his dismay that _Rupert le Diable_ was +always in the company of Queen Henrietta Maria, her ladies, and the +Papists. At the same time, Prince Rupert was understood to be engaged in +discussing with his uncle the King wild schemes for the foundation of a +colony in Madagascar. The Princes were recalled home; the Madagascar +scheme collapsed; and Rupert’s Protestantism henceforth stood firm. It +has been already seen how he was taken prisoner in the fight at Vlotho +(1638). The offer of Lord Craven, who had paid £20,000 for his own +ransom, to increase this sum, were he allowed to share Prince Rupert’s +captivity, was refused, and the Prince was lodged in captivity at Linz +under the care of Count Kufstein. He came forth from it, having resisted +all attempts to lure him from his religious belief and into the +Emperor’s service; neither, however, was he inclined to avail himself of +the prospects of a wealthy Huguenot marriage held out to him in Paris. +With his faithful brother Maurice, he hereupon betook himself to +England, where they devoted themselves to the cause of the King in his +struggle against Parliament, and became the very types and exemplars of +the Cavaliers. Across the seas, in New England, the good old Puritan +minister Nathaniel Ward, who had held Rupert in his arms as a child, +‘when, if I mistake not, he promised to be a good Prince,’ prayed that +even now he might be turned into ‘a right Roundhead, a wise-hearted +Palatine, a thankful man to the English,’ and that his soul might be +saved, ‘notwithstanding all his God-damn-me’s.’ But the ordinary picture +of Prince Rupert as general of the horse, impetuous even to +foolhardiness, and as a passionate partisan who could not restrain his +vehemence even in the presence of the King himself, conveys no complete +view either of his services in the Civil War, or of his character. As to +the former, neither the calamity of Marston Moor, for which he was not +responsible, as he certainly was for that of Naseby, nor perhaps even +the surrender of Bristol, should have been allowed to obscure their +lustre. As to his character, he was not less humane than resolute, and +self-reliance was combined in him with the nobler kind of self-respect. +His intellectual curiosity was a genuine family characteristic, though +it happened in him to take a peculiar turn towards applied science and +the technicalities of art.[31] After the fall of Oxford, in 1646, the +Princes Rupert and Maurice left England, the former to hold a command in +France; but, in the year before the execution of King Charles, he once +more came forward to serve the sinking cause of the English monarchy, +and took charge of the royal fleet. Maurice was, of course, once more +found by his side, and, after the King’s death, they engaged in those +remote maritime adventures in the course of which the younger brother +met his death. Rupert’s earlier naval—or buccaneering—career continued +till 1653, when he returned to France, creating a considerable sensation +by his entry into Paris ‘like an old Spanish _conquistador_, with +Indians, apes and parrots.’[32] + +----- + +Footnote 31: + + The honour of having discovered the art of engraving in mezzotint, + frequently claimed for Prince Rupert, seems due to a Hessian officer + named Ludwig von Siegen, who, meeting the Prince at Brussels about + 1654, taught him the new process. See Cyril Davenport, _Mezzotints_ + (‘The Connoisseur’s Library,’) pp. 52-65. + +Footnote 32: + + See K. Hauck, _Karl Ludwig, Kurfürst von der Pfalz_ (Leipzig, 1903), + p. 252. + +----- + +Sophia’s third brother Maurice was, as has been seen, an all but +inseparable follower of his elder Rupert, whose equal he can have been +neither in military genius nor in general intellectual ability and +personal charm—‘he never,’ says Clarendon, who resented the pride of the +Palatines, ‘sacrificed to the Graces, nor conversed amongst men of +quality, but had most used the company of ordinary and inferior men, +with whom he loved to be very familiar.’ Sophia writes to him as to one +little interested in intrigues of State, and his preference through life +seems to have been for the camp rather than the Court.[33] But, whatever +other abatement should be made from the censures with which, like the +brother of his heart, he was visited by both Puritan animosity and +Royalist spite, he most certainly possessed in a rare degree the +soldier’s cardinal virtue of fidelity. Thus we may fain hope that, in +accordance with the most trustworthy account, his fate overtook him, +whelmed beneath the deep gulf of the Atlantic, and that he was not, as a +different tradition would have it, carried off by corsairs to Algiers, +there to linger out a forgotten existence. + +----- + +Footnote 33: + + His mother’s coolness towards him is curious. She communicated the + news of his disappearance to Charles Lewis without a word of sympathy, + and advised that, should he really be at Algiers, no ‘great inquierie’ + should be made, lest his ransom should be fixed at a quite inordinate + height, or Cromwell should purchase him from the corsairs. _Letters_, + &c., ed. A. Wendland, p. 43. + +----- + +The sixth and seventh brothers, Edward and Philip, had been brought up +in common; but in their later lives they were much divided. About 1637, +they had, with their brother Maurice, been sent to school in Paris, +whither, as has been seen, the Palatine family long looked for political +succour; and here they remained after Maurice had taken his departure, +with a view to beginning his military career. In 1645 the elder of the +pair took a step which estranged him not only from his brother Philip, +but from the whole of the Palatine family, and which, together with a +similar proceeding at a later date on the part of Princess Louisa +Hollandina, stands in direct contrast to the general tenour of the +family history. Anne of Gonzaga, second daughter of the Duke Charles of +Gonzaga-Nevers, afterwards Duke of Mantua, was already a celebrity in +French society, when, her amour with Henry of Guise having come to an +end which wounded her self-esteem, she in 1645 secretly gave her hand to +the Prince Palatine Edward, and henceforth became the ‘_Princesse +Palatine_,’ under which name she plays a conspicuous part in the +literature of contemporary French memoirs. We have, however, no concern +here with her share in public affairs at a rather later time, when (in +1650) she effected a union between the two branches of the Fronde and +thus drove Mazarin into temporary exile, and when, after being herself +persuaded by the Cardinal to ‘rally’ to Anne of Austria, she (in 1651-2) +succeeded in bringing over to the same side the Duke of Bouillon and the +great general Turenne.[34] Mazarin, when indicating the price (a great +Court office) at which her support might be gained, described her as a +_femme intéressée_; but, as M. Chéruel observes, it was not this aspect +of her character which was in the mind of Bossuet when, in a funeral +discourse, he dwelt on her great qualities of head and heart. In an age +of confessional propaganda she was a great proselytiser in high places; +and it was a signal instance of her activity in this direction, that she +should have exacted Prince Edward’s conversion to the Church of Rome as +the condition of her acceptance of his hand. For she thus secured to +herself a claim for direct interference in the affairs of the Palatine +House, which still possessed a certain importance and might again +acquire a greater. Her foresight was justified; for, in course of time, +there can be no doubt that she contrived to have a hand in the +conversion of Princess Louisa Hollandina, as well as in yet another +conversion, which made it possible for Charles Lewis’ daughter Elizabeth +Charlotte to become the wife of Louis XIV’s brother, Philip Duke of +Orleans. Although the new Princess Palatine had retained her share of +the wealth of the Gonzaga, notwithstanding the efforts of her father to +accumulate the whole for bestowal on his eldest daughter Marie, who in +this same year 1645 became Queen of Poland, the agitation of Edward’s +mother at the news of his change of religion was extreme, and was shared +by most of her children. Charles Lewis besought his mother ‘with her +blessings to lay her curse’ upon Prince Philip, who was about to quit +Paris for the Netherlands, should he too ‘change the religion he had +been bred in.’ As for Prince Edward, his fortunes were henceforth more +or less severed from those of the family, though we find him, in 1651, +at the Hague, as he passed the ambassadors of the English Commonwealth +in the streets, calling them ‘rogues’ to their faces, and thus doing his +best to embroil the United Provinces with the enemies of the House of +Stewart.[35] With Edward’s daughter, Benedicta Henrietta, born in 1652, +we shall meet again as the wife of John Frederick, Duke of Hanover, +Sophia’s brother-in-law. In her the Palatine type, of which Sophia +herself and her niece Elizabeth Charlotte were such striking examples, +was well-nigh effaced; but it will not be overlooked that by descent she +stood nearer to the English Succession than her father’s youngest +sister. + +----- + +Footnote 34: + + See A. Chéruel, _Le rôle politique de la Princesse Palatine pendant la + Fronde en 1651_. (_Séances de L’Acad. des Sc. Mor. et Pol._, + January-February, 1888.) + +Footnote 35: + + His mother seems to have been pleased with this outburst, and to have + testified to her gratification by presenting to Edward certain family + articles of value—more in number than was agreeable to Charles Lewis. + Edward, who certainly seems to have had in most things an eye to the + main chance, had a cynical vein in him, like some of his brothers and + sisters. When he came to Heidelberg in 1658, accompanied by a + facetious M. de Jambonneau, Charles Lewis writes to his ‘second’ wife: + ‘He turns everything into a joke, so that I cannot bring him on with + me.’ + +----- + +Of Prince Philip’s fateful conduct at the Hague immediately. While, +before his return to her mother’s little Court, Sophia had necessarily +seen little of him or of her brothers there or at Rheenen, she was, as a +matter of course, much thrown into the society of her three sisters. At +first, as she tells us, she was by no means troubled to find them +handsomer and more accomplished than herself, and admired by everybody; +and she was perfectly contented that her juvenile gaiety and +_railleries_ should help to amuse them. ‘Even the Queen took pleasure in +my fun’; for she was gratified to see the child tormented, so that her +wits might be sharpened by the process of being put on her defence. It +became the established practice for her to ‘rally’ any and everybody; +the clever people were delighted by it, and the others were made afraid +of her. Gradually, however, Sophia’s quick ears heard the ‘milords’ at +her mother’s Court say to one another that, when she had finished +growing, she would surpass all her sisters. And the remark inspired her +with an affection for the whole English nation; ‘so greatly is one +pleased, when young, to be thought good-looking.’ + +Elizabeth, the eldest of the Palatine Princesses, though by no means +indifferent to the family interests, or without sympathy at any time of +her life with the troubles either of her father’s or her mother’s House, +was of an introspective turn of mind, grave and thoughtful, and little +inclined by nature to the levity inborn in most of her brothers and +sisters. Both as imbued with the Calvinism in which she had been so +carefully nurtured by her grandmother amidst the congenial Brandenburg +surroundings, and perhaps also because, though an accomplished linguist, +she alone of the sisterhood had no occasion to learn to speak Dutch, she +already as a girl fell into a way of leading much of her life to +herself. At the same time, she was always interested in public affairs, +and more especially in marriage projects, which in those times formed an +important part in politics; and it is noticeable that she continued fond +of match-making even after she had herself settled down to a single +life. Among the suitors for her hand was the young King Wladislaw IV of +Poland, a tolerant and liberal-minded Prince.[36] But the marriage fell +through, because the Diet would not hear of their King marrying an +‘English’ Protestant; and Elizabeth, of whose noble character perfect +veracity formed one of the noblest traits, refused in her turn to listen +to a diplomatic suggestion that she should become a convert to Rome. In +January, 1639, there was a notion of making a match between her and +Bernhard of Weimar. We are not told that the Electoral Prince Frederick +William of Brandenburg—afterwards known as the Great Elector—between +whom and Princess Louisa Hollandina a marriage was at one time +projected, had ever thought of asking the hand of her elder sister. But +he may have met Elizabeth in 1638 at Königsberg, when, after the Peace +of Prague, George William was induced by troubles in his Margravate to +send his whole family into Prussia, whither some of their Palatine +kinsfolk also came; and he was in these years much at Rheenen, where he +cannot but have been attracted by the Princess Elizabeth, whose +unflinching Protestant sentiment resembled his own, which formed a +constant factor in his shifting system of policy. She was afterwards a +visitor to Berlin, where, in 1646, Princess Louisa Henrietta of Orange, +whose spirit was akin to hers, held her entry as Electress, and at +Krossen, where the Dowager Electress (Frederick V’s sister) kept a Court +of her own, and where Elizabeth is said to have specially interested +herself in the instruction of the Elector Frederick William’s sister +Hedwig Sophia, afterwards Landgravine of Hesse-Cassel. We shall see in +what fashion the Great Elector ultimately succeeded in providing for the +peace and comfort of his kinswoman. Before this time, owing chiefly to +her friendship with Descartes, by which she is probably now chiefly +remembered, Elizabeth’s mental horizon had unmistakably widened; and, +though she retained to the last a sincere piety and (a trace or so of +pride of birth apart) a touching modesty of spirit, her growing +familiarity with broader philosophical principles gradually freed her +from some of the narrowing influences of Calvinism. Descartes’ intimacy +with the Princess Palatine, against whose family he had, curiously +enough, in former days borne arms in Bohemia, was during her absence +from the Hague maintained by an exchange of letters between them, of +which the artless Sophia contrived the conveyance.[37] Although the +relations between the great thinker and his matchless pupil were not in +the least of a kind to suggest clandestine methods, Elizabeth was not, +like Queen Christina, independent of control; and Sophia’s services in +screening the correspondence from her mother’s unsympathetic notice, +while they earned her the gratitude of the first philosopher with whom +she was brought into personal relations, show that, notwithstanding her +raillery and ridicule of her eldest sister’s moments of distraction, +kindly feelings prevailed between them. Elizabeth’s refined beauty, +though it was hardly in reference to this that her sisters nicknamed her +_la Grecque_, is described by Sophia in her _Memoirs_ very vividly, but +not without an admixture of spite. + +----- + +Footnote 36: + + This was at the time (1636) when Charles I was very active in his + negotiations on behalf of the Palatine House, sending Lord Arundel on + a special mission to Vienna, projecting an alliance with the + States-General and France, and scheming the Polish match mentioned in + the text. Everything failed. + +Footnote 37: + + The correspondence of the Princess Elizabeth and Descartes extends + over the years 1643 to 1649. Comte Foucher de Careil, after publishing + his _Descartes et la Princesse Palatine_ in 1862, was enabled to + supplement the letters of Descartes by those of the Princess in a + second volume, published in 1879. A most interesting summary is + furnished by V. de Swarte’s attractive _Descartes Directeur Spirituel: + Correspondance avec la Princesse Palatine et la Reine Cristine de + Suède_ (Paris, 1904). + +----- + +The second of the sisterhood, Louisa Hollandina, is stated by Sophia not +to have been so beautiful in the days of the Hague and Rheenen as +Elizabeth, but, as it seemed to the young critic, of a more pleasing +disposition. ‘She applied herself entirely to painting, and her love of +this art was so strong, that she made likenesses of people without +having ever cast her eyes upon them.’ This master-passion possessed her +to the last, although, perhaps, it was only when Honthorst touched up +her pictures that they did full justice to his teaching. Some of her +handiwork is to be found in the galleries containing portraits of her +family; an Annunciation was painted by her at the age of seventy-three, +and several other pictures from her hands were bestowed by her upon the +parish churches in the vicinity of Maubuisson during the period of her +rule there as an Abbess. In her younger days, as we learn from the +observant Sophia, Louisa Hollandina, while intent upon painting the +portraits of her friends and acquaintances, was too neglectful of her +own personal appearance. On the other hand, it seems wholly unjust to +infer from the ripple of unaffected gaiety which overspread the calm of +her maturer years, that her nature was essentially frivolous. While her +life, as we shall see, was one of piety and unselfishness, we may +conclude her to have possessed in her youth what she preserved in her +old age—much of her youngest sister’s intellectual alertness and +vivacity, and perhaps also something of her humorous turn of mind, +without attaining to the depth of thought, any more than she had passed +through the intellectual training, that distinguished their elder, +Elizabeth. + +Of Sophia’s third sister, the Princess Henrietta Maria (so named after +Charles I’s charming but ill-starred Queen), a portrait is drawn in the +_Memoirs_ hardly less attractive than that which pictures her on canvas. +But of the younger Henrietta Maria’s disposition and character nothing +is recorded, except that she cared only for needlework and preserves, by +which latter taste of her sister’s Sophia declares herself to have been +the principal gainer. She must, however, have had her share of the +delightful vivacity which marked her sisters Louisa Hollandina and +Sophia—for the Queen of Bohemia was afterwards vividly reminded of her +ways by the irresistible _espièglerie_ of the little Elizabeth +Charlotte. Largely through the match-making activity and Protestant +sympathies of her sister Elizabeth, a marriage was, in 1651, brought +about between Henrietta Maria and Prince Sigismund, a younger son of +Prince George I of Transylvania, who had died in 1648, after carrying +his throne and country safe through eighteen years of peril, first as +the ally of Sweden and France, and then under Turkish pressure in +friendly relations with Austria. But she died a few months after her +outlandish marriage, and was soon followed to the grave by her husband, +who did not live to witness the troubles which in the end overwhelmed +his brother, the reigning Prince George II. + +Such were the brothers and sisters who were the objects of Sophia’s +unstinted affection in the youthful years of which she has drawn so +pleasant a picture and which to her were beyond all doubt the happiest +of her life. Nor has she refrained from drawing her own portrait as a +young girl, with light-brown hair naturally falling into curls, of gay +and unembarrassed manners, of a well-shaped but not very tall figure, +and with the bearing of a princess. Like most of her family, and +especially like her favourite brother Charles Lewis, whom their mother +the Queen had been wont to call her ‘little black baby,’ she had the +complexion of a _brunette_. Even more than by their royal mien and +handsome features, these Palatines were distinguished among other men +and women by the _vis vivida_ with which they were hereditarily endowed. +Although, however, to their mother display was second nature, and +although during her residence in the United Provinces she was in the +long run most fortunate in the bounty, interested or other, of her +hosts, yet the time came when she could not keep more than the ghost of +a Court, and as a matter of fact frequently found herself in sore +straits. In 1645 one of her sons describes her Court as worried by rats +and mice, but most of all by creditors. And Sophia, who was still young +enough to find even financial difficulties good fun, writes that her +mother’s banquets were more sumptuous than Cleopatra’s, since in order +to provide them she had sacrificed not only pearls but diamonds. Yet +even the poorest of royal exiles are rarely left without hangers-on, +moved by the remembrance of past kindness or by the expectation of +favours to come; and such Court followers as ‘Tom Killigrew,’[38] ‘the +elder,’ as he is usually called, and the ‘reverent Dick Harding,’ of +whom she often makes humorous mention in her letters, appear to have +clung to the Queen’s skirts till the end of her exile was at hand. But +she and her family had other friends, or at least one other friend, Lord +Craven, whose attachment and devotion were of the sort that gives rather +than takes, so much so that one can hardly imagine how but for him she +would have tided over her troubles. Of little body, but with a soul full +of generosity, he had gone forth in 1631 to serve under the Swedish +deliverer; and very soon he had begun to identify himself with the cause +of Elizabeth, and to lay at her feet what he had saved of the great +fortune bequeathed to him by his father, the Lord Mayor of London.[39] +It has been seen how his sword had been drawn and his treasure spent in +the futile raid upon the Palatinate; and now he was back at the Hague +paying the homage of his service to the unfortunate Queen. But Lord +Craven, though at the time little more than forty years of age and +destined to outlive by some thirty-five the loved Queen of whom an +unauthenticated tradition persists in asserting him to have finally +become the clandestine husband, seemed to Sophia’s disrespectful young +eyes merely a kind old gentleman with a purse full of money, and with a +quantity of little trinkets to bestow upon the young folk. She appears +not to have thought him quite so brilliant a member of society as it was +his wish to be, although among other things which she heard him say +purely for the sake of effect was the assertion that, when he chose, it +was in his power to think of nothing at all. Perhaps she shrewdly +suspected the _vieux milord_, as she calls him, of a tender sentiment +for her mother; perhaps she could not help looking down upon him as, +with all his munificence, a new man; for the Palatines were as proud as +they were poor. + +----- + +Footnote 38: + + ‘Tom Killigrew is here, who makes a rare relation of the Queen of + Sweden.’ (Elizabeth to Sir Edward Nicholas, in Evelyn’s _Diary and + Correspondence_, Vol. iv. p. 216.) Not long afterwards, in January, + 1655, moved perhaps by the remembrance of the sport made by him of + Christina, she makes a humble suit on his behalf to her royal nephew. + As late as 1705 Sophia (then Electress Dowager) is found speaking with + scant respect of this ancient and faithful, but somewhat volatile, + Cornish family, the remembrance of whom still survives at Falmouth. + ‘Tom Killigrew’s’ son Robert was anxious to commend himself to the + favour of the Electress; but she left it to her ‘posterity’ to attend + to his claims. (_Briefe an Hannoverische Diplomaten_, p. 195.) + +Footnote 39: + + The Earl of Craven took his title from the deanery of that name in + Yorkshire, of which his father (Sir William Craven) was a native. See + D. Whitaker, _History and Antiquities of the Deanery of Craven_, 3rd + edn., by A. W. Mount, Leeds and London, 1878. + +----- + +Of their pride—or at least of that of some of the members of the +family—a lurid illustration is to be found in an episode of the year +1646 which, tragical in its results, went far towards creating a +permanent breach between the Queen of Bohemia and some of her children. +Colonel de L’Épinay, formerly a favourite of the Duke of Orleans, had +brought with him from France to the Hague the reputation of an _homme à +bonnes fortunes_ or lady-killer, something in the style of the +Königsmarck to be mentioned on a later page of this biography. He had +gained a footing at the Queen of Bohemia’s Court, where probably no very +rigorous rules were observed as to affairs of gallantry; and here rumour +was once more busy with his supposed triumphs. The Queen of Bohemia +herself was said—it does not appear on what authority, but the laws of +evidence are not much studied in schools for scandal—to have looked on +him with favour. Her daughter Louisa Hollandina was, so far as we know, +only connected with de L’Épinay through the malicious pen of Madame de +Longueville, who, on her return from a visit to Holland, declared that, +after casting eyes on the Princess, she no longer thought that anyone +would envy him his crown of martyrdom. In any case, the pride of Prince +Philip, who may have known something in France about the earlier +adventures of this squire of dames, had taken umbrage at his actual or +rumoured proceedings at the Hague. A quarrel ensued between the Prince +and de L’Épinay; of which the end was that one evening in June, Prince +Philip, returning home late with a single companion, was assaulted by +two Frenchmen, and that, while defending himself against them, he +recognised de L’Épinay as one of his assailants, and called out his +name. De L’Épinay took to flight; but meeting him on the following day +in the market-place, Philip rushed upon him and engaged him in a +hand-to-hand struggle. In this de L’Épinay lost his life. The deed, +possibly for more reasons than one, roused the anger of the Queen of +Bohemia against her son Philip; he fled from Holland, and, though +Charles Lewis pleaded for him with his mother, she never seems to have +been reconciled to him. He was one of the most luckless of the +brotherhood. On his leaving Paris, his eldest brother had sought to +obtain employment for him under the English Parliament; but the attempt, +doubtless made with the view of strengthening Charles Lewis’ own +interest in that quarter, proved futile, and the unfortunate Philip was +left to his own devices. In 1649, we find him in the company of Charles +Lewis (who seems to have had a special kindness for him), on the +occasion of the entry of the Elector into the capital town of his +diminished patrimony. Philip met with his death in the battle of Rethel +in 1650, fighting among the French royalists against Turenne and the +Spaniards. On the occasion of the killing of de L’Épinay the Princess +Elizabeth appears to have taken her brother Philip’s side; indeed, +according to one version of the matter, it was she who had instigated +him to commit the fatal deed. In any case, she in 1646 absented herself +from her mother’s Court and the Low Countries for more than a year; and, +though she seems afterwards to have returned thither for a time and +certainly to have been again on good terms with the Queen, her life was +henceforth generally led apart from her mother. No deeper sympathy can +at any time have existed between them. Princess Louisa Hollandina +remained at her mother’s Court for eleven years after the de L’Épinay +affair, leading, it is stated, an exemplary life, and gradually falling +more and more under the dominion of religious ideas very far removed +from the sphere of those which came home to her sister Elizabeth. + +Not very long after Sophia’s introduction to her mother’s Court a +succession of English visitors were attracted to it, whom the troubles +that had broken out on this side of the sea had driven across.[40] In +1642 came Queen Henrietta Maria, to ask assistance from the +States-General for King Charles I, and bringing with her the Princess +Royal, Mary, the youthful wife of the heir of the House of Orange, upon +whom was afterwards to be thrust so important a part in the affairs of +her adopted country. By discovering in Sophia a slight resemblance to +her own daughter, Madame, Henrietta Maria gratified the authoress of the +_Memoirs_ so sincerely as to induce her to revise her first criticism of +the little Queen of England’s charms. More direct compliments were +before long paid to Sophia by some of the English lords and gentlemen; +and, as time went on, the English residents at the Hague began to +speculate very eagerly upon her chances of securing the hand of no less +a personage than her cousin the Prince of Wales, who at the time of his +father’s confinement in the Isle of Wight (which she spells _Weit_) was +about to seek a refuge in Holland. But this scheme, or rumour of a +scheme, was strongly resented by the Princess of Orange (Amalia von +Solms), whose soaring ambition was intent upon gaining the valuable but +not very easily negotiable prize for one of her own daughters. While to +Mary, the future Princess of Orange, the Queen of Bohemia’s heart seems +to have opened with a warmth of feeling which she was not in the habit +of manifesting towards her own daughters, a very different sentiment had +come to animate her towards Prince Frederick Henry’s consort. Upon the +favour of her former dependant, who aspired to be in everything but name +a Queen, Elizabeth now herself in a sense depended. We cannot, +therefore, place implicit trust in the account of the intrigue the +_Memoirs_ state to have been set on foot by Amalia. If the back-stairs +information received by Sophia was correct, the Princess of Orange +sought to ruin her young kinswoman’s reputation by causing an unmarried +son of her own to compromise her by his advances. Though this trick fell +through, yet, when the Prince of Wales had reached the Hague in 1648, it +soon became evident to the Queen of Bohemia and her daughter that there +would not and could not for the present be on his part any question of +marriage. + +----- + +Footnote 40: + + One of the members of the Queen of Bohemia’s Court in Holland was + James Harrington, the author of _Oceana_, a relative of her former + guardian, Lord Harington. He had just left Oxford, and afterwards took + service under Lord Craven. + +----- + +Charles remained in Holland after to him, in his turn, a barren royal +title had accrued. When the terrible news of the execution of King +Charles I arrived in Holland, it came home with the utmost poignancy to +his sister and her family. The younger Elizabeth in particular was +almost overwhelmed, physically and mentally, by the catastrophe; and for +once the philosophical reflexions of Descartes, which certainly fell +short of the occasion, afforded her little or no comfort. The time had +of course long passed when any service could be rendered to the Palatine +family by the King to whose good offices it had of old looked forward so +hopefully; and, in this very year 1648, after two years of weary +negotiations, which had almost taken the heart out of the efforts of +Charles Lewis and his agents, the Peace of Westphalia had at last +restored to him part of his patrimony, with the dignity of Elector. The +Lower Palatinate with the fair town of Heidelberg was his once more; but +the Upper remained with Bavaria, whose Duke retained the first temporal +Electorate, while to the Elector Palatine fell only a newly created +eighth. Alike for the Palatine House, and for the Electorate recovered +by it, the conditions of the Peace were full of disappointment and +humiliation; but the worst, at all events, had not happened, when there +was some danger of its happening; and Descartes could impress upon his +friend and pupil the expediency of her brother’s accepting the half-loaf +which Fate had bestowed upon him. + +In the meantime, the thoughts of Sophia—and perhaps not hers alone in +the family—were still turned chiefly in a different direction. When the +most enterprising of the followers of ‘King Charles II,’ the gallant +Montrose, early in 1650 started for Scotland with a royal commission, he +had, Sophia tells us, resolved on demanding from the King, should the +enterprise prove successful, the hand of her sister Louisa Hollandina. +Sophia’s own chances of securing her royal cousin’s hand still formed a +subject of speculation; and, on his return from France in 1650, the +Princess of Orange still thought it worth while to influence the +Presbyterian leaders among the King’s suite (Hamilton and Lauderdale) +against Sophia, on the ground that she was a bad Presbyterian and in the +habit of accompanying his Majesty to Common Prayer. Sophia was with her +mother at Breda, when Charles agreed to take the Covenant. This, she +writes, was not the only weakness she observed in him. From the first he +had shown her pleasant cousinly attentions; but of a sudden, at the +instigation of certain of his followers who had designs upon Lord +Craven’s purse and took this roundabout way of seeking to open its +strings, these attentions developed rather alarmingly. After some +extravagant compliments to her charms, which he pronounced superior to +those of ‘Mistress Berlo’ (a misspelt _alias_ of Lucy Waters), he +informed Sophia that he hoped to see her in England. But, with the same +circumspection in dangerous situations which she displayed in later +years, she preserved her name free from taint on the occasion of this +trying adventure. She had, as she says, wit enough to perceive that this +was not the way in which the marriages of great princes are made, more +especially as at Breda she noticed that ‘the King,’ who had previously +sought opportunities of conversing with her, avoided them in the +presence of the Scottish Commissioners. Thus she in her turn sagaciously +contrived to keep out of his way; and this first brief vision of an +English throne, which had probably excited those around her more than it +had moved herself, came to an end. ‘King Charles II’ passed out of the +horizon of Sophia’s hopes and calculations; and, when afterwards he +returned to Holland, his prospects were much darker, and she was no +longer resident at her mother’s court. + +It could hardly be but that this episode, although it had touched +neither her honour nor her heart, should have made Sophia all the more +ready to quit her mother’s court, in which of late years new troubles +had begun to add themselves to old sorrows, and which was now no longer +the centre of the life of the Palatine family. In 1650 she was evidently +rather tired and out of harmony with a sphere of existence in which at +the outset she had taken so much pleasure; and this not so much for any +special reason as because it was gradually borne in upon her that ‘her +joy could not endure there.’ Thus it was settled between her and two +ladies in her particular confidence, whom she calls the Ladies Carray +(Carr?) and Withypol (the latter is mentioned under the name of ‘fraw +Wittepole’ as residing in Heidelberg Castle in 1658), and the good Lord +Craven, that she should try a change of scene and life by starting in +their company to pay a visit to her brother, the restored Elector +Palatine, at Heidelberg. At first her mother the Queen objected, still +clinging to the fancy of a match between her youngest daughter and the +head of the House of Stewart. At last, however, she acquiesced on being +assured that this consummation would not be prevented by the proposed +journey; and so, borrowing a vessel from the friendly States of Holland, +Sophia, who was now in her twentieth year, and whose travels had +hitherto not extended beyond an occasional jaunt to Leyden, Delft, or +Rheenen, in the summer of 1650 set forth on her voyage up the Rhine +towards Heidelberg and the unknown. + + + + + II + + EARLY WOMANHOOD AND MARRIAGE + (HEIDELBERG, 1650-1658) + + +A home, to which Elizabeth of Bohemia was fated never to return, was +opened to her daughter Sophia. For eight years—from 1650 to 1658—she was +the guest of her beloved brother Charles Lewis in that part of the +Palatinate which had been at last restored to the family in his person. +To these congenial surroundings she easily acclimatised herself; nor did +she ever afterwards forget how, before her destiny at last bore her away +from Heidelberg and its familiar neighbourhood, the interests of her +maiden life had long centred in the affairs of her brother, in his +troubles both public and private, and in his children, for whom her +large heart never ceased to cherish a peculiar tenderness, even after +the welfare of her own numerous family had become the chief anxiety of +her existence. She was not at first aware that her departure from +Holland had been against her mother’s wish—a fact which she discreetly +passes over in her _Memoirs_.[41] After telling of her leisurely journey +along the route formerly followed by her parents on their wedding +journey home, she graphically describes the forlorn poverty which stared +her in the face, when she first entered her brother’s shrunken +dominions. He and his Electress met her at Mannheim and took her on with +them to Heidelberg, where the castle still lay in ruins, and they had to +lodge in the town. + +----- + +Footnote 41: + + Charles Lewis wrote to his mother in much trouble on the subject, only + eliciting the reply that ‘as for Sophia’s journey, I will never keep + anie that has a minde to leave me, for I shall never care for anie + bodies companie that does not care for mine.’ _Letters_, &c., ed. A. + Wendland, p. 9. + +----- + +In truth, the Lower Palatinate had barely begun to recover from the +tribulations which it had undergone both in the earlier and in the later +periods of the Thirty Years’ War; and the population was literally the +merest fragment of what it had been before the outbreak of the +conflict—one-fiftieth part of it, according to a calculation which it +seems almost impossible to accept. Moreover, Charles Lewis only +gradually recovered possession even of the moiety of his patrimony +allotted to him, nor was it till 1652 that the last Spaniard quitted the +land. It is all the more to the honour of this Prince, and in a measure +atones for the grievous aberrations of his private life, that after his +restoration he should have held his head high in the Electoral College, +to which, as his father’s son, he had been so grudgingly readmitted; and +still more, that during the whole of his rule—which lasted till 1680—he +should have spared neither thought nor effort for the welfare of his +sorely tried subjects. + +It was not his fault that, while engaged in these beneficent labours, he +had again and again to turn the pruning-hook back into a sword.[42] In +1666, he maintained a brave heart through his weary campaigning against +French and Lorrainers, although he met with little luck under arms and +suffered severely in health. Five years later, he sacrificed the +happiness of his daughter Elizabeth Charlotte by yielding to the French +demand for her hand, and went near to sacrificing his honour by allowing +her, against her own wish or disposition, to be converted to the Church +of Rome. When, in 1674, the first of the wars between the Empire and +France broke out, Charles Lewis may have indulged in some passing dreams +of an Austrasian kingdom under French supremacy; as a matter of fact, he +found that neither the Orleans marriage nor his exertions to remain +neutral protected his unhappy lands from invasion and its attendant +horrors. Things went better when, in 1675, he had thrown in his lot with +the Empire; for there can have been no truth in the rumours which made +themselves heard in the city of gossip, Venice, that his father’s son +was aiming at the Bohemian Crown. The troubles of the Palatinate +recommenced when, in 1679-80, the French added to pretended reprisals +the monstrous mockery of the so-called _réunions_; but of these Charles +Lewis only survived to see the beginnings, and he was spared the +bitterness of witnessing the devastation of his beloved Palatinate in +the so-called Orleans War, of which his own daughter’s supposed claims +were, to her unspeakable anguish, made the pretext. For the rest, the +Elector Charles Lewis was a genuine son of the Palatinate, to which he +devoted so much care and labour; he loved its good things, including the +Bacharach wine, whose praises he sang in homely dithyrambs, and the +wealth of choice fruit, mindful of which he denounced the sour pears and +bullet grapes outside his own promised land. Like his daughter after +him, he was nowhere so happy as in the midst of it, and his very diction +is coloured with a proverbial phraseology of native Palatinate growth. +As late as 1665, he is found declaring that if ten years more of life +were granted him, and no war or pestilence came in the way, he would, +_en despit de l’envie_, turn Mannheim into a second Rome. Nor were his +thoughts only set upon material things; whether justly or not, he was +regarded as one of the most learned princes of his age; he was +consistently anxious to revive the prosperity of the University of +Heidelberg, and had nearly crowned his efforts on its behalf by securing +Spinoza as one of its teachers. The education of his own children was to +him a subject of anxious and minute care.[43] In his youth, the evil +times on which Charles Lewis had fallen had (it is not uncharitable to +assume) taught him to dissimulate; but in his later years he had +retained little of the Puritan associations of his earlier manhood +except a love of the Bible and a hatred of Rome, and of priests and +priestcraft in general. He was, in short, a most liberal-minded and +tolerant Prince, who found satisfaction in the _Imitatio Christi_ as +well as in the New Testament, who would gladly have made his Palatinate +a refuge for persecuted adherents of any religious creed, and whose +dedication, not long before his death, of a church (at Mannheim) to +_Sancta Concordia_ was far from being an empty pretence. He had, +moreover, inherited his mother’s taste for poetry, and during his +sojourn in England had acquired considerable familiarity with its +literature, and its drama in particular. In a way it brings Sophia +herself nearer to us that her favourite brother freely quoted +Shakespeare, that a version by him of Ben Jonson’s _Sejanus_ was acted +at Heidelberg, and that he was so sturdy a critic as to pronounce the +Spanish drama superior to the French, but the English best of all. + +----- + +Footnote 42: + + The celebrated _Wildfangsstreit_, which was carried on by Charles + Lewis in the years 1665 and 1666, is passed by in the text, where few + readers would probably care to find it discussed. This strange dispute + turned on the rights of the Electors Palatine over bastards and aliens + (_Wilden_) in their own and _adjoining_ territories, and troubles + which had thence arisen between Charles Lewis and his neighbours, in + which the Great Elector of Brandenburg was involved through his + alliance of May, 1661, with the Elector Palatine. The Great Elector’s + efforts brought about a settlement on the whole favourable to his + ally. (See _Urkunden und Aktenstücke zur Gesch. d. Grossen Kurfürsten + Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg_, Vol. xi. (_Polit. Verhandl._ Vol. + vii.). Ed. F. Hirsch, Berlin, 1887). + +Footnote 43: + + He drew up elaborate instructions for the tutors and governesses of + the Electoral Prince Charles and Princess Elizabeth Charlotte. One of + the former was Ezechiel Spanheim, who had accompanied his father, a + rigid Calvinist, when the latter had been summoned to Leyden by + Elizabeth and the States-General. Ezechiel was himself called from + Geneva in 1656 to Heidelberg, where he afterwards passed from theology + to diplomacy. It was in the Brandenburg service, which he had entered + in 1680, that he was accredited to the English Court, of which he + wrote an _Account_ (1706). He was buried in Westminster Abbey. + +----- + +But, heavy as were the burdens laid upon the head of the Palatine House +after Charles Lewis’ partial restoration, the troubles that came nearest +home to him, and that in the end infected the whole atmosphere of his +court, were of his own making. He cannot be held accountable for the +financial difficulties which obliged him to discourage his mother’s +desire to return to the Palatinate; and, even before the troubles in +question broke out, more general considerations may have rendered him +the reverse of eager for her presence. His policy was to bury the past, +which she in a sense typified; and he may have feared her extravagant +ways, and thus preferred to lighten her expenditure by inviting his +sisters Elizabeth and Sophia to his capital. His offer of some rooms in +the _Ottheinrichsbau_ of Heidelberg Castle, which he could not afford to +furnish, failed to attract, and the hope which she had cherished, that +she might end her days in her own good dowry town of Frankenthal, it was +not in his power to fulfil. Meanwhile, the compensation for the +temporary occupation of the place by the Spaniards, which had been +promised in the Nürnberg settlement of 1651, supplementary to the Peace +of Westphalia, remained unpaid by the Emperor. Charles Lewis, who had in +the first instance to think of his Electorate and its defences, was +without resources enabling him to respond to his mother’s requirements; +and the recriminations which followed on her part left the situation +unaltered. Even before mother and son had been at odds on this subject, +there was a dispute between them as to various heirlooms at the Hague +and at Rheenen, which she refused to give up to him as he demanded. In +short, their correspondence had reached a most painful stage, and it is +pitiful to read the description of the sore straits to which she found +herself reduced, just when the cloud seemed to be at last lifting from +the fortunes of their House. She was, she wrote, entirely dependent upon +the monthly allowance of the States-General; it amounted only to a +thousand florins, and was not made for more than a single year, and she +had only accepted it as a _pis aller_ when she found it out of the +question that her claims on payments from England should be made part of +the Anglo-Dutch treaty concluded in 1654. As a matter of fact, her case +was a very hard one; for her creditors had never been so pressing as +now, when there seemed a chance of payment; the very heirs of the +faithful Ludwig Camerarius demanded the redemption of a favourite jewel +which she had pawned to them; all her children were in debt like +herself, from the high-minded Elizabeth to the volatile Edward; and it +is touching to find her entreating a loan of a thousand pounds for the +purpose, because the jewel ‘was my brother Prince Henry’s.’ At an +earlier date, Charles Lewis had suggested to an agent that it would be +desirable for her to approach Cromwell as to the relief of her +creditors, but was told in reply that she would certainly never do this, +‘but only break into passion against those that should give such +advice.’ So matters went on till other reasons came to a head which made +the Elector undesirous of receiving her at his Court; and his seeming +ingratitude infused another drop of bitterness in her cup. + +The quarrel between Charles Lewis and his brother Rupert, which became +mixed up with the cardinal trouble of the elder brother’s later years, +and caused great sorrow to their mother, had its origin in the financial +difficulties which beset them all. In 1653, the Elector had settled a +modest allowance on his brother Edward, and in 1654 he made a similar +arrangement with Rupert, who on his arrival in Paris had entered into +negotiations on the subject through the Palatine envoy, Pawel von +Rammingen. Rupert was to be allowed 2,500 dollars _per annum_, to rise +after five years to 4,000, while the Emperor agreed to pay him a +substantial sum under the Nürnberg settlement. But Rupert could not sit +down contented with this compact, and, quite in the spirit still +prevailing in many of the princely Houses of Germany, demanded a share +of the Palatinate territory as his younger brother’s portion. Charles +Lewis at first dallied with the proposal, which, however, could not be +to his mind, more especially as he had no wish for introducing into his +Electorate the permanent influence of so martial and combative a spirit +as his brother’s. Rupert, however, insisted on his demand, and in 1656, +after refusing to receive any further payments of his allowance, asked +for an immediate interview. The Elector having declined to receive him +at Heidelberg, but offered to meet him at Neustadt, and in the meantime +to increase his allowance, the fiery Prince repaired uninvited to the +capital, and, having been refused admittance to the castle by the +colonel in command, swore an angry oath that he would never return to +the Palatinate, and passed on to Mainz. Here he proceeded to lay his +grievances before the Arch-Chancellor of the Empire, and then offered +his sword to the Emperor. But, though he seems to have actually entered +into the Imperial service, he found its atmosphere uncongenial, and, +when in 1661 he made another attempt to obtain a high command (in the +Turkish War) and at the same time to obtain payment of the sums promised +him under the Nürnberg settlement, he was unsuccessful. This failure he +ascribed to the intrigues of his brother the Elector, and he now settled +down after a fashion in England, whither he had betaken himself on the +Restoration. Though it was not till later that the brothers were again +on good terms, the dispute between them was settled in 1670, when the +arrangement of 1654 was put into force again, Rupert’s allowance being, +however, raised from 4,000 to 6,000 dollars, the balance of the Nürnberg +compensation paid over, and the Rheenen property being given up to +him—an old notion of his mother’s, which he had formerly rejected.[44] + +----- + +Footnote 44: + + In 1655 she writes to Charles Lewis that she had sent him all that she + could spare in the house there, and entreats him at the same time to + dismiss the concierge, ‘for he is the veriest beast in the world and + knave besides.’ See _Letters_, &c., ed. A. Wendland, p. 67.—I have + revised my account of the dispute between Charles Lewis and Rupert + with the aid of K. Hauck, _Karl Ludwig, Kurfürst von der Pfalz_, pp. + 251 _sqq._ + +----- + +At the time when Charles Lewis’ quarrel with Rupert broke out, the elder +brother was in the midst of a difficulty which, unlike those just +described, was essentially of his own making. Of this trouble Sophia’s +quick wit had, already on arrival at Mannheim, and first meeting with +her brother the Elector and his bride, detected the germs. She had +perceived at once that all was not well between the pair. While her +brother met her with his usual geniality of manner, the Electress, whose +mien was _fort dolente_, said very little. When the party proceeded to +Heidelberg, where Sophia had the satisfaction of seating herself in the +best-appointed carriage on which she had cast eyes since her departure +from the Hague, she found that her praise of this vehicle gave offence +to her sister-in-law, to whom it had been presented as her +wedding-coach, and in whose opinion it was vastly inferior to one +presented to her sister for her marriage with the Prince of Tarento. +This afflicting comparison was, however, only the first and slightest +clause in her long litany of grievances. + +Charlotte Elizabeth, daughter of Landgrave William V of Hesse-Cassel, +and his wife, Amalia Elizabeth, seemed marked out by descent as a most +fitting consort for the restored Elector Palatine. Her grandfather, +Landgrave Maurice, had in his day been one of the foremost +representatives of militant Calvinism, and at once the boldest and the +most steadfast of all the Princes of the Union. Her mother, the +Landgravine Amalia, deserves lasting remembrance as one of the most +remarkable Princesses of her age, by whose exertions Hesse-Cassel was +preserved from ruin in the Thirty Years’ War, and to whom more than to +anyone German Calvinism owed the rights of parity at last secured to it +in the Peace of Westphalia. But her married life with the Elector +Charles Lewis, which began in February, 1650, proved a singularly +unhappy one; nor can there be any pretence but that she was made to +suffer grievous and intolerable wrong. It is at the same time undeniable +that the aggravating elements in her character—to Sophia’s critical eye +there seemed to be such even in her beauty—contributed to the beginning +of the end. Sophia rapidly arrived at her own conclusions as to the +intellectual capacity of her sister-in-law—what with her love of dress +and her stories of Duke Frederick of Würtemberg-Neustadt, not to mention +the Brunswick-Lüneburg Dukes, George William and Ernest Augustus, and +several other admirers, to whom she had been forced by her mother to +prefer her present jealous ‘old’ husband. In his turn, Charles Lewis, +although he far too demonstratively adored his handsome wife, confessed +that there were defects in her education, which he entreated his shrewd +youngest sister to correct. Very soon, however, Sophia perceived that +the comedy was taking a serious turn. The quarrel between the pair began +with an outburst of jealousy on the part of the Elector, followed, in +more violent fashion, by another from the Electress. Charles Lewis +hereupon became violently estranged from his consort; and his aversion +was deepened by a passion which he conceived for one of his wife’s +maids-of-honour, Baroness Louisa von Degenfeld. Perhaps this more +decorous Anne Boleyn was rendered all the more attractive in his eyes by +her literary turn of mind, if we may judge from their initial +correspondence under names borrowed from an Italian novel,[45] and from +the liking which she afterwards showed for such classics as Lucian, +Corneille, and Molière. For some years or so, however, the husband and +wife rubbed on together, two children being born to them. The elder, +born 1651, was Charles, afterwards Elector Palatine, the last of the +Simmern line, who died less than five years after his father (1685); had +he survived, he must of course have stood before Sophia in the English +Succession. In most respects he had little character of his own, perhaps +partly because he had been over-educated; but he was a devout Calvinist, +and would probably have remained such had it been his fate to mount the +throne to which, in earlier times, some of the English Parliamentary +politicians may have thought of raising his father. The younger of the +two children, born 1652, was Elizabeth Charlotte, the _Liselotte_ of her +father’s affections and of those of her aunt Sophia, by whom she was +partly brought up, and a darling of whose later years she became. + +----- + +Footnote 45: + + This was quite in the style of the age, which loved the mystifications + of pseudonyms, and of ciphers without much concealment. Elizabeth + mentions that her daughter Sophia writes to her about Berenice’s + business (Sophia’s own), and that they are discussing it with + Tiribazus (Charles Lewis). _Letters_, &c., p. 91. + +----- + +For a time the Elector contrived to conceal his amour from his wife; +but, in 1657, a letter addressed by Prince Rupert to the Elector’s +mistress, by whose beauty and wit he seems to have been attracted on a +previous visit, having fallen into the hands of the Electress, and the +quarrel between the brothers having probably contributed to exacerbate +matters, there was an end of the secret. Put on the track of her +husband’s infidelity, the Electress ruthlessly ran him and his mistress +to earth; and the result was a public scandal without an equal in the +domestic annals of this anything but shamefaced age. The Elector having +at last withdrawn from Heidelberg with Louisa von Degenfeld, whom he in +the first instance settled with many precautions at Schwetzingen, there +ensued a long and disgraceful series of proceedings which, to the +unfortunate Electress, must have recalled a notorious episode of her +native Hessian history in the days of Landgrave Philip the +‘Magnanimous.’ Salving his conscience as best he might with the +obsequious assistance of his court divines, Charles Lewis, early in +1658, married Louisa von Degenfeld as his second wife. He had previously +conferred upon her the ancient title of Raugravine Palatine, with a +provision that a corresponding titulature was to be transmitted to their +issue. From this abnormal union, which lasted till Louisa’s decease, +twenty years afterwards, there sprang not less than fourteen children, +of whom eight survived their mother. The marriage—if marriage it may be +called[46]—supplied him with the felicities of a tranquil home, though +for some time he had to keep watch over it with an anxious care, of +which the humorous aspect escaped him, against the evil designs imputed +by him to ‘X,’ his repudiated wife, and though her Hessian relations +long endeavoured to assert her rights. Latterly the ‘second wife’ seems +chiefly to have resided with her children at Frankenthal, where the +proud Queen of Bohemia had hoped to find repose for her last years. The +correspondence between Charles Lewis and Louisa shows him to have been +entirely faithful to her, and to have passionately loved his children. +But, though his fidelity to his chosen companion was unswerving, the +relations between them were disturbed by occasional dissensions. On her +death he put forth, together with an account of her Christian ending +drawn up by the divine whom he had originally consulted as to his +‘second marriage’ (Hiskias Eleazar Heiland), an elaborate analytical +statement of her virtues and shortcomings during their union, for which, +with a conscientiousness showing that there was still a drop of +Calvinistic blood in his veins, he had himself contributed the most +important materials. For his children, the surviving Raugraves and +Raugravines, he had intended to make ample provision, but had perplexed +himself so much about its conditions, that his legitimate son and +successor, the Elector Charles, declared all his father’s arrangements +on the subject invalid. Several of the sons afterwards distinguished +themselves in the field. Charles Maurice, who was till his death in 1702 +a familiar figure at Hanover, and who is the Trimalchio of the banquet +‘after the manner of the ancients’ described in Leibniz’s correspondence +with Sophia, drank away his remarkable intellectual powers. But the +children of Louisa von Degenfeld were treated kindly by the Dowager +Electress Charlotte, and Sophia took them one and all to her heart, more +especially the two sisters Louisa and Amalia, ‘_les deux sibylles de +Francfort_.’ Louisa was in later years at Hanover appointed Mistress of +the Robes; and it is said that there was at one time some intention of +entrusting her with a confidential mission to England in connexion with +the Succession question. + +----- + +Footnote 46: + + It is, Elizabeth plainly told her son, ‘both against God’s law and + man’s law.’ _Letters_, &c., p. 92. + +----- + +After the death, in 1677, of Louisa von Degenfeld, Charles Lewis, having +in the first instance (with Sophia’s approval) taken to himself a +mistress, was desirous of inducing the Electress to consent to a +divorce, which would have enabled him by a ‘third’ marriage to seek to +secure the Succession of his (the Simmern) line, resting as it did on +the life of his legitimate son Charles only.[47] But Charlotte Elizabeth +was not found ready to oblige her erratic husband thus far. Prince +Rupert, with whom Charles Lewis had gradually come to be on better +terms, had already, in 1675, declined to come to the rescue. The +match-making Princess Elizabeth had in vain desired a match between her +brother Rupert and her young kinswoman Princess Charlotte Sophia of +Courland.[48] That young lady’s aunt, Landgravine Hedwig Sophia of +Mecklenburg-Schwerin, opined that nothing would come of the match, +especially as Prince Rupert was on the look-out ‘not only for beauty, +but for means.’ As a matter of fact, the ardour of Rupert’s aspiring +youth had by this time settled down into a sober though still singularly +active maturity; moreover, he had formed a connexion so close that it +has been suspected to have amounted to a secret marriage, with Francesca +Bard, an Irish Roman Catholic lady of good birth, with whom and their +child, called ‘Dodley’ (Dudley) by Sophia, the indulgent Palatine family +were on friendly terms. But neither this boy nor, of course, Ruperta, +Prince Rupert’s daughter by the actress Margaret Hughes, was ever +formally acknowledged by him; and thus this brother, too, left no +descendant who when the time came, might have forestalled the claims of +Sophia and her progeny to the English Succession. + +----- + +Footnote 47: + + The Queen of Bohemia was very anxious about her grandson, in whose + early days she had recorded with satisfaction that the little Prince + of Orange (William III) was a year older, but considerably smaller in + size. + +Footnote 48: + + She died at an advanced age as Abbess of Herford. + +----- + +Sophia’s own life at Heidelberg, though much clouded by her brother’s +domestic troubles, of which more than enough has now been said, and +towards which, in its initial stages, she appears to have borne herself +with a discretion already habitual to her, was by no means without its +agreeable aspects. It had at first been made uncomfortable by the ways +of the Electress Charlotte, whose favourite amusements, field sports and +the card-table, were not much to Sophia’s personal taste. Still, the +life of the Palatine court, though an economy little dreamt of in former +days now prevailed there, was not without diversions in which she took +pleasure—among them those _Wirthschaften_, a fashionable amusement +half-way between a fancy fair and a _bal costumé_, of which the Queen of +Bohemia had shared the vogue in Holland. Mention has already been made +of Charles Lewis’ familiarity with the literature of the English stage; +and the English comedians whom he saw at Frankfort possibly also found +their way to Heidelberg. But his sisters had more direct opportunities +for keeping up their interest in England and things English, since +Charles Lewis seems to have entertained a good many English gentlemen at +his capital, where some of them settled down as they have done in later +days. Among his English guests was the former Parliamentary General, Sir +William Waller, though with the Restoration Charles Lewis became a good +Royalist again, and contrived to put himself on good terms with Lord +Chancellor Clarendon. We have already seen how Prince Rupert himself was +an occasional visitor at Heidelberg, as was his younger brother +Edward—though the latter proved so full of ‘_ralierie_’ that Charles +Lewis refused to take him to visit the lady whom he wished to be +regarded as his wedded wife. Before this, Princess Elizabeth had, in +1648 and again in 1651, arrived as a visitor at the Electoral Court—much +changed, as on the latter occasion Sophia and Edward thought, both in +outward appearance and in tone of mind, which Sophia expressly +attributes to her recent sojourn at Berlin, at the Court of the pious +Electress Louisa Henrietta. Perhaps, too, she was saddened by the death +of Descartes (1650), and perhaps by a growing estrangement from her +mother; in any case, her whole nature was more and more tending towards +that contemplative life whose attractiveness for some minds seems so +incomprehensible to others. Unfortunately, as Sophia confesses, she was +weak enough to join her brother and sister-in-law in rebelling against a +certain air of superiority which in their eyes Elizabeth seemed to +assume. She warmly interested herself in the Elector’s efforts to give a +new life to the University of Heidelberg, where she is said to have +acquired a personal reputation by her exposition of the Cartesian +philosophy. Sophia’s day for listening to the conversation of +philosophers had hardly yet arrived, and she at no time aspired to place +herself on what may be called the professorial level. There is no +appearance of the two sisters having been permanently alienated from one +another; but mutual sympathy could not otherwise than dwindle between +one who was preparing to bid farewell to the world, and one who was +intent upon establishing her position in it. + +The real reason of Sophia’s quitting Holland had been her sense of the +uncertainty of her own position there; yet, even had the prospect been +wholly agreeable, she could not now look forward to a permanent +residence at the strangely distracted Court of her eldest brother. As +the solitude of a religious, or of a quasi-religious, life would not +have been to her mind (though it was about this time that she sat for +her portrait in the costume of a Vestal Virgin), a suitable marriage +engagement had, in a word, become a necessity for her. So attractive and +high-spirited a princess might fairly expect to find an acceptable +husband without having, like her sister Henrietta Maria, to espouse a +Transylvanian prince. Unluckily, in the latter part of 1651 or beginning +of 1652, Sophia underwent an attack of small-pox, which, as she +confesses, seriously impaired her beauty. But she had no mind to take +whoever might be the first comer; and not long after her recovery she +declined overtures made to her on behalf of the Portuguese Duke of +Aveiro; ‘having had thoughts of marrying a King she could not stoop to a +subject.’ In much the same mood she about this time broke off an +innocent correspondence (on the subject of compositions for the guitar) +into which she had entered with a prince with whom she had in her +childhood made acquaintance in Holland, and who, when recently passing +through Heidelberg on his way to Venice, had seemed to her more charming +than ever. This prince, who ‘pleased everybody,’ was no other than her +future husband, Duke Ernest Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Since, +however, he was the youngest of four brothers and (as will be seen +immediately) without any present prospect whatever of enjoying any +territorial dominion of his own, he was clearly not _bon à marier_; and +it was best to avoid a kind of gossip of which Sophia had only too vivid +an experience. + +There appears to have been some talk of other matches for Sophia, and +above all of a design of marrying her to a more important personage than +the disinherited King of England—the young King of the Romans, who, as +such, during the last year of his life bore the designation of Ferdinand +IV.[49] It is true that, in 1652, the Elector Charles Lewis had, on the +occasion of his being received by the Emperor Ferdinand III within the +unconscious walls of Prague, established excellent relations between the +Imperial House and himself. But it is difficult to suppose that anything +could have come of this scheme, which would have involved as a +preliminary transaction the conversion of Sophia to the Church of Rome; +and the statement that the young King of the Romans had fallen in love +with Sophia, and intended to marry her, rests only on the authority of +the Duchess of Orleans. Charles Lewis might, in the interests of the +Palatinate, have assented to the match; but Sophia would assuredly have +refused it with more determination than was afterwards shown by her +niece when the Orleans marriage proposal was pressed upon her. The +earlier project, however, came to a speedy end with the death of the +young Roman King in 1654. + +----- + +Footnote 49: + + A match between his grandfather, afterwards Emperor Ferdinand II, and + Sophia’s great-aunt on the mother’s side, Princess Hedwig of Denmark, + had been suggested in 1617. + +----- + +Thus the first suitor proper of Sophia during her stay at her brother’s +Court was Prince Adolphus John, brother of the newly crowned King of +Sweden, Charles X Gustavus, and like him a scion of the Zweibrücken line +of the Palatine House. Though he had no prospects of the throne, he was, +as his subsequent conduct at a critical moment after his great brother’s +death showed, an ambitious prince, and his suit was favoured by the +Electress Charlotte, who would have been pleased to be rid of her +sister-in-law. But Sophia looked very coolly on the negotiations that +ensued; for she had conceived an aversion to this suitor, which she +declares could only have been conquered by a virtuous effort. He was a +widower, and was said to have ill-treated his first wife. Fortunately +for Sophia, the difficulty of marrying a princess who had been trained +as a Calvinist into a rigidly Lutheran land, stood in the way of the +proposal; and, though the match was announced with much satisfaction to +Secretary Nicholas by the Queen of Bohemia for the information of King +Charles II, the negotiations were still incomplete, and the King of +Sweden’s approval of his brother’s offer in doubt, when the likelihood +of another proposal intervened. The House of Brunswick-Lüneburg, this +time in the person of George William, the second of the brothers between +whom its territorial inheritance was divided, now appeared upon the +scene. It will be more convenient to review at a rather later point the +general position and prospects of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg at the +time when Sophia definitively threw in her lot with its destinies, and +when the first step was thus taken towards its acquiring an interest in +the question of the English Succession. At the time of his visit to +Heidelberg, in 1656, George William, afterwards the ruler of the +Lüneburg-Celle portion of the paternal inheritance, held the +Calenberg-Göttingen portion, and resided at Hanover. He had recently +been urged to marry by his Estates, who were anxious to avert any +likelihood of blending the several divisions of the family inheritance; +and, though he had always felt the strongest repugnance to any such +step, much preferring to a married life the Venetian pleasures of +bachelorhood, he now thought of giving way to the Estates, if they would +in return vote an increase in his revenue. George William and his +brother Ernest Augustus were united by an intimacy and affection as +close as that which in the next generation tied the namesake of the +latter to his eldest brother George Lewis (George I); and there is every +probability that it was the report of Ernest Augustus after his earlier +visit which induced George William to make preliminary enquiries through +an agent, George Christopher von Hammerstein, who was much in the +confidence of the dynasty. Hereupon he paid a visit to Heidelberg in +person, but accompanied by his favourite youngest brother. George +William’s attentions to Sophia were well received; and though (for the +painful reasons to be indicated below) she could never have been brought +to confess it in her _Memoirs_, her heart seems to have been really +touched; and it may be added that, through all the vicissitudes which +ensued, she retained a kindly feeling towards him. As for the present, +she allows that when at last he requested her permission to ask her hand +from her brother, she failed to answer like a heroine in romance, ‘for I +did not hesitate to say Yes.’ Probably what attracted her in George +William, whose political principles must at the time have been a matter +of indifference to her, while she could not, like King William III in +later days, have much sympathised with his love of hunting and of a good +glass of wine, was the comparative refinement of manners which +distinguished both him and his younger brothers among the German princes +of the day. Though two of the Brunswick-Lüneburg Dukes afterwards came +to be known as resolute opponents of the political designs of France, +yet George William and Ernest Augustus, as well as their brother John +Frederick, belonged to the new school of German princes, who loved the +society and cultivated the fashion and manners of Frenchmen, and who +with more or less of success sought to model their Courts on Versailles. +This fact should not be overlooked; for patriotic Englishmen (especially +when in Opposition) afterwards made a constant point of deriding the +unrefined Teutonism of the Hanoverian Court. At the same time, George +William’s frequent visits to Italy, and especially to Venice, cost a +great deal of money to the Estates of his principality; and they were +accordingly anxious that he should arrive at a settlement, while he, +with a view to the bargain proving to his advantage, kept the engagement +to which the Elector Palatine had assented as secret as possible. Of a +sudden there came from Venice, whither the brothers had proceeded after +their visit to Heidelberg, the unexpected and mortifying news that +George William, who had been leading a loose life at Venice, had found +it necessary to break off his engagement. Sophia, though ‘too proud to +be touched,’ thus found herself placed in a most cruel position. Who can +say what in these circumstances might have been the result of an offer +made to her on behalf of Ranuccio II, Duke of Parma (dependent, of +course, upon her previous conversion), had not her Hanoverian suitor +shown himself most anxious to do what in him lay to remedy the wrong +which he had inflicted on her? He now proposed that his youngest brother +Ernest Augustus should marry her in his stead, taking over with her the +principalities at present held by George William, and in return only +promising to pay to the latter a comfortable pension. But to this +arrangement the third of the four brothers, John Frederick, a prince of +much ambition as well as obstinacy of character, very naturally objected +as unfair to his own interests, and a serious illness which had befallen +Ernest Augustus further delayed proceedings. Thus it was not till 1658 +that the transaction was actually carried out, though on lines somewhat +different from those first contemplated. Sophia’s hand was transferred +from Duke George William to Duke Ernest Augustus, the former undertaking +to remain unmarried during the lifetime of his brother and his consort, +and in that of any male heirs whom they might leave behind them. This +renunciation, for which there were several precedents in the annals of +the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg and doubtless in that of other German +princely houses also,[50] is set forth at length in the original German +in Sophia’s _Memoirs_, though even she could not when copying it out be +aware of the full significance which it possessed for the future of the +family. She knew, however, that of her husband’s three brothers the +eldest was childless and the third still unmarried, while the second had +renounced the prospect of lawful issue. The possibilities of future +importance which her marriage now open to her husband and herself were, +therefore, wholly due to the arrangement by which this marriage was +accompanied. The renunciation of George William contained in it the germ +of the greatness which awaited the line founded in his stead by his +brother; while the consequences of the fact that his promise was half +broken, half kept, clouded the initial stage of that greatness with the +shame of a terrible family catastrophe. Sophia dwells on the weakness +and inconstancy of George William in yielding to the demands of his +councillors that he should reduce the handsome yearly allowance promised +by him to his brother; unhappily, as she hints, the same defects were to +be exhibited by him in matters of far greater gravity. + +----- + +Footnote 50: + + According to Spittler, not less than six of the uncles of George + William (brothers of Duke George) promised to remain unmarried. + +----- + +Sophia’s engagement to Ernest Augustus was for a time kept secret from +her mother; but she seems to have borne the pair no malice, and to have +sent her blessing in due course, with congratulatory letters from King +Charles, in English to the bride, and in Latin to the bridegroom.[51] + +----- + +Footnote 51: + + _Letters_, &c., ed. A. Wendland, p. 100. + +----- + +The Elector Charles Lewis, however, who acted in the place of a father +to his sister, found the expenses of her marriage weigh heavily upon his +reduced finances. ‘Besides her due,’ he wrote to the Queen, his mother, +by way of excusing himself for being ‘uncapable of what her Majesty was +pleased to require of him,’ ‘I am bound to an extraordinary, more +especially for the friendship she always shewed me, and because nobody +else hath done anything for her.’ Sophia tells us that on Ernest +Augustus’ arrival for the wedding she found him lovable, because she had +made up her mind to love him; and something of this resolute spirit of +attachment may, in the face of many provocations to the contrary, be +said to have characterised her relations to him throughout their married +life. According to Leibniz, the wedding took place towards the end of +September, 1658; but, according to a contemporary authority cited by +Sophia’s biographer, Feder, the date was October 17th of that year. She +describes the wedding solemnities, which, if not so magnificent or +appealing so persuasively to the imagination as those of her mother on +the banks of the Thames, showed the Palatine House to be equal to itself +in the maintenance of a stately etiquette. A few days afterwards he +posted back to Hanover, and she soon followed, attended by an ample +escort which he had provided for her. The indispensable Hammerstein +conducted the journey, on which her brother, the Elector, accompanied +her as far as Weinheim. She held her entry into Hanover on November +19th, being received by the whole family, her mother-in-law, the Duchess +Anna Eleonora (widow of Duke George), at its head. On her wedding-day +Sophia had, like her niece Charlotte Elizabeth on her subsequent +marriage with the Duke of Orleans, renounced any future claims to the +Succession in the Palatinate, unconscious of the remoter claims which +she was to owe indirectly to her Palatine, as well as directly to her +English, blood. But, though she dearly loved her brother, and shed a few +tears on parting from him, they would, as she declares, have flowed more +abundantly had her heart not been with her husband, and, as we may add, +had not her hopes rested on the future which she went forth to meet by +his side. + +While to Sophia, at an age of life neither late nor very early—for she +was near concluding her twenty-eighth year—married life thus opened with +its duties, cares, and consolations, it was otherwise with the two +sisters of whom she has told us most, and whose life was likewise to be +prolonged beyond the period of early womanhood. (Her third sister, +Henrietta Maria, had died already in 1661.) Both of them, by a singular +dispensation of fate, at a time not far removed from that of her +marriage, embraced a religious life, though in two different communions; +each was to end her days as the abbess of a conventual establishment, +revered and beloved in no ordinary measure by those around her. Since +Sophia’s marriage, though it cannot be said to have estranged her from +either of these sisters, concentrated her interests upon spheres of +activity from which theirs were in the main or altogether removed, the +present may be the most appropriate place for recalling the twofold +picture of their later lives, whose tranquillity contrasts so strangely +with the agitations with which hers was necessarily filled. + +The Princess Elizabeth, whom we have seen more or less absorbed in her +own high thoughts and ennobling pursuits while still a resident at her +mother’s Court in Holland, and again actively interested in the learned +studies for which the rule of her brother, the Elector, had once more +provided a home at Heidelberg, remained behind in the Palatinate for +some three or four years after Sophia’s marriage. They cannot have been +happy years, for the scandal of the Elector’s second union was now at +its height, and the Electress, on whose side, whatever Charlotte’s +faults of temper, her sister-in-law’s high sense of moral rectitude +could not fail to range her, still held out, perhaps chiefly for the +sake of the Electoral children.[52] When, in 1662, the Electress, her +own efforts and those of her kinsfolk having proved vain, at last left +Heidelberg for Cassel, Elizabeth followed her thither. In the preceding +year her attached cousin, the Elector Frederick William, had named her +Coadjutress of the Abbess of Herford, and her ultimate destiny was thus +assured. The six years (or the greater part of them) which intervened +before she succeeded the Countess Palatine Elizabeth Louisa as Abbess of +the Westphalian convent were peacefully spent by her at Cassel, in the +society of the Landgravine Hedwig Sophia, a daughter of her aunt, the +Electress of Brandenburg, and herself a lady of strong religious feeling +and, as her administration of her dower-estate of Schmalkalden showed, a +determined Calvinist. Elizabeth’s own Calvinism, it is interesting to +note, had, already before she settled for the remainder of her days at +Herford, assumed a peculiar hue. She seems about this time to have been +much impressed by the Dutch divine, Johannes Cocceius, professor at +Leyden, whose personal acquaintance she had made on a visit to her aunt +at Krossen. Cocceius, who played an important part in the religious +movement known as Pietism, in so far as it affected the Reformed or +Calvinistic Church, recalls to us other eminent religious teachers in +whom the evangelical and the latitudinarian have been blended. The gist +of this teaching was a direct appeal to Scripture and a deprecation of +any insistence on the _formulæ_ of dogma. Elizabeth, whose mind had +expanded, and whose religious conceptions had deepened under influences +very different from the rigid Calvinism of an earlier type, welcomed the +simple and profound enthusiasm of Cocceius and of the so-called +‘Lodensteyners,’ whom the endeavour to bring home religion to the +individual mind and conscience had all but led into secession or +sectarianism. Thus it came to pass that, after Princess Elizabeth had, +in 1667, become Abbess of Herford in her own right, her rule was +signalised by her sympathetic relations with sectarian movements. + +----- + +Footnote 52: + + In 1660 and the following year there is a good deal of talk and solemn + banter between Dr. Worthington and his correspondent S. Hartlib as to + the expected arrival in England of the Princess Elizabeth with her + mother. Dr. (Henry) More is repeatedly referred to as specially + interested in the hoped-for event. On May 28th, 1661, however, Hartlib + reports a profane piece of gossip: ‘I hear a secret of the Princess + Elizabeth that Lord Craven is like to marry her. I wish she were in + England, that she might marry Dr. More’s Cartesian notions, which + would beget a noble offspring of many excellent and fruitful truths.’ + (See _Diary and Correspondence of Dr. Worthington_, edited by J. R. + Crossley for the Chetham Society, Vols. i. and ii.; and cf. Crossley’s + note on the Princess in Vol. i. _s. d._ October 15, 1660. The Princess + Elizabeth never came to England. + +----- + +In the middle of the seventeenth century the prosperous Westphalian +Hanse town of Herford which had always been Lutheran, had lost its +position as a free imperial city, and had been finally annexed by the +Elector of Brandenburg, as representing the former Protectors of the +Abbey. This foundation had been Lutheranised rather less than a century +before; but since the time of the Thirty Years’ War the Abbess might be +either a Lutheran or a Calvinist, and the Brandenburg influence of +course favoured the second alternative. Though she had lost her +sovereign rights, she was still regarded as an Estate of the Empire, and +as such represented at the Diet; she had a Court of her own, with +regular (even hereditary) officers, and a limited jurisdiction; and with +her and her Chapter was connected a foundation, which indeed outlasted +them, for the education of young ladies of family. The position was thus +one of considerable traditional dignity and actual influence; and +nothing of either was lost in the tenure of Elizabeth, a true princess +as well as a genuine student. She was at the same time well aware that, +as a matter of fact, the authority of the Abbess of Herford was +dependent upon the stronger arm of the Elector of Brandenburg—in her +case a dependence ungrateful neither to the protector nor to the +protected. + +Thus, when in 1670 she was asked to extend the hospitable shelter of +Herford to Jean Labadie and his following of women and men, which from +some fifty gradually rose to seven or eight times that number, her first +step was to assure herself of the consent of the Great Elector. With +him, as with her, religious tolerance was a constant principle; nor is +there any reason for assuming that the goodwill shown by her towards +both Labadists and Quakers had any other root than Christian humility, +wherein for such as she lies the beginning of wisdom It is of course +easy to trace the more immediate influences by which she was drawn to +the founder of the now half-forgotten sect of Labadists. He had begun +his career as a Jesuit, and, after seeking to set up a new congregation +within the Church of Rome, had become a convert to Calvinism, and in +this new sphere tried the experiment over again with a freer hand, and +with greater success. At Geneva he was assisted in his endeavours by the +brother of Anna Maria von Schurmann, whose learning had made her the +‘wonder of her age,’ but whose thoughts were now set on other things. +Soon afterwards, she permanently associated herself with Labadie’s +attempt to realise without delay his scheme of the true Church. After +ministering to a small Walloon congregation at Middelburg in Zeeland, he +was duly excommunicated; whereupon he carried on his work at Amsterdam, +in a small community with peculiar institutions, as a declared +schismatic. It was from the tyranny of the Amsterdam mob that, at her +friend Anna Maria von Schurmann’s request, the Abbess of Herford +summoned, them to take refuge in the ‘liberties’ of her abbey. Very +soon, notwithstanding the Elector’s approval of her reception of the +fugitives, the Lutheran burghers of Herford raised a loud clamour +against the practices of the strangers, and then tried to starve them +out, till a commission of enquiry, appointed by the Elector, arrived in +the town. During the respite thus obtained another visitor, attracted by +motives of curiosity, arrived at Herford in the person of the Abbess’ +sister Sophia. She brought with her no faith in supernatural gifts and a +mocking tongue; and the account of her visit admirably illustrates the +innate difference between the two sisters. The report of the commission +was on the whole favourable to the liberties of the strangers; and, +after Elizabeth had with much spirit refused to obey a mandate of the +Imperial Aulic Tribunal at Speyer ordering their removal, and had +journeyed in person to Berlin to bring about a decisive intervention on +the part of the Elector, the question was solved in 1672 by the +imminence of the French invasion of the Low Countries. This danger +obliged Labadie and the majority of his followers to fly t`o Holstein, +while the rest remained behind under the protection of the Abbess. Thus +closed a noteworthy episode, in the course of which a high-minded and +enlightened princess had, on behalf of a band of sectaries with whom her +own sympathy can hardly have been other than imperfect, successfully +upheld the cause of tolerance against both official and civic +bigotry.[53] + +----- + +Footnote 53: + + The Labadists seem to have ultimately taken refuge in Maryland, where + the sect was gradually absorbed and is now almost forgotten. (See + Bartlett B. James, _The Labadist Colony in Maryland_, John Hopkins + Press, 1899.) + +----- + +The last of the Labadists had not yet left Herford, when Elizabeth began +to hold intercourse with a sect of greater significance than theirs in +modern religious history—the English Quakers, or, as we find her brother +Charles Lewis disguising their name, ‘quaquors.’[54] Three years later, +in 1667, she received two visits from William Penn and Robert Barclay +during their missionary journey in Holland and Germany, including the +Palatinate. From Penn’s account of these interviews, and the letters +exchanged between him and the Abbess, it is clear that the latter, who +was on both occasions attended by her intimate friend, Countess Anna +Maria van Hoorn, a canoness of the Abbey, was deeply moved by Penn’s +appeals to her heart and conscience. But it is equally clear that the +humility which bade her listen prevented her from accepting the +conclusion that she, too, was divinely called to teach. Her mind was +equipped; her soul alert; but she still waited. Five years later, when +she had passed away from the religion of doubts and difficulties, Penn +inserted in a new edition of his treatise, _No Cross no Crown_, among +the testimonies to the significance of _Serious Dying as well as +Living_, the following reminiscence of ‘the late Princess Elizabeth of +the Rhine’:— + + She chose a single life, as freest of care, and best suited to the + study and meditation she always inclined to; and the chiefest + diversion she took, next the air, was in some such plain and + housewifely entertainment as knitting, &c. She had a small territory, + which she has governed so well, that she shewed herself fit for a + greater. She would constantly, every Last-day in the week, sit in + judgment, and hear and determine cases herself; where her patience, + justice, and mercy were admirable; frequently remitting her + forfeitures, where the party was poor, or otherwise meritorious. And, + which was excellent, she would temper her discourse with Religion, and + strongly draw concerned parties to submission and agreement; + exercising not so much the vigour of her power, as the power of her + persuasion. Her meekness and humility appeared to me extraordinary. + She never considered the quality, but the merits of the people she + entertained.... Thus, though she kept no sumptuous table in her own + Court, she spread the tables of the poor in their solitary cells.... + Abstemious in herself, and in apparent void of all vain ornaments. + + I must say her mind had a noble prospect. Her eye was to a better and + more lasting inheritance than can be found below, which made her often + to despise the greatness of Courts, and the learning of the Schools, + of which she was an extraordinary judge. + +----- + +Footnote 54: + + The passage (in _Schreiben das Kurfürsten Carl Ludwig_, &c. must be + quoted: ‘To-day we have had in our presence an English _quaquor_ or + trembler; I repeatedly silenced him, for his mind works very slowly + indeed; he never takes off his hat and always calls me “thou”; but he + loses his temper if he is contradicted.’ + +----- + +Then he gives instances, very simply put, of her way of deprecating too +narrow an interpretation of the duty of paying respect to our betters; +of her distrust of her power to walk in the straight way she had chosen; +of her humility towards the humblest; and he concludes: + + I cannot forget her Last Words, when I took leave of her, ‘Let me + desire you to remember me, though I live at this distance, and that + you should never see me more—I thank you for this good time; and know + and be assured, though my condition subject me to divers temptations, + yet my soul hath strong desires after the best things.’ + +In view of this record of the eternal longings with which this beautiful +soul was filled at the last, it seems vain to make any reference to the +earthly cares which still from time to time occupied her, in connexion +no doubt chiefly with the family history, or even to the intellectual +occupations which continued to engage her interest to the last. She was +a diligent collector of books and manuscripts, and the last great +writers with whom she corresponded were Leibniz and Malebranche, the +mystical and Christian follower of her former teacher, Descartes. +Shortly before her death, Elizabeth sent for her sister Sophia to pay +her a long visit, and received her, Sophia relates in her _Memoirs_, +with a joyfulness as if an angel from Heaven had descended to heal her. +She then notes that the Abbess had been surrounded by people whose +melancholy notions of a religious life had made hers a martyrdom. Wasted +away in body, she was, however, calm in spirit and prepared for death, +though full of sympathy with her sister and with the troubles which +might await Sophia out in the turbulent world. Elizabeth died in peace +at Herford Abbey in February, 1680; a letter addressed by her to her +sister Louisa Hollandina, Abbess of Maubuisson, shows that more than +three months before she was already making herself ready for death.[55] + +----- + +Footnote 55: + + I must take leave to insert here the inscription on her tomb in the + Abbey Church, Herford, kindly copied for me by Miss A. D. Greenwood, + who mentions that the name of the Princess Palatine is commemorated in + that of the Elizabethstrasse, a curly old street near the Minster: + + D. O. M. + H. S. E. + Serenissima Princeps et Antistita Herfordiensis + ELISABETH + Electoribus Palatinis et Magnæ Britaniæ Regibus orta + Regii prorsus animi Virgo + Invicta in rebus gerendis prudentia ac dexteritate + Admirabili eruditione atque doctrinâ + Supra sexus et ævi conditionem celeberrima + Regum studiis Principum amicitiis + Doctorum vivorum Literis ac monumentis + Omnium Christianorum gentium linguis ac plausibus + Sed maxime propriâ virtute + Sui nominis immortalitatem adepta. + Nata anno 1618, die 26 Decembris + Denata anno 1680, die 8 Februarii + Vixit annos 61 mensem 1 et dies 16 + Rexit annos 12 menses 10 et dies 2. + +----- + +Not much is known as to the life of the Princess Louisa Hollandina +herself during the years which followed on the occurrence of the de +L’Épinay scandal, and which she quietly spent at her mother’s Court in +Holland. Nothing seems to have been bruited abroad concerning her except +that she was leading an exemplary life, and that she was very intimate +with a lady whose name is given as Madame d’Oxsordre, and had frequent +conversations with her on the subject of ‘the bases of the Protestant +religion.’ In other words, a propagandist influence was steadily at work +upon her, and in the end she made up her mind to become a convert to +Rome. Conversions to Roman Catholicism were common during the whole of +this period, and there can be little doubt but that in this particular +transaction her brother Edward and his wife, the Princess Palatine Anne +(of Gonzaga), had an important share. In December, 1657, Louisa +Hollandina, who had reason enough to fear the maternal wrath should her +intention become known, secretly left the Hague at night-time in the +habiliments of a maid-servant, and made her way to Antwerp, where, in +January, 1658, she abjured Protestantism for the Church of Rome. Her +change of confession was not the result of any sudden resolution, but it +could not fail to incense as well as grieve her mother, whose wrath, +however, fell upon Princess Maria Elizabeth of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, +hitherto an intimate of her court. Whether or not a letter from this +lady to Princess Louisa Hollandina had finally determined her flight, +further letters from the same hand, which appear to have been +accompanied, or preceded, by the whisperings of verbal scandal, +reflected in no measured terms on the Palatine _ménage_. Elizabeth +hereupon insisted on the expulsion of the slanderer from her place of +residence, Bergen-op-Zoom, pending further enquiry. The ‘Princess of +Zollern’ hereupon entered into a series of further charges, culminating +in the suggestion that Louisa had been obliged to fly in order to +conceal her shame. The Queen behaved with prudence as well as dignity, +counselling her son the Elector to contradict this calumny, but to do so +quietly and civilly, without demanding proofs as if he had any doubts on +the subject. In December, 1658, or thereabouts, Louisa Hollandina +addressed a not undignified letter to her mother, in which she announced +her admission into the Church of Rome, which the occasion of the +Christmas Communion had made necessary to her conscience, and begged her +mother’s pardon for the trouble thus caused to her. About the same time +the Princess made her way to Havre, having ascertained that she would be +received with open arms by the French Court, which had formerly remained +deaf to her mother’s solicitations for support. Immediately after +Louisa’s arrival on French soil, she was welcomed by her brother, the +Prince Palatine Edward, and conducted by him to the Abbey of Maubuisson, +near the river Oise, and almost immediately facing Pontoise, the ancient +capital of the Vexin. Edward’s own daughters, Maria Anne and Benedicta, +were being educated here, each receiving at the same time a handsome +pension out of the Abbey funds. This ancient Benedictine nunnery +(originally planted in a wooded part of the country infested by +brigands; whence the name _le buisson maudit_) dated from the middle of +the thirteenth century, and the favour accorded to it by Queen Blanche, +who was buried in the convent after assuming its habit on her deathbed, +attracted to it the frequent presence of her son, St. Louis. His example +was followed by other sovereigns of France, and the later history of the +Abbey is full of interest. But here it must suffice to say that, in the +second half of the sixteenth century, the prevalent decay of conventual +life in France particularly affected Maubuisson, which had so long been +connected with the Court, and lay so near to Paris, and that this +corruption became complete under the reckless _régime_ of Angélique +d’Estrées, the sister of Henry IV’s Fair Gabrielle, who was herself +buried with one of her infants in the Abbey. After her death Henry IV +came there no more; but this period of worldly misrule was not ended, +till in the next reign Mère Angélique came from Port Royal to reform +Maubuisson under the supervision of St. François de Sales, and after a +hard struggle effected her purpose. Once more there was a terrible +backsliding; but better times returned in 1627 with the choice as Abbess +of the worthy Mère des Anges (Marie Suireau) who was really a nominee of +Mère Angélique’s, and who brought with her a fresh infusion of religious +zeal from Port Royal. Her twenty-three years of conscientious +administration once more restored the convent to a well-ordered and +pious life. On her return to Port Royal, the worthy abbess of Lieu Dieu +became Abbess of Maubuisson, where in the course of her short rule she +received Louis XIV; and after her Louisa Hollandina’s immediate +predecessor, Catharine d’Orléans, an illegitimate daughter of the Duke +de Longueville, against whom nothing remains on record except a series +of unfortunate ‘architectural improvements’ in the Abbey church. But +these changes have long been obliterated, together with the church +itself, which, after at the Revolution the Abbey had been taken over by +the nation and sold, was in 1790 blown up by powder. At the present +moment the traces of this notable historic monument are described as +hardly discernible. + +There can be little doubt that, probably owing to the efforts of Louisa +Hollandina’s powerful sister-in-law, the French ‘_Princesse Palatine_,’ +it had been from the first determined to provide for this interesting +princely convert at Maubuisson. No sooner had her foot touched the soil +of France than the royal favour of Louis XIV, whose magnanimous +hospitality never did things by halves, shone upon her. After her first +visit to Maubuisson she was taken to see her aunt, Queen Henrietta +Maria, who was at the time residing with the Visitandines at Paris, and +who, after vain attempts to convert her sons Charles and James to the +Church of Rome, was engaged in a project for obtaining the hand of the +young French King for her daughter Henrietta, brought up as a Roman +Catholic. Hereupon, Louisa was received at Court, and assigned a liberal +pension by the King; and thus she was enabled, on terms befitting her +position, to form a definite connexion with the Maubuisson convent. +After a noviciate of eighteen months, she took the vows on September +19th, 1660, in the presence of a distinguished assembly, before whom the +Bishop of Amiens preached ‘divinely.’ Happily for her peace of mind, the +kindness shown her by the French Court had impressed itself upon her +mother, for whose forgiveness Queen Henrietta Maria persistently sued. +In October, 1659, Elizabeth informed her son Charles Lewis that this +intercession had prevailed with her, and that, in obedience to the King +and Queen’s commands, she had forgiven ‘Louyse,’ and prayed God also to +forgive her, ‘which is all my letter in a few lines.’[56] But Louisa +Hollandina was the only one of her mother’s surviving children left +without mention in her will. + +----- + +Footnote 56: + + See _Letters_, &c., ed. A. Wendland, p. 118. These letters at last + throw a full light on this episode of the Palatine family history. + +----- + +The long evening—if it should be so called—of Louisa Hollandina’s life, +which lasted till 1709, was a peaceful one; but it would be unjust to +her, more especially in view of some misconceptions which have arisen on +the subject, not to say a word as to the spirit in which she both +entered upon this period of her existence, and to which she throughout +remained true. Just before she took the vows, she is said to have been +warned by one of the Maubuisson sisters, who belonged to a reactionary +clique in the convent, desirous of obtaining a mitigation of the severer +rule introduced from Port Royal, not to engage herself to observe any +standard of discipline in excess of the proposed reduction, for which it +was probably hoped to secure the requisite sanction with the aid of an +Abbess in so much favour at Court. But she refused point-blank, and, +during the few years which she spent at the convent as a simple +religious, would not consent to be relieved from any one of the duties +incumbent on her. When, in August, 1664, she was, on the death of the +Abbess, named as her successor, her first act after accepting the office +was to sell part of the silver plate which had been presented to her by +the Queen of France in order to defray part of the debt pressing upon +the convent. She abolished the practice of former abbesses of keeping up +a retinue and footmen of her own, saying that she had abandoned the +world on purpose to see no more Courts; and her niece, the Duchess of +Orleans, in her humorous manner, describes her as going about the +convent and garden all alone and with her skirts tucked up, and giving +her orders in an authoritative tone that nobody ventured to disobey. She +even—no insignificant sacrifice for a Palatine—ceased to use the arms of +her House. This simplicity was partly natural to her, for even before +her retirement it had been noted how careless she was as to matters of +dress and outward appearance. Partly it was due to a resolute humility +of spirit, and a determination to avoid any assumption of superiority on +her own part over the sisters of the convent, to which Saint-Simon bears +express testimony. She would not seat herself on the throne hitherto +occupied by the Abbess in the convent church, and as a fitter object of +reverence placed a statue of the Virgin there. On the other hand, she +opposed a steadfast resistance to the tendency manifested by some of the +nuns towards a relaxation of the conventual discipline; she observed the +entire seven months’ fast imposed by the Cistercian rule, until at last +she became as thin as a lath; according to the account of her niece she +never ate flesh except when ill, and slept on a mattress as hard as +stone, with no other furniture in her chamber but a straw-chair; and she +rose every midnight for prayer. Beneath her dress she wore an +undergarment of hair-cloth. She was careful to obey the rule which, +except in special circumstances, prohibited the religious of Maubuisson +from leaving the convent, and absented herself from it only thrice in +the forty-nine years of her residence. According to the Duchess of +Orleans, who spoke on this subject with sympathetic insight, the good +Abbess’ tongue was her temptation; and she always chose a deaf sister to +live with her in her chamber, so as not to be seduced into conversation. + +On the charitable activity of the good Abbess there is less necessity +for dwelling, since it accorded with the habits that were natural to +her, as well as with her Palatine warmth of heart. In her indefatigable +activity she resembled her brother Charles Lewis, to whom in her later +years she bore so striking an outward likeness. Idleness of any kind was +impossible to her; ‘never,’ writes a contemporary, ‘was she without some +virtuous and religious occupation; either she was plying her brush or +her needle, or reading or praying.’ To her love of painting, an art +which she is said to have practised from her eighth year to past her +eightieth, reference has already been made. Though it would not appear +that her artistic powers increased in her later years, she utilised them +for the decoration not only of the Abbey, but of several churches of the +neighbourhood, and even found time to paint pictures for other +recipients. Sacred subjects seem to have chiefly occupied her in these +days; to the _Cour des Comptes_ at Paris, which had rendered an +efficient service to her Abbey, she presented an elaborate pictorial +allegory of Justice.[57] During her administration the structural +accommodation of the Abbey was considerably enlarged, and, in the centre +of it, a handsome fountain was for the first time erected. + +----- + +Footnote 57: + + In 1871, this picture was consumed in the flames. + +----- + +Beneath all the other qualities of Louisa Hollandina and, one is tempted +to say, at the root of them, lay that cheerfulness of soul which is a +blessing to all who are brought into contact with its happy possessor. +The Duchess of Orleans, who had all her aunt’s vivacity of mind, but +little of her tranquillity of spirit, refers again and again to the +delightfulness of her periodical visits to the dear old lady; and we may +well believe that in their intercourse the seasoning of _malice_ (in the +French sense of the word) was not wanting. But Saint-Simon, an observer +not less keen, though the satirical vein in him took a different turn, +informs us that the Abbess of Maubuisson was adored by all the sisters +of the convent, of which she had made herself the very life and soul, +because of her charity, her sweetness, and her loving-kindness. From a +character so pure—or perhaps it should be said so purified—the shafts of +ill report glance off harmlessly; nor is it impossible that they had +their origin in traditions with which the Palatine Princess had no +concern, and which her rule as Abbess ought to have been allowed to +extinguish. While she held sway at Maubuisson, it became a chosen place +as a religious retreat by ladies of rank; among these was Madame de +Brisson, _l’âme de Saint-Cyr_, as Madame de Sévigné calls her, soon +after her dismissal from that seminary. In 1679, the good Abbess had the +pleasure of a visit from the Duchess Sophia, who was delighted with the +happy regularity of her sister’s life, ‘which would suit me quite well, +had I no husband and children.’ The Duchess of Orleans herself, though +she would hardly have come in the character of a penitent, in one of the +crises of her life at the French Court begged the King to allow her to +finish her days at Maubuisson. + +Some two years before her death, Louisa Hollandina, who had hitherto +only been subject to the _migraine_—for the statement that she had died +in 1704 to save herself the trouble of periodically reminding the +States-General of the annuity granted to her at her baptism was only a +friendly jest—had a paralytic stroke, and the remainder of her life was +full of suffering. She took it all easily, saying that people would not +desire life so much if they knew to what it amounted near the end. She +died in February, 1709, eighty-six years of age; the good Princess, +wrote her heart-broken niece to Louisa Hollandina’s sister Sophia, ‘is +now where she long was wished to be’; Sophia herself, in her very direct +way, observed that, as there was so little besides life left in her +sister, there was the less to deplore in her loss. She was buried by the +nuns, who had loved her dearly and nursed her tenderly, in her +abbey-church at Maubuisson, as her sister Elizabeth had been buried in +hers at Herford twenty-nine years earlier; and both the Catholic and the +Protestant Abbess deserve each, in her own way, to be remembered among +the good women in whom their age, with all its shortcomings, was so +rich. + +And here we must take leave of the Palatinate family, except in so far +as Sophia herself and those younger members of it with whom in her +married life she came into personal contact are concerned. Late in 1659, +Queen Elizabeth had the pleasure of a visit from Sophia at the Hague, +having had to solicit from Charles Lewis ‘a little money in +extraordinaire’ for the purposes of the meeting. They seem to have been +happy together, and the Queen wrote that she would be ill-natured had +she failed to show ‘kindness to Sophie, because she shows so much love +to me,’ The real success of the visit was, however, Sophia’s little +Palatine niece Liselotte, of whom more hereafter, who captured her +grandmother’s heart, although ‘you know I care not much for +children.’[58] Sophia remained in Holland till March, 1660, when her +mother was so much hindered by people coming in to tell the English news +about Monck that she could hardly find time for writing.[59] Mother and +daughter, however, met again in the following year; and Sophia’s last +farewell to ‘_cette bonne princesse_,’ her mother, took place on board +the vessel on which, in May, 1661, Queen Elizabeth was about to sail +from Rotterdam for England. For the high-souled royal exile was not, at +the last, denied an honourable refuge in her native land, though she +arrived there without the special invitation which she had been led to +expect, and an attempt was even made to delay her on the way. What could +surpass in pathos the picture of her arriving in London in the darkness, +with hardly a friend but the faithful Earl of Craven to guide her home +from the riverside? At Craven House she resided till she moved to the +house in Leicester Fields successively occupied by her great namesake’s +two favourites, the Earls of Leicester and Essex. She had no intention, +as she told Prince Rupert, of playing the poor relation. The King, her +nephew, showed much cordiality to her as well as to her sons; but his +courtesies were for the most part inexpensive, and she confessed that he +owed her nothing, though the Parliament owed her much.[60] He promised, +accordingly, to see if her debts could not be paid by Parliament, and it +actually granted her certain sums, which she applied as fast as they +came in to the redemption of her jewels, though she still had to appeal +to Charles Lewis for assistance in the process. A series of unpleasant +demands and counter-demands ensued between the King and the Elector, +each calling upon the other to pay to the Queen the outstanding moneys +lawfully due to her. In the end, King Charles II granted her a pension +of a thousand pounds a month, of which she did not live to enjoy the +first year’s total, and offered her a residence (Exeter House), into +which she had not time to move.[61] + +----- + +Footnote 58: + + _Letters_, &c., ed. A. Wendland, p. 122. + +Footnote 59: + + _Ib._, p. 136. It was about this time that Elizabeth was also enjoying + the company of the young Baron von Selz, an illegitimate son of her + son Charles Lewis from his London days. She was warmly interested in + him, and in 1660 induced King Charles II to take the youth to London + in the suite of Henry Duke of Gloucester. But Selz died in London, + much to Elizabeth’s grief, before his friend the Duke. (Hauck, + _Elizabeth_, p. 53.) + +Footnote 60: + + On another occasion she writes with generous frankness: ‘The King is + not bounde to doe for me but what he pleases, for being maried out of + the house he might justly pretend not to be bound to give me anything, + but he is kinder than many nephews would be, his income besides is not + settled as you believe it is.’ (_Letters_, &c., p. 207). + +Footnote 61: + + She told her son that she would have to order ‘states,’ chairs, + stools, and carpets all new for Exeter House, as ‘that beast, your + Castelin,’ had allowed what ‘stuff’ there was at Rheenen to go to + ruin. (_Ib._, p. 211.) + +----- + +The Queen of Bohemia, as she called herself to the last, was seen at +times in public—at the theatres and elsewhere—with the court; and much +attention was shown to her by her son Prince Rupert, who (as has been +seen) had returned to England a few months after the King. Pepys, whose +mention of Rupert’s return is the first notice of this Prince in the +_Diary_, observes that he was ‘welcome to nobody.’ Perhaps the diarist +had a presentiment of the friction which, sooner or later, could hardly +fail to occur between a budding official like himself and a man of the +sword with a popular reputation, whom he appears to have throughout +regarded as passionate and self-willed. But Prince Rupert was well +received in England both by the Royal Family and by the public at large, +though it proved before long that he, like others who had served the +throne in the days of stress, was out of touch with the younger +generation of courtiers and politicians. He had not found congenial +employment abroad; but his readiness for active work had not yet passed. +The proposed expedition under his command to the Guinea Coast was +abandoned (1664), partly because of an illness which had befallen him; +but he was placed at the head of one of the squadrons in the First Dutch +War, and in the Second superseded the Roman Catholic Duke of York as +commander-in-chief of the English fleet. The breakdown of his plan of +action by his want of success in the last battle of this war (1673) was +attributed by him to the misconduct of the French and the intrigues of +the friends of the Duke of York; and thus it rather heightened than hurt +his popularity. For a time he seemed to be cultivating relations of +intimacy with Shaftesbury and the Opposition; but he never harboured any +disloyal intentions, though his sympathy with the Protestant feeling in +the country is of a piece with the traditions of his family and with the +whole of his own career. He now withdrew more and more into a retirement +which suited both his scientific pursuits and his growing aversion from +the hopeless frivolity and viciousness of the Court. Although he still +continued to take an occasional part in public affairs, his time was +chiefly spent among his chemical apparatus and his pictures and +curiosities in the Round Tower at Windsor Castle, of which he had been +named Constable in 1668. He died in 1682, and was buried in Westminster +Abbey, the faithful Lord Craven acting as chief mourner on the occasion. + +His mother, to whom he had been a good son to the last, had long before +this passed to her rest. Her correspondence with her son Charles Lewis +had in the last period of her life assumed a more painful tone than +ever, turning as it did upon a past that could not be set right, +whatever might happen in the future. In the contention as to whose fault +it had been that she had not temporarily taken up her residence at +Heidelberg he seems to have been more in the right than she; and it is +satisfactory to observe that, though in the very last letter preserved +from her hand, while she expresses a hope that his anger will be now +over, she begs that he will add to what he is paying to her of the +jointure which is her due, his last letter to her, and the draft of one +dated in the month of her death, end on a dutiful and even affectionate +note.[62] After her death, Charles Lewis, as her eldest—he had once been +her favourite—son, made a claim for her jewels as heirlooms; and once +more a bitter dispute ensued between the brothers.[63] The proposal that +her eldest daughter should cross the water to see her had met with no +response. Of Sophia’s seeming content with her lot the Queen had, +shortly before coming to England, heard with pleasure; but she could not +shut her eyes to the changes that fate brings; ‘for it is easier said +then done to care for nothing.’ Still, wherever she might find herself, +the lonely woman kept a stout heart and an unclouded front; though, +whether at Whitehall or at Combe Abbey (if she visited it again), she +must have seemed to herself like a _revenante_—a ghost of the past come +back. She died, at Leicester House, on February 13th, 1662—a few hours +before the dawn of what, had her husband still been by her side, would +have been her golden wedding day; and, on a night as full of storms as +her life had been, she was buried in the Abbey where so many of her +descendants were to be crowned with a crown less rapidly evanescent than +hers. + +----- + +Footnote 62: + + _Letters_, &c., pp. 212-3. + +Footnote 63: + + The Queen’s last will and testament shows that she declared Charles + Lewis her heir, but left special legacies to Rupert—jewels, plate, and + furniture, with the papers of which the _Original Royal Letters_, + published by Sir George Bromley in 1787, passed into the hands of his + lineal ancestress Ruperta, daughter of Prince Rupert and wife of + Scroope Emmanuel Howe. To Edward the Queen left a large diamond; to + Elizabeth emerald ear-rings; and to Sophia the string of pearls which + her mother had ordinarily worn. Probably the medallion with the lock + of King Charles I’s hair, which was found on her breast after her + death, was buried with her. Many years later, when the death of the + Abbess of Herford was apprehended, Sophia wrote to Charles Lewis that + he would not find so much reason for discontent on this occasion as on + that of their mother’s death—‘for she seems to bear no malice against + you.’ It is distressing that Sophia’s want of sympathy towards her + mother, which may have been explicable enough in earlier days, should + have lasted beyond the grave. + +----- + + + + + III + + THE DUCHESS SOPHIA + (HANOVER, OSNABRÜCK, AND HANOVER, 1658-1688) + + +Ernest Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg was the youngest son of his House, +as Sophia was the youngest daughter of the Palatine family; nor was the +scion of the Guelfs, as such, unfitted to mate with one who could boast +an ancestry illustrious like hers. Previously to the marriage conferring +upon Sophia a right of partnership, of which time only could reveal the +significance, in the fortunes of the German branch of the Guelfs, more +than one great historic opportunity had occurred to that ancient House. +Five centuries had passed since Henry the Lion had held sway over +territories reaching from the shores of the German Ocean and the Baltic +to those of the Adriatic. He had been the husband of an English +princess—Matilda, daughter of King Henry II; nor was Sophia unmindful of +this ancestral connexion. We cannot follow here the repeated dynastic +changes, or the numberless partitions and transfers that succeeded each +other in the hereditary lands between Elbe and Weser, saved out of the +shipwreck of the great Guelfic dominion, and granted to Henry’s +grandson, Otto the Child, as an imperial fief under the designation of +the Duchy of Brunswick. + +The severance declared by Otto’s eldest two sons, between the +territories of which Brunswick and Lüneburg were respectively the +original centres, was—the numerous shiftings of ownership between the +representatives of the Old, Middle, and New Brunswick and Lüneburg lines +notwithstanding—never undone, and continues in a sense to the present +day. Thus, it was only within the limits of each main division that it +proved possible in the course of time to assert those two principles +upon which, repugnant though they were to the traditions of Germanic +life, the political future of the princely Houses of the Empire +depended—namely, that of indivisibility of tenure, and, more tardily, +that of primogeniture. Nor was there any consistent endeavour to supply +the want of a single dominant authority in the Brunswick and Lüneburg +Houses (as they were generally called, their various subdivisions being +further distinguished for the most part according to the names of their +chief ‘residences’) by an identity, or at least by an agreement, of +policy. Thus the German Guelfs missed the great dynastic opportunity of +the Reformation, although the populations over which they ruled were at +one in their ready acceptance of Lutheranism, and although a series of +wealthy ecclesiastical foundations fell into the laps of the princes. +Duke Henry of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel opposed the Reformation with so +much vehemence as to be denounced by Luther in the character of +bugbear-in-chief of the supporters of the national movement. Still, with +their augmented territorial strength, the Guelfs might have played an +important part in the critical period which preceded the long-expected +outbreak of the great religious conflict, and perhaps, during its +earlier stages, might have done much to resist the inroads of the +Reaction. Instead of this, after the ‘evil Harry’s’ accomplished +grandson, Duke Henry Julius, had applied his ability as a statesman +wholly to the furtherance of the imperial interest, his timorous +successor, Frederick Ulric, had failed to avert from the Lower Saxon +Circle the fury of war, drawn down upon it by the passionate Protestant +partisanship of his brother, Christian of Halberstadt, the champion of +Elizabeth of Bohemia. A change of dynasty occurred at a highly critical +epoch of the Thirty Years’ War, when nearly all the Protestant estates +adhered to the compromise of the Peace of Prague (1634); and the ‘New’ +House of Brunswick entered into possession at Wolfenbüttel in the person +of Duke Augustus, a cautious ruler and a man of kindly disposition and +of bookish tastes. At the Peace of Westphalia the rich see of Hildesheim +had to be given up by the elder (Brunswick) branch; and for a time +adversity seemed to have impressed upon it the expediency of uniting its +policy with that of the younger, which had issued forth in a more +advantageous position from the Great War. During this temporary accord +between the two branches, the ambitious Duke Rudolf Augustus of +Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was assisted by his Brunswick-Lüneburg kinsmen in +the important achievement, which the resolute Dukes of the Middle House +of Brunswick had essayed in vain, of permanently subjecting to their +territorial authority the proud Hanseatic city of Brunswick. And, alike +in the war provoked by Louis XIV’s invasion of the United Provinces (in +1672), in the march against the Swedes which was crowned by the victory +of Fehrbellin (1675), and in the campaign against the Turks which ended +with the recapture of Neuhäusel (1685), the armed forces of the two +Guelfic lines fought side by side. But, while the New Lüneburg line was, +by consolidation, preparing its future greatness, the advancement of the +New Brunswick line, the repartitions of whose territories cannot occupy +us here, again came to a standstill. Duke Rudolf Augustus survived till +1704, a prince whose virtues were of the passive kind, and with whom his +ambitious younger brother, Antony Ulric, was associated in the +government from 1685 onwards. In order to ensure the Succession to the +offspring of his brother, the good Duke Rudolf Augustus, after the death +of his first wife, contracted a _mésalliance_ with the daughter of a +Brunswick barber-surgeon, who, as Madame Rudolfine, led a life of happy +obscurity by his side at Brunswick. His brother, Duke Antony Ulric, held +his Court at Wolfenbüttel, where he cherished the literary studies in +which he had engaged in the University of Helmstedt, and successfully +essayed his own powers as an author, both in the favourite contemporary +species of historical romances _de longue haleine_ and in psalmody. But +the mental activity of Antony Ulric, who in 1704 succeeded to sole ducal +authority at Brunswick, was far from being absorbed by his literary +pursuits; or rather, as we shall see, he contrived to make them +subservient to the influences of dynastic ambition. He kept a jealous +watch, now self-interested, now malevolent and revengeful, over the +advance of the Lüneburg dynasty, so nearly akin to his own. And, in +whatever measure the same jealousy may have been a factor in his own +ultimate conversion to the Church of Rome, it certainly contributed to +make him press on those splendid marriages of his grand-daughters with +Emperor and Tsarevich, whereby he sought to redeem his own political +insignificance. + +Very different results attended the progress, in and after the latter +part of the Thirty Years’ War, of the New House of Lüneburg, as it was +called. Duke George was the sixth of seven brothers, of whom it fell in +turn to the eldest four to conduct the government of the Lüneburg-Celle +dominions. Here the principle of indivisibility had been established in +1592 and confirmed in 1610; but it did not apply to acquisitions by the +line accruing after that date. In order to maintain this principle +intact, all the brothers, with the exception of Duke George, remained +unmarried, and, by a singularly orderly disposition of fate, the second, +third, and fourth succeeded in due course, each on the demise of his +next elder brother. The fifth and seventh died before the arrival of +their respective turns, and thus it was to the progeny of Duke George +that the lands and their government descended. He was accounted one of +the most capable commanders of the latter part of the war, and an ardent +supporter of the Protestant cause, with whose great champion Gustavus +Adolphus he had been one of the earliest among the German Princes to +enter into an understanding. But he was so unwilling to imperil the +immediate interests of the dynasty, that, in 1634, he gave in his +adhesion to the Peace of Prague. In 1635 he assumed the government of +the principality of Calenberg, which, by the repartition made at that +date, was transferred to the Lüneburg line; and in the following year he +laid the foundations, in the fortified town of Hanover, of the castle +which was to be expanded, in after ages, into the palace of Electors and +Kings. He died in 1641; but his principality was preserved to his +dynasty in the settlement of the Peace of Westphalia, and they further +secured a ‘satisfaction,’ though by no means an adequate one, for the +losses or disappointments undergone by them, in the shape of the right +of appointing a prince of their family to the see of Osnabrück on every +alternate vacancy. Thus, with a territory whose resources seemed to have +been hopelessly exhausted by the devastations of the War and by the +exactions of both war and peace, whose social system had been +dislocated, and whose life had been in various respects demoralised, the +sons of Duke George of Lüneburg entered upon a period in the history of +their dynasty which was to conduct it from petty beginnings to +unforeseen greatness. + +The family consisted of four brothers and three sisters, of which latter +two died in infancy. The surviving sister, Sophia Amalia, had in 1643 +married the future King Frederick III of Denmark, and took a notable +part in the defence of Copenhagen against the Swedes (1658), as well as +in the few despotic excesses to be charged against the absolute rule +with which, at a time when the Danish power had been laid low, her +consort had been suddenly entrusted. The Duchess Sophia, who by her +marriage had become sister-in-law to Queen Sophia Amalia, met her at +Altona in 1671, and paid her a visit at her dower-palace at Nykjöping in +1680. Sophia saw this redoubtable sovereign on her amiable side, and +relates how, on the occasion of a _battue_ of hares, the Queen +encouraged her to fire the first shot that she, her mother’s degenerate +daughter, had ever discharged. Of the four brothers, the eldest, Duke +Christian Lewis, had in 1641 succeeded to his father’s principality of +Calenberg; but in 1648, when he assumed the government of the +Lüneburg-Celle dominions proper and took up his abode at Celle, +Calenberg, with its residential town of Hanover, passed to the second +brother, Duke George William. The third and fourth, Dukes John Frederick +and Ernest Augustus, in accordance with their father’s will, remained +without territorial possessions (the reversion of the Osnabrück +bishopric had not yet fallen in); and it was arranged that, in the first +instance, John Frederick should reside at the Court of Celle, and Ernest +Augustus at that of Hanover. The young Brunswick-Lüneburg Dukes were +left without paternal control in the very period in their lives when it +was most needed by them; for, at the time of his father’s death in 1641, +the eldest, Christian Lewis, was only nineteen, and the youngest, Ernest +Augustus, eleven years of age. The brothers had been brought into little +contact with the old-fashioned academical training, of which the +influence is recognisable in the Dukes of the elder branch; and +Christian Lewis, whose years of rule at Hanover left behind them the +memory of a prince of the Mohocks, was incapable of introducing the +refinements of the modern era at Celle. At the same time he, in this +larger sphere, did his duty, as he understood it, in both Church and +State; staunchly adhering to the Lutheranism of his line, asserting his +ducal authority against the recalcitrance of the good town of Lüneburg, +and providing himself with the beginnings of a standing army in defiance +of his Estates. His best friend and ally was the Great Elector of +Brandenburg, who afterwards married, as his second wife, Charles Lewis’ +widow, the Dowager Duchess Dorothea. This princess, who by birth +belonged to the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Glucksburg, played an +important part in the last years of her second husband, and, according +to the irreverent expression of his descendant, Frederick the Great, +‘ruled the hero’; but her interference in the interest of her children +cannot be proved to have gone the length, or to have produced the +effects, frequently attributed to it.[64] The second brother, George +William, who was to occupy so prominent a place in the history of his +House and in that of the personal life of Sophia, was deficient neither +in courage nor in insight, and the constant habit of foreign travel +added the charm of agreeable manners to the attractiveness of an open +and amiable nature. But, after, in his youth, he had seen some service +under Frederick Henry of Orange, he had cast to the winds military +ambition and serious purpose of any kind, and, leaving his ministers, as +best they might, to carry on his government and manage his Estates, had +with his ‘flying Court’ (as Sophia calls it) frittered away his time in +a series of visits to Holland and, more especially, to Venice. During +the intervals which he spent at home in Hanover, he pursued the same +round of frivolous pleasures, intent upon nothing but ‘going a-hunting +and making love.’ Announcing a visit from him at Heidelberg to the +Elector Palatine Charles Lewis, Sophia bids her brother ‘retail the +wicked doings of his own youth in England for the entertainment of his +guest, but not touch on matters of State; for, though George William has +plenty of wit and judgment, he wastes them on his jests and trifling +amusements.’ As he grew older, he came to be extolled both as a ‘mighty +Nimrod’ and as a connoisseur in champagne; but he also, as will be seen, +subjected himself to influences which had the effect of refining his +personal tastes and habits, while his intimacy with King William III +could not but impart strength of purpose to his political action. But +the moral infirmity of the good easy man remained incurable, and proved +a source of sorrow to others besides Sophia. + +----- + +Footnote 64: + + According to the Duchess of Orleans (Elizabeth Charlotte), the Duchess + Dorothea presented her, as a child, with two parrots, and the Duchess + Sophia ordered her to give in return her dog _Fidel_. ‘This was, to + the best of my belief, the only occasion in my life on which I ever + obeyed you reluctantly; for my little dog was very near to my heart.’ + +----- + +The third of the brothers, John Frederick, like George William, matured +his mental powers by travel rather than by study. But this prince, whose +highest honour it is to have introduced Leibniz into the service of the +House of Guelf, was not wholly undeserving of the praise lavished on him +after death by the courtly philosopher in both German prose and Latin +verse.[65] John Frederick was at any rate possessed by an ardent +ambition, besides being determined to think out his own salvation. +During a visit to Rome, in the year of Jubilee, 1650, he was much +impressed by the arguments of Count Christopher von Rantzau, who, after +adopting the irenic ideals of the great Helmstedt theologian Calixtus, +had at Rome been brought over to Catholicism through the influence of +the eminent convert and convert-maker Holstenius. In February, 1651, +Duke John Frederick was himself at Assisi received into the Catholic +Church; but it was not till several months later that his conversion +became known. In December of the same year, at the very time when +commissioners sent by his elder brothers had arrived at Rome to dissuade +him from such a step, he made a public profession of his change of +faith. There is no reason for supposing that the wish for a Cardinal’s +hat was one of the motives that actually prompted his conversion, though +he certainly was in the course of his life a man of many +ambitions—including the High Mastership of the Germanic Order, and the +Polish Crown. The Cardinalate desired for, if not by, John Frederick, +was bestowed by Pope Innocent X upon a previous convert of Holstenius’, +Landgrave Frederick of Hesse-Darmstadt; and, after lengthy negotiations, +it was settled that Duke John Frederick’s _apanage_ should be increased +on condition of his not returning to Celle. But the good-natured George +William gave him quarters at Hanover, and even provided for his private +exercise of his religion in the Palace. This in turn alarmed the +Calenberg Estates; and further difficulties threatened when the convert, +well aware of the vantage-ground which he occupied by reason of these +very difficulties, showed himself disposed to marry. It was the fear +that, in this event, the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg would become a +Catholic House, which impelled George William, after he had made up his +mind to remain a bachelor himself, to hasten the marriage of Ernest +Augustus. The religious question thus, already at this point, directly +affected the determination of the future of the dynasty with whose +fortunes Sophia was about to associate her own; nor is it astonishing +that John Frederick should have bitterly resented the preferential +position conceded to Ernest Augustus, the youngest of the brotherhood. + +----- + +Footnote 65: + + See _Leibnizens Geschichtl. Anpätze und Gedichte I._ (Vol. iv. of + Pertz’ collected edition). + +----- + +The future husband of Sophia had, as the youngest of the sons of his +mother, the Duchess Anna Eleonora, been kept near home in his boyhood. +He had even spent two years at the University of Marburg, where, in +accordance with servile academic usage, he had filled the office of +_Rector Magnificentissimus_, and he had afterwards been elected +_Coadjutor_ by the (Lutheran) Chapter of Magdeburg. This was a suitable +preparation for the succession to the ‘bishopric’ of Osnabrück, which, +in accordance with the provision of the Peace of Westphalia, was +reserved for Ernest Augustus on the occasion of the next vacancy in the +see. The conduct of this prince was, from the first, marked by a +circumspection which neglected no opportunity; he was on the best of +terms with both the eldest two of his brothers, and was devotedly +attached to the second, whose companion he was in a long series of +journeys and sojourns on the Lagoons.[66] Thus there established itself +between George William and Ernest Augustus a brotherly intimacy—a +_fratellanza_, to use an Italian term of almost technical +significance—which goes some way towards explaining how Sophia’s +marriage had been finally brought about. Ernest Augustus’ affection for +his favourite brother may be regarded as the most attractive feature in +his character; on the whole, his personality was a stronger though a +less pleasing one than that of George William. Like many of his +descendants, Sophia’s husband had an insatiable liking for ceremonial +and was a stickler for etiquette, albeit, in the early as well as in the +later years of his married life, his manners appear to have been +remarkably free from restraint in the privacy of domestic life. + +Although Sophia’s marriage had not been exactly a love-match, in the +beginning, as she joyfully reported to her brother at Heidelberg, all +was roses at Hanover; her husband’s behaviour made her feel assured that +he would love her all the days of his life, and she idolised him so +sincerely as to think herself lost when deprived of his company. The two +good English ladies who had adhered to her since she left the Hague were +in all kindness dismissed from her service; one returning to Holland, +and the other being provided with a settlement on the spot; henceforth, +the life of Sophia’s husband was to be her own life. Unluckily, however, +this involved a constant intimate association with his brother George +William, of which she soon perceived the inconveniences, and which, but +for her sincerity and tact—for she was obliged to give proof of both +qualities—might have placed her in the falsest of positions. After she +had appeased her husband’s jealous suspicions, the two brothers joined +in pressing her to accompany them on one of their Italian journeys; but +she was quit for a trip to Holland in the company of her little niece +Elizabeth Charlotte, whom, as will be seen, her brother had assigned to +her care. After her return to Hanover she gave birth, on May 28th +(O.S.), 1660, to her first-born child, George Lewis, afterwards King +George I of Great Britain and Ireland. The following winter was spent by +her husband in Italy with his brother, according to his custom; but they +accompanied her down the Rhine from Heidelberg, where she had been +staying with her brother, to Rotterdam, where, as has been seen, she +bade a last farewell to her mother, the Queen of Bohemia, then on the +point of starting for England. The two Dukes and Sophia soon afterwards +returned to Hanover, in time for the birth, on October 2nd, 1661, of her +second son, Frederick Augustus. Two months afterwards, the see of +Osnabrück at last fell vacant by the death of the Catholic Bishop, +Cardinal Francis William von Wartenberg. The event (which had been +rumoured to have taken place already two years earlier) must have been +welcome to Sophia, as relieving her from a position by no means free +from difficulty, although in her letters she makes no reference to her +husband’s jealousy of his brother. After Ernest Augustus had held his +entry at Osnabrück as Bishop—a ceremony at which, as Sophia remarks, she +felt that her presence would be superfluous,—she joined him at the +castle of Iburg, which became her residence for many years. The little +Court moved about a good deal between Osnabrück and Iburg, besides +(after a time) occasionally staying at Celle and at Diepholz, the former +seat of the Counts and _Edelherren_ of Diepholz, whose line had become +extinct in 1585. + +The change from Hanover was a delightful one for the Duchess Sophia; +for, apart from the fact that the Old-town of Hanover, within whose +walls lay the ducal castle, was a sombre and crowded enclosure very +unlike what was destined to become ultimately one of the most cheerful +and attractive of German capitals, she and her husband had resided there +in a position which, in spite of the excess of affection surrounding +them, remained one of dependence. They now for the first time tasted the +pleasures, on however small a scale, of sovereignty. She was, in German +fashion, ‘the Bishopess’; when she travelled in France, her _incognita_ +designation was ‘Madame d’Osnabrück.’ As the old episcopal lodging at +Osnabrück was found inadequate to the ample requirements and luxurious +tastes of the new Bishop,[67] he at once set about buying land and house +property of all kinds with a view to the erection of a suitable +episcopal palace. The building of it seems to have been begun in 1665, +and seriously taken in hand from 1668; but it was not ready till early +in 1673, from which date Ernest Augustus and Sophia continuously resided +there for the last five or six years before their removal to Hanover. +The palace, which still stands (it was restored with quite unusual +success by the last King of Hanover), bears the name of Ernest Augustus +on its portal, with the Arcadian motto _Sola bona quæ honesta_. The +building erected by Ernest Augustus seems to have been intended for a +direct reminiscence of the Luxembourg, at a time when Versailles and the +Louvre were only in course of construction, and was, like its prototype, +surrounded by magnificent gardens, designed by the Bishop’s own +gardener, Martin Charbonnier, whom he had brought from Paris, and who +seems to have been a pupil of Lenôtre. The castle at Iburg was of a +similar type of architecture—heavy but not ineffective—and betrayed the +same lack of finish, due to the inadequacy of the expenditure upon +artistic work.[68] Meanwhile, on the breezy heights of Iburg, as is +shown by the evidence of her own letters and those of the incomparable +Palatine niece whom she carried thither from Hanover, Sophia spent the +happiest if not the most exciting years of her life. After all, she +writes in her favourite ironical vein, ‘One cannot live more than once. +Why vex one’s soul, if one can eat, drink and sleep, sleep, drink and +eat? All is vanity.... Tranquillity of the spirit is lovely, since from +it springs our bodily health. Those whom the Lord loves He blesses in +their sleep. We play at nine-pins, breed young ducks, amuse ourselves +with running at a ring or backgammon, talk every year of paying a visit +to Italy; and in the meantime things go quite as well as is to be +expected for a petty bishop, who is able to live in peace and, in case +of war, can depend upon the help of his brothers.’ In the summer an +annual visit was paid to the waters of Pyrmont, and gradually things +became more lively at home—in 1663, we find a company of French +musicians engaged for the pleasure of the Court. As a matter of fact, +Sophia, though she was very far from vegetating in either mental or +bodily inactivity, visited Italy but once, crossing the Alps for the +first time in April, 1664. Nor is there any better or more convincing +proof of her rare powers of observation and insight than that she should +have learnt so much—and not only as to the beauty of Italian gardens and +the charm of Italian manners—in the course of a sojourn extending over +little more than a twelve-month. While by no means irresponsive to the +aesthetic attractions of Rome and Florence, she was the last person to +give way to the religious influences in readiness to be exerted upon +her. Loretto annoyed her; and at Rome, with a spirit which Sir Henry +Wotton would have applauded, she refused an offering to the Blessed Mary +of Victory, to whom the Emperor Ferdinand II had dedicated his sceptre +in grateful remembrance of the battle of Prague. At Venice, amidst whose +gaieties and gallantries she found herself altogether ‘_depaisée_,’ +though, nevertheless, by no means incapable of amusing herself, it was +brought home to her how largely religion was used as a cloak in a +society where the nuns made themselves agreeable to gentlemen and the +very churches were used for the purpose of assignations. Much in the +cynical tone which became habitual to Sophia and to her intimates is +attributable to experiences such as these, rather than to natural +irreverence. An attempt made at Rome to ‘save her soul’ by bringing her +over to Catholicism was so feeble that she had no difficulty in +repelling it; nor could anything have been better calculated to heighten +the repugnance with which such overtures inspired her than the want of +appreciation of the dignity of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg, which +she thought observable in the illustrious convert (almost a _bête-noire_ +to some of the Palatines) Queen Christina of Sweden, as well as in Pope +Alexander VII. + +----- + +Footnote 66: + + In 1686 was published at Venice a folio, with nine plates, by G. M. + Alberti, entitled _Giochi festivi e militari, danze, serenate, + machine, boscareccia artificiosa, regatta solemne, e posti alla + sodifattione ... dell’ Ernesto Aufsusto Duca di Brunswick e Luneburgo + in Venetia_. + +Footnote 67: + + We have it on the authority of the Duchess of Orleans, that, when + Ernest Augustus became Bishop of Osnabrück, he at once launched forth + into so large an increase of his household, as to create in the child + the impression that he had become the possessor of great wealth. + +Footnote 68: + + See A. Haupt, _Die bildende Kunst in Hannover zur Zeit der Kurfürstin + Sophie_, Appendix to H. Schmidt, _Die Kurfürstin Sophie von Hannover_. + Hanover, 1903. + +----- + +By none of the family was this indifference more keenly felt than by +Sophia’s brother-in-law, Duke John Frederick, who showed no sign of any +wish that his conversion should remain its own reward. Sophia was to +have reason for congratulating herself on her discretion in abstaining +from receiving an _incognito_ visit from him at Rome, before he left the +city. For hardly had her husband and she, in the early spring in 1665, +once more set foot in Germany on their homeward journey, when they +learnt that the eldest of the brothers, Duke Christian Lewis, had died, +and that John Frederick, having returned from Rome just in time, had +made forcible entry into Celle and Lüneburg, to which he contended that +George William, having once made his choice of Calenberg-Göttingen, +could no longer claim any right of succession. Inasmuch as the question +between George William and John Frederick, which the latter thus +proposed to settle by a _coup de main_, turned on the interpretation of +the will of their father, a bitter _Bruderstreit_ seemed to be +announcing itself; and John Frederick, in his usual sanguine way, +boasted his hopes of both Imperial and French support for his efforts as +a Catholic prince. On the other hand, the facile temper of George +William, who, moreover, at the time of his more ardent brother’s +incursion, was occupied with his own private affairs in Holland, might +have given John Frederick a chance, but for the exertions of Count +George Frederick of Waldeek, afterwards celebrated as the right hand of +William of Orange, and for the intervention of the Elector of +Brandenburg. Several Catholic Estates, such as the Elector of Mainz and +the Bishop of Münster, favoured John Frederick; on the other hand, +Sophia had solicited the diplomatic intervention of her brother, the +Elector Charles Lewis. After long and angry negotiations, in which the +Scandinavian Powers as well as France took part, John Frederick had to +rest satisfied with the addition of Grubenhagen to the territories +transferred to his sway from that of George William, who in his turn +entered into possession of the eldest brother’s portion of +Lüneburg-Celle. The energy of Ernest Augustus, which had been as +conspicuous in these transactions as had George William’s want of this +quality, was rewarded by the transfer to the Bishop of Osnabrück of the +Countship of Diepholz. + +We are obliged to refrain from more than touching upon the remaining +course of John Frederick’s career, and the _régime_ now established by +him at Hanover—one of the most peculiar of the vicissitudes undergone by +that capital in the course of its many and changeful experiences. +Capuchin friars once more found a home at Hanover, which, in days of +old, had been a town full of churches and cloisters; a Vicar Apostolic +and Bishop of Morocco _in partibus_ resided there as the centre of a +propaganda fostered alike by Pope and Emperor.[69] The Jesuits at the +same time had a centre of activity at Hildesheim. But there was no +interference either with the rights of the Lutheran establishments, or +with the claims of free intellectual enquiry, as represented by those +whom John Frederick’s high-minded liberality drew to his Court, and, +above all, by his librarian, Leibniz. The political ambition of the +Duke, who cherished the design of securing a Ninth Electorate for the +House of Brunswick-Lüneburg a generation before it was actually +accomplished, ranged him on the side of France in the chief political +conflict of his times, and thus led him to stand in opposition, not only +to the interests of the Empire, but also to the policy, on which his +brothers finally determined, of resisting the action of Louis XIV. On +the other hand, it was John Frederick who set his younger brother the +example of a firm monarchical administration, and who took the +all-important step of providing this administration with the support of +a standing army (two-thirds of which he was, however, pledged by a +secret treaty to hand over as auxiliaries to France). But, before the +issues of the great European contest in which he was prepared to sustain +the part chosen by him finally declared themselves, he was overtaken by +death, on his last journey towards his beloved Italy, in 1679. Many +ambitions, as has been seen, had fretted his (far from pygmy) body. It +was natural that, estranged as he was from his brothers, he should have +hoped himself to become the founder of a dynasty; and it was equally +inevitable that his brother Ernest Augustus and his sister-in-law +Sophia, who were already intent upon guarding in every way the interests +of their own descendants, should have shown scant sympathy with his +matrimonial projects, which were, as a matter of course, directed to +securing the hand of a Catholic princess. Towards this end no aid could +be more effective, as none was more ready, than that of Sophia’s +sister-in-law, the ‘_Princesse Palatine_’ (Anne of Gonzaga), in whose +dexterous hold were successively gathered the threads of so many +marriage-schemes calculated to advance the interests of France, and +approving themselves to the Church of Rome. The _Princesse Palatine_ +accordingly apprised John Frederick, whose ambition was at the time +occupied with thoughts of the next vacancy on the Polish throne, that an +alliance with one of her and Prince Edward’s daughters might ease the +way to such a goal:—‘_pour cela, il faut commencer avec le mariage_.’ +The negotiations for the match were carried on by the busy French +diplomatic agent de Gourville, who, during these years and again at a +later date, was employed by the Government of Louis XIV in the task of +trying to win over the Brunswick Dukes to the interests of France, and +whose _Memoirs_ are thus a notable source of information concerning +their Courts and their policy. + +----- + +Footnote 69: + + This was the vivacious Valerio Maccioni, one of the pleasant Catholic + ecclesiastics who were Sophia’s familiar associates and correspondents + in these kindly days. (Others were the Abbé (afterwards Count) Balati, + a Florentine nobleman who was afterwards of service to Ernest Augustus + as a diplomatist and to the ladies of his family in the matter of + _chiffons_ at Paris, and the Abbé Hortensio Mauro, Italian secretary, + and afterwards attached to the Court at Celle.) Maccioni, after acting + for some years as John Frederick’s ecclesiastical adviser and as papal + representative at Hanover, was episcopated in 1669, when about + thirty-eight years of age. He died at Hanover in 1676. Sophia was on + the easiest of terms with him, as is shown by the references, in her + letters to him, to the Holy Court at ‘Traive,’ and to a prophetess + with a magic mirror, whom she requested the Bishop to exorcise, should + he opine that the devil had a hand in her manifestations. + +----- + +The danger with which Sophia and her husband found themselves ‘_toujours +menassés_’ was realised, when, in 1667, John Frederick gave his hand to +the youngest of Edward’s daughters, Benedicta Henrica. But, though two +daughters were born to John Frederick (the elder of whom, Charlotte +Felicitas, afterwards became Duchess of Modena, while the second, as the +consort of Joseph I, attained to the dignity of Empress), his hopes were +not crowned by the birth of a son. Of the Duchess Benedicta, who, as a +Catholic, was excluded from the English Succession, to which, in her +later years, she had the first claim by birth among the surviving +descendants of the Queen of Bohemia, Sophia’s correspondence contains +occasional kindly mention; though there was little trace of the high +spirit of the Palatines in the gentle and sombre-featured widow of the +massive John Frederick. His own soaring ambition and imperious will +isolate his memory in the annals of his House, while the shadowy figure +of his consort has come to be all but forgotten in the history of the +English Succession. + +It may be convenient to note in this place that, owing to the attack +made by ‘Münster’s prelate,’ as an ally of Charles II of England, upon +the United Provinces, the States-General had appealed for aid to George +William and Ernest Augustus, who duly arrived in their support. In +return, the Bishop of Münster threatened the city of Osnabrück, where +Sophia and her children accordingly had to take up their abode during +the winter 1665-6, under the protection of the Bishop’s troops, Iburg +being too exposed to be safe. It would have been a curious accident if +this Bishop’s war had ended in any mischance, by which the future +Heiress of Great Britain should have been taken prisoner by the ally of +its King. In June, 1666, Sophia was enabled to return to the ‘delightful +solitude’ of Iburg. The autumn and winter of 1666 she spent chiefly at +Osnabrück, while her husband and his brother were carrying on operations +against Sweden in defence of the city of Bremen. + +At the time of the negotiations which ended in the establishment of Duke +George William at Celle, and of Duke John Frederick at Hanover, their +youngest brother, Ernest Augustus, and his faithful Duchess were much +exercised in spirit by the beginnings of another family trouble, of +which the course was to be more protracted and the consequences far more +enduring. For some time George William’s brother and sister-in-law had +been disquieted by the attentions paid by the amorous Duke to +Mademoiselle Eleonora d’Olbreuze, who, in 1665, when he first made her +acquaintance at the Hague, was lady-in-waiting to the Princess (Henry +Charles) of Taranto, by birth a Princess of Hesse-Cassel. The _animus_ +of Sophia, which renders it necessary to treat with the utmost caution +any statement made by her or hers in the present connexion, is evident +from her earliest mention of the lady who was to be the object of her +long and bitter hatred, as ‘_une fille qui estoit à la princesse de +Tarente_.’ Mademoiselle d’Olbreuze sprang from an ancient Poitevin +family which belonged to the minor nobility of a province long full of +Huguenot sympathies, and which held a leading position in the oligarchy, +as it has been called, that charged itself with the religious and +intellectual interests of Protestantism in these regions.[70] That she +was exceptionally endowed with an ability including a great deal besides +tact, is abundantly clear not only from the success of her manœuvres for +raising herself, and afterwards her child, to such greatness as was +attainable by them, but also from her living to be chosen as the +spokeswoman of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg on a memorable occasion +in its history. Nor can there be any doubt but that her intellectual +influence was a refining one, while her personality must have possessed +a charm which is hardly suggested by such portraiture of her as remains. +Sophia, after having, apparently through Mademoiselle d’Olbreuze’s own +judicious prudence, been spared her company in Italy, had found herself +constrained, by her husband’s anxiety to please his brother, to bring +her over almost in state from Hertogenbosch to Iburg; and, though the +_Memoirs_ refer with scorn to the Frenchwoman’s real or pretended +conquests before that of George William, Sophia is obliged to confess +that she found the intruder both modest and pleasant of speech, and +altogether very amiable. Thus it is clear that she prepared with +consummate skill the first upward step on which so much depended, and +which she actually accomplished in November, 1665. On the solemn +occasion of the funeral of Duke Christian Lewis, the whole family, +including his widow, his brothers George William and Ernest Augustus, +and Sophia, met at Celle; and to this august conclave the new ‘Duke of +Celle,’ as he was now so usually called, made known what Sophia terms +his ‘anti-contract’ of marriage with Eleonora d’Olbreuze, and what, in +other words, was his recognition of her as his mistress _en titre_. In +this document, signed by his brother and sister-in-law, as well as by +his mistress and himself, George William repeated his promise to remain +unmarried, which he declared to have been dictated by his affection for +his brother, and by a desire to consult his interests and those of his +children. Mademoiselle d’Olbreuze, who had innocently begged that she +might henceforth bear the name of Madame de Celle, had instead to put up +with that of Madame de Harburg, by which, as Sophia rather savagely +adds, she continued to be known for the next ten years. + +----- + +Footnote 70: + + This information I owe to Mr. H. H. Sturmer, author of _Some Poitevin + Protestants in London_ (London, 1896). + +----- + +Sophia and her husband seem at first to have regarded this revised +arrangement, which was substantially quite in accordance with German as +well as Italian precedents, as on the whole likely to ensure what to +them was naturally the main point, the continuance of George William’s +bachelorhood. In September, 1666, his mistress bore him a daughter, the +ill-fated Sophia Dorothea. From the same year onward, Ernest Augustus +and his wife’s own family rapidly increased, by the birth, in December, +of their third son, impartially christened Maximilian William after the +Catholic Elector of Cologne and the Protestant Elector of Brandenburg, +and the births of their daughter Sophia Charlotte, in 1668, and of their +sons Charles Philip, Christian, and Ernest Augustus, in 1669, 1671, and +1674 respectively. Sophia’s love for her children forms, perhaps because +of the perfectly natural expression which she gives to so natural an +affection, a most delightful feature of her personality. This love +enveloped alike the more and the less gifted, the successful and the +unlucky, the phlegmatic and mild-mannered, though ungainly ‘Brunswicker’ +(her eldest son, George Lewis), and the fearless little spitfire of a +‘Palatine’ (her second son, Frederick Augustus)—as she described them in +their early days. We shall see how her tenderly loved only daughter’s +bright and enquiring spirit also commended her to her mother’s +intellectual sympathies; but her motherly heart flowed out towards all +her sons, and even the inexpansive nature of the eldest seems to have in +a measure warmed towards her. But she could only with difficulty +reconcile herself to a policy which made it necessary to sacrifice the +interests of his younger brothers to his, or rather to those of the +House as a whole; and even among these younger brothers themselves, it +would almost seem as if her anxiety, like a true mother’s, had been +deepest for those who most needed support. Thus we find her, when both +Frederick Augustus and Charles Philip were serving the Emperor in arms, +pitifully pointing out to Leibniz how the younger of the pair was not +‘_si chiche de ses sollicitations_’ nor ‘_si misanthrope_’ as his +brother, and succeeded better accordingly. Yet his prosperity, too, she +had at heart; nor could she suppress the thought that the sum spent on +the purchase of a regiment for him by his father was less than what the +latter had on occasion been known to lose at the basset-table. + +In these earlier years, however, before the deeper anxieties of her +motherhood had yet come to Sophia, although the happiness of her life +was already beginning to centre in her children, it owed much to the +presence at Hanover and Iburg of the niece, who had become to all +intents and purposes her adopted child. From her fourth to her eleventh +year, Elizabeth Charlotte, the Elector Palatine’s only daughter by his +unhappy first marriage, was the constant companion of her aunt, to whom +this joyous period of intimacy sufficed to bind her heart and soul +during a long life of trials. It was in a happy moment that her father +resolved upon sending his child, in the company of her governess +(afterwards, as Frau von Harling, one of the most favoured recipients of +Elizabeth Charlotte’s flow of confidences), to what became the home of +her heart, and was, in after days, the perennial refuge of her thoughts. +As a child ‘Liselotte’—so she was familiarly called—was the very +incarnation of high spirits and natural gaiety, delighting in air and +movement like the leaves which the wind drives before its blast; hence +the sobriquet, untranslateable but conjuring up a world of fairies and +imps of mischief, by which she liked to speak of herself, even when +cribbed and confined amidst the royal splendours of Versailles. +_Rauschenblattenknechtchen_ never forgot either the homely comforts of +Hanover in meat and drink, or the airy freedom of the heights of Iburg; +and for its _châtelaine_, for her virtues and her wisdom, for her high +intellectual powers, and for the charm of her style, she conceived a +loving admiration, which long outlived its object, and which found +expression in many volumes of letters, brimful, from the first to the +last, of quick observation, animated comment, and a piquant or +pleasantly malicious wit, relieved here and there by touches of an +equally irresistible natural pathos. So early as 1663, Liselotte was, to +her unfeigned sorrow, summoned back to Heidelberg by her father, whom +her mother’s departure to Cassel had at last enabled to arrange his +family life after his own fashion. Sophia deeply regretted her niece’s +departure from Iburg, where, as she wrote, they had led a vagabond life +together; but, with her usual common-sense and self-control, she +declared it quite in order that the Infanta of the Palatinate should be +brought up at a Court like Heidelberg, rather than down in Westphalia, +where her kinsfolk had lived in simple _bourgeois_ condition and seen +few people. To her changed home Elizabeth Charlotte’s nature, readily +susceptible to kindness, without difficulty accommodated itself during +seven further happy years. The moral atmosphere in which they were spent +was that of a religious tolerance springing partly from kindliness of +disposition and partly from indifference; the epoch of religious strife +seemed over, and another at hand, of less fettered thought and +philosophic speculation. Into this new movement it was easy to enter +superficially, encouraged by the lofty aspirations for a reunion of +Christendom that occupied some of the foremost among contemporary +thinkers. From these influences, of whose effect upon the Elector +Palatine Charles Lewis and his favourite sister Sophia note has already +been taken, so receptive a mind as that of his Elizabeth Charlotte was +not likely to escape; and they undoubtedly help to account for the +process of the conversion which ominously preceded a marriage destined +to alter the whole course of her life. To the ‘_Princesse Palatine_’ +(Anne of Gonzaga) and her allies no path seemed impracticable that led +to Rome; and, in the case of the niece, no such apparatus of argument +was required as had to be set in motion when the attempt was made at a +later date to work upon the mind of the Duchess Sophia and her husband +through the pertinacious fervour of Madame de Brinon and the swooping +condescension of the ‘Eagle of Meaux.’ For Elizabeth Charlotte was +constrained by the instinct of filial obedience, her father having +persuaded himself that the welfare of the Palatinate necessitated, +together with the sacrifice of his daughter’s happiness, the ignoring of +her conscience. That in this calculation he, as was indicated above, +terribly deceived himself, and that the bond thus knit proved the ruin +of the land which it was intended to benefit, only enhances and deepens +the cruel irony of the whole transaction. A marriage had been arranged +between Elizabeth Charlotte and Louis XIV’s brother, the Duke of Orleans +(whose first consort, Charles II’s sister Henrietta, had died in 1670, +in circumstances long regarded as suspicious); and, though no mention of +the subject of religion had been made in the contract, her conversion to +the Church of Rome was regarded as an indispensable preliminary step to +its execution, and it was necessary that this step should seem to have +been taken spontaneously. She was accordingly prepared for it by her +father’s secretary,[71] to the diversity of whose historical and +philosophical learning two volumes of _Chevreana_ survive to testify. +Hereupon she was taken to Strassburg, whither her aunt the Duchess +Sophia also found her way to meet her and her father, but where also +appeared the presiding genius of the whole business, the ‘_Princesse +Palatine_.’ After the sojourn at Strassburg—where aunt and niece +parted—Elizabeth Charlotte passed on to Metz, where she was received +into the Church of Rome, and thence into her new married life. The +religious comedy was completed by a letter from her to her father +entreating his pardon for her change of faith, and by his reply, the +really contemptible part of the process, making pretence of a virtuous +indignation. Whatever Elizabeth Charlotte’s feelings may have been at +the time, she afterwards made no secret of the matter to her aunt +Sophia, and frequently dwelt upon her aunt’s share in the transaction. +‘It was you,’ she says on one occasion, ‘who made me a Catholic’; and, +when Duke Antony Ulric had gone over to Rome, ‘Why,’ she asks, ‘should +you be so sorry, when you are such a fine convert-maker yourself?’[72] +But, though the constraint which had been put upon her never ceased to +rankle in her mind, and though her conversion was not consummated +without some rubs and some qualms, these feelings perhaps never went +very deep. Her real grief, which made her ‘cry all through the night +from Strassburg to Chalons,’ was at parting from her German home and its +associations, in which her whole heart was wrapped up; and of this +parting the enforced change of religious profession was merely an +incident. ‘ Between ourselves,’ she afterwards wrote to her aunt, out of +her gilded exile, ‘I was stuck here against my will; here I must live +and here I must die, whether I like it or not.’ + +----- + +Footnote 71: + + Urban Chevreau accomplished the task of ‘instructing’ Elizabeth + Charlotte in four weeks. It must have been about this time that the + same _savant_ induced her father to read a few pages of Spinoza, who + was thereupon invited to Heidelberg. + +Footnote 72: + + It should be noted that, at the time of Elizabeth Charlotte’s change + of confession, toleration still obtained in France. We have her own + assurance that, had the persecutions of the Huguenots at that date + already begun, she would have refused to be converted. In 1698, she + writes to her aunt Sophia: ‘At Court one never hears a word spoken on + behalf of those of the Reformed faith. If they had been persecuted in + this way twenty-six years since, when I was still at Heidelberg, you + would never have succeeded in persuading me to turn Catholic.’ Sophia + herself, when replying to a renewed attempt upon her Protestantism by + Mme. de Brinon, by the remark that she trusts in the goodness of God, + who cannot have created her to see her lost, adds that she cannot + reconcile herself to the persecution of the Protestants in France, who + crowd England, the Netherlands, and Germany as refugees. + +----- + +And so the genial daughter of the Palatinate, true of heart and sound in +body and mind, became the wife of a feeble and effeminate voluptuary, +devoid of all character or will of his own, and by him the mother of a +prince who, though neither incapable nor ill-meaning, typified the +decadence of that France which he was called to rule as Regent. But with +this long second stage of her life we cannot concern ourselves here. +About August, 1679, she had the pleasure of a visit from the Duchess +Sophia, who, as already noted, came to France at that time to see her +sister at Maubuisson. The aunt found her beloved niece stouter, but in +excellent spirits. On the invitation of the Duke of Orleans the Duchess +Sophia was present at Fontainebleau on the occasion of the wedding of +the Duke’s daughter by his first marriage to the King of Spain (Charles +II); and, though she kept up her _incognito_, King Louis XIV called upon +her, and charmed her by his conversation, which he magnanimously turned +to the success of the Hanoverian arms at the bridge of Conz, mentioned +below. For the rest, the sacrifice of which, for all her philosophy of +good humour, Elizabeth Charlotte was the conscious victim, was, as we +know, not only made in vain, but brought upon her father’s and her own +beloved Palatinate, in the shape of the so-called ‘Orleans War’ +(1688-90), consequences which were the direct opposite of those intended +by him, and which caused her many days and nights of anguish. During the +half-century of her exile—for down to the day of her death, in 1722, she +never saw the Palatinate again—though she held her head high, with eyes +undazzled even by the closest propinquity to the sun, there was hardly +an experience of bitterness and disappointment which she was not fated +to undergo; and through all she had but one consolation, which was her +pen. She wrote because she loved her correspondents, but also because +she loved the relief of writing, and the opportunities thus afforded of +self-expansion and of free expression for the loves and hatreds of her +soul. That—in the days of Louis XIV—her letters would be opened, so as +to ascertain the working of her Protestant sympathies, and perhaps of +her interest in the English Succession question, troubled her not a +whit; if her insults to Madame de Maintenon—apparently quite unprovoked, +and certainly, in a large measure, baseless—were made known to their +object, this was so much gain to their author. Yet, after every +deduction has been made on account of the pride, the jealousy, the +personal and other prejudices, and the perennial impatience which +weariness of heart had made second nature to the kindly-hearted +Palatine, her picture of the Court of Louis XIV, in the latter half of +his reign, possesses a historical value which is only surpassed by its +general human interest.[73] It is, above all, in Elizabeth Charlotte’s +letters to Sophia, and in the references to _ma tante_ in those +addressed to her various other correspondents, that the pathetic side of +her humour asserts itself, together with the malicious; nor has the +whole literature of confidences any second example quite comparable to +this, either in volume or in the directness of its derivation from +nature’s self. + +----- + +Footnote 73: + + In a series of articles in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, beginning + October 15th, 1906, entitled _Madame, Mère du Régent_, M. Arvé de + Barine takes great pains to show that in estimating the Duchess of + Orleans’ censure of the state of morals at the French Court we should + remember that she might have found a good deal to complain of nearer + her parental home. + +----- + +We return to Osnabrück and Iburg, whither Elizabeth Charlotte longed to +fly, tying herself to the end of a ribbon transmitted by her as a sample +of the fashions of Versailles. So long as the relations between Duke +George William and Madame de Harburg remained unchanged, Ernest Augustus +or his descendants were assured of the Succession in Celle and Lüneburg; +for it had been finally settled with John Frederick that the right of +further option, against which he had formerly protested, had now +determined. John Frederick’s marriage, in 1668, seemed to cut off from +Ernest Augustus and his line the prospect of succeeding in Hanover +likewise, until John Frederick, whose hopes of a son and heir had been +repeatedly disappointed, died in 1679 without having seen them +fulfilled. Thus, during these years, it was upon the Succession at Celle +that the ambition of Ernest Augustus and Sophia was concentrated; nor +had they for some time any reason to fear that their wishes would be +thwarted by George William. Indeed, his acceptance of the existing +situation seemed clear from his endeavours to secure, by means of a +series of treaty arrangements, a large private estate in land to his +children by Madame de Harburg. The early death of all of these, with the +sole exception of the eldest, Sophia Dorothea, born in September, 1666, +eventually made her a wealthy heiress; but some time passed before her +father abandoned all expectation of a son, and a disquieting rumour +reached Osnabrück that, if George William’s mistress were to present him +with the desired heir, it was his intention to marry her, his +‘anti-contract’ notwithstanding. As there had been precedents in plenty +for the promise,[74] so it might no doubt be possible to find others for +setting it aside. Already, Eleonora was tactfully asserting herself at +Celle, and her personality was becoming the dominant power in the ducal +Court. Some of her Poitevin relations held high office there; and, +though the fact that other Frenchmen of family entered the military +service both of George William and of his brother the Bishop was, at the +time, by no means an exceptional phenomenon, yet it added to the +significance of an influence which the policy of Louis XIV might just +then deem worth cultivating.[75] For the Brunswick Dukes were, from the +time of the Triple Alliance (1668) onwards, political personages of much +interest both to France and to her adversaries, and had, two years +earlier, even seemed to have some chance of subsidies from a Government +more in the habit of receiving than granting them—the Government of +Charles II. After John Frederick of Hanover had, as has been seen, +decided finally to throw in his lot with France, his brothers George +William and Ernest Augustus continued to be solicited by her diplomacy; +and it was with the palpable purpose of gaining over the former and more +important of the pair, that, in 1671, de Gourville was instructed to +question him by presenting a royal ordinance, naturalising his daughter +by Madame de Harburg in France as ‘_Demoiselle Sophia-Dorothée de +Brunswick et de Lunebourg_.’ But the bait was too minute.[76] Larger +issues were involved, and, though in 1671, apprehensive of the +consequences which a bolder policy might have for the safety of his +bishopric, Ernest Augustus actually entered into a treaty of neutrality +for two years with France, George William was by his far-sighted +Chancellor, Baron Lewis Justus von Schütz,[77] prevailed upon to stand +firm. When the invasion of the United Provinces of the Netherlands took +place in 1672, Duke George William ranged himself on the side of the +adversaries of the French invader, and very soon Ernest Augustus +followed suit. In 1674, George William, accompanied by Ernest Augustus, +was in command of the Brunswick-Lüneburg troops forming part of the +imperial army opposed to Marshal Turenne, the devastator of the +Palatinate, in Alsace; and, in the following year, the Bishop of +Osnabrück and his eldest son George Lewis achieved a brilliant military +success at the bridge of Conz, and followed it up by taking part in the +recovery of Treves. Before leaving Osnabrück for this campaign, Ernest +Augustus had handsomely raised his consort’s dowry to an annual income +of 16,000 dollars. ‘I hope,’ she wrote, ‘that I shall never need it, and +that the Parcæ will allow him to survive me.’ On this occasion he +returned wreathed in laurels. At Osnabrück an imposing triumphal arch +was erected by ‘the dancing-master Jemme,’ and all the princes and +princesses at the little Court joined in a dance given in his garden by +the same public-spirited professor. In 1675, they took part in the war +carried on by the Empire against Sweden, which they helped to oust for a +time from the duchies of Bremen and Verden. To allies so loyal and so +useful as the two Dukes, no reasonable favour could be refused by the +Emperor Leopold, who was manifestly unaware of the conflict between the +desires of the elder and the interests of the younger brother. (It is +interesting, as an illustration of the consistent dynastic policy of +Ernest Augustus, that, when in 1674, after some cautious hesitation, he +had concluded a ten years’ league with the Emperor, the United +Provinces, and Spain, he procured the insertion in the compact of a +clause binding the States-General to use their whole influence in the +peace negotiations in favour of his bishopric of Osnabrück being turned +into a secular principality.) In July, 1674, a patent issued from the +Vienna Chancery, granting to Madame de Harburg, for herself and her +children, the hereditary title of Countess of the Empire +(_Reichsgräfin_) of Wilhelmsburg—the designation of the landed property +between Hamburg and Harburg settled upon her and her descendants by her +protector. At the same time, the Empress Eleonora, a scion of the +Catholic Neuburg branch of the Palatine House, conferred upon her +namesake at Celle the Order of the Female Slaves of Virtue, hitherto +reserved for princesses. Soon afterwards, the right was secured to +Eleonora’s daughter Sophia Dorothea, in the event of her marrying a +prince, of bearing the arms of the House of Brunswick and of being +recognised as herself belonging to that House. The name of the prince +who was to secure the prize of the heiress’ hand while thus raising her +in advance of her mother, to the coveted rank, was no longer a secret: +it was Augustus Frederick, the youthful eldest son of Duke Antony Ulric +of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Antony Ulric was at the time, though +co-regent with his elder brother, involved in debt and prepared to bring +about a rise in the prospects of his family, even by means of a +matrimonial connexion in other respects not a little dubious. For the +conclusion of this match Sophia Dorothea’s legitimation was +indispensable; but her aunt, the Duchess Sophia, indignantly relates +that a shorter and readier way of reaching this end was suggested to her +brother-in-law by his Chancellor Schütz. He advised the Duke to marry +Sophia Dorothea’s mother. Schütz was the most capable politician in his +master’s Court, and served him, as his son-in-law Bernstorff afterwards +served Ernest Augustus and his son, with equal fidelity and distinction. +There is no reason for attributing sordid motives to the advice which +this petty Wolsey gave to his easy despot—that he should take the course +on which his heart might not unnaturally be supposed to be set. For the +moment, the incomplete step of securing a patent of legitimacy for his +daughter was deemed sufficient; but, very soon, Eleonora, or Eleonora’s +ally, prompted by the restless Antony Ulric, again entered into +campaign. At first, a morganatic marriage, with renewed safeguards for +Ernest Augustus and his line, was suggested; then, a preliminary attempt +was made to place the lady on a level with her lord, by obtaining for +her the title of Princess. The Duchess Sophia was on the alert, and +cites at length a letter which she wrote to her brother-in-law in order +to avert the impending thunderbolt, and his bland reply assuring her +that it would prove absolutely harmless to her family. In April, 1676, +the marriage of George William and Eleonora, who still remained Countess +of Wilhelmsburg only, was celebrated at Celle; and nothing could, on the +face of it, be more reassuring than the treaty which followed in May, +and which, while guaranteeing the Succession in George William’s +dominions to his brother and his brother’s descendants, actually +provided that the oaths of allegiance taken by his subjects in future +should be sworn to his brother as well as to himself. It seemed to +Sophia that this procedure might opportunely have been set on foot when +George William’s wife was again expected to present him with a son. +Meanwhile Eleonora speedily achieved the remainder of her ascent; in +April, 1676, Sophia had to learn that the Frenchwoman—in her intimate +correspondence this designation would have been avoided as +colourless—was prayed for in church at Celle, as if she were the +reigning Duchess; and, soon afterwards, the final blow descended, when +it became known that the Emperor’s envoy had saluted her by the title of +Highness. Sophia expresses herself, with not undeserved contempt, as to +the excuse preferred by George William, that he could not help obliging +one whom others called his wife. From the silence which, in the +remaining pages of Sophia’s _Memoirs_, ensues on a topic which cannot +fail to have continued to exercise her patience, we infer that, though +it was very long before either she, or anyone who cared for her, had a +good word for the Duchess of Celle, the common-sense which no kind of +emotion ever extinguished in her induced her to abandon the struggle +against the inevitable. She consoled herself, as she told her favourite +niece, with the reflexion that, whatever title the intruder might +herself bear, no son of hers could ever be more than a Count of +Wilhelmsburg, and that George William might still be trusted, in the +event of a son being born to him, to keep his promise to his brother. +The Duchess of Orleans did her best to promulgate this faith to +unbelieving or indifferent listeners at Versailles; but it was not in +this way that Sophia’s half-pathetic trust in her _ci-devant_ lover was +destined to be put to the proof.[78] + +----- + +Footnote 74: + + One of these was the case of the Elector Palatine, Frederick I, just a + century earlier (1472), who after, on his usurpation of his nephew’s + dominions, making a promise similar to George William’s, twenty years + afterwards married his mistress with his nephew’s consent. Another + instance is that of Henry of Dannenberg, who, notwithstanding a + supposed promise, married, greatly to the vexation of his brother + William the Younger, the founder of the New House of Lüneburg. + +Footnote 75: + + No doubt a less reputable class of French and Italian adventurers also + found their way to George William’s court, which in 1670 Sophia states + ‘under the roos’ to be called ‘_le Royaume de la Canalle_,’ adding + that the nobility is held of no account there, and that cooks are + probably better paid than Ministers of State. + +Footnote 76: + + According to another view, this naturalisation of her daughter, + together with permission to herself to return to France in the event + of danger, had been sought by Eleonora herself, aware of the jealousy + with which she was regarded by most of her protector’s relatives. + +Footnote 77: + + The elder Schütz was sent to London in 1683, to congratulate Charles + II on his escape from the Ryehouse Plot. His reports from London are + preserved from 1689 to 1709, the year of his death; but his + interesting correspondence with Sophia (recently edited with other + letters from her and Queen Sophia Charlotte by Dr. R. Doebner) does + not, with the exception of a single letter, include any letters dated + before 1701. + +Footnote 78: + + It was a proud experience of the Duchess of Orleans (in 1717) to find + that Louis XIV had observed her dislike of _mésalliances_, and more + than one racy reference to a horrible occurrence of the kind might be + cited from her letters. The Celle marriage she could never have + forgiven, if only for her aunt’s sake. Yet _mésalliances_ were not + altogether unknown in the House of Brunswick (see above as to ‘Madame + Rudolfine’)—perhaps for the very reason that it was formerly one of + those ancient German princely Houses (i.e. Houses which had a seat and + vote in the Diet before 1582) which sought to maintain the principle + of _Ebenbürtigkeit_. It is only in the branch of the House which + attained to a royal throne that a wise policy (embodied in the Act of + 1772) substituted for a rigid rule a provision which has sufficiently + protected the dignity of the royal family and the interests of the + Empire. It may be added that, according to Lord Dover, the + _mésalliance_ with Eleonora d’Olbreuze prevents the British royal + family from taking rank as what is called _chapitrale_ in Germany. + (See Horace Walpole’s _Letters_, ed. Cunningham, Vol. ii. p. 251, + note.) Concerning the _Ebenbürtigkeit_ principle as recognised in the + House of Hohenzollern, and the rights of the head of the House with + regard to the marriages of its members, see an article by E. Berner in + _Historische Zeitschrift_, 1884, 4, _Die Hausverfassung der + Hohenzollern_ (a review of H. Schulze, _Die Hausgesetze der reg. + Deutschen Fürstenhäuser_). + +----- + +The influence of the Duchess of Celle upon her husband’s mode of life, +and upon the tone of his Court, was altogether so excellent that we may +without much hesitation discredit her sister-in-law’s insinuations as to +the bringing-up of George William and Eleonora’s only surviving child, +the ill-fated Sophia Dorothea. The engagement which had actually been +concluded between her and the youthful Prince Augustus Frederick of +Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel came to a sudden end by his death in August, +1676, from wounds received at the siege of Philippsburg; and the attempt +of his father Duke Antony Ulric to secure the hand of the heiress for +one of his younger sons met with no ready acceptance. Other suitors +appeared or were spoken of: the young Hereditary Governor of Friesland, +Henry Casimir of Nassau-Dietz, who was recommended to George William by +his cousinhood with William III of Orange, and Prince George of Denmark, +for whom fate had in store the splendid, if not in all respects +enviable, position of consort to an English Queen. Curiously enough, the +hand of the Princess Anne had at this time been also thought to be +within reach of Ernest Augustus and Sophia’s eldest son George Lewis, +who paid a visit to England from December, 1680, to the following March. +But for him, too, a different destiny was reserved; nor, if the account +of a most sagacious observer and true friend is to be trusted, had this +particular honour ever been coveted either by the Prince himself or at +Hanover—for this among other reasons, that Princess Anne’s birth on the +mother’s side was from a very second-rate family. The Prince had, +accordingly, taken very little trouble in the matter; so that, when he +left England, it was thought that the marriage would never take +place—all of which things Queen Anne never forgot.[79] Before long a +project of dynastic ambition ripened, as we must conclude, in the minds +of the brothers at Celle and Osnabrück, which, if carried out, besides +serving the immediate end of replenishing the resources exhausted by the +extravagant life of Ernest Augustus, would go far towards ensuring the +ultimate union of all the dominions of the Brunswick-Lüneburg line. As +to the former purpose, it probably weighed heavily with Sophia’s +husband, whose expenditure on travel abroad and on pomp and ceremony at +home had long been excessive, and who had more recently added to his +self-indulgences the costly luxury of a mistress _en titre_, in the +person of Clara Elizabeth von Meysenbug, since 1673, by her marriage to +one of Ernest Augustus’ chief courtiers, Baroness von Platen.[80] It +would not be easy to show from Sophia’s letters how she was affected by +a _liaison_ which lasted during her husband’s lifetime; one quite +welcomes the late indication afforded by her remark, on the occasion of +the visit of the Tsar Peter the Great, in 1697, that in Russia all women +paint, and that this was why Countess Platen so much charmed the +Muscovites. Of her personal power over Ernest Augustus, and of certain +other features in her history and that of her family, something will +have to be said below; but it may be as well to point out that there is +no satisfactory evidence to show that she played the part ascribed to +her in the tragedy to be noticed below. This was not Ernest Augustus’ +only infidelity, for about the same date we hear of a relation between +him and one ‘Esther,’ a _femme de chambre_ in the service of his +wife.[81] Sophia, from whom her husband’s affections were thus being +alienated, after she had borne him six children, seems at first to have +felt anything but satisfaction at the project of a marriage between her +eldest son, George Lewis, and his cousin, Sophia Dorothea; indeed, in a +letter of November, 1677, the Duchess of Orleans, as her aunt’s faithful +echo, profanely denounces the union of such a creature with so worthy a +young prince as a sin against the Holy Ghost. In 1679, Sophia describes +the pill as difficult to swallow, though adequately gilded, and adds +that, for her part, she would have preferred a daughter of John +Frederick of Hanover with a third of the gilding. But, three years +later, in 1682, the Duchess of Orleans treats the marriage as an +accomplished fact. ‘She will,’ she observes, ‘imitate the discretion of +her aunt;’ but ‘like the parrot of the Duke of Savoy, though she holds +her tongue, she thinks a great deal.’ A large amount of fiction, the +origin of which is traceable to the same tainted source—a ‘historical’ +novel published, nearly a generation afterwards, by the ingenious but +far from disinterested Duke Antony Ulric[82]—has accumulated round the +supposed exertions of Sophia to induce her brother-in-law, despite the +reluctance of his wife, to approve the sacrifice of their daughter. All +we know is that, by 1681, the tone of Ernest Augustus and Sophia towards +Eleonora had entirely changed; and it is clear what had made both the +parents of the ‘worthy’ Prince George Lewis intent upon bringing the +matter to a conclusion. About this time, Ernest Augustus had conceived +the design of obtaining the Emperor’s consent to the postulation of one +of his sons as his successor in the bishopric of Osnabrück, +notwithstanding the express provision of the Peace of Westphalia that it +should be alternately held by a Catholic and a Lutheran. Sophia was +quite prepared to drive a coach and four through that settlement, and +let the Catholics afterwards appoint two bishops in succession if they +chose. But this would have been a merely temporary gain for the House. +At the close of the year 1679, as has been seen, John Frederick of +Hanover had died without leaving a son; and to Ernest Augustus, on +succeeding to his principality, the prospect of an enduring greatness +for himself and his dynasty at last clearly opened. If the cordial +relations between his surviving brother and himself could be maintained, +the actual union in his hands, or in those of his descendants, of the +entire territories of the Brunswick-Lüneburg House, was now merely a +matter of time; and on the possession of so extensive and solid a +dominion his dynastic ambition would be warranted in basing ulterior +designs. Already personages of the greatest political consequence in +Europe began to interest themselves in the fortunes of the House of +Hanover, and in the immediate scheme of a marriage promising results of +so high an importance. Hardly had Ernest Augustus and Sophia held their +entry at Hanover, when, by the express advice of William of Orange, they +at once recognised the ducal title of Eleonora. In the same year the +august counsel of Louis XIV, still hopeful of conciliating the goodwill +of the Brunswick-Lüneburg Dukes, was bestowed in favour of the match, +through his minister at Celle, the Marquis d’Arcy, to whom the Duchess +Eleonora spoke with gratification of the civilities of her +sister-in-law. The Estates of Celle-Lüneburg, on the one hand, and those +of Calenberg (Hanover), on the other, with a docility surprising after +their former insistence on continued separation, declared that, if the +marriage was actually concluded, they would consent to the establishment +of the principle of primogeniture; and a law establishing this +principle, the very coping-stone of Ernest Augustus’ dynastic policy, +received the Imperial sanction in 1683, though it was only promulgated +in the Brunswick-Lüneburg dominions, as part of the will of Ernest +Augustus, on his death fifteen years afterwards. This provision was to +entail upon Sophia even more personal unhappiness than the marriage of +her eldest son itself; but a renunciation of her own wishes had by this +time become a law of her life. + +----- + +Footnote 79: + + See Ezechiel Spanheim’s _Account of the English Court_, printed by Dr. + R. Doebner in _English Historical Review_, Vol. ii. 1887, pp. 757 + _sqq._ Spanheim’s statement as to the scruples felt at Hanover is + exactly borne out by an observation of Sophia, _à propos_ of the + proposed match between her son George Lewis and the Princess Sophia + Dorothea, that the example of the Prince of Orange (William III) + ‘renders the notion more endurable.’ In other words, the House of + Hanover thought a marriage with a daughter of Anne Hyde a sort of + _mésalliance_. (See _Briefwechsel d. Herzogin Sophie mit d. Kurfürsten + Karl Ludwig_, p. 387.) + +Footnote 80: + + The Meysenbug family makes its first appearance as residing at the + Court of Osnabrück during Ernest Augustus’ episcopate. + +Footnote 81: + + An earlier _faiblesse_ (1668) of Ernest Augustus for a French lady, + Susanne de la Manoelinière, had been treated by his wife with great + discretion and success. + +Footnote 82: + + Vol. vi. of _The Roman Octavia_, a romance in the then fashionable + style of the _Grand Cyrus_. + +----- + +In September, 1682, the Duchess Sophia informed her ubiquitous +correspondent, the Abbé Balati, that henceforth Hanover and Celle would +reckon as a single State—a result so advantageous as to warrant defiance +of the German genealogical scruple about being equally grand on both +sides of the tree. Prince George Lewis had made up his mind, and his +mother trusted that he had done so under a good constellation.[83] On +November the 21st following, the wedding of George Lewis and Sophia +Dorothea took place at Celle, and was celebrated by Leibniz (such are +the vicissitudes of Court life) in indifferent French verse. Nothing is +known as to the early married life of a husband and wife who were no +better, though perhaps not much worse, assorted than most couples united +under similar conditions. Sophia Dorothea’s was an indolent and +emotional nature; the habits of George Lewis were active; he was fond of +the camp and the chase; and his bearing was characterised by a reserve +which afterwards became stolidity. But, in these years, he was much +absent from home, continuing his military career in the Imperial +service, taking an honourable part in the historic achievement of the +rescue of Vienna by Sobiesky, in 1683, and distinguishing himself two +years later at the capture of Neuhäusel in the Hungarian campaign of +Duke Charles of Lorraine against the Turks. Sophia Dorothea bore her +husband two children—George Augustus (afterwards King George II), in +1683, and Sophia Dorothea (afterwards Queen of Prussia and mother of +Frederick the Great), in 1685. Some letters of her mother-in-law, in +1684 and the following year, show that Eleonora’s daughter had not been +successful in conciliating permanently the sympathies of Sophia, whose +politeness towards the mother had not developed into any warm goodwill +towards the daughter; but the complaints against Sophia Dorothea are not +very serious, and rather suggest a spoilt child in the company of an +unsympathetic but by no means stony-hearted relative. + +----- + +Footnote 83: + + ‘_Il est à present_,’ she adds, ‘_avec sa maîtresse_.’ It is to be + feared that this should be translated literally. + +----- + +The _Memoirs_ of Sophia break off early in 1681, when, after a visit to +the Queen of Denmark in the latter part of the preceding year, she was +again left alone by her erratic husband, who had departed on one of his +pilgrimages across the Alps, although she was plunged into grief by the +news of the death of her beloved brother, the Elector Palatine. Her +eldest sister, the good Abbess of Herford, had, as we saw, died a few +months before their brother, and, in her solitary sorrow, Sophia wrote +that it would not be long before she followed them. When, therefore, +these _Memoirs_ are made to serve as a principal source for her +biography, the troubled circumstances of the time in which they were +actually written should be taken into account. She little knew how soon +a new epoch in her life was to begin, destined to impose upon her a +responsibility as great as it was unexpected. With however prudent a +self-restraint she might meet it, neither in her own eyes nor in those +of the numerous observers who henceforth watched every one of her +actions or movements, could it fail to add signally to her personal +importance. And although, according to modern notions, the Hanover of +the later seventeenth century might seem to differ but slightly, in its +capacity to become a theatre of political transactions of moment, from +the neighbouring city of Osnabrück, yet it should be remembered how +strenuously the deceased Duke John Frederick had exerted himself to make +his capital one of those secondary centres of political and general +intellectual life which, in this age, paid the homage of imitation to +Versailles. To him was owing the creation of a library which, if it +could not rival that for which Sophia’s paternal ancestors had found a +home at Heidelberg, was fostered by the care of Leibniz, whose services +were the noblest legacy left by his first Hanoverian patron, John +Frederick, to his successor, Ernest Augustus—a legacy of which the value +was to be so fully recognised by Sophia. In other respects, too—notably +in that of the attention now given at Hanover to the cultivation of the +dramatic and musical arts—court and town had been transformed under John +Frederick’s liberal _régime_; and an impulse had been given which his +younger brother sought, after his own fashion, to sustain. Leibniz, of +course, remained in his service, and was treated with a consideration +which he owed to his usefulness both as publicist and historiographer, +and which, thanks to the favour of Sophia, was never discontinued during +her husband’s reign. Relations with Italy and Italian musical art were +certain to be kept up under so constant a lover of Venice as Ernest +Augustus; an Italian opera was again established at Hanover under the +conduct of the distinguished Venetian composer, Agostino Steffani;[84] +and the Abbate Hortensio Mauro, who took up his residence at Hanover +about 1681, maintained at the Court of Ernest Augustus and Sophia a +lasting interest in the Italian language and in Italian art, while +himself becoming a trusted servant and friend of the Electoral family. +The Court of Ernest Augustus and France were from the first mainly +connected with his love of foreign luxury and elegance of all kinds. So +early as 1668, Baron Platen had secured for him a Parisian _maître +d’hôtel_; and, nearly every year, the Duke sent his _valet de chambre_ +to Paris, there to consult a resident agent as to the requisites of +Sophia and her ladies. The Palace at Hanover was greatly ‘beautified,’ +though a great deal more money was spent on decoration of one kind or +another than on architecture proper. It is reckoned that on the former +Ernest Augustus expended nearly 25,000 dollars at Hanover. Tapestry and +pictures were imported from Holland, and particular attention was given +to stucco-work, under the direction of an Italian _maestro_ named +Sartorio. In course of time, Sophia could summon French artists to +conduct the weaving of a great _Gobelin_ tapestry, which was carried out +in the _Reithaus_ at Hanover, and which represented scenes from the life +of Duke George of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the ancestor of the Hanoverian +dynasty, and from that of Sophia’s mother, the Queen of Bohemia. In +1695, the interior of the _Schlosskirche_ was completely gilded. With +the exception of the great _Rittersaal_, however, a very pompous and +heavy structure, nearly all the renovated palace buildings were +destroyed by fire in 1741. Ernest Augustus also built, in direct +connexion with the Palace, a new opera-house.[85] From the year 1684 we +have an account—_merum mel_—of a visit paid to Hanover (following on one +to Celle) by the celebrated French traveller Tavernier, whom Duke Ernest +Augustus came over (from Herrenhausen?) to welcome, together with +visitors so august as the Duchess Dowager of East Frisia and so +distinguished as the celebrated Brandenburg diplomatist and statesman, +Paul Fuchs. The old gentleman (Tavernier was then over eighty), who +mentions that the Duke spent Sunday morning at the ‘temple’ and the +afternoon at a performance of his company of French comedians, was +delighted both by the agreeable turn which the conversation took at +dinner—viz. the subject of his own travels in Persia and India—and by +the general urbanity and courteous liberality of his reception.[86] +There can be no doubt but that in these respects there were few +contemporary courts which outshone those of the Lüneburg Dukes. We shall +see how, as time went on, Sophia did what in her lay to maintain around +her a culture both higher and wider than would have specially commended +itself to the personal tastes of her husband, or of her eldest son. + +----- + +Footnote 84: + + Steffani, after being employed in other diplomatic business by the + Hanoverian Court, was chosen to accompany the Princess Amalia, + daughter of the late Duke John Frederick, on her journey to Modena, + where she was married to the Roman King Joseph. Pope Innocent XI + hereupon created him Bishop of Spiga _in partibus_. + +Footnote 85: + + It was broken up in 1852. See A. Haupt, _u.s._, where the palace on + the property of Count Alten, which was at the time mortgaged to the + Platens, is said to be the one important specimen remaining of the + Italian architecture in the Hanover of the period. It was said to have + been built by Ernest Augustus for Countess Platen. + +Footnote 86: + + _Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, Baron de l’Aubonne, Chambellan du Grand + Électeur. D’après des documents nouveaux et inédits, par Charles + Joret, Paris, 1881, pp. 342 sqq._ + +----- + +For the present, everything at Hanover seemed shaping itself for the +benefit of the Hereditary Prince George Lewis, as the representative of +that principle of primogeniture which, in his father’s eyes, was of +paramount importance for the future of the Brunswick-Lüneburg line, but +which brought many tears into the eyes of his mother. The principle in +question was by no means a new one in the history of the House of +Brunswick. It already obtained in the elder branch, and in the younger +had been established for Lüneburg-Celle and for Calenberg-Göttingen +individually. Unless it were secured, the Brunswick-Lüneburgers could +never hope to hold a more than subordinate position among the Princes of +the Empire; no dream of a Ninth Electorate was worth dreaming; and any +calculation as to further possibilities would have been more baseless +than a fabric of the air. But, while this was understood by Ernest +Augustus, and doubtless also by his eldest son, it is not wonderful that +the next brother, Frederick Augustus, should have bitterly resented the +consequences which followed for himself, and that his mother Sophia +should have been full of sympathy with his trouble. After obtaining +legal advice, Prince Frederick Augustus communicated his grievance to +the willing ears of his kinsman, Duke Antony Ulric, at Wolfenbüttel; +and, in the same quarter, the Duchess Sophia was lamenting the quarrel +which had already taken place between her husband and their second son. +‘Poor Gussy’ (_Arm Gustchen_), she wrote in December, 1685, ‘is +altogether cast out; his father will no longer give him any maintenance. +I cry about it all night long; for one child is as dear to me as +another; I am the mother of them all, and I grieve most for those who +are unhappy.’ Finally, a protest on the part of Antony Ulric was +presented to Sophia at Herrenhausen, and forwarded by her to her +husband, who was, according to his wont, enjoying himself at Venice. The +pressure was applied in vain; and, though ultimately, through the good +offices of George William, an understanding was patched up between his +brother and the hot-tempered Antony Ulric, Prince Frederick Augustus was +left to his own devices. He followed the example of his elder brother by +taking service with the Emperor and fighting against the Turks; but he +was still intending to institute a suit at Vienna for the recovery of +his rights, when, in January, 1691, he fell in a skirmish at Chemetzvar, +near St. Giorgy, in Transylvania. After a heroic struggle, the fourth of +Sophia’s sons, Charles Philip, had likewise fallen in battle against the +Turks at Pristina, in Albania, almost exactly a year before Frederick +Augustus. Charles Philip seems to have been his mother’s favourite +boy—possibly because of a natural disfigurement (of the head) which had +from the first aroused her loving pity; and the tragic details of his +dying, covered with wounds, on the battlefield, went to her heart. She +fell seriously ill, and even a visit to Carlsbad in the spring of the +year failed completely to restore her to health. We may so far +anticipate the chronological sequence of events as to note that, after +the death of Frederick Augustus, the third brother, Maximilian William, +who had at first acknowledged the principle of primogeniture, entered +the lists against it. He was joined in his resistance by the fifth, +Christian, who was likewise in the Imperial service, and who afterwards +(in July, 1703), as Major-General in the Imperial army, met with his +death by being drowned in the Danube near Ehingen. When the news of his +death came, those around his mother feared for her health—as she could +not find the relief of tears. In Maximilian’s quarrel, his mother’s +sympathies were again on his side, though, to judge from passages in the +correspondence of Sophia Dorothea, he was of a more or less flighty +disposition; and, when his father had not unnaturally declined to pay +him his appanage, she attempted to obtain some pecuniary support for him +at the Danish or at the English Court. Like his brother, he took the +officious Antony Ulric into his confidence, and communications were +opened with Danckelmann, the powerful Minister of the Elector of +Brandenburg, who, with the distinct purpose of thwarting the designed +consolidation of the Celle-Hanover dominions, kept up the tension +existing between his and the Hanoverian court, and that notwithstanding +the marriage, in 1684, of the daughter of Ernest Augustus, Sophia +Charlotte to the Electoral Prince—from 1688, Elector Frederick III of +Brandenburg. A plot was now hatched, of which the precise object +remained in some measure obscure, but as to whose progress the +quick-witted Sophia Charlotte contrived to send sufficient information +to her father. On December 5th, 1691, Prince Maximilian William was +arrested at Hanover, together with the chief agents of his design; and +one of these, the Master of the Hunt (_Oberjägermeister_), von Moltke, +with whom Danckelmann had been in communication, had shortly afterwards +to pay the penalty of death for the high treason laid to his charge. +Prince Maximilian himself was allowed to depart unharmed, after +renouncing all claims to the Succession, except in the case of his elder +brother’s dying without leaving a son. Although he did not keep his oath +very scrupulously, he refrained from any open violation of it during the +lifetime of his father, expending his energy in the military service of +Venice and of the Emperor. He commanded the first line of cavalry at +Blenheim, and survived till 1726, having missed the reversion of the see +of Osnabrück by a late conversion to the Church of Rome.[87] Earlier +rumours of a change of faith on his part had sorely vexed his mother, to +the unconcealed amusement of her niece, the Duchess of Orleans; but his +letters to Sophia, and the references to him in hers to Leibniz, give a +pleasing impression of his frank and open nature, although, impulsive as +he was, he seems to have been deficient in filial piety as in other +qualities showing moral depth.[88] + +----- + +Footnote 87: + + Already, as a child of six, Maximilian (who seems to have been the + survivor of a pair of twins) had displayed an unusual piety, and kept + a prayer-book in his bed for matutinal use. + +Footnote 88: + + The Duchess of Orleans, who had been informed that a complaint had + been preferred to the Emperor by Maximilian, as to a sum of money + demanded by him from his mother, the Electress Sophia, not having been + sent to him by her, who had loved him so well, exclaims: ‘This is + abominable; this Prince can never meet with any good fortune either in + this world or in the next, after having done this abominable thing, + which I can never forgive him.’ + +----- + +Sophia’s youngest son, Ernest Augustus, destined when the time came +(1715) to succeed to the see of Osnabrück, formerly held by his father, +and also to be created Duke of York and Albany, was still in his boyhood +at the critical stage which we have now reached in the history of his +House. His birth in 1674, which for a time endangered her life, had +elicited from his mother the confession that she already had boys +enough; and, inasmuch as there was some difficulty in finding a +godfather for him as the latest-born of so large a family, his eldest +brother George Lewis was called upon to undertake the responsibilities +of the office. The special bond thus established between the two +brothers held out firmly so long as their lives endured; indeed, the +Duchess of Orleans regrets that, instead of waiting upon his mother, the +Prince followed about his elder brother ‘like a spaniel’ (1707). While +it is impossible not to respect the loyal devotion of the younger of the +pair, the affectionate return made to it on the part of the elder, +‘serious’ as he always was in manner, should not be overlooked by those +who desire to form a fair estimate of the character of George I. Ernest +Augustus’ childhood was spent under his mother’s eye; and, in 1687, the +good Duchess of Orleans undertook to introduce his elder brother +Christian and himself at the French Court, where, for the better part of +two years, the two Princes, and Ernest Augustus in particular, by his +charming manners and quickness, did credit to their descent. In 1689, +they started on the indispensable Italian tour; and, in 1693, Prince +Ernest Augustus received the baptism of fire equally necessary to this +masculine brood in the battle of Neerwinden (Landen), where three sons +of the Duchess Sophia—George Lewis, Christian, and Ernest Augustus—were +engaged. In August, 1714, the Duchess of Orleans makes a very curious +remark concerning him, which suggests that there was a notion at the +time of passing over the Electoral Prince (afterwards George II) in the +English Succession.[89] The correspondence of Ernest Augustus, which +covers the years 1703 to 1726, reveals a simple and soldier-like +character, thoroughly loyal and singularly modest. His elder brother, +King George I, actually died in his arms at Osnabrück, and Ernest +Augustus, as Sir Henry Wotton might have written, ‘liked it not, and +died,’ little more than a year later (August 14th, 1728). + +----- + +Footnote 89: + + ‘I do not know whether it is true, but it is said here’ [at + Versailles] ‘that the English are ready to have the Elector of + Brunswick for their King, but that they will make it a condition, that + the Electoral Prince shall never succeed him on the throne. Duke + Maximilian I do not know, but, between ourselves, I would rather it + were Duke Ernest Augustus than the Electoral Prince; for my cousin, + Duke Ernest Augustus, has a good ancestry on both sides and is of + wholly German descent, whereas the Electoral Prince has some very bad + ancestors, and is described to me as so mad that I have often heartily + pitied his wife; of Duke Ernest Augustus I have never heard anything + but praise, and I have therefore a hearty regard for him.’ + +----- + +Of Sophia Charlotte, her parents’ only daughter, the ‘_Figuelotte_’ of a +delightful babyhood, and during life the darling and in many respects +the semblance of her mother, it will be more convenient to speak in our +next chapter. Her youth had been happier than Sophia’s, from whom she +had inherited, together with her black hair, to which her blue eyes +offered a charming contrast, a rare healthiness of mind, as well as, +seemingly, of body, inexhaustible high spirits, and a rapidity of +apprehension which made her in her early girlhood a linguist such as her +mother and her mother’s brothers and sisters had been in their +generation. In 1679, she accompanied her mother on a visit to the French +Court, where her natural charms, and above all the brightness of her +intelligence, made so pleasing an impression that it was at the time +thought likely that she might return thither as the bride of one of the +Princes of the House of France. But at Hanover she soon seemed intent +upon very different interests; and she had become the pupil of Leibniz +before her destiny called her to give her hand to the widowed Electoral +Prince Frederick of Brandenburg (September, 1684). ‘It is fortunate,’ +wrote her mother, ‘that she does not care for externals.’ The parting +went very near to the heart of the Duchess Sophia, who was now, more +than ever, left alone to support the dynastic endeavours and suffer from +the domestic troubles of the House of Hanover, while meeting the +responsibilities of her own title to the English Succession. + + + + + IV + + THE ELECTORAL HOUSE OF HANOVER + (HANOVER AND HERRENHAUSEN, 1688-1701) + + +None of the varied experiences through which Sophia had passed during a +life of nearly sixty years, had either made her forget her English +descent, or led her to regard English interests as alien to her own. +During the reign of Charles II her personal recollections of his years +of vagrancy could not but render her discreetly indisposed to keep up by +letter any direct intercourse with her royal cousin; but she was not the +less desirous of remaining in touch with the progress of events in her +mother’s first and final home. After her brother Rupert had at last +settled down in England, she expressed a wish that he should be made a +peer, and thus be enabled to attend in Parliament and keep her informed +of the course of public business. She was naturally much interested in +the marriage, in 1677, of William Prince of Orange to the Duke of York’s +elder daughter, the Princess Mary; and, in 1680, she had the +satisfaction of welcoming to Hanover the Prince who had thus become +closely connected with the English royal family, and of receiving his +assurances of his anxiety to render some substantial service to her +husband’s House. It has already been incidentally noted how, in 1681, +her eldest son, George Lewis, had paid a visit to England, where he +might, it was hoped, secure the hand of Mary’s younger sister, the +Princess Anne. This scheme was favoured by the Prince of Orange, whose +own marriage had remained childless, and who could not ignore the fact +that the design for excluding his Roman Catholic father-in-law from the +English Succession had already assumed definite shape. In 1685, after +King Charles II had passed away, ‘unconcerned as became a good +Christian’—or, in other words, after having received the last +consolations of the Catholic faith—William expressed his conviction that +Sophia would share both his sorrow for the late King’s death, and his +joy at hearing of the unhindered accession of ‘_celluy d’apresent_.’ And +King James II himself could assure her that he would always ‘continue +the same good correspondence which she had with the late King his +brother.’[90] James II, to judge from an extant series of letters to +Sophia from his hand, proved as good as his word, and she answered him +in the same spirit. A constant communication seems, moreover, to have +been kept up between her and the English royal family, through the +personal agency of the faithful Lord Craven, of whom in 1683 she writes +as ‘at present my sole correspondent in England.’ James II had appointed +him Lieutenant-General of the Forces, and he would have been quite +ready, had it rested with him, to act a decisive part with his +Coldstreams on the King’s behalf in the closing hours of his reign. +Thus, when, in July, 1688, on the occasion of what ought to have been +the happiest event of that reign—the birth of an heir to the +throne—Sophia gave expression to her pleasure, the King wrote in return +that he could have expected nothing less from her; ‘for beside our being +so near related, you have always upon all occasion expresst a concerne +for me of which you shall always find me very sensible.’ And, with the +straightforwardness of character which was not less distinctive of her +than was her intellectual _finesse_, she never, either by word or by +deed, belied her goodwill to the unfortunate King, or allowed herself to +be impressed by the _consensus_ between blatant prejudice and more or +less wilful blindness that ‘doubted’ the genuineness of the Prince of +Wales. She transmitted to the Emperor Leopold a letter in which King +James had reproduced, for her benefit, the substance of the refutation +of these calumnious doubts laid by him before his Privy Council; and, so +late as 1704, she is found reproaching Leibniz for the courtier-like +insinuations which he seems to have hazarded as to the Prince’s birth. +Accordingly, at the time when the expedition of William of Orange was +preparing, King James wrote to Sophia in a perfectly trustful tone; he +had heard that, with the exception of her husband, all her Protestant +neighbours had contributed to the armament; but, if the wind continued, +he hoped nevertheless to be able to give a good account of it. As a +matter of fact, Ernest Augustus maintained a neutral attitude so long as +he could; and, so late as 1691, James II is again found applauding +Sophia’s husband for declining to support the ‘vemper’ (William of +Orange). Early in the next year, he continues to harp on the same string +to her, while avowing his confidence in the continuance of her good +wishes and requesting her to use no ceremony in writing to him. In 1693, +Lord Dartmouth, whom Sophia received at Hanover with much distinction +because of the kindness shown by his grandfather to her brothers Rupert +and Maurice, was informed by her that she maintained a constant +correspondence both with King James and with his daughter Queen Mary. On +the death of Ernest Augustus, both King James and Queen Mary Beatrice +warmly condoled with the widow, the former avowing his gratitude for all +the marks of esteem and kindness which she had so frequently shown to +him. It is interesting, too, to observe how Sophia, in conjunction with +her second self, the Duchess of Orleans, used her best endeavours to +make peace between King James and his eldest daughter, whose conduct +towards him he pardonably misjudged, but in whose sincerity of soul a +sure instinct led Sophia to place full trust. The two kinswomen had +never met, when, in June, 1689, Queen Mary wrote to Sophia to complain +of the harsh terms in which the Electress Sophia Charlotte of +Brandenburg was reported to have spoken of her, and took occasion, with +her usual candour, to dwell upon the conflict of feelings through which +it was her duty to guide her conduct. An active correspondence ensued +between the two women, who were truly worthy of one another, and who +had, moreover, some experiences of wedlock in common; and from this it +is clear that Queen Mary had, to her deep satisfaction, found in Sophia +a friend ready to credit her with real filial affection for her father. +In return she writes to the Duchess with a frankness declared by her to +be indigenous to Holland, where she had herself so long lived and where +Sophia had been born—each of them, as she says, having to bear her cross +as best she could. + +----- + +Footnote 90: + + It is interesting to find Queen Mary Beatrice thanking the Dowager + Duchess Benedicta at Hanover for her congratulations on the same + occasion, and referring to her constant interest in the royal family, + and to the links between them. + +----- + +But, though Sophia was never willing to let political considerations +warp her natural affections or suppress her natural sense of justice, +she would hardly, like Mary, have gone so far as to say of herself that +she was unfitted for politics. The interests of her family and of the +Hanoverian dynasty were steadily kept in view by her, and it was these, +rather than any personal motives or wishes of her own, which determined +her conduct at the critical epoch of the Revolution. The events that +cost James II his throne, as speedily became clear to her, opened a new +political future for herself and her descendants. Before the sailing of +William’s expedition, when engagements in his favour were being entered +into by the new Elector (Frederick William) of Brandenburg, the +Landgrave (Charles) of Hesse-Cassel and the Duke of Celle, Burnet, as he +tells us, sent, from the Hague, a messenger to the Duchess Sophia at +Hanover. This messenger, a French refugee named de Boncour, was +instructed to inform her of the design of the Prince of Orange, and of +the certainty that, should the expedition prove successful, it would +result in the perpetual exclusion of Papists from the English throne. If +she could persuade her husband Ernest Augustus to sever his interests +definitively from those of France, there was little doubt but that, +after the two daughters of King James and the Prince of Orange, from +none of whom any issue was surviving, the Succession would be lodged in +her person and posterity. Burnet, who asserts that, in making this +communication, he acted entirely on his own responsibility, though his +action afterwards gained him William’s approval, adds that the message +was warmly entertained by the Duchess Sophia, but that her husband let +it pass by him. Ernest Augustus, not unnaturally, looked on the whole +question with a self-control facilitated by the fact that, in any case, +he could only benefit from the English Succession through his wife. +Whatever may be the measure of truth in this story (which, curiously +enough, is not to be found in Burnet’s _Original Memoirs_), it is +extremely improbable that the Duchess Sophia should have allowed +Burnet’s agent to ascertain her personal views concerning his +suggestions. When the expedition was actually on its way, she wrote a +letter to Leibniz from which nothing can be concluded as to her feelings +in the matter, except that, as was but natural, she was very anxious to +know what would come of it all, especially, as she writes in her +customary half-ironical vein, ‘inasmuch as the words “for religion and +liberty” are to be read on all the banners of the Prince of Orange.’ +After the expedition had been carried to a successful issue, we find her +addressing the same correspondent in much the same tone; and, though her +letter of congratulation to William III is perfectly cordial and +contains a remarkably _à propos_ reference to the Blatant Beast, she +shows true dignity as a descendant of the Stewarts in avowing her +sympathy for William’s dethroned predecessor. But with the new King’s +reply, written from Hampton Court less than a fortnight after the +Coronation, the relations of Sophia to himself, and to the throne +occupied by him and his Queen, entered into a new stage, which may be +called the business stage. + +In this letter, King William, without any circumlocution, expresses his +hope of finding good allies in the whole House of Lüneburg—that is to +say, in Sophia’s husband, as well as in her brother-in-law, on whom he +could already securely count. On the other hand, he points out that +Sophia has a very real interest in the welfare of his three kingdoms, +inasmuch as, to all appearance, one of her sons would some day reign +over them. Although Sophia still wrote to Leibniz (then at Modena) in +her habitual half-jesting tone as to the chances now opening to her, +there can be no doubt that she is correctly stated to have at once taken +action on King William’s hint, and to have requested several English +politicians known to her to support the project of naming her in the +Succession. The attempt made in this year (1689) to carry the project in +question through Parliament proves that the appeal had not been made in +vain. + +On May 8th, 1689, the Bill of Rights and Succession came up for its +third reading in the House of Commons of the Convention Parliament. +While otherwise conforming to the Declaration accepted by William and +Mary earlier in the year, and containing a clause excluding Papists, it +made no provision for the event of the death without issue of Queen +Mary, the Princess Anne, and King William, upon whose issue the +Succession was, in the above order of sequence, settled. Such an event +was at the time far from improbable; should it actually occur, there was +considerable obscurity as to where the Crown would devolve. Would, for +instance, an infant child of Popish parents be excluded;[91] and—a far +more momentous question—would the exclusion extend to a Popish prince +who might have been converted to Protestantism in time to succeed? +Godolphin, a statesman not unnaturally suspected, at this season, of +facing both ways, but perhaps more benignantly towards the _régime_ +under which he had risen so high than towards that in which his own +place was still doubtful, proposed a rider guarding the rights of ‘any +Protestant prince or princess’ as to his or her future hereditary +succession to the Crown. The proviso, in which, to the mover’s virtuous +indignation, more than one member suspected the influence of a foreign +Power, was rejected; but it is notable that, in the course of the +debate, Colonel Herbert stated that he had ‘seen a letter of a sister of +Prince Rupert’s, wherein she was complaining of great hardship done to +her children, that they were not regarded in the entail of the crown;’ +he therefore moved that they should be mentioned in the Bill. The +proposal, which may confidently be ascribed to the action of Sophia +adverted to above, fell to the ground, the judicious opinion of Paul +Foley prevailing, that it was inexpedient suddenly to introduce any +further limitation of the Succession; but it had not been made wholly in +vain. When the Bill of Rights and Succession reached the House of Lords, +after, on the motion of the Bishop of Salisbury (Burnet), a clause had +been added extending the exclusion of Papists from the Succession to +princes or princesses married to Papists, the same useful henchman, in +accordance with the directions of the King, proposed, as a further +addition to the Bill, the naming, in the Succession, of the Duchess of +Hanover and her posterity. This amendment having been adopted by the +Lords without debate (which could hardly have been the case had the +ground not been prepared there) was carried down to the Commons, who, in +a debate held on June 19th, treated it in a very different spirit. One +member (Sir John Lowther) dwelt on the inexpediency of attempting to +settle the Succession a long time beforehand, instead of following the +example of Queen Elizabeth, who ‘was a wise Princess’; ‘this Princess of +Hanover,’ he pointed out, might turn Catholic before the time for her +succession had arrived. In the end, the amendment was rejected without a +division, and, a conference between the two Houses having proved +fruitless, the Bill was lost for the Session. The birth, on July 27th, +of Princess Anne’s son (afterwards Duke of Gloucester) took away from +the proposed addition its immediate significance; but, whatever may have +been the cause of the failure to give effect to the King’s wish, the +fault certainly did not lie with the Duchess Sophia. There were ‘heats’ +enough in the politics of the day, and in the relations between Lords +and Commons in particular, to explain the incident; nor is it surprising +that, when Parliament reassembled in the autumn, the Bill of Rights and +Succession which was now passed contained no mention of the Duchess of +Hanover or her descendants. Burnet, ubiquitously assisting at every +stage of every transaction with which, as narrated by himself, he had +any connexion at all, says that by King William’s wish he wrote to +Sophia an account of the entire affair. We know, however, that Lord +Craven was sent to Hanover to explain it or to soften any unpleasantness +in the effect which it might produce; and, in a letter to Sophia, dated +December 10th, 1689, William himself explained to her that, though she +had not been designated in the Bill, she might rest satisfied with +things as they stood. She was Heiress Presumptive, in the event of +claims beyond those named in the Bill coming into consideration; and the +suggestion of Burnet was quite superfluous, that ‘if any in the line +before her should pretend to change, as it was not very likely to +happen, so it would not be easily believed.’ Sophia’s answer to King +William, in which she cordially thanks him for his exertions on her +behalf, closes the entire episode. She trusts that the expectation of +heirs implied in the Bill may prove correct; as for herself, her life +will be at an end before the matter is decided. She was, at the time, +close upon the sixtieth year of her life; and a son had just been born +to Princess Anne, who very possibly might yet have other children that +would survive her. + +----- + +Footnote 91: + + Macaulay, who mentions this doubt, illustrates it by the supposed case + of an infant prince of Savoy. (See below.) + +----- + +After this negative, but in no sense final, result had been +reached, the Succession question remained in abeyance for +something like eleven years. It accords neither with the +circumstances of the situation nor with the character of Sophia, +to represent her as during this long interval sleeplessly intent +upon an issue so remote, so precarious, and so unlikely to prove, +in the strictest sense, personal to herself. But, on the one hand, +her and her family’s interest in the Succession question had once +for all been brought directly home to her; and, on the other, she +had had reason to appreciate the _bona fides_ and the genuine +goodwill towards her own contingent claim exhibited by King +William III. Already in 1689, primarily with a view to the +restoration of amity between Denmark and Holstein-Gottorp, Sir +William Dutton Colt was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister +Plenipotentiary to the Brunswick-Lüneburg Courts, being also +accredited to Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Hesse-Cassel; and in 1692 +he was further formally instructed to treat for the entry of the +Dukes of Celle and Hanover into the Grand Alliance.[92] He appears +to have contrived to gain the good graces of the ducal families +both at Hanover and at Celle, and in 1693 he reports that the +Platens were jealous of his favour with the ‘Electrisse’;[93] for +Sophia and Eleonora were godmothers to his daughter, and bestowed +upon her their united names. The personal relations between Sophia +and the King and Queen of England at the same time grew more and +more cordial. William, though not as a rule inclined to sentiment, +early in 1691 condoled with Sophia on the death, at the close of +the previous year, of her son Frederick Augustus, for whom he had +cherished ‘_une amitié toute particulière_’; and early in the +following year Queen Mary delicately expressed her regret at +Sophia’s fresh family troubles (the death of her son Charles +Philip, and perhaps the catastrophe of his brother Maximilian). +These kindly feelings combined with political motives to induce +King William to contribute his good offices for bringing to a +successful end, in the same year (1692), the endeavours to which, +as we shall see immediately, the main political energy of the +House of Hanover had long been devoted—for the attainment of the +Electoral dignity. He had his reward when, as part of the bargain +between Ernest Augustus and the Emperor Leopold, the House of +Hanover definitively threw in its lot with the interests of the +Empire and the cause of the Grand Alliance. On Sir William Colt’s +death in the following year (1693), a new English Minister +Plenipotentiary to the Courts of Celle and Hanover was appointed +in the person of James Cressett,[94] who, though at first he +represents the Courts to which he was accredited as having ‘gaped +upon him like roaring lions’ (not feeling quite certain about the +British Parliament’s earnestness in the War), soon contrived to +place himself on a footing of intimacy there. Leibniz speedily +fell into a correspondence with him about the lead produce of the +Harz as compared with that of the English mines. But less academic +matters also occupied the attention of the new envoy; for, in +1692, two treaties had been concluded between the Ducal Government +and those of England and the United Provinces, according to which +Hanover was to furnish a force of 7,000 men, and the two maritime +Powers were to pay respectively 20,000 and 10,000 dollars a month +for their support, besides defraying two-thirds of the cost of +their rations and forage. In December, 1693, these subsidy +treaties were discussed in the House of Commons, and though the +‘Duke of Hanover’ was praised as a loyal ally, objection was taken +to the payment for bread and forage, on the ground that he might +well pay a larger proportion, ‘now that he is Ninth Elector.’ In +return, it was pointed out that, on the one hand, the Elector had +to pay his quota to the Empire, and that, on the other, if these +troops were not paid by England, they must be by France—a comment +not altogether unwarranted by the changes of Hanoverian policy. +Cressett remained the diplomatic representative of Great Britain +at the Lüneburg Courts till 1703.[95] + +----- + +Footnote 92: + + _Notes on the Diplomatic Relations between England and Germany_, ed. + C. H. Firth: _List of Diplomatic Representatives and Agents, England + and North Germany, 1689-1727_, contributed by J. F. Chance, Oxford, + 1907. + +Footnote 93: + + As Colt died in 1693 (at Heilbronn), on a mission on which he was sent + to treat with the Elector of Saxony, to bring him into the Grand + Alliance, I cannot say what was the nature of the series of holograph + letters from the Electress Sophia to Lady Colt, extending from 1681 + (?) to 1714, reported in the _Times_ of April 14th, 1905, as sold by + auction. + +Footnote 94: + + There seems good reason for believing that the foreign lady, named + Louise-Marie, married by Cressett in 1704, about the close of his + residence at the Court of Celle, was a kinswoman of the Duchess + Eleonora. Cf., as to a survival of this connexion with the dynasty, H. + Walpole’s _Memoirs of the Last Ten Years of the Reign of George II_ + (1822), Vol. i. p. 79. + +Footnote 95: + + In 1700 he was also accredited to Berlin, where already in 1702 Queen + Sophia Charlotte thought him a trifle _passé_. + +----- + +A time of trouble was imminent for the domestic peace of the House of +Hanover, and Sophia, as was noted above, had not long before suffered a +severe shock in both mind and body by the death of her son Charles +Philip, soon followed by that of his brother Frederick Augustus. In the +spring of 1694 she was again seriously ill. Cressett, while noting that +‘her credit is not good in affairs,’ says that he ‘should be heartily +sorry to lose her, for she loves England.’ She recovered her strength at +Wiesbaden, and we find the good Queen Mary returning fervent thanks for +her cousin’s restoration to her usual health. She needed all her +strength to carry her through the painful experiences awaiting the +Electoral family—the tragedy of Sophia Dorothea, and, after this, the +long illness and death of the Elector Ernest Augustus. Amidst such +anxieties we may rest assured that, even had intrigue and manœuvring +suited her disposition, she would have had little leisure for engaging +in them. Her attitude during this period towards the Succession +question, which few events on the great political theatre were of a +nature to affect (for even Queen Mary’s death in 1696 made no material +change in the situation), was one of quietude—no doubt a vigilant +quietude. In 1694, Lord Lexington, a diplomatist whom William III had +good reason for trusting, and who, together with a Dutch +plenipotentiary, had mediated in the quarrel between Denmark and the +Brunswick-Lüneburg Dukes concerning the Lauenburg Succession, passed +through Hanover on his way to his post at Vienna. And, in the following +year, we find Leibniz discussing with George Stepney, the brilliant +English diplomatist who, in 1693, was suddenly summoned into prominent +activity in several of the German Courts, the applicability of the +exclusion clause in the Bill of Rights to children, whether Protestants +or Papists, born of papistical parents. William III has been said to +have formed the plan of placing in the Succession the Prince expected to +be born to Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy, by his Duchess Anna Maria, +and of educating him for the purpose in England as a Protestant. The +Duchess Anna Maria was a daughter of the Duchess Henrietta of Orleans, +and thus a grand-daughter of King Charles I; so that on the ground of +descent pure and simple she would have a claim to the English Succession +before the children of the Queen of Bohemia. But there is no proof of +any such design, or of any response to any suggestion of the kind on the +part of the Duke of Savoy; and, at the most, the idea was quite +transitory. If any hopes had been raised as to William’s intentions, +Victor Amadeus effectively extinguished them by abandoning the Grand +Alliance in 1696.[96] Of course, it by no means follows from the fact +that Leibniz was, throughout, Sophia’s chief counsellor with regard to +the Succession, either that she uniformly took his advice, or that she +was always desirous of being privy to the efforts in furtherance of the +claims of herself and her descendants, which, at times with _trop de +zèle_, came from his indefatigable publicistic pen. But it remains at +all events a curious coincidence that, soon after the House of Savoy +had, as it were, fallen out of the running, William III’s interest in +the House of Hanover—and perhaps in its claims concerning the +Succession—should appear to have revived. We shall return to this date a +little later; for the moment we must make some reference to matters +which seemed of far more importance to the House of Hanover than the +remote chances of the English Succession. + +----- + +Footnote 96: + + In 1701, however, the Duchess Anna Maria protested against the Act of + Settlement, which limited the Succession to Sophia and her issue, + being Protestants. For an account of the reasons of Victor Amadeus’ + original estrangement from France, and a searching analysis of his + character, see a remarkable _Relation de la Cour de Savoie_, July + 15th, 1692, in Appendix to G. de Léris, _La Princesse de Virrue_ [for + a time the Duke’s mistress _et la Cour de Victor Amad. de Savoie_, + Paris, 1881, pp. 238-9.] + +----- + +The House of Hanover, apart from the interest which it had shown in the +military system of the Empire,[97] had a very direct share in causing +the declaration of war against that Empire, by which, in September, +1688, at the very time when he was promising assistance to James II +against the expedition of William of Orange, Louis XIV laid bare his own +designs against the peace of Europe. According to the manifesto of the +King of France, the successes of the Imperial arms in the east had +obliged him to protect his western frontier by crossing it; and, a +little before or after this declaration, his armies had entered the +Netherlands, and had invaded the Palatinate to enforce the claims +shamelessly put forward by him in the name of the innocent Duchess of +Orleans. In the Imperial advance in Hungary, and in the simultaneous +reconquest of the Morea on behalf of the Venetian Republic, Hanoverian +troops had borne a most distinguished part. It was therefore not +unfitting that the counter-manifesto, in which the glove hurled down by +Louis XIV was taken up, should have been composed by Leibniz, whose +publicistic pen was at the disposal of the House of Hanover. And among +the German princes who, in the October of this eventful year, at the +instigation of the new Elector of Brandenburg, Ernest Augustus of +Hanover’s son-in-law, and through the exertions of his minister, Paul +von Fuchs, met at Magdeburg to agree upon joint action against the +assailant of the Empire, none was more prompt, either in promise or in +action, than Ernest Augustus himself. While the Brandenburg troops +covered the Lower Rhine, the Hanoverian, Saxon, and Hessian secured the +line of the Main, by the occupation of Frankfort (November, 1688). In +May, 1689, the Grand Alliance was concluded, and though the Palatinate +could not be preserved from devastation, Frankfort was once more saved, +being occupied by a Hanoverian force of 8,000 men under Duke Ernest +Augustus and his eldest son, George Lewis. Under the command of their +Hereditary Prince, of whom there remains at least one letter written, in +the course of the campaign, with an afflatus of humour proving that his +heart was in active warfare, the Hanoverians forced Marshal Boufleurs to +relinquish the investment of Coblenz, and materially contributed to the +recovery of Mainz (September 1st, 1689). They were then transferred to +the Low Countries, where a series of campaigns was to ensue, +contemporaneous with the continuance of the conflict with the Turks. We +have seen how the sacrifices made by the House of Hanover within a +twelvemonth (January, 1690, to January, 1691) included the heroic death +of Prince Charles Philip in Albania, and that of his brother Frederick +Augustus, hardly more than a boy in years, in Transylvania. It neither +was, nor could be expected to be, the intention of Ernest Augustus, that +his House, which had served the Empire so well in both west and east, +should have so served it without reward. And the recompense desired by +him—one which, while conferring upon himself, as the head of the House +of Hanover, the highest dignity to which, as an Estate of the Empire, he +could, within its boundaries, lay claim, would at the same time reflect +lustre upon the Brunswick-Lüneburg line, whose future he had come to +regard as absorbed in that of its Hanoverian branch—could be no other +than the creation of a Ninth, that is to say Hanoverian, Electorate. + +----- + +Footnote 97: + + See as to F. C. von Platen’s mission on the subject in December, 1686, + R. Fester, _Die Augsburger Allianz_, pp. 124 _sqq._, 167 _sqq._ + +----- + +The desire or demand for this dignity was neither a sudden nor even a +new one. It had been in the mind both of Duke John Frederick and of his +librarian, Leibniz, though the latter, while giving utterance to it in +his _Cæsarinus Fürstenerius_ (1677), had at the same time delivered +himself of an elaborate protest against the preeminence in rights and +dignity claimed by the Electors over the other Princes of the Empire. +Such a protest was of course quite compatible with lending a willing ear +to any suggestion of conferring the Electoral dignity upon a +representative branch of the Brunswick-Lüneburg line itself. And +suggestions of the kind were inevitable, if only from the obvious point +of view that the Peace of Westphalia had left the number of Protestant +Electors in a disproportion of three to five, as against their Catholic +colleagues. The Great Elector of Brandenburg, in the varying +combinations of whose policy a single-minded care for the Protestant +interest was perhaps the most constant factor, had already during the +peace negotiations at Nimeguen expressed his willingness to assist in +bringing about the admission into the Electoral College of the House of +Brunswick-Lüneburg—probably at that time in the person of George William +of Celle, as Ernest Augustus was still merely Bishop of Osnabrück. But +the argument from the Protestant point of view became a much stronger +one, when, in 1685, the death of the last Elector Palatine of the +Simmern line (Sophia’s nephew Charles) transferred the Eighth Electorate +to the Catholic (Neuburg) line. Nor should it be forgotten that, +although the political jealousy between the Houses of Brandenburg and +Brunswick-Lüneburg had never ceased to exist and to operate, and +although the advantage of balancing the growing power and influence of +the former, by adding to the _prestige_ of the latter, was very +distinctly perceived at Vienna, the two Houses were since 1684 closely +linked together by intermarriage. Sophia Charlotte, the new Electoral +Princess (from 1688 Electress) of Brandenburg, was never mistress of the +situation at Berlin, and, unlike her mother, gave to matters political +only just so much attention as seemed absolutely necessary. On the other +hand, Hanoverian interests could not but benefit from the presence at +the Brandenburg Court of a princess whose personality was not one to be +ignored, and who had in her mother a monitress to whom the constant +affection between them always made her ready to listen. And the friend +whom both mother and daughter trusted above all others as an adviser, +had in 1685 begun to devote his powers of argument to the cause which, +to the head of the House of Hanover, had become of paramount importance. + +But a long siege was needed before the _Hofburg_ could be expected to +yield. The services and sacrifices which the Empire owed to the House of +Hanover were indisputable, and the solidity of its dynastic future must +have seemed beyond cavil, after the Duke of Celle had confirmed his +renunciation of any transmission of his dominions to a possible son of +his own, and had married his only daughter to the Hereditary Prince of +Hanover, where the law of primogeniture had been established. The +meeting (1689-90) of a Diet at Augsburg for the election of a Roman King +in the person of the future Emperor Joseph I, seemed a suitable +opportunity for bringing forward the Hanoverian proposal of a Ninth +Electorate through Ernest Augustus’ plenipotentiary, Count Platen. Yet, +although it could not but be of great importance to the Emperor to make +sure of the adherence of Hanover to the alliance against France, of +which at this very Diet he impressed the necessity upon the Electors, +the request of Ernest Augustus met with no acceptance either at Augsburg +or in the course of the ensuing negotiations at Vienna. So soon as the +Emperor appeared to favour Hanover’s desire for an Electoral hat, +Bamberg, Salzburg, Würzburg, Hesse-Cassel, and Pfalz-Sulzbach were +immediately on the alert to try for the Ninth Electorate on their own +account; and this general eagerness conveniently supplied the Imperial +Government with a new bait for gaining votes in the Council of +Princes.[98] Moreover, the high-handed action of the Brunswick-Lüneburg +brothers in the matter of the Lauenburg Succession (September, 1689) had +exercised a retarding influence, by which so friendly a court as that of +Brandenburg had been for a time affected. Even certain overtures made +through his emissary by Ernest Augustus—we may venture to surmise +without the privity of his wife—that, if such a concession would solve +the difficulty, he might be found disposed to listen to suggestions as +to his conversion to the Church of Rome, and his enumeration of the +services which his House had rendered to that Church, proved in vain. +Hanoverian diplomacy hereupon tried a different tack, and occupied +itself with a scheme for bringing about a combination between +Brandenburg, Saxony, and Hanover, which would put the requisite pressure +upon the Emperor by standing neutral between him and France. The device, +for which more than one historical precedent could have been found, +produced its effect on this occasion also, after Saxony had been induced +to fall in with it. According to the current account, the eminent +Hanoverian minister, Count Otto von Grote (who like Leibniz had been +introduced by Duke John Frederick into the Hanoverian service, in which +he spent twenty-eight years, doing his duty to the State in the very +spirit of Frederick the Great), forced the hand of the Emperor by +exhibiting to him at Vienna the compact with Saxony which realised the +menace of a Third Party in the European conflict. Even if this story is +apocryphal, there can be no doubt that the neutrality project furnished +a very powerful lever in the negotiations carried on at the Imperial +Court by Grote in conjunction with the resident Hanoverian minister, +President von Limbach. Their arguments were supported by representations +on the part of Great Britain, the United Provinces, and Brandenburg; but +they were still more effectively reinforced by the Emperor Leopold’s +pressing requirements for his next campaign against the Turks. Thus, +then, early in 1692, was concluded the Electoral Compact (_Kurtractat_), +in which the Dukes of Hanover and Celle undertook to provide, in +addition to subsidies, a force of 6,000 men in their own pay, to be +employed in the first instance against the Turks, and afterwards against +France, while a supplementary agreement bound both sides to perpetual +amity and military assistance, and assured to the House of Austria the +support of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg in future Imperial elections +as well as in the matter of the coming Spanish Succession. Hereupon, on +March 19th, 1692, the Imperial rescript conferring an Electoral hat upon +the Duke of Hanover was placed in the hands of his representative at +Vienna. + +----- + +Footnote 98: + + Droysen, _Geschichte der Preussischen Politik_, Vol. iv. Part i. p. + 87. + +----- + +But, before this act of authority on the part of the Emperor could +command the assent of the Estates of the Empire which he required in +order to proceed to the investiture, much remained to be done at Vienna, +where Grote was active in person during the latter half of the year; at +Dresden, where Jobst von Ilten, another specially trusted servant of the +Hanoverian dynasty, successfully exerted himself; and elsewhere. In the +midst of these difficulties, the Duchess of Orleans wrote to her aunt +that she was convinced as to the source of opposition being German +Princes rather than France. As a matter of fact, not only the political +but the religious interests were agitated with which the House of +Hanover had been, or might hereafter be, in conflict; and Grote was +informed that both the King of Denmark (Christian V) and the Pope +(Innocent XII) were adverse to the desired investiture. The good offices +of Brandenburg were, however, freely exerted in its favour, and the +Elector Frederick III’s envoy at Ratisbon, von Metternich, was +instructed to tranquillise the Catholic Electors by undertaking that, in +the event of the dying-out of the Bavarian and Palatine lines, the +establishment of a new Catholic Electorate should be promoted by +Brandenburg, Saxony, and Hanover. Thus, by the middle of October, 1692, +a majority of the Electors had been secured for the investiture, and it +was possible to ignore the violent opposition of Duke Antony Ulric of +Wolfenbüttel, who, as Elizabeth Charlotte had hinted, was irreconcilable +on this subject, and was calling out troops as if the world were out of +joint.[99] On December 10th following, the investiture took place at +Vienna, and Grote received the coveted Electoral hat for his master. +Ernest Augustus and Sophia were at Berlin on a visit to their daughter +when the good news reached them; a series of brilliant festivities +ensued as a matter of course, since Frederick III was always glad of a +reason for display; and, two days before Christmas, a defensive alliance +for three years was concluded between the two Electors, to be followed a +month later by an ‘everlasting league.’ This alliance, to whatever other +results it might or might not lead, unmistakably signified the +recognition of an important success gained for the ‘Evangelical’ cause +in Germany. Brandenburg, which was so soon to merge in the Prussian +Kingdom, and Hanover, whose heir was not long afterwards to mount the +English throne, would, if they held together, suffice to defy any +religious reaction in the Empire, and likewise be able to resist any +attempt in any quarter at asserting a political domination. + +----- + +Footnote 99: + + See as to his opposition Bodemann, _Anton Ulrich und seine + Correspondenz mit Leibniz_, in _Zeitschr. d. histor. Ver. für + Niedersachsen_, 1879. It was largely from ambitious motives that this + Duke entered so zealously into the great scheme for a reunion between + Catholics and Protestants. (See Clemens Schwarte, _Die neunte Kur und + Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel_, in _Münstersche Beiträge zur + Geschichtsforschung_, Neue Folge, Münster, 1905.) + +----- + +Neither, however, had Grote’s labours as yet come to an end—though they +were a few months afterwards cut short by his death—nor were the +aspirations of the House of Hanover within the Empire satisfied by the +Electoral investiture of December, 1692. Brandenburg, Saxony, and most +of the other German courts recognised the new Elector; but the question +of his introduction into the Electoral College, which implied his +admission as Elector to his due share in the administration of the +affairs of the Empire—the question _quo modo_—had still to be settled. +The progress of its solution was delayed by a persistent opposition, of +which the guiding spirit was once more Duke Antony Ulric of +Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and which included the King of Denmark as Duke +of Holstein, the Dukes of Mecklenburg, and a number of other princes, +both temporal and spiritual, in the north and west of the Empire. In +1693, these formed an association which designated itself as that of the +Princes ‘corresponding’ against a Ninth Electorate, thus, as was justly +observed to the Emperor by the Elector of Brandenburg, who continued +loyally to support the demand of his father-in-law, lowering the +Imperial authority by ‘maintaining’ a resistance against a decision +already announced by it. The Elector of Saxony, John George IV, had been +likewise well disposed to the Hanoverian promotion; but, in 1694, he had +been succeeded by his brother Frederick Augustus (Augustus the Strong, +the lover of Aurora von Königsmarck), whom, as will be seen in a +different connexion, private as well as public motives had estranged +from the Hanoverian Court; and thus a fresh obstacle had been put in the +way of the admission of Ernest Augustus into the College of Electors. +The virulence of Antony Ulric’s jealous hatred, which, as we shall also +see, was to find in the Königsmarck catastrophe of 1694 and its +antecedents a most tempting opportunity for damaging the reputation of +the Hanoverian family, suggested to him what the Hanoverian diplomatist +Ilten termed a ‘_projet d’alliance diabolique_.’ Frederick Augustus was +to be gained over to the association of ‘Corresponding’ Princes by a +surrender to Saxony of the Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel claims to part of the +Duchy of Lauenburg, and he was to cooperate with Denmark in +dispossessing Hanover and Celle, who had occupied other parts of the +duchy claimed by them. Ernest Augustus had to appeal to King William III +to put a stop to manœuvres which threatened seriously to affect the +general peace of Europe. + +Although the machinations of Antony Ulric were thus frustrated, he +succeeded in depriving his hitherto so fortunate kinsman, Ernest +Augustus, of the satisfaction of attaining in person to the consummation +of his chief dynastic ambition. Soon after the death of Ernest Augustus, +in January, 1698, the insensate jealousy of Antony Ulric led him to +make, with fresh assistance, an armed attack upon Hanover, which +amounted to an act of hostility against the Empire, committed at a +critical season in the affairs of Europe. The defeat of this attempt by +the energetic action of the Elector George Lewis broke down the +opposition of Antony Ulric in the matter of the Ninth Electorate (1702); +and soon afterwards he acknowledged the Electoral dignity and the +precedence of the Hanoverian Elector at the Diet (1703). Previously to +these occurrences, the exertions of Frederick III of Brandenburg had +succeeded in inducing the three Spiritual Electors to abandon their +resistance to the new Protestant Electorate (1699); but the outbreak of +the War of the Spanish Succession had thereupon caused further delays. +Thus it was not till 1707 that the positive assent of all the Electors +was secured, nor till September 7th, 1708, sixteen years after the +investiture at Vienna, that the Hanoverian envoy, von Limbach, at last +took his seat in the Electoral College at Ratisbon. + +The marriage between Sophia Dorothea of Celle and her cousin George +Lewis of Hanover, which was to end so disastrously, came as a matter of +course to be represented as having been ill-omened at the outset. It is, +however, impossible to trust either the account of the transactions that +preceded this marriage, or that of the long train of events ending in +its dissolution, to be found in a long series of versions of this +pitiful story. In substance, if not in every detail, they all go back +upon the parent romance compiled by Duke Antony Ulric, very probably +with the aid of information furnished to him by the confidante of the +unhappy heroine. An authority so signally untrustworthy is best ignored; +though it would be idle to pretend that the copious stream, which has +flowed through all sorts of channels from this turbid source, is likely +to be wholly devoid of some admixture of truth.[100] In point of fact, +we cannot tell in what frame of mind Sophia Dorothea entered on her +married life, or even what was her mother’s view of the match. Eleonora, +beyond all doubt, tenderly loved her daughter; but Sophia Dorothea’s +nature was light and frivolous, and there had not, so far as is known, +been anything in her life to incline her to resistance. The views of the +Duchess Sophia on the subject of her eldest son’s marriage it may seem +easy to guess. But, though she had execrated the d’Olbreuze connexion in +all its earlier stages, and though she seems at no time to have +pretended to anything like affection for Eleonora’s daughter, we may +take it for granted that, so soon as the marriage-project had been +formally adopted as a matter of court and state policy, the Duchess +completely acquiesced in it. And, indeed, no doubt could exist as to the +advantages of the arrangement, whether from the point of view of the +political future of the dynasty, or from that of the present resources +of the House. The marriage-contract gave to the Hereditary Prince the +free use of his wife’s income, though it secured her fortune—which was +certain to be a very large one—to herself in the event of her husband’s +decease preceding her own. It was only at a later date, when a +dissolution of her marriage seemed desirable to Sophia Dorothea, that +she complained of the terms of this settlement. The great wealth of the +bride might well be held to cover whatever minor disabilities might +result to the possible issue of the marriage from the imperfection of +her own descent. + +----- + +Footnote 100: + + The supplementary (sixth) volume of the _Roman Octavia_, which + contains the story of Sophia Dorothea under the title of the _History + of the Princess Solane_, was first published in 1707, when Sophia + Dorothea’s lady-in-waiting, Fräulein Eleonora von dem Knesebeck, who + had, from first to last, been in the secret of the Princess’ relations + with Count Königsmarck, either was or recently had been resident at + Wolfenbüttel under the protection of Duke Antony Ulric after her + escape from prison. In the revised edition of this ‘historical novel,’ + published at Nürnberg in 1712 and dedicated to the ‘_Hochlöbliche + Nymfen-Gesellschaft an der Donau_, the name of _Solane_ was altered to + _Rhodogune_, and there were certain other changes. The derivation of + the traditional narrative from Duke Antony Ulric’s romance was + convincingly traced by the late Professor Adolf Köcher, who, though + disbelieving in the genuineness of the correspondence to be mentioned + immediately, succeeded in throwing a flood of light upon the entire + course of Sophia Dorothea’s story.—Writing, in 1709, about the amour + between the Landgrave Ernest Lewis of Hesse-Darmstadt and the + (married) Countess von Sintzendorf, the Duchess of Orleans observes + that, since the lady is quite ready to show the Prince’s letters, it + would be easy for Duke Antony Ulric to turn their affair into a + romance. + +----- + +Nothing, it may be added, could be more improbable than that either +George Lewis or his mother should have been at the pains of considering +how far Sophia Dorothea’s character and disposition were suited to his +own, or whether she would find any difficulty in accommodating herself +to his way of life. The Duchess Sophia had learnt by long experience to +bear with the open faithlessness of her husband, and with his frank +neglect of herself, without forfeiting the influence which her +intelligence had long assured to her over him and his affairs. How +should she, with her shrewd apprehension of the ways of the world, have +supposed that the same lesson would not be learnt by her new +daughter-in-law? And it may at once be stated that there is no +indication of George Lewis having during the early years of his married +life kept up any relation that would have been unbearable to his young +wife. If there was any truth in the rumour that he had been on terms of +intimacy with Countess Platen’s younger sister, Frau von dem Bussche +(_née_ Marie von Meysenbug), the relation must have been broken off +before his marriage, as indeed a further circumstantial piece of scandal +asserted. She appears to have been a very pretty person, with plenty of +admirers; and she is said to have set the fashion of ‘drinking tobacco’ +among the ladies at Hanover.[101] For the rest, although George I was at +no time in his life in the habit of seeking personal praise, and in +truth cannot be said to have received an overflowing measure of it +either from contemporaries or from posterity, yet he was not without +qualities sure to impress themselves on anyone brought into close +contact with him. His unflinching courage and military capacity were +generally known; and it may further be averred in his honour, that he +was never found false to his word, and that he was unswervingly true to +any attachment once formed by him. His manners may, in his younger days +in particular, have had a smack of the camp, and they must at all times +have given proof of the reserve which was part of his nature, and which +bad and good fortune combined to harden into the stolidity of his later +years. That he made no pretence to intellectual tastes (though he +quarrelled with his illustrious historiographer’s unpunctuality in +fulfilling his engagement to digest the ancient records of the House of +Guelf) may have disappointed his mother, but could hardly perturb Sophia +Dorothea, who came of no lettered stock. In general, she might well have +been thought likely to suit her own fluid temperament to a character +cast in a stronger and sterner mould. The portraits which remain of her +show her to have been graceful and pleasing beyond the common, and this +impression is confirmed by notices of her personality dating from the +early years of her married life. Perhaps there may be perceptible in +certain of her portraits (one of which reminded the ingenious Wraxall of +Sterne’s Eliza) a sentimentality of the superficial kind; but nothing +could be more cruelly unfair than to draw from these likenesses +conclusions as to her levity of disposition. On the other hand, the +Duchess Sophia may be thought a prejudiced witness, when, in 1684 and +1685, she is found expressing distrust of both the smiles and the tears +of her daughter-in-law, and setting her down as an unsatisfactory +example for Sophia Charlotte, the apple of her mother’s eye; in truth, +however, the Duchess’ strictures cannot, in this instance, be said to be +very serious. The bad maternal bringing up of Sophia Dorothea, on which +the same censor’s faithful echo, the Duchess of Orleans, was afterwards +fain to dwell as the original cause of the Princess’ misfortunes, has +been waived aside as a mere invention of spite; yet it should not be +forgotten that both Sophia and her niece were, in their girlhood, +carefully and even rigidly educated, and that to this training the +unfaltering rectitude that marked the conduct of both is, in no small +measure, attributable. At the same time, it is equally obvious that the +kindly guidance by which the most perfect system of moral discipline +needs at times to be supplemented, or by which the absence of such +discipline may be in part redeemed, was wanting to Sophia Dorothea at +Hanover. While there can be no reason for gainsaying this, and while it +must be allowed to have been natural enough that those who had hated the +mother should have treated the misconduct of the daughter as what might +have been expected almost as a matter of course, yet the attempt to +throw upon the Electress Sophia the responsibility of the catastrophe +which we are about to narrate may be at once denounced as inherently +absurd. Whether or not George Lewis cruelly ill-treated his wife—and +there is no trustworthy evidence to support any such supposition—the +assumption is altogether unwarranted that either in his bearing towards +her, or in any other important relation of his life, he allowed himself +to be influenced by his mother.[102] Least of all was he likely to be +amenable to her counsel at a stage of his career when he must have known +her to be at heart adverse to his interest in the matter, all-important +to himself, of the institution of primogeniture. And as for Sophia +herself, though elaborate efforts have been made to represent her as +morally guilty of her daughter-in-law’s ruin, there is not a tittle of +evidence to support a conjecture in itself utterly improbable. For her +frankness and sincerity are never found belying themselves; and intrigue +of all kinds, as both her public and her private conduct show, was +wholly foreign to her nature. Moreover, though, as will be noted, no +letters from her hand referring to the crisis in Sophia Dorothea’s +affairs have been allowed to survive, the general tone of her +correspondence during these eventful years is one of a serenity of mind +unbroken, except by her grief for her losses as a mother. + +----- + +Footnote 101: + + See _Briefe des Herzogs Ernst August_, &c., p. 33, note. + +Footnote 102: + + ‘That the Elector is a dry and disagreeable gentleman,’ writes the + Duchess of Orleans in 1702, ‘I had opportunity enough to discern when + he was here ... but where he is entirely in the wrong, is in his way + of living with his mother, to whom he is in duty bound to show nothing + but respect.’ + +----- + +At first, things seem to have gone well with Sophia Dorothea at Hanover. +The Hereditary Prince (for he was, of course, not styled the Electoral +Prince till 1682) continued the military career which best corresponded +both to his aspirations and to his habits—serving during a series of +campaigns in the Imperial army, and taking no part in the home +government till, about 1694, his father’s health began to give way. +Doubtless George Lewis’ long and repeated absences must have contributed +to keep him estranged from the Princess, and, as already observed, there +were at Hanover no members of the ducal family or court likely to aim at +endearing themselves to her. The star of Countess Platen, mistress _en +titre_, remained steadily in the ascendant, and her villa of Monplaisir, +in the immediate neighbourhood of the capital, became the centre of its +fashionable dissipations. Her sister, Frau von dem Bussche, was likewise +still to the front (she took part in Ernest Augustus’ farewell +expedition of pleasure to Italy, to be noticed immediately); but, +whether or not she had formerly been a recipient of the Hereditary +Prince’s favours, they do not appear to have continued to be bestowed +upon her either under her present name, or when, after her husband’s +death (at Landen), she bestowed her hand upon another gallant officer, +General von Weyhe.[103] When the exigencies of etiquette did not require +her presence at the interminable court dinners and suppers, or at the +operas in the new theatre, in which the heart of Ernest Augustus +delighted, Sophia Dorothea may be concluded to have led a life as +solitary as it was dull in her apartments in the Leine Palace at +Hanover.[104] The favourite companion of her long hours of idleness was +her lady-in-waiting, Fräulein Eleonora von dem Knesebeck, who had come +with her from Celle, and whose devotion, self-sacrificing though by no +means blind, was to involve her in the consequences of her mistress’ +aberrations. + +----- + +Footnote 103: + + He served with distinction under Marlborough in Flanders. The marriage + took place in 1696, two years after the Königsmarck catastrophe. Yet + the late Mr. Wilkins makes Countess Platen, ‘with a refinement of + cruelty,’ try to induce Sophia Dorothea to be present at the wedding. + This significant blunder, repeated in the second edition of _The Love + of an Uncrowned Queen_, is exposed by Mr. Lewis Melville, _The First + George_, Vol. i. pp. 52-6. A Fräulein von Weyhe was in Sophia + Dorothea’s service. The court of Hanover, after all, has much of the + aspect of a large family party. In 1701, Sophia mentions a tour to the + Harz made by the Elector in a company which included three ladies, + ‘the Schoulenburg, Madame Wey, and Ernhausen, the Schoulenburg’s + sister.’ + +Footnote 104: + + The Palace was enlarged about this time, and entirely ‘restored’ in + 1831-41. In Sophia Dorothea’s days the bear at his chain and the lynx + in his cage were still to be seen near the guard-house at the outer + gate. + +----- + +In October, 1683, the Hereditary Princess gave birth to a son, who was +named George Augustus, in honour of his father and grandfather +respectively, and who was nearly half a century later to ascend the +throne of Great Britain and Ireland as King George II. We may feel +assured that an event so auspicious for the future of the dynasty, and +so speedily fulfilling the hopes with which the marriage had been +brought about, specially commended her to the favour of her +father-in-law; and, that this favour continued, is shown by his +consideration for her some two years afterwards. In 1684, Duke Ernest +Augustus had undertaken his last journey to the beloved land of Italy, +being accompanied on it by an oddly composed company consisting, among +others, of Count Platen and Major-General von dem Bussche and their +wives. During this visit the Duchess remained behind, professedly _à son +grand regret_, and Prince George Lewis was, for part of the time, +engaged in one of his Hungarian campaigns against the Turks. But his +Princess, at the particular request of her father-in-law, joined the +ducal party at Venice, arriving there just before the opening of the +carnival of 1686. ‘I am delighted to hear,’ writes the Duchess Sophia +from Hanover in January, ‘that my daughter-in-law and her following are +in good condition.’ Sophia Dorothea then accompanied the Duke for the +Holy Week to Rome, where their sojourn cost the cruel sum of twenty +thousand dollars; but, though her husband had by this time finished his +campaign, ceremonial difficulties (which one would have thought would +have affected the father as much as the son) prevented him from coming +to the papal city, and he amused himself with a trip to Florence and +Naples on his own account. All these things are told without so much as +a suggestion of untowardness; nor was it till long afterwards that a +scandal, promptly credited by the Duchess of Orleans, declared Sophia +Dorothea to have consoled herself for her husband’s absence by an amour +carried on at Rome with a French marquis of the name of de Lassaye. But +the story in question rests entirely on the braggadocio to which this +squire of dames treated the Duchess, and on the still more doubtful +evidence of certain compromising letters purporting to have been +addressed by him to Sophia Dorothea when at Rome, and printed by him in +his old age—as late as 1738. Thus the shame of this denunciation lies +entirely with its cowardly author. + +There seems, however, little doubt but that, after her return from +Italy, Sophia Dorothea became further estranged from her husband. To +this date would have to be assigned, were it otherwise worth noticing, +the attraction said by the Duchess of Orleans to have been exercised by +Sophia Dorothea upon the Raugrave Charles Lewis, one of the family of +nephews and nieces ‘by the left hand’ to whom the Duchess Sophia +extended so benevolent and almost maternal a protection. According to +the same authority, it was to escape the wiles of the light-hearted +Princess that the Raugrave took service against the Turks in the Morea, +where he met with his death in 1688; but there was very probably more +malice than truth in the story. In March, 1687, Sophia Dorothea gave +birth to a second child, the daughter who was named after her, and who, +as the wife of King Frederick William I of Prussia, was to become the +mother of Frederick the Great and of his brother Augustus William, the +direct ancestor of the subsequent Kings of Prussia and of the German +Emperors of our own times. It cannot have been till after this event +that George Lewis, who seems to have remained nearer home after his +campaign in 1685, began to follow his father’s example and give +publicity to his preference of other attractions to those of his wife. +But much uncertainty exists as to the date at which this infidelity +began, and as to the extent to which it was carried. It has been widely +assumed, and is constantly repeated, that Countess Platen sought to +maintain the family influence over the Hereditary Prince, after he had +tired of her sister, through her daughter; but this assumption, which, +because of its revolting character, was carefully kept alive and +cherished by the detractors of George I and his dynasty, must be +dismissed as baseless. This celebrated lady, who, like the Duchess +Sophia’s own daughter, had been christened Sophia Charlotte, in 1701 +became the wife of Baron von Kielmannsegg, a nobleman of honourable +reputation, who had for some years been attached to the Hanoverian +Court. Here the pair lived in unbroken union and enjoyed a distinguished +position; their villa of _Fantaisie_ on the avenue to Herrenhausen being +regarded as a favourite resort of foreign visitors to Hanover. They +afterwards followed King George I to England, where, after the +resignation of the Duke of Somerset, the high household office of Master +of the Horse was left vacant, in order that its duties might be +performed by the Hanoverian _Oberstallmeister_, while his wife was +created Countess of Leinster in the Irish and afterwards Countess of +Darlington in the English peerage. Neither at Hanover nor in England had +George I ever made any secret of the nature of the tie which he believed +to exist between her and himself; he had consistently treated her as his +half-sister, giving her at the Electoral Court precedence over the +Raugraves and Raugravines, and, in the patent that conferred an Irish +peerage upon her, causing her to be designated _consanguinea nostra_. So +simple an explanation of the honour in which she continued to be held +till her death in 1727 was of course insufficient for Jacobite spite, +for anti-German prejudice, and for the love of scandal on its own +account. On the other hand, the only personage whom, either before or +after he mounted the English throne, George publicly recognised as +mistress, was also the only lady at the Hanoverian Court who seems in +the days of his married life to have exercised a strong fascination over +him. Yet Melusina von der Schulenburg (afterwards Duchess of +Kendal)[105] appears at this time to have refrained from thrusting +herself into notice; and this agrees with the indications of refinement +which it is impossible to ignore in the portrait remaining of her in the +period of her youth. + +----- + +Footnote 105: + + Of the persistently repeated story of King George I’s morganatic + marriage to the Duchess of Kendal there appears to be no proof. The + late Dr. Richard Garnett, who could hardly have failed to come across + whatever evidence on the subject existed, assured me that he knew of + none. + +----- + +Thus, then, scarcely anything is ascertainable as to the beginnings and +rise of the general sense of unhappiness which is known to have come +over Sophia Dorothea during her life at Hanover, and to which—some time +in 1692 or later—she gave _naïve_ expression by the avowal, afterwards, +with cruel ineptness, judicially quoted against her, that she would +rather be a ‘_marquise_ in France’ than Electoral Princess of +Brunswick-Lüneburg. Yet fixed antipathies of this kind are commonly of +gradual growth, and it would have been difficult for a nature like +Sophia Dorothea’s, craving for impulse to meet impulse, and quite +incapable of renunciation, to settle down into the dull acquiescence +which, with so many women, has to do duty for contentment. The restraint +of a monotonous existence and the petty rules of an elaborate etiquette, +imposed upon her among surroundings in which there was so much to annoy +her and so little to sustain her self-respect, must in any case have +made her restive and unhappy. Least of all could she have felt any +inclination to take an interest in the schemes of dynastic ambition to +which she knew herself to have been sacrificed—perhaps against the wish +of her best friend, her mother. The anecdote that it was attempted to +implicate her in the plot hatched by Prince Maximilian—Moltke, who was +to pay the penalty of the discovered design, being offered his release, +if he would charge her with a guilty knowledge,—may be dismissed as +fictitious. And it may be observed, by the way, that, while there is no +authority for connecting Countess Platen with the supposed offer, it +could not possibly have been promoted by the Duchess Sophia, whose +sympathies were on the side of Maximilian’s revolt against the principle +of primogeniture. Sophia Dorothea was, no doubt, on pleasant terms with +her high-spirited but flighty brother-in-law Maximilian, who, indeed, +unmistakably oppressed her with his attentions; but it is quite clear +that, in no sense of the word, can there have been anything ‘serious’ +between them. We do not know how Sophia Dorothea was affected by the +rise in the family dignity which procured for her the title of Electoral +Princess. But, in regard to a question of still greater importance for +the future of the House, we have it on excellent authority that she took +a line opposite to that adopted by her husband. Sir William Dutton Colt, +who, as was seen, had entered upon his duties as English Envoy +Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Hanover in 1689, while +describing the Duchess Sophia as an incomparable person, full of +charming wit, kindness, and civility, and speaking of the ‘Princess of +Hanover’ (Sophia Dorothea), for whom and her infant son, he says, Duke +Ernest Augustus showed great fondness, as beautiful, accomplished, and +agreeable, notes (in 1691) that the Princess was distinctly anti-English +in her sympathies. Her partiality for France might have found a +sufficient explanation in her descent, and in the associations so long +cherished by her mother at Celle; but Sir William Colt assigns another +reason that cannot be overlooked. The eldest son (George Lewis), the +envoy reported, was not in the least French in his inclinations; and the +French party, discontented with this, paid all the court imaginable to +the Princess—‘and I fear not without success, for she has no great +fondness for the Prince.’ + +It is, therefore, clear that, by this time (1691), Sophia Dorothea’s +feelings towards her husband had passed into a condition of more or less +active antipathy. And there can no longer be any pretence of doubt that, +whether or not the indifference of her husband towards herself had +hardened into positive unkindness, and whether or not this unkindness +(as there is absolutely nothing to prove) had shown itself in actual +ill-treatment, Sophia Dorothea was already under the influence of a +growing passion for another man. The story of the guilty loves of Sophia +Dorothea and Königsmarck need not be related at length here, since large +portions of their correspondence are generally accessible, at least in a +translation from the French originals, while a supplementary part is for +the first time (with the exception of two letters which have appeared +elsewhere) printed in an Appendix to the present book. The evidence for +the genuineness of this correspondence, in so far as the greater part of +it is concerned, which covers 679 pages, and is now extant in the +University Library at Lund, was practically irresistible as it stood, +and is confirmed beyond the last shadow of doubt by the letters in the +Royal Secret Archives of State at Berlin, which cover 65 pages, and +which are seen at the first glance to belong to the same correspondence. +They agree in the handwritings, and in the use of the same cipher, as +well as in all the distinctive features of style; they refer to numerous +details mentioned in the Lund letters; and to some of these certain of +the Berlin documents stand in the relation of supplements or answers. It +is said—but on no stated authority—that to these letters might be added +others, of contents unknown, in the possession of the present head of +the House of Hanover. No part of Count Königsmarck’s correspondence with +the Princess Sophia Dorothea remains in the possession of the present +representative of his family. As for the Lund documents, their history +can be satisfactorily traced up to the direct descendants of Countess +Lewenhaupt, the elder sister of Count Philip Christopher von +Königsmarck. The younger sister, the famous Countess Aurora, as will be +seen, actively intervened in the transactions that followed on its +discovery, at a time when both the sisters were residing at Hamburg. It +must be supposed that Aurora at some time transferred the letters from +her custody into that of her elder sister; how they came into her own, +must remain matter of conjecture, though it is a not unnatural +supposition that they were entrusted to her by the recipients. On the +other hand, the evidence of handwriting obtained by a comparison of +these documents with others of incontestable genuineness, from the hands +of Sophia Dorothea and Königsmarck respectively, is entirely +satisfactory—though this part of the subject is complicated by the fact +(for as such it may be set down) that the Princess possessed the art of +writing in two different hands, while portions of her part of the love +correspondence were dictated by her to her confidante. (Königsmarck +wrote his own love-letters; but his official letters at Hanover are, +except the signatures, probably in the handwriting of his private +secretary.) But it is the internal evidence contained in the documents +themselves, in face of which the refusal to accept them, though +maintained by at least one historian of high eminence to whom this +period of Brunswick-Lüneburg history and this particular episode were +familiar as to no other among his contemporaries, must be said to have +broken down. The internal evidence in the present case consists mainly +of a number of coincidences of circumstance and date, such as it is +impossible to ascribe either to chance or to design, that have been +proved to exist between incidental statements in these letters and in +contemporary documents of unimpeachable authenticity. The most important +of these are the letters and contemporary despatches of Sir William +Dutton Colt, the envoy to the Courts of Hanover and Celle mentioned +above, now preserved in our Record Office, and extending over the period +from July, 1689, to December, 1692. (To these have, at all events, to be +added passages in the correspondence of the Electress Sophia, and +isolated statements as to the campaign in the Netherlands and the battle +of Steenkirke in particular, in a military list cited by Havemann, and +in a contemporary account of the battle in the _Theatrum Europæum_.) The +credit of placing this investigation on lines which could not but lead +up to an irrefutable issue belongs to the late Mrs. Everett Green, for +whom a careful second transcript had been made of the letters of which a +first, incomplete, transcript had been presented to her by the late +Count Albert von der Schulenburg-Klosterrode. The second, complete, +copy, carefully digested and arranged, was placed by Mrs. Green in the +British Museum, after she had, for prudential reasons, abandoned the +idea of embodying it in a published work. This task was accomplished by +the late Mr. W. H. Wilkins, in his own way, in a book afterwards +republished in a new and revised edition; but he did not live to carry +out his contingent design of some day ‘translating the whole +correspondence at Lund, at Berlin, and at Gmünden, and arranging it in +chronological order with the aid of first-hand documentary evidence +drawn from other sources.’ The corroboration of the genuineness and +authenticity of the Lund documents furnished by those now printed from +the originals in the Berlin Archives is, as observed, complete, and all +the more convincing, inasmuch as they must have been separated from the +rest at a very early date. It is stated in the Register of the Archives +of State at Berlin that they were found among the papers of Frederick +the Great at Sans Souci after his death; and the superscription which +they bear (‘_Lettres d’Amour de la Duchesse D’allen au Comte +Konigsmarc_’) is in the King’s own handwriting. How they came into his +possession must remain a matter of conjecture, which will be more +appropriately discussed elsewhere. It should perhaps be added that the +whole problem of the genuineness of this correspondence is of very +secondary historical significance; but, apart from the human interest of +the letters themselves, their whole story shows how difficult it is to +find, and perhaps also how difficult it is to kill, the truth.[106] + +----- + +Footnote 106: + + For an examination of the whole question of the genuineness of the + Lund letters I must refer the reader to an article on the original + edition of Mr. Wilkins’ book, _The Love of an Uncrowned Queen_, + contributed by me to the _Edinburgh Review_ for January, 1901. I have + since re-examined the cipher with the aid of the key supplied by the + late Count Schulenburg to the late Mrs. Everett Green; and it + certainly fills one with amazement that any rational human beings + should have thought concealment attainable by so perfectly transparent + a disguise. But the miserable folly of the whole business is at least + consistent with itself.—As to the Berlin letters, Mr. Wilkins does not + explicitly say that he had seen them; but it was unnecessary that he + should do so, as an exhaustive account of them (with the text of two + of them) was given by Dr. Robert Geerds in the _Beitlage_ to the + _Allgemeine Zeitung_, No. 77, Friday, April 4th, 1902. The eminent + historian Dr. A. Köcher, after first directing attention to these + letters in the _Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie_, Vol. xxxiv. (art. + _Sophia Dorothea_), and declaring them an audacious forgery (he + repeated this assertion privately to myself), deposited in the Royal + Archives at Berlin a statement of his belief that a comparison of + handwritings left him in no doubt as to the letters being spurious; + but Dr. Geerds’ explanations on this head (see _Appendix B_) are to my + mind perfectly satisfactory.—I should like to add that at my request + Count Königsmarck, in December last, most kindly allowed the + examination of his family archives at Plaue near Berlin on my behalf + by Archivrath Dr. Paczkowski, but that no part of any correspondence + between Sophia Dorothea and her lover was discovered there. Dr. + Paczkowski carried out the task which he was so good as to undertake + with a thoroughness and _savoir faire_ reflecting the highest credit + upon himself and the distinguished official body of which he forms + part. + +----- + +Nothing indicates that Count Philip Christopher von Königsmarck, the +ill-fated hero of the tragedy of Sophia Dorothea’s life, made his +appearance at Hanover before the month of March, 1688, when his presence +at a court _fête_ is accidentally mentioned—just a twelvemonth after the +birth of the second and last of George Lewis’ and Sophia Dorothea’s +children. Königsmarck was a member of a Swedish family of high position +and great wealth, which had derived lustre from the important services +of Field-Marshal von Königsmarck in the latter part of the Thirty Years’ +War, and which had, through him, acquired large estates in northern +Germany. The branch of the family to which Philip Christopher belonged +were citizens of the world; to set them down as adventurers argues an +imperfect apprehension of the spirit of their age, and indeed of that of +a great part of the following century also. Like the rest of them, +Philip Christopher had seen many courts already in his youthful days; +and nothing could be more probable than that he should have found his +way to Celle, especially as he had a family connexion with France, such +as would always have ensured him a welcome at the court of George +William and Eleonora. He may thus very well have formed a boy and girl +acquaintance with their daughter; but the statement said to have been +afterwards made by him, that he had loved her from childhood, is +insufficiently authenticated, and does not recur in any of his +love-letters. He then accompanied his elder brother, Count Charles John, +whose wanderings had been more widely varied than his own (and with whom +he is confounded by Horace Walpole, in his careless way), on a visit to +England. Here the elder brother was the principal figure in a _cause +célèbre_, the trial of himself and others for the murder of the wealthy +Thomas Thynne (‘Tom of Ten Thousand’), of which crime an elaborate +representation may to this day be seen carved in relief on the victim’s +tomb in Westminster Abbey.[107] Fortunately for himself, Count von +Königsmarck escaped the gallows, where the careers of his accomplices +ended; but England was no longer an agreeable place of sojourn for the +two brothers, and their travels recommenced. The elder died in the Morea +in 1686; so that it was the younger who, in 1688, inherited the wealth +of their uncle, on his death after a distinguished career as a commander +in the service of the Venetian Republic. Thus, when Königsmarck, after +visiting France and becoming acquainted with the Saxon Prince afterwards +known as Augustus the Strong, King of Poland, in this same year, 1688, +arrived at Hanover, he was not only a nobleman of much knowledge and +experience of the world, but a personage of great wealth, and an +extremely desirable acquisition for a court such as that of Hanover, +where there were excellent opportunities for spending money as well as +for encouraging its expenditure. On his side, Königsmarck, as the head +of his migratory family, may have wished to further the settlement of +his sisters; and the elder, about this time, married the Swedish Count +Axel Lewenhaupt, who two years later passed into the service of the Duke +of Celle. The younger, Aurora, had not as yet found at Dresden, where +her brother was probably already well known, the sphere in which her +beauty and wit, after liberally diffusing their radiance in many +regions, were for a time established as supreme; at Hanover, so fixed a +constellation as that of the Platen family was sure to regard this +brilliant meteor with much displeasure. But Countess Platen could raise +no objection to Ernest Augustus’ offer of a commission to Königsmarck; +and this offer was certainly made and accepted. For he is soon found +commanding a Hanoverian regiment, in frontier operations and in +Flanders, and afterwards holding, in the same service, a colonelcy of +dragoons. + +----- + +Footnote 107: + + See Evelyn’s _Diary_ as to the scandal which surrounded the trial. + +----- + +So far we stand on solid ground; but, as to the beginnings of the +intimacy between Sophia Dorothea and Königsmarck, and as to the +incidents that occurred in the period before the commencement of the +extant correspondence between them, we possess no trustworthy account +whatever. There is no evidence even to show the authenticity of the +story, which has been used with much effect in a recent poetic drama +(very different in conception from that imagined by Schiller on the same +theme),[108] that Königsmarck accompanied Prince Charles Philip in the +campaign in which the Duchess Sophia lost her favourite son, and that he +shared the Prince’s dangers, though escaping his doom. + +----- + +Footnote 108: + + See Schiller’s _Dramatischer Nachlass_, ed. G. Kettner, Vol. ii. pp. + 220 _sqq._ (Weimar, 1825), and the references there given to articles + by Kettner on the subject.—The play to which allusion is made in the + text is Mrs. Woods’ _The Princess of Hanover_ (1902). + +----- + +At the time when the correspondence between Sophia Dorothea and +Königsmarck opens—at the beginning of July, 1691—he must at any rate +have been for some time back in Hanover; for he had started at the head +of a regiment of foot in the ducal service on a march towards the Elbe, +undertaken for the purpose of ensuring the safety of Hamburg. A few +weeks later, he was himself sent to that city on a diplomatic mission +for the conclusion of a treaty of alliance with Sweden,—a balancing +operation on the part of Ernest Augustus, before he had made up his mind +to join the Grand Alliance against France. That this charge, for which +of course his Swedish descent rendered him particularly suitable, should +have been given to Königsmarck, proves him to have been at this time in +full favour at the Hanoverian court. + +Inasmuch as, already in the earliest of his extant letters to Sophia +Dorothea, Königsmarck describes himself as _in extremis_, though at the +same time assuring her that his respect for her is as great as his love, +we find the pair already on the brink of an abyss of passion, and +understand why their correspondence was a clandestine one. Such, in +fact, it was, from first to last, intended to be and to remain; and all +the usual devices of secrecy at the command of the writers of these +letters were adopted for the purpose. Of course they were all—or nearly +all—written in French, the language ordinarily used at the Hanover as +well as the Celle Court. The communications from Königsmarck, which may +be said to form about two-thirds of the whole series of letters or +portions of letters, are, when they bear any address at all, directed to +Fräulein von dem Knesebeck, either by name or by some kind of +designation under which she is evidently intended. Part of the Princess’ +letters are written in a hand differing so much from that which wrote +the remainder, and which a comparison with her undoubtedly genuine +writing seems to identify as her own, that it may be assumed to be the +hand of the confidante. In the actual composition of the letters, the +writers had further agreed to guard themselves by the adoption of a +twofold—or perhaps one should say threefold—system of cipher, which it +needs no Œdipus to unriddle, at all events sufficiently for the purposes +of detection.[109] Under such flimsy safeguards, explicable in Sophia +Dorothea’s case only by her youth and utter inexperience, and in +Königsmarck’s by the habits of a roving life which had led him to cast +himself recklessly into a whirlpool of excitement, the lovers gave full +vent to their feelings of amorous and jealous passion. The voice of +nature is audible in this correspondence, but it is singularly devoid of +charm. Königsmarck’s tone, as could hardly but be expected, has a +general tendency to coarseness, and is at times very gross, calling to +mind Stepney’s description of the unfortunate man, after his +catastrophe, as a loose fish whom he had long known and would always +have avoided. No similar charge is to be brought against the letters of +Sophia Dorothea, which are written in an easy and flowing style. But her +letters, as well as Königsmarck’s, contain passages irreconcilable with +any conclusion except one—that theirs was a guilty love. For the rest, +there is no straining of style in the correspondence, and those who +regarded it as fabricated might well describe it as a ‘clumsy’ forgery; +for it omits to make certain points which a forger could hardly have +missed. In the Lund letters, at all events, Königsmarck, except when +calling up the image of the Electoral Prince George Lewis in his marital +capacity, refers to him with good humour; and Sophia Dorothea gives +quite a matter-of-fact account of a quarrel between her parents. + +----- + +Footnote 109: + + First, they use pseudonyms of a more or less allusive nature in lieu + of proper names. Thus _Don Diego_ and _la Romaine_ signify the Elector + and the Electress (the former is not a flattering nickname in + contemporary English literature; it will be remembered that the eldest + of Sophia’s sisters had in former days been called _la Grecque_ by the + younger); _le Grondeur_, _la Pédagogue_, are farcical names for the + Duke and Duchess of Celle, while the Electoral Prince, Sophia + Dorothea’s husband, is (not quite so intelligibly) called _le + Réformeur_; Countess Platen (query with an allusion to Monplaisir) _la + Perspective_, and Sophia Dorothea herself goes by the appellation of + _la petite louche_, or of _le cœur gauche_, or of _Léonisse_, a + character in a romance of the times. Aurora von Königsmarck is + _l’Avanturière_, and Prince Ernest Augustus _l’Innocent_. Secondly, + the writers of these letters employ a numerical cipher of a tolerably + simple kind. Of this Professor Palmblad, who published a few of the + letters (carefully selecting the worst), and who formed a monstrous + hypothesis upon them, lacked the key; Mrs. Everett Green, who + possessed it, was already able to decipher most of the names; Mr. + Wilkins had not to leave much obscure. Thirdly, names, and + occasionally other words, are spelt in figures, the chief difficulty + of deciphering being in this case the phonetic spelling adopted by + Königsmarck (_biljay_ = _billet_, &c.). Finally, the lovers also + resorted to an occasional cryptogram, which would not deceive a child. + A name, such as Chauvet, is split up and interlarded with the letters + ‘_illy_’—thus: ‘_illychauillyvetilly_.’ The farce of insertion might + have gone further. Cf. _Appendix B_ as to the Berlin letters. + +----- + +It would be unprofitable to attempt here to follow the course of this +unhappy passion, of which many incidents have now been verified as to +time and place, chiefly by means of the despatches of the English envoy, +while the main event of its catastrophe is lost in impenetrable gloom. +Königsmarck—who asserts that, had he proceeded from Hamburg to Sweden, +he would have readily been admitted into the service of that monarchy, +where, on account of his numerous connexions in many lands at many +Courts, he might very possibly have come to play a conspicuous +part—chose, instead, to return to Hanover, probably in consequence of +the favourable reception accorded by the Princess to his still +hesitating written advances. His letters now begin to assume a freer +tone. Temporary separations inevitably ensued. He accompanies Duke +Ernest Augustus to Wolfenbüttel, while she remains behind; she joins in +a visit, in which he is not included, to her father at his hunting-seat +at Epsdorff, or at Wienhausen; and he has to swear eternal fidelity in a +letter signed in his blood, and to protest that he will go to the Morea +(whither Ernest Augustus’ son Christian was at the time intent upon +proceeding), in order to relieve her of his compromising presence. It +seems to have been not long after this that Sophia Dorothea succumbed to +her passion; and, early in 1692, fears were already pressing upon them +of discovery—in the first instance through her mother; for Königsmarck +had followed her to the Court of Celle. At last, in June, 1692, he was +obliged to join the Hanoverian force under the command of Sophia +Dorothea’s husband in Flanders; for Ernest Augustus, resolved on +striking a bargain for the Ninth Electorate, had now openly become a +member of the Grand Alliance. With the opening of the Flemish campaign +(during which Königsmarck took part in the battle of Steenkirke) begins +the series of the Princess’ letters, several of which are dated from +Brockhausen, where Prince Maximilian had taken refuge with the Duke of +Celle after his trouble at Hanover, while others are written from +Wiesbaden, which later in the year she visited with her mother. Many of +these letters contain details that admit of verification from Colt’s +despatches. The intrigue between Sophia Dorothea and Königsmarck had now +passed into a phase in which expressions of love, jealousy, and haunting +apprehensions, breathlessly crowd upon one another; and, after the +Princess had returned to Hanover, it almost seemed as if she must listen +to the advice which he had sent to her from the Low Countries, and cut +the knot of their difficulties by flying with him. + +We here touch one of the obscurest passages in this pitiful story, and +one which must here be dealt with quite briefly. It was quite impossible +that Königsmarck’s devotion to the Princess before his departure to +Flanders should have remained unnoticed at the Hanoverian court; and +nothing could have been more appropriate than that her mother-in-law, +the Duchess Sophia, who, without at all suspecting the worst, must have +been seriously annoyed by what she had observed—unless we are to adopt +the absurd supposition that she was pleased to see her daughter-in-law +beginning to go wrong—should have lectured the Princess on her want of +_conduite_. But Sophia Dorothea was aware that there was at court +another and a less straightforward influence, which she suspected would +be adverse to her—that of the Countess Platen. From what followed, there +can be no doubt that the Countess had reasons for bearing Königsmarck a +grudge; and it has been unhesitatingly assumed, in accordance with an +unauthenticated tradition, that her motive was jealousy, and that he had +formerly shared her favours. On the other hand, the Duchess of Orleans +deliberately states that there is no _apparentz_ of Countess Platen +having sought to attract to herself so young a man, and that it is more +likely that, as the Electress Sophia had been informed, the Countess +cajoled Königsmarck in the hope of his marrying her daughter; ‘for he +was a good match.’ This story also long found acceptance; but it does +not very well suit either Königsmarck’s account of his later meeting +with Countess Platen, or the jealousy of her which this account +unmistakably excited in the Princess. In any case, when it occurred to +Sophia Dorothea to consult the Electress Sophia Charlotte of Brandenburg +on the situation—a step which at all events shows her to have been +without fear of any underhand action on the part of her cousin or her +mother-in-law—Sophia Charlotte counselled her to conciliate the Countess +Platen; and this piece of advice was communicated by Sophia Dorothea to +Königsmarck. On his return to Hanover, about November, he seems to have +determined to contribute towards the appeasing of the powerful mistress; +but, whether in sheer recklessness, or because he considered himself +safe with the Countess, who would assuredly remain silent on the subject +towards her august protector, he clearly overdid his part. After this +escapade, a sort of desperate rage seems to have seized upon him, and +the correspondence of the year 1692 concludes with a brutally sarcastic +tirade launched against the new ‘Electoral Princess’ by her infuriated +lover. It is, then, manifest that Sophia Dorothea had grounds for +distrusting Countess Platen; but, how far the double insult offered to +the Elector’s mistress by Königsmarck’s conduct is to be connected with +the terrible events that followed, no evidence exists to show, and the +part of evil genius assigned to the Countess in the tragedy has had to +be written up with the aid of conjecture and fiction. + +The last chapter of the correspondence, which extends from the early +summer to the close of the year 1693 (or thereabouts), shows the fatal +passion of the pair still aflame, but the clouds of danger thickening +around them. In the absence of her husband during the year’s campaign in +Flanders, the Electoral Princess continued to idle away her days with +her parents-in-law at Luisburg, or with her own parents at Brockhausen, +whither Königsmarck followed her. She took some comfort from the good +humour of the Electress Sophia; though, foreseeing that, if she came to +know the truth, she would show no pity, Königsmarck warned the Princess +that her mother-in-law would, sooner or later, be her ruin. At +Brockhausen, a nocturnal meeting between the lovers was not wholly +unwatched, and the letters afterwards interchanged by them show +increasing apprehension. Countess Platen herself vaguely warned the +Princess as to the risk she was running—an act which it must be conceded +at least admits of a kindly explanation. In her last extant letter, +Sophia Dorothea utters what comes very near to a cry of hopeless +despair. In the course of the month in which this letter was written +(August, 1693) Königsmarck was obliged to absent himself from Court, in +order to take part in a military movement intended to check a Danish +_coup de main_ upon the contested duchy of Lauenburg. When he returned +to Hanover, fresh warnings reached him—from old Marshal von +Podewils,[110] under whom he had served, and from the youngest of the +Hanoverian Princes, Ernest Augustus, whose devoted attachment to his +brother, the Electoral Prince, appears not to have prevented this act of +kindness. These warnings themselves, together with other indications, +show that, although the actual character of the intrigue between Sophia +Dorothea and Königsmarck may have remained unknown—unless indeed some +letters had already fallen into the wrong hands—the _liaison_ itself +was, as is, after all, usual in such cases, more or less of an open +secret, and that thus the pair were rushing headlong to their ruin. +Quite at the end of the year, Königsmarck had once more to go away from +Hanover; and, at this point, the Lund correspondence comes to an end +with a letter from him evidently addressed to the confidante, and, +through her, assuring _Léonisse_ that, whatever might befall, he would +not abandon her. + +----- + +Footnote 110: + + ‘_Le bonhomme_’ in the lovers’ cipher. + +----- + +The cessation of the correspondence leaves us in some doubt as to the +precise nature of the occurrences in Hanover in the earlier half of the +year 1694, which was to see the end of this lamentable history. +Königsmarck, who had returned to Hanover, quitted it again in April; +and, without having resigned his Hanoverian commission, betook himself +to the Court of the Elector Frederick Augustus of Saxony (Augustus the +Strong) at Dresden. Here he undoubtedly behaved with an indiscretion +beyond that habitual to him, and it is probable enough—though this again +cannot be proved—that his vaunts included some reference to his +successes with Countess Platen. However this may have been, Königsmarck, +though he had not accepted a commission offered him in the Saxon army +and still remained a Hanoverian officer, could hardly expect on his +return to Hanover to carry on his amour as before. There had been +indications of an uneasy feeling at Court, which explain themselves +without the supposition that a combination was at work there to drive +Sophia Dorothea to her ruin, and without the wholly gratuitous +assumption that, in the front of that combination, stood the Electress +Sophia. Attempts were afterwards said to have been made to provoke +ill-will between the Electoral Prince and his wife through the agency of +her lady-in-waiting, Fräulein von dem Knesebeck; and, though there is no +reason for suspecting her of any interference of the kind, it is certain +that, about the early part of June, Sophia Dorothea left the Electoral +Court and repaired to her parents at Brockhausen. Once more, there is +nothing to show that her departure had been caused by actual +ill-treatment on the part of her husband. On her way home to Hanover, +she refused to alight at Herrenhausen in order to pay her respects to +the Elector and Electress; and, after ascertaining at Hanover that her +husband was away at Berlin, she resolved once more to join her parents +at Brockhausen. But they refused to receive her; and, on the fatal night +of July 1st, 1694, she was still with her faithful lady-in-waiting in +the Leineschloss at Hanover. + +On the same night, Count Königsmarck left his house at Hanover, never to +be seen again. That his intention was to enter the Leine Palace and the +apartments of the Electoral Princess, there can be no doubt; but the +actual purpose of their meeting, and the plan on which they then agreed +or on which they had agreed before, remain unknown. They may have merely +designed to contrive her escape with his help to Wolfenbüttel, where she +might rely on a welcome from Duke Antony Ulric; or they may have +intended to realise the dream to which their correspondence refers, and +henceforth to belong wholly to one another. But, from Sophia Dorothea, +no attempt was afterwards made to extract an avowal on this head; and +the confidante, Eleonora von dem Knesebeck, persisted from first to +last, both during her imprisonment and after she had effected her escape +from it, in asserting the innocency of her mistress. Yet Fräulein von +dem Knesebeck confessed to having known of a ‘plot,’ and to having been +so full of uneasiness that tears and entreaties were needed to persuade +her to remain in the Princess’ service. + +Some days passed before the disappearance of Königsmarck attracted +public notice. The first sign that there was something wrong appears to +have been the intimation, noticed in a despatch of July 3rd from +Cressett (Colt’s successor), that, while the Electoral Prince remained +at Berlin, the Princess was sick at Hanover. As a matter of fact, both +she and her confidante had been strictly confined to her apartments; +whether any letters from Königsmarck had been discovered in her keeping, +we do not know. But there is evidence that, already in May and June, +hands had been laid on some of the correspondence between the lovers; +and the knowledge of this had probably determined the Elector Ernest +Augustus to proceed against his daughter-in-law. And it is certain that +some of her letters were sent by the authorities at Hanover to her +parents; for Leibniz positively asserts that, had not her letters been +produced, they could not have thought her so guilty at Celle. These +letters must have been found in Königsmarck’s residence; and we have no +reason for doubting the statement that a thorough search was made in his +cabinet, in the presence of officials only, although it is added that a +packet of letters thought to be incriminating was sent by persons who +had been in his confidence to Celle, where his sisters soon afterwards +made their appearance. These latter, in all probability, formed the +correspondence which ultimately found its way to Berlin. + +Both the Elector Ernest Augustus and Sophia Dorothea’s father, the Duke +of Celle, considering her guilt to be established, the question next +arose as to the way in which her case should be treated. In the first +instance she was taken to Ahlden, a magistrate’s house or ‘castle’—no +one who has cast eyes on it could ever think of it as anything but a +‘moated grange’—situate in a lonely marshland corner of her father’s +territory, at some twenty miles’ distance from Hanover. While she was +detained here in strict custody, the mode of procedure against her was +arranged. It was resolved, for the honour of the House—which, for good +or ill, was the dominant motive in the whole of this melancholy +business—to keep the name and person of Königsmarck out of the affair +altogether, and to make the desertion of her husband by the Princess the +ground of a suit of divorce before a specially constituted Consistorial +tribunal. This course, which could hardly have succeeded but for the +attitude maintained by her, was carried through with a completeness +which must have surpassed the anticipations of the astute minds that had +devised it. Throughout the enquiry, the Princess made no confession +whatever of any act of infidelity, adhering to the instructions conveyed +to her by her father’s ministers, Bernstorff and Bülow, who, in an +interview at Ahlden, had informed her that ‘everything was +discovered’—manifestly another reference to the evidence of part of her +correspondence with Königsmarck. Accordingly, notwithstanding the +representations of the honest counsel with whom she had been +provided—and to whose dissatisfaction with the proceedings and desire to +preserve the proofs of his not having been responsible for their result +is due the private preservation, at least in part, of the documents of +the divorce-suit—she refused to swerve from her declared resolution no +longer to live with the Electoral Prince as her husband. After some +attempts on the part of the Duke of Celle to mitigate the rigour of the +expected result, which were successfully resisted on the part of the +Hanoverian Government, the sentence of the Consistorial tribunal was +pronounced on December 28th, 1694, and delivered to the Princess at +Lauenau, whither she had been temporarily removed, on the last day of +the year. It dissolved the marriage between her and the Electoral +Prince, granting him, as the innocent party, permission to remarry, but +withholding this from her as the guilty party. She at once accepted the +sentence; a few days later her confessor informed her father that she +acknowledged ‘_sa faute_,’ and the justice of the punishment inflicted +upon her; and, in 1698, on the occasion of the death of the Elector +Ernest Augustus, she wrote to her former husband and to his mother, the +Electress Sophia, beseeching them to pardon her faults of the past, and +entreating the favour of being allowed to see her children. This favour +was never granted to her. + +The Hanoverian court and Government had, as has been seen, persistently +striven to dissociate the disappearance of Königsmarck from the disgrace +of the Princess. In the first instance, this disappearance had been +simply ignored, while a circular had been issued to foreign courts, +drawn up in this sense, and attributing the alienation of the Princess +from her husband to the machinations of Fräulein von dem Knesebeck, who +was soon afterwards clapped into a dungeon at Scharzfels in the Harz, +from which she did not make her escape till four years afterwards.[111] +As to the vanished Königsmarck, it had been easy to stifle the anxieties +of the unhappy Sophia Dorothea, who, before she was effectually +silenced, had written a letter expressive of her fear that he had fallen +into the hands of a certain lady, and that his life might be in danger. +There can hardly be any doubt but that this referred to Countess Platen, +although it merely proves Sophia Dorothea to have been afraid of the +consequences of the Countess’ anger. Nor could it be impossible to +baffle the curiosity of the world at large—represented by no less august +an enquirer than Louis XIV—in the assurance that the mystery would in +due course be forgotten as a nine days’ wonder. But it proved a serious +task to meet the pertinacious efforts of Königsmarck’s sister Aurora, +who, adopting a rumour which for some time found an extraordinary amount +of credit, insisted that her brother was still alive, and, while +demanding that the truth should be revealed, pursued Countess Platen +(with whom she had a quarrel of old standing) with special animosity. It +is noteworthy that the Electress Sophia should be found taking the side +of Countess Platen, who, she writes, is not accustomed to be spoken of +in the terms applied to her by the Countess _Orrore_. Having been +forbidden to show herself in Hanover, Königsmarck’s dauntless sister +betook herself to Dresden, in order to secure the assistance of the +Elector Frederick Augustus in her quest. It was on this occasion that +she conquered that potentate altogether; and he espoused her cause so +heartily as to send Colonel Bannier to Hanover, there to demand that +Königsmarck, as an officer in the Saxon service, should be given up to +him. As late as December, 1694, Bannier remained convinced that the +Count was still alive, and detained as a prisoner somewhere in the +Palace. Not until after some months had passed was the tempest raised by +Aurora allayed, largely through the diplomatic skill of the Hanoverian +minister at Dresden, Jobst von Ilten. But her passionate activity, and +the widespread interest excited by so impenetrable a mystery, already in +1695 led to the publication of a narrative purporting to have been sent +from Hamburg to the French minister at the Danish court, which the +Duchess of Orleans characterised as impertinent and mendacious, and to +which Leibniz was instructed to supply a corrective commentary. +Meanwhile the Electoral Government had not only maintained an absolute +silence as to the Königsmarck affair, but had resorted to the expedient +of systematically destroying all evidence concerning it or in any way +connected with it. This policy was carried through with extraordinary +vigilance and consistency, as might be shown in various instances, of +which some reach down to our own times. Above all, a systematic +destruction took place of all the documents, whether public or private, +at Hanover, in London—and even in Ahlden—which might have thrown light +on the episode. Among the rest, the letters of the Electress Sophia +bearing on it were destroyed. This was in accordance with the wish of +the Duchess of Orleans, whose sagacity apprised her that there was +something in the rumours which had reached her, although the excellent +Frau von Harling had declared them to be all lies.[112] It would, +however, appear that, whether because of a desire on the part of the +Duke of Celle that some evidence should be procured which would justify +his assent to the severe treatment of his daughter,[113] or because of +the Electress’ own wish not to annihilate all proof, certain +incriminating portions of the correspondence remained undestroyed; and +these were perhaps the letters which are supposed to have been +afterwards sent to Berlin, in order to remove the doubts of Sophia +Dorothea’s daughter and namesake as to the misconduct of her mother, to +whom she always behaved with kindness—and which, afterwards, certainly +found their way into the hands of Frederick the Great and thence into +the Secret Archives of State. So far as Königsmarck is concerned, the +current story as to his death, and as to the horrible part played in it +by the Countess Platen, still remains unauthenticated. Horace Walpole, +the author of _Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard +III_, was prepared to believe a story which he professed to have derived +from George II, through Queen Caroline and Sir Robert Walpole, according +to which, on the occasion of some repairs in the Leine Palace, the +remains of Königsmarck were discovered under the floor of Sophia +Dorothea’s dressing-room; and, of the assassins rumoured to have been +hired by Countess Platen, one at least is said to have been enabled by +his crime to found a family of much respectability at Hanover. + +----- + +Footnote 111: + + Of this castle little or nothing remains at the present day but a + ‘restored’ gate and staircase. + +Footnote 112: + + According to W. H. Wilkins, _A Queen of Tears_, George III similarly + ordered the destruction of the entire correspondence with Copenhagen + occasioned by the catastrophe of his daughter Caroline Matilda of + Denmark and Struensee. + +Footnote 113: + + In the spring of 1695, Cresset reports that the Duke and Duchess of + Celle feel some distaste, now, for the company of the Electress, on + account of the divorce proceedings. + +----- + +Sophia Dorothea herself was henceforth lost to the history of her House, +and almost fell out of the remembrance of the world in which she might +have played so prominent a part. She was now officially styled the +Duchess of Ahlden, the village on the Aller over whose immediate +district a certain petty jurisdiction was given to the prisoner, +together with a few shadowy rights of honour. During a period of +thirty-two years she lingered out here her life of durance—never being +allowed to quit Ahlden, with the single exception, when a movement of +Saxon-Polish troops seemed to render her place of detention unsafe, of a +brief visit to Celle, where, however, her father declined to see her. +Neither was she at any time permitted to go forth from her castle beyond +a distance of six miles; and her carriage, closely attended by a guard +of honour, had always to drive along the same road.[114] She had the +occasional consolation of a visit from her mother till the Duchess +Eleonora’s death in 1722; for the mother’s love never waned, and her +will contributed to make the prisoner nominally the possessor of great +wealth. On the other hand, she was, as already noted, never allowed to +see her children. She occupied herself much with works of charity and +piety. She presented an organ and candelabra to the parish church where +during part of her imprisonment she worshipped—and was extremely popular +in the village, which she rebuilt at her own cost after a fire in 1715; +and she gave much attention to the affairs in the neighbourhood, +receiving formal visits, and bestowing great care upon her personal +adornment. She never quite abandoned the hope of a change in her +condition, until shortly before her death she discovered that her +interests had been betrayed, and (it is said) most of her large +accumulated capital made away with, by an agent (a certain von Bahr), in +whom she had reposed confidence. The records of the poor woman’s life +during the long years of her confinement do not change our notions of +her character; but the story of her solitary woe needs no deepening. + +----- + +Footnote 114: + + Her habit of driving along it at a furious pace recalls the practice + of a very different captive—Napoleon at St. Helena. + +----- + +George Lewis has met with nothing but blame for his share in the whole +story of Sophia Dorothea’s misfortunes. Our age happily refuses to +accept the view that what is unpardonable in a wife is venial in a +husband; but such was not the opinion of George Lewis’ contemporaries. +On returning to Hanover, he had found the relations between his wife and +Königsmarck very much of an open secret at court; and, when proofs were +in his hands, a divorce was the only course open to him, if the honour +of his House was to be vindicated. There was afterwards a rumour, +mentioned by Elizabeth Charlotte to her aunt, that he would take back +his wife on his accession to the Electorship at his father’s death; and, +in 1704, a report was again current at Paris, that the Duke of +Marlborough hoped to effect a reconciliation between the Elector and his +discarded consort. But, as a matter of fact, he never varied his +attitude towards her of absolute and immutable estrangement; and least +of all did he show any inclination to invite her to share the glories of +the English throne, though it is probable that he might, by such a step, +have diminished the prejudices to which he was exposed in his new +kingdom.[115] On the occurrence of her death on November 13th, 1726 +(which, as is known, preceded his own by but a few months), he +prohibited a general mourning in the Electorate, and she was buried +without ceremony in the family vault at Celle, after her interment at +Ahlden had proved impracticable. There can be no doubt that the bitter +resentment with which her conduct had inspired him was, in a measure, +continued in his feelings towards his son, the future King George II; +but, though the accounts on this head are contradictory, it is at least +doubtful whether Sophia Dorothea’s son ever exhibited any active +sympathy for his unfortunate mother.[116] Sophia Dorothea the younger, +who, in 1706, married the Crown Prince of Prussia (afterwards King +Frederick William I), kept up some communication with her mother, and, +after she became Queen, took Eleonora von dem Knesebeck into her +service, besides entering into a more frequent correspondence with the +prisoner. But mother and daughter never met; and, finally, there seems +to have been a marked difference of opinion between them as to the +famous Double Marriage Project between the courts of Great Britain and +Prussia. + +----- + +Footnote 115: + + It is a curious instance of a certain cynical hauteur in George Lewis + (which, however, contains an element of manly self-possession) that he + should have supplied the Duchess of Orleans with a key to the + characters of the Supplement to the _Roman Octavia_, in which Duke + Antony Ulric had taken the opportunity, perhaps with the help of + Fräulein von dem Knesebeck’s reminiscences, of giving to the world a + version of the whole story of the Duchess of Ahlden.—A French MS., + _Histoire de Frédegonde, Princesse de Chérusque, Duchesse d’Hanovre, + Épouse de George, Roi de la Grande Bretagne_, proposing to give an + account, _inter alia_, of ‘_sa Prison au Chateau d’Alhen, où elle a + fini ses jours_,’ supposed to date from about 1740, was not long since + advertised for sale. + +Footnote 116: + + Lord Hervey’s story of his having preserved his mother’s picture may + be true; but the further statement that he proposed, if she had + survived, to have brought her over and declared her Queen, needs a + stronger qualification than the ‘it was said,’ by which it is + accompanied. (_Memoirs_, Vol. iii. pp. 348-9.) + +----- + +That the unfortunate prisoner should have gained the active goodwill, +which the fair young Princess had never conciliated, of her +mother-in-law, the Electress Sophia, was hardly to be expected. Such +advances as were made to her by the Duchess of Ahlden seem to have been +coldly rejected; and the tone in which the Duchess of Orleans continues +occasionally to speak of her ill-fated relative no doubt reflects, with +tolerable accuracy, that adopted by her aunt in her non-extant letters. +The Electress, as we now know, had verified the conclusion of Elizabeth +Charlotte, that Sophia Dorothea’s case exemplified the proverb as to +there being no smoke without fire; and, while we may regret that the +charity which, in the matter of morals, the Electress Sophia readily +showed to the shortcomings of the men of her family, was never extended +by her to the daughter of Eleonora d’Olbreuze, there is in this rigour +nothing unnatural or incompatible with the rules of life which she +consistently observed. To argue, however, from this severity back to the +unproved supposition of an active cooperation on the part of Sophia +towards the ruin of her daughter-in-law, is palpably unjust. And it +should always be borne in mind that the sympathy of posterity was +secured to Sophia Dorothea by her misfortunes, not by her character, in +which there is little or nothing to admire, while much in it may have +justly repelled the sound and self-controlled nature of her +mother-in-law; and that the Electress was more impressed by the +Princess’ fall than by what might seem its legitimate consequences. + +There seems no reason for attributing to the painful experiences through +which the House of Hanover had recently passed the decline which, about +this time, set in in the health of the Elector Ernest Augustus. His +illness (which Cressett thought in a large measure imaginary) has quite +gratuitously been brought into connexion with Sophia Dorothea’s +catastrophe, the suggestion being that the wife and the mistress of the +Elector had conspired to avert the consequences which might ensue, in +the event of his death and the accession of a new Electress. In June, +1697, the Electress Sophia informs the Raugravine Louisa that, though +the other symptoms in the Elector’s condition are good, his nervous +debility is great, and that it has been resolved to try the skill of a +Dutch empiric, with whose ‘_charlattaneri_’ she characteristically +expresses impatience. Towards the end of the year the course of his +malady seemed to have been in a measure arrested; but the decay of his +powers soon set in again with alarming rapidity. His life of constant +self-indulgence ended very miserably; for some time loss of sight in one +eye was feared, and after this he was all but deprived of the use of +speech. The Electress Sophia faithfully nursed him to the last. Even in +the days of his health she had bravely accustomed herself to his habits; +and she afterwards humorously related that she had made a point, in the +hour of domesticity, of filling his pipe with the tobacco which she +loathed. In his last illness she, during many months, never left his +side, except when he was asleep. The end came on January 24th, 1698; and +a letter written by Sophia a few months later shows her still in a +condition of deep and unaffected grief—hopeful only ‘_que le bon Dieu me +fera bientost rejoindre ce cher Électeur en l’autre monde_,’ but +consoled by the attentions of her children and her brother-in-law. +Ernest Augustus had well played his part as a ruler, not only providing +a sure basis for the progress of his dynasty to augmented power and +influence, but also strengthening and consolidating the civil as well as +the military administration of the Electorate established in his person. +His extravagant expenditure on himself and on his court, though no doubt +largely occasioned by habits of self-indulgence and a profligate +temperament, seemed in consonance with what was probably a well-merited +reputation for liberality of conduct and feeling towards those who +served him well. Thus he proved, in his way, an apt imitator of the +great French prototype whom he, not less than his brother John +Frederick, kept before his eyes; and the style in which he lived and +reigned suited the interest of the dynasty as well as his own tastes. At +the same time, he knew how to combine with his magnificence and +generosity a self-restraint that enabled him in his will to dispose of +an unencumbered personal estate. To Sophia his death, in more respects +than one, brought a considerable change. She had never ruled him, not +even controlled him by her influence, as Eleonora of Celle long +controlled her Duke, or as, in another generation, Sophia’s favourite +Caroline of Ansbach was to control King George II. But the aid of her +counsel had been of great value to Ernest Augustus, both in the ordinary +business of government and in great questions of state policy; and much +of the authority which thus accrued to her passed away with him. George +Lewis was not of a disposition likely to induce him, from motives of +piety, to show to his mother a deference beyond that of ordinary custom. +On the other hand, the death of Sophia’s husband gave to her more of +that freedom which no princess ever used less ostentatiously or more +nobly; it made her, in certain respects, more distinctly the centre of +the intellectual life of the Hanoverian Court than she had cared to be, +or at all events to seem, in the lifetime of Ernest Augustus; it +probably brought her closer to her daughter, and certainly allowed her a +fuller enjoyment of the friendship of Leibniz. + +No sooner had the reign of Ernest Augustus come to an end, than his sons +Maximilian and Christian renewed their protest against the principle of +primogeniture which he had so persistently maintained;[117] and the +sympathy with Maximilian displayed by his sister, the Electress Sophia +Charlotte of Brandenburg, can hardly have failed to find a secret +response in the maternal heart of the Electress Dowager Sophia herself. +But, though there was some talk of her paying a visit at this season to +Berlin, she had learnt to tutor her own wishes, and was well aware how +much depended upon the maintenance of the good understanding between the +two Electoral Governments, which was at the time endangered by certain +territorial questions that may here be passed by. Thus George Lewis +succeeded without let or hindrance to the whole of the paternal +inheritance and expectancies; and, as was noted above, Hanover and +Brandenburg were united by a close and ‘perpetual’ alliance at the very +period when the dynastic ambition of the one seemed on the point of +consummation, and that of the other was near achieving its absorbing +object—the acquisition of a royal (Prussian) crown. That the Hanoverian +court was filled with joy by the success of the operations which ended, +early in 1701, with the coronation of the first Prussian King, Frederick +I, would be an unnatural supposition. The event had, however, been +rendered virtually inevitable by the accession, in 1697, of the Elector +Frederick Augustus of Saxony to the Polish throne; and the Elector +George Lewis was personally not so constituted as to be impelled, even +by jealousy, to an eagerness to follow suit. As for the Dowager +Electress Sophia, there was, to her, something more than compensation in +the thought that a royal crown now surmounted the brow of her favourite +child. + +----- + +Footnote 117: + + Early in 1694, Cresset reports him as ‘moving heaven and earth’ on the + subject. + +----- + +Sophia Charlotte, her parents’ only daughter, had grown up in a long and +unbroken intimacy with her mother. With that mother, as already noted, +she had in common a clear and penetrating intelligence, a charm of +manner irresistible to anyone whom she chose to admit to familiar +intercourse, and a self-possession against which scandal waged war in +vain. She also had her mother’s intellectual curiosity and general love +of knowledge; but she must have approached more nearly to her aunt +Elizabeth in her power of entering into problems of philosophy, though +it is only with a grain of salt that the assertion can be accepted as to +the conferences between her and Leibniz having originated his +_Théodicée_. On the other hand, what little remains from her hand in the +way of familiar correspondence, can scarcely be said to be lit up with +the natural humour that her mother and the Duchess of Orleans always had +at command. Notwithstanding her power of delighting those admitted to +her society by the sunny brightness of her manner, when she was so +disposed, or when she was stimulated by intellectual interest, her +nature seems from early years to have possessed the tranquillity which +reason and resignation enabled her mother more gradually to acquire. +Probably a certain physical indolence, or phlegma, may have contributed +to this result; together with a calm determination to please herself—a +luxury in which her mother had rarely or never enjoyed opportunities of +indulging. + +Already in her childhood, benefiting by the traditions in her mother’s +family as to the necessity of a good education based on linguistic +knowledge, she had exhibited signs of talent; while her character +probably owed much to the training of Frau von Harling (who was also +Elizabeth Charlotte’s governess), one of those teachers whose destiny it +is to be loved for their administration of the rule of law by pupils +who, under a less vigorous influence, would certainly be inclined to +remain a law to themselves. In the eleventh year of her age, Sophia +Charlotte, as we saw, accompanied her mother on a visit to the French +Court, while her father was recruiting his health at Ems. It was a +delightful visit—perhaps one of the happiest episodes of Sophia’s +life—in the mixture which it offered of pleasant retrospect under the +caresses of the faithful Duchess of Orleans, and of still earlier +reminiscences in the genial company of the Abbess of Maubuisson, with a +hopeful looking-forward to the future in store for her charming +daughter. King Louis XIV himself was the perfection of magnificent +courtesy, requesting his brother, the Duke of Orleans, not to whisper in +Sophia’s presence, and taking magnanimous notice of her daughter. +Sophia’s quick wit helped her through every difficulty, and enabled her +to avoid any mistake—even that of accepting a _tabouret_ when +self-respect bade her take a _fauteuil_, or not sit at all. She knew how +to meet both the stiffness of the French Queen (a Spanish princess) and +the effusiveness of the Spanish Queen (a French princess); nor was her +self-possession disturbed even by the splendour of Versailles, for +which, as she justly observed, art had done more than nature. As for +Sophia Charlotte, the impression created, both by her beauty and by the +extent of her knowledge, was such as to suggest to Louis XIV the idea of +a match between her and one of his princes. Nothing, however, came of +the notion except, perhaps, an accentuation of the diplomatic activity +of de Gourville at the Lüneburg courts. Sophia Charlotte’s quiet life +continued; and, though there was some talk of a Bavarian suit for her +hand, it gradually became known that her destiny was shaping itself +nearer home. The establishment of relations of intimacy between the +Courts of Brandenburg at Hanover had become a political necessity, and +Sophia had recognised the expediency of promoting his object with the +aid of her daughter’s hand. When, in 1683, the Electoral Prince +Frederick of Brandenburg became a childless widower, these speculations +at once assumed a practical aspect. The obstacles which had to be +surmounted did not include a religious difficulty, inasmuch as the +Reformed (Calvinist) faith, of which Sophia Charlotte made public +profession shortly before her marriage, was a form of religion always +favoured, though never actually professed, by her mother.[118] There is +no reason for crediting the story (which rests only on the gossip of +Pöllnitz) that it had been thought unnecessary to anticipate Sophia +Charlotte’s own choice of a form of Protestantism till it was known whom +she was to marry. But, whatever the daughter’s religious profession, +tolerance would always have formed part of her creed, as it did of her +mother’s. The marriage was celebrated at Herrenhausen on September 28th, +1684. + +----- + +Footnote 118: + + ‘I used,’ she writes to the elder Schütz in 1703, ‘to know all the + common prayers, practically, by heart, but I was never taught that our + religion much differed from the reformed religion of France and + Germany, and I have communicated in this also;’ and, again: ‘I have + had prayers offered for the Queen’ [Anne] ‘in both the German and the + French reformed churches here’ [at Hanover], ‘with the permission of + the Elector.’—Erman, preacher at the French Reformed church in Berlin, + subsequently wrote _Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire de Sophie + Charlotte, Reine de Prusse_.] + +----- + +From the first, Sophia Charlotte displayed that indifference to playing +any part in politics which seemed so strange in her, considering the +capacity which she indisputably possessed for exerting influence alike +by her personal charms and by her intellectual powers. But, during the +few remaining years of the Great Elector’s life, the Electoral Prince +Frederick was under a cloud; and, in 1686, he had to withdraw with his +consort to Halle. In 1688 he succeeded his father as Elector, and a few +months later his consort presented him with an heir to his honours (the +future King Frederick William I). She continued, however, to show little +disposition to assert the authority and influence which had now accrued +to her; and, though, during the ensuing decade, so eventful in the +history of the relations between the Houses of Hanover and Brandenburg, +she was always happy to exchange visits with her parents and to listen +to the advice bestowed on her by her mother, she cannot be said to have +taken much trouble to use, either directly or indirectly, the power +which she can hardly have lacked aught but the will to exercise. It was +not that she had to contend against any great strength of character in +her husband, who, if humoured in a few things, could without much +difficulty be ruled in the rest. But she did not care to stoop even to +the level of his rather commonplace and formal nature, in order to +conquer for herself an all-controlling influence in both public and +private affairs. She preferred to create a sphere or circle of her own, +into which only those were admitted who approved themselves to her, more +especially by their intellectual gifts. Here simplicity, typified by +black dress, was the rule. The colony of French refugees, which was in +these years establishing itself at Berlin and Brandenburg, was largely +represented in her intimate social circle. Sophia Charlotte appreciated +those gifts of conversation, of which, in her age, Frenchmen and +Frenchwomen possessed, if not the monopoly, at least a predominant +share; and she seems herself to have become mistress of an art which is +always more easily described than reproduced. She was fond of theatrical +entertainments of many kinds, and probably gave more offence to the +pietism prevailing around her by these, for the most part, innocuous +tastes than by her philosophising tendencies. Toland amused her, and she +was not, like her mother, obliged to respect British prejudices about +his views or principles, though she was indignant to have been supposed +to have gone so far as to ask a man without birth or official position +to dine at her table. In general, she was, no doubt, very much _sans +gêne_ in her relations with persons whom she liked; but, though scandal +was busy with these freedoms, she never compromised herself by indulging +in them too far. The height of her personal influence seems to have been +reached when, by 1696, the Elector Frederick III had fulfilled her +heart’s desire by building for her a country residence in the village of +Lützen on the pleasant declivities of the Spree. She had never been +willing to sojourn in the castle of Copenick, where her predecessor, +Frederick’s first wife, had pined away her days; and the ample gardens +at Berlin, which he had presented to his Electress, she had, with +intelligent philanthropy, mainly distributed in allotments among the +townsfolk, with whom, for this reason, and perhaps also because of a +sympathetic quickness of wit indigenous among the inhabitants of the +growing capital, her reputation always stood high. Lützenburg, as the +Italian villa, which gradually grew into a palace, was called, became +Sophia Charlotte’s chosen abode, although the magnificence with which it +was in course of time adorned, both inside and out, had not received its +final touches before her death, when this famous royal residence was, in +remembrance of her, rechristened Charlottenburg. + +The death of Ernest Augustus, in 1698, as we saw, drew mother and +daughter more closely together; and, in the same year, a very important +ministerial change at Berlin, the circumstances of which to this day +occupy the attention of historical students, greatly increased Sophia +Charlotte’s opportunities of exercising a personal influence upon the +government and policy of her husband. The fall of the hitherto +omnipotent minister, Eberhard von Danckelmann, which was speedily +followed by his incarceration, affords a most striking instance of the +uncertainty of princely favour, and a cruel illustration of the +recompense that may await great political services.[119] Here it must +suffice to say, that Sophia Charlotte had certainly been jealous of +Danckelmann’s influence, and that his downfall was regarded by her +mother and her friends, even more decidedly than by herself, as an epoch +in her personal career. Leibniz wrote to her, with rather exasperating +_aplomb_, surmising that, since she had now secured the entire +confidence of the Elector her husband, she would recognise the necessity +of taking advantage of the situation (_ménager la conjoncture_). As +there was, he continued, an identity of interest between her and her +mother, it was to be hoped that they would find consolation for the +evils that had befallen them (the death of Ernest Augustus) in employing +their gifts so as to bring about a complete union between Sophia +Charlotte’s brother and her husband. (It may perhaps be noted that the +sorrow afterwards shown by George Lewis on his sister’s death indicates +the existence of a genuine affection between them.) Leibniz could not +think of anyone likely to manage so effectively the requisite +communications between the two Electresses as it would be within his own +power to do; and he suggested that this purpose would be most easily +accomplished if he were to be appointed to some supervising post +connected with science and art at Berlin, and thus supplied with a ready +reason for occasional visits to that capital. As a matter of fact, +Sophia Charlotte used her best endeavours to induce Frederick III to +call into life a (prospectively) Royal Society or Academy of Science, +which, as the Elector was quick to perceive, would conspicuously add to +the reputation of his court and to the glory of the monarchy of which he +was ambitious to become the founder; and, after Leibniz had spent +several months at Berlin, and conducted the deliberations on the +subject, besides participating in the intellectual delights of +‘Lustenburg’ (Lützenburg), the Society of Sciences was, in July, 1700, +actually called into life, with Leibniz as its perpetual president.[120] + +----- + +Footnote 119: + + See H. Breslau, _Der Fall des Oberpräsidenten E. von Danckelmann_, + 1692 (H. Breslau and S. Isaacsohn, _Der Fall zweier Preuss. + Minister_). Berlin, 1878. + +Footnote 120: + + Curiously enough, on the day after the opening of this august + institution, Leibniz took a prominent part in a ‘Village Fair’ at the + Court, of which a graphic description remains in a letter from him to + the Electress Sophia. It seems to have been a revised edition of the + _Wirthschaften_ of her youth, and of similar Arcadian diversions of + later days.—For an interesting survey of the relations—both personal + and philosophical—between Leibniz and Sophia Charlotte, see A. Foucher + de Careil, _Leibniz et les deux Sophies_, Paris, 1876. + +----- + +Danckelmann’s fall had, however, not put an end to Sophia Charlotte’s +difficulties at her husband’s court. Some of these were of much the same +sort as those from which her mother had suffered so much at Hanover, and +from which the more sensitive nature of her grand-daughter Wilhelmina +was afterwards to suffer at Baireuth. The Elector Frederick III’s new +minister-in-chief, Kolbe von Wartenberg, had himself many attractive +qualities; but his wife was of humble origin and undistinguished +manners. It pleased the Elector, apparently only for the sake of the +completeness of the thing, to confer on her the position of his mistress +_en titre_. Sophia Charlotte’s pride long rebelled against receiving +this lady at her private court. Another source of anxiety to Sophia +Charlotte was the training of her son Frederick William, which, during +part of his fourth year, she had entrusted to the veteran Frau von +Harling at the court of her mother, the Electress Sophia. But the boy, +both passionate and obstinate, could not agree with his cousin George +Augustus, and had to be taken back to Berlin. As he grew up he seemed to +care for nothing but soldiering, while he detested the ceremonial dear +to his father’s heart, and more distinctive than ever of the Court of +Berlin since the manœuvres for securing a royal Crown had assumed a +definite shape, and this project had come to absorb the entire policy of +the Brandenburg court and Government. Neither Sophia Charlotte’s nor her +mother’s intelligence could fail to grasp the situation. The Electress +of Brandenburg made up her mind that no personal grievance should +interfere with the maintenance of a good understanding between her +consort and herself, and received the Countess of Wartenberg at +Lützenburg, although, oblivious of her guest’s imperfections of +education, she welcomed her there with a few words of French. The +Electress Dowager Sophia was willing to cooperate; and, partly with a +view to procuring for the furtherance of the project the good offices of +King William III and of the Elector Maximilian Emmanuel of Bavaria, +Governor of the Austrian Netherlands, it was, in the spring of 1700, +arranged that the two Electresses should, on the pretext of Sophia +Charlotte’s health, repair to the baths of Aix-la-Chapelle, and thence +visit Brussels and Holland. They accomplished this journey, on which +Leibniz was by his own ill-health prevented from accompanying them, but +in the course of which they, at the Hague, made the personal +acquaintance of another philosopher of European reputation—‘_l’illustre +Bayle, honneur des beaux esprits_.’ And, in October, 1700, they were +received at the Loo, where (as we shall see immediately) other matters +were also discussed between the Electress Dowager and King William, and +where he promised Sophia Charlotte to acknowledge her husband as the +first King in Prussia. The desire of Sophia Charlotte’s consort (rather +than her own) was consummated by their coronation as King and Queen of +Prussia at Königsberg on January 18th, 1701—the year which likewise +proved her mother’s conference with her host at the Loo not to have been +held in vain. + +To understand this result, it is necessary to go back a few years, and +to recall the circumstances which, in 1696, had led to an earlier, but +more transitory, visit on the part of the two Electresses to the Loo. +The year 1696 was one of some importance in the history of the English +Succession question. After the death of Queen Mary, on December 28th, +1694, some time had necessarily passed before even a conjecture could be +formed as to the future intentions of King William, who was prostrated +with grief. But he was only in his forty-fifth year, and his remarriage +was therefore by no means an unlikely event. In the course of 1695, +speculation was accordingly rife on the subject, and, taking time by the +forelock, Louis XIV provided that any overtures made on William III’s +behalf at Stockholm (for the hand of the Princess Hedwig Sophia) should +meet with a cold reception. The hopes of the House of Savoy were once +more aroused. The claims by descent of the Duchess Anna Maria, daughter +of Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans, and grand-daughter of Charles I, and +of her issue, were superior to those of the Electress Sophia and the +House of Hanover; and, in the twofold event of another son being born to +Anna Maria and Victor Amadeus II, and of the boy being brought over to +England and there educated as a Protestant, he might acquire a +Parliamentary title. William III was supposed to look favourably upon +this scheme; and, though, already in the summer of 1695, there were +rumours of Savoy having entered into secret negotiations with France, +Victor Amadeus was one of the Princes who, about this time, ratified the +renewal of the Grand Alliance. But, in the following year, after France +had paid the price of the restoration of Pignerol, the Duke of Savoy +went over to her side (thus executing a movement of which he carried out +the exact converse in 1703, early in the great War), and thereby closed +any prospect of his House inheriting the English throne. + +Meanwhile, King William’s widowed state occupied the thoughts of the +dynasty of whose close connexion with the House of Hanover we have just +been treating. Immediately after the campaign of 1695 and the renewal of +the Grand Alliance, the Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg had begun +to sound King William, through the agency of his favourite, Keppel (soon +afterwards created Earl of Albemarle), as to the royal intentions on the +subject of a remarriage, with a view to directing the King’s attention +to the Electoral Princess Louisa Dorothea, then fifteen years of age. In +the following year, 1696, William had found himself the object of an +unprecedented popularity in England, owing to the discovery of the +Assassination Plot, at the time when James II was known to be preparing +an invasion of these shores. The Jacobite interest, which was to have +benefited by the most gracious proclamation ever drafted by the exiled +King, experienced one of the most disheartening of its many rebuffs; +and, instead of reconquering his kingdoms, James II informed the Abbot +of La Trappe, that ‘all these attempts which seemed to be lost labour in +the eyes of the world, were great advantages as he managed them in order +to that great end which had now become his sole concern.’ Still, the +‘Prince of Orange’s’ weak condition of health prevented King James from +regarding the chances of his restoration as at an end; and, in the event +of his rival’s death, he was resolved to ‘return into England, though +three men had not followed him.’[121] In May, 1696, King William resumed +the command of the army in the Low Countries, but no military operations +of importance took place; and, in the course of the summer, the Elector +Frederick III, with his family and court, took up their residence at +Cleves, whither the Duke of Celle likewise found his way, and whence in +August the Electress Sophia Charlotte, with her mother the Electress +Sophia, paid an _incognito_ visit to the Loo in the King’s absence. He +was then invited to Cleves; but he preferred in the first instance to +send two agents—an Englishman (Southwell) and a Dutchman (General +Hompesch)—to report to him on the personality of the Princess Louisa +Dorothea. Their reports were unfavourable, and, the King’s visit having +been deferred on the plea of difficulties of ceremonial,[122] no less a +personage than Portland was sent by him to Cleves to make another +report. Though this again proved deterrent, William resolved to trust to +his own eyes, and, in September, paid a visit to Cleves, of which a full +account remains in a letter from Stepney, then in the royal suite, to +Sir William Trumbull. The Princess stood, during four hours, as a +spectatress of the royal game at _l’hombre_, while the favourite, +Keppel, was accommodated with a seat. But the visit led to no result; +and, when it became known that the two Electresses had abandoned their +proposed tour through Holland, it was understood that the marriage +project was for the present at an end. + +----- + +Footnote 121: + + This was the time when James II refused Louis XIV’s offer of aid + towards securing for him the Polish throne, then vacant by the death + of John Sobiesky; on which occasion Sophia wrote to the Duchess of + Orleans that King James might pass for a saint, since we are told to + become as little children, or we shall not enter into the kingdom of + heaven. + +Footnote 122: + + These were of a kind of which the Electress Sophia had, as we have + seen, had some experience. According to English usage, the King was + alone entitled to an arm-chair (_fauteuil_); but, according to the + German rule, the Electors were privileged to occupy an arm-chair even + in the presence of the Emperor. Hence the King and the Elector could + not _sit_ in one another’s company; and, when the King actually came + to Cleves, the Elector had to absent himself from the royal _partie_. + +----- + +Whether or not because of his own unwillingness to contract a second +marriage, as well as on account of the secession of the House of Savoy +from the Grand Alliance, the attention of William III, in the latter +part of 1696, turned more decisively than before to the Electress Sophia +and the House of Hanover. He interested himself directly in the still +unsettled question of the admission of the Elector of Hanover into the +Electoral College. About the same time (October), when George William of +Celle had returned home from a long visit to the Loo, whither he had +proceeded from Cleves, Leibniz (who, it must be remembered, was in the +service of the entire House of Brunswick-Lüneburg) put forth one of +those feelers by which he is henceforth found from time to time +endeavouring to test the sentiments of the Electress Sophia on the +Succession question. Though on this occasion he approaches the subject +most cautiously, it may be looked upon as significant that he prophesies +for Sophia’s grandson a renewal of the historic achievement of William +III. Nothing, however, could be more explicit than her reply refusing to +act on his insinuation. Two months later, she wrote to her niece, the +Raugravine Louisa, then on a visit to London, where she had met with +scant courtesy on the part of the Princess Anne, that everything +‘Palatine’ seemed to have quite fallen into oblivion in England, nor did +anybody there remember her (the Electress’) existence, inasmuch as there +was no apparent intention of allowing the Crown to descend to her +family. + +During the period immediately ensuing, William III was necessarily +occupied by the task of securing his own seat upon the English throne, +rather than by that of determining its ulterior devolution. The success +of the peace negotiations which opened at Ryswyk, in June, 1697, was +rendered more than doubtful by the avoidance of any direct communication +between the representatives of the King of France and of the King of +England, whom Louis had as yet refused to recognise; and William III had +accordingly taken the startling step of entering into a secret +negotiation with France. Among the extraordinary rumours that hereupon +spread as to the compromise contemplated by the two sovereigns, was one, +wholly false, which contrived to make its way into ‘history.’ William, +it was said, intended to purchase peace by promising to secure the +Succession to the English Crown to the son and heir of James II. In the +instrument of the peace, William was not actually recognised as King of +England, Scotland, and Ireland by Louis XIV; but he was mentioned as +such in the preamble, and secured in his possession of these kingdoms by +a formula binding Louis XIV to refuse any direct or indirect assistance +to William’s enemies. Indeed, this indirect recognition, and the check +which it implied upon the original designs of Louis, constituted +England’s chief gain by the peace. William’s motives for seeking, in the +period next ensuing, to remain on good terms with Louis XIV, cannot be +discussed here; but they help to account for a certain slackness on +William’s part in his dealings with the Succession question, at a time +when it was becoming of the highest importance for the future of his +kingdoms. + +In the autumn of 1698, however, shortly after the secret conclusion of +the First Partition Treaty between Louis XIV and William III, the latter +took up this question of a Succession which concerned him more nearly +than that to the Spanish monarchy. He was in the habit of annually +welcoming to the Loo, at this season, his old friend and +fellow-sportsman, Duke George William of Celle; but on the present +occasion they met in the hunting-castle of the Göbrde,[123] near +Lüneburg. The Elector George Lewis also put in an appearance there, as +did his son, the Electoral Prince George Augustus, and his daughter, +Sophia Dorothea the younger, then eleven years of age. Although Count +Tallard, the French ambassador at the Court of St. James, was thoroughly +puzzled as to the purpose of the King’s journey, it could be no secret +to the members of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg. In September, the +Princess Anne, who stood next in the Succession so long as King William +remained childless, had given birth to another still-born infant; and +her only surviving child, the Duke of Gloucester, was known to be in +weak bodily health. Nor could any reliance be placed upon Princess Anne +herself, who was in constant communication with St. Germains, and who, +had her father but given his assent to her mounting the throne in due +course, would have been glad enough afterwards to play it into the hands +of her half-brother. King William must, therefore, manifestly have +visited the Brunswick-Lüneburg territories with at least a +predisposition towards placing the House of Hanover in a more +satisfactory position, in regard to the Succession, than it held at +present; but he had no reason for supposing that the members of that +House were themselves eager to meet him half-way. Strangely enough, the +personage who now came forward to urge upon him a decisive course, was +the Duchess Eleonora of Celle—perhaps with a view to thus recovering +some of the influence lost to her through her daughter’s catastrophe, +perhaps in the hope of mitigating the effects of that catastrophe for +the unhappy Sophia Dorothea herself, or simply from an inborn love of +diplomatic action and a general desire to make things pleasant. Leibniz +afterwards assumed to himself the credit of having given her the first +hint of speaking to the King. This she did before he quitted the Göhrde, +representing herself as obeying an inspiration from Hanover, and begging +her royal guest—now that the House of Savoy was out of the question—to +promote the placing of the Electress Sophia and her descendants in the +Succession. When the King pointed out that the Duke of Gloucester, +though in delicate health, might imitate him by growing up into manhood, +Eleonora further suggested that her grand-daughter, Sophia Dorothea the +younger, would be a suitable match for the Duke. George William of +course agreed _ex post facto_ to the step taken by his wife, but +stipulated that it should be mentioned to his nephew, the Elector, who +gave vent to his annoyance that the King should be led to suppose him to +have sanctioned this manœuvre. But, when the King met the Electress +Sophia at Celle, he referred to the question of establishing her and her +descendants’ claim, and, as Leibniz expresses it, made considerable +advances in this direction. Sophia, we may be sure, received these +advances discreetly; but that she should have rejected them, or have met +them with coldness, is a conjecture unwarranted by her conduct either +before or after. Neither can she be shown to have viewed with +displeasure the activity, restless though it undoubtedly was, of +Leibniz, who about this time corresponded with London as frequently as +possible and encouraged the efforts of a Hanoverian agent there. Had +Sophia taken up an attitude of indifference, King William would hardly, +in June, 1699, have informed her in writing that he had used his best +endeavours to bring the business to a conclusion satisfactory to her, +and that he felt assured of effecting his purpose within a very short +space of time. It is, moreover, significant that the two branches of the +House of Brunswick-Lüneburg were acting in perfect harmony with one +another; in May, Gargan, the Electress’ secretary, declares it +impossible to listen without emotion to the conversations between the +two illustrious ladies (Sophia and Eleonora), whom he describes as +related to one another not less closely by blood than by friendship. + +----- + +Footnote 123: + + This favourite seat of both George I and George II was in September, + 1813—shortly before Leipzig—the scene of a Hanoverian success against + a French division. + +----- + +The reason why the Celle interview led to no immediate results in +England lay, not in Sophia, but in the discordant relations between King +William and his Parliament, caused mainly by his policy with regard to +the Spanish Succession, into which of course the Electress and the House +of Hanover had not been initiated. So late as July, 1700, she wonders +what interest England and the United Provinces could have in seeking to +cement the power of France. The unfriendliness of Parliament to the King +had been heightened when, about a month earlier, the substance of the +Second Partition Treaty had become known in this country; and, as +matters now stood, there was little or no chance of the House of Commons +in particular agreeing to any proposals concerning the Succession that +should emanate from the King. In the midst of this trouble, less doubt +than ever remained as to the decrease of his physical strength, at no +time anything but precarious; so that, after Anne, the only hope for the +Succession depended on the feeble vitality of the young Duke of +Gloucester. Suddenly, on July 30th, 1700, the frail thread of his life +was snapped, and the prospect had vanished of a successor who would have +been generally acceptable, and, in all probability, have proved both an +intelligent and a kindly ruler. In announcing the news to the Electress +Sophia from Berlin, her vigilant monitor, Leibniz, promptly pointed out +that it would now more than ever be time to think of the English +Succession. But it so chanced that already, three days previously, she +had written to him on the same subject from Hanover, exhibiting her +usual perfect self-control. Though she took very coolly the news of the +young Duke’s ‘decampment’—as she called his death, perhaps in cynical +allusion to his innocent military tastes,—she by no means showed herself +blind to the importance of the event. Were she younger, she told +Leibniz, when informing him that, in October, 1700, the Duke of Celle +was to visit King William at the Loo, she might fairly have looked +forward to a Crown; as it was, had she the choice, she would rather see +her years increase than her grandeur. But she well knew that persons in +her station rarely have a choice, if they are resolved not to fall short +of their sense of duty. She could hardly be aware of the fresh intrigues +that were being carried on by the Princess Anne, or of the hopes, still +entertained by certain of William’s most loyal English subjects, that he +would marry again, perhaps this time choosing a Danish princess. But she +could not have remained unaware that the thoughts of a wider circle of +Englishmen were taking the direction of Hanover. Partly, however, under +the influence of the regrets caused by the recent death of the young +Duke of Gloucester, partly because of the wish to secure an heir to the +throne young enough to be Anglicised and, more especially, +_Anglicanised_ before his advent to it, politicians, and Tory +politicians in particular, were as yet intent rather upon the ultimate +succession of the Electoral Prince than upon that of his father, the +Elector, or that of his grandmother, the Dowager Electress. + +At the meeting of King William with the Duke of Celle at the Loo, it was +arranged that he should receive there the Electress Sophia and the +Electress of Brandenburg, on the occasion of the visit to the baths of +Aix-la-Chapelle on which the latter had persuaded her mother to +accompany her. Burnet insists that now ‘the eyes of all the Protestants +of the nation turned towards the Electress of Brunswick’; but the +arrival in Holland, as his mother’s and grandmother’s visit drew to a +close, of the young Electoral Prince of Brandenburg (afterwards King +Frederick William I of Prussia) seems to have vividly suggested to +William III the notion of placing the heir of the Hohenzollerns in the +position left vacant by the Duke of Gloucester. This passing fancy may +be regarded as the sequel of a not less transitory ambition which +appears to have flitted through the mind of the Elector Frederick III, +of taking advantage of the Princess Anne’s unpopularity to endeavour +himself to find his way to the English throne. The idea of including the +Electoral Prince of Brandenburg in the Succession could not of course be +welcome to the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg; and we accordingly find +Bothmer, who was in the Celle service as envoy at Paris and was soon to +play an important part in the progress of the Succession question, +complaining to Ilten (August 31st, 1700) that the Berlin Ministry were +preparing for their young Prince the plurality of King of Prussia, +Stadholder, and King of England. Count Platen afterwards stated that he +had heard it suggested that the Calvinism of Berlin might suit King +William better than the Lutheranism of Hanover. Nor is it at all +unlikely that he recognised in the Electoral Prince the germ of +administrative powers to which full justice has only very tardily been +done.[124] But, however this may have been—and perhaps something might +be said as to the religious influence noticeable in this period of +Hanoverian history—there is no proof that William III seriously thought +of adopting the Electoral Prince of Brandenburg, or of introducing him +in any other way into the English Succession. Moreover, even had this +been on his part more than a passing wish, he of course possessed no +right of nomination. No doubt, he would more speedily have dismissed the +fancy, had he believed the House of Hanover to be very eagerly intent +upon the prospect now opening before it. But, at all events it is +neither proved nor probable, that at the Loo the Electress Sophia once +more rejected the overtures of her host on the subject of the +Succession. The question possesses so much significance, if we are +desirous of forming a judgment as to the whole tenor of her conduct in +this matter, that it must needs be dwelt upon at some length. What +actually passed between her and the King on the occasion is unknown; and +her behaviour can only be conjectured from the attitude which she +maintained during a journey undertaken by her, it must be remembered, in +the first instance at all events, in her daughter’s interest rather than +in her own. + +----- + +Footnote 124: + + It may be noted that Borkowski, _Königin Charlotte als Mutter und + Erzieherin_ (in _Hohenzollern-Jahrbuch_ for 1903), defends the Queen + against the charge of having insufficiently cared for the education of + the heir to the throne, and cites in proof letters addressed by her to + Alexander von Dohna, whom she selected and maintained against all + opposition as the supervisor of her son’s education. + +----- + +At Aix-la-Chapelle Sophia had received a remarkable letter from Stepney, +written from London about the middle of September, in which he reviewed +the entire situation. Remembering that in her veins ran the blood of the +Stewarts, and that her personal reminiscences mounted back to the days +of Oliver Cromwell, he excused himself from offering a decided opinion +of his own as to the genuineness of ‘_le Fils_,’ but pointed out that +there was no chance of his ever abandoning the religion of Rome, or +escaping from the political leading-strings of France. On the other +hand, he assured the Electress that the English were not Republicans at +heart, and that among them there was nobody capable of playing Oliver’s +part over again as ‘Captain-General.’ In response to his modest appeal +for a reply (by means of which he no doubt hoped to be able to clear up +the situation at head-quarters), Sophia wrote the letter, undated, in +which, from Lord Hardwicke downwards, so many critics have found +indications of her Jacobite tendencies. In this letter she declares +that, were she thirty years younger, she would have sufficient +confidence in her descent and in the religion professed by her, to +believe in her being thought of in England. After her death, which in +the natural course of things would precede the deaths of the King and +his appointed successor, her sons would be regarded as strangers. +Moreover, the eldest of them was far more accustomed to sovereign +authority than was the poor Prince of Wales, who was so young and would +be so glad to recover what his father had thrown away that they would be +able to do with him what they liked. After referring to her hope of +shortly seeing the King in Holland, whither she had been induced by her +daughter to accompany her, she added that she was of course neither so +philosophical nor so foolish as to dislike hearing a Crown talked of, or +as to refuse full consideration to her correspondent’s extremely +sensible and obliging remarks on the subject, though the number of +factions apparently existing in England made it difficult to feel sure +about anything. + +Such is the substance of what is sometimes cited as the ‘Jacobite +letter’ of the Electress Sophia. Clearly, it is nothing of the kind; but +at most shows that, while primarily desirous of deferring all discussion +till she should meet the King, she desired to apprise him, through a +safe channel, that she was alive to the _cons_ as well as the _pros_—the +uncertainties as well as the opportunities—of the situation. Above all, +she wished to show herself aware of the possibility of that situation +being fundamentally changed by the conversion to Protestantism of the +‘Prince of Wales,’ as—assuredly without any _arrière pensée_—she +naturally called the kinsman whose claim to this title she had never +professed to doubt. Nor is any ‘Jacobitism’ on her aunt’s part proved by +the Duchess of Orleans’ nearly contemporary graphic account of King +James II’s tender sentiments towards the Electress, who, as he +stammered, ‘_m’a tou-toujours aimé_.’ + +The visit to the Loo was succeeded by a brief meeting between the King +and the two Electresses at the Hague, just before his departure for +England. It was on this occasion that Sophia Charlotte was accompanied +by her son Frederick William, for whom the King manifested a sudden +personal fancy. Whether under its influence, or because he had resolved +to respond to Sophia’s guarded attitude by maintaining a reserve of his +own, or, as is most probable, because English opinion was in his +judgment, as well as in hers, still unripe for action—certain passages +in the Electress’ correspondence with the Raugravine Louisa, a few +months later in date, show that William III had not arrived at any +immediate decision as to naming the Electress and her descendants in the +Succession, though he had held out to her the prospect of such a result +being brought about. This implies that she had by no means refused to +entertain such a proposal. In a word, the attitude of cautious +expectancy maintained by her and her House, was confirmed by her brief +personal intercourse with the actual occupant of the English throne. + +Before the end of this year, 1700, all hesitation vanished from the +policy of William III. His hopes of securing the peace of Europe by an +international agreement based on the Second Partition Treaty were +finally extinguished, when the death of Charles II of Spain, on November +1st, was followed by the acceptance of his will, bequeathing the whole +of the Spanish monarchy to the Duke of Anjou, by that Prince’s +grandfather, Louis XIV. In February, 1701, French troops surprised the +Dutch garrisons in the Barrier fortresses; and the States General +recognised King Philip of Spain. The question whether England would +follow suit, or declare war, would have to be decided by the new +Parliament, summoned for February, 1701, ‘in respect of matters of the +highest importance’; which expression, as de Beyrie, the Hanoverian +resident in London, informed the Electress, unmistakably applied to the +choice of the Duke of Anjou, and to the English Succession. Stepney, or +some other correspondent, had previously apprised her of the course +which events might be expected to take in Parliament with regard to the +Succession. The Whigs would press for a further limitation in the +Protestant line, and, if necessary, for the exclusion of any child or +pretended child of James II except the Princess Anne. An effort +(proceeding from the Marlborough interest) in favour of the Princess +Anne’s consort, Prince George of Denmark, would serve to lead Parliament +to the direct Protestant line, beginning with the Electress Sophia, and +going on to the Elector and the Electoral Prince. Early in the same +month (November) the Electress, who was accompanied by Leibniz, +conferred with her brother-in-law at Celle. The Elector George Lewis was +not present; and the confidential memorandum on the rights of the House +of Brunswick-Lüneburg in respect of the English Succession drawn up +immediately afterwards by Leibniz for the use of Cresset, then at Celle, +contained a significant passage. The Succession, it was observed, could +much more easily be secured by the House, while King William, Duke +George William, and the Electress Sophia were still ‘_pleins de vie_.’ +Soon afterwards, Sophia herself drafted a letter, which was approved by +the Duke of Celle, asking the King’s advice as to the course of action +to be pursued; and Leibniz, who thought this insufficient, was permitted +to compose a supplementary letter to Stepney, for the information of +Baron Schütz, who represented the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg at the +Court of St. James.[125] In this it was suggested that, while the +Electress wished not to appear at present to be taking any active steps, +a further limitation of the Act of Settlement might advantageously be +promoted in England by means of private overtures and of pamphlets not +purporting to emanate from Hanover. The Electress once more showed a +judgment superior to that of Leibniz, who, in his zeal, offered, if +called upon, to proceed to London in person, but whom, in May, 1701, +Stepney informed that, in his opinion, the English nation was so well +disposed towards the Hanoverian Succession that neither pamphlets nor +men of talent were needed to push it. + +----- + +Footnote 125: + + She told Schütz, about this time, that she was very sensible of the + kindness shown her by the English people, but very sorry that she was + so old that she would never be of any use to them, and much annoyed + that her son had not the same inclinations on this head as she had + herself, and made no secret of his sentiments. + +----- + +In the meantime, Parliament, which sat from February to June, had nearly +concluded its session. The Speech from the Throne had duly recommended +the further limitation of the Succession in the Protestant line; and a +proposal for carrying this recommendation into effect was, without loss +of time, brought forward by the Whigs in the House of Commons (March +3rd). But, though the Tory majority in the House was not as a whole +unfriendly to the Hanoverian claims, the opinion prevailed that it would +be well to postpone the naming of any further successor, until certain +additional securities had been obtained for the rights and liberties of +the subjects of the Crown. It was generally understood that the +Electress Sophia should be named; but some desired to name the Elector +and the Electoral Prince likewise, in the expectation that the Electress +Dowager and the Elector would waive their claims. On the other hand, it +was felt that such an arrangement would involve a difference between the +English and the Scottish limitation, which latter had, already in 1689, +been made to include Sophia’s name; and this could not have been easily +set right until the anti-English feeling excited in Scotland by the +Darien Settlement affair should have had time to subside. + +Thus, after the eight articles had been agreed upon which were to take +effect from the beginning of the new limitation to the House of Hanover, +and some of which were, as a matter of fact, dictated by jealousy of the +rule of a foreign line, the name of the Electress Sophia was inserted +without opposition; and by the _Act for the further Limitation of the +Crown, and better securing the Rights and Liberties of the +Subjects_—called in short the _Act of Settlement_—the Crown of England +was, in default of issue of the Princess Anne or King William III, +settled upon the Electress and her posterity, being Protestants. A +protest, inspired by the Duke of Berwick acting under instructions from +Louis XIV was, indeed, raised by the Duchess Anna Maria of Savoy, and +communicated to both Houses of Parliament by the envoy of Duke Victor +Amadeus II; but no notice was taken of it.[126] On June 12th, 1701, the +Act of Settlement received the royal assent, and, in his Speech from the +Throne, King William, after thanking the two Houses for further securing +the Protestant Succession, passed on to the subject of the Grand +Alliance. The answer of the House of Commons was an Address promising to +support the King in sustaining the alliances deemed necessary by him for +upholding the liberty of Europe and the welfare of England, and for +reducing the exorbitant power of France. + +The Act of Settlement, which secured the Hanoverian Succession, +accordingly at the same time imposed certain fresh restrictions of the +prerogative, which had an important bearing upon the nature of the royal +authority exercised by Sophia’s posterity. Furthermore, the Act, in +which both the great English political parties concurred, secured the +Hanoverian Succession at a time when the critical struggle was about to +open between France and the renewed Grand Alliance; and thus, at the +very moment when the House of Hanover acquired a Parliamentary title to +the expectancy of the English throne, it was, again with the assent of +both parties, identified with the adversaries of France in the great +European conflict. Nor is it without significance that at this very time +a Pope (Clement XI) had been seated in St. Peter’s Chair, who, in a far +greater measure than his predecessor—for Innocent XII had on the whole +disappointed the hopes of Louis XIV—served the interests of France. The +letter addressed by Clement XI on his election in November, 1700, to +James II, had, in its ‘beautiful terms of paternal tenderness,’ drawn +tears ‘more from the heart than from the eyes’ of the exiled King. + +Throughout these transactions, the conduct of the Electress Sophia had +been uniformly judicious—observing a wise mean between the adoption, as +a matter of course, of the advice readily given to her by Leibniz, and +an absolute impassiveness like that maintained by her eldest son. It +seems unwarranted to regard her as having energetically defended her +rights up to the time when policy and the condition of affairs in +England imposed upon her a certain reserve, and having at the last +enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing both King and Parliament sue for her +acceptance of their offer. On the other hand, her conduct is +misunderstood when she is supposed to have resisted so long as possible +the unwelcome necessity of securing the inheritance of a throne to which +she believed her kinsman, the Prince of Wales, to have had a just claim. +She had frankly accepted the situation, and done her best to promote a +solution in the interests of her dynasty, without going further than +would have been either seemly or judicious. Her letter written on June +22nd, 1701, to Burnet (who describes himself as in more or less +continuous correspondence with her from the death of the Duke of +Gloucester onwards) exactly expresses her point of view. Though sensible +of his affection to her in the matter of the Succession, which excluded +all Catholic heirs, ‘who had always caused so many disorders in +England,’ she felt herself ‘unfortunately too old ever to be useful to +the nation.’ Yet she wished that ‘those who were to come after her might +render themselves worthy of the honour awaiting them.’ + +On August 14th, 1701, the Earl of Macclesfield arrived in Hanover, in +order formally to notify to the Electress Sophia the passing of the Act +of Settlement, of which, kneeling before her, he presented her with a +splendidly illuminated copy, still preserved in the Hanover Archives. +Macclesfield appears to have been chosen for the office at his own +request, as the son of a cavalier closely associated with Prince Rupert +and a visitor at the Hague in Queen Elizabeth’s days, and therefore +likely to be _persona gratissima_ to the Electress[127]—though his own +antecedents rather associated him with the Mohocks. He was accompanied +by three other Whig Lords, Say and Sele, Mohun (Macclesfield’s intimate, +who is stated to have taken care to be on his best behaviour) and +Tunbridge. In their suite was the ingenious Toland, with his enquiring +eyes wide open, and in his pocket, according to Luttrell, a ‘treatise +lately wrote in relation to the Succession, intituled _Anglia Libera_, +or The Limitation and Succession of the Crown explained and asserted,’ +for presentation to the Electress. With them were also ‘Mr. King the +herald,’ who brought the Garter for the Elector, and Dr. Sandys, the +ambassador’s chaplain, who read the common prayers of the Church of +England before the Electress in her ante-chamber. ‘She made the +Responses, and performed the Ceremonys as punctually as if she had been +us’d to it all her life.’ These and other details may be read in +Toland’s _Account of the Courts of Prussia and Hanover_, which he +published after his return. He was particularly anxious to recount the +honours which he had received at Hanover and Herrenhausen, including +that of conversing with the Electress, who, on one occasion, had told +him that ‘she was afraid the Nation had already repented their Choice of +an old Woman, but that she hop’d none of her Posterity wou’d give them +any Reason to grow weary of their Dominion’—much the same words as those +which she had used to Burnet. + +----- + +Footnote 126: + + ‘I do not see,’ writes Sophia in April, 1701, ‘how he can claim the + English Crown before King James and his two sons, being himself as + much a papist as they are; but perhaps he is offering to have his son + educated in the Anglican religion.’ + +Footnote 127: + + She writes that Macclesfield’s father had been most friendly to her as + well as to Prince Rupert—‘_car il voulait me donner au roi + Charles_.’—Macclesfield died shortly after his journey to Hanover. + +----- + +We need not dwell upon the solemnities at Hanover and Celle, whither the +special embassy proceeded in due course, nor upon the lavish munificence +bestowed upon the ambassador,[128] nor upon the medals distributed in +honour of the event, among which none was more remarkable than that +which exhibited the portrait of the English Matilda, the consort of +Henry the Lion, and, on the reverse, that of the Electress Sophia, +‘_Angliae princeps ad successionem nominata_.’ But it may be worth our +while in our next chapter to return to Toland, and to his account of the +Court of Hanover, as giving an interesting, though no doubt rather +rose-coloured, picture of the Electress and her surroundings, at a point +of time which may be described as the climax of her fortunes. + +----- + +Footnote 128: + + The Electress bestowed on him a golden ewer and her portrait in a + jewelled frame—the total expense amounting to 20,000 dollars—rather + more than two-thirds of the sum spent during twoscore years on the + maintenance of the palace buildings at Hanover. No wonder that this + profuse expenditure was looked upon without much satisfaction in the + long years of waiting that ensued. + +----- + + + + + V + THE HEIRESS OF GREAT BRITAIN + (HERRENHAUSEN, 1701-1714) + + +Great Britain was never to see the face of its heiress, and the +widowhood of the Electress Sophia was almost entirely spent in the +tranquillity of Herrenhausen. More than any other place associated with +her name, this palace and its still delightful gardens, in the midst of +which her statue now stands, recall her regal personality. The building +of the palace that was so long her home, and the laying-out of the +gardens where Leibniz was so frequent a companion of her long daily +walks, were begun by Duke John Frederick as early as the year 1665, when +the old hunting-box of Lauenstädt was transferred hither. Herrenhausen +Palace seems to have been reconstructed, under the superintendence of +Sartorio, in imitation of the new palace at Osnabrück, of which, as has +been seen, the younger brother, Ernest Augustus, had more or less +borrowed the design from the Luxembourg at Paris. Ernest Augustus and +Sophia elaborated John Frederick’s beginnings, considerably enlarging +the gardens, which were designed by the elder Charbonnier, and carried +out by him and his son, in 1697, though it was not till 1705 that the +Elector George Lewis caused them to be completed in their present form, +which suggests Dutch influences. Thus a pleasing mixture of styles and +associations is presented by the solid clipped hedges, some of which in +the garden theatre serve as side-scenes and conceal dressing-rooms +(these are attributed specially to Quirini), by the prim summer-houses +and the wilderness, by the grottoes and the cascades with their +stalactites and shells, and by the profusion of statuary in gilt lead +among the hedges and in cool marble by the artificial water. It was in +these gardens that, during her married life, when she was already +accustomed to solitude, Sophia consoled herself with the company of the +nightingales, and here that, in 1700, she is found amusing herself with +her ducks and swans, and with the new lodgings erected by her for their +convenience. She had a genuine fondness for innocent open-air delights; +at Lützenburg she speaks of her promenades with her daughter as +affording her the greatest delight, while her sons disported themselves +at the opera and at comedies played by ‘noble’ comedians; and on the +gravelled paths of her Herrenhausen gardens she indulged her love of +walking almost literally to the moment of her death. No fine day was +allowed to pass without an hour or two—or even more—of her favourite +pastime; and her persistency tired out all her attendants, except, as +Toland elegantly puts it, when they had the honour of enjoying her +conversation.[129] + +----- + +Footnote 129: + + Sophia’s love of walking seems to have been inherited by her eldest + son. Marshal Schulenburg, when on a visit to his sister, the Duchess + of Kendal, at Kensington, in 1727, describes his life there as + fatiguing, inasmuch as he had to promenade with the King in the + gardens every evening for three or four hours. + +----- + +Among the buildings at Herrenhausen, where Sophia spent the greater part +of her life from 1698 to 1714, the Orangery, one of the largest of its +kind in Europe, ought specially to attract the visitor, since a portion +of it was the residence, modest in dimensions, but decorated in a florid +Italian style, of the Electress Dowager. It had been erected in 1692; +its great hall was painted by Tommaso Giusti and stuccoed by Dossa +Grana. The Electress’ rooms are small and narrow, but overloaded with +decorations, and not in the most perfect taste, with the exception of +the fine portal into the little garden.[130] There seems no reason for +crediting her with an artistic taste transcending that of most of her +contemporaries, or sufficiently formed to maintain the Dutch preferences +of her younger days against the more debased French and Italian, but +more especially Italian, modes favoured by her husband and his +brother.[131] Clever with her hands as in every other way, she +understood the use of the brush[132] as well as of the embroidery +needle;[133] but neither artistic industry nor art, although as a +descendant of the Stewarts she had doubtless inherited some love of +both, was a sphere in which she sought to shine. Her husband +consistently treated art as a mere handmaid to luxurious +self-indulgence; thus, while he devoted nearly 25,000 dollars to the +furnishing and adornment of his new opera-house, he wasted an even +larger sum in the expenditure of a single carnival season. + +----- + +Footnote 130: + + See A. Haupt, _u.s._ + +Footnote 131: + + She expresses extreme delight with the changes effected by Count + Rochus Quirini zu Lynar, who directed the building operations of the + Hanoverian Court, in the hunting-box of the Göhrde. + +Footnote 132: + + A copy of a portrait of her nephew, Raugrave Maurice, is attributed to + her. + +Footnote 133: + + The coverings of the chairs in the presence-chamber at Hanover, as + well as those of the altar in the palace chapel there, were + embroidered by her hands. She also embroidered a chair-cover for + Baroness Kielmannsegg—an attention bearing out the statement as to the + relations between that lady and the Electoral family given above. King + Frederick I of Prussia mentions his mother-in-law’s beautiful cabinet + of china at Herrenhausen. + +----- + +Sophia had never shown much sympathy with what may be called the +Venetian tastes of her husband; and, after her youth had ebbed away, had +more and more come to live an intellectual life of her own. Perhaps, +before recalling the political incidents of her last thirteen years in +connexion with the question which invested them with an European +significance, we may pause for a moment to summarise our impressions as +to the most important features of her mind and character, as they +present themselves to us more especially in these final years. The +tragic part of her life was now over; but, as has been well said by the +finest of the modern critics of her career, Professor Kuno Fischer, she +had herself never played the part of a tragedy queen. Even a panegyric +like that pronounced upon her by the old Hanoverian historian +Spittler—by no means an undiscerning flatterer—seems too highly strung. +He speaks of the ‘_Teutschgründliche überfürstliche Aufklärung_’—as who +should say, the enlightenment above the ordinary enlightenment of +princes, and one in its depth and thoroughness possible only to the +Germanic mind—that rendered her deserving of the friendship of Leibniz. +Beyond a doubt, Sophia was distinguished by an intellectual curiosity +that was still uncommon, though much less so than is often supposed, +among the women of her age. This curiosity her linguistic attainments +(she was, as has been seen, from her youth up mistress of half a dozen +languages) had long enabled her freely to satisfy. To the excellent +system of education under which she had been trained she owed her +acquaintance with various elements of theology, philosophy, and history. +This knowledge she had improved in the course of a long life, abounding +in (often involuntary) intervals of leisure, and bringing with it not a +few special opportunities of learned intercourse. She had spent some +years at Heidelberg, once more a fountainhead of learning; and, already +at Osnabrück, she had been ambitious of converting that modest episcopal +city into a centre of philosophical speculation, holding colloquies +there with Francis Mercurius von Helmont, the interesting son of the +great physicist.[134] At a later date she read at least one of Spinoza’s +works, towards which she seems to have been drawn by ideas of moral +philosophy in which some resemblance to his has been thought +traceable.[135] Yet it may be doubted whether either here or afterwards +at Hanover and Herrenhausen she was ever a profound student, or even so +much as an ardent reader of books. She was fond of reading memoirs—such +as those of Pierre Chanut, French ambassador at the Court of Christian +of Sweden, or the celebrated autobiography of Marshal de Bassompierre. +She had, also, a _penchant_ for novels, preferring to the fashionable +long-winded romances of her youth works enlivened by a humour congenial +to her own. She asked Leibniz to draw up for her a list of all the +novels she had read; for she had come to an end with _Don Quixote_ and +_Don Guzman d’Alfarache_, of which she preferred the former. Of German +romances, it is almost equally to her credit that she mentions +_Simplicissimus_, while avoiding the stagnant fashionable bombast of her +age.[136] A still more striking testimony to her critical insight may be +found in the remark, which the admiring Duchess of Orleans states to +have been confirmed by the Elector Palatine Charles Lewis, that nobody +in the world better possessed Michel de Montaigne better than her aunt +Sophia. Nor was she afraid of even more potent draughts; for, during her +return journey from Italy, the _Gargantua_ was read to her by Ezechiel +Spanheim, divine and diplomatist. On the other hand, she does not appear +to have greatly cared for historical reading on its own account; +according to Leibniz, the reason why she took pleasure in Clarendon was +‘because she was acquainted with many persons mentioned by him.’ Yet she +had no personal acquaintance with the Emperor Justinian, whom, as known +to her from the Byzantine historian Procopius, she compares with Louis +XIV. She certainly had a liking for moral theology and philosophy, which +were, in general, more in the way of the ladies of the period than the +historical sciences. She had read Boëtius, and was invited by Leibniz to +read the Jesuit Friedrich von Spee, a leader in the crusade against that +long-lived form of bigotry—the persecution of ‘witchcraft.’ Dogmatic +theology had no charms for Sophia; and even the faithful Bishop Burnet’s +book on a theme which ought to have interested her, namely, the +Thirty-nine Articles, she put aside as ‘_bon à feuilleter, mais non pas +à lire_,’ flippantly adding that the good binding of her copy would make +it an ornament to her library. Philosophy, like religion, seems to have +interested her primarily on the ethical side; the stoical maxims of +Seneca and Epictetus had impressed her mind before it had opened itself +to more comprehensive problems under the influence of Spinoza, whom, as +we know, her favourite brother had sought to domesticate at Heidelberg, +and afterwards, and, above all, under the influence of Leibniz. She can +at no time have been very well seen in metaphysics, the study of which +is held to contribute so largely to the formation of ideas on religion; +she shared her eldest son’s somewhat crude notions on the origin of +ideas, and would not—or could not—understand Leibniz’s argument about +monads. Possibly, like many clever people of both sexes, she was rather +too fond of startling her interlocutors; and the excellent Molanus +respectfully shakes his reverend head at ‘_Serenissima nostra, quæ a +paradoxis sibi temperare nunquam potest_.’ On the other hand, the +diplomatist Thomas von Grote, another of her intimates, moved perhaps by +a not unnatural jealousy, opined that the learned companions of her +Herrenhausen walks would in the end take her a little out of her depth, +though he had no fear that for her the consequences would be what they +had been for Queen Christina of Sweden. As for the mathematical and +physical sciences, she took that casual interest in them which, in the +case of great personages, and of great ladies in particular, alternately +makes the delight and the despair of _savants_; Leibniz distinctly +states that works dealing in detail with such subjects are not among +those which the Electress was fond of reading. When, in the last year of +her life, the Czar Peter came to Hanover and talked mathematics to her, +‘she held her tongue.’ + +----- + +Footnote 134: + + He seems to have frequented her society up to a late date. In 1696 the + Duchess of Orleans expresses her pleasure that her aunt should have + his philosophy to amuse her—though, for her part, she ‘does not see + how one can understand anything of which one knows nothing.’ The + younger Helmont’s doctrine of metempsychosis was not in the long run + satisfactory to Sophia, who had once said that it might account for + her unlucky son Maximilian’s resemblance to the ‘seven old Dukes of + Brunswick,’ who called all their servants ‘thou’ and occupied + themselves with making nets and drinking warm beer. + +Footnote 135: + + See H. Forst, _u.s._, p. 378. + +Footnote 136: + + Of course, she had to read the _Mesopotamian Shepherdess_ of the + interminable Duke Anthony Ulric; but she compendiously set it down as + a burlesque on the Bible. + +----- + +And yet, though neither a profound philosopher nor a phenomenally +accomplished blue-stocking, Sophia was the very reverse of a commonplace +personage. She was a woman of the world, but a very wise one. In age, as +in youth, she sparkled with wit and intelligence, and in her both these +gifts were interfused with that third and greatest gift of humour, which +is a property of the soul as well as of the intellect.[137] Of her +conversation we can only judge from her letters, of which we fortunately +possess a quite extraordinary quantity; but, if her speech was like her +writing, its style must have been equally far ‘_esloigné de +l’aigreur_,’—to borrow a phrase from Madame de Brinon, to whom she told +not a few home truths. Her letters combine with the supreme charm of +perfect naturalness a pungency in the choice of expressions superior, in +the opinion of the Duchess of Orleans, to any minted by the academies; +‘for to write agreeably is better than to write correctly.’ +Occasionally, her wit was singularly incisive, as when she called the +same Madame de Brinon ‘_une religieuse qui passe pour bel esprit_,’ and +her eloquence extraordinary ‘_car elle parle toujours_’; or when, Toland +having _more suo_ taken it upon himself in argument to whitewash the +cannibals, she commended him for his prudence, in that, with all +Christendom against him, he had provided himself with protectors. Not +unfrequently, however, frankness and cynicism did duty for wit. Her +jests spared neither Leibniz, nor the House of Hanover, nor ‘_le bon +lord Winchilsea_,’ whom she found so heavy in hand, nor Queen Anne’s +husband, Prince George of Denmark, of whom, when it was proposed to +create him King Consort, she observed that he would be a King like Jove +among the frogs—and perhaps popular for that very reason. She had, too, +a good deal of fun as well as wit—as when, in acknowledging the courtesy +of an unknown Mr. Smith in sending a descriptive account of England and +the English (among whom she had ‘been brought up till she reached the +age of twenty’), she says that he describes London and St Paul’s and the +‘_pantquitinhouse_’ as if she had never heard a word about them. De +Gourville, whose qualities as a butt possibly remained a secret to his +sublime self-consciousness, suspected her of a natural inclination to +criticising any fellow-mortal brought into her presence, though he +allowed that the person bantered by her was sure to be the first to +laugh. She was a good hater, and could even hate at second hand, as in +the instance of Madame de Maintenon, the bugbear of the Duchess of +Orleans. But her aversions were, like all her feelings, kept in constant +check by the dictates of reason as well as by her care for the interests +of her family and House; and we have seen how even her sentiments +towards Eleonora d’Olbreuze underwent a gradual mitigation which +outsiders judged to be a complete change. It may, too, be doubted +whether sarcasm was really natural to her, though her sense of humour +always responded to the irony of things. She was alike open-minded and +open-handed, and had nothing of the stinginess which sits so ill on high +rank and position. Though towards the close of her life she was desirous +that an income should be granted her by the British Crown and +Parliament, it was only for political purposes that she desired this. +She had quite money enough, she said, to keep up her German +establishment. When she found that the distinguished services of the +Brunswick-Lüneburg officers and men were left unnoticed in the +_Gazette_, she was anxious to pay for a proper mention of them out of +her own pocket. The geniality of her disposition shows itself in an +affability which was the same to both great and small, and in her power +to interest herself with the same readiness in the discourse of +philosophers, the conversation of ministers of State, and the gossip of +country ladies on domestic thoughts intent. It also showed itself in a +hospitality which made everyone welcome at Hanover and Herrenhausen, and +a tact which put all at their ease there; at no court in the world, +wrote the Brandenburg statesman Paul von Fuchs, are _les étrangers et +les gastes_ treated better than at the Hanoverian. Though, during her +later years, she lived chiefly in retirement at Herrenhausen, she by no +means secluded herself, but received a large variety of visitors, both +princely, personages and political and literary celebrities. Above all, +it was always a delight to her to see Englishmen at her Court, as indeed +it had been even before the passing of the Act of Settlement; and in +welcoming them she carefully eschewed any and every distinction between +parties—divided as these were in England with a severity unknown at the +time to any other country. Occasionally, when the Elector was away on +his campaigns, she took his place at Hanover in the reception of +distinguished guests.[138] Amiable to all, she reserved the treasures of +her affection for those who were nearest to her—not only for the +survivors of her own passionately loved brood, but for all the younger +members of her family, in which she included the children of her +favourite brother.[139] The Duchess of Orleans comically avows her +annoyance that everyone who has had the privilege of living with her +aunt should be brought to entertain towards her the very sentiments of +love and affection cherished by Elizabeth Charlotte herself. Yet she was +quite impervious to flattery, and, when told by a diplomatist that the +court of Versailles was full of her daughter’s praises, remarked that +these were the usual talk to which an envoy was treated when there was +nothing else to say to him. In her later years, Sophia seems never to +have indulged herself either in outbursts of temper or in moods of +discontent; although she allows that her vexation about the vagaries of +her son Maximilian had proved to her that her philosophy was only skin +deep. + +----- + +Footnote 137: + + In _The Freeholder_, No. 30, April 2nd, 1716, Addison quotes, _à + propos_ of offensive French criticisms of the English and other + nations, a passage from _Chevreana_, the amusing anthology of Urban + Chevreau mentioned on another page, in which the very sensible + proposition that ‘one ought not to judge well or ill of a nation from + a particular person, nor of a particular person from his nation,’ is + illustrated by the assertion that there are Germans, as there are + Frenchmen, who have no wit, and Germans who are better skilled in + Greek or Hebrew than either Scaliger or the Cardinal du Perron—‘there + is not in all France a person of more wit than the present Duchess of + Hanover, nor more thoroughly knowing in philosophy than was the late + Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia.’ ‘Prejudiced’ witnesses are not always + in the wrong. + +Footnote 138: + + It seems right to observe that, though the tone of refinement + characteristic of the Hanoverian Court was largely due to the + Electress Sophia, the Elector George Lewis was by no means insensible + to her example. Toland speaks of the liberty of conversation, ‘that + nobody who deserves it will abuse,’ allowed at the Elector’s table. + And (which is a more entirely trustworthy statement, and one which + Toland would hardly have made had there really been no contrast + observable on this score with contemporary English habits) he adds + that the vice of drinking, for which the German nation is so much + branded, is so far from reigning at the Hanoverian court, that he + never knew greater sobriety than is to be found there. + +Footnote 139: + + I have already touched on her grief at her son Prince Christian’s + death by drowning in 1703; but the passage in which she refers to it + in a letter to the elder Schütz should be read as giving proof not + only of her maternal affection, but of the deep religious feeling at + the bottom of her heart. (See _Briefe an Hannoversche Diplomaten_ + (1905), p. 175.) + +----- + +Those, wrote Elizabeth Charlotte, who thought her aunt incapable of +being of use in affairs of State, could have little knowledge of her +intellectual powers. We have seen, however, that during her husband’s +lifetime she had been allowed little direct interference in state +concerns, though on several occasions Ernest Augustus had benefited both +from listening to her advice and from utilising her personal influence. +Her eldest son was not the kind of man to concede, like a sultan at +Constantinople, a position of acknowledged control over his Government +to his mother, the Electress Dowager. When unable to render to Leibniz a +service solicited by him, she wrote rather bitterly that there were +times when she found silence best. But, apart from the Succession +question, towards which she, of course, occupied a distinct position of +her own, a considerable sphere of political influence remained open to +her in the last period of her life. More especially, she rendered +excellent service by maintaining a good understanding with the court of +Berlin, and by restoring it when the relations between the two courts +had become strained, and her daughter proved unable to manage them. The +influence which had been established over King Frederick I of Prussia by +his ‘_gnädigste Mama_,’ she contrived, though she saw through him, to +exercise even after her daughter’s death. + +But even Sophia’s ‘nimbleness of mind,’ to use another expression of her +favourite niece’s, was not so marked a characteristic of her as was the +reasonableness which proceeded in nearly equal proportions from +intellectual enlightenment and from a beneficent disposition towards +humanity. She was, wrote Leibniz about 1701, ‘entirely on the side of +reason; consequently, all measures calculated to make kings and peoples +follow reason, will meet with her approval.’ A rationalist in the +stricter sense of the term she can hardly be called; though her wholly +unembarrassed way of expressing herself on any subject in heaven or +earth at times resembles a want of reverence.[140] She was irritated by +Toland’s restless tongue; but, while thanking Burnet for putting her on +her guard, indicated that she was too old for Toland to give her another +twist (perhaps this may be a coarse translation of ‘_pli_’) in religion +than that to which she had been long accustomed. For the rest, it was +not, she said, her habit to ‘catechise’ English visitors. Anthony +Collins’ plea for ‘Free-thinking’ struck her as both mischievous and +ridiculously superfluous—‘more especially in England, where there was +such a multitude of factions’; ‘Free thinquers,’ she observed, when +complaining of his insolence in sending her the book, ‘are against all +religions.’ All men, she allowed, might like to think as they choose so +long as their conduct was honourable; but in a well-governed State all +men ought not to be free to publish their opinions. Herein her +conscientiousness as a German Princess no doubt counted for something. +Thus, when she was asked to lend her aid towards inducing the East +Frisian Government to proceed against the spreading eccentricities of +the Pietists, she upheld the rights of authority. ‘Lutheran Princes,’ +she declared, ‘are the Popes of our Church, and must be obeyed.’ For +herself, she had a thoroughgoing dislike of anything ‘enthusiastic,’ and +would not hear of shoemakers (like Jacob Behmen) becoming inspired +prophets instead of sticking to their lasts.[141] More than this: Kuno +Fischer rightly says that ‘to her clear practical intellect the +mysteries of religion remained obscure and alien’; and, when he asserts +that she was at bottom a deist in her opinions, this is in so far true, +that, while she avowed her belief in a personal Creator, she cannot be +shown to have gone further in any declaration of her convictions. In +1709, Leibniz informed Toland that the Electress ‘was accustomed to +quote and give particular praise to that passage of Scripture which +demands whether it be consistent with reason that He that planted the +ear should not hear, and He that formed the eye should not see?’ At the +same time, her latitudinarianism was perfectly candid. She certainly (in +1702) encouraged the notion which had occurred to her son-in-law, the +King of Prussia, of introducing the English Church liturgy into the +Calvinistic services, telling him that he might then call himself +Defender of the Faith. On the other hand, she had no sympathy with the +views of what in one of her letters she calls ‘_Heyschortz_’ men;[142] +she laughed at an English clergyman who refused to set his foot in a +Calvinist ‘temple,’ and she seriously blamed the early attempts of Queen +Anne, as she interpreted them, to force the Presbyterians into +conformity both in Scotland and in England. It was as a declared +adherent of the Reformed or (as in England alone it was called) +Calvinist confession, in which she had been brought up, that, as Toland +notes, she built a ‘pretty church’ in the New Town of Hanover for the +French Huguenot refugees, to which in his day King William III liberally +contributed; and she seems to have at least intended to build a church +for the German members of the same religious body. ‘You must know,’ she +humorously wrote to Leibniz on this occasion, ‘that I am _une dame fort +zêlée_.’ It was probably no mere commonplace of shortsighted criticism +when, in 1700, about which time the idea of seeking to evangelise the +heathen was first taking root in Germany, she pronounced it ‘a fine +enterprise indeed’ to send out missionaries to India. ‘To me it seems,’ +she remarked, ‘that the first thing ought to be to make good Christians +at home in Germany, without going to so great a distance for the purpose +of manufacturing them.’ In a word, she should be credited with genuine +religious feeling; though demonstrativeness, whether on this or on any +other subject, was altogether out of her way. And she hated religious +factiousness, which she thought domesticated in England.[143] + +----- + +Footnote 140: + + Among such passages can hardly be excluded her finding fault with the + Apostles, none of whom had been at the pains of eliciting from Lazarus + his experiences after death. Had anyone brought him to court, her own + natural inquisitiveness would certainly have prompted her to ask him + so obvious a question. + +Footnote 141: + + It has been seen earlier in this volume how she declined to be edified + by the peculiarities of Labadie and Labadism, and how sceptical she + had proved as to some new method of ‘healing’ imported from Holland at + the time of her husband’s final illness. Both she and Leibniz, + however, showed some interest in the vagaries of Rosemunde von Assing, + a young lady whose pretensions caused a good deal of trouble at + Lüneburg, and whom Molanus and the orthodox clergy proposed to clap + into prison. Leibniz thought the case worth attention, though its + phenomena might be ascribed to natural causes. + +Footnote 142: + + ‘They say,’ she writes in 1711, ‘that the Bishops are busily preaching + Passive Obedience, although they had much better hold their tongues + and not interfere in matters of State.’ Thus, notwithstanding her + Stewart blood and her own protestations of impartiality, she had + something of the Whig in her, after all. + +Footnote 143: + + ‘In all countries of the world,’ she wrote in 1703, ‘religion serves + the ends of morality. It is only in England that religion, I am sorry + to say, serves to create cabals.’ + +----- + +We have spoken of the Electress Sophia’s profession of the Reformed +faith—a fact as to which, although it has been called into question, +there cannot really be any doubt. As we saw, she was, according to her +own account, in her childhood taught the Heidelberg Catechism; and, when +she married the Lutheran Ernest Augustus, it was arranged that, though +she was to take no Calvinist minister with her to Hanover, one should +visit the town three or four times in each year, in order to administer +the Sacrament to her. Toland explicitly states (as de Gourville, who in +1687 had a little scheme of his own for bringing over her husband and +his family to Rome, had also stated at an earlier date) that the +Electress was a Calvinist; but he adds, in illustration of the tolerance +prevailing at the Court of Hanover, that ‘most of her women and other +immediate servants were Lutherans, just as her son the Elector, though +himself a Lutheran, had many Calvinists belonging to him; and both their +Highnesses, to show a good example and their unfeigned charity in these +lesser differences, do often go to church together.’[144] Their only +daughter married a Calvinist,[145] and Sophia herself steadily adhered +to the confession in which she was born, though her latitudinarian +tendencies fell in easily enough with the tolerant principles prevailing +in the Lutheran Church of Hanover, and represented by the head of its +ecclesiastical administration, the worthy ‘Abbot’ Molanus.[146] Nor is +there any reason for supposing that, had she been actually summoned to +ascend the English throne, she would, in the matter of religion, have +failed to do what was expected of her. Early in 1713, she wrote to +Leibniz that Molanus had so well explained to her his Lutheran creed, +that there had been some talk of putting his exposition into print for +publication in England. Clearly, it was not any question of this kind +which would have interfered with her accession to the throne. She had +sufficient confidence in herself to shrink from no step approved by both +her reason and her conscience. Moreover, there are indications that she +by no means regarded the Church of her mother and her brother’s native +land with coldness; and, had Leibniz apprehended any objection on her +part, he would hardly have proposed that the English establishment which +he desired for the Electress should include an Anglican chapel. Indeed, +in 1703, she is found expressing a wish that Queen Anne would carry her +ecclesiastical zeal as far as Hanover, and contribute to the English +church there; ‘in which event we would call it the English Church, and +read the Book of Common Prayer in both tongues.’ + +----- + +Footnote 144: + + Perhaps it may be well not to enquire too closely as to their + behaviour when they got there. Sometimes, we are told, the Electress + fell asleep; occasionally, she wrote letters to her brother, taking + care, however, not to disturb her husband when engaged in reading a + play, which he did audibly. + +Footnote 145: + + Owing, however, to the different forms of faith professed by Court and + people in Prussia, the tolerance practised at Berlin was even ampler + than that prevailing at Hanover; and the subsequent marriage-treaty + between the Prussian Crown Prince Frederick William and Sophia + Dorothea the younger, the only daughter of the Elector George Lewis of + Hanover, provided for her being allowed to adhere to the Lutheran form + of faith. + +Footnote 146: + + Gerhard Wolter Molanus, who held the Abbacy of the secularised + Cistercian foundation of Loccum, situate in the forest solitude near + Rehburg and the celebrated Steinhuder Lake, plays a considerable part + in Sophia’s correspondence. He exercised a great influence in the + direction of toleration and irenic ideals, more, however, by his + hierarchical position and personality than by his writings. The motto + of his life, ‘_Beati pacifici_,’ admirably accorded with Cistercian + principles. He lived to an advanced age—so advanced, that his mental + powers at last collapsed, and the good old man is said to have fancied + himself a barley-corn. At the small watering-place of Rehburg, the + Hanoverian Court held a _villeggiatura_—or rather a sojourn under + tents—as early as 1691. + +----- + +The one change, however, to which she would at no time have +consented,—not even, whatever de Gourville may have believed, when her +husband was entertaining some such thought in connexion with his long +effort for the Ninth Electorate[147]—was conversion to the Church of +Rome. In her old age, when Princess Caroline of Ansbach, for whom she +cherished a particular affection, was systematically tempted to qualify +herself by conversion to Rome for the hand of Archduke Charles, +afterwards the Emperor Charles VI, there can be little doubt that the +Princess was encouraged in her resistance by the Electress as well as by +Leibniz. + +----- + +Footnote 147: + + The scheme tempted him, not only as likely to approve itself to the + Emperor and the Catholic Electors, but also as one which would + practically have secured the see of Osnabrück in perpetuity to his + House. It illustrates the popular ignorance in England concerning the + House of Hanover, that, if Toland is to be trusted, a report was + current that this House ‘was so indifferent in point of religion, as + generally to breed up one of their sons a Papist, in order to qualify + him for Bishop of Osnabrug.’ + +----- + +Sophia was no stranger to one of the loftiest among the lofty +conceptions which occupied the great mind of her friend and counsellor, +Leibniz,—that which aimed at the reunion of Christendom. The +correspondence on this topic between Leibniz and Bossuet, which took +place in 1691-5, and after a pause was renewed in 1699, was brought +about through the joint mediation of Sophia and her sister, the Abbess +of Maubuisson. Mixed up in the transaction was Madame de Brinon, who +found a refuge at Maubuisson after the sudden termination of her rule at +Saint-Cyr. This good lady, whose ardent temperament was in glaring +contrast with Bossuet’s imperturbable calm, made repeated attempts to +bring the Electress of Hanover back into the fold, _en attendant_ its +enlargement by means of the Reunion. But Sophia was not at all flattered +by these high-minded efforts. She trusted—so she told Madame de +Brinon—in the goodness of God, who could not have created her in order +that she should be lost; for the rest, she could not reconcile herself +to the persecutions of the Protestants in France.[148] But her aversion +from Roman Catholicism went further than this. Although at times she +spoke of such doctrines of the Church of Rome as the Intercession of +Saints with nothing more than contemptuous indifference, she +occasionally assumed an attitude of open hostility towards a creed +which, as a child, she had been taught to hate. Of all religions, she +told Lord Strafford, there was none that she abhorred so much as the +Popish; for there was none so contrary to Christianity. Other passages +to much the same effect might be cited. For the rest, in an undated +letter to Madame de Brinon, Sophia, with her characteristic humour and +perhaps her characteristic want of external reverence, so clearly +explains her general religious position, that we may conclude our +attempt to indicate it by extracting from this letter the following +passage:— + + The tranquillity of mind which God has granted to me on this topic, I + take to be so great a blessing, that He would not have bestowed it + upon any person whom He had not chosen to be among the number of His + elect. David wished to be only a door-keeper in the house of the Lord; + and I lay claim to no more important charge. Those who are more + enlightened than I am will perhaps fill higher places; for we are told + that in the Father’s house there are many mansions. When you are in + yours and I am in mine, I will not fail to pay you the first call; and + I fancy that we shall agree very well; for there will then no longer + be any question of religious controversies. + +----- + +Footnote 148: + + To these persecutions she repeatedly returns. In 1709, we find her + expressing the opinion that the ‘poor’ French ‘galley-slaves’ should + not be forgotten in the peace negotiations then on foot. + +----- + +Leibniz, whose name has already so often occurred in this chapter and in +this volume, was consulted by the Electress Sophia in other matters +besides religion, philosophy, and science. Both as enjoying her +confidence and on his own account, he was a welcome guest at several +courts, including the Imperial; and to the Houses of Hanover and Celle, +in whose joint employment he stood as historiographer, he rendered +invaluable service, not only in that capacity, but also as a publicist, +on important occasions, demanding a comprehensive as well as effective +treatment of the problems handled by him. But his direct influence upon +the policy of the dynasty seems practically to have been limited to the +question of the English Succession, which, as we have seen, had, up to +the passing of the Act of Settlement, been regarded as more or less +personal to the Electress, and which, after that date, continued to be +largely, though by no means entirely, dealt with in the same way. Thus +his position at the Electoral Court, where there is no sign of his +having been consulted in matters of general politics by either Ernest +Augustus or George Lewis, was perhaps occasionally misunderstood at the +time, and has certainly been misunderstood since. He was never the +Electress’ secretary, or even her quasi-official political adviser; he +was only her trusted personal friend and servant, whose function in such +matters was to suggest rather than to advise, and whose influence upon +the conduct of affairs in which the Electress took an interest +accordingly varied at different times. His exertions as to the English +Succession, before 1701, have been already noticed. After the passing of +the Act of Settlement, the Electress Dowager appointed, as her +confidential agent to England, a diplomatic adventurer of the name of +Falaiseau, who had come over to Hanover in Lord Macclesfield’s suite; +and his reports seem, as a rule, to have passed through the hands of +Leibniz. From 1702 onwards, as will be seen, the conduct of the +relations of the House of Hanover began to fall largely into the hands +of Bothmer; and, in 1705, on the union between Celle and Hanover, +Bernstorff, and with him Robethon, passed out of the service of the late +Duke George William into that of his nephew, the Elector. The more +regular system of diplomatic representation at the Court of St. James of +itself diminished the influence of Leibniz on these relations, more +especially as Sophia never seems to have had much personal liking either +for Bernstorff (perhaps because of his ineradicable ill-will against +Brandenburg-Prussia, perhaps for other reasons) or for Robethon, who +became invaluable to the Elector as his private secretary. The +credentials of the Hanoverian envoys—the Schützes, Bothmer, and +Grote[149]—and residents at the Court of St. James—de Beyrie and +Kreyenberg—were made out in the joint names of the Elector and the +Electress Dowager, and all the official letters sent to England from +this time forward in the name of either were drafted by Robethon. Thus, +notwithstanding the active interest taken by Leibniz in a question the +progress of which had owed much and continued to be indebted to his +assiduity, its threads were no longer continuously in his hands. Whether +this was a misfortune for its ultimate development and solution, need +not be here discussed. From his earlier days onwards he had exhibited +something of the defect habitual to politicians more exclusively +academical than himself, who had a considerable experience of +affairs—the defect of excess, which includes the mistake of not letting +well alone. Not only, however, did the force of his genius enable him to +find out the heart of every political problem to which he addressed +himself, but the universality of his insight made clear to him its +various aspects, and the energy of his mind supplied the impulse which +converts design into action.[150] Finally, his literary skill,[151] +added to his gifts of finding his material and disposing it according to +the leading ideas with which he approached it, made him in the times in +which his lot fell, as it made Gentz, an infinitely inferior +personality, in another period of even deeper national humiliation, the +foremost publicist of his age.[152] + +----- + +Footnote 149: + + Besides these, Count Ernest Augustus von Platen came over on two + ceremonial occasions. (See the _List of Diplomatic Representatives and + Agents, England and North Germany, 1687-1727_, contributed by J. F. + Chance to _Notes on the Diplomatic Relations of England and Germany_; + ed. C. H. Firth. Oxford, 1907.) + +Footnote 150: + + See E. Pfleiderer, _Leibniz als Patriot, Staatsmann, und + Bildungsträger_ (Leipzig, 1870), and, of course, Kuno Fischer’s great + work.—Perhaps the most signal instance of the way in which in the + political thought of Leibniz past and future came into contact (he + says himself: ‘_le présent est chargé du passé et gros de l’avenir_’) + is, as Ernst Curtius says (_Alterthum und Gegenwart_, pp. 219 _sqq._), + his famous Egyptian plan, of which an account was published in a + pamphlet in London, _à propos_ of the French invasion of 1803, and as + to which see Guhrauer’s _Life_, and K. G. Blumenthal, _Leibnizens + Ægyptischer Plan_ (Leipzig, 1869). + +Footnote 151: + + Nothing need be said here of his minor literary efforts, such as his + tributes in verse to the Electress Sophia. + +Footnote 152: + + In 1688, Leibniz prepared the counter-manifesto to Louis XIV’s + declaration of war in that year. + +----- + +That Leibniz, whose political services to the Electress and her dynasty +were, in any case, highly important, should at the same time have become +her chosen intimate and personal friend, forms one of his titles to the +grateful remembrance of those who believe this pair to have been worthy +of one another. From his conversation and correspondence, which, in her +later years, became more and more of a necessity to Sophia, her active +and receptive mind derived constant stimulus and refreshment; while his +humane as well as lofty wisdom, at no time seeking to avoid contact with +the actualities of life, but neither ever conceding to them a larger +claim than was their due, helped to fortify her character against the +risk of being mastered by the element of frivolity inborn in most of her +mother’s children. Leibniz’ own activity at Hanover, from the time when +(as far back as 1673) he had first entered into the service of Duke John +Frederick, was remarkably varied. He held the offices of librarian, +archivist, and historiographer; fostered, among other activities in the +dominions of his patrons, the endeavours of technical science, as in the +instance of the mining industry of the Harz; and organised both +scientific and literary effort, in connexion with his onerous task as +the historian of the Guelfs, with his work as a philologer and with the +studies in mental and moral philosophy, which were, in 1710, crowned by +the production of his _Théodicée_. His influence upon the foundation of +academies as levers for the advancement of scientific research[153] was +by no means limited to Berlin, where success had attended on his labours +in consequence of the sympathetic support of Sophia’s daughter. The +hopes placed by him on the third of the illustrious ladies of the +Hanoverian dynasty who felt themselves honoured by his intimacy, were, +notwithstanding her loyal efforts at the outset, doomed to +disappointment. The Electoral Princess (Caroline of Ansbach) had been +solaced by his _Théodicée_ in a season of great anxiety; but, when the +political consummation to which Leibniz had so actively helped to +prepare had been actually achieved, he had to remain behind in Germany; +and she found herself unequal to the task either of impressing his +claims upon her impassive father-in-law—or of reconciling his merits +with those of Newton. + +----- + +Footnote 153: + + See L. Keller, _Leibniz u. die Deutschen Sozietäten des 17 Jahrh._, in + Jahrgang x. of _Vorträge u. Aufsätze a. d. Comenius-Gesellschaft_ + (Berlin). + +----- + +During the years of Sophia’s widowhood, to which we must here confine +ourselves, Leibniz was drawn nearer to her, not only by intellectual and +moral sympathy, but also by the discomforts to which she was subjected +by the Elector’s coldness, and by that Prince’s habit of expecting all +services to be absolved as per contract. Sophia was unable to secure the +fulfilment of Leibniz’s wish for a sinecure like that by which his +friend, ‘Abbot’ Molanus, was recompensed for his ecclesiastical +services. But her friendship with Leibniz was not dependent upon favours +given or received. Not only was the encouragement which he derived from +his intimacy with her and from that which through her he enjoyed with +Sophia Charlotte and Caroline, of high value to him in the labours and +in the trials of his life; but in the Electress Sophia’s case, at all +events, her nature was in many respects supplementary to his own. Their +correspondence thus furnishes a memorial of a friendship alike sincere +and productive; and their names will always remain inseparable from one +another. + +Sophia Charlotte, though her marriage had long since made it necessary +for her to leave her mother’s side, and though the trials to which she +had since been subjected had greatly added to that mother’s anxieties, +and had often been mitigated by her tact and good-humour rather than by +those of the Queen herself, remained Sophia’s truest joy, till taken +away by death in 1705. Mother and daughter had kept up a continuous +correspondence with one another, besides interchanging visits when +possible; nor could the completeness of the confidence existing between +them be better illustrated than by the treatment which, after Sophia +Charlotte’s death, it was thought judicious to apply to the documents of +their mutual affection. At the instigation of Leibniz, the extant +letters of the Electress Sophia to her daughter were committed to the +flames at Berlin, so that only a small remnant of the series, copied out +by him for his own use, have been preserved. Inasmuch as neither have +any letters from Sophia Charlotte to her mother come down to us, they +may be surmised to have been similarly destroyed by way of precaution. +Possibly, these proceedings may have been in part due to evidence +contained in these letters as to efforts made, in the Hanoverian +interest, at the Court of Berlin by Leibniz or others. The chief trouble +of Sophia Charlotte’s married life—King Frederick I’s infatuation for +the Countess von Wartenberg—had been particularly acute in the period +just preceding the Queen’s death; and her last visit to her mother (in +January, 1705) could only be carried out by her submitting to the +condition that an invitation to Hanover should also be sent to her +detested rival. During this visit Sophia Charlotte died, the victim of a +painful and incurable disease that befell her when her intellectual +abilities were at their full height. Her death, even more impressively +than her life, proved the justice of her grandson Frederick the Great’s +tribute to her strength of soul. The illness of the Queen had been +concealed from her mother, who herself lay ill; and thus, as she wrote, +heart-broken, to her widowed son-in-law, she lost her darling child +without even setting eyes upon her.[154] + +----- + +Footnote 154: + + After Queen Sophia Charlotte’s death there was less love lost than + ever between the King, her husband, and the Elector, her brother. In + 1711, the Electress Sophia, speaking of a melancholy journey of her + son-in-law’s, observes that it was a Divine punishment on him that he + should hate the Elector without any reason whatever. + +----- + +Princess Wilhelmina Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach had, in her +thirteenth year, been left an orphan by the death of her mother, who had +been united to the Elector John George IV of Saxony as her second +husband. In 1696, the child had been placed under the care of her +guardians, afterwards the first King and Queen in Prussia. Thus +Lützenburg became the home of Caroline’s childhood; and here she became +familiar with the intellectual society which Sophia Charlotte loved to +gather around her, and above all with Leibniz. The nature of their +intercourse may be gathered from the letter, sublime in thought, which +he wrote to her on the occasion of Sophia Charlotte’s death. Only a few +months after this event—in September, 1705—Caroline, lovely in person +and richly endowed in intellect, had illustrated the saying of the +Electress Sophia, that ‘nowadays princesses are sacrificial victims.’ +After a proper interval had been allowed to elapse upon the breakdown of +the project of marrying Caroline to Archduke Charles, the Electoral +Prince George Augustus, to whom the thoughts of his grandmother, the +Electress, had been directed already during the attempts made in 1704 to +induce Caroline to change her religion, paid a preliminary visit to +Ansbach. The rumour which had arisen in 1702, that the Electoral Prince +was to find a consort in Sweden and Queen Sophia Charlotte’s +counter-suggestion of the Duchess Marie-Elizabeth of Holstein-Gottorp, +had alike come to nothing. On September 2nd, 1705, the marriage between +the Electoral Prince and Caroline of Ansbach was celebrated at Hanover. +Here Caroline spent the following nine years of her life, beyond a doubt +its happiest period; and, during the remainder of Sophia’s own +existence, she in a large measure filled the place in her affections +which her daughter Sophia Charlotte had so long occupied. The +congeniality of their tastes and dispositions made her a delightful +companion at Herrenhausen to her grandmother-in-law; and thus a kindly +fortune granted to Sophia, who was so singularly capable of enjoying it, +the truest joy of old age. The Electress repeatedly speaks of the +happiness of the marriage; nor can there be any doubt as to the genuine +affection on both sides which constituted that happiness. Early in 1707, +the Electoral Princess gave birth to her eldest son (destined afterwards +to disappoint an indulgent world as Frederick, Prince of Wales), upon +whom, a year later, his great-grandmother is found bestowing an +infantine equipment for a fancy ball; and three daughters were +subsequently born to the young pair, before they accompanied King George +I to England. The prospects of a permanent establishment of the +Hanoverian dynasty upon the British throne were thus signally advanced +by this marriage; and to these prospects and their initial realisation +we must now finally turn. They filled Sophia’s last years with anxieties +and uncertainties; yet, on the whole, life flowed more easily for her in +this final period of her existence; although the joyousness of girlhood, +which she so vividly recalls in her _Memoirs_, was a thing of the past, +together with the experiences—some grotesque, some painful, some +tragic—of her married days. The deep agitations of her life were at an +end; and she might pace the Herrenhausen gardens without caring too +deeply even for the chances of the English Succession. + +Thus we may imagine this spirited and sensible lady, at any time in +these last thirteen years of her long life, exemplifying the old saw of +‘_mens sana in corpore sano_.’ In the main, she enjoyed excellent +health; and Leibniz’ description of the day of her arrival at Lützenburg +is certainly astonishing for a lady of seventy-four. It included, in +accordance with her usual habits, two hours of walking exercise. Erect +and handsome, with her mother’s aquiline nose and abundant hair, she +was, if not a Gloriana as imagined by poets, a princess worthy to mount +a royal throne—or at least one who, if placed there, would of a +certainty not lose the firmness of her footing by reason of such an +elevation. + +After, in 1701, a copy of the Act pledging King and Parliament to the +new limitation of the Succession had been placed in the hands of the +Electress Sophia, thirteen long years of expectancy awaited her, which +might have made a less stout heart grow faint. Or, perhaps, it would be +more correct to say that a nature less happily balanced, and uninured by +experience, both inherited and personal, to the necessity of patience +and resignation, might have fallen into mistake upon mistake, and have +thus courted failure. Sophia, prudently choosing her own path, almost to +the last did nothing to affront the approach of success. To suppose, +however, that either her policy or that of her House was one of masterly +inactivity, would be almost as contrary to fact as the converse +assumption that, either before or after 1701, she was possessed by an +absorbing desire to find herself seated on the English throne. The +former supposition is confuted by the single circumstance that, by way +of furnishing the necessary means in the event of a sudden crisis, a sum +of not less than 300,000 dollars was secretly provided by the Committee +of the Calenberg Estates, and placed in the hands of the Hanoverian +envoy in London—the secret of this expenditure being kept for not less +than seventy years.[155] The other assumption is simply irreconcilable +with the whole tenor of Sophia’s life. + +----- + +Footnote 155: + + In a letter from the Electress to Bothmer (_Briefe an Hannoversche + Diplomaten_, p. 319) she mentions some money of hers in England; but + the passage seems to refer to a private investment. + +----- + +The festivities at Hanover and Celle, on the occasion of the +transmission of the Act of Settlement, were hardly at an end, when King +William III had a meeting at the Loo with his old friend Duke George +William. The Duke was accompanied by his grandson, the Electoral Prince +George Augustus, whom, according to Toland, the King received as a son. +This Prince certainly seems in his youth to have displayed attractive +qualities, which were afterwards driven into the background by his +master quality, self-conceit; curiously enough, though he was a fair +linguist, it had not been thought necessary to make him well acquainted +with the English tongue. At this interview, the account of which shows +how loyally the old Duke of Celle was working for the interests of the +dynasty, King William promised to use his influence in order to obtain +from Parliament an annual revenue for the Electress Sophia, and +mentioned his intention of inviting her and the Electoral Prince to +visit England in the coming spring. On his sounding his next heir, the +Princess Anne, at all events as to the proposal of summoning the +Electress, she is said to have pretended to be still in hopes of an +heir. The Electress on her side seems to have trusted in the fulfilment +of the King’s promise, not only during the remainder of his reign, but +for a few months afterwards. + +But no time was left to the King for carrying out his design. On +September 6th, 1701, nine days after the conclusion of the Grand +Alliance to which William III had set the seal on his visit to Holland, +James II died; and, by recognising his son as King of England, Louis XIV +once again, and more completely by his own act than ever, identified +himself with the Stewart cause. His grandson, King Philip of Spain, +followed his example; and Pope Clement XI publicly extolled the action +of Louis XIV, as entitling him to the gratitude of posterity. In the +final form of the instrument of the Grand Alliance—which William III was +not to live to see actually concluded—a clause was inserted binding the +contracting Powers not to conclude peace with France, until the King of +England should have received satisfaction for the grave insult involved +in the recognition of the ‘pretended Prince of Wales’ as King. In other +words, the War of the Spanish Succession had become a War of the English +Succession also; and, to whatever extent this fact might be overlooked +during the course of the conflict, it was certain to become prominent +again so soon as a settlement began to be seriously discussed. Inasmuch +as the first public suggestion of such a clause had been made by a +prominent Tory politician (Edward Seymour), it can hardly have been +inspired from Hanover, though in a letter to the Electress, written as +early as 1701, Leibniz had stated such a stipulation to be desirable. + +In England, the recognition of the Pretender by Louis XIV had an +immediate consequence in the Attainder and Abjuration Acts, passed in +January, 1702, by William III’s sixth Parliament. The Act of Attainder +had been criticised beforehand by the Electress Sophia, who, in October, +1701, told Leibniz that there was an intention of declaring the poor +Prince of Wales a rebel, such as Monmouth had been declared to be before +him, ‘though his personal merit deserved a better fate.’ Why should she +have refused this modicum of sympathy to her kinsman, who, not more +unfortunate in his fate than he was in his infatuation, was about this +very time rejoicing that Pope Clement would manifestly ‘leave no stone +unturned to show how much he favours us’? The Abjuration Act, which led +to long and warm debates in both Houses, provided both for abjuring the +‘pretended Prince of Wales,’ and for swearing fidelity to the ‘rightful +and lawful King’ and ‘his heirs according to the Act of Settlement.’ A +motion in the Commons, carried by a single vote, made these engagements +obligatory; the opposition in the Lords ended in nothing but a protest, +the list of whose signatories, including the names of Craven and +Jeffreys, as it were mirrors the story of the downfall of the Stewart +monarchy in England. + +On March 8th, 1702, King William III died, after a fortnight’s illness +following on his fall from his horse. To Portland, the faithful friend +for whom the King had asked, without being able to speak to him +intelligibly, shortly before his death, the Electress Sophia, when the +first shock of the blow had passed over, wrote in unaffected sorrow— + + I assure you, Sir, that I have received with much pleasure the proof + of your kind remembrance of me, and that, in the midst of the sad + change which has come upon us, I called to mind that you would weep + with us for the loss which the whole of Christendom has undergone. But + when one does not die oneself, one has to see many others pass away; + and I cannot think that I shall live to see yet another calamity for + England of the same kind; for Queen Anne is much younger than I am, + who have entered my seventy-second year. Nevertheless, I feel much + happier than a Queen; for, God be thanked, I am still in very good + health, and have joined my daughter here, in order to enjoy myself + with her here in her country-seat.[156] + +By the death, on March 8th, 1702, of King William III and the accession +of Queen Anne, the prospect which the Act of Settlement seemed to have +once for all thrown open to the House of Hanover was again clouded over. +Queen Anne, indeed, at once sent an assurance to the Electress through +the Hanoverian resident, the elder Schütz, that her sentiments towards +the House of Hanover were the same as those of her predecessor,[157] and +a few days afterwards repeated the message in writing. An Order in +Council directed the Archbishop of Canterbury to insert the name of the +Princess Sophia in the Book of Common Prayer; and, as was usual in such +cases, this Order was in due course sent on to Dublin.[158] It has been +observed, nor is there great exception to be taken to the remark, that +beyond the issue of this Order nothing was done by Queen Anne in the +whole of the earlier period of her reign on behalf of the Hanoverian +Succession. In other words, the proposals discussed at the Loo, which +were to have resulted in the payment of an annuity to the Electress, and +to her or the Electoral Prince residing in England, were not carried +further. Interchanges of civility, however, took place; and the Earl of +Winchelsea arrived at Hanover, in order to return the congratulations +brought thence by Count Platen on the occasion of Queen Anne’s +accession. But, though the special mission was flattering, Sophia’s +wish, that the ambassador might bring with him some money which she +might apply to the necessities of her sons Christian and Maximilian, +remained unfulfilled. For the rest, she told the Raugravine Louisa that, +for all the compliments which had passed, ‘time would show’ whether she +was still wanted in England; and she continued to bear herself calmly, +avoiding the appearance of excessive zeal that some of her partisans +could not deny themselves. She had thought it a piece of impertinence, +when, after his return to England, Toland had, early in this year, +followed up his _Anglia Libera_ by another publication provocatively +entitled _Reasons for addressing His Majesty to invite into England +their Highnesses the Electress Dowager and the Electoral Prince of +Hanover_; which, soon after Queen Anne’s accession, was duly censured by +the House of Lords. The Electress had reasons for disliking a +championship which under King William would have been superfluous and +was now inopportune. She could not consider Toland so ‘_infâme_’ as +Cresset painted him; and she took care that in her presence he should +not say a disrespectful word about Queen Anne. But, when, in 1702, +Toland found it convenient again to quit England for Germany, he left +the court of Hanover unvisited; nor does he seem to have reappeared +there till 1707. + +----- + +Footnote 156: + + This letter is translated from one of the unpublished letters to the + Earl of Portland mentioned in the Preface. + +Footnote 157: + + She also renewed the assent given by William III to the measures of + force adopted at this time by the Elector of Hanover and the Duke of + Celle against the Dukes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. + +Footnote 158: + + In September, Sophia writes that Lord Stamford has been good enough to + transmit to her a dozen copies of the Prayer-book, with her name + inserted in it; but that there are not a dozen persons in Hanover able + to join her in using them. + +----- + +The Elector’s instincts as to the doubtfulness of Queen Anne’s real +sentiments on the subject of the Hanoverian Succession were justified by +what ensued. The hope of an immediate grant to the Heiress Presumptive +out of the ample Civil List good Queen Anne frustrated by the highly +popular step of making over to the Exchequer £100,000 towards lightening +the burdens of the nation. The claims upon the national resources were +many and urgent; and Parliament could perhaps hardly be expected to +consider how much a subvention was needed by the Electress, more +especially in view of the presents which, in accordance with the usage +of the times, she as well as the Elector had to make to a succession of +English special ambassadors. There can, however, be no doubt but that, +already in this early part of Queen Anne’s reign, and even before the +Toryism of her first Parliament had encouraged in her the tendency which +her choice of ministers had implied, deliberate attempts had been made +to influence unfavourably her attitude towards the Succession of the +House of Hanover. Moreover, her nature was so peculiarly prone to strong +personal attachments, and her gift of insight into the motives of men +was so unmistakably accompanied by an absence of all real power of +political judgment, that she could hardly but be dominated by a strong +prepossession against the line so likely to succeed her on the throne of +her ancestors. Yet, hitherto, neither the Electress Sophia nor any of +the members of her House—and least of all her impassive eldest son, who +at one time had been supposed to have a chance of the hand of the +Princess Anne—had been on unfriendly terms with the new Queen; nor is +there any reason for supposing her to have imparted to any of them a +share in the wild scheme rumoured to have been set on foot for ousting +her from the Succession. When, however, in May, 1702, the Whig Earl of +Carlisle, the First Lord of the Treasury, carried in the House of Lords +his demand for an enquiry into the scandalous rumour which asserted that +King William had intended by a kind of posthumous _coup d’état_ to raise +the Electoral Prince to the throne, Queen Anne showed no desire for the +vindication of her predecessor’s good faith towards herself, and +pointedly dismissed Carlisle from office. Nor is it probable that, at +this early stage, the Queen was much intent upon the interests of her +half-brother, the Pretender. The favourite advisers by whom she was +swayed—Marlborough and Godolphin—could have no wish to hurry her +intervention on behalf of either of the two sides, with both of which +they desired to stand well; and the Tory majority in the Commons, +typified by the Speaker, Harley, were certainly not prepared to unsettle +the Act of Settlement. The Act for the further Security of the +Protestant Succession passed in December, 1702, which declared it high +treason to seek to defeat the Succession to the Crown as now limited by +law, or to set aside the next Succession, followed the precedent of a +similar Act passed in the previous reign, and accordingly encountered no +resistance. Thus Queen Anne was slow to take up any definite attitude +towards the political problem which overshadowed the whole course of her +reign; and she was consequently all the more unwilling, and remained so +from first to last, to listen to any suggestion of carrying out William +III’s promise and inviting the Electress Dowager and the Electoral +Prince, or either of them, to England. The probability of this plan +being brought forward, either as a practical proposal or by way of +testing the sincerity of her own views on the subject, acted as a +perennial irritant upon the Queen. Neither she nor her advisers are to +be blamed for leaving without response the suggestion, pardonably enough +made by Sophia, that the un-English title of ‘Hereditary Princess’ +should be conferred upon her. Other signs were noticeable of the +uncertainty prevailing at the Court of St. James. At Hanover and +Herrenhausen, Cresset watched the Electress with a suspiciousness that +could not escape her attention, though she commented on it with her +usual _insouciance_; and Stepney even left off corresponding with her +and her intimates, in order not to give offence nearer home. In +conversing with the Englishmen and Scotchmen who attended the Court of +Hanover, anxious to promote its fortunes or their own, the Electress +naturally sought to emphasise her confidence in her august relative, the +Queen. But in her intimate correspondence she was fain to strike a +different key. She told the Raugravine Amalia that Queen Anne had no +desire to be survived by her, although (quoting a Dutch proverb which +she has made classical) she allowed that ‘_creaking wagons go on for a +long time_,’ and suggested that the Queen’s real preference was for her +brother.[159] Matters continued very much in this stagnant and +unsatisfactory condition during the first three years (or thereabouts) +of Queen Anne’s reign. In March, 1694, Sophia writes with some +bitterness, that Queen Anne ‘seems to have more friendship for the King +of Prussia than for us, inasmuch as she speaks of the’ [Prussian] ‘and +says nothing of the Brunswick troops, without whom the battle’ [of +Blenheim] ‘could not have been won. This is a sample showing what is to +be expected in that quarter.’ And she adds that the statement in the +_Gazette_ of the great presents sent by the Queen to Hanover is untrue, +whoever caused it to be inserted. + +----- + +Footnote 159: + + This, too, was the impression of Queen Sophia Charlotte at Berlin. + (See her letter to Bothmer, May 27th, 1702, in _Briefe an Hannoversche + Diplomaten_, p. 10.) + +----- + +It may, at this point, be noted that the violence of public feeling +which about this time disturbed Scotland had very seriously endangered +the prospects of the Succession of the House of Hanover in that kingdom. +Here, it was universally believed that Queen Anne cherished the secret +wish of securing the Succession to her brother; and no declarations to +the contrary exercised the slightest effect upon the stubbornness of +preconceived Scottish opinion. At the same time, a strong belief that +she meditated a Prelatic as well as a Jacobite reaction, led to the +anti-Episcopalian legislation of the last Scottish Parliament, which met +in 1703.[160] The Act of Security brought forward in this Parliament +provided that the Estates of the Realm should meet within twelve days +after the present Queen’s death, and should proceed to name a successor +professing the Protestant religion. A proposal to insert the name of the +Electress Sophia was rejected; but the ministers, besides frustrating an +attempt at inserting a series of limitations calculated to take away the +last vestige of authority from the Crown, also defeated a proposal to +limit the Protestantism of the successor to ‘the true Protestant +religion as by law established within this kingdom,’ which would have +excluded the Lutheranism of the House of Hanover. On the other hand, the +Government could not resist a clause, proposed by the Earl of Roxburghe, +precluding Parliament from naming, as successor to the Crown of +Scotland, the person who was successor to the Crown of England, unless +conditions should have been previously settled securing the interests of +Scotland against English or foreign interference. The Act of Security, +with this clause inserted in it, passed by large majorities; but the +Duke of Queensberry refused to give to it the royal assent. In 1704, +however, the national and religious agitation remaining unalloyed, the +Marquis of Tweeddale touched the Act with the royal sceptre: and a +condition of things was thus legalised which might at any time put an +end to the personal union of the two countries, or actually provoke war +between them. But time often provides its own remedy; and, in January, +1707, the Act of Union became law, whose Second Article, limiting the +Succession to Sophia and her heirs, had met with only a feeble +opposition upholding the provisions of the Act of Security. When the +Union was on the eve of actual accomplishment, the Electress Sophia +expressed herself as well satisfied, adding that, though she had never +supposed the Scottish lords against her, she thought it quite natural +that conditions should be imposed—another illustration of the way in +which she looked upon constitutional questions. In Ireland, the +Succession had already in the previous year been regulated by a measure +modelled upon the English Act of Settlement, but subjecting all +officials and magistrates to a rigid Church of England test. + +----- + +Footnote 160: + + In June, 1702, Sophia had written that Scottish affairs seemed in a + troublesome state, but that she could hardly doubt that the Queen + would be prudent enough to leave the Scotch their _extempore_ prayers + ... and that there would be no attempt to impose upon them bishops and + ‘common prayer,’ by which means Charles I had spoilt everything.—For + an elucidation of the religious condition of Scotland as affecting the + question of the Hanoverian Succession, see Mr. Rait’s paper in + Appendix C. + +----- + +Even in this early period of Queen Anne’s reign, the Electress Sophia, +though, according to her wont, she abstained from all restless +manœuvring, was by no means without thought for the future. On June 4th, +1703, she signed three powers for Schütz, the envoy extraordinary in +London, authorising him, in the event of the Queen’s death, to bring +forward her lawful claim to the throne; and she kept up a correspondence +with friends in England, both directly and through Leibniz. In November, +1703, she put it to Schütz that, if Marlborough resigned the command in +the Low Countries, it would be right to appoint the Elector in his +place; ‘for if it is wished that the Elector should have a good opinion +of the English, they ought to do something towards making him entertain +such an opinion and enabling him in any court to support those who were +in his favour.’ As for Leibniz, though indefatigable and full of +initiative as ever, he naturally enough occasionally fell short of the +necessary familiarity with English persons and affairs. Thus, about this +very time, the Electress had to comment on his approval of a scheme for +marrying the Electoral Prince to one of Marlborough’s daughters, by +reminding him that the Duke had no more daughters in the matrimonial +market. Marlborough, however, gained the goodwill of the Elector, above +all by commending the behaviour of the Hanoverian troops at Blenheim; +and, on a visit to Hanover in December, 1704, while the laurels of his +great victory were still green, he completely won over the Electress by +the fascination of his manner. She declared that she had never seen +anyone ‘_plus aisé, plus civil, ny plus obligeant_,’ and that he was as +good a cavalier as he was a captain. The extraordinary civility shown to +him on this occasion, when a special household was provided for him and +other courtesies were multiplied,[161] was not thrown away. His +correspondence with the Electoral court—and with the Elector in +particular, whose admiration for the military genius of the great +commander was genuine—now became continuous. + +----- + +Footnote 161: + + The Duke, we learn _inter alia_, played a game at cards with the + Electress and ‘Madame Bellmont.’ This Lady Bellmont or Bellamont, whom + Leibniz in vain begged the Electress not to admit into her intimacy, + was no other than Frances Bard, who claimed to be the widow of Prince + Rupert, and whose relations with him had certainly been of the most + intimate kind. She justified Leibniz by misusing her position at + Hanover to engage in Jacobite intrigue, thereby giving much trouble to + Cresset and to Edmund Poley, who succeeded him as envoy extraordinary + in 1703; and it is just conceivable that she may have in some measure + influenced the Electress in favour of the Pretender and his cause. She + died in 1708. + +----- + +The year 1705 marked an epoch in the history of the Succession question, +as we saw that it did in the personal life of the Electress Sophia, who, +during its course, lost not only her beloved daughter, but also her old +admirer and constant friend, Duke George William of Celle. All the +dominions of the Brunswick-Lüneburg line were now at last united under +the single rule of the Elector George Lewis, and into his coffers flowed +most of the great private wealth of his late uncle and father-in-law, +which had materially contributed to the high consideration enjoyed by +George William. About the same time the long-standing quarrel with the +elder (Wolfenbüttel) branch of the House of Brunswick was brought to a +close, and the House of Hanover stood stronger than ever before the +world. No season could have been more opportune for taking up the +question of the Succession with renewed earnestness. Its vigorous +prosecution was further favoured by the circumstance that the late Duke +of Celle’s prime minister, Baron Andreas Gottlieb von Bernstorff, now +passed into the Hanoverian service, and, on the death of Count Platen in +1709, became prime minister at Hanover. He was already a statesman of +proved ability, trained in the school of his father-in-law, Chancellor +Schütz, whom he describes as one of the greatest and most capable +ministers ever known to him. While he always kept his political ends +clearly in view, Bernstorff’s political action was marked by +ruthlessness that is apt to make a statesman of his type cordially hated +where he is not eagerly followed; and his bitter jealousy of +Brandenburg-Prussia in particular was unlikely to commend him to the +goodwill of the Electress Sophia. Her faithful echo at Versailles allows +us to make a guess as to the sentiments of the Electress concerning him; +and they were afterwards reproduced by Queen Caroline, who, like +Elizabeth Charlotte, was unwilling to differ in her opinion of men or +measures from their venerated senior. Bernstorff’s activity in the last +stage of Sophia Dorothea’s catastrophe proves that he had not been +captivated by the influence which had so long been dominant at Celle; +and the Duchess Eleonora doubtless held the same opinion of him as the +other ladies. He devoted himself with indefatigable zeal to advancing +the greatness of the Hanoverian dynasty; but he laboured in no narrow +spirit and with no petty aims, as an adequate survey of his +statesmanship in the earlier years of George I, should it ever be made, +could not fail to show. With Bernstorff (to mention no other name) Jean +de Robethon had passed from the service of Celle into that of Hanover—a +perfect type of the sort of man and the sort of mind whose destiny it is +to be _a secretis_ of those whose grasp is on the wheel of State. After +the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes had driven him, like so many other +capable Frenchmen, into the service of the foes of France, he had served +his apprenticeship under no less a master than William III. During Queen +Anne’s reign he became one of the most assiduous and useful instruments +in the transactions connected with the Succession. For a time, he in +Bothmer’s absence attended to affairs at the Hague; but he then returned +to Hanover, where as confidential secretary he was of infinite service +to both the Elector and the Electress, and played a political part not +the less important because it was to a great extent played behind the +scenes. Bernstorff trusted no man more implicitly than Robethon, who, in +the end, was said to have acquired an unbounded influence over him; and +by Robethon were drafted all, or virtually all, the despatches and +letters sent to England by the Electoral family from the date of his +entrance into their service to that of George I’s landing in England. +All the more important of these documents likewise passed through the +hands of Hans Caspar von Bothmer, whose services to the dynasty had +likewise begun at Celle; whence he had been sent as envoy to Vienna, +passing on, after he had acted as a plenipotentiary at Ryswick, to +Paris. Unlike Bernstorff, and unlike Bernstorff’s master, Bothmer united +political insight of a high order with remarkable diplomatic ability and +tact; and, after he had, when the crisis came, shown perfect prudence in +the supreme moment of success, he was perhaps the only one of the +Hanoverians of the early Georgian period who attained to personal +popularity in London. But this was later. On the accession of Queen +Anne, it had been thought desirable that he should in the first instance +take up a post of observation at the Hague, since the Queen was at +present unlikely to welcome so prominent a Hanoverian diplomatist to her +Court. Thus it was from the Hague that he actively helped to bring about +the English legislative enactments, which we shall immediately notice, +and which signally improved the prospects of the Hanoverian Succession. +We shall see that, though his first and second stay as envoy in London +were but short,[162] he returned thither in time to direct the final +stage in the transactions connected with the Succession, and to apply to +this task a consummate skill and an equally conspicuous courage. + +----- + +Footnote 162: + + He was accredited to London after the death of Schütz in August, 1710, + and remained certainly till March, 1711. He reappeared there in + October, and remained till January, 1711. He came back in June or + July, 1714. (Chance, _u.s._) + +----- + +The ministerial arrangements made after the death of his uncle by the +Elector George Lewis, who was at no time wont to delegate to others any +part of what he had clearly recognised as his own bounden duty, might +seem to imply that, from 1705 onwards, the conduct of the Succession +question was more and more taken out of the hands of his mother. It is +true that the Elector had, as the head of his dynasty, become more +vigilant; but her interest in the question had remained the same. And, +as a matter of fact, at no previous time had her name been bandied about +between the political parties in England as it was now and during the +remaining years of her life. To the close of the year 1705 belongs that +strange episode in the party history of the reign, the attempt on the +part of a section among the Tories to bring the Electress over to +England. + +Hitherto, she had wisely refrained—nor is there any indication that her +eldest son and her grandson had done otherwise—from identifying the +interests of her House with either of the two Parliamentary parties, +both of which had had a part in the Act of Settlement. No doubt it was +the Whigs who had most warmly supported the insertion of her name in +that Act; the embassy which had brought it over to Hanover had been +exclusively made up of Whigs; and, writing to Leibniz towards the close +of 1701, Sophia, apparently with reference to the approaching English +elections, excusably lets slip the phrase: ‘_le parti des Whigs qui est +le nostre_.’ But, already in the following year, when annoyed by the +officious importunities of Toland and that other _grand fâcheux_, Sir +Peter Fraiser, she confided to her niece Elizabeth Charlotte her +resolution not to mix herself up with the manœuvres of the Presbyterians +and Whigs, which, as we have seen, were at that time agitating Scotland. +‘Besides,’ she observed, with a fastidiousness not inexplicable when the +composition of Macclesfield’s embassy is remembered, ‘the Whigs that +came to me here I found anything but charming.’ And, again in 1703, she +ordered Baron Brauns not to answer one of Toland’s long diatribes +against the Tories by more than a simple acknowledgment. There was no +fear, she remarked, of their supporting the Pretender; no person of +substance, in fact nobody but Catholics and adventurers set on making +their fortunes, were on his side; for the rest, she found as many honest +men among the Tories as elsewhere. She had, as a matter of fact, certain +affinities with this party; while some of their opponents in the House +of Commons offended her, as a true Stewart who remembered the excesses +of the Commonwealth days, by comparing the Prince of Wales to Perkin +Warbeck and branding him as a bastard—all in order to tickle the ears of +_le petit peuple_. There could be no question, she told Leibniz in the +same letter, as to the Prince’s claims interfering with her own; her +right was based on her Protestantism; except for this, many others stood +between the Crown and herself. While, then, she adhered to her +determination to place herself in the hands of neither party, there was +no reason why the Tories should not in their turn seek to make her +listen to their charming. When, about the end of 1704, it had become +known through Marlborough that the Electress would be pleased to receive +a formal invitation to England, both parties seem to have risen to the +occasion; but, while the Whigs returned to the notion of bringing over +the Electoral Prince, some of the Tories became intent on the Electress +herself being invited. Partly to ingratiate themselves with her, partly +to spite Queen Anne, who preferred to their guidance that of the +moderates of both sides under the leadership of Marlborough, Godolphin, +and Harley, the malcontent Tories, led by Rochester and known as the +‘High-fliers,’ resolved on an attempt to take the game into their own +hands. With Rochester she had been on friendly terms from the first; in +June, 1702, she writes that he was among the first to vote for the Act +of Settlement, and that she had always mentioned this to those who +wished to set her against him.[163] Towards the end of September, 1705, +a correspondent informed Rochester of the cordial response returned by +the Electress to certain overtures made on his behalf; he declared +himself convinced that, whenever the Queen and Parliament called upon +her, the Electress would, in the face of all difficulties, wait upon Her +Majesty in England; and, more than this, she had told him, and those in +attendance on her, that, so soon as the Parliament summoned her, she was +ready to obey. (In a letter to Schütz of about the same date, Sophia, +however, qualifies this consent by requiring a proviso that she should +be supplied with means of living in England as became a Princess of +Wales.) Though, Rochester’s correspondent added, the Elector was +exceeding modest on the subject of some of his family coming to England, +the Electress spoke as the Elector thought. Sophia was on friendly terms +with other members of the Tory party besides Rochester. With Ormonde, +for instance, she kept up a correspondence both in this and in the +following year. But the task of moving an address to the Crown, in which +it was proposed that the Heiress Presumptive should be invited to +England, was committed to a quite recent convert to the ranks of the +High-flyers, Lord Haversham. He displayed a proper zeal by hazarding the +suggestion that it would be of the greatest advantage for the Electress +to make the personal acquaintance of the Bench of Bishops. The comedy +ended in the rejection of Haversham’s motion by a majority of Peers; but +he returned to the fray in a pamphlet. In the Commons a letter +advocating the proposal, hinting that it was approved by the Electress +and censuring the Whigs for opposing it, was voted libellous. This +much-vext letter was signed by Sir Rowland Gwynne, who was at the time +residing at Hanover; but its real author was Leibniz. Towards the close +of 1705, Marlborough made use of the opportunity of another visit paid +by him to Hanover for explaining the situation to the Elector. +Marlborough, who, while anxious both to please the Queen and to keep the +game so far as possible in his own hands, was more and more identifying +his own interests with the ascendancy of the Whigs, easily succeeded in +making clear to the Elector, how it was not in his interest that his +mother should at present proceed to England; and he was able to add +effect to his arguments by exhibiting an official notice of the +intention of the English Cabinet to introduce Naturalisation and Regency +Bills in the interests of the Electoral House. The understanding between +the Elector and Marlborough now became better than ever, while the +Elector’s confidence in the Whigs steadily grew. It is impossible to say +whether this was the time when Marlborough proffered at Hanover a loan +of £20,000 in return for a blank commission signed by the Electress +Sophia, which conferred on him the supreme command of the military and +naval forces of the three kingdoms after the death of Queen Anne. + +----- + +Footnote 163: + + On Rochester’s sudden death, in 1711, Sophia expresses her deep regret + for him as her friend—‘he had plenty of _esprit_, and was in no way a + republican.’ + +----- + +The High-fliers had thus merely played into the hands of the Whigs, who +were in the majority in the new House of Commons that met in October, +1705. The Address to the Queen had warmly thanked her for her great care +and endeavour to settle the Succession of the kingdom of Scotland in the +House of Hanover; and soon afterwards the Bills were brought in which +Marlborough had announced at Hanover. By the first of these, the +Princess Sophia, Electress and Duchess Dowager of Hanover, and her issue +were naturalised as English subjects; and it is strange that the legal +status thus secured to her should have been so persistently ignored in +English national biography.[164] The second of these Bills, purporting +to provide for the better security of the Queen’s person and Government, +was introduced in the Lords with much eloquence by the ever-young Lord +Wharton. This Bill made it high treason to assert in writing, and +attached the penalties of a _præmunire_ to the assertion by word of +mouth, that the Queen was not a lawful Sovereign, or that the Sovereign +in Parliament could not limit the descent of the Crown; and it further +appointed seven great officers of State, and certain other persons, to +administer the government of the realm in the event of the Queen’s +demise and the absence from England of her lawful successor. The Bill +met with no opposition in the Lords, though Rochester contrived to carry +a limitation, supposed to safeguard the Act of Uniformity; but in the +House of Commons it lay long on the table. The High-fliers, putting +forward as their spokesman Sir Thomas Hanmer (who up to the last +professed the deepest devotion to the interests of the Electress +Sophia), were once more attempting to take the game out of the hands of +the Whigs by proposing that the Electress should be brought over. Much +use was made, as appears from a passage in Burnet’s inaccurate +narrative, of a letter written in November by the Electress Sophia to +the Archbishop of Canterbury, in which she had reiterated the position +consistently maintained by her, that she was prepared to come to +England, should both the Queen and Parliament desire it. This position +was alike logical and appropriate; but the letter did not suit the +Whigs, who were well aware that Queen Anne would never be brought to +express such a desire. On the rejection of Hanmer’s motion the Electress +informed Burnet with much dignity that, should it prove to be in the +interests of State and religion, she remained ready to cross to England +if invited, provided she were created Princess of Wales. But, at the +same time, she expressed to Marlborough her conviction that her +intentions had been so misrepresented to the Queen that her coming to +England now would be superfluous. There is no reason for accepting +Burnet’s statement that her letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury had +been instigated by the Tories; but neither did she show any disposition +towards encouraging the Whigs. In truth, though Sophia was not destined +to mount a royal throne, and though what might be termed her monarchical +apprenticeship had been served in a State that had but recently ceased +to be petty and whose system of government was to all intents and +purposes absolute, she displayed a higher capacity for constitutional +rule than Queen Anne, who could only maintain a balance between factions +by subjecting herself to their leaders in turn. It cannot be +satisfactorily shown that the Electress definitely preferred the Tories, +while the Elector favoured the Whigs. In fact, she remained on good +terms with both the leading parties; although she did not turn a deaf +ear even to overtures from so unsafe a politician as Buckingham, who, +after taking a leading part in the attempt to bring her over to England, +tried to engage her in a fresh intrigue to that end.[165] The Regency +Bill, as it was shortly called, in the end became law; and Parliament, +which had further shown its goodwill to the House of Hanover by voting a +modest subsidy for the payment of additional Hanoverian and Celle +troops, was prorogued in March, 1706. + +----- + +Footnote 164: + + She told Schütz (January 1st, 1706) that she thought the + naturalisation unnecessary, as it had been held to be in the case of + King William III and in those of her late brothers, but that she was + quite prepared to act as the Queen and Parliament wished. She would + have preferred the name ‘Brunswick-Lüneburg’ to be substituted for + ‘Hanover,’ and the style ‘_Sérénissime_’ in lieu of ‘Excellent.’ The + former of these criticisms, at all events, was perfectly just. + +Footnote 165: + + I have modified some expressions in my first edition, after comparing + the account of F. Salomon, _Die letzten Regierungsjahre der Königin + Anna_, pp. 276-7; but I cannot come to the conclusion that the + attitude of the Electress as between the parties was even at this time + incorrect. + +----- + +In the following May, Lord Halifax, who as Charles Montagu had been a +leading Whig statesman already under William III and had quite recently +been appointed one of the Commissioners for the Union with Scotland, was +chosen, no doubt on account of his position and accomplishments rather +than because of any personal attractiveness, to proceed to Hanover, +there to present the Naturalisation and Regency Acts to the Electress +Sophia, now the first subject of the English Crown.[166] Halifax was +also the bearer of a Garter for the Electoral Prince, on whom a few +weeks later the Queen conferred the title of Duke of Cambridge. On his +way Halifax had secured the inclusion of a guarantee of the established +Succession in future treaties with the United Provinces. In his suite +was Addison, now one of the Under-Secretaries of State; but the +reticence of this celebrated personage seems to have disappointed the +Electress. + +----- + +Footnote 166: + + This visit synchronised very nearly with the coming of age of the + Pretender (June), who seized the opportunity to assure Pope Clement XI + that ‘no temptation of this world, and no desire to reign, should ever + make him wander from the right path of the Catholic faith.’ The + anecdote must go for what it is worth, which was said to have been + related by Halifax to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and her husband: how, + at his first formal audience with the Electress, she ran across the + room in order to place herself in front of a portrait of the + Pretender, and thus screen it from the ambassador’s eyes. + +----- + +From a later remark of Leibniz we gather that, on the occasion of +Halifax’s embassy, the Electress made no secret of the view held by her +and the Elector with reference to the Succession. It rested, she +considered, on hereditary right; though, in the interests of the nation, +certain persons possessed of claims prior to her own had been excluded. +In other words, she acknowledged that Parliament had a right to exclude +Catholics from the Succession, but declined to regard her title to the +Crown as primarily a Parliamentary one. As a matter of fact, neither the +Electress nor the Elector was much edified by the embassy of Halifax. He +submitted to her a list of twenty-one persons, whom according to the +Regency Act she was called upon to appoint as Lords Justices, in +addition to the great officers of the Crown, for carrying on the +government after Queen Anne’s death in the event of her own absence from +England. Of these twenty-one names, as it afterwards appeared, she +struck out seven, one of which was that of Halifax himself.[167] As to +the titles conferred upon the Electoral Prince (which, Sophia said, were +so many that she had to write them down in her almanack lest she should +forget them), the grant of an annual income to herself as Heiress +Presumptive would have been more to the point; inasmuch as the titles +were given to enable the Prince to take his seat in Parliament, from +which Hanover was a long way off. + +----- + +Footnote 167: + + It was said that, when, after the death of Sophia, it fell to the + Elector, her son, to substitute his nominations of additional Lords + Justices for hers, and the original document was accordingly produced + in London, the cover enclosing it was found to have been broken open. + It was further reported that, after much wrangling with her ministers, + Queen Anne cut the discussion short by taking upon herself the blame + of having opened the cover. + +----- + +The elements of satisfaction contained in the Acts brought to Hanover by +Halifax were not over-estimated by the Electress, to whom it must by +this time have become clear that the real difficulty in placing the +House of Hanover in its proper position towards the country with which +it was to be inseparably connected, lay with Queen Anne herself. More +especially after the publication of Sir Rowland Gwynne’s unfortunate +letter, the Queen thought that explanations were due to her from the +Electress, who in truth had none to give. Marlborough had been wise +enough to abstain from delivering at Hanover a letter written by the +Queen in this sense and entrusted by her to him, and, instead, had held +conciliatory language, advising both Electress and Elector to declare +themselves absolute strangers to the obnoxious manifesto. The advice was +judicious; for, as Marlborough had predicted, the original proposal did +not die out. In 1707, one Scott, an Englishman or Scotchman in the +service of the Elector, entered, according to Marlborough with the +cognisance of the Electress, into a negotiation with the High-fliers; +but he was stopped by the Elector himself. In July of the same year, the +Earl of Peterborough, when returning to England from Spain to give an +account of his proceedings there, spent some days at Hanover and +Herrenhausen, where he addressed a letter to the Elector and another to +the Electress, in which he insisted on the necessity of the residence of +a member of the Electoral House in England. Sophia handed the letter +intended for herself to her son, who, in the plainest terms, expressed +his determination to take no steps in this direction, unless with the +approval of the Queen and her ministers. Meanwhile, though perfectly +prudent in her own conduct, the Electress could not altogether conceal +the annoyance caused to her by the cold and suspicious attitude +maintained by Queen Anne towards everything connected with the +Succession. Sophia complained repeatedly that from England came nothing +but titles and compliments, and declared that she would not be made to +pay for any more special ambassadors from the Court of St. James. (Her +present of gold plate to Halifax had cost her some 30,000 florins.) For +the conveyance of honours that cost nothing she was, she said, perfectly +content with Mr. Howe.[168] When Leibniz reported to her as to prospects +of the Union between England and Scotland, which was actually achieved +early in 1707, she rather sharply replied that she had no wish to +discuss the affairs of either kingdom: ‘_comme je n’en tire rien, je n’y +suis point intéressée_.’ She can, however, hardly have been so +indifferent to the subject as she pretended to be; since a clause in the +Act of Union definitively settled the Scottish Succession upon herself +and her descendants. Nor can she have remained unaware that, as Queen +Anne’s reign continued and the apprehensions excited by the growing +intolerance of the Church of England more and more endangered the +maintenance of the Union, Scottish Presbyterianism was, irrespective of +this consideration, obliged to look to the Hanoverian Succession as the +best guarantee of its own security. + +----- + +Footnote 168: + + Brigadier-General Emmanuel Scroope Howe was English resident at + Hanover from 1705 till his death in 1709. He was, as mentioned on a + previous page, the husband of Ruperta, Prince Rupert’s daughter by + Margaret Howes. Ruperta seems herself to have helped to embroil + matters by writing some highly indiscreet letters to England, in which + she dwelt on the apathy of the House of Hanover towards the + Succession. + +----- + +We know for certain that the Electress was well informed as to the +existence of a secret sympathy on Queen Anne’s part with the Pretender; +since we have the explicit statement of the Duchess of Orleans that her +aunt believed the Queen to be secretly desirous of the accession of her +half-brother, and further believed ‘that she would some day bestow the +Crown upon him.’ Nor can we regard the latter clause a mere phrase, when +we remember the earlier communications in this sense between Anne and +her exiled father. But it by no means follows from this that this +solution was one desired by the Electress Sophia herself. According to a +fairly well authenticated anecdote, a bundle of letters was, some time +in the reign of George III, found in Kensington Palace, endorsed in +William III’s own handwriting ‘_Letters of the Electress Sophia to the +Court of St. Germains_’; and a plan which had been formed for publishing +these letters was frustrated through their being destroyed by George +III’s orders. But as to the contents of these letters there is no +satisfactory evidence at all. Again, it is no doubt true, and of a piece +with George I’s habitual method of dealing with inconvenient evidence, +that, in 1714, he requested the Duchess of Orleans to destroy all the +letters received by her from the Electress which contained any reference +to the House of Stewart; and, though the Duchess of Orleans, who made no +secret of her own sympathies, and whose portrait quite appropriately +found a place in the Stewart family museum at Caillot, says that her +aunt did not obey this wish, no such letters have been found, with a +single exception. In this letter, dated March 21st, 1708, after +mentioning that the ‘Prince of Wales’ was at Dunkirk (whence he +afterwards started on his brief expedition to Scotland), the Electress +Sophia indulges in the reflexion: ‘Who knows whether God will not +elevate him who suffers so innocently?’ But though, in matters +concerning the line from which she was descended, as well as with regard +to her own immediate family, Sophia’s nature was very far from being +untouched by sentiment, she never allowed herself to be subdued by it. +In her tenderness of feeling towards the House of Stewart she set an +example followed by the Hanoverian dynasty when in possession of the +British throne—from George I downwards, of whose kindliness of feeling +towards the exiled House instances might easily be cited.[169] + +----- + +Footnote 169: + + The same feeling notably descended to George III, who granted an + ‘apanage’ to the Cardinal of York in his last years; to George IV, who + as Prince Regent provided a solemn sepulture for the remains of James + II, and erected a monument to the last of his descendants; and, as is + well known, to the last and most illustrious sovereign of the + Hanoverian dynasty. + +----- + +Thus, in this period Sophia returned to Queen Anne coolness for +coolness, and though at times she might almost have seemed to herself +indifferent to her prospects and those of her posterity, while at other +times she thought of herself as ‘a candidate for Sion’ rather than as +the heiress to a throne, she was content to avoid any false step, and to +leave unjeopardised a future which she could not control. As late as +September, 1708, in mentioning the visit of Lord Hereford and two Whig +M.P.s, she writes that she found them very warm for the Succession, and +that she supposed they would always continue of the same mind, so long +as it paid them; at present it did not seem to pay _her_, for she was +not treated as its Princess of Wales. But, in the course of this year, +the Whigs were fully established in power; and, when the death, in the +autumn, of Prince George of Denmark, together with the subsequent +refusal of Queen Anne to remarry, had removed the last possibility of +issue from the reigning sovereign, the Hanoverian prospects of course +grew brighter. The House stood well at this season in the eyes of Europe +and of England. George Lewis’ envoy at Ratisbon in this very year at +last gained admittance into the Electoral College; and in the previous +year (1707) the Elector had assumed the command of the army of the Lower +Rhine, though his unswerving loyalty to the cause of the Grand Alliance +had met with an incomplete response of confidence on the part of its +military leaders. Courtiers and others cultivating a consciousness of +coming events began to recognise the necessity of turning their faces +towards the rising sun. Mrs. Charles Howard, for instance, had the +honour of being (with her husband) presented to the Electress Dowager, +and of receiving particular notice, both from her and from the Electoral +Princess—as one of whose bed-chamber women she was in later days to play +so conspicuous a part at the British Court. But Queen Anne persisted in +the attitude which she had assumed, and in the autumn of this year +frankly told Lord Haversham that she could not tolerate the notion of +the presence in this country of any successor, even were it to last no +longer than a week. + +When the approach of the great ministerial crisis of 1710 first +announced itself by the dismissal of Sunderland, the Elector was moved +to perhaps the most distinct expression of political opinion in British +affairs to which he committed himself at any time before his accession +to the throne. In a spirited remonstrance addressed by him to the Queen, +he gave words to the hope that she would enter into no further changes +in the present Ministry and Parliament. The Electress in the meantime +remained mistress of herself; and George Lewis followed her example, +when the crisis reached its height, and the wheel of fortune once more +brought the Tories uppermost. Neither Sophia nor her confidential +counsellor Leibniz looked with fear or even with disfavour upon the +transactions which seemed to have put a new face on the entire scheme of +British State policy. The leading spirit of the new combination was +Robert Harley, who possessed many valuable political qualities, but who +was above all a born intriguer. The moderation of his conduct was set +off by his personal merits, among which, in a brilliant literary age, +his genuine love of literature was by no means the least important.[170] +Leibniz, whose own political influence at Hanover had of late visibly +declined, was much gratified by the marked civility shown to him by one +of his London correspondents, Dr. Hutton, a follower of Harley. + +----- + +Footnote 170: + + The latest tribute to it is the conjecture crediting him with the + original authorship of _Robinson Crusoe_. + +----- + +Queen Anne herself lost no time in communicating to the House of Hanover +her own view of the political changes which opened the concluding period +of her reign. In the autumn of 1710, Earl Rivers (by whose appointment +to the constableship of the Tower these changes had been heralded) made +his appearance at Hanover. His personal reputation was far from +immaculate; but he had been a successful general. At the time of his +arrival at Hanover, Sunderland’s dismissal had been succeeded by no +further ministerial changes. That Queen Anne should not have resented +the protest against this step transmitted by the Elector through Bothmer +at the Hague, indicates her hesitancy in the process. But, when a +further series of ministerial changes had been accomplished in England, +Rivers, who had made himself very acceptable at Hanover even to the +Elector, began to develop the ulterior purpose of his mission. +Unmistakably, it was intended to facilitate the overthrow of +Marlborough, without which these changes would remain incomplete, by +putting the Elector in his place as commander-in-chief in the war, +which, as Rivers assured him, the new British Government intended to +carry on with undiminished vigour. The ambassador was instructed to +state that the Queen could no longer suffer the insolence of those whom +she had raised to the highest pitch of power and authority. But, before +Rivers reached the Electoral Court, Marlborough had already conveyed to +George Lewis assurances of his fidelity to the Hanoverian Succession; +and the House of Hanover was thus confirmed in the attitude of caution +which it maintained in this very trying turn of affairs. There was no +reason why Elector and Electress should remain deaf to the blandishments +of the well-affected and reasonable Tories, whose theory of the +Succession harmonised with Sophia’s own. But, at the same time, it would +have been not less unwise to court the goodwill of the Queen and her new +ministers by cutting communications with Marlborough and the Whigs, than +it would have been to yield to the Whig proposal, communicated through +Robethon, to base the claims of the House of Hanover on the principles +of the Revolution of 1688. Leibniz was able to demonstrate the perfect +consistency of the course pursued by the House he served; and the +firmness and prudence with which the Elector resisted perhaps the single +temptation which, in the whole course of these transactions, he +personally found it hard to withstand—the offer of the supreme command +in the war—deserves a fuller recognition than has usually been accorded +to it. + +The final period in the history of the Hanoverian Succession—though even +during this period the question had, as will be seen, still to pass +through a series of stages before it was solved—began with the +transformation of the British Ministry into a Tory Government, and the +overthrow of the Marlborough influence, which, with that of Godolphin, +had so long cast its spell over Queen Anne. During the last month or two +of 1710,[171] Schütz having died in the previous August, Bothmer was +performing the duties of envoy extraordinary in London, where he +remained till the following March. The Electress was extremely desirous +that he should, unlike Schütz and Kreyenberg, refrain from showing any +inclination towards either of the political parties; here in Hanover, +she assured him in January, 1711, ‘we do not know the meaning of the +terms Whig and Tory, and decline to distinguish individuals under those +names’; and she applauds him for having already, as she hears, managed +to create a far more agreeable impression than that made by his +predecessor. But this attempt on the part of the Electress to hold the +balance between the two parties, and to make Bothmer do the same, could +not be of long endurance. On April 17th, 1711, the Emperor Joseph I +died; there could be no reasonable doubt as to the succession of his +brother, the titular King Charles III of Spain, to the Imperial throne; +and an irresistible impulse was given to the desire for peace, with +which the new British Ministry was known to be in sympathy. + +----- + +Footnote 171: + + The Electress wishes him a happy voyage on October 29th. + +----- + +Henceforth, until the Peace had been actually concluded, the question of +its conclusion dominated all others, and that of the Succession among +the rest. It might suit the purposes of the Whigs, who were opposed to +the Peace, to represent the desire of bringing it about as put forward +with a view to covering Jacobite designs with regard to the Succession; +as a matter of fact, the Tory leaders, though they might amuse +Berwick—or others who were as ignorant of England as he was—with +proposals about bringing over the Pretender to reside in England on his +half-sister’s invitation, were very careful not to allow any premature +Jacobite outbreak to interrupt the peace negotiations. When, in October, +1711, Bothmer returned to London as envoy extraordinary, the situation +had, for better or for worse, cleared up; and it would have been +impossible for the most skilful of diplomatists, with the strongest wish +to carry out the conciliatory intentions cherished by the good +Electress, to avoid an early collision with the Queen’s ministers, and, +in consequence, to place in his own way an insuperable obstacle against +securing her own goodwill. For the Elector was, heart and soul, in +favour of the continuance of the war; and the immediate purpose of +Bothmer’s present mission was to overthrow the peace policy to which the +Queen’s ministers had made up their minds. He brought with him an +elaborate memorandum from the Elector, dated November 28th, 1711, +against the conclusion of peace with France; and in January, 1712, this +memorandum was supported by a letter from the Elector asking for a +hearing for his envoy. These documents were presented to the Queen on +February 14th. As a matter of course, they were ascribed by the +ministerialists to Whig influence, and represented as implying an +attempt to bring about the continuance of Marlborough in the command. +There was no warrant for either assumption; and it may be added that the +Electress instructed Bothmer to express to Ormonde, as a tried friend of +hers, the particular gratification with which she had heard of his +appointment. + +Violent altercations in Parliament ensued; and Bothmer clearly perceived +that any attempt to renew at present the proposal of inviting over the +Electress and the Electoral Prince, if not the Elector himself, could +have no other effect than that of uniting with the Jacobite wing of the +Tory party the followers of Harley, with whom it was a cardinal +principle to ‘use the Queen with all duty and respect imaginable.’ On +the representations of Bothmer, Somers, Sunderland, and Godolphin agreed +not to move in the matter without the Elector’s assent; and this was +sure not to be given, until an invitation should have been approved by +Queen and Parliament. Thus a blunder was avoided which must have proved +more disastrous to the prospects of the House of Hanover than that +actually committed three years later. + +Both in 1710 and 1711 the air was full of more or less unsubstantial +schemes for bringing about, at what already seemed the eleventh hour, +the succession of the Pretender; and rumours were rife as to the gradual +transformation of the Ministry into a Jacobite Cabal. Though Leibniz was +no doubt right in saying that the question of inviting to England, or +(as the Electress so consistently repeated) of granting an income to, +one or more members of the Electoral family, was the touchstone of the +real intentions of the British Government, and though this may, as he +asserts, have also been the opinion of the Elector, yet there was no +question at Hanover of claiming any such concession. In April, 1711, the +Electress declared herself wholly uncertain of what would happen even in +the event of Queen Anne’s death—for ‘what Parliament does one day, it +undoes the next.’ Thus, when, in the autumn of the same year, Lord +Rivers made his second appearance at Hanover, the letter which he +brought with him from Queen Anne, and his assurances of her care for the +interests of the Electoral family, were received by Sophia with proper +expressions of gratitude, whatever she might privately say as to the +expense which this mission entailed upon the Hanoverian Court, with +little prospect of return. There was, indeed, some talk of the Elector +being offered the chief command in Flanders after Marlborough’s +dismissal in December, 1711; but nothing came of the suggestion, and in +January, 1712, the Electress is found expressing her satisfaction at the +appointment of Ormonde, who had always been so friendly to her. But as +to the main object of his mission Rivers completely failed; for George +Lewis firmly declined to give his approval to the British overtures of +peace to France, at the risk of deeply annoying the Queen and her +ministers by thus falling in with the wishes of the Whigs. He took his +stand on the principles of the Grand Alliance, from which he had never +swerved; while his mother judiciously held the balance by refusing to +accept the insinuations of her correspondent at the Hague, Lord +Strafford, against the inclinations of her House and Bothmer towards the +Whigs, and appealing with much dignity to her conviction that, beyond +the devices of Whigs and Tories, the Protestant Succession could depend +on the support of the nation. Meanwhile, the two parties were alike +striving to apprise the Hanoverian Court of the direction in which to +look for its friends. The anxiety of the Whigs to identify their party +with the Electoral House is at the same time proved by the motion of the +Duke of Devonshire to give precedence to the Duke of Cambridge over +other Peers.[172] The Ministry overtrumped this modest effort by a Bill +giving precedence to the entire Electoral family, which was passed in +two days (January, 1712), and which the minister’s kinsman, Thomas +Harley, was in July specially sent over to present to the Electress. She +took the announcement of this new visit very coolly, regretting the +expense to which she was put by it, and observing that, if the British +throne were for sale, France on behalf of its client could afford the +purchase better than the House of Hanover, which had no intention of +imitating the prodigality of Augustus II of Poland.[173] Her instinct +was correct, for Thomas Harley had instructions which, while pretending +to put the blame on Bothmer, seriously reflected on the Elector’s +opposition to the peace policy pursued by the British Government. In the +course of the negotiations carried on at Paris in August, 1712, between +Torcy and Bolingbroke, the latter on one occasion even went so far as to +hint at the despatch of a British fleet into the Baltic, with a view not +only to controlling the northern troubles, but also to frustrating +possible designs on the part of the Dutch _and of Hanover_.[174] + +----- + +Footnote 172: + + He had been created a Knight of the Garter in 1706, but not installed + till December, 1710, Lord Halifax acting as his proxy. + +Footnote 173: + + _À propos_ of the mention of this sovereign it may be noted that about + this time Queen Anne thought fit to impose upon the Electress the task + (specially disagreeable because she specially disliked him) of + dissuading King Augustus from forcing his son and namesake to follow + him into the Church of Rome. Augustus II actually promised Queen Anne + to send his son to England; but in the meantime the latter had been + received into the Catholic Church at Bologna. + +Footnote 174: + + O. Weber, _Der Friede von Utrecht_, p. 313. + +----- + +Meanwhile the Court of Hanover, while maintaining unchanged its attitude +towards the general question of war or peace, had immediate interests of +its own to watch besides such as might be involved in the question of +the English Succession. The recognition of the Hanoverian Electorship, +for instance, was demanded from France, _pari passu_ with that of the +Prussian Kingship. Early in the year, in the negotiations already in +progress, Bothmer, whom Oxford and Bolingbroke persisted in treating as +antagonistic to their Government,[175] returned to his post at the +Hague. In December, 1712, Baron Thomas von Grote, who belonged to a +family of high distinction in the Hanoverian service, arrived in London, +nominally with the special charge of returning thanks for the Act of +Precedence. His instructions, drawn up by Robethon in the name of the +Electress Sophia, illustrate the penultimate stage in the final period +of the transactions concerning the Succession. He was to be polite to +all, and not to consider himself debarred from taking counsel with the +old friends of the House—in other words, with Marlborough and the Whig +leaders—so long as this was done privately and secretly; and he was to +avoid giving umbrage to the Queen’s ministers, and above all to the +Queen herself. The Elector furnished him with a special commendatory +letter to Oxford. He was to make friends with the clergy, and to +reassure them by pointing out that the ecclesiastical system of the +German Lutherans was to all intents and purposes an episcopal one. The +everlasting delicate question as to the summoning of the Electress or +another member of the Electoral family to England he was to treat as if +this event might any day come to pass; and, at the same time, he was to +press for a proposal to Parliament on the subject of an +establishment—say at Somerset House. The Elector, while of opinion that +such a proposal would furnish the best means of testing the sincerity of +the Queen’s and her advisers’ intentions, declined to influence +Parliamentary opinion by means of any expenditure of his own, though it +would seem that he had previously not objected to Bothmer’s attempting +to gain over some noble Lords against the Peace by similar inducements. +But, though he still abstained from any intervention in British home +affairs, his own instructions to Grote were less carefully balanced than +those of the Electress, and left no doubt as to its being the leading +Whigs on whom he reckoned as the true friends of the House of Hanover. + +----- + +Footnote 175: + + Bolingbroke hated Bothmer, and described him as, ‘notwithstanding that + air of coldness and caution which he wore, the most inveterate party + man that I ever saw, and the most capable of giving _tête baissée_ + into the most extravagant measures that faction could propose.’ (Cf. + Salomon, p. 239, and note.) + +----- + +Both at Hanover and elsewhere, however, eager friends of the dynasty +advocated a more expeditious procedure. In September, 1712, the +indefatigable Leibniz submitted a scheme, concocted by busy brains in +London, for including the demand for establishing the Electress in +England among the conditions of the Peace of Utrecht. But, though both +in her correspondence, and in conversation with Thomas Harley, she had +given considerable attention to the scheme, she ultimately declared it +impracticable. The unsatisfactory action of the English ministers in the +matter of the Dutch guarantee of the Hanoverian Succession had once more +rendered her diffident; she was, she said, so old that there was no +reality in all her talk; were she younger, she added with a touch of her +old spirit, the sovereignty of England should not pass by her. + +The Peace of Utrecht, when actually concluded in the spring of 1713, was +in many respects unsatisfactory to the Elector; and as an Estate of the +Empire, he must have been well content to withhold his signature from +it. But it contained a very explicit recognition of the Hanoverian +Succession by France and the other signatory Powers; so that, in this +respect at all events, Bothmer’s exertions had been entirely successful. +Yet the tone prevailing at court and in ministerial circles in London +very imperfectly agreed with this result; and in Hanover there was a +growing disbelief in the sincerity of the sentiments entertained in +these quarters. Grote found himself coolly received, and his attempts to +obtain assurances baffled. Various suggestions offered by him were +ignored; and in a lengthy despatch which he sent home in February (a few +weeks before his death) he drew the darkest picture of the political +situation which had as yet reached Hanover. He considered that, in spite +of the generalities in which Oxford shrouded himself, he had gradually +gone over to the Jacobites in order to please the Queen, while +Bolingbroke he regarded as an open Jacobite on his own account. He +thought that, as to the Pretender, there was reason for fearing the +worst; he had heard that the Queen had expressed a wish to see her +half-brother in England after the conclusion of the Peace, while the +question of inviting over a member of the Electoral family had been +indefinitely postponed. Part of this report sufficiently tallies with +the information with which about this time the Pretender was being +constantly supplied by his illegitimate half-brother, the Duke of +Berwick. Though sanguine as to methods of action, Berwick never +minimised the chances of the Hanoverian Succession; the first thing +requisite, he wrote to James in November, 1712, was to checkmate +Hanover; the rest could then be easily accomplished without mentioning +the name of the legitimate claimant. Both Oxford and Bolingbroke, +Berwick wrote in May, 1713, were heartily resolved to go forward; in +July, he reported them to be rather less ardent; but these were mere +fluctuations. From all this it is tolerably clear that Oxford, in trying +to deceive others, deceived himself. Much of his political life had +consisted in a successful endeavour to face both ways without laying +himself open to the charge of double-dealing. He now persuaded himself +that he was throwing dust in the eyes of the Elector and Electress and +the friends of the Hanoverian Succession, while at the same time drawing +as near to the Jacobite projects as safety permitted. He was, above all +things, a Parliamentary statesman, and nothing but the decision of +Parliament would determine his ultimate choice of sides; but, as the +majority was at present constituted, while the great achievement of the +Peace assured the advance of Tory ascendancy, and the Queen seemed less +and less inclined to reconcile herself to the Succession of the House of +Hanover, he looked to the triumph of the Jacobite cause as the event +towards which his course would be most safely shaped. With Bolingbroke, +the case was wholly different. Oxford was prepared to be in the end +guided by the Parliamentary majority; Bolingbroke was prepared to +educate it up to that end—only he used a more sportsmanlike phraseology. +For himself, he made no secret whatever of his likes and dislikes; kept +up a constant intercourse with Jacobites and Frenchmen; and at times, as +Grote complained, did him the honour of treating him ‘_de coquin ou de +fou_.’[176] + +----- + +Footnote 176: + + Salomon, _u.s._, p. 223, from the Hanover Archives. + +----- + +Meanwhile, the Queen and the Lord Treasurer continued their _banales_ +expressions of friendship and goodwill at Hanover, where, on March 17th, +1713, the useful Thomas Harley presented a letter from the Queen, +declaring her intention of treating the interests of the House of +Hanover as her own. But neither this letter, nor the amicable phrases +with which in April she opened Parliament after its adjournment, evoked +any warm response at Hanover. Sophia, indeed, wrote to Strafford at the +Hague, begging him to thank the Queen, and adding that, as she had no +expectation of ever ascending the throne herself, she hoped that Her +Majesty would entertain no aversion to her on that score. But, as she +told Bothmer, she only paid back Strafford in the coin she received from +England—words, not deeds; and, on the whole, Leibniz’s epigram not +unaptly summed up the situation— + + _‘Hannoverana domus magnâ me gaudet amicâ,’ + Anna refert; tacita est Hannoverana domus._ + +An attempt had been indeed made, or suggested, to utilise the Queen’s +friendly expressions for a bold venture on the part of the House of +Hanover; but it had been still-born. After Grote’s death in March, +Kreyenberg had carried on the affairs of the Hanoverian Legation in +London; and reports were also from time to time sent to Hanover by the +Dutch resident in London, L’Hermitage. In one of these (dated May 9th, +1713)[177] the very important proposal was made that the Electoral +Prince should come over to England on his own account, inasmuch as the +Queen would never send for him. The notion found the utmost favour with +the Whig leaders, who knew how much depended on the issue of the +approaching election, and who hoped that it might be influenced by so +bold a step on the part of the Hanoverian family. But Bernstorff, who +was in favour of the scheme and without whose persuasion there was no +prospect at all of the Elector approving it, was ill at the time; and, +when he recovered, the Elector was found to be entirely under the +influence of advice against action. An attempt to bring about the repeal +of the Union with Scotland was defeated, without the question of the +Hanoverian Succession playing more than a subsidiary part in the +dispute. + +----- + +Footnote 177: + + Printed in Macpherson, Vol. ii. pp. 792-3. See on this transaction + Salomon, _u.s._, pp. 225 _sqq._ + +----- + +When, in the following July, Parliament, after approving a number of the +Treaties which formed the Peace of Utrecht,[178] was prorogued, on the +eve of a General Election, the Queen’s Speech significantly omitted the +usual announcement of her readiness to support the Protestant +Succession. While the versatile intellect of Leibniz was still devising +new schemes for bringing about the desired result, the Elector adhered +more closely than ever to his original policy. In August, 1713, Baron +von Schütz the younger (George William Helwig Sinold), the son of the +former envoy of the Court of St. James and the grandson of the Celle +Chancellor, arrived in London as envoy. The choice of this agent was at +the time unfavourably criticised by some of the Whigs, who thought that +a politician of greater experience should have been selected. Sophia +would not commit herself to Bothmer on the question whether Schütz would +be better liked than her correspondent had been in England; ‘at all +events,’ she said, ‘nobody will be attracted by his appearance’ (_il ne +payera pas de mine_). We shall have to enquire immediately whether, in +the great diplomatic catastrophe which befell him, the younger Schütz +was himself deserving of blame. He was instructed by the Elector in the +sense of an absolute abstinence from interference in British affairs. +Even as to the question of inviting a member of the Electoral family to +England he was to take up a distinctly negative position; but, at the +same time, he was to treat as indispensable measures the removal of the +Pretender from Lorraine and a provision for the Electress as Heiress +Presumptive of Great Britain. The envoy’s reports were far from +encouraging, and his information as to the views and intentions of the +Queen and her advisers again agrees with that transmitted by Berwick to +the Pretender. + +----- + +Footnote 178: + + By composing the _Te Deum und Jubilate_ for the celebration of the + Peace at St. Paul’s on July 7th, Handel gave great offence to the + Hanoverian Court; nor was he readmitted to favour till some little + time after the accession of George I. + +----- + +The tide of danger was unmistakably rising. Parliament was dissolved in +August, 1713; and a proposal was on foot to bring to bear upon Queen +Anne at the opening of the new Parliament the direct personal influence +of the presence of her half-brother in England. In the attitude of +Oxford and Bolingbroke no hopeful alteration occurred. In defiance of +the manifest irritation of the Queen, the Elector coldly declared +himself unsatisfied with the guarantees which he had so far received, +and declined to sanction any expenditure on pamphlets or newspapers, or +on more direct means of influencing elections or gaining over +necessitous Peers. Yet, to the amusement of Sophia, whose sense of +humour never deserted her, Hanover and Herrenhausen continued to attract +not a few Englishmen desirous of being found in this vicinity at the +critical moment. They were, however, she thought, reckoning without +their host in hoping to strew palms before her on her entrance into +London; she feared that she could not contrive to live as long as Queen +Anne, so as to prove to them her gratitude. And yet, when in the last +days of the year Queen Anne herself fell ill, and the agitation in +England was raised to an unprecedented pitch, it seemed as if, +notwithstanding what Sophia described as her ‘incurable malady of having +passed her eighty-fourth year,’ her repeated prediction that she would +never herself mount the British throne would after all be falsified. In +November she had herself been ill, suffering so seriously from an +affection (erysipelas) to which she was subject, that fears were +entertained for her life. But she soon recovered sufficiently to write +to the Duchess of Orleans, and with her usual spirit she insisted on +following the Elector to the Göhrde. + +The situation was now coming to be one of a very high tension. On the +one hand, Strafford, who never ceased from trying to persuade the +Electress that the Tories were her friends, and that there was not a +Jacobite left in the party, assured her that what he had observed during +the Queen’s illness had convinced him of the strength of popular opinion +in England in favour of the Protestant Succession. And Steinghens, the +Elector Palatine’s minister in London, who was on a footing of intimacy +with Oxford, declared to his correspondent, General von der Schulenburg, +that had Queen Anne died during her illness the Princess Sophia would +have been proclaimed on the same day. Assurances of devotion poured in +from every side; in February, Secretary Bromley laid himself at the +Electress’ feet; and Archbishop Dawes entreated attention to his own +humble endeavours and to the faithfulness and zeal of the whole body of +the clergy. On the other hand, the demeanour and utterances of those in +power were not growing more propitious as the new year came in. Cautious +as Oxford was in his utterances, perhaps the most striking of all the +self-revelations reported of him at this critical time was that which, +in December, 1713, he made to the Abbé Gaultier, according to the +statement of the latter to De Torcy: ‘So long as I live, England shall +not be governed by a German.’ Except through Gaultier, however, Oxford +was inaccessible on the subject, and though, in January, 1714, he was +said to have sent a private messenger to the Pretender, in the following +month Berwick heard that the Lord Treasurer’s intentions were still +quite unknown, and suggested to James to make sure of the Queen and +Bolingbroke by writing to them himself. Berwick’s scheme of the +Pretender coming over to England in secret, so as to enable the Queen to +declare in his favour at the opening of Parliament, was quite visionary; +for Louis XIV was not inclined to make any move in his support, except +by placing two men-of-war at Havre at his disposal; and the Tory leaders +were wholly intent upon removing, in the first instance, the insuperable +obstacle to any chance of the Pretender’s success by inducing him to +come over—to the Church of England. As for Bolingbroke, who must have +known that such a solution was not to be looked for, he seems to have +been willing to depend on the double chance of something unexpected +happening at the critical moment, and of the Hanoverian successor +proving unable to maintain herself—or himself—on the throne even after +mounting it. Thus, as the crisis drew nearer and nearer, the Tory +leaders were becoming less and less prepared to meet it.[179] + +----- + +Footnote 179: + + These conclusions seem irresistible in view of the documents, + especially the despatches of Ibberville, collected by Grimblot and + reviewed by Salomon, _u.s._, pp. 235-64. + +----- + +And so it came to pass that, when, in February, 1714, the new Parliament +met, with a Tory majority in the Commons outnumbering their opponents by +at least two to one, the Queen’s Speech could hardly have been more +ambiguous in tone than it actually proved. She, like her ministers, had +no wish for the House of Hanover, and saw no present chance for the +Stewarts. While, therefore, discrediting all reports implying that the +Protestant Succession, as settled in the House of Hanover, was in +danger, the Speech also referred to the attempts ‘to weaken the Queen’s +authority or to render the possession of the Crown uneasy to +her’—obviously alluding to the design of bringing over a member of the +Electoral family. While Bolingbroke may have been prepared to make use +of this design so as to bring about a complete rupture between the Queen +and the House of Hanover, Oxford could not but directly oppose a step +which would have forced the hands of the Government, and removed the +ultimate use of the situation out of his own wary hands. Yet nothing +could have been more distinctly double-faced than his action in the +early months of 1714. He dangled before Schütz the offer of a revision +of the Regency Bill of 1705, which was to enable the court of Hanover to +name the whole body of Regents, but which also might have furnished an +opportunity for giving the _quietus_ to the entire Bill. Not long +afterwards, in March, he expressed his intention to bring in a Bill +declaring the introduction of foreign troops into England an act of high +treason. But ‘under which King,’ or under what Government, could the +foreign troops whose arrival was thus to be prevented have been +levied?[180] + +----- + +Footnote 180: + + Salomon, _u.s._, p. 272. Klopp, vol. xiv. p. 540, gives a summary of + the discussion of Oxford’s announcement from the Lords’ Debates. + +----- + +Though the calculated untrustworthiness of Oxford, and the reckless +speculativeness of Bolingbroke, had by this time become as much of an +open secret as had the consuming desire of the Secretary of State to +supplant the Lord Treasurer, there was even now no disposition on the +part of the court of Hanover to commit itself by any rash act. There had +never been any real divergence of policy between the Electress and her +son, the Elector, though his consistency of conduct had perhaps been the +more formally complete, and we cannot follow him, as we can the +Electress, in his private comments on the angular points which from time +to time presented themselves in the situation. Now, they were more than +ever at one in their determination to abstain from precipitate action. +Robethon’s memorandum of _Reasons for not sending the Electoral Prince +to England_ (January, 1714), whether or not the Elector’s dislike of his +son had anything to do with the conclusions reached, reiterated the old +objection of the Electress to a course which would appear to be dictated +by a desire to gratify the Whigs by offending the Tories, instead of +uniting the moderate men of both parties in support of the Succession. +Sophia had, by this time, come to have so little faith in either of the +English political parties that, as she told Strafford, she disliked the +very names of Whig and Tory; and, as an octogenarian, she was inevitably +indisposed to run any great personal risk or court any serious personal +change. She gave Schulenburg to understand that she would never consent +to proceed to England without the Elector. Yet neither she nor her son, +who might be depended upon not to start for England a day too soon, +affected indifference towards the Succession; and even on the question +of sending the Electoral Prince to England, there were signs that, in +deference to Bothmer’s advice, this course might after all be adopted, +so soon as the Emperor should have concluded his peace with France.[181] +It is no doubt in this connexion that, in the very last letter to +Leibniz preserved from the hand of the Electress Sophia—which bears the +date of May 20th, 1714 (N.S.)—she refers to a step which, as we shall +see, she had just taken, and which Queen Anne had chosen to regard as a +provocation offered to herself. + +----- + +Footnote 181: + + Bothmer to Robethon, January 2nd, 1714. (Cited by Salomon, _u.s._, p. + 232, from the Stowe MSS. in Brit. Mus.) + +----- + +We must go back for a moment to the previous month of April, in which +the relations between Queen Anne and the House of Hanover seemed to have +become rather easier. Had she and her advisers—Oxford in +particular—gained some special insight into the fundamental weakness of +the Jacobite position? Though the secret was open enough, one is almost +inclined to some conclusion of the kind, in view of a communication from +Berwick to James, dated April 11th, which describes the situation so +lucidly that it seems worth while to extract from it the following +passage (substituting real names for the transparent pseudonyms):— + + I discours’d de Torcy about the King [James]’s resolution to be taken + in case Queen Anne should break. I find he knows not what to advise; + and in truth it is to be wish’d one could have some newse of Ormonde + [now Commander-in-chief], and see what disposition the Parliament will + be in, before one comes to a positive determination. The point is very + nice; on one side it would look odd in the world that King James + should see the Elector of Hannover quietly gett Queen Anne’s throne + without making the least opposition; on the other side to beginn an + expedition there must be money, provision of arms, and all many other + things which I fear the King [James] wants, besides that there can be + no hopes of success unless one can gett some officers of the army. A + great many of the Scotch will oppose the business and ’tis much feared + the Highlanders will have but very small means for so great an + undertaking. The Elector has actually the law for him; the United + Provinces are engaged to support him; the Kings of France and Spain + have promis’d not to meddle in it; and I find the English [i.e. the + English friends of the King] so very slow and cautious that ‘tis much + to be doubted their giving any helping hand. + +Not long afterwards, Berwick had no better advice to give his royal +kinsman, than that he should keep his own counsel as to the point on +which he had made up his mind, and not allow his friends in England to +think the desired consummation (his adoption of the Protestant faith) an +event altogether out of the question. When the signs of the times seemed +so unpromising to those who watched them with the most direct and +personal interest, and when, as to the problem on which chances mainly +turned, they could only advise a policy of temporising and +dissimulation, Oxford may well have been more desirous than ever to +safeguard his own future by seeking to maintain a good understanding +with the other side. In this month of April, he is accordingly found +tendering assurances not only of his own devotion, but also of Lady +Masham’s, to the Hanoverian Succession, and declaring his conviction +that the Queen was for it; though, as towards her, he again guarded +himself by deprecating the establishment of a second Court in England. +About the same time, his kinsman Thomas Harley again arrived at Hanover, +with a letter from the Queen to the Electress, blandly enquiring whether +there was anything which in her judgment would further secure the +Succession of her House. Should she have no suggestion of further +guarantees to offer, this would be taken as implying that the existing +guarantees were regarded as sufficient. At the same time, the House of +Hanover was warned against giving any encouragement, directly or +indirectly, to a faction which was working for its own advantage only. +Harley brought no message from the Queen inviting any member of the +House to England; and the above-mentioned enquiry, as Bolingbroke’s +comments on it to Strafford implied, suggested a defiance rather than an +invitation. He was specifically instructed to offer her on the part of +the Queen an annuity (_pension_) for herself; but this the Electress, +with her usual quickness of insight, declined. The revenue desired by +her was, she said, one that should be granted to her in due form as +Heiress Presumptive by Queen and Parliament, in accordance with the +precedent of the allowance made to Queen Anne herself, when Princess of +Denmark in the preceding reign. Either before or after the Electress +sent this reply—on May 7th—both she and the Elector attached their +signatures to a formal answer to the enquiry brought by Thomas Harley. +In this important memorandum they reiterated the view which had been +expressed in Schütz’s instructions, that the Succession could not be +held to be really assured unless an end were put to the danger of +invasion by the Pretender by his being made to leave his present +residence in Lorraine, and that it was desirable to secure a revenue to +the Electress by Act of Parliament. They further declared it to be +desirable that a member of the House of Hanover should be established in +England, in order to watch over the important interests at issue. There +can be no doubt but that the Electoral Prince was the member of the +family whom the memorandum had in view. The document was signed and +sealed by both the Elector and the Electress; and a covering letter from +the former to the Queen thanked her in the most conciliatory tone for +her continued care for the Protestant Succession. This memorandum, for +which the Elector was directly responsible in conjunction with his +mother, takes the bottom out of the supposition that he was at this time +ready, if he could do so with honour, to relinquish his claims. + +But before the memorandum was actually transmitted, a cold blast had +suddenly blown athwart the relations between the House of Hanover and +Queen Anne. In the ordinary course of things the Electoral Prince, as +Duke of Cambridge, would have, like any other English Peer, received his +writ of summons to attend the Queen in Parliament. Aware, however, of +her sensitiveness on the subject of the presence of a member of the +Hanoverian family in England, the Lord Chancellor (Lord Harcourt) had +thought proper to delay indefinitely the issue of the writ. The demand +for it had originally been suggested to Schütz by the Earl of +Nottingham, who, though a High Church Tory, had long broken with the +court; and, though an attempt to obtain the writ from the Lord +Chancellor made at the instigation of the Whig Lord Cowper had failed, +Schütz had naturally felt uneasy at its issue being delayed. When, in a +letter to him, the Electress Sophia had given vent to her astonishment +at the fact that the patent of the Duke of Cambridge had not been in due +course followed by a writ, and had expressed her opinion that the Lord +Chancellor would not object to Schütz’s ‘_asking for it and the reason_’ +(of the delay), he had interpreted this expression of opinion as a +command. The Whig leaders, including the Duke of Somerset, to whom +Schütz had shown the Electress’ ‘order,’ had, according to his own +account, been delighted with it, and had approved of his proposal to +take action upon it. In the Electress’ letter to Leibniz of May 20th, +already mentioned, she explicitly states, not, as Schütz puts it, that +she had ‘ordered the writ,’ but that she had directed him to enquire +from the Lord Chancellor whether the Electoral Prince ought not to +receive it—which is not quite the same thing. But her letter to Schütz, +on which the whole matter turns, cannot be said to be ambiguous, or to +allow of any interpretation but that put upon it by him.[182] Even if it +be the case that the memoranda of Hoffmann, the Imperial resident at the +Court of St. James’, imply that, so far as he knew, there was no +intention at Hanover of actually demanding the writ till the meeting of +the next Parliament, this would not make it necessary to place a forced +interpretation upon the Electress’ letter, with which in any case the +Elector had no concern, and which can hardly have referred to the next +Parliament, when the present was little more than two months old. The +Hanoverian court had been pressed both by Marlborough and by Prince +Eugene (who never believed in a policy of masterly inaction) to do what +it could to obtain a summons for the Electoral Prince, and the Electress +is known to have had this matter at heart, while the Elector’s feelings +towards his son made him from first to last averse to carrying it into +execution. + +----- + +Footnote 182: + + It seems necessary to quote the actual text of this much-vext letter: + ‘_Je vous prie de dire à Monsieur le chancelier Mylord Harcourt qu’on + est fort étonné ici qu’on n’a pas envoyé un writ à mon petit-fils le + prince électoral pour pouvoir entrer au parlement comme duc de + Cambridge, comme cela lui est dû par la patente que la reine lui a + donnée. Comme il a toujours été de mes amis aussi bien que son cousin, + je crois qu’il ne trouvera pas mauvais que vous le lui demandiez et la + raison._’ (_Briefe der Kurfürstin Sophie an Hannoversche Diplomaten_, + p. 213.) + +----- + +Schütz, who, it must be remembered, was accredited from the Electress as +well as from the Elector, had acted in accordance with his instructions; +but he can hardly be acquitted of precipitancy, and of an excessive +readiness to listen to the opinion of the Whig leaders before assuring +himself of the approval of the Elector. In any case, the die had now +been cast. Harcourt had replied that the writ was quite ready, but that +it was not customary for Peers to demand their writ except when on the +spot; he would, however, mention the subject to the Queen. The Cabinet, +summoned to deal with the envoy’s demand, decided that the writ could +not be refused, though, according to Gaultier’s information, Bolingbroke +had supported the Queen’s opinion in favour of refusing it. On April +17th, it was handed to Schütz by the Lord Chancellor, or in accordance +with his orders. Being requested to state by whom he had been directed +to demand the writ, Schütz seems to have mentioned the name of the +Electress; but this is not attested by evidence at first hand. Schütz +was speedily informed by Oxford that he would do well not to show +himself at Court, and was afterwards formally prohibited from appearing +there; but, as a matter of course, there was no question whatever of +breaking off diplomatic relations, these being carried on for the time +by Kreyenberg. Presently—on April 22nd—the envoy took his departure. On +his arrival at Hanover, the Elector made a point of declining to receive +Schütz; censured him for having obeyed any orders but the Elector’s; and +told Thomas Harley, who, before taking his departure from Hanover, +waited on him, with his whole _posse_ of Englishmen, that Schütz had +never been instructed to demand the writ, and that he (the Elector) had +never intended to send his son to England without the knowledge of the +Queen. This formula may perhaps be reconcilable with the information +given by Robethon to Lord Polwarth,[183] according to which the Elector, +though he knew nothing about the demand for the writ, would have sent +the Electoral Prince to England in the end, had it not been for the +Queen’s letter to be mentioned immediately, which ‘changed the entire +system.’ There seems to have been a good deal of feeling at Hanover—a +feeling shared both by the Whig leaders in England and by Bothmer at the +Hague—that, the writ having been now secured, the Electoral Prince +should be sent over. But this the Elector refused to do; and the success +with which he had thus kept out of the whole of this transaction—the +single wrong move made on the Hanoverian side in the whole course of the +game—must be placed to the credit of his judgment, whatever course he +may have intended to take at a later date. But how far both he and the +Electress were from being intimidated by the displeasure of the Queen, +is shown by the fact that at Thomas Harley’s farewell audience the +Elector placed in his hands the outspoken memorandum signed by the +Electress and himself on May 7th. As for Sophia, the tone of her letter +to Leibniz containing a narrative of the entire transaction is perfectly +cool; and in it she as usual expresses the belief that, in spite of her +recent illness, Queen Anne will outlive her Heiress Presumptive, and +cites the proverb, ‘_krakende Wagens gân lang_.’[184] Her reply to +Strafford’s letter entreating her to signify her disapproval of Schütz’s +action is unfortunately lost, though its purport was said to have been +the same as that of the Elector’s parting declaration to Thomas Harley. +The situation seemed far less terrific at Hanover than it did in London, +where the Queen’s wrath was visibly ablaze, so that the House of Commons +deferred voting payment of the arrears due to the Hanoverian troops, and +where it was believed that if the Electoral Prince were after all sent +over an invitation to the Pretender would follow. Moreover (though this +is a matter into which it is impossible to enter here), the opposite +views taken by Oxford and Bolingbroke as to the final issue of the writ +undoubtedly helped materially to hasten the fleeting triumph of the +younger over the older minister. + +----- + +Footnote 183: + + Lord Polwarth, eldest son of the Earl of Marchmont and member for + Berwick-on-Tweed (who afterwards became an intimate friend of + Bolingbroke), had kept up a correspondence with the court of Hanover + since his visit there in 1712. + +Footnote 184: + + I do not know whether anything on the subject is mentioned in the + fifteen letters from Sophia to Lady Colt, said to range from 1681 to + May 15th, 1714, and to have been sold by auction in 1905. + +----- + +From what has been said it will appear how greatly the facts of the case +are exaggerated and distorted in the tradition attributing the death of +the Electress Sophia, which took place at Herrenhausen on June 8th, +1714, to the agitation caused by the letter addressed to her by Queen +Anne in connexion with the affair of the writ, and accompanied by two +letters from the Queen on the same subject to the Elector and the +Electoral Prince. Undeniably, the Queen’s letter to the Electress +Sophia, though taking a less severe form of reprimand than the companion +missive to the Electoral Prince, was both offensive and insolent; for +Queen Anne, who (with the exception of the Prayer-book Order) had taken +no step towards admitting the Electress and her descendants into the +royal family, could not lay claim to any formal authority over them. +That this view was widely taken of the letters may be gathered from the +fact that Boyer (Swift’s ‘Whig dog’), who had been taken into custody on +a warrant from Bolingbroke for publishing them, was, a few months after +the accession of George I, discharged—so that their publication was +evidently regarded as having proved serviceable towards that result. Nor +was the effect of the letters likely to be mitigated by the honeyed +protestations of Oxford, whose system of procedure the letters almost +hopelessly traversed, in a communication to the Elector accompanying +them. The sharp wit of the Electoral Princess Caroline suspected that it +was not he, but Bolingbroke, who was their draughtsman; and there can be +little or no doubt as to the correctness of this surmise. It cannot but +have been shared by the old Electress, and must have contributed to make +her stand firm against a blow contrived by an all but avowed adversary +of the lawful claims of herself and her House. + +Yet there can be no doubt that at the time the death of the Electress +Sophia was very generally connected with, if not directly attributed to, +the advent of the Queen’s letters. The very straightforward account +transmitted to Marlborough by Molyneux, who had been sent to Hanover by +the Duke to counteract the effects of Thomas Harley’s mission, shows the +Electress to have been much agitated on the evening of the day +(Wednesday, June 6th) on which, about noon, the letters had been +delivered to her at Herrenhausen. On the following day, though Molyneux +was told she was not well, she ordered him to send copies of the letters +to Marlborough;[185] on Friday, June 8th, she seemed well, but was still +occupied with the subject and ordering fresh copies of the letters; she +dined with the Elector, and in the evening was, according to her habit, +walking in the gardens, when rain suddenly fell. As she quickened her +speed in order to find a shelter, she dropped down and rapidly passed +away. The letters of the Countess of Bückeburg[186] to the Electress’ +niece and constant companion during the last fifteen years, the +Raugravine Louisa, corroborates this account, and adds one or two +significant touches. On the Wednesday the Electress said to the writer +of the letter: ‘This affair will certainly make me ill—I shall never get +over it’ (_j’y succombrai_). ‘But,’ she added, ‘I shall have this +gracious letter printed, so that all the world may see that it will not +have been by my fault, if my children lose the three Kingdoms.’ And, on +the Friday, though to all appearance in her usual strength, she +continued to talk of English affairs with the Electoral Princess. And, +since the Electoral Princess Caroline herself informed Leibniz, on June +7th, that the Electress and the Electoral Prince intended to send the +Queen’s letters to England, it may be concluded that this high-spirited +but rather venturesome design still further excited the old lady. +Although the outer world had continued to believe her to be as full of +vigour as ever, she had of late begun to take some thought of her +health—a notable sign, inasmuch as ordinarily she set no high value on +medical advice, being of opinion that no doctor can predict anything +with certainty except that a person who died in February will not be ill +in March. Probably, she was aware of the tendency to apoplexy which, +already thirteen years earlier, her faithful friend Leibniz had observed +in her. On the whole, the natural conclusion appears to be that the +agitation produced in her by the Queen’s letters, together with her own +resolution not to sit still under the affront, contributed to the +collapse of a frame enfeebled by advanced old age, but that this trouble +was the occasion rather than the cause of her decease. For her epitaph +seems to tell the truth when, in perfect agreement with the Countess of +Bückeburg’s statement that ‘never was there seen a death more gentle or +more happy,’ it describes the Electress’ death as having been not less +peaceful than sudden. Her character lies almost open to us in her +private letters, and, as she told Leibniz in April, 1713, she had made +it a principle to keep her mind tranquil, and not to allow it to be +affected by either public or private troubles. As to her death, she had +written to him a little later, it would no doubt be a finer affair if, +in accordance with his wishes, her remains were interred at Westminster; +‘but the truth is that my mind, which hitherto has managed to rule my +body, at present suggests no such sad thoughts to me, and that the talk +about the Succession annoys me.’ Read in the way in which so many of her +letters ought to be read, as half-ironical, the words just quoted attest +the self-control and self-possession that were on the whole the most +noteworthy features in the character of this remarkable woman. But +neither this passage, nor anything else that remains from her hand, +contradicts the belief which is derived from a review of her entire +career, that from first to last she proved herself equal to the +responsibilities of her life, and that, had she been actually called to +the throne, she would have been not less ready than worthy to reign as a +Queen. + +----- + +Footnote 185: + + It was through these copies that the letters seem afterwards to have + become known. + +Footnote 186: + + This appears to have been the Countess Johanna von der + Lippe-Bückeburg, who, on being divorced from her husband, was besieged + by him in her residence at Stadthagen near Bückeburg, from which he + thought himself entitled to expel her. She appears to have been a + welcome visitor at Herrenhausen, where she told the story of this + siege ‘_fort joliment_.’ + +----- + +We possess a minute official account of the proceedings after the +Electress Sophia’s death—of the sealing-up of her personal effects by +the Elector’s orders; of the embalming of the corpse, the night-watch +over it, and its transportation on the evening of the following day to +Hanover.[187] Unfortunately, the list of those who paid her the last +honours at Herrenhausen does not include the names of the ladies and +‘_cavaliers_’ who had been in personal attendance upon her.[188] Her +remains were deposited in the chapel of the royal palace—the old church +of the Minorites—at Hanover, with proper care and decorum, but, as is +formally stated, ‘without ceremony,’ i.e. without any religious service. +A record likewise exists of the Court-mourning ordered, and the black +draping of the chapel and of the apartments of the late Electress and +the members of the Electoral family at Herrenhausen. To make the formal +announcement of his mother’s death and of his own assumption of her +claims to the British Succession, the Elector George Lewis once more +sent Bothmer to London, the real object of the choice being of course +the intention that this most capable diplomatist should, while keeping +on good terms with the Queen’s ministers, concert further action with +the Whig leaders. On June 15th, the Elector signed certain powers for +the event of the Queen’s death, which would have given to his envoy an +authority superior to that of the Lords Justices; but, as theirs rested +on an Act of Parliament, the special authority entrusted to Bothmer was +really as futile as that which had in similar terms been previously +conferred on the elder Schütz, Grote, and the younger Schütz in turn. +Bothmer’s reports show that Bolingbroke was believed to be acting in the +interest of the Pretender; and of the truth of this charge, after he had +succeeded in ousting Oxford from office, the latter, who had himself +continued to be suspected of Jacobitism, personally assured the +Elector’s envoy. On the part of Queen Anne, the Earl of Clarendon, a +Tory Peer of high connexion, but of marked incapacity,[189] arrived at +Hanover on July 7th to express to the Elector the Queen’s sympathy with +his loss. Clarendon, who had been entrusted with an extraordinary +mission to Hanover before the occurrence of the Electress’ death, also +brought with him an answer to the Electoral memorandum of May 7th, +drafted by Bolingbroke, which declined all the demands made in the +memorandum. Clarendon was charged with some polite explanations; but the +Elector had no intention of trusting either to these or to the chapter +of accidents. With an alertness rarely shown by him before his mother’s +death in regard to matters connected with the Succession, he promptly +caused a fresh instrument of Regency comprising his own nominations of +Lords Justices to be prepared: and from this revised list Marlborough +was omitted—either because he was not in England, or in consequence of a +knowledge on the part of the Elector of the double game which even now +the Duke was playing. At Hanover things seemed to be taking their usual +course; but the visit paid to the Elector early in August by his nephew, +the new King Frederick William I of Prussia, was not without its +significance. For George Lewis was already taking thought of the safety +of his Electorate in the event of his being called to England, and +welcomed the assurances of support received by him from the King of +Prussia and other German Princes. They could not know, but they might +well suspect, the secret offers of assistance which Louis XIV had made +to Queen Anne through Bolingbroke, and which the latter had contingently +accepted. It was a few days after the termination of the King of +Prussia’s visit that the news arrived in Hanover of the death of Queen +Anne on August 1st. + +----- + +Footnote 187: + + Malortie, _Der Hannoversche Hof_, &c., pp. 225 _sqq._ + +Footnote 188: + + The continuous series of the letters addressed by her youngest son, + Duke Ernest Augustus, to his friend J. F. D. von Wendt, breaks off in + November 1713. + +Footnote 189: + + He had, as Lord Cornbury, been Governor of New Jersey and New York, + where he left no honoured name behind him. + +----- + +The events which had crowded on one another between the death of the +Electress Sophia and that of Queen Anne belong, not to Sophia’s +biography, but to that of the sovereign whose Heir Presumptive was now +Sophia’s son. That this heir was a ruling foreign prince, whom no +immediate descent or early associations connected with the House of +Stewart, and whose own dealings (apart from his mother’s) with English +politicians had been to all intents and purposes entirely with Whigs, +could not but intensify the aversion from the Hanoverian Succession +entertained not only by the Jacobites but also, though in a less degree, +by those of the Tories whose political sentiments were in nearest touch +with theirs. The bonds of party union had just been drawn closer among +the Tories at large by the Schism Act, and the Church had been more +decisively than before rallied to the Government. But even so, Oxford +was still unable to make up his mind to risk everything by inviting or +allowing the Pretender to appear on English ground. Hence, not quite a +fortnight after the Electress Sophia’s death, the proclamation against +the Pretender was issued, and, a fortnight later (July 9th), Parliament +was prorogued to an early date in August. + +During the interval, it was manifest, the Queen must make up her mind +between her two chief counsellors, of whom one still thought it possible +to tack and tack about, while the other was still hoping for a wind so +strong and straight that he might drift before it into the desired port. +The Queen decided for Bolingbroke, and, on July 27th, Oxford was +dismissed from office. Bolingbroke’s moment had come, but he was unequal +to its call. Instead of bringing the Pretender to England, he thought +that even now there remained time for him to weld the Tory party still +more closely together, by means of his Church policy above all, and to +form a Jacobite Ministry that would be in readiness at the critical +moment, while in any case the Whigs must be prevented from bringing over +the Elector or the Electoral Prince in the interval. Bolingbroke and +those in his confidence were very hopeful in this their brief day of +authority; but the Whigs were more than hopeful—they were prepared.[190] +The organisation set on foot by their leaders overspread the country, +and the very symbol or token of action was agreed upon, while +Marlborough was waiting at Ostend to resume the command of the army. +And, throughout the great body of the middle classes in England—among +the Nonconformists in particular—a ready expectancy awaited the +accomplishment of the Protestant Succession. + +----- + +Footnote 190: + + The Whig ‘plot’ to which Mr. Sichel refers in his _Life of + Bolingbroke_ p. 351, as revealed by Chesterfield at a later date, + seems to belong to March 1714, when the Queen had (on the 11th) a + sudden attack of erysipelas. + +----- + +At last, and with a most extraordinary rapidity in the sequence of its +events, the end came. The malady to which Queen Anne was to succumb +announced itself on July 27th. By July 30th the anxiety had become so +grave that, at a meeting of the Cabinet and of a few Privy Councillors +not forming part of it, presided over by Shrewsbury, orders were issued +to close the ports, to hold twenty men-of-war in readiness, and to make +the Lord Mayor responsible for the safety of the City of London. On the +following day, the control of affairs finally passed out of +Bolingbroke’s hands, when, after a meeting of the whole Privy Council, +at which Bothmer and Kreyenberg were present, the Queen, in accordance +with the Council’s recommendation, placed the Lord Treasurer’s staff in +Shrewsbury’s hands. A courier was sent to Strafford at the Hague, to +remind the authorities there of the guarantee to which they were bound +by treaty; and the British troops were recalled from the Netherlands. +Early in the morning of August 1st, the Queen lay dead. Everything was +in readiness. Kreyenberg made his appearance with a box containing the +commission of the Lords Justices; and of the eighteen names included in +it thirteen were found to be those of Whigs. During the morning, Peers, +Privy Councillors, and Members of the House of Commons flocked in to +append their signatures to the proclamation notifying the death of Queen +Anne and the accession of King George. It was read by the heralds at +Charing Cross and Temple Bar, and within the City; and a few days later +the King was again proclaimed there, as well as at Edinburgh and Dublin. +The Houses of Parliament, which had assembled for formal business on the +day of the Queen’s death, four days later voted loyal addresses to her +successor. + +Bothmer, who had controlled the entire process of these +transactions,[191] had promptly despatched his secretary, Goedeke, to +carry to King George the great news of his accession. He arrived at +Hanover on the morning of August 6th, just a day after Secretary Craggs, +who brought, with other missives, a letter addressed to the Elector on +the day before the Queen’s death, and informing him that everything was +in readiness for his immediate journey to England so soon as that death +should actually have taken place. On August 8th, the Earl of Dorset—a +young Whig Lord, described, in his later days, by a severe critic as ‘a +perfect English courtier’—arrived from England with his suite, to make +the official announcement on behalf of the Lords Justices. Doubt has +been thrown on the statement that Goedeke, having reached Hanover, +communicated the news to Clarendon, who had returned from dining with +the Elector and Baroness von Kielmannsegg at her villa, Fantaisie, and +who at once bore the tidings to George I at Herrenhausen. In any case, +the formal announcement to the new King was made by Dorset on August +9th, when he was received by George in the flower-garden of the Orangery +at Herrenhausen. Inasmuch as, on that very day, the Earl of Berkeley +assumed the command of the imposing naval squadron which, a little more +than a week afterwards, anchored off the Dutch coast, there was no +reason why the new King should delay his departure. Whether, however, +because of his confidence in the circumspection of his English friends, +or because of his attachment to his Electorate, George I was in no +hurry. To be in no hurry may be accounted one of the minor virtues in a +monarch. He left Herrenhausen on the morning of August 31st, bidding +farewell to his and his mother’s favourite place of sojourn in words +which, if the court chronicler is to be trusted, betray more of +sentiment than he was in the habit of expressing, but at the same time +show him to have had no intention of breaking with the traditions of the +past. ‘Farewell, dear place, where I have spent so many enjoyable and +tranquil hours. I leave you, but not for ever; _for I hope to see you +again from time to time_.’ + +----- + +Footnote 191: + + It was Bothmer who advised the destruction of a packet of letters + found in the Queen’s private apartments by the Lords Justices and + himself, and who, during the burning of them, thought that he + recognised the handwriting of the Pretender. + +----- + +In the same spirit, George I’s departure was left unmarked by any +solemnity or ceremonial whatever. He was accompanied on his journey by +his son, with whom the death of the old Electress seems to have +furnished him with an opportunity of placing himself for the time on +seemlier terms. The Princess (Caroline of Ansbach) followed rather +later, with her children.[192] The King’s favourite brother, Prince +Ernest Augustus, remained behind in Hanover, chiefly, no doubt, in order +that he might fill the Elector’s place at the Privy Council there, and +also for the purpose of taking care of his expectations at Osnabrück, +which were realised a year later, when he succeeded to the bishopric +formerly held by his father, his elder brother, Maximilian William, +being, as a convert to Rome, left out in the cold. Six months later, the +Bishop[193] was created Duke of York. At the Hague, the royal party was +joined by Baroness von Kielmannsegg; Melusina von der Schulenburg +followed in due course. With the King were his prime minister, +Bernstorff, and Baron von Schlitz-Görz, who was to succeed Bernstorff in +the same capacity at Hanover, besides three Privy Councillors, of whom +Robethon was one, and a small Chancery staff. The chief officers of the +Hanoverian Court, and a fairly ample household, including ‘Mr. Mehmet +and Mr. Mustapha,’ live remembrances of the King’s Turkish campaigns, +raised the royal retinue to the moderate total of something less than +one hundred persons. + +----- + +Footnote 192: + + So late as a fortnight after Queen Anne’s death, the Duchess of + Orleans mentions a report that the English people were quite contented + to have George I for their King, but on condition that the Electoral + Prince should never be his successor. Probably, Elizabeth Charlotte’s + personal prejudices inclined her to give credit to this ridiculous + rumour; for she is unable to forego the opportunity of alluding to + George Augustus’ ‘ill ancestry.’—O. von Heinemann, _Geschichte von + Braunschweig und Hannover_, vol. iii. p. 228, mentions, without + reprobating, the mendacious ‘Court scandal,’ explaining the quarrel + between father and son by a supposed passion of the former for his + daughter-in-law! + +Footnote 193: + + His letter describing his early days in his episcopal city gives a + delightful picture of still life. ‘I have allowed myself the pleasure + of taking a walk along the ramparts, in which all the small boys of + the town have accompanied me.’ + +----- + +Bolingbroke afterwards asserted that King George, though he had quitted +Hanover in the apparent resolution of leaving the Tory Government in +England unmolested, had during his stay in Holland, in consequence of +earnest importunities on the part of the Allies, and particularly of +Heinsius and some of the Whigs, come to a contrary decision. How far +this assertion, and the belief that the impeachment of the Tory leaders +was due more particularly to the inspiration of Bothmer, are correct, +the present is not an occasion for enquiring; but enough has been said +in the course of this narrative to indicate that George I was not easily +led, or easily turned. + +On September 16th, 1714, the new King of Great Britain sailed from +Oranie Polder; on the 18th he landed at Greenwich; and two days later he +held his entry into London. His Coronation took place at Westminster +Abbey on October 18th. Few men who have laid claim to so dazzling and so +elusive a prize as that which fell to his lot have maintained their +claim with so calm a resolve and so consistent a self-restraint. Whether +or not circumstances—such as an armed landing on the English coast by +the Pretender, or merely his personal appearance on English soil—might +have led to a counter-attempt on the part of the Heir Presumptive to +assert his claim to the throne in person, who shall say? And who will +lay it down whether in putting his right to the test, even at the risk +of civil war, he would have done wrong? Such a step he had not been +called upon to take; and his course of conduct had remained consistent +throughout. Although he had little personal inclination for the change +which his accession to the British throne involved, this should not +detract from the tribute due to his conduct before that accession. As +his claim descended to him from his mother, so he had inherited from her +some, though not all, of the qualities which, in her, well became the +Heiress of Great Britain. True to the friends of his House, and without +fear of its enemies, he professed no feeling which he did not entertain, +and shrank from no duty that was imposed upon him. + +The princely sense of honour to which the Electress Sophia and her son +were true in accepting the great responsibility to which they were +called by the Act of Settlement was beyond a doubt their primary motive +in meeting it. But, at the same time, they were alike fully conscious of +the significance of the cause embodied in the Protestant Succession; nor +was the triumph of that cause, to which Sophia looked forward with +hardly a thought of self, merely or mainly the fulfilment of a great +dynastic ambition. + + + + + APPENDIX A + + GENEALOGICAL TABLES + + + I. FAMILY OF FREDERICK V, ELECTOR PALATINE. + + FREDERICK V (1596-1632) m. ELIZABETH (1596-1632). + | + +-----------------------+------------------------+ + | | | + (1) (2) (3) + _Henry Frederick_ _Charles Lewis_ _Elizabeth_ + (1614-1629). (1617-1680), (1618-1680), + Elector Palatine Abbess of Herford + (1648); (1667). + m. (1) Charlotte, d. of + William Landgrave of + Hesse-Cassel; + (2) Maria Louisa, d. of + Baron Christopher von + Degenfeld. + | + By (1) | By (2) + +-----------------------+------------------------+ + | | | + _Charles_ _Elizabeth Charlotte_ Eight Raugraves and + Elector Palatine (1652-1721); five Raugravines. + (1651-1685). m. Philip Duke of + Orleans. + + +-----------------------+------------------------+ + | | | + (4) (5) (6) + _Rupert_ _Maurice_ _Louisa Hollandina_ + (1619-1682). (1620-1652). (1622-1709). + Abbess of Maubuisson + (1664). + + +-----------------------+------------------------+ + | | | + (7) (8) (9) + _Lewis_ _Edward_ _Henrietta Maria_ + (August-September (1625-1663); (1626-1651); + 1623). m. Anna Gonzaga, d. of m. Sigismund + Duke Charles of Nevers. Rákóczi, + s. of Prince + George I + of Transylvania. + + +-----------------+----------------+-----------------+ + | | | | + (10) (11) (12) (13) + _Philip_ _Charlotte_ SOPHIA _Gustavus_ + (1627-1655). (1628-1631). (1630-1714); (1632-1641). + m. Ernest Augustus, + afterwards Elector of + Hanover. + +Cf. Voigtel-Cohn’s _Stammtafeln zur Gesch. d. deutschen Staaten u. d. +Niederlande_ (1871), _Tafel_ 51. Feder, pp. 3-4, has gratuitously +shortened the lives of not less than three of the Palatine children. + + + II. DESCENDANTS OF DUKE GEORGE OF BRUNSWICK-LÜNEBURG. + + GEORGE (1582-1641) m. ANNA ELEONORA of Hesse-Darmstadt. + | + +----------+---------+-----------+---------------+ + | | | | | + _Christian | _John Frederick_ | _Ernest + Lewis_ | (1625-1679); | Augustus_ + (1622-1665); | m. _Benedicta | (1629-1698); + m. _Dorothea_ of | Henrietta_ of | m. Sophia + Holstein-Glucksburg.| the Palatinate. | of the + _George | | Palatinate. + William_ | _Sophia Amelia_ | + (1624-1705); | (1628-1670); | + m. Eleonora | m. Frederick III | + d’Olbreus. | of Denmark. | + | | | + _Sophia +-+-----+------+-------+ | + Dorothea_ | | | | | + m. George _Anna | _Henrietta | | + Lewis of Sophia._ | Maria | | + Hanover | Josepha._ | | + | | | + _Charlotte _Wilhelmina | + Felicitas_; Amalia_; | + m. _Rinaldo_ m. Emperor | + of Modena. Joseph I. | + | + +----------+--------+----------+---------+------+----+--+ + | | | | | | | + | _Frederick | _Sophia | _Christian_ | + | Augustus_ | Charlotte_ | (1671-1703). | + | (1661-1691). | (1668-1705); | _Ernest + | | m. Frederick I | Augustus_ +_George Lewis_ | of Prussia. | 1674-1728). + (_George I_) | | | + (1660-1727); _Maximilian | _Charles + m. Sophia William_ | Philip_ + Dorothea of (1666-1726). | (1669-1690). + Celle. _Frederick + | William I_ + +--+----------------+ of Prussia. + | | + _George _Sophia + Augustus_ Dorothea_ + (_George II_) (1687-1757); + (1683-1760); m. _Frederick + m. Caroline of William I_ + Ansbach. of Prussia. + + + + + APPENDIX B +CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN PRINCESS SOPHIA DOROTHEA AND COUNT KÖNIGSMARCK IN + THE ROYAL SECRET ARCHIVES OF STATE AT BERLIN + + +The original French text of the Letters which the liberal courtesy of +the authorities of the Royal Secret Archives of State at Berlin enables +me to reproduce in this place is here printed as supplied by their +copyist. The packet containing the Letters is inscribed in the +handwriting of Frederick the Great in the words of the title here +prefixed to them. The spelling of the words in the Letters, the way in +which those words are run into one another, and the sequence of the +Letters, have (except in one instance in which there had been an evident +misplacement of manuscript) been left as they stand in the transcript. +The words ciphered in numbers, whether in whole or letter by letter, +have been deciphered—each deciphered word, whether proper or common, +being distinguished by italics. The nicknames (or designations applied +to particular persons by the writers of the letters, in accordance with +a mutual understanding between them) are left as they stand; their +equivalents, so far as known, being mentioned at the end of this +introductory note. + +An English translation is appended, in which an attempt has been made, +besides assigning the Letters to their respective writers, to supply +dates, where possible, to those which are undated, and to place them in +their probable chronological sequence. This attempt is based in the main +on a comparison of the Berlin with the Lund Letters. It could not be +carried very far without establishing beyond all possibility of doubt +the fact that the two series form an organic whole, and that each of +them proves incontestably the genuineness of the other. A few brief +notes have been added, identifying names of persons or places, where +this could be done. + +The original (French) letters are numbered consecutively (1-34); the +English versions are arranged so far as possible chronologically, and +numbered so as to correspond with the originals (F 1-F 34). + +Nothing is actually known as to the way in which the Berlin Letters, +whose number is less than one-tenth of that of the Letters preserved at +Lund, came into the hands of King Frederick II of Prussia, the son of +Sophia Dorothea’s daughter and namesake and of her consort King +Frederick William I. It is proved by fragments of the proceedings for a +divorce against the Electoral Princess that letters which had passed +between the lovers had been seized already in the course of the two +months (May and June, 1694) preceding the disappearance of Königsmarck, +and had thus come to the knowledge of the Electoral Government. (One of +the letters here printed shows how apprehensive the guilty pair had been +of such an occurrence.) + +In Cramer’s _Memoirs of Countess Maria Aurora Königsmarck and the +Königsmarck family_ (1837), a book which, notwithstanding the addition +of a great deal of second-hand matter, is beyond a doubt largely based +upon original documents, will be found an apparently authentic report of +Auditeur Rüdiger (dated July 1, 1695). He states that after +Königsmarck’s disappearance on July 1, 1694, a certain von Metsch (who +was married to the sister of Eleonora von dem Knesebeck, and had served +as intermediary at some stages of Königsmarck’s secret correspondence +with the Princess) was frequently in the company of Königsmarck’s +secretary, Hildebrandt. In reply to an enquiry from the latter, Metsch +stated that on the Count’s journey to Dresden he had seen in his +possession a packet of letters tied together with yellow ribbon in a +little box, of which the Count took particular care. This packet, by +Hildebrandt’s advice, Metsch now sent unopened by the hands of a servant +to Celle. If this statement is correct, there is much probability in the +conjecture that these were some of the letters which found their way to +the sisters of Königsmarck, and ultimately into the library at Lund. + +Two days later, again according to the statement of Rüdiger, who had it +from Hildebrandt, the latter was ordered by an official personage +(Secretary Zacharias) to open Königsmarck’s apartments for a thorough +examination of them and of all the furniture. In the course of the +examination of the Count’s bedroom (_Cabinet_) Rüdiger was called to +summon a locksmith to open the writing-table; but during the actual +opening of it he remained in an ante-room. After this the rooms were +sealed up, and the flow of talk began. + +Possibly this was the way in which the Hanoverian Government obtained +possession of the letters which, in the opinion of Leibniz, brought home +conviction of Sophia Dorothea’s guilt to her parents at Celle; though +after the divorce the Elector Ernest Augustus refused either to allow +the letters to be kept at Celle, or to have them burnt _instanter_. In +any case, there would thus be no difficulty in accounting for the +preservation of evidence which could afterwards be sent by the +Hanoverian court to that of Berlin, in order to convince Sophia +Dorothea’s daughter, who is said to have desired the liberation of the +‘Duchess of Ahlden’ from her imprisonment, of her unhappy mother’s +guilt.[194] + +----- + +Footnote 194: + + In the above, which it will be observed hardly passes out of the + region of conjecture, I have followed the argument of Dr. G. R. + Geerds, comparing Cramer as to the basis of fact. + +----- + +I subjoin so much of Count Schulenburg’s key to designations and +numerical ciphers for names, as applies to the Berlin Letters; it is +supplemented in their case by Dr. Geerds and myself: + + 100 = Elector (Duke) of Hanover. + 101 = Duke of Celle. + 102 = Electoral (Hereditary) Prince (George Lewis). + 103 = ? Fieldmarshal Podewils. + 112 = Prince Maximilian. + 120 = Königsmarck. + 200 = Electress (Duchess) of Hanover. + 201 = Electoral (Hereditary) Princess (Sophia Dorothea). + 202 = Countess Platen. + 214 = Fräulein von dem Knesebeck. + 227 = Duchess of Celle. + 300 = Hanover. + 301 = Luisburg. + 305 = Celle. + + La Romaine = Electress (Duchess) of Hanover. + Le Reformeur = Electoral (Hereditary) Prince. + L’Incommode = Electoral (Hereditary) Prince. + Le Pédagogue = Duchess of Celle. + Le Grondeur = Duke of Celle. + La Boule = Electress of Brandenburg (Sophia Charlotte). + L’Innocent = Prince Ernest Augustus. + Léonisse = Electoral (Hereditary) Princess (Sophia Dorothea). + Le Cœur Gauche = Electoral (Hereditary) Princess (Sophia Dorothea). + La Confidante = Fräulein von dem Knesebeck. + La Marionette = A sister of Landgrave Ernest Lewis of + Hesse-Darmstadt. + +The titles ‘Elector,’ ‘Electoral Prince,’ ‘Electoral Princess,’ could +not have been formally used until after the date of the Electoral +Investiture, December 19, 1692. (Cf. Königsmarck’s sarcastic letter +_ap._ Wilkins, p. 258.[195]) Before the Investiture the titles were +‘Duke,’ ‘Hereditary Prince,’ and ‘Hereditary Princess,’ and these +designations have accordingly been adopted in the original and in the +translated letters belonging, or held assignable, to earlier dates. + +----- + +Footnote 195: + + The edition of _The Love of an Uncrowned Queen_ edited by me is the + revised edition of 1903. Dr. Robert Geerds’ article, as already + stated, appeared in the _Beitrag zur Allgemeinen Zeitung_ for Friday, + April 7th, 1902. + +----- + +Wilkins (p. 218, note) thinks that La Marionette was ‘probably a +Princess of Hesse.’ Her brother is said (by Sophia Dorothea) to be ‘with +the army,’ and by Königsmarck to be ‘near’ Sophia Dorothea, also at +Wiesbaden, and ‘in his own country.’ The only Princess of Hesse whom +these indications would fit would be one of the three surviving elder +sisters of Landgrave Ernest Lewis of Hesse-Darmstadt, who served under +Margrave Lewis William of Baden. They were Magdalena Sibylla, Duchess +Dowager of Würtemberg, Maria Elizabeth, Duchess of Saxe-Römhild, and +Sophia Maria, Duchess of Saxe-Eisenberg. + +The above list leaves unexplained the following numerical ciphers used +in the Berlin Letters: 20, 110, 127, 131, 307, 308, 2000—seven in all, +as against sixteen left unexplained by Dr. Geerds. Resort is now and +then had in these Letters to the extraordinary notion (it can hardly be +called a cipher) of disguising a word in a crowd of _jllj_’s or +_illy_’s, thus: + + _jlljlandjlljgrajllivejlli_ = landgrave. + +The letter-key, with which a large proportion of the words in the +Letters have been deciphered at Berlin, is as follows: + + 22 = a 41 = n + 24 = b 42 = o + 25 = c 45 = p + 27 = d 46 = q + 29 = e 47 = r + 30 = f 50 = s + 32 } = g 51 = t + 37 } 53 = { u + 33 = h { v + 35 = i 54 = { v[196] + 31 = j[196] { w[196] + 37 = l 55 = x + 39 = m 56 = y + 50 = z + +----- + +Footnote 196: + + See letter F 16 below. + +----- + + + + + LETTRES D’AMOUR DE LA DUCHESSE + D’ALLEN AU CONTE KÖNIGSMARC + + + 1 + + _Princesse héréditaire_ a bien jmpatience de sauoir si _Königsmarck_ + est _arivé_ hereusement il sest passé bien des choses que _Princesse + héréditaire écrit sur le feuillet qui est tout blanc_ ie ne peus me + consoler _d’avoir si tost perdu Königsmarck_ labsence en paroist mille + fois plus cruelle ie suis _abatue_ a ne pouuoir me _soutenir l’exes + des plaisirs_ et la douleur de ne plus uoir ce que j’aime me mette en + cét estat quil est cruel de _se separer_ de uous uous estes le plus + aimable de tous les homme plus on uous uoit plus on uous descouure de + charme que ie suis heureuse d’estre aimée de vous et que ie connois + bien tout mon bonheur tout ma felicité + + la continuation + dépend de cette tendresse charmante + + si elle uient a me manquer ie ne ueus plus uiure uous me tenez lieu de + tout et tout le monde ensemble ne mest rien ie souhaitte que uous + soyez aussi content de moi que ie le suis de uous uous mauez enchantée + et ie me sens plus tendre que jamais sojez de meme et il ne manquera + rien a mon bonheur ie ne uous dirai point que toutes les actions de ma + uie uous marqueront mon attachement uous deuez en estre persuadé et le + tems uous fera connoistre que ie ne ueus uiure que pour uous + _Princesse héréditaire part demain_. + + J’ay donne ordre a 220 de m’envoier vos lettre par _nienb_. + + 2 + + _Brockhausen._ Jeudi 22 Juin. + + _Princesse héréditaire ariva hier au soir_ elle est contente du + _Duchesse de Celle_ ie ne doute point quelle ne fasse tout ce que lon + voudra _Duc de Celle_ est bien plus difficile ie nai point encore eu + de vos nouuelles dont ie suis bien triste ie me flate pourtant quil ne + sest rien passé puis que ie nai rien apris _Duc de Hanovre va lundi a + Hanovre_ cela sest _resolu hier_ si ie lauois seu plustost _ie ne + serois pas partie_ et iaurois peu uous uoir encore quelque jours ie + suis persuadée quil a attendu Expres et cela me donne un urai dépit + car ie hais plus que la mort tout ce qui ueut mesloigner de uous jl + faut estre bien malheureux pour passer la uie comme je le fais + cependant ie ne voi point de fin a mes peines iai fait milles + reflexions hier seule dans _ma chaise_ qui mont desesperée ie ne + saurois penser que ie vai estre tout un mois sans vous voir sans une + douleur mortelle toutes _les mesures_ quil _me faut garder_ me ... ie + ne saurois me passer de uous ie ne uoudrois uoir que uous dans le + monde cependant ie ne uous uoi point jl faut a tous momens men separer + jl mest impossible de uiure dauantage dans cette contrainte elle me + desespere ma passion augmente tous les jours ie ne sai ce que uous + mauez fait mais vous mauez enchantée la derniere fois que ie vous ai + ueu et ie ne uous ai jamais aimé auec tant dardeur que ie le fais jl + est seur que uous me ferez tourner la teste jai fait hier une chanson + et cela me fait uoir que lamour fait des miracles ie ne saurois + mempecher de uous la dire cest sur lair dans mon malheur ... + + sans mon ... tout le monde mennuye + luy seul fait mon bonheur et mes plaisirs + il est lunique charme de ma uie + et en luj seul ie borne mes desirs + + cest mon coeur tout seul qui parle jespere que ie nen demeurerai pas + la et quauec le temps ie pourrai uous le disputer 101 [or 201] va + mardi a _Celle_ cest pourquoi ne mescriuez plus que ie ny sois + _Duchesse de Celle_ a promis _au pauve 2000 escus si Prince + héréditaire ne revient poit_ cela redouble mon amitié _Princesse + héréditaire_ a parlé hier a _Luisburg_ a 110 il en a cherché loccasion + cest pour lexhorter a ne _doner aucune prise a ses ennemis_ et a se + défier sur tout de _Comtesse Platen Princesse héréditaire_ la fort + prié de lauertir de tout ce qui la regarderoit jl lui a promis ie ne + say si tout cela ne regarde point _Königsmarck_, ie ne saurois vous + parler que de la douleur ou ie suis destre si loin de uous ne uous + consoler point de mon absence ie uous en conjure et najez point de + joye que ie ne sois auec uous grand dieu quel charme et quels delices + destre toujours auec uous plus on uous void plus on uous trouue au + dessus de tous les hommes du monde je ne suis occupée que du souuenir + charmant de la derniere fois que ie uous ai ueu jl ne sortira jamais + de ma memoire ha mon cher enfant que uous estes tendrement aimé et + quil mest jnsuportable de ne uous point voir je vai me mettre au lit + jespere que mes songes uous representeront aussi charmant que uous + lestes si ie ne crojois uous uoir en dormant ie ne uoudrois point + dormir du tout car tant que ie suis esueillée uous moccupez + entierement et ie nai dagreable dans ma uie que le tems que ie passe a + penser a uous bon soir le plus aymable de tous les hommes uous estes + adoré et uous le serez toute ma uie adieu encore une fois pourquoi ne + suis je _pas entre vos bras_ jen mourrois. + + mecredi _Princesse héréditaire_ a esté a table et parla a 110 ensuite + a _Feltma_ elle _ariva tard Prince Max_ la _receut_ et _lui dona la + main_ elle lui a parlé fort peu _Duc de_ Celle vint dans la chambre + _Prince Max_ ny entra point du tout _Duchesse de Celle_ estoit allé + _au devant dele_ et reuint tard car elle ne trouua point _Princesse + héréditaire_ on soupa ensuite _Princesse héréditaire Duchesse de + Celle_ et _Duc de Celle_ out esté ensemble tous seuls _Duchesse de + Celle_ mene Princesse électorale _chez elle_ et personne ny a mis le + pied. + + + 3 + + Que ne soufertong cant jl faux se separrer de vous, tous les tourmens + du monde, ne pove pas tans faire soufrir, mais je me remais de mon + schagrein, puisque vous voules que je ne dois poins avoir de la + jalousie, je vous avoue qui laÿ difisile, dan avoir poin cant on aÿt + elonjé, de l’objaÿ que lon adore, mais mon anje vous m’aves tans + promis de garder unne bonne condouite que je me fie à vous, et je vous + pos assurer que dans se moment je suis san jalousie, mais non san + schagrein, et vostre depars me schagrine plus que jamais je ne + comprens pas se que je deviendraÿs a lafein, je say bien que je ne pos + pas toujour aistre à vostre veue, et sepandans, je san que tros que je + ne peus plus me separer de vous, vojes en quelle étas vos bos sieux + mon mis. je vous énvois la copie de la lestre dong je vous aÿ parlée + sait most en most comme l’orriginal, je vous demande pardong de la + main barbouliose dong je me suis servis, je lay fais copié par mon + page, qui ne saÿ se qui l’ecrist. M. Gor ma fais un compliment de la + par de la Deuschaise d’Essenack elle ma fais dire que quois que j’avas + éviter de luis parler, elle monstreray qu’elle sonje plus a moÿ que je + ne sonje à Elle, je vous jureraÿ que se compliment ma pas fais + solement plaisir, aux contraire il me fasche quelle me la fais faire + je ne suis poin sortis de ma schambre toust auxjourduis et je crois + que je feraÿ demaime demain; mande moÿ pour me consoler comme vous + vous governes et can vous seraÿ de retour, je mor dannuis et de + schagrein si je ne vous vois pas bientos; adieux mon Emable coeur, + sonjes à vostre fidail amang et ne l’oblie pas parmis tous saite foule + de monde, éncor unnefois adieux + + jodis à 12 hor apres minuit mon mal de + postrine me continue mais je naÿ point + eus de fiavre. + + + 4 + + jodis + + il me fallais vostre lestre pour me soutenir dans le desespoir aux + j’aistois, voila se que saÿ cant on agit auxvertement et si vous mavié + pas parlé de ... je crois que je nauraÿ peus tenir plus longtemps, je + me suis pourtang gouverné forbien, et j’ay voulus auxparavang savoir, + se que vous me dirie, et je me suis point émporté, sassché dong que je + fus aventhier à Linde, Mad: la Comtes: aitois fort étonné que je ne + jouaÿ avec vous, je luÿ dis qui fallaist avoir permission, elle disaÿ + Mad: Leonis m’à fais demander á l’Elect: et j la repondus positivement + quelle pouvaÿ bien faire venir ses jouors, hiair avang que de resevoir + la vostre, ji su par oberg qui avois veus M. Weÿ à Linde que S: Alt: + vous l’aves dis a vous maime, le Preince Ernest august me dist avec + ses mos, que M. l’Elect: vous avois dis, vous vous ennujé Mad: jl faux + faire venir vos jouors, j l’auraÿ depandu de vous, si jl vous l’avois + dis de la sorte, mais Mad: je fus bien soulagé, can je lus la vostre, + aux vous me parlié de sait affaire, j’aÿ fais ma moralle, qui ais de + ne me jamais plus énborté sur des vapors, mes ma divine, pourié vous + poin nous laisser venir, afein que j’ aÿe la joÿ de vous regarder et + que mes sieux et mon coeur puisse apprendre des vostres comment je + suis avec os, et si vostre passion aÿ telle comme vous me l’ecrivie la + vostre d ihair aÿ scharmont, an suis si tousché que je me san plus + enflamée que j’amais. vous dite que vous ne voje personne, cela aÿ le + plus obligan du monde, mais vous vojes autang plus le Ref: ses qui me + fais craindre que vous vous acoutumeraÿ pos à pos à ses médiocres + carraisses et jl vous émbrasseras si souven que je more de schagrein + dÿ sonjer solement, pour lamour de vous maime, ne vous ÿ accoutumes + pas, sonje toujours de qu’elle mainere j vous traite, vous qui merites + tous les manieres honeste, obligant et respectouose, mais je vois le + defos daustruis es je ne vois poin que sait en cela que je suis le + plus criminel, vous m’aves dis vous maime que le Re: en ... en de + temps n’avois pas eus les maniere si disobligante que moÿ, je more dÿ + sonjer, que je suis malhoros de vous aimer si tendremens et que saite + passion si éxtraordinare, me rans si odieux, ne sonjé plux aux passé + je vous en conjure, adieux, adieux, helas adieux. + + + 5 + + je suis bien à plaindre, et mon malhor me persecuste tros pour pouvoir + l’endurer plus longtemps, les laistres d’yair nous donne poin + d’esperanse que le Ref: puisse partis, et san se depar je ne puis ni + dois vous voir, qu’elle cruelle destiné, oh malhor insuportable appres + des schoque si terrible poje éncor respiré, la vie me devien + insuportable, je ne puis, ni ne dois plus aistre aux monde, car qu’i + ferage sans vous voir, j’ay eus auxjourduis dos malhor dong le dernie + me paraist à présang le plus cruel mes le premié pos devenir le plus + terrible, je me suis brulje ave nostre vieux bon homme, et Gor aussÿ, + et comme jl vous à dis, si je redisaÿ a sos de qui S. Alt: aÿ mal + contemps, jls seraÿs bien étonné, san ma passion je saÿ le partis que + j’aÿ à prandre, mais ma schere comme je vous aÿ promis de ne rien + faire san vostre consentemens, je vos vous en faire pars auxparavang, + mon dessein aÿ de luÿ ecrire, et luÿ dire que j’aistois for fasché que + mon devoir mavoit éngagé dans unne dispute, avec la personne du monde + que j’honore le plus, mais comme j’avois pris garde aux mos qu’il + m’avois dist jÿ aÿ observé qu’il disaÿt (si je redisaÿ à tous sos de + qui nostre maistre aÿ mal contemps, j lian auraÿ beaucoup de detrompé, + je crus que vost: Exce^{ḷḷ} ne le prandras pas mal, si je luy priaÿ + d’avoir la bonté de m’avertis soux main, si j’aÿ assaÿ de malhor à + deplair à Monsg: L’Elector, afein que je puisse prandre mon partis, + car jusques ici, je lay servis que par affection, et sans aucun + intaeraÿ, aÿ si j’avois le malhor d’aistre mis mal dang son Esprit, jl + me serais impossible de le plus servir) voila a pos praÿ se que je + vousdraÿ luÿ mander, saschong vostre avis, je pos vous assurer que + j’aÿ veus positivement dans son émportement que cela s’adraissait à + moÿ, j’admire ma passianse, et je ne puis pas comprandre comme j’aÿ + fais pour me possedé, car j’avois forsouvang en beausche de luÿ dire, + se que je vos luÿ ecrire; Le segon malhor aÿ bien plus schagrinang, + j’aÿ veus vos fenaistres auxvertes, le Ref: sortais de vostre + garderobe san vous j voir, quois que j’aÿ parlé assaÿ hos, passé et + repassé, mais rien lon j vojaÿ ame vivante, je crois comme j laistois + tars vous fute deja sche la Romaine je seraÿ inconsolable, si je + n’avois l’ésperanse à vous voir se soir à 6 hors a quois suje reduis, + je conte pour le plus grans bonhor du monde à vous voir de mille pas, + Effectivement jl me seras dunne grande consolation, si je puis avoir + se plaisir; seluÿ de vous écrire m’ais bien schaire, et ji ne donneraÿ + pas pour un Rauxjomme, je crains que ma Diabolique destinée, m’en + priveras, say seraÿt pour maschevée, je vous conjure prenes si bien + vos messure que cela ne nous pos manquer, vous saves, j’aispaire par + vous maime que lon ne saurais vivre san cela, helas pourquios ne suje + pas Reden aux Hortanse tandis que vous aites la niporte si vous me + haisié, j’auraÿ pourtang la joÿ de voir selle que j’adore; sai nostre + passion qui nouis éloinje lun de laustre, san mon amour, je seraÿ + partous aux vous aites, mes puis que je vous aime, je suis en meschang + credis l’on me regarde pas, l’on mauxblie, mais n’importe, q’on me + crage aux née je m’en fercheraÿs pas. + + + 6 + + dimanje: + + auÿ Mad: je soufriraÿ pour vous, puisque vous me l’ordonnes, mais can + serage assay horos de me voir aux poin aux j’aspire, sait éntre vos + bras que je vos dire, mais can aurage saite satisfaction, je pair tous + l’ésperanse, car de la maniere que cela vas, je m’én pos pas flatté, + j’én pair lespris et si je vous écris, san rime ni raison, ne vous en + prenes pas à moÿ, say, le desespoir aux je me trouve, si vous ne croje + pas je vous prie de regarde ses poils que j’aÿ fais tire de ma taiste + se matein, je ne pos pas vous assurer qu’elle me song venus saite + nuis, mais je pos vous juré qui lia 8 jours, qui li en avois pas, + croje moÿ que mon desespoir ay grans, et que mon schagrein ait + extraime, je demore pour l’amour de vous, j’hasarde honor reputation + et émbisiong, car puis que je ne vas pas en campanje, qu’es que lon + dira de moÿ, et pourquois aise que je l’hasarde, saÿ pour ne vous poin + voire, je suis venus a saite éxtremité, qu’il faux que le veinque aux + que je mors, emploÿe dong vos forse auxprais le Gro: sais qui pos nous + sauver uniquement aÿ j’appelle sas veincre, je vos absolument vostre + ordre, se que je dois faire, demorer à Hanno. de la sorté ait inauÿ, + car appres trois semaine vous iraÿ avec le Gron. que ferage allors + dans un lieux aux vous naite pas, je vous prie d’ÿ faire reflextion, + et appres cela ordonnes, je suis prait à vous montrer avec mon + obeïssansse que ma passion n’écouste poin de raisong. vous vojes à + quois vous m’aves reduit, car je vous sacrifie mon Ambition qui aÿ la + solle schose, que j’usques ici j’avois conservé, vojes aux vas ma + passion, j’ugé dans quelle aitas je me trouve, ne me rouiné pas de + fons en comble, saÿe plus abitios que mois, et éncourages un amang qui + n’én à plus. je vous feray pitié si vous connaissié bien les + schagreins qui m’acable. je vois bien le vostre aÿ ses qui me tue, car + quois que nous sajons bien énsemble, nous laisong pas que d’avoir du + schagrein, aÿ voila un mal san remaide; la solle consolation aÿ de + jouer avec vous, mes le plaisir de vous regarder mais poin permis car + tantos, la =shwarß gesicht= tanstos l’innossang tantos un + austre des filjes vien nous observé, tous cela aÿ pour en mourir, + consolé moÿ je vous en conjure, aux je me desespaire et ma + desesparation pouraÿ m’énporter à me servir des remaide indigne d’un + honest homme, vous m’attendes bien, mais mad. cant on aÿ dans le + Labourint comme je suis, jl nia blus d’honnesté et plus de confianse, + j laÿ bong de fenir aux je m’énporteray davantaje. + + + 7 + + a 1 hor de nuit + + Le bon homme aÿ revenus de la conferanse et ma faÿ ranvojer les + Dragons de lordonanse sans ordre, saÿ pourquois je crois que nous + raisterons éncor saite semainne et comme je vas demain diner sché luÿ + je sauray qu’elque schose, dong je vous feraÿ aussitos pars + énattandang prepare vous a éxecuter se que vous trouveraÿ ici jointe; + _l’Électrice_ a etté a _linde_ faire _promener Comtesse Platen_, Le + Comte de Stenbock que vous aves veus ici j lia 7 ans voulais faire la + reveranse, comme aussi le Comte Delagardy, je laÿ mennay la, et je + trouvaÿ la bonne Piesse, _eschoie_, et le _fahr_ qui _coulai_ de tous + costé, _elle_ fus si decontenansé de voir arrivé tans d’éstrangé, + qu’elle fus toust a fais confus, le partis qu’elle pris aitois le + meiljor, car elle se _retira_, aussitos, pour se remaistre en _ordre_, + j lia bien de la malisse à _l’Électrice_, et elle pos pas se vanier + mieux. Sonjes je vous en conjure à _venir_ et crojaÿ que san vous + _voir_, sait aistre morte, et je m’étonne comme mong destein m’aist si + cruel a me laisser sur vire tous ses malhors, mais si je ne vous _vois + bintos_ j nia ni guerre ni danger que je n’alje scherscher pour + abrejer mes jours malhoros; je more de honte de naistre pas mors déjà, + comment cela sacordetil de vous aimer eperduement, sans vous _voir_ ni + san vous parler, et vivre encor, je crois que mon _foutus_ destein, me + preserve, pour me schagriné davantage; vous pouves sol me tiré de ma + desperation, _venez vite_ me consoler, aux je ferais un cous de + desespoir dong je me repantiraÿ de ma vie, car la vie que je maine + m’aist insuportable, je la haÿ a la mors, j’en suis las, et ne le pos + plus suporté; je vousdraÿ que la foudre ecrasa tous sos qui énpesche à + nous _voir_, et à joindre nos fos, pardonne à mon amportement que la + tros violante passion me cause, jl me semble, que si je ne _dois_ voir + se que _jaime_, j laÿ juste de ne poin voir le jour, je seraÿ capable + dans se moment, a Masacre Paire, Maire, Frere, et soeur, si je crojais + q’os m’émpesche de _voir_ mon _anje_. Leonis que ta bosté me couste + des tourments, tong scharme des schagreins, _venez_ me faire + _auxblier_, tous mes mos, tu le pos, par tais émbrassades, par taÿs + caraisses, et jlia que tois dans le monde capable de cela. je vous + _attang_ auvec la plus grande _impatians_ du _monde_, et ne souffres + que je dise, que vous aites promte _a partir_, et _mang_ à _revenir_ + aux L’amour vous _appemme_, j’auraÿ pourtang tor si je me plainjaÿ _du + depart_, car j laistois _tendre_ et seinsaire, mais je vous conjure, + donne mois pas l’occasion de me pleindre, du dernié adieux je + tenbrasse mille aÿ Mille fois. _Mlle. de Knesebeck_ aÿ la meljore + personne du monde, je vous prie de lui dire, l’estimme que j’aÿ pour + elle je la salue avec vostre permission. + + + 8 + + Atlenbourg 13^{me} + + Le 12^{me} j’aÿ fais se que j’aÿ fais les austres jours, sait a dire + boire manjé, et visité les poste, le 13^{me} de maime; M. le Duck de + Zelle aÿ venus nous visiter, vous vojé que je puis aisement faire mes + journos, je crois qu’il vous schoquerong gaire, car rien n’ay plus + innossang, et sos de Hanno: seraÿ de maime amoin que d’aller souper + avec les fammes ne vous deplust, se que je m’engage de laisser aussÿ, + vous assuran que saÿ la moindre éprove que je vous donneraÿ, puis que + je m’en passeraÿ fort aisement, san que vous l’ordones. Dieu volje que + je puisse vous monstres par ma condouite, que tous mes penses, tous + mes pas, ne se fong que pour vous, mais helas vous aves tans + d’jnjustice, que vous ne le voules pas voire, j’aÿ mon malhor, et saÿ + se qui me perdra un jour opres de vous. j’aÿ resu la 3^{me} Lestre + daté le 5^{me} d’ans, 8 jours appres selle marqué 4, je ne conprans + pas dous vien se delaÿ, mais je say bien, qui laÿ danjeros qu’elle + demore si lon temps en schemein. je ne suis pas satisfais de vous et + la meschante oppinion que vous aves de moÿ comme si je vous neglijaÿ, + me schoque beaucoup, je sonje nouit aÿ jour qu’a vous, il me vien poin + d’austre pensé dan l’ésprit, et sepandans, je vous oblie je vous + neglige, je souis un inconstang, aise que je merite ses titres sajes + en le juge vous maime. pouves vous m’accuser de ne vous plus aimer, + aitil passible que s’aÿ Leonis qui le croist et qui me reproche, + grandieux que vous aite plain d’injustice, et que vous me faite gran + tor, je vous aimes à la follie, je vous adore san égale, ma passion + surpasse tous les autres et sepandans vous douté de tous cela, vostre + coeur parle gaire en ma favor, j’aÿ raison de me plaindre de luÿ, saÿ + se coeur Barbare qui dois parlé pour, et saÿ luÿ qui m’accuse, je laÿ + veus tendre pour mois mais pos à pos tous sette tendresse ait évanouÿ, + ne revindratil poin à luÿ maime, faiste luÿ des reprosches de ma par; + Le mien vous assure unne éternelle attachement, jl vous jure qui vous + sera constang, et pourvos que vous dainje à sonjer à louis tous les 24 + hores unnefois, j laÿ Contemps, meritil vostre souvenir je crois que + sÿ, mais sait à vous d’en juger. Si j’aÿ jamais le malhor de ne vous + plus aimer (qui ait un chose impossible) vostre souhaÿ me punira par, + car je vous jure, que je ne schergeraÿ plus de fidellite, et quois que + selle d’apresan mais plus schaire que ma vie, j’en vousdraÿ jamais + d’austre, souvene vous se q’un sertain Espanjol à dis, je ne vos pas + m’éncanaliser, j’apelle cela éncanaliser si je quitaÿ le plus parfait + objaÿ de l’univair pour qu’elque austre, la qu’elle ne poura jamais se + comparer en la ... + + + 9 + + vendredis à 8 hor du soir + + dans se moment je vien de resevoir unne lestre trais grande et comme + je le demande de _Princesse électorale_ je naÿ pas eus le loisir de la + lire, crainte que la poste ne par, et san vous assurer qu’elle joÿ + elle ma faite can je laÿ resu; Le bon homme vas demain à _Engsen_, à + son retour je sauraÿ ma destinée, se que je feraÿ dabor savoir a + _Princesse électorale_; je ne fais que des vos pour ne poin marscher + afein que je puisse émbrasser selle que j’adore, et pour la quelle je + moureraÿ mille aÿ millefois Croje de mois que je vous adore de la + maniere la plus violante du monde, plust aux siel davoir les aucasion + à vous le bein monstre, je n’obliraÿ pas un moment, pour vous en bien + persuader, quelle satisfaction seraÿ la mienne si par mon obeissanse + je pouraÿ vous monstrer combien je vous aistime, et quelle plaisir je + prans à aistre vostre éternelle Esclave adieux mon incomparable Leonis + que je te Baiseraÿ petiste. + + K. + + + 10 + + Samdÿ. + + j lait aisé à juger avec qu’elle satisfaction j’aÿ leus vostre + tres-scharmente lestre, jl me la vallaÿ telle pour me tirer unpos de + la profonde reverie aux mes malhors, et _labsense_ ma plonjé, elle aÿt + grande tendre et comme je la souhaite, n’en écrives poin de plus + petiste, cela vous dois soulager, et je vous jure qu’a mois aussÿ, + vous ne les sauries faire assaÿ amples Vostre passion m’ais si + agreable, que j’aÿ aucun plaisir dans _labsanse_ que de la voire + peinte sur du papié, je conserve vos lestres comme la schose du monde + la plus pressiose puis qu’elle me consolle de tous mes disgraces; j + vojan que vous jure de maimér, à maistre fidaille, et a me jamais + abandonner, que poje souhaiter plus de vous, vous voje dong que je + suis tous à fais contemps de vous, je vous conjure de l’aistre aussi + de mois et de me poin inputer que vous ne reseves pas regoulierement + tous les poste de mes lestres, j’aÿ injoré un jour qui aÿ le + _dimansche_, mais comme j’an suis informé mon éxactitude vous feras + connaistre que j’aÿ pesché fauxte de le savoir mieux, et la neglijance + me vien pas des schagreins que j’aÿ, sait allors que je sonje le plus + a vous car vous me serves de consolation et le plaisir de penser à + vous surpasse tous austres plaisirs que je connaisse Jdolo mio, can + aurage la joÿ de te tenir íntre mes bras, n’aisse pas pour desesperer + un Catong, que de voir que vous pouves _venir_, si _Prince Max_ ne + l’anpeschaÿ pas, mais quois que l’anvie de vous _voir_, me fist passer + ma jalousie et que je vous priai, de venir combien de temps pourage + aistre avec vous, postaitre que dos jours et appraÿ je vous voiraÿ + parmis des jans qui nous haisse, et d’austre qui volle sinsinuer, ne + croje pas mon Ange que ma jalousie, me vien de la movaise oppinion que + j’ay de vous, se seraÿ tros criminelle mais elle me vien de la + violanse de ma passion, ainsi je me flatte que vous m’excuseraÿ + toujours can saite follie me prans; que ne vous doige poin que vous + prené tang de paine à me guerir de tous mes soupsons vos journos me + console, vostre sermang me fait auxblié tous que j’avois dans la + servelle, ha que ne _suige auxprai_ de _vous_ je me jaiteraÿ à vos + pié, vous remersier de tous le soin que vous prenes à me randre horos + et contemps, je suis persuadé de vostre bonne intasion, je ne doute + pas de vostre fidailite, et je vois tres bien que si vous gouvernie la + fortunne, tans d’inconvenian n’arriveraÿ pas comme je pouraÿ + postaistre recevoir ordre de marcher à Lunen: mande mois si je ne puis + passer a _Celle_, san donner de lombrage si _vous ni aitte pas_ la + bien seanse le demande, mais apresan je ne saÿ se que je dois faire La + reponse de la Boulle, ayt assaÿ pican et elle merite bien unne + reponse, dans la quelle jl ne faux pas éparnier la _musique_. je ne + saÿ si je me trompe mais en relisang 11^{me} lestre je ne le trouve + pas si tandre ni si sainsaire que la 10^{me} mande mois si je me + trompe, la 10^{me} aÿ scharmente elle marque unne veritable passion + que vous aves eus en l’écrivang, pour lamour de mois, saje toujous de + la sorte, et me faite poin apersevoir de la froidor, que je fais pour + le merité, dite le mois, afein que je me puisse excuser. aise + postaistre que vous trouve pas tendre que je vous prie pas de _venir_, + mais songes se qui m’émpesche de le faire si vous le voules pourtang + je vous en priraÿ mais je seraÿ postaistre 2 jour ici et puis vostre + voisein aura le schang libre jl vous à aimé, ai maime jl vous a pas + étté indifferang, je le crains toujour quois qui laÿ gaire à craindre, + mais jl soufit qui la étté sur un pié for famillié avec vous, pour + avoir juste raison de craindre son impertinanse, et maime jl seraÿ + faschos, de voir un homme aupraÿ de vous, qui pourait avoir 20 + petistrous par aux jl vous pouraÿ voir, austre que vous ne saurie dire + un most qu’il ne puisse entendre, mais tous ses raisons ne son pas + soufisang, et si j’avois l’ésperanse à demorer je vous conjureraÿ + toujour de _venir_ dans l’ésperanse que vous trouveraÿ le mojein de + vous en defaire, car san cela je ne pouraÿ vous voire, puisqu’il seraÿ + toujour en gaÿt à Espioner. Puis que je ne puis vous abandonner saÿ + pourquois je refuse tous les avantage qui se presante, je pretans vous + faire voir par la mon attachement et saÿ la mon unique but pour quois + je vous fais voire les lestres que lon m’écrivois de tous costé, crojé + pourtan caucunne avantage aÿ capable à me faire quiter ici tandis que + vous auraÿ de la bonté pour mois; je connaÿ le pouvoir d’unne _maire_ + que lon aime, et can selle vous donne loccasion jl fauxtaistre aussi + saje pour pouvoir resister, mon san se remus, can je pense que la + vostre seraÿ capable, pour se vanjer de _Prince électoral_ que vous le + _fisie coqus_ et cant jl me vien dans la taiste, si jamais vous faisié + ses caraisses, à qu’elcaustre qu’a moÿ tous mon sang se tourne dans + mes vaines et je ne puis demorer sur la plasse, tans que saite pensé + me donne de linquiettude, ah bondieux si je vous vojaÿs émbrasser + qu’elqun avec autang de passion _que vous_ me _lavez_ faite, et + _monter_ à _scheval_ avec la maime énvie, je ne vos jamais voir dieux + si je n’en devein pas fous, tenes en l’écrivang ma main me tramble aÿ + j’aÿ de la painne à poursuivre. schangon de matiere, les amis don je + vous aÿ parlé song Busch et hammerstain, l’aurié vous bien crus, se + sont os qui on mis _Prince électoral_ tous les histoire de mon jos en + taiste, mais ’aÿ écrit aux premié unne lestre, qui luÿ feras bien + connaistre sa foseté je me flatte de reschef puis que _Duchesse de + Celle_ et _Duc de Celle_ se songt accomodé, faite dong de vostre + mieuxÿ La _gaire_ ne durera pas si longtemps que cela _rouinerai_ le + _paix_, saÿ pourquois saite excuse ne pos longtemps passer pour unne + defaite, vojes si vous tiendraÿ vostre parole, puis que vous me + promaité que vous moureraÿ plusto, que de n’aistre pas _unis avec + mois_, continue dans ses santiments, et vous me rande la vie, vous + souije assaÿ schaire, que vous serié capable a tenir se que vous maves + promis, si cela aÿ, je vous jure éncor unnefois par les astres, que + rien aux monde m’éloinjeras de vous, par le lestre _ici jointe vous_ + verreraÿ comme de nouvos, lon schersche à me persuader d’Épouser la + Filje de M. Bielke, mais ma réponse à étté, que je moureraÿ plusto de + fein que de le faire et que je le priaÿ for, de me plus parlé de + mariage, car cela nous pouraÿ bruljer ensemble je me flatte que vous + seraÿ contente de ma resolution; puisque nous vojang si pos + d’apparanse à nous _voir_, il faux sonjer à des expedian, _vous le + trouveraÿ sur se biljaÿt_, je crois que cela se pouras, pour vos que + je ne parte pas, et que je vous feraÿ savoir entre ici et se temps la; + si vous voules attendre jusques à ce que _Prince Max_ sannuis, je ne + vous _voirai_ de longtemps, car cant j laÿt avec _l’Électrice_ et sa + maigre divinité, j laÿ comptemps comme un Roÿ, je n’auraÿ pas crus que + se margos m’auraÿ donné tang de schagrein, comme jl faÿ, je vousdraÿ + qui fust aux _fong_ de la _hongrie_, jl me donneraÿ plus des mos de + coeur comme jl faÿ presantement. Lon ne sauraÿ plus obligament, parlé + comme vous le faiste sur le schapistre de mourir de fein, mais croje + vous que quois qu’il meseraÿ dunne grande consolation de vous voir + toujour a mon costé, que je vousdraÿ vous antrenner dans la misaire, + non non ne le croje pas, vous deves vivre horos et comptemps + enattandans que je scherge qu’elque mors gloriose, pour abrejer mes + jours malhoros, et mourir _lament_ de _Princesse électorale_. + j’aispaire que vous auraÿ resu les dos lestres dong je vous ay parlée, + si non mande le mois, vous me feraÿ plus l’injustice de croire que + qu’elque consideration dans le monde me post detascher de vous, l’avos + ici desus vous feras voir que je moureraÿs avec mon Amour, comment + pouraitong vous quiter, car tans plus que lon vous connais tan plus + que lon vous adore, lon decouvre tous les jours des nouvelles merites, + et vostre passion aÿ sol capable à me faire plustos tranjer la taiste + que de vous abandonner, pour jamais; j’aÿ de la honte de mon pos + d’exactitude, je vous en demande pardong, saite unne foste que je vous + prie de ne point attribuer à la neglijance mes aux pos de memoir que + j’ay, mais ma divinne Leonis, avoué à vostre tour que mes lestres son + bien plus grande, et que san vous en avoir avertis, vous les aurié pas + fais si émple, schaqun à son paquaÿ, ainsi je consantiraÿ jamais que + vostre passion aÿ plus grande que la mienne, aÿ je seraÿ inconsolable + si je ne vous en avais pas donner plus des marques essansielle, car + vous pourié croire que la _vanité_, puis que vous _aite preincess_, + ferait que je m’attasche, non je vous jure si vous aitié _filie_ du + _bouro_, et que vous eusié les merites que vous possedes à presang, je + vous aimeraÿ, avec autang d’ardor, vous me trouveraÿ gaire delicas, + mais je me flatte que vous trouveraÿ mes santimens tendres; onon des + dieux continues, dans les santiments aux je vous vois, si ma disgrasse + me voulaÿ pouser si loin, que vous eusie de l’aversion pour mois, je + me donneraÿ assurement un cous de pistolaÿ ... + + + 11 + + Quo que j’avois pris la resolution de vous ecrir demain, et de vous + repondre émplement sur vois lettre que j’aÿ reçu à la fois, du 13^{me} + 14^{me} et 15^{me} je me vois privé de se plaisir, par la resolution + que le Roy à pris, d’ataquer demain l’armée de Franse, la quelle aÿt à + 2 hors de nous, le lieux se nomme Engein; Dans tout austre temps sette + nouvelle m’auraÿ donné de la joÿ, mais je vous avoue qu’a lors qui laÿ + elle me chagrinne, je suis aimée de vous l’unique objaÿ que j’aÿ + trouvé dinje d’aimer, je me suis poin trompé dans mon opinion de + croire que vous possedié, toute les Belle calité, que lon puisse + trouver aux monde, mais ma chaire je dois hasarder la vie, et + postaitre vous revoire jamais, à paine aije sus que vous aitié + innossante, et que je vous aÿ soupsonné en fos, que je vous dois + postaitre jamais plus revoir, j’aÿ hasardé ma vie sant fois, par + sottise aux par geté de coeur, et je me connaÿ assaÿ, que je saÿ que + lamors ma jamais éffrajé, mais ma divinité se que me rans poultrong aÿ + la crainte de ne vous plus revoire, adieux dong émable + jllÿdojllÿrojllÿadieuxjllÿ, que je suis a plaindre, et je suis + pourtang horos, mais je ne pos profiter de mong bonheur. ne croje + pourtang poin que vous aves un galang poltrong, non ma chaire, puis + qu’il faut aller aux combat, je mÿ comporteraÿ comme j faux, et si je + pos, j’aispaire de mi sinjaler; mais mon coeur permaitemoÿ, de vous + faire unne priaire la quelle aÿ, que si mon destein me vost assaÿ de + mal, d’aistre éstroppié, d’un bras, aux d’unne jambe, ne m’oblie poin, + et ajé unpos de bonté pour un miserable qui, à fais son unique plaisir + de vous aimer, non ma chaire ne l’oblie pas, sait un homme qui à eus + un veritable attaschemens pour vous, et qui l’auras tous le reste de + sa vie, quoÿ qu’estropié, mais sieux qui out aité charmé par les + vostres, ne les vairerongs postaire plus, je ne pos penser en cela, + sans verser des larmes, ah que je profite bien pos, d’aistre aimé de + vous, et que vous me causé bien des tourmens. jl sonne 12 hors; aux + closjé de Halle; lon apporte des balles poudre, et maisches saÿ le + prologue pour la saine que nous devons jouer demain, jl faux me rendre + à mon devoir, adieux emable enfang, ah que je suis à plaindre du cang + de Halle le 23^{me} + + + 12 + + mais Maistresse m’aurais émpesché de sonjer à vous, aux Dieux est il + possible, que vous croje cela, et si je vous avois poin écris de tous + (quo que celci est la 4^{me} lettrere) vous devries jamais avoir eus + telle penses, ce postil que vous croje que j’aime quel aut̂re que + vous, non je vous proteste qu’apres vous je n’aimeraÿ jamais plus, il + ne seras pas for difficile de tenir parolle, car appres con vous à + addorer, post on trouver d’aut̂re Famme jolie, vous vous faite tors, + decroire telle schose, et comment pourie vous faire une comparaison de + vous et les autres et se post il c’apres avoir aimé une Deessé, lon + pusse regarder les Mortels, non énverité je suis de tros bong gous, et + je ne suis poin de ses jang qui voilje s’encanailjser; je vous addore + scharmante brunetté, et je moureray avec ses sentiment, si vous + m’oblije pas, je vous jure que je vous aimeraÿ toute ma vie je n’atten + plus de vos lettres, parceque, je pretemps d’aistre bientos aupres de + vous, et mon unique occupation allors seras de vous montre, que je + vous aime à la follie, et que rien m’ay plus schaire que vos grace, + adieux, le 3^{me}/23. + + + 13 + + Crainte de ne vous pouvoir parler je prens la liberte à vous montre + mong schagring du malheur, qui vous est arrive Dieux sait que mon + coeur me la predit, mais mon companjon na schamais voulu attendre, quo + que je luÿ en aÿ pries, mais par comble de malheur jl faux que + j’éttande que mon amÿ intime à eus le plaisir avec son faschos + conpanjoin à vous éntretenir, jl me semble que j’ay beaucoup de + raisong de me plaindre des Dieuxs, puisquil sont assay injuste de + m’oter tous les mojengs à vous rendre service et én meme temps le + Donne, en main à sos de qui j’ay le plus à craindre, depuis cet + axcidemps je me suis mis en teste, des étranje schose, et je suis + assay sos de croire que l’axcidemps arrivé, hier, cet un prognostique + de mon malheur, et que cela sois le meme homme qui me coseras tous ses + schagrings cela feras que je le feraÿ observer de plus pres, à mon + absence et si j’attang la moindre schose, crojé moy en honesthomme que + je vous reverrerai jamais, et que j’vaÿ plustos scherjé le fong de la + Laplende, que de parraistre devang ses sieux qui mon scharmée. je + deteste mon companjong, car sen cela j’auray éus le plaisir de vous + servir, aux lieux que je vois cette joÿ dans le sains d’un homme, que + j’abhorre, et qui est assay impertinang de me le venir conter luy + meme, m’apprenang dans l’étas aux vous aviéz étté, vot̂re + deshabiljemen, sans cornette les schevos pandus sur votre inconparable + sain, aux Dieux je ne pos plus écrire de raje. + + + 14 + + En faisang reflextion sur la miserable condiction dans la quelle je me + trouvois lon mapporte la vot̂re pos attendu de moy, ma joy estois si + grande que j’ay oblijé d’avoir du mal, en me lensang sur la lettre + comme si rien me manques vous avez tous fais ce que je souhaites à + vous voir faire, jl reste dong à moy à vous remercier de vos bontée, + et a vous bien persuader de ma fidellite + + Jo ti saro fedele, + Ne mai ti tradiro. + Se ben mi sei crudel, + sempre t’adorero; + + si vous m’en croje pas, je suis prest à abandonner Mere, Parang, Amy, + Biens, et la Patrie, pour vous en mieux persuader, et il dependera que + de vous, si je dois faire le vojage que vous saves bien, mon malheros + étas me fournit une bonne excuse, je pouray faire le malade bien + longtemps, si vous aite d’acor avec moy je vous prie à me le mander + car je prendray mes messure ladesu, say la plus grande éprove que je + puis vous donner à présan, acceptele dong, et rende moy par la horos + car le bien de vous voire surpasse de beaucoup à Lembition que jay de + faire ma fortune, je n’an sauraÿ trouver de plus considerable et seluy + de vous posseder may si jaire que je ne fais plus de reflextion sur + tous les autres. Vous avez par vot̂re lettre tellement purifié mon + coeur que le moindre soupsong de jallosie ni reste pas, l’empressement + que vous me temoinje pour savoir l’état de ma senté, me persuade assaÿ + que vous maime pour contenter à vot̂re desir je vous diray que je + soufre éxtremement sepandang la douleur de ne vous voir poin surpasse + en beaucoup, selle de la schutte, je pouray me porter mieux en 4 jour, + mais si vous accepté ma proposition, je garderay éncor 10 jour la + chambre cela n’émpescheras pas qu’ossitos que je pouray marscher je + pouray vous embrasser aux lieux connue; pour avoir de vos nouvelles, + je crois que le plus sur mojen, est q’un de mes jangs (sur le quelle + je pos me fier).... + + + 15 + + Un autre que moy vous metteray sur l’éprove pour voire, si votre amour + vous pouseray si loin que de venir sche moy, mais moy je vous aime + trops pour vous pouvoir voire dans set hasar, et votre offre me sufit, + cepandan pour ne poin perdre l’occasion de vous voire (puisque j’aÿ si + pos de temps à rester avec vous) je viendray se soir sche vous, si + vous j consente, et jattang de vous leur du rendevous, si vous trouve + bong que je parraisse à la cour je le feray, mais sans cela poin. La + joÿ de vous revoir me fais oublier tous les schagrins que ma maladie + ma attiré, je suis aureste assay contemps de vous, sepandang je ne pos + oublier le pos d’opposition que vous faitte aux sujet de mon vojage, + ajan une bonne éxcuse pour men dedire, je ne say se que j’an dois + juger, Dieux volje solement que cette absence ne soy funeste pour moy. + Vous m’accusé que je vous aime pas assaÿ, comment pouve vous aistre si + injuste, mais je passeray se poin sans j repondre saschan bien que + vous aitte tros persuade de ma passion, qui est la plus pure que + jamais à étté, et qui dureras tandis que je viveray, je vous l’ay + contesté souven en prosse, permaite que je le fasse pour le presang en + vers. + + =So lang mein herz noch ohten spüret + Wiel ich _votre non_ lieben, + Solange sich mein blut noch rüret + Bleibt sie mir darrein geschriben, + Und sol mit meines läbens lauf + Bey mir die liebe nicht hören auf.= + + a 6 hors mon homme seras devang la schambre de la bonne bonne amÿ. + + + 16 + + Le 1^{mer} de septemb. + + Pardonnes si le schagrein et le desespoir m’a fais faire la foste à ne + vous point écrire depuis dos jour cant on aÿ dans l’état aux je souis + lon ne saÿ se que lon fais. je commenseraÿ par vous dire que j’aÿ + schangé dos schifres dans nostre Clée, qui ay, j, se marque 31/ i, se + marque 35, u, se marque 53, v, se marque 53, v, se marque 54/ je vous + d’opserver sesÿ; Appraÿ cela je vous diraÿ que vous aves marqué dos + lestres, 10^{me} ainsy que la 14^{me} devraes aistrÿ la 15^{me} mais + continues solement apresan, car j lia poin d’austre mal, que la + segonde, aux premiere 10^{me} auray peus se perdre san que lon eus + seus, solement, que lon en eus perdue unne. J’aÿ éncor à vous dire, + que je vous aÿ écrit dos lestres, adraissé, à 131, que j’aÿ crus à + _Celle_, jl faux savoir si vous les aves reseus; 3 lestres ont été + adraissé, aux _maistre de poste de Celle_ qui son daté le 20^{me} et + aÿ la 9^{me} lestre, le 26^{me} et aÿ la 12^{me} lestre elle aÿ de + _consequense_ le 30^{me} et ay la 14^{me} lestre; j laÿ bong aussÿ de + regarder si vous aves la 13^{me} lestre, je vous prie manques pas à me + repondre ici desu, vous pouves tous voir par la souite car je souis + bien sure que j’aÿ ette exacte saite fois ici. Vous seraÿ surpris de + me voire faire des reflextions pareilje, dans l’état aux je souis, mes + ma schere nous avons tant des malhors, qu’il ne faux pas s’en faire + sois maime; j’aÿ resu la vostre daté le 26^{me} mais vous saves quelle + accidans m’ayt arrivé, en prenan unne boutelje pour laustre, je vous + laÿ mandé dans mes presedantes je vois pourtang, dans vos daté 28^{me} + 29^{me} et la 30^{me} se que vous m’aves voulus dire dans la 26^{me}, + j’ay unne joÿ tres grande de vous savoir, hor _de crainte_ et je me + vos du mal d’aistre cause, de vostre inquiettude, qui a contribué + _beaucous a votre mal_; presantements que vous aites _hor de crainte_ + j’aispaire que _la fievre vous quitera aussi_; Que je vous plain + d’avoir tant soufer, _sis hors l’axaÿ_ je ne comprans pas comme _vous + aves asay_ de _forse_ à _m’ecrire_ éncor, je le reconnaÿ comme je + dois, et je souis persuadé que l’amour vous, en rang; mes a quelle + poin vous souige point obligé pour se marque de vostre tendraisse, + j’amais j’obliraÿ des telles bonté. Si mes _lestres_ avois assaÿ de + _forse_ à _soulajer vos mos_; je feraÿs en sorte que vous _en eusie_, + tous _les hores_, mes je prans se compliment pour un aiffaÿ de vostre + bonté, sepandans je pos vous jurer que les vostres me consolle + beaucoup, et san les trois derniés daté 28^{me} 29^{me} et 30^{me} je + seraÿ aux tombos à lheur qui laÿ. Se seraÿ la plus grande sottise + appraÿ tous que je pouraÿ faire, car quois que cela seraÿ tendre, je + vous perdraÿ; et vous dite forbien dans unne des vostre qu’elle + desespoir de ne se poin voir pour jamais, vivons dons énsembles, + aimons nous éternellement et jurong nous de nouvos, unne constance à + ne jamais finir, et qu’aparÿ le trepas si nous avon le sang, que cela + dois durer aussÿ; Pour vivre énsemble prenes tous les soins + imaginable, à vous _conserver_, sonjes que mon repos en depans; Si + vostre _mal continue_, j laÿ seure que je deviendraÿ fous. La fievre + rainje beaucoup ici, nous avons praÿ de 200 malades, de nos troupes + mes domestique le devienne un appraÿ l’austre, j’aÿ etté obligé, + d’anvojer mon valaÿ de chambre à Zelle, les austres sont à Lunenb: si + cela continue, le tous viendra à moÿ aussÿ. + + + 17 + + Le 3^{me} + + jaÿ pensé tumber en apoplexie can j’aÿ auver vostre lestre, san voir + vostre mains j’aispairaÿ d’attendre _que vous vous porterie mieux_, et + vous faite tous le contraire, j’ay crus du comensemens, que _saitais + fais avec vous_ ne croje pas que je souis fasché que cela ne soÿ de + vostre main, bien loin de la, je vous conjure de continuer, de la + sorte car je ne vos absoluments pas, que vous vous _fa .. ge_. je vous + plein autang q’un ... tendre aÿ passionée, le pos faire, faut il que + le plus parfaist objaÿ de l’univair soufre _si cruellament_, Dieuxs + pour quois aites vous si injuste, mes mon coeur, je saÿ pourquois, _se + malhor tarrive_, pour me randre plus malhoros, le destein te _rang + mallade_, lon _te fais suffrir_ pour me crucifier, L’on j reusit car + on pos pas, m’envojer un plus grans malhors vous m’ordonnes de me poin + _inquietter_, jl faudrois vous gaire aimer, pour ne le pas aistre à la + mors; je souis a tous moments à _genous_ faire _des veux_ pour vostre + éntiere _retablissements_, je me flatte qua la fein on aura pitié de + mois, mes vos son tros devoste, pour ne pas aistre éxhosé, Dieux volje + que _cla sois bintos_ que vous seray _quite ... vos mos_ et moÿ de mes + _crain ... s_ et de mon _inquetude_ avec qu’elle joÿ vous + embrasserage, can j’auraÿ selouis de vous voir je ne saÿ can je le + pouraÿs, mes mon dessien aÿ de _faire en sorte comme si un acsai de + fievre me prenais_, je diraÿ os bon homme, que je vousdraÿ bien allé + pour _tros jour_ à 317 pour éviter que la fievre n’aye poin de prise, + sait a dire prendre des remaides, aux Lieux de demorer à 317 je + _prandray la poste_ et je _voleray_ à _Celle_, je pourais aistre _dos + nuis avec vous_ quelle joÿ qu’elle satisfaction je pouraÿs aistre à + vos pié les beinger de mes larmes, vous voiraÿs dans qu’elle éttas + pitojable, _votre mal ma mis_; Mes je me flatte postaistre envein, car + avan que je pouraÿ _juer_ se _role_ jl faux premierements que le bon + homme se porte mieux ... depans encor de la fortunne de la 9 ... je + n’aÿ rien de bong à Esperer, La rage le desespoir, le schagrein + l’inquiettude la Passions, tous ses schoses énsemble font un aifaÿ sur + moÿ, que je souis comme ses jans que lon voist à Amsterdam dans le + =Dulhaus=, Dieux sait qu’elle feins que cela auras; Les maladie + hogmante de jour en jour, mon vieux Lieute C: et dos Lietenang le song + devenus aujourdoÿ, je ne saÿ comments j’an éschappe, sait un miracle + car avec tous les schagreins, qui m’abastes je le devraÿs avoir; + adieux mon Ange je ne pouis vous Mander davantage, l’expraÿ qui m’a + été envojé, du bon homme par, crojes que vous aves un amang, qui prang + tang de ... r à tous se qui vous tousche que vous le ... ie faire vous + maimes, j laÿ seinsaire vous adore, et à autang de Respect pour vous + que qui que se soit; je merite toute vostre tendraisse, et tous les + soins oblijan que vous aves pour mois, si je ne vous donne pas assaÿ + d’assuranses, de ma passion, et de ma fidelité, se n’aÿ pas ma fostre, + saÿ que j’en aÿ pas l’occasion; je vous annueraÿ avec mes + protestations, car je le repaiste dans tous mes lestres, je me flatte + que vous aite comme mois je ne les sauraÿ trop attendre et tous vos + lestres fusetelles ramplis daustre chose elles me seray toujo ... ... + reable et plus que comme si j liavois rien. + + + 18 + + Je suis bien aise, que vous aites unnefois contemps de moÿ, mais jl me + semble que cela vous rejouis poin car vous me donne toujours des + mattiere, à vous faire des reprojes; et par la vous m’oté la joy + d’aistre satisfait de vous, vous vous plainjé que vostre passion vous + trouble vostre repos, je le vos croire mes saite passion vous tient + pas tang aux coeur, que vous retranjeraÿ les moindre plaisirs pour + cela, non non sait a moÿ a me blaindre, ma passion me trouble poin + solement, mais me desespaire, Dieux comme je fie les éndrois aux je + saÿ que les divertissemens song, je vousdraÿ bien vous voir à la Porte + de Brusels, aux de Gens sans j maistre le pie, plustos de faire cela + vous m’abandonnerie, et dis austre galang, vous trouve vostre conduite + bonne, moÿ aussÿ, mais je seraÿ hors deséspoir que la mienne ne fus + pas meljor je suis bien aise que vous ne s’ajé, tombé malade, jen + aurais etté inconsolable, quoÿ que je ne suis poin contente de vous, + vous aves étté contente de ma lettre, j’en aÿ de la joÿ, vous j aves + veus les santimens de mon coeur, sans faintes; je vous remersie bien, + humblement, que vous me promaistes, de ne poin donner vostre portraÿ, + à la personne connue Pourquoÿ me flatté vous tang dans vos lettres, + can vous sonjes si pos a me tenir vos promess, vous m’assurés que rien + vous seras dificille et que vous feraÿ tous pour me plaire, saÿ for + bien dis mes for mal tenus; helas vous me dite flattong nous le temps + nous poura randre horos, mais saschés que le temps me rendra le plus + malhoros de tous les hommes, je naÿ poin la hardiesse à vous dire se + que je saÿ deja, mais ma chaire je crois, que lon moblijera a vous + quiter, je ne pos finir saite lettre, de schagrein, tristesse et + collaire adieux, ne me haijsé dumoin pas, car sur mon dieux je ne le + merite en fason du monde. + + + 19 + + 14^{me}. + + Assurement san la vostre du 12^{me} le Bastement de Coeur que 127 + m’avois causé, mauraÿt aschevé, mais Pour mon bonhor, je laÿ resu dans + le temps que mon coeur allais craiver, et comme j’ÿ vois que sa + nouvelle aÿ traÿ fose, je commense aussi à me remaistre, jl me disaÿ + pour tres assuré, que _votre fievre_ vous aves, _repris_, assurement + je n’auraÿ peus passer la nouit, avec saite inquiettude san mourir, et + alor que je vous écris, j’aÿ encor lohs de la Raine d’hongrie sur le + née, je crois pourtang que cela se passera, je me san Pourtang + alterré, et éschofé, si cela se passe pas la nouit je me seinjeraÿ + pour prevenir le mal, qui pouraÿ m’en arriver; M. de sporque Mourera + selon tous les apparance encor aujourdouis, j’aÿ 3 Captaine, 5 + Lieutenans, et 4 Enseinges mal à lamors, plus de 300, fantasein aÿ + Dragons, de nos troupes sol, son sur les dans, sait un air infecté, + les plus sain j deviene malade, toustefois je me flatte de ne le poin + devenir _vous saschang, hor daffaire_. Vous auraÿ veus par ma lestre + daté le 12^{me} combien je souis contemps de vous, ne prene pas mal + que je vous aÿ prié de me marquer dos mos par vostre main, je savois + que vous vous portié unpos mieux san cela je ne l’auraÿ pas fais, mais + mon incomparable coeur vous en faite tros, car vous m’écrives dos + foiljes éntieres, se que je vous prie très instament de ne poin faire + plus, ni plustos que vous aites tout à fais bien. Le _sieje_ de + _Scharleroi_ feras que _Prince électoral_ seras pas si tos ici, gran + Dieux fais que se _sieje_ nous _delivre_ des _faschos_. Lon dis pour + sertein que les affaires s’acomode, mais les ordres que lon donne pour + soinjer les malades, me fong trambler de pur, que nous quiteron pas + sitos se poste; je souis agité du maime desespoir que vous, de passer + ma vie avec des jans pour les quelles j’aÿ unne aversion et de la + passer si pos avec selle que j’adore, sepandans vous aites plus à + plaindre car je pos forsouvang m’en dispensér, et vous poin, austre + les _embrasades_ que vous aites obligé à essujer, jl me semble si + j’aÿtais obligé a soufrir la maime schose, je ne pouraÿ m’énpescher de + vosmir tous les fois que cela m’ariveraÿt, ah qu’elle horor de + _caraisser_ se que lon hait mortellement, je crois fortement que le + pourgatoire ne donne poin tans de tourments, que des pareiljes + _caraisses_. si j laÿ vraÿ que _Électeur de Hanovre_ vas pas a 308, je + pouraÿ bein j venir, mes nous pouvons pas prendre des mesures avang, + que lon sasche, se que deviendra _Prince électoral la Dujais d’Hanovre + n’arrivera_, que _ver la fein du mois_ qui _vient_ et allors _Prince + électoral_ sera deja de retour, et les _schases_ finÿ. Dieux volje + solement que nous les comension bientos, et que _vous_ fusies _en etas + de vous rendre_. Je vous plains que vous _aites_ tan _maigri_ mes + (avec vostre permission) je trouve redicule, et absourde, la question + que vous me faite, si je n’aimes en vous que vostre bosté je vous le + pardonneraj mes vous aites persuadé, que se n’aÿ pas solement cela que + j’adore, se son vos merites vostre humor, je vous avoue que de vous + voire belle cela aÿ scharmang pour la veus, mes je vous proteste que + fusie vous laide comme Mad: Kopstein, je vous aimeraÿ pas un brein de + moin; du degous pour vous, ah postong faire unne question pareile à + selle ici, à un amang qui vous aime tendrement, non non Leonis vous + n’aite pas persuadé de ma sainsaire passion, que fostil que je fasse + pour vous en bien conveincre je n’auraÿ du repos, que j’usques à se + que je sache que vous laite toust à fais; croje vous q’unne passion + pareilje à la mienne, saÿ formée sur unne schose si passaschaire que + la bosté, quois que vous en aje beaucoup, et plus coqunne de vostre + sexe, je vous pos dire que se n’ay pas elles qui ma mis dans l’estas + aux je souis, j laÿ vraÿ que la Bosté que vous possedé, mas énflame, + et sans elles je n’auraÿ postaire pas étté si huros que je souis, mes + se qui ma randu comme je souis saÿ vostre ésprit, vostre seinserité, + vos maniere de vivre, et a lafein saÿ saite ame si bien née, et si + juste, la quelle prodouit en vous unne dousor non pareilje, unne + jenerosité sans égale, de la Clemanse, au dela de l’imagination, se + son saÿs vertues qui mon mis dans saite aimable Esclavage dans la + qu’elle je me fois à sait hors, et dans la quelle je pretans mourir + aussÿ. En verité Leonis vous me schagrines beaucoup, avec vos + questions, vous crainjes que je deviendrays invidelle à la plus grande + Boté du siecle, et à la vertue maime, pour qu’elque gose de + _preinsaises_ qui n’aurong poin d’austre merite que selle de _venir de + Paris_ encore unne fois, je vois que tros que vous n’aite pas éncor + bien persuadé de mon amour, je me flatte qu’a la fein je vous en + donneraÿ tans de marques que vous n’en saurie plus douster. Pour + prendre des messures juste jl faux se parler, nous avon du temps + jusques à _la fein_ du _moi_ qui _viens_ et avang se temps nous avons + point à craindre le _retour_ de _Prince électoral_ et de _la Dujaiÿse_ + vous entames encor des _preinsai_ crojes vous postaitre que j’aime + tans la nouvosté, le schangementes, et les jans qui vienne de _Paris_ + comme vous, vous vous trompes beaucoup, je porte mes schaines avec + beaucoup de plaisir, et je ne les janjeraÿ pas, pour le Raujome du + grand mogol. La lestre de la Lieutenan Colonelle ay for sotte mes la + personne aÿt assaÿ resonable, elle à randus un for galant homme aux + baÿ bas, de grande Calité, fort amouros, jl sapelle le marquis de + Spinosa, saÿt un des galans de se paÿ la; mais pouis que je vous aÿ + énvojes unne tres sotte lestre, je le recompenseraÿs par unne qui aÿ + forbien écrit; si elle n’aitois écrit d’un livre, on la doist, admirer + particoulierement venan de saite personne, mes sasche qu’elle se + trouve mot en mot dans un livre, sepandans elle ne laisse pas, que + d’aistre tourné assaÿ aprospos, je vous prie de me la ranvojé, je vous + l’envois parse que jè crois que cela vous divertiras adieux. + + + 20 + + je vois que le plaisir que je maitait fais à vous émbrasser s’évanuit + entieremens puisque l’incomode à paru si brusquement, je vous avoue + que se visaje m’a bien deplus can je lay appersu, un cous de foudre + m’auray pas plus pus surprendre, mais jl faux qui lÿ aÿe toujor des + faschos visajes qui empesche, un doux éntretien comme celuÿ que nous + devien croir, selong tous épparance devray aître, ouÿ j’an nay eus + l’idé si remplis de joÿ, que je naÿ pus dormir toute la nuit, mais + helas tout est vanuis, et il faux que je passe la seconde nuit sans + dormir, et avec du jagrein aux lieux que la premiere me rejouissay, j + laÿ sur qu’a moin que vous n’aje la bonté de me consoler, je me + beinjeray dans mes larmes, consolé moy dong divine bosté, et soulajes + un homme qui se mor pour vous, et qui est si éntesté de vos merite que + la servelle luy en tourne. + + Pour unné joué merveilje + je brule d’un fos si beaux + que ma raison ma conseilje + De l’aimer jusques aux tombos + + Voila ma maxime, et vous me le vairreraÿ éxecuter éxactement, ma plus + grande satexfaction seras de vous montrer, que la mort sol est + sollement capable d’éfasser mon amour. mais pour l’amour de Dieux + sonjes à la divise, rien d’inpure mallume, adieux. + + + 21 + + à 6 heurs. + + je ne sauraÿ partir dici sans vous remersier, de l’ambaras aux vous + maves tiré, assurement j’aitois un homme fricassé sans la conversation + d’hier aux soir, je pars aussi contemps, q’un homme qui laisse ce qui + addore, le pos faire, mais se qui me consolle, ces que je suis bien + persuadé de vôtre amitié, et que mon absance me fais poin de tors, + j’ay lame si reposé que je suis tout autre que je naÿs étté; je vous + prie, poin de tait à tet, avec personne, particulierment avec M. R: je + sauraÿ tout, car j’ay des bons amÿ ici que vous soupsonne poin. adieux + Bella dea, sonjé autang à moy que je sonje à vous, je vous émbrasse + les jenous un million de fois, et suis eternellement vôtre esclave. + + + 22 + + ce 25 aoust + 4 septembre + + Je prens tant de plaisir a vous entretenir que dabord que jai un + moment de liberté je lemploȳe a vous assurer de ma tendresse je vous + aȳ escrit hier mais jl me semble que ie ne vous aȳ pas assez marqué + linquietude ou je suis sur ce que vous me dites je nen aȳ pas dormi + toute la nuit j aȳ repassé toute mes actions et plus ie mexamine et + moins je deuine ce que vous pouuez auoir contre moi il est seur que + vous deuez estre content de ma conduite ma passion la regle et cela + suffit je vous conjure encore une fois de me mander tout le plus tost + que vous pourrez ce que ce peut estre jl me sera fort aisé de me + justifier puis que ie naȳ jamais pense qua vous plaire et je vous + feraȳ auec plaisir tous les sermens les plus affreus sur mon jnnocence + mais je vous demande jnstamment de me dire qui sont ceus qui vous + disent de semblables Calomnies jls ont sans doute leurs raisons pour + nous brouiller et selon toutes les aparences ils nen demeureront pas + la soȳez persuadé je vous en conjure que je suis jncapable de rien + faire qui vous déplaise mes manieres vous lont fait voir jusques icȳ + et jen feraȳ encore plus a lauenir je suis au desespoir de ne pouuoir + vous faire connoistre au tant que ie le voudrois mon attachement pour + vous les occasions me manque et point la volonté et je ne seraȳ point + contente que ie naȳe fait voir a toute la terre que vous me tenez lieu + de grandeurs de plaisirs et de tous les agremens du monde le seul que + je souhaitte est celuj de posseder vostre coeur je nen demande point + dautre et ce seul bonheur me rendra toujours tous les autres + jndifferens je suis persuadée que si jestois a han. on me feroit bien + des histoires de vous mais je me fie trop a vous pour croire + legerement ce que lon me pourroit dire faites en de mesme et croȳez + fortement que rien nest capable de me faire changer je suis dans un + chagrin mortel on dit quil sest donné un combat depuis peu et je ne + saȳ encore ce qui en est je tremble que vous ne vous exposiez sans + necessité et quil ne vous soit arriué quelque accident conseruez vous + je vous en conjure sil vous reste encore quelque tendresse moȳ que + deuiendrois je si japrenois que vous fussiez blessé ie croȳ que ien + mourois. + + + 23 + + ce 2 septembre + 12 + + Il estoit si tard quand ie vous aȳ escrit que ie naj peu repondre a + tout ce que uous me dites jaȳ releu plusieurs fois vostre lettre cest + un mélange de tendresse et dairs railleurs que ie trouue fort plaisant + et jl me parroist quelque mine que uous fassiez que mon uoȳage ne uous + plaist point uous auez cependant tous les torts du monde car selon + toutes les aparances ie repartiraj dicȳ sans auoir ueu une personne + raisonable et je le souhaitte de tout mon coeur. Je ne croȳ pas aller + a la foire de jllifrancjllifortjlli et ie ne dirai pas un mot pour ȳ + contribuer il me semble que cela uous doit persuader que ie ne cherche + pas le monde et que ie suis jncapable de songer aus plaisirs quand ie + ne uous uoȳ point jespere partir dicȳ en quinze jours le peda. a pris + aujourdhui cette resolution ie men retourne auec elle trouuer le + grondeur et je me rendrai à Han. un peu auant le retour du Reformeur + ie ne saurois encore uous dire rien de positif pour ce qui regarde le + _jlligörjlli_ ie ne croj pourtant pas ȳ aller car la saison sera trop + auancée pour que le Reformeur en puisse estre et je me flatte pourueu + que rien ne vous retienne ou vous estes que ie pourraȳ vous voir + bientost je jugerai de uostre tendresse par uostre empressement mais + je uous conjure de prendre si bien uos mesures que ie uous uoje en + particulier la premiere fois. Jl me seroit jmpossible de soustenir + uostre ueue en public et mon transport me trahiroit, on dit que les + françois pourroient nous enleuer aisément cela fait que ie souhaitte + fort de men aller car je naȳmerois point du tout a estre prise et ie + ueus uous conseruer uostre conqueste je suis charmée de uostre Careme + et je uous en fais tous les remerciemens que uous meritez jen suis + surprise et je ne mȳ attendois point cest en quoi la chose est plus + obligeante jl nȳ a point de sentinelle au monde que uous deuiez + craindre et le prisonnier doit Conter sur la prison qui sera toujours + ouuerte pour luý et fermée pour toute la terre cest dequoi ie uous + réponds et dune passion qui seruira dexemple ie ueus uous en persuader + malgré que uous en aȳez et que ie ne trouue de bonheur nÿ de + satisfaction qua vous aimer et la Estre aimée uous me paroissez si peu + seur de cette uerité que ien suis sensiblement touchée dites moÿ ce + quil faut faire pour que uous nen puissiez plus douter il nȳ a rien + que ie ne fasse auec joȳe pour vous faire uoir que vous me tenez lieu + de toutes choses et que tous mes desirs et mon ambition sont bornez a + uous plaire sil ne faut que cela pour vous rendre heureus vous lestes + plus que personne du monde car ie ne ueus viure que pour uous seul et + ie renonce auec plaisir a toute la terre pour nestre jamais qua uous. + + + 24 + + ce 13 septembre + 23 + + au lieu de lextresme plaisir que me donnent toutes uos lettres celle + que Jaý receue ce soir ma percé le cœur Lon ne peut rien jmaginer de + plus offensant que ce que uous mescriuez ie ne le repeteraȳ point ie + croȳ que uous uous en souuiendrez bien encore et ie donnerois tout + au monde pour pouuoir loublier par quel endroit de ma uie aȳ je peu + meriter lopinion que uous me tesmoignez auoir de moȳ si ie croyois ȳ + auvoir donné Lieu ie uoudrois estre morte mais plus ie mexamine et + plus ie me trouve esloignée de pareils sentimens et graces a dieu je + me sens le coeur aussi noble que ie le dois auoir ie ne ueus plus + uous rien dire sur ce suiet ie pourrois me facher et ie hais fort + laigreur mais pour repondre aus quatre points qui uous ȳ tiennent si + fort ie suis bien trompée si ie ne uous aȳ mandé ȳ que + jliisparrjllii a esté a L. et si je ne laȳ point fait cest + assurément par oublȳ et par ce que ie naȳ pas trouué quil ualust la + peine que ie me souuinsse de luj. je puis uous faire tous les + sermens quil uous plaira quil nȳ a aucune raison que celle la et de + plus ie ne luj aÿ pas dit deus mots pour la joye que uous me + reprochez dauoir eue de trouuer jliiguljlljdenjllyleujlii icȳ ie ne + uous ȳ repondrez point car cest une opinion ridicule, et rien au + monde n’est si mal jmaginé a lesgard de la foire ie uous assure que + ie naȳ pas dit un mot pour ȳ aller mais comme ie suis de bonne foȳ + ie ueus bien uous _’auouer_ et pour mon nouuel amant uous estes fou + de uous jnquieter pour luj car jl est loin dicȳ et selon toutes les + aparences ie ne le uerraȳ point et ses soeurs nȳ personne du monde + ne me feront jamais faire aucune demarche contre la tendresse dont + jaȳ le coeur si rempli ie uous aȳ déia mandé que ie suis persuadée + quil ne uiendra point a han. mais si cela arriuoit pourueu que ie + sois plus contente de uous que ie ne la suis ce soir ie brutaliseraȳ + plustost que de soufrir ces uisites ie suis bien sotte de uous + rendre raison sur toutes uos uisions uous qui en auez peu sur tout + ce qui me regarde et qui mauez desesperée par uos tre belle lettre + jl est uraȳ que uous uoulez ensuitte reparer uostre faute mais cela + ne suffit point et ie ne suis pas contente car ie ueus uostre estime + et uous ne temoignez pas en auoir pour moȳ, la Confidente en a receu + hier une de laimé jlliketjllilerjlli qui lui escrit par lordre du + jlljlandjlljgrajlliuejlli pour faire ses complimens a Leonisse puis + que uous uoulez lappeller ainsi et pour lassurer quil fera son + possible pour la uoir icȳ ou a la foire ie ne croȳ pourtant pas que + cela se puisse par ce que nous partons demain et lon nȳ sera quun + seul jour ie uous escriraȳ dabor, que ie seraȳ arriuée et ie uous + rendrai un conte sincere et fidelle de tout ie ne uous diraj rien de + tendre pour ce soir car uous ne le meritez point ie crains bien que + ie nauraj pas la mesme force demain et que ie ne me souuiendrai plus + de ma colere car Jai furieusement du tendre pour uous et quoi que ie + ne uous le dise point ie sens bien que ie uous aime auec une passion + qui neut iamais desgale. + + + 25 + + fra ce 14/24 + + je suis ici depuis deus heures le peda. a esté descendre chez la p. + jllitajllirenjllitejlli ou ie naý ueu que de soste figures de la nous + auons esté a la foire ou ie naý pas ueu une personne de qualité la + Marionette est icȳ et sa belle soeur ie ne les uerraȳ que demain dont + ie suis bien aise car ie pourraȳ me reposer dont jaȳ grand besoin + naȳant pas fermé loeil toute la nuit un aȳ passé la moitié a uous + escrire et lautre a me chagriner sur ce bel endroit de uostre lettre, + ie nous prie bien fort de ne me plus donner de pareils suiets dennuý + car ie suis fort delicate sur le chapitre dont il est question hors ce + uilain endroit que ie ne saurois oublier et qui gaste tout uostre + lettre est charmante et rien nest si dous que tout ce que uous me + dites. raccomodez cette affaire si uous uoulez estre bien auec moȳ car + elle me tient fort au coeur le mien est si rempli de uous que quoi que + jaȳe suiet de men plaindre ie ne saurois mempecher de uous dire que ie + me suis faite une uiolence horrible hier au soir pour ne uous point + parler de ma tendresse jamais on nen a tant eu et jamais lon a moin + merité de reproches que ie le fais uous estes le plus jnjuste de tous + les hommes dauoir la moindre défiance sur ce qui me regarde je suis + trop ueritablement auous pour que uous aȳez rien a craindre toute mes + actions uous en persuaderont car jl est certain que ma passion pour + uous ua jusqua lexces je uous conjure destre bien persuadé de cette + uerité et quil nȳ a rien au monde que ie ne fasse pour uous faire uoir + que ie suis plus a uous qua moi mesme iespere que ie ne uerraȳ nȳ le + Land. nȳ personne et ie le souhaitte de tout mon coeur si uous trouuez + quelque chose qui ne nous plaise point dans ce que ie uous aȳ escrit + hier nen accusez que le dépit ou uous mauez mise. Il a esté jusqua me + faire pleurer et tous les charmes de vostre lettre nont peu me faire + pardonner larticle ofensant soȳez en repos sur ma conduite elle sera + diuine ie uous en repons et pour le Riual. + + + 26 + + au nom de dieu menagez vous ma uie est unie a la vostre jl me vient + mille pensée desesperante dans lesprit et je suis accablée de douleur + jaurois peine a vous parler dautre chose jaȳ tout loisir de nourrir + mon chagrin et je suis auec une veritable joȳe dans cette solitude Jai + oublié hier a vous rendre graces de ce que vous me dites au suiet de + la boule rien nest si obligeant je consens a cette condition quelle + deuienne ma riuale car je vous auoue que jaime le triomphe et quil est + fort de mon goust adieu rien nest capable de me faire changer ie suis + née pour vous aimer vous estes ma seule passion je nen aȳ jamais en + auant de vous Connoistre et je mourraȳ en vous aȳmant plus que lon na + jamais aime. + + + 27 + + mecredi 24. + + Il faut vous rendre conte de ce que jaȳ fait hier jai esté tout le + jour seule il est venu un envoȳé du maistre de ce lieu faire + compliment au peda. il sest si fort embarassé dans sa harangue que iaȳ + eu peine a mempecher den rire jl en a fait un aussi au coeur gauche et + sen est allé dabord lon sest promené a pied au retour lon a soupé et + je me suis entretenue auec la Confidente cest le seul plaisir que jaȳe + car nous parlons toujours de vous. + + + 28 + + Quo que je vous aÿ ecrit hier aux soir je ne pos m’empescher, de vous + dire que j’aÿ passé la plus meschante nuit du monde, j’ay sonjé a vous + mais je vous aÿ veus infidelle, voila le sonje, il me semblais, que je + vous avois prie de ne poin voir un sertain grant homme, et que malgre + vos promesse vous lavie fais entré ché vous pour luÿ dire adieux, j’en + fus avertis, ne pouvan énduré cette infidelité, je feinjis d’avoir une + lettre de Mad: vot̂re maire pour vous donner j’entraÿ prusquement dans + vostre schambre, et je vis le spectacle le plus affros du monde, ces + grans M. vous tenais émbrassé, et que pis aÿ, vous aitié sol dans + vostre schambre. vous faisie unpos la vasché contre vostre adonus en + luÿ disant qui laitois impertinent, je voulus aussi me retire mais + vous m’apellaté, je fus ravis de cela parce que cela me donna lieux de + vous dire en oreilje que vous aitié la plus ingrate de tous les dames, + et que ce seraÿ la dernierefois que je vous parleraÿ, en éffaÿ je fus + trouver M. de Pude, pour luÿ prier de m’envojer en Hongrie, ce qu’il + fit. je vous demande pardong du sonje criminel, mais je me croirais + bien plus criminel si je vous en avertissaÿ poin, ne croje pas que je + l’invante non j lay surmondieux vraÿ, pourlamour de tous ce qui vous + aÿ le plus schaire, aje soin de me fortifier l’esprit, et tiremoÿ de + ma crainte, j’ay por que ce sonje saÿ qu’elque pressage funeste, et + qui ne vos dire rien de bong. Il seraÿ injuste q’un tendre amour + m’attiras des infidellites, je ne l’éspaire pas car pourquoÿ + voudrievous abandonner un coeur qui vous adore, et qui vous jure de + vous aistre fidelle, si des telles vos vous pove attascher uniquemens + à moÿ, je vous proteste devan Dieux, que jamais je vous serraÿ + infidelle, et que je vous aimeray toute ma vie avec la maime passion + que je fais astor. Can j’auray l’honnor de vous éntretenir de la + debeausche faite hier vous riraÿ bien, la baronne si aÿ sinjales et + les grande barbe suedoise, on faite le meljor ... du monde, elle a + tens aites fro ... os que la planjer de song tei ... turel, à commensé + à paraistre se qui à fais le plus plaisans spectacle de monde; Elle ma + demande pourquoÿ je me divertissaÿ poin je luÿ respondis que j’aitois + venus faire ma cour à M. Bil. et non pour me divertir, en me quitans + elle ma donné le non de traiter, surquoÿ je louÿ ai repliqué, que je + ne laistas pas encor mais que je le pouraÿ bien devenir. M. le Duck, a + joué à l’homber hier au soir sches Elle, voila le Diable, je finiraÿ + en vous prians de vous preparer à me tirer de l’inquiettudes aux je + suis, et de me croire, inviolablement attasches à vous et à tous sos + qui vous regarde, je vous émbrasse de tous mon coeur, et je paise un + milion defois vostre portrais, adieux. + + + 29 + + venes sur un vendredis au soir ici, et attandes que l’Elector vient + ici, si lon oste pas _Prince Max_ vous vous pouves retourner, et cela + vous servira de pretexte aupraÿ _Duc de Celle_ et _Prince électoral_ + mande mois si vous agrees, ma pense, si vous le pouves faire faite que + je vous vois car franjement je ne puis plus vivre de la sorte, pour la + mour de mois de vous faite que je vous vois et que je vous embrasse, + car san saite satisfaction la vie may rien. + + + 30 + + La joÿ de voir le Ref: partÿ a étté interrompu par le schagrein de + vous voir malade, j’aispaire pourtang que cela ne sera pas grans + schose, car san cela je n’en pouraÿ dormir toute la nouit, j’aispaire + a vous émbrasser demain aux soir, j’attemps le sinjal ordinaire, et le + meschang temps m’enpescheras pas de gouter du plaisir, de vos + scharmantes émbrassades, amoin que vous me l’ordonnié austrement je me + flatte du contraire et j’aispaire que vostre émpressement reponderas + aux mien; si vous ne sorte pas demain, sisi souffira pour vous assuré + que les momens me durerong des siecles, et que le temps que je suis + éloinjé de vous sont sos que je posse inutilement dans le monde et que + je suis prait a venir demain aux lieux connus, j’áttemps le sinjal et + je suis vostre tres-obeissant valet. + + + 31 + + Lon ne pos aistre plus contemps de vous que je le suis vos mamire + obligante d’hiair, vostre tres-schere lestre, enfein tous me scharme, + je commense à revivre, et la journé d’hiaire et unne de sos quil fos + que je marque dans mon livre; pour bien en profiter je vous prie que + je vous vois se soir, j’attendraÿ le sinjal avec bien de l’impatiance + car je mor d’anvie de vous temoinger ma joÿ elle ait axsaissive, et ne + se post exprimer, pour lamour de vous de moÿ, et de tous se qui vous + aÿ schaire, continue _de la_ sorte, vous pouraÿ allors me persuader + que je n’aÿ rien à craindre, que je seraÿ toujour horos et contemps, + voila le plaisir de l’amour, son la les scharmes d’un attaschement + seinsaire et veritable; L’avos du Grond: me donne encor beaucoup + d’ésperanse tasché de l’attendrir, vous le pouraÿ si vous voules, mais + il faux vous j appliquer, et bien prendre vostre temps saye avec cela + persuadé, que si le siel me destinne le bonhor de vous posseder, que + j’auraÿ les maniere tous austre, que vous vous les immaginée, et je + vous jure que je le regleraÿ sur les vostre, ajouté fois a set avos + car j laÿ seinsaire et par d’un amme san fosseté, et san finesse; + Comme le temps aÿ bos je me flatte à vous voir a la volerie, + j’aispaire de vous j trouver tendre, et contemps adieux jusque la, + vous me diraÿ bien un petit mos, du quel je pos voir que vous accorde + ma priaire. + + + 32 + + le 2^{me} + + Vous me faite mourir can vous faite des complimens, parseque vous ne + me reponde poin sur tous les poin des miennes je vous aÿ prié de ne + poin écrire de tous, et à me fair solement savoir par _Mlle. von dem + Knesebeck l’etas de votre santé_ je le repaite éncor ici, et vous + conjure de ne le poin faire si cela vous donne la moindre fatigue, jl + soufit pourvos que vous me marques dos mos, affein que je voje saite + devinne écriture la quelle aÿ capable a bannir tous les craintes que + je me forme. La resolution que je dois prendre selong l’avis de tous + mes amis, me mait à l’hasar, que can _joray quité_, je feraÿ resonner + tous le monde, et postaistre me feraitong dire par un troisiemme, que + _lon souhaite_, que _je me retire_, que deviendrage allors, crojé moy + quil fos penser a toust avan que de prandre unne ferme resolution, la + schose m’aÿ de tros grande consequence; _Duc de Hanovre_ trouvera + mille jans comme _Königsmarck_ mais je me flate que _Princesse + héréditaire_ n’én trouveras jamais qui sois si fidelle, et que aime + avec plus d’ardor que moÿ, L’exaÿ de ma passion vas à la follie, helas + ma très schaire vous merites bien d’autres que _Königsmarck_, je souis + tres persuadé que si lon vous devraÿ avoir donné un galang selong vos + merite, je n’auraÿ pas eus le bonhor d’aistre vostre Esclave, mais si + qu’elcun d’unné passion Extraordinaire d’une constanse sans Egalle + auraÿ dus aistre vostre galang j lay juste que se soÿ mois, car je le + desputeraÿs non pas oh Mortels, mais aux dieux maime, et je leur defie + d’en faire un qui m’égalise; Que les sermans on daifaÿ cant on aÿ dans + l’estas, _aux vous aites_, jamais je naÿs etté plus contemps de vous, + jamais je vous aÿ plus crus, qu’a presang, vous m’aimeraÿ dong toujour + jan pos aistre assuré, car vous me iuré que tan que je vous aimeraÿ, + vous feraÿ demaime je vous aimeraÿ touste ma vie, et vous me jures la + maime schose, que poje plus pretandre, tous mes vos sont éxhausé, je + souis l’homme du monde le plus horos; _gerisse_ vous, et je pos aistre + aux comble de may joÿ, je souis poin contemps, que vous preferais á + m’ecrire, plus qu’a prendre du repos, je vous conjure sonjes à + _prendre vostre repos_, et pouis à vostre _amang_. Que je vos du mal à + vostre coeur, de son mauvaÿ gous, vous quiter pour venir sché moÿ, jl + ne connais pas la diferance, laisse cela aux mien, jl faux pas + schanger en mal mes en bien. Vostre resit me fait tramblé, et je + crains que _la fievre_ laustre _accidans_ ne vous _abate tang_ que + vous _ne saurie vous remaitre si tos_. je ne saÿ mon coeur me dis que + vous _aite hor de danje_ je naÿ plus tans d’inquiettude que j’aÿ eus + du comensements, je pran cela pour un traÿ bon sienge, dumoin je m’én + flatte et je souhaite ardaments que cela soit einsÿ, j’espaire que mes + vos sont éxhausé, et qu’a lor qui laÿ vous vous _portes mieux_. La + resolution que vous aves prisse, de prandre _se que je vous avois + laise_ aÿ _grande_, je vous avoue que si je l’avois seus auparavang, + j’an auraÿ tramblé, mais comme toust aÿ bien allé, je souis enrepos, j + lia que le schagrein, _daitre caus_ que vous _soufres bien plus_ et si + vous vous _trouvie astor plus mal_ je serais inconsolable. je souis + obligé d’avouer que les marques de vostre tendraise surpasse à presan + beaucoup les miennes rien nay si touschang, que se que vous m’écrives + ... de _devenir malade_ je ne trouveraÿ pas _locasiong_ à vous faire + voire combien de tendraisse j’aÿ pour vous. Atil possible que _Duc de + Hanovre_ soit assaÿ _baite de vous avoir refuser la pose_ je feray + plustos, mourir 20 _feltmarescho_ que de _refuser_ unne fois à + _Princesse héréditaire_ pareilje schose. Quois que _Prince + héréditaire_ ne _revienne_ pas si tos et sur les ordres que lon avois + devulgué con avois envojé, nous somme pourtang _deja dans le mois_ de + _septembre et la campanjeay bintos finnis_ faite reflextion la desu + adieux. + + + 33 + + se tienne à 8 heure du soir aupres la porte de la grande salle, aux la + Pr: à cutume de jouer, jla poura recevoir la en toute sureté, puisque + personne j passe, Demain éstang le Dimange. + + + 34 + + j lÿ sera à leur sudite ne doute pas de sa fidellite. Adieux + inconparable Deesse je vous donne le bonsoir, et souhaite que vous + sonjé autang à moy comme je fais à vous, appres avoir relus éncor une + fois votre lettre, je m’endormiray, avec l’esperane de songer d’autre + schose que de vous. je vous émbrasse un Million de fois, et suis votre + tres-obeissant ser. + + CORRESPONDENCE OF SOPHIA DOROTHEA + AND COUNT KÖNIGSMARCK + + + F 3 + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + [_Spring of 1692._] + + What sufferings one has to bear when it is necessary to separate from + you! All the torments in the world cannot cause such suffering! But I + recover from my trouble, since you are of opinion that I ought not to + have any feeling of jealousy. I must avow to you that it is difficult + to feel none when one is far away from the object one adores. But, my + angel, you have made me so many promises of behaving well that I place + confidence in you; and I can assure you that at the present moment I + am free from jealousy, but not without feeling troubled; and your + departure troubles me more than ever. I cannot understand what is to + become of me in the end; I well know that I cannot always be in sight + of you, and yet I feel [only] too much that I cannot separate from + you. See in what condition your beautiful eyes have put me. I send you + a copy of the letter of which I spoke to you, word for word like the + original; and I ask your pardon for the scrawling hand of which I have + made use; I had it copied by my page, who does not know what he + writes. + + M. Gor brought me a complimentary message from the Duchess of + Eisenach;[197] she sent word to me that, though I had avoided speaking + to her, she would show that she takes more thought of me than I take + of her. I will swear to you that not only did this compliment give me + no pleasure, but, on the contrary, it vexes me that she ordered it to + be delivered to me. I have not left my room all to-day, and I think + that I shall do the same thing to-morrow. Let me know, by way of + consolation, how you are faring and when you will return. I shall die + with vexation and trouble if I do not see you soon. Good-bye, my + beloved heart; think of your faithful lover, and do not forget him [?] + among all this crowd of people. Once more, adieu! + + _Thursday, at 12 o’clock after midnight._ + + My pain in the chest continues, but I have had no fever.... + +----- + +Footnote 197: + + Amalia, Duchess of Saxe-Eisenach, a born Princess of Nassau-Dietz. Cf. + as to her visit to Celle in March 1692, Colt _ap._ Wilkins, p. + 163.—Königsmarck mentions a “M. de Goritz” as a brother-officer in the + Flemish campaign, ib. pp. 216, 232; he appears to be identical with + Count Frederick von Schlitz-Goertz, who afterwards became Marshal of + the Court and President of the Chamber, and, after accompanying George + I to England, died as Prime Minister at Hanover. See Vehse, _Gesch. d. + Höfe d. Hauses Braunschweig_, Part I. pp. 116, 187, and Part II. p. + 10. + +----- + + + F 6 + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + _Sunday [Spring of 1692]._ + + Yes, Madam, I will suffer for your sake, as you command me to do so; + but when shall I be fortunate enough to find myself at the point to + which I aspire—I mean in your arms? But when shall I have this + satisfaction? I lose all hope, for in the way in which things go on, I + cannot flatter myself that it will come about. My mind gives way over + it all, and, if I write to you without rime or reason, do not find + fault with me on that account—it is [because of] the despair to which + I find myself reduced. If you disbelieve me, I beg you to look at + these [gray] hairs which I had pulled out of my head this morning: I + cannot declare to you that they turned last night; but I can swear to + you that a week ago I had none. Believe me that my despair is great, + and that my trouble is extreme. I stay on for the love of you; I risk + honour, reputation, and ambition; for, since I do not join in the + campaign, what will they say of me; and why do I risk this, without + seeing you after all? I have reached this extremity that I must either + conquer [?] or die. Use therefore your force [influence] with the + _Gro[ndeur]_; it is he who alone can save us, and I call this to + conquer. I absolutely must have your commands as to what I am to do. + To stay on in this way at Han[over] is out of the question; for after + three weeks you will go [away] with the _Gron[deur]_. What shall I + then do in a place from which you are absent? I beg you to reflect on + that, and after that give your commands; I am ready to show you by my + obedience that my love does not listen to reason. You see to what + state you have reduced me, for I sacrifice to you my ambition, which + is the single thing that up to this time I had preserved. See to what + length my passion goes; judge in what state I find myself; do not ruin + me utterly—be more ambitious than I am, and encourage a lover who no + longer has any [ambition]! You would pity me if you quite understood + the troubles that oppress me. I see clearly that it is your trouble + which is killing me; for although we actually are together we never + have anything but trouble; and this is an ill beyond cure. The only + consolation is to play [cards] with you; but the pleasure of looking + at you is never allowed me; for at one time the _Schwartz gesicht_ + [black face], at another the Innocent One, at another some one else + among the maids [of honour], comes to watch us. All this is enough to + make me die of it. Console me, I entreat you, or I shall despair; and + my despair may drive me to seek remedies unworthy of a man of honour. + You wait for me, certainly; but, Madam, when one is in the Labyrinth + as I am, honour and trust come to an end. It is well to come to a + close, or I shall be still more enraged. + + + F 1 + [FROM SOPHIA DOROTHEA TO KÖNIGSMARCK] + + On the Brockhausen journey.[198] + _Tuesday [1 June 1692]._ + + The Hereditary Princess is very impatient to know whether Königsmarck + has arrived safely. Many things have happened which the Hereditary + Princess has written on a quite clean half-sheet. I cannot console + myself for having lost Königsmarck so soon; this makes his absence a + thousand times harder to bear. I am worn out to the point of being + unable to keep up any longer. The excess of enjoyment and the sorrow + at seeing no more what I love reduce me to this condition. How hard it + is to take oneself away from you! You are the most amiable of men. The + more one sees you the more charm one finds in you. How happy I am to + be loved by you, and how well I know all my happiness! All my bliss + depends on the continuance of this tender affection. If I am deprived + of it, I no longer wish to live. You take the place of everything else + for me, and I care nothing for the whole of the world besides. I wish + that you may be as pleased with me as I am with you. You have + enchanted me, and I feel fonder of you than ever. Be you the same, and + nothing will be wanting to my happiness. I need not tell you that all + the actions of my life shall declare my attachment to you; for you + must be convinced of this, and time will show you that I do not wish + to live except for you. The Hereditary Princess leaves to-morrow. + + I have instructed 220 to send me your letter by [way of] Nienb[urg]. + +----- + +Footnote 198: + + _Voyage de Brockhausen_ may mean ‘during the journey from’ or ‘to + Brockhausen.’ This and the following letters appear to belong to the + dates here assigned to them; but it is possible that they belong to + June 1693. The Princess left Hanover for Brockhausen on June 21, 1692, + see Wilkins, p. 180; as to her movements to and from that place in + June 1693, see ib. pp. 256-76. After a careful consideration of dates, + as well as of the general contents of the letters, I have come to the + conclusion that the 1692 date is the more probable. Brockhausen, or + Bruchhausen, was a country-seat of the Duke of Celle, situate, like + the town of Nienburg, mentioned at the end of this letter, in the + division of the old countship of Hoya, which had from the middle of + the sixteenth century onwards belonged to the Celle branch of the + House of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Brockhausen is about 18 miles N.W. of + Celle. + +----- + + + F 2 + [FROM SOPHIA DOROTHEA TO KÖNIGSMARCK] + + Brockhausen, + _Thursday, June 22nd {1692}_. + + The Hereditary Princess arrived yesterday evening. She is pleased with + the Duchess of Celle. I have no doubt but that she will do everything + that one wishes. The Duke of Celle is far more difficult [to manage]. + I have as yet heard nothing of you, which makes me very sad. I flatter + myself, however, that nothing has happened, inasmuch as I have heard + nothing. The Duke of Hanover goes on Monday to Hanover. This + resolution was taken yesterday; if I had known it sooner, I should not + have started, and I might have been able to see you for some days + more. I am convinced that he waited on purpose, and this truly vexes + me; for I hate worse than death whatever seeks to separate me from + you. It is a great unhappiness to have to pass one’s life as I now + pass mine. I cannot, however, see the end of my woes. Yesterday I had + a thousand thoughts in the chaise which drove me into despair. I could + not think of waiting a whole month before seeing you without mortal + grief; all the measures which I must take ... me. I cannot do without + you; I do not care to see anybody in the world except you; yet I do + not see you; and at every moment I have to be deprived of [the sight + of you]. I can no longer exist in this constraint, it drives me to + despair; my passion increases day by day; I do not know what you have + done to me, but you bewitched me the last time that I saw you, and I + have never loved you with so much ardour as I do. It is certain that + you will [completely] turn my head. Yesterday I wrote a song, and this + makes it clear to me that love works miracles. I cannot keep myself + from telling you my song; it goes to the air ‘_Dans mon malheur_’: + + ‘Without my ... I loathe all company:[199] + He is my only bliss, my sole content, + The one enchantment of this life to me, + On whom the wishes of my heart are spent.’ + + It is my heart and nothing else that speaks; I hope that I shall go + further, and as time goes on I shall be able to prove it to you. The + Duke of Celle [or the Hereditary Prince][199] goes on Tuesday to + Celle; for this reason do not write to me any more lest I be not there + [?]. The Duchess of Celle has promised 2000 dollars if the Hereditary + Prince does not return; this redoubles my friendship. The Hereditary + Princess spoke yesterday at Luisburg[200] to 110; he sought for an + opportunity for it. It was to exhort him not to give any chance to his + enemies, and above all to be on his guard against Countess Platen. The + Hereditary Princess begged him particularly to let her know about + anything which concerned her. He promised her to do so. I am not aware + whether all this does not concern Königsmarck. I cannot speak to you + except about the grief which it is to me to be so far away from you. + Do not console yourself for my absence, I entreat you, and have no + enjoyment when I am not with you. Great God, what a charm and what a + delight to be always with you; the more one sees you, the more one + finds you superior to all men in the world. I occupy my whole time + with the charming remembrance of the last time when I saw you; it will + never quit my memory. Ah, my dear child, how tenderly you are loved, + and how insupportable it is to me not to see you! I am about to go to + bed; I hope that my dreams will figure you to me as charming as you + are. If I did not think I should see you while asleep, I should not + care to sleep at all; for as soon as I am awake you take up all my + thoughts, and there is nothing that is pleasant to me in my life but + the time which I pass in thinking of you. Good-night, most amiable of + men; you are adored by me, and so you will be all my life. Good-bye, + once more—why am I not in your arms?—I shall die of this! + +----- + +Footnote 199: + + Cipher uncertain. + +Footnote 200: + + A country-seat, not very far from Brockhausen, belonging to the Duke + of Hanover, where his Court seems to have been in the earlier as well + as in the later part of this summer. Cf. Colt, _ap._ Wilkins, p. 215, + _note_. + +----- + +On Wednesday the Hereditary Princess appeared at table and spoke to 110, +then to the Field-Ma[rshal].[201] She arrived late. Prince Max received +her and shook hands with her; she said very little to him. The Duke of +Celle came into the room; Prince Max did not come in at all; the Duchess +of Celle had gone to bring her in, and came back late for she did not +find the Hereditary Princess. Supper was afterwards served. The +Hereditary Princess, the Duchess of Celle, and the Duke of Celle, were +together, quite by themselves. The Duchess of Celle took the Hereditary +Princess to her rooms, and nobody entered them. + +----- + +Footnote 201: + + Field-Marshal Henry von Podewils (1615-96) commanded the Hanoverian + troops in the campaign of 1688, and also in the demonstration of 1693. + +----- + + + F 12 + + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA.] + + The 3_rd_ + —————— + 23_rd_[202] [1692?] + +My Mistresses are supposed to have prevented me from thinking of you? +God, is it possible that you should believe this; and, even had I not +written to you about everything (though this is letter No. 4) you ought +never to have harboured such a thought. Is it possible that you should +believe that I love anyone but yourself? No, I protest to you that after +you I shall never love again. It will not be very difficult to keep my +promise, for after one has adored you is it possible to think any other +woman pretty? You wrong yourself by believing such a thing; and how +could you draw a comparison between yourself and the others; and is it +possible that after having loved a Goddess, one could bestow a look upon +Mortals? No, in truth, I have too good taste for that, and I am not one +of those people who wish to make themselves common. I adore you, +charming brunette, and I shall die with this feeling. If you do not +forget me, I swear to you that I shall love you all my life. I expect no +more letters from you, because I intend to be soon in your company, and +my sole occupation will then be to prove to you, that I love you to +distraction, and that nothing is so dear to me as your person. Adieu! + +----- + +Footnote 202: + + The above dating is incomprehensible; ‘the 3rd’ may possibly be a slip + of the pen for ‘the 13th.’ There is nothing in the letter to give any + satisfactory clue to the time of writing. + +----- + + + F 18 + + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + [_July 1692_, from the Camp.] + +I am very well pleased that you are for once satisfied with me; but it +seems to me that this does not delight you, for you are always supplying +me with matter for reproaching you; and thus you deprive me of the joy +of being satisfied with you. You complain that your love interferes with +your rest; I am willing to believe it, but this love does not touch your +heart so deeply that you would cut off the slightest pleasures for its +sake. No, no; it is for me to complain: my passion not only troubles me, +but brings me to despair. Oh, God! how I [hate] the places where I know +the amusements are going on; I should much like to see you at the Gate +of Brussels[203] or of Ghent[?] without appearing there myself; rather +than do this you would abandon me and ten other _galans_. You find your +conduct correct; so do I; but I should be beyond despair if mine were +not still more so. I am very well pleased that you have not fallen ill; +it would have left me inconsolable. Although I am not satisfied with +you, you were satisfied with my letter; this fills me with joy; you find +there the unfeigned sentiments of my heart; I thank you very humbly that +you promise me not to give your portrait to the person we know of. Why +do you flatter me so much in your letters, when you think so little of +keeping your promises to me? You assure me that nothing will be +difficult for you, and that you will do everything to please me; this is +very well said, but very ill kept. Alas! you say to me, let us trust +that time will be able to make us happy; but know that time will make me +the most unhappy of mankind. I have not the audacity to say to you what +I already know; but, my dear, I believe that they will force me to leave +you. I cannot finish this letter, what with trouble, sorrow, and anger. +Adieu; do not, at all events, hate me; for, I swear by my God, I do not +deserve it in [any] way on earth. + +----- + +Footnote 203: + + In July 1692 Königsmarck appears to have paid a visit from the Camp to + Brussels, see the Princess’s letter _ap._ Wilkins, p. 197. (Of the old + gates of Brussels the Porte de Hal now alone remains.) + +----- + + + F 11 + + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + From the Camp at Hall _[August] 2nd-3rd {1692}_.[204] + +Although I had resolved to write to you to-morrow and to reply at length +to the letters of the 13th[205], 14th and 15th, which I received from +you at the same time, I find myself deprived of this pleasure by the +resolution which the King has taken to attack to-morrow the French army, +which is two hours distance from us; the place is called Enghien. At any +other time this news would have delighted me; but I confess to you at +the present moment it troubles me. I am loved by you, the only object +that I have found worth loving. I have not deceived myself in my belief +that you possess all the fine qualities to be found in the world; but, +my dear, I must risk my life, and perhaps never see you again. Hardly +was I made aware that you were innocent, and that I falsely suspected +you, when I am perhaps never to see you again. I have risked my life a +hundred times, by way of folly or high spirits, and I knew myself +sufficiently to be sure that death never terrified me. But, my divinity, +that which makes me a coward is the fear of not seeing you again. Adieu +then, amiable Doro, adieu; how much I am to be pitied—and yet I am +fortunate, but I cannot take advantage of my good fortune. Do not, +however, think that you have a coward admirer; no, my dear, since to +battle I must go, I will behave there as is right, and, if I can, I hope +to distinguish myself. But, my heart, permit me to make a request to +you, namely, that, if my fate is so unkind to me as to leave me crippled +by the loss of an arm, or a leg, do not forget me, and have a little +pity for a poor fellow who has let it be his only pleasure to love you; +no, my dear, do not forget him: he is a man who has been really and +truly attached to you, and will remain so for the remainder of his life, +although a cripple; my eyes which have been charmed by yours, will +perhaps never see them any more. I cannot think of that, without +shedding tears. Ah, how little advantage I have from being loved by you, +and of how many torments you are the cause to me! It is striking twelve +from the Hall[206] clock tower; they are bringing in cannon-balls, +powder, and matches; it is the prelude to the scene which we have to +play to-morrow; I must betake myself to my duty; adieu, beloved child! +Ah, how I am to be pitied! + +----- + +Footnote 204: + + This letter is dated ‘the 23rd,’ but August 3rd, O.S., was the date of + the battle of Steenkirk, on the eve of which this letter seems to have + been written. I have adopted a very ingenious conjecture, which I can + hardly describe as warranted by the transcript, but which may + nevertheless be correct. + +Footnote 205: + + See the Princess’s letter of July 13th _ap._ Wilkins, pp. 193-6. + +Footnote 206: + + A small town between Brussels and Enghien. Compare Wilkins, pp. 208 + sqq. + +----- + + + F 22 + + [FROM SOPHIA DOROTHEA TO KÖNIGSMARCK] + + [Wiesbaden], _August 25th/September 4th {1692}_.[207] + +I take so much pleasure in conversing with you that, so soon as I have a +moment of liberty, I employ it to assure you of my affection. I wrote to +you yesterday, but it seems to me that I did not sufficiently insist to +you on the disquiet in which I am about what you tell me. It prevented +me from sleeping all the night. I reviewed all my actions, and, the more +I examine myself, the less I can guess what you can have against me. It +is certain that you ought to be content with my conduct; it is ruled by +my affection, and this is sufficient. I entreat you once more to let me +know as soon as you are able what it can be. It will be very easy for me +to justify myself, since I have never thought of anything but pleasing +you, and I will with pleasure take all the most horrid oaths to you as +to my innocence; but I urgently ask of you to inform me who are they +that tell you such calumnies. No doubt they have their reasons for +making a quarrel between us, and according to all appearances they will +not stop there. Be persuaded, I entreat you, that I am incapable of +doing anything that could displease you. My behaviour has shown you this +up to the present time, and I will do even more in the same way in the +future. I am in despair not to be able to make you perceive as much as I +should like to do my affection for you. The opportunities are wanting to +me, but not the will; and I shall not be happy until I have made the +whole earth see that for me you take the place of the grandeurs and +pleasures of the world and of all its charms. The only one which I +desire is that of possessing your heart; I demand no other, and this one +happiness will always make me indifferent to all others. I am convinced +that if I were at Han[over], I should be told plenty of stories against +you; but I trust you too much to listen easily to what I might be told. +Do you act in the same way, and believe firmly that nothing is capable +of making me change! I am in mortal trouble. They say that an engagement +was fought a short time since, and I do not yet know the rights of it. I +tremble lest you should expose yourself without need, and that some +accident should have befallen you. Take care of yourself, I entreat you, +if there remains in you any affection [for] me. What would become of me +if I were to learn that you were wounded? I think I should die of it. + +----- + +Footnote 207: + + Cf. Wilkins, pp. 233 sqq. + +----- + + + + + F 32 + + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + _[September] 2nd {1692}_. + +You make me [wish to] die when you pay me compliments. Since you do not +reply to me on all the points of my letters, I have begged you not to +write at all, and simply to let me know through Fräulein von dem +Knesebeck the state of your health. I repeat it again here, and entreat +you not to do it if it causes you the slightest fatigue. It is +sufficient that you should write me two words, so that I may see that +divine handwriting which is able to banish all the fears that I imagine +to myself. The resolution which I must take, according to the opinion of +all my friends, exposes me to the risk that, when I shall have taken my +leave, I shall set all the world arguing about it; and perhaps I might +be told through a third party that it is desired that I should retire. +What will then become of me? Believe me that it is necessary to think of +everything before taking a fixed resolution. The matter is of too great +importance to me. The Duke of Hanover will find a thousand people like +Königsmarck, but I trust that the Hereditary Princess will never find +anyone who is so faithful and who loves her with more ardour than +myself. My passion is so beyond bounds as to rise to madness. Alas! my +dearest, you deserve [lovers] far better than Königsmarck. I am quite +convinced that if they had given you an admirer according to your +deserts, I should not have had the honour of being your Slave; but if +some one with an extraordinary affection and an unequalled constancy was +to have been your admirer, it is right and just that this should be +myself; for I would dispute the place not with Mortals, but with the +Gods themselves, and I defy them to create anyone to equal me. What an +effect vows have when one is in the condition in which you are; never +have I been more satisfied with you, never did I believe you more +implicitly, than at present. You will, then, always love me, I may rest +assured of it, for you swear to me that, so long as I shall love you, +you will do the same. I shall love you all my life, and you vow the same +thing to me; what more can I desire?—all my wishes are fulfilled, I am +the happiest man in the world; recover your health, and I can be at the +height of my bliss. I am not pleased to find that you prefer writing to +me to taking your rest; I entreat you, think first of taking your rest, +and then of your lover. How angry I am with your heart for its bad +taste, to leave you in order to come to me; it does not know the +difference; leave that to mine, one ought not to change for the worse, +but for the better. Your account makes me tremble, and I fear lest the +fever [and] the other accident tire you out so much that you will not be +able to recover as quickly [as you ought]. I do not know, my heart tells +me you are out of danger; I am no longer so much disquieted as I was at +the beginning. I take that for a very good sign; at least I hope it is, +and I ardently wish that it may be so; I hope that my prayers are +granted, and that at the present moment you are better. The resolution +that you have taken, to take what I had left you, is great; I avow to +you that, if I had known it beforehand, it would have made me tremble; +but, since everything has gone off well, I am at rest; and there is only +the trouble of being the cause of so much more suffering on your part, +and, if you found yourself still worse, I should be inconsolable. I am +obliged to confess that the marks of your affection greatly surpass mine +at present; nothing could be so touching as what you write to me ... of +falling ill. I shall not find an opportunity of enabling you to see how +great an affection I have for you. Is it possible that the Duke of +Hanover is stupid enough to have refused you the appointment? I would +rather put twenty field-marshals to death than once refuse such a favour +to the Hereditary Princess. Although the Hereditary Prince does not +return so soon and in response to the orders which it was made known had +been sent, we are in any case already in the month of September, and the +campaign will soon be at an end. Reflect on that! Adieu! + + + F 23 + + [FROM SOPHIA DOROTHEA TO KÖNIGSMARCK] + + [Wiesbaden], _September 2nd/12th {1692}_. + +It was so late when I wrote to you that I could not reply to all that +you told me. I reread your letter several times; it is a mixture of love +and raillery which I find very pleasing; and it seems to me, whatever +countenance you may assume, that my journey does not find favour with +you. Yet you are altogether as wrong as possible; for, according to all +appearances, I shall go away again from this place without having seen +any reasonable person, and I desire it with all my heart. I do not think +of going to Frankfort fair, and I shall not say a word to help to bring +this about. It seems to me that this ought to convince you that I am not +in quest of society, and that I am incapable of thinking of pleasures +when I do not see you. I hope to leave this place in a fortnight. The +Peda[gogue] has to-day taken this resolution. I return with her to join +the _Grondeur_; and I shall proceed to Han[over] a little before the +return of the Reformer. I cannot yet tell you anything positive about +what concerns the Göhrde;[208] I do not, however, think that I shall go +there, for the season is too advanced for the Reformer to be able to be +there, and I hope that, provided that nothing keeps you where you +are,[209] I shall soon be able to see you. I shall judge of your +affection by your eagerness, but I entreat you to take your measures so +well that I may see you in private on the first occasion. It would be +impossible for me to bear seeing you in public, and my transport [of +delight] would betray me. They say that the French could easily carry us +off. This makes me wish very much to get away, for I should not at all +like to be taken prisoner, and I wish to keep your conquest safe for +you. I am delighted with your [present?],[210] and I offer you all the +thanks for it which you deserve. It took me by surprise and I did not +expect it at all, which makes the thing all the more obliging. There is +no sentinel in the world that you ought to fear, and the prisoner may +reckon on the prison which will always be open to him and closed to all +the rest of the world. As to this you may depend on me, and as to a love +which will serve as a model; I wish to convince you of it, although you +have some of it, and that I find no happiness or satisfaction except in +loving you and in being loved. You seem to me so little certain of this +truth that I am sensibly affected by it. Tell me what should be done so +that you should be unable to doubt it any more; there is nothing that I +would not joyfully do in order to make you see that for me you take the +place of everything else, and that all my desires and my ambition are +confined to pleasing you. If nothing but this is needed to render you +happy, you are more so than any person in the world, for I do not desire +to live but for you alone, and I renounce with pleasure the whole world, +in order never to belong to anyone but yourself. + +----- + +Footnote 208: + + George Lewis’ favourite hunting-box near Lüneburg, in the eastern + corner of the principality. There is a picture of it at Herrenhausen, + with a meeting of the hunt in face of the _château_. + +Footnote 209: + + In camp in Flanders. + +Footnote 210: + + The significance of the word _carême_ in this passage is obscure. Its + ordinary meaning ‘lent, fasting’ gives no sense. Dr. Braunholtz + informs me that the word may also mean ‘a collection of lent-sermons’; + but, as he observes, this was not a very likely gift in the + circumstances. And a ‘lenten gift’ of any kind seems out of season in + September. + +----- + + + F 24 + + [FROM SOPHIA DOROTHEA TO KÖNIGSMARCK] + + [Wiesbaden], _September 13th/23rd {1692}_. + +Instead of the extreme pleasure which all your letters afford to me, +that which I received this evening has pierced my heart. One could not +think of anything that could hurt one more than what you write to me. I +shall not repeat it; I believe that you will remember it still very +well, and I would give everything in the world to be able to forget it. +By what passage of my life can I have deserved the opinion which you +show you have of me? If I thought to have given cause for it, I should +wish to be dead; but, the more I examine myself, the more I find myself +far removed from such sentiments, and, thanks be to God, I feel my heart +as noble as it ought to be. I wish to say nothing further to you on this +subject; I might lose my temper, and I very much hate harshness. But, to +reply to the four points on which you continue to harp. I am very much +deceived if I did not tell you that Sparr has been at L.,[211] and, if I +did not do so, it was certainly because I forgot to do so and because I +did not think that he was worth the trouble of my remembering him. I can +swear to you all the oaths you please that there is no reason besides +this; moreover, I did not say two words to him [about] the joy which you +reproach me for having felt at finding Guldenleu[212] here. I shall not +reply to you on the subject, for it is a ridiculous notion, and nothing +in the world could be so ill-imagined with regard to the Fair. I assure +you that I did not say a word in order to go there; but as I am quite +sincere I am prepared to _confess to you that I was not vexed about it_; +and, as to my new lover, you are mad to disquiet yourself about him; for +he is far away from here, and according to all appearances I shall not +see him; and [neither] his sisters nor anybody in the world will ever +make me take any step against the affection which so fills my heart. I +have already told you that I am convinced that he is not coming to +Han[over]; but, if this should happen, provided that I am better pleased +with you than I am this evening, I shall treat [him] with absolute +rudeness rather than allow his visits. I am very foolish to give a +reasonable explanation in reply to all your fancies—[to] you who are so +far from reasonable as to anything that concerns me, and who have driven +me to despair by your fine letter. It is true that you mean afterwards +to repair your fault; but this is not sufficient, and I am not well +pleased, for I desire your esteem, and you do not show that you have any +for me. The _Confidante_ yesterday received [a letter] from the beloved +Ketler,[213] who writes to her by order of the Landgrave[214] to offer +his compliments to Leonisse, since you wish to call her by that name, +and to assure her that he will do what is in his power to see her here +or at the Fair. I do not, however, think that this is possible, because +we take our departure to-morrow, and one will only be there for a single +day. I shall not write to you till I shall have arrived, and I shall +give you a sincere and faithful account of all. I shall say nothing +affectionate to you this evening, for you do not deserve it; I am afraid +that I shall not have the same strength of mind to-morrow, and that I +shall have forgotten my anger, for I am furiously fond of you, and, +although I do not tell you about it, I nevertheless feel that I love you +with a passion of which there never was the like. + +----- + +Footnote 211: + + I cannot offer any conjecture as to the identity of Sparr. He may have + been a descendant of the celebrated Brandenburg Field-Marshal von + Sparr. ‘L.’ may of course be Luisburg. + +Footnote 212: + + ‘Guldenleu,’ if that be the true reading of the MS. (Wilkins, p. 229, + spells the name ‘Guldenlon’), might conceivably mean Ulric Christian + Gyldenlöve, the natural brother of Charles XII. + +Footnote 213: + + The Kettelers of Harkotten were Hanoverian Barons. (The famous Bishop + of Mainz was a scion of this family.) + +Footnote 214: + + The Landgrave is no doubt Landgrave Charles of Hesse-Cassel, of whom + the Duchess of Orleans speaks as her cousin. His mother, the + Landgravine Hedwig Sophia, was a daughter of the Elector George + William of Brandenburg and his wife Elizabeth Charlotte, sister of the + Elector Palatine Frederick V. + +----- + + + F 25 + + [FROM SOPHIA DOROTHEA TO KÖNIGSMARCK] + + Fra[nkfort], _14th/24th [September 1692]_. + +I have been here during the last two hours. The Peda[gogue] alighted at +the house of the P[rincess] of Tarente,[215] where I saw nothing but +silly faces. From there we went to the Fair, where I saw nobody of +quality. The Marionette is here, and her sister-in-law. I shall not see +them till to-morrow, with which I am well pleased, for I shall be able +to take a rest, of which I have great need, not having closed an eye all +the night. I spent half of it in writing to you, and the other in +worrying myself about the fine passage in your letter. I beg you very +particularly not to give me any further such subjects of annoyance, for +I am very touchy on the subject in question. Except that wicked passage +which I cannot forget and which spoils all, your letter is charming, and +nothing is more delightful than all that you say to me. Put this matter +to rights, if you wish to be on good terms with me, for it goes very +near to my heart. Mine is so full of you that, although I have reason to +complain of you, I cannot bring myself not to mention to you that +yesterday evening I had to make a terribly violent effort in order to +keep silence to you about my affection. Never did one feel so much of +it, and never did one less deserve reproaches than in my case. You are +the most unjust of mankind to have the slightest mistrust as to what +concerns me. I am too veritably yours that you should have anything to +fear. All my actions should convince you of it, for it is certain that +my passion for you exceeds all bounds. I entreat you to be fully +convinced of this truth, and that there is nothing in the world which I +would not do to make you see that I am more yours than my own. I hope +that I shall not see either the Land[grave] or anybody, and I wish it +with my whole heart. If you find anything which does not please you in +what I wrote to you yesterday, lay all the blame on the vexation which +you caused to me. It was enough to make me cry, and all the charms of +your letter could not induce me to forgive the offending passage. Rest +tranquil as to my behaviour. It shall be divine, I promise you for +myself and for the Rival. + +----- + +Footnote 215: + + Princess Emily of Hesse-Cassel, sister of Landgrave William VI, + married Henry Charles, Prince of Tarente, and died in 1693. As to the + ‘Marionette’, see the Introduction to this Appendix. + +----- + + + F 26 + + [FROM SOPHIA DOROTHEA TO KÖNIGSMARCK] + + [Ebsdorf,[216] _September 1692_.][217] + +In the name of God, take care of yourself! My life is united to yours. A +thousand desperate thoughts come into my mind, and I am crushed with +grief; I should find it difficult to speak to you of anything else. I +have plenty of leisure for nursing my trouble, and it is with a real joy +that I find myself in this solitude. I forgot yesterday to return you my +thanks for what you tell me about _la Boule_. Nothing could be so +polite; I consent, on this condition, that she becomes my rival, for I +confess to you that I love a triumph, and that it is very much to my +taste. Adieu, nothing is capable of making me change. I was born for +loving you; you are my sole passion; I never had one before I knew you, +and I shall die loving you more than anyone has ever loved. + +----- + +Footnote 216: + + Ebsdorf, a hunting-box of the Duke of Hanover, about fifteen miles + from Lüneburg. + +Footnote 217: + + Cf. Wilkins, p. 233. + +----- + + + F 27 + + [FROM SOPHIA DOROTHEA TO KÖNIGSMARCK] + + [Ebsdorf,] _Wednesday, the 24th [September 1692]_. + +I ought to give you an account of my doings of yesterday. I was alone +all day. Then arrived some one sent from the master of this place to pay +his respects to the Peda[gogue]. He got into such difficulties in his +speech that I could scarcely stop myself from laughing at it. He also +made a speech to the _Cœur Gauche_, and then took his departure. Then +there was a promenade on foot, and on our return there was supper, and I +had a conversation with the _Confidante_. This is the only pleasure I +have, for we always talk about you. + + + F 28 + + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + [Hanover, _November 1692_.] + +Although I wrote to you yesterday evening, I cannot stop myself from +telling you that I have spent the worst night in the world; I dreamt +of you, but I beheld you faithless to me. I dreamt as follows: It +seemed to me that I had requested you not to see a certain great +man, and that, notwithstanding your promise, you had appointed him +to pay you a visit so as to say good-bye to him. I was informed of +it, and, not being able to endure this faithlessness, I pretended to +have a letter from Madame your mother to hand to you. I entered your +room abruptly, and saw the most horrible sight in the world: that +great gentleman held you in his arms, and, what is worse, you were +alone in your room. You pretended a little to be annoyed with your +Adonis, telling him that he was impertinent. In my turn, I wished to +withdraw, but you called out to me. I was delighted with this, +because it gave me a chance of whispering into your ear that you +were the most ungrateful of all ladies, and that this would be the +last time that I should speak to you. In fact, I went to find out M. +de Pude [Podewils] in order to beg him to send me to Hungary,[218] +which he did. I beg your pardon for this criminal dream; but I +should think myself very much more criminal if I did not let you +know of it. Do not think that I am inventing; no, by my God, it is a +true tale. For the love of all that is dearest to you, take care to +restore my peace of mind, and free me from my fear. I am afraid that +this dream may be some melancholy presage, and something that bodes +no good. It would be unjust that a tender affection should be +requited by infidelities; I hope it may not be so; for why should +you wish to desert a heart that adores you, and that swears to be +faithful to you? If such vows can attach you solely to me, I protest +to you before God, that never will I be unfaithful to you, and that +I will love you all my life with the same passion that I do [at +present]. When I shall have the honour of amusing you with an +account of yesterday’s debauch, you will laugh a good deal. The +Baroness[219] [_sic_] distinguished herself on the occasion, and the +big Swedish beard[s] made the best effect in the world; she was so +much ... that her natural colour began to appear beneath, which +produced the most diverting spectacle in the world. She asked me why +I did not amuse myself; I answered that I had come to pay my court +to M. [Bielke][220] and not to amuse myself. In leaving me she +called me a traitor; whereupon I replied that I was not one yet, but +might very possibly become one. M. le Duc played at ombre yesterday +evening with her. That is the very Devil! I will conclude by asking +you to prepare yourself to rescue me from the disquietude in which I +am, and to believe me inviolably attached to you and to all those +who have a regard for you. I embrace you from my very heart, and I +kiss your portrait a million times. Farewell! + +----- + +Footnote 218: + + The Imperial campaigns in Hungary were still in progress, and, by + the _Kurtractat_ of 1692, Ernest Augustus and his brother were + under the obligation of keeping up a military force there till the + end of the war. + +Footnote 219: + + The ‘Baroness’—unidentifiable—not the ‘Countess’; though Countess + Platen was famed as an expert in the art of painting, and was even + said to have invented a mysterious pigment called ‘white rouge.’ + +Footnote 220: + + The letters ‘Bil’ in the original no doubt stand for ‘Bielke.’ See + note to F 10, below. ‘M. le Duc’ is clearly the Duke of Celle. + +----- + + + F 29 + + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + [Hanover, _December 1692_.] + +Come here some Friday evening, and wait till the Elector[221] comes +here. If Prince Max cannot be got rid of, you can go back, and that +will serve you as a pretext with the Duke of Celle and the Electoral +Prince. Tell me if you agree with my notion; if you can do it, +arrange so that I may see you, for, frankly, I cannot go on living +in this way; for the love of me [and] of you arrange for me to see +you and to embrace you, for without this satisfaction life is worth +nothing to me. + + + F 30 + + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + [Hanover, _December 1692_.] + +The joy of finding the Ref[ormer] departed was broken by the trouble +of finding you ill; I hope, however, that it will not be of +consequence; for otherwise I shall not be able to sleep all night +because of it. I hope to embrace you to-morrow evening; I await the +ordinary signal; and the bad weather shall not prevent me from +tasting the delight of your charming kisses; unless indeed you give +me other orders. I hope for the contrary, and I trust that your +eagerness will respond to mine. If you do not go out to-morrow, this +will suffice to assure you that the moments will seem like centuries +to me, and that the times during which I am away from you are those +which I pass to no purpose whatever; and that I am ready to come +to-morrow to the well-known place. I await the signal and am your +very obedient servant. + + + F 31 + + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + [Hanover, _December 1692_.] + +One could not be better pleased with you than I am. Your obliging +ways of yesterday, your very dear letter, in a word everything, +charms me; I begin to revive, and yesterday is one of those days +which I ought to mark in my book. In order to take full advantage of +it, I beg that I may see you this evening; I shall await the signal +with great impatience, for I die with desire to prove to you my +joy—it is beyond all bounds, and cannot express itself. For the love +of you, of myself, and of everything that is dear to you, continue +in the same way; you will then be able to persuade me that I have +nothing to fear, that I shall always be happy and contented—that is +the pleasure of love, those are the charms of an attachment that is +sincere and genuine. The avowal of the _Grond[eur]_ further gives me +much hope—seek to soften him, you will be able to do it if you try; +but you must take pains about it, and choose your time well. Be +withal convinced that, if Heaven destines me the joy of having you +for my own, my ways will be quite different from what you have +imagined to yourself, and I swear to you that I shall regulate them +according to yours. Put faith in this avowal, for it is sincere, and +springs from a soul without guile and without finesse; as the +weather is fine, I hope to see you in the [falconry] [?].[222] I +hope to find you there loving and happy. Farewell till then; you +will, I feel sure, say a little word to me, from which I can +perceive that you grant my prayer. + +----- + +Footnote 221: + + Of Hanover (on the point of becoming such). + +Footnote 222: + + I cannot be sure about the ‘falconry.’ The list of the Elector’s + household in 1696, ap. Malortie, _Der Hannoversche Hof unter d. + Kürfürsten Ernst August_, &c., p. 40, includes one ‘bird-catcher,’ + and one ‘ortolan-catcher.’ + +----- + + + F 33 + + [FROM SOPHIA DOROTHEA TO KÖNIGSMARCK][223] + + [Hanover, _December 1692_ (?)] + +Let [him] be at 8 o’clock in the evening near the door of the great +hall, where the Pr[incess] is accustomed to play cards; he will be +able to meet her there in safety, since nobody passes there, +to-morrow being Sunday. + +----- + +Footnote 223: + + What is here printed as two letters (F 33 and F 34) runs on + without break in the Berlin manuscript. It is, however, difficult + to believe that the earlier portion is not distinct from the + latter, and that the former was not written by ‘_la Confidante_,’ + and the latter by Königsmarck; and I have therefore, though with + diffidence, ventured on the arrangement in the text. It must not + be supposed that these two letters refer to the assignation which + led to the catastrophe of the amour between Sophia Dorothea and + Königsmarck. The day of Königsmarck’s disappearance was, no doubt, + a Sunday, and the place in which, according to tradition, he was + struck down dead was by the door of the _Rittersaal_, in the + _Leineschloss_ at Hanover. But apart from the fact that, according + to Rüdiger’s statement (Cramer, vol. i. p. 69), Königsmarck did + not leave his lodgings till between 9 and 10 p.m., the body of the + letters in the Lund and in the Berlin collection appear to belong + to an earlier date than that at which Königsmarck quitted the + Hanoverian service (probably about the spring of 1694): and it can + hardly be supposed that these two specially incriminating letters + were left by the Secretary Hildebrandt to be seized, and that they + found their way to Berlin with a series of which they formed no + integral part. The Princess, it may be added, was in the habit of + playing cards in the Grand Hall as early as 1691 (cf. Wilkins, p. + 145). + +----- + + + F 34 + + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + [Hanover, _December 1692_ (?)] + + He will be there at the above-mentioned hour; do not doubt of his + fidelity. Adieu, incomparable Goddess; I wish you good evening, + and desire that your dreams may be as full of me as mine are of + you. After having once more reread your letter, I shall go to + sleep, with the hope of dreaming of [nothing] else than you. I + embrace you a Million times, and am your very obedient ser[vant]. + +----- + +Footnote 224: + + Near Celle. + +----- + + + F 9 + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + _Friday, 8 o’clock at evening. [Summer, 1693.]_ + + This moment I have received a very long letter, and one of the + kind I like from the Electoral Princess. I have not had leisure to + read it, lest the post should leave, and without assuring you what + joy it gave me when I received it; _le bonhomme_ goes to-morrow to + Engsen[224]; on his return I shall know my fate, which I shall at + once make known to the Electoral Princess. I am continually + offering up vows that I may not have to set out on the march, so + that I may be able to embrace her whom I love, and for whom I am + ready to die a thousand and a thousand times. Believe me that I + adore you in the most violent way in the world. Would to Heaven I + might have occasion to prove it to you! I shall not forget for a + moment, in order to convince you of it. What satisfaction it will + be to me if by my obedience I shall be able to show you how deep a + regard I have for you and what pleasure I take in being your slave + for ever. Adieu, my incomparable Leonisse; how I will kiss thee, + my little one.[225]—K. + +----- + +Footnote 225: + + _Ma petite._ For Königsmarck’s use of the same term of endearment, + cf. Wilkins, p. 162. + +----- + + + F7 + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + _One o’clock in the night. [Summer of 1693.]_ + + The _bonhomme_ has returned from his conference, and made me + dismiss the orderlies without commands. This is what leads me to + suppose that we shall still remain [here] during the present week; + and, as I am to dine with him to-morrow, I shall have some further + information, which I will at once communicate to you. In the + meantime, make ready to carry out what follows. The Duchess has + been to Linde,[226] to get rid of Countess Platen. Count de + Stenbock, whom you saw here seven years ago, wished to pay his + respects, and Count de La Gardie also.[227] I took them there, and + I found the good Plesse[?][228] at a stand [?], and the paint + running down everywhere—she was so overcome at seeing such a + number of strangers arrive that she was quite confused. She chose + the wiser part, for she withdrew at once, to put herself to rights + again. There is a good deal of malicious wit in the Electress, and + she could not have revenged herself better. Think of coming, I + entreat you; and believe that without seeing you is to be dead, + and I marvel that my fate should have been so cruel to me as to + let me survive all its misfortunes; but, if I do not see you soon, + there is no war nor danger which I will not seek in order to + shorten my unhappy life. I die with shame at not being dead + already. How does it agree with my loving you to distraction that + I neither see you nor speak to you, and yet survive! I believe + that my confounded fate preserves me in order to trouble me all + the more. You alone can rescue me from my despair; come quickly to + console me, or I shall commit some desperate act which I shall + regret all my life, for the life I lead is unbearable; I hate it + like death, I am tired out with it and can no longer bear it; I + wish that the lightning would destroy all those who prevent us + from seeing one another and joining our flames. Pardon the rage + which my too violent passion calls forth in me: it seems to me + that, if I must not see what I love, it is right that I should not + see the light of day. At this moment I should be capable of + sacrificing Father, Mother, Brother, and Sister, if I thought that + they prevented me from seeing my angel. Leonisse, what torments + your beauty costs me, to what trouble your charms give rise! Come + and make me forget all my woes; thou canst do it, by thy embraces, + by thy caresses; and there is no one in the world capable of this + but thyself. I await you with the greatest impatience in the + world; and do not allow me to say that you are quick to depart, + while ... to return where love calls [?] you. I should however be + in the wrong, if I complained of our parting, for it was loving + and sincere; but I beseech you, do not give me reason to complain + of a last parting. Farewell! I kiss you a thousand, thousand + times. Mlle. de Knesebeck is the best person in the world; I beg + you to tell her of my regard for her. I ask, with your permission, + to be remembered to her. + +----- + +Footnote 226: + + See note to F 4 below. + +Footnote 227: + + Count Magnus Stenbock, afterwards renowned as a Swedish general + under Charles XII, and sympathetically remembered for his tragic + death, entered the Dutch service as a volunteer in 1690. The Count + de La Gardie mentioned here may be Pontus Frederick who died in + 1693. Stenbock was connected by descent with the de La Gardies; a + Countess Stenbock, born de La Gardie, was with Aurora von + Königsmarck immediately after her brother’s death. The two Counts + are mentioned as likely to come to Celle in July 1693, _ap._ + Wilkins, p. 288. + +Footnote 228: + + ‘The good Plesse’ must have been the lady of General Pless, + formerly in the Danish service, like many other members of his + family, which was of ancient Brunswick descent. + +----- + + + F 10 + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + [Hanover], _Saturday, [July 1693]_. + + It is easy to suppose with what satisfaction I have read your very + charming letter. This satisfaction was due to me, in order to take + me a little out of the deep reverie into which my misfortunes and + our separation have plunged me. Your letter is long, loving, and + as I desire it to be; do not write any more short letters; this + ought to relieve you, and I swear to you that for me also you + cannot make them long enough. Your love is so agreeable to me that + I have no pleasure while away from you but to see that love + depicted on paper. I preserve your letters as the most precious + things in the world, because they console me for all the disgrace + I have to undergo; as I see in them that you swear to love me, to + be faithful to me, and never to abandon me—and what more can I + desire from you? You see, then, that I am thoroughly well pleased + with you; I conjure you to be the same with me, and not to impute + it to me that you do not receive my letters regularly by every + post. I did not know one day which was Sunday; but, since I am now + informed of it, my exactness will show you that I sinned because I + knew no better; and my negligence was due to the trouble which is + upon me. It is then that I think most of you, for you serve as a + consolation to me, and the pleasure of thinking of you surpasses + all others that I know. _Idolo mio_, when shall I have the joy of + holding thee in my arms? Is it not enough to make a Cato despair, + to see that you can come if Prince Max did not prevent it[229]; + but, although the wish to see you took away my jealousy and I + begged you to come, how long shall I be able to be with you, + perhaps only two days, and then I shall see you among people who + hate us, and others who wish to insinuate themselves. Do not + believe, my Angel, that my jealousy springs from any bad opinion I + have of you: this would be too criminal—it springs from the + violence of my love; so I flatter myself that you will always make + excuses for me when this madness takes hold of me. What do I not + owe you for taking so much pains to ease me of all my suspicions! + Your diaries console me; your vow makes me forget all that I had + in my brain. Ah! why am I not by your side! I would throw myself + at your feet, to thank you for all the care you take to render me + happy and contented. I am convinced of your good intentions; I + have no doubt of your fidelity; and I see very well that if you + ruled fate, so many worries would not occur. As I may perhaps + receive orders to march to Lunen [Lüneburg?], tell me if I may not + go to Celle, without giving umbrage. If you are not there, + politeness demands it; but at present I do not know what I ought + to do. The answer of the Electress of Brandenburg[230] is amusing + enough, and well deserves an answer, in which the music ought not + to be spared. I do not know whether I am mistaken, but, on + rereading letter No. 11, I do not find it so sincere as No. 10; + tell me if I am mistaken; No. 10 is charming—it shows the real + passion which you felt in writing it. For the love of me, be + always like that, and do not let me perceive any coldness. What + have I done to deserve it; tell me, so that I may exculpate + myself. Is it perhaps that you do not think it loving that I do + not ask you to come? But remember what it is that prevents me from + doing so. If, however, you desire it, I will beg you to come; but + I shall be perhaps two days here; and then your neighbour will + have a free field. He has loved you, and, indeed, he has not been + indifferent to you. I am always afraid of him, though there is + hardly anything to be afraid of in him; but it is sufficient that + he has been on a very familiar footing with you, for me to have + good reason for fearing his impertinence, and it would even be + annoying to see a man about you who might find twenty little holes + through which he might see you, besides that you would not be able + to say a single word without his hearing it. But all these reasons + are not enough; and, if I had hopes of staying, I would + nevertheless entreat you to come, in the hope that you would find + out a way to get rid of him; for, apart from this, I shall not be + able to see you, since he will always be looking out for spying + [upon you]. Inasmuch as I cannot give you up, I for this reason + refuse all the advantages which present themselves; I intend to + make you see from this how attached I am to you, and this is my + sole reason why I make you look at the letters which were written + to me on all sides. Believe, all the same, that no advantage is + capable of making me leave this place so long as you will be kind + to me. I know the power of a mother whom one loves, and when she + gives you an opportunity, you ought to be prudent enough to resist + it. My blood curdles, when I think that your [mother] would be + capable, in order to take vengeance on the Electoral Prince, of + letting you make a _cocu_ of him; and when this comes into my + head, if you ever thus caressed anyone but myself, all my blood + flows back in my veins, and I cannot rest still, so long as this + thought keeps me unquiet. Ah! good God! if I saw you kiss anyone + with the same passion with which you have kissed me, and ride on + horseback with the same pleasure—may I never see God if it would + not drive me mad! Why, in writing it my hand trembles, and I find + it difficult to go on. Let us change the subject. The friends of + whom I spoke to you, Bussche and Hammerstein[231], could you have + believed it, it is they who have put into the head of the + Electoral Prince all the stories about my [game]. But I have + written a letter to the first, which will make him see his + falseness very clearly. I am in hopes, moreover, since the Duchess + of Celle and the Duke of Celle have come to an agreement; + therefore do your best. The war will not last so long as to ruin + the country[232]; that is why this [excuse] cannot long be + accounted a defeat. See if you will keep your promise; for you + promised me that you would die sooner than not be united to me; + continue in this way of thinking, and you will restore my life to + me. Am I dear enough to you for you to keep the promise you made + to me? If this is so, I swear to you once more by the stars, that + nothing in the world shall separate me from you. By the letter + _enclosed_ you will see how they are once more trying to persuade + me to Marry the Daughter of M. Bielke[233]; but my answer was, + that I would rather die of hunger than do it; and that I begged + him particularly not to speak to me any more of marriage, for this + might cause a quarrel between us. I flatter myself that you will + be pleased with my resolution. Since we have so little chance of + seeing each other, we must think of expedients. _You will find it + in this note_; I think that it can be managed, provided I do not + go away and that I let you know between the present time and that. + If you wish to wait till Prince Max is tired, I shall not see you + for a long time; for when he is with the Electress and his thin + divinity[234], he is as happy as a King. I should not have thought + that this magpie would have caused me so much sorrow as he does; I + wish he were in the heart of Hungary, he would no longer cause me + so much heart-ache as he does at present. One could not speak more + kindly than you do on the subject of dying of hunger; but do you + believe that, although it would be a great consolation to me to + see you always at my side, I should like to drag you down into + misery? No, no, do not believe it! You must live happy and + contented, while I seek some glorious death, to put an end to my + unfortunate life and die the lover of the Electoral Princess. I + hope that you have received the two letters about which I spoke to + you; if not, tell me; you will no longer do me the injustice of + believing that any consideration in the world could detach me from + you; my protestation on this subject will make you see that I + shall die with my Love. How could one forsake you, for the more + one knows you the more one adores you; one discovers every day new + merits [in you]; and your love alone is capable of making me + prefer to have my head cut off rather than abandon you for ever. I + am ashamed of my want of exactness; I beg your pardon for it; it + is a fault which I entreat you not to attribute to my negligence + but to my shortness of memory. But, my divine Leonisse, + acknowledge in your turn that my letters are much the longest; and + that, had I not told you of it, you would not have made [yours] so + large. So each has his due; hence I shall never concede that your + love is greater than mine, and I should be inconsolable if I had + not given you more substantial proofs of it; for you might believe + that vanity, since you are a princess, is the cause of my + attachment. No; I swear to you that if you were the hangman’s + daughter, and if you possessed the attractions which are actually + yours, I should love you with as much ardour. You will think me + not very polite; but I flatter myself that you will find my + feelings tender and true; in the name of the Gods, continue in the + sentiments in which I find you now! If any disgrace were to drive + me so far that you conceived a dislike for me, I should certainly + send a pistol-shot through my brain.... + +----- + +Footnote 229: + + Prince Maximilian, who excited Königsmarck’s jealousy so strongly, + was staying at Brockhausen in June 1692 after his catastrophe at + Hanover (cf. Wilkins, p. 136), Königsmarck being at Hanover. In + June 1693 Maximilian was lodged at Luisburg, in rooms next to the + Princess (cf. Wilkins, p. 259). In July 1693 he was at + Herrenhausen (ib. p. 286). The letter, with its references to the + contiguity of Prince Maximilian’s rooms, and to the Duchess of + Celle’s encouragement of him, seems to belong to the later date. + +Footnote 230: + + Sophia Charlotte. + +Footnote 231: + + Probably Christian William von dem Bussche, who became + Adjutant-General of the Elector George Lewis, and died as a + general in 1711. George Christopher von Hammerstein was + Adjutant-General to the Hereditary (Electoral) Prince. + +Footnote 232: + + The war, begun in 1688 by the French invasion of the Palatinate, + lasted till the conclusion of the Peace of Ryswyk in 1697. + +Footnote 233: + + Count Niels Bielke, the well-known Swedish politician (afterwards + governor of Swedish Pomerania), seems already at this time as + Swedish envoy to have furthered the French interest, with which he + remained identified. See Colt _ap._ Wilkins, p. 176. + +Footnote 234: + + Can this have been Melusina von der Schulenburg? + +----- + + F 16 + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + _September 1st_ [1693, from the Camp]. + + Pardon me, if sorrow and despair has made me commit the fault of + not writing to you for two days. When one is in the state in which + I am, one does not know what one is doing. I will begin by telling + you that I have changed two ciphers in our key, namely, j means + 31, i means 35, u means 53, v means 54. I [beg] you to note this. + Next, I must tell you that you have marked two letters No. 10, so + that No. 14 ought to be No. 15. But just continue for the present, + for there is no other harm done, [except] that the second or first + No. 10 might have been lost without one’s having known at all that + one had been lost. I must further tell you that I wrote to you two + letters addressed to 131, whom I supposed to be at Celle; you must + let me know whether you have received them. Three letters were + addressed to the postmaster at Celle, which are dated the 20th, + and [this] is letter No. 9; the 26th, and [this] is letter No. + 12—this one is of consequence; the 30th, and [this] is letter No. + 14. It would also be well to see whether you have letter No. 13. I + beg you to reply to me without fail as to this. You can see + everything by the way in which they follow on one another; for I + am quite sure that I have been exact on this occasion. You will be + surprised to find me making such reflexions, in the condition in + which I am; but, my dear, we have had so many misfortunes, that + one must not create any more for oneself. I received yours dated + the 26th; but you know what accident happened to me in mistaking + one bottle for another. I told you about it in my preceding + letters; I see, however, in yours dated the 28th, 29th and 30th + what you meant to say to me in [that dated] the 26th. It is a + great joy to me to know you free from fear, and I am angry with + myself for having been the cause of your disquiet, which has + contributed greatly to your illness.[235] At present, now that you + are free from fear, I hope that the fever will leave you also. How + I pity you for having suffered so much—[a] six hours of fever. I + do not understand how you have strength enough still to write to + me. I am as grateful as I ought to be; and I am convinced that it + is love which gives you strength; but to what extent am I not + obliged by this mark of your affection? Never shall I forget such + favours. If my letters had force enough to comfort you in your + sufferings, I would arrange for you to have one every hour; but I + take this compliment to be an effect of your kindness. However, I + can swear to you that your letters are a great consolation to me, + and without the three last of them, dated 28th, 29th and 30th, I + should be in my grave at this very moment. It would after all be + the greatest folly I could commit, for, though it would be a sign + of affection, I should lose you; and, [as] you say very well in + one of yours, what despair never to see each other again for ever! + Let us then live on, together, love each other everlastingly, and + swear to each other afresh a constancy which shall never end; and + that [after?] death, if we have sense enough, this may likewise + endure. In order that we may live together, take all imaginable + pains to preserve yourself; remember that my quiet of mind depends + on it: if your illness continues, I am quite sure that I shall go + mad. The fever prevails a great deal here; we have nearly 200 on + the sick-list among our troops; my servants fall sick one after + the other. I have been obliged to send my valet de chambre to + Celle; the others are at Lüneb[urg]; if this continues, my turn + [?] will come too. + +----- + +Footnote 235: + + Cf. Wilkins, pp. 313 sqq. + +----- + + + F 17 + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + _The 3rd_ [_September 1693_, from the Camp]. + + I thought I should have an apoplectic fit when I opened your + letter, without seeing your handwriting. I hoped to hear that you + were better, and you are doing quite the contrary. I believed at + the beginning that it was all over with you. Do not suppose that I + am annoyed that it is not in your handwriting—far from that, I + entreat you to continue in the same way, for I am absolutely + against your fatiguing yourself. I pity you as much as an + affectionate and tender ... can do so—must the most perfect object + in the universe suffer so cruelly? Ye gods, why are you so unjust? + But, my heart, I know why this misfortune comes to you[236]—it is + to render me more unhappy that destiny causes you to fall ill; you + are made to suffer in order that I may be crucified. And the design + succeeds, for no one could send me a greater misfortune. You order + me not to disquiet myself—it would be necessary not to love you, in + order not to be at the point of death. Every moment I am on my + knees to offer up prayer for your complete recovery; I flatter + myself that in the end I shall find pity—my prayers are too devout + not to find acceptance. May God grant that you may speedily be + relieved of your sufferings and I of my fears and of my anxiety! + With what joy shall I embrace you, when I shall have that of seeing + you. I do not know when this will be possible to me; but my design + is to make pretence of an access of fever happening to me; I shall + say to the _bonhomme_ that I should like to go for three days to + 317, to avoid the fever taking hold of me, that is to say, to take + some remedies. Instead of staying at 317, I shall take the post and + fly to Celle. I should be able to be two nights with you—what joy, + what satisfaction! I should be able to be at your feet, to bathe + them with my tears: you would see into how pitiable a state your + illness had driven me. But perhaps I am indulging these hopes in + vain; for before I can play this part it is in the first instance + necessary that the _bonhomme_ should be in better health ... + depends further on the future of the 9 [?] ... I have nothing good + to Hope for; rage, despair, trouble, disquietude, Love—all these + things together have such an effect on me that I am like those + people one sees at Amsterdam in the madhouse. God knows what the + end of all this will be. The sickness spreads from day to day; my + old Lieutenant-C[olonel] and two Lieutenants have fallen [ill] + to-day; I do not know how I shall escape it; it is a miracle, for + with all the troubles that oppress me I ought to catch it. + Farewell, my Angel, I can tell you no more. The express that was + sent to me by the _bonhomme_ by [?] thought that you have a lover, + who takes so much [interest] in everything that concerns you that + you ... do yourself [?]; he is sincere [and] adores you, and has as + much Respect for you as anyone in the world; I deserve all your + affection and all the kind interest you take in me. If I do not + give you assurances enough of my love and fidelity, it is not my + fault—it is that I have no opportunity for doing so; I should weary + you with my protestations, for I repeat them in all my letters. I + fancy that you are like myself. I cannot wait for them too long, + and all your letters, were they filled with anything else, would be + to me always agreeable and more so than if there were nothing in + them. + + + F 8 + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + Atlenburg, _the 13th [of September, 1693]_.[237] + + On the twelfth I did what I do on all other days: that is to say, + drink, eat, and go the rounds; the same on the thirteenth. The + Duke of Celle came to call on us. You see that I can keep my + diaries without difficulty; I do not think they will annoy you at + all, for nothing could be more innocent, and those from Hanover + will be of the same sort, at least if my going to sup with ladies + does not displease you. But I promise to leave this alone also, + assuring you that it is the very slightest proof I can offer you, + inasmuch as I shall be pleased to do without it, even if you send + no orders to stop it. Would to God I could show you by my conduct, + that all my thoughts, all my acts are only done for you; but, + alas! you are so unjust that you refuse to perceive this. I hate + my bad fortune, and it is this which one day will ruin me with + you. I have received the letter No. 3 dated the 5th, within eight + days after that marked 4; I cannot understand whence arises this + delay; but I well know that it is dangerous that the letter should + be so long on its way. I am not satisfied with you, and the unkind + opinion you have of me as if I neglected you hurts me very much; I + think only of you night and day; no other thought enters my mind; + and yet, I am [supposed to] forget you, to neglect you. I am + inconstant—do I really deserve these designations; be you the + judge yourself! Can you accuse me of no longer loving you? Is it + possible that it is Leonisse who believes this and reproaches me + with it! Great God! how full of injustice you are, and how great a + wrong you do me! I love you to madness; I adore you beyond + compare; my love surpasses all others—and yet you have doubts of + all this; your heart does not speak in my favour. I have reason + for complaining of it—that barbarous heart, which ought to plead + for me, instead of being my accuser. I have known it kind to me; + but little by little all that affection has vanished. Will not + your heart recover itself? reproach it on my part; my heart + promises an eternal attachment, it swears constancy to you, and, + provided that you deign to think of it once in every twenty-four + hours, it is content. Does it deserve to be remembered by you? I + think it does, but it is for you to judge the case. If I am ever + unfortunate enough to love you no longer (which is an + impossibility), your wish will be no punishment to me [??], for I + swear to you that I shall never seek any other faithful + attachment, and, though the present one is dearer to me than my + life, I should never wish for another. Remember what a certain + Spaniard said: ‘I do not wish to make myself common’—I call it to + make myself common if I were to quit the most perfect object of + the universe for some other, who could never compare herself as to + .... + +----- + +Footnote 236: + + The familiar second person singular is employed in this and the + next two lines. + +Footnote 237: + + Atlenburg (mis-spelt ‘Altenburg’ _ap._ Wilkins, p. 314) must be + Artlenburg, in the part of the duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg on the left + bank of the Elbe. + +----- + + + F 19 + + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + _The 14th_ [_of September, 1693._ From the Camp]. + + Most assuredly, without yours of the 12th the Beating of my Heart, + of which 127 had been the cause, would have made an end of me, + but, most fortunately for me, I received it at the time when my + heart was about to burst; and, as I see from it that the news is + quite false, I also begin to recover myself. He told me, as quite + certain, that your fever had seized you again. Assuredly I should + not, with this disquiet, have been able to pass the night alive; + and now while I am writing to you I still have the Queen of + Hungary Water[238] on my nose. I think, however, that this will + pass away; but I feel very much upset and exhausted; if this does + not go away in the night, I shall bleed myself to prevent any evil + consequences that might overtake me. M. de Sporck[239] will, + according to all appearances, die before the day is over; I have 3 + Captains, 5 Lieutenants and 4 Ensigns sick to death, more than 300 + foot-soldiers and dragoons, of our troops only, are quite down; it + is an infected air, the healthiest sicken in it; all the same, I + hope not to fall sick, knowing you to be out of the wood. You will + have seen from my letter dated the 12th how well satisfied I am + with you; do not be offended that I begged you to [write] me two + words with your own hand; I knew that you were a little better; + otherwise I should not have done it; but, my best beloved heart, + you have done too much, for you have written me two entire pages; + I beg you very particularly not to do this any more, nor until you + are quite well again. The siege of Charleroi[240] will prevent the + Electoral Prince from being here so soon; great God, may this + siege deliver us from troublesome people! It is said for certain + that things are settling down; but the orders that are given for + taking care of the sick make me tremble with fear that we shall + not so soon quit this post. I am agitated by the same despair as + you are, to have to pass my life with people for whom I feel an + aversion, and to be allowed to pass so little time with her whom I + adore. However, you are more to be pitied, for I can very often + get free of it, and you not, besides the embraces which you are + obliged to undergo. It seems to me that, if I had to suffer the + same sort of thing, I could not prevent myself from being sick + every time it should happen to me. Ah, how horrible to caress what + one hates mortally; I firmly believe that purgatory does not + inflict so many torments as do caresses of that sort. If it is + true that the Elector of Hanover is not going to 308, I might well + come there; but we cannot take our measures before it is known + what will become of the Electoral Prince. The Duchess of + Hanover[241] will not arrive till towards the end of next month; + and then the Electoral Prince will have returned, and the hunting + will be over. May God only grant that we begin it soon, and that + you are able to put in an appearance. I pity you for having grown + so thin; but (with your permission) I find the question which you + put to me ridiculous and absurd. If I loved nothing in you but + your beauty I would forgive it you; but you are convinced that it + is not only this which I adore—it is your merits, your [sweet] + temper.[242] I confess to you that to see you beautiful charms the + eyes; but I protest to you that, were you ugly like Madame + Kopstein,[243] I should not love you a whit the less. Tired of + you? Ah, is it possible to ask such a question as this of a lover + who loves you dearly! No, no, Leonisse, you are not convinced of + my sincere affection. What must I do to bring the conviction of it + home to you? I shall never be at rest, till I know that you are + quite convinced of it. Do you believe that an affection like mine + arose out of anything so transitory as beauty? Although you have + much of it, and more than any one else of your sex, I can tell you + that it is not your beauty which has put me into the condition in + which I am. It is true that the beauty which you possess set me on + fire, and that without it I should perhaps not have been as happy + as I am; but that which has made me as I am is your _esprit_, your + sincerity, your way of living, and, finally, it is your soul, so + high-bred and so well-balanced, which produces in you a sweetness + beyond compare, an unequalled generosity, with clemency beyond all + imagination. It is these virtues which have placed me in the dear + slavery in which I find myself at this moment, and in which I also + mean to die. In truth, Leonisse, you trouble me greatly with your + questions; you fear that I shall become unfaithful to the greatest + Beauty of the age, and to virtue itself, for some unfledged + princesses[244] without any other merit but that of having been to + Paris. Once more, I see only too well that you are not well + convinced of my love; I hope that in the end I shall give you so + many signs of it that you will no longer be able to doubt it. To + take the proper steps it is necessary that we should speak to each + other; we have time up to the end of the coming month [?], and + before this time we need not fear the return of the Electoral + Prince, and of the Duchess. You still attack [me about] princesses + [?]. Do you perhaps think that I am so fond as you are yourself of + novelty, of change, and of people who come from Paris? You are + quite mistaken: I wear my chains with very great pleasure, and + would not change them for the Kingdom of the Great Mogul. The + letter of the Lieutenant-Colonel is very silly, but the person is + reasonable enough; she has inspired a strong affection in a very + brave man, of high rank, in the Low Countries, whose name is the + Marquis of Spinosa.[245] He is one of the fine gentlemen + [_galans_] of that country. But since I have sent you a very silly + letter, I shall make up for it by one that is very well written; + if it were not written out of a book, we ought to admire it + particularly as coming from this person; but let me tell you that + she found it word for word in a book. However, it must be allowed + that it is phrased very suitably. I beg you to send it back to me; + I send it you because I think it will amuse you. Adieu. + +----- + +Footnote 238: + + This old-fashioned toilet-water has hardly gone quite out of use. + Its name is said to have been derived from the fact that the + original formula of the compound (of which the chief ingredient is + rosemary) was presented by a hermit to a queen of Hungary. In his + rapturous letter _ap._ Wilkins, p. 155, Königsmarck begs Sophia + Dorothea to have _de l’eau de la reine d’Hongrie_ in readiness. + +Footnote 239: + + A member of the ancient family von Spörcken, which possessed + numerous estates in Lüneburg, and from which sprang Field-Marshal + von Spörcken. He was born in 1698, and his mother was a sister of + Field-Marshal von der Schulenburg. + +Footnote 240: + + The siege of Charleroi by Vauban began on September 15, 1693, and + ended with the capture of the place on October 11. + +Footnote 241: + + _Sic_ in text (‘_la Dujais d’Hanovre_’ and, lower down, ‘_la + Dujaiÿse_,’ Königsmarck’s spelling), though the date of the letter + admits of no doubt. + +Footnote 242: + + The remainder of this letter was misplaced in the Berlin copy. + +Footnote 243: + + Probably the wife of Court-Marshal von Koppenstein. + +Footnote 244: + + _Gosses de princesses_ in the original. I owe the following + reference to Dr. Braunholtz: _Dans le jargon des voyous, une_ + gosse, _une_ gosseline, _c’est une fillette de quinze à seize + ans_.... (L. Rigaud, _Dictionnaire d’argot moderne_, n.e., 1888). + +Footnote 245: + + I am unable to identify this nobleman. The spelling Espinosa seems + the more common. + +----- + + F 4 + + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + _Thursday {1693}_. + + I needed your letter to sustain me in the despair which had fallen + upon me. This is what comes of acting openly, and if you had not + spoken to me of ... I believe that I could not have held out a day + longer. However, I controlled myself excellently; and I wished in + the first instance to know what you would say to me; so I did not + give way to my anger. Let me tell you then that I was the day + before yesterday at Linde.[246] Mme. la Comtesse was greatly + astonished that I did not play with you. I said to her that this + required permission; she said, Mme. Léonisse made the Elector ask + me; and he replied positively that she might summon her players. + Yesterday, before receiving your letter, I was told by Oberg who + had seen M. Weyhe at Linde, that his Highness had said it to + yourself.[247] Prince Ernest Augustus said to me in these words, + that the Elector had said to you, ‘You are bored, Madam; you ought + to summon your players.’ It would have depended on yourself, if he + had spoken to you in this way. But, Madam, I was greatly relieved + when I read your letter, in which you write to me about this + matter. I have drawn my moral, which is never begin to fly into a + passion about vapours. But, my divine creature, could you not + [contrive to] let [me] come, in order that I might have the joy of + gazing upon you, and that my eyes and my heart might learn from + yours how I stand with them, and whether your love is such as you + wrote to me. Your letter of yesterday is charming; it touched me + so that I feel more on fire than ever. You write that you see + nobody; nothing could be more obliging; but you see the Reformer + all the more; which makes me fear that you will accustom yourself + little by little to his mediocre caresses, and he will kiss you so + often that I die with trouble only to think of it. For the love of + yourself, do not accustom yourself to it; always remember the way + in which he treats you—you who deserve all proper, obliging and + respectful ways. But I see the defects of another man, and I do + not see that it is in this that I am the most criminal. You have + told me yourself that the Re[former] ... [at times?] was not so + unpleasant in his ways as myself. I die to think of it. How + unfortunate I am to love you so tenderly, and that this excessive + passion makes me so odious. Think no more of the past, I beseech + you. Adieu, adieu, alas, adieu! + +----- + +Footnote 246: + + Linde or Linden, an estate in the immediate vicinity of Hanover, + purchased in 1688 by Count Platen, who built in its fine gardens a + _château_, frequently mentioned as ‘_la cour de Linden_.’ + +Footnote 247: + + The Obergs were an ancient noble family, whose estates lay in the + bishopric of Hildesheim and elsewhere. A Privy-Councillor von + Oberg is mentioned _ap._ Malortie, _u. s._ pp. 193, 194. Christian + Lewis von Oberg, a general of much distinction in the Hanoverian + service, was not born till 1689. The Obergs were afterwards raised + to the rank of Counts.—The von der Weyhe mentioned in the text was + probably the same who afterwards became a General, and married the + widowed Frau von dem Bussche, Countess Platen’s sister. + +----- + + + F 5 + + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + [1693.] + + I am much to be pitied, and my ill-fortune persecutes me too much + for me to be able to bear it any longer. Yesterday’s letters give + us no hope that the Ref[ormer] may take his departure; and until + he has gone I cannot and ought not to see you. What a cruel + destiny! oh, insupportable misfortune! Can I still breathe after + such heavy blows; life becomes insupportable to me; I cannot, nor + ought I to, remain any longer in the world, for what can I do in + it without seeing you! I have to-day had two unfortunate + experiences, of which at present the second seems to me the most + cruel, but the first may prove the most terrible. I have fallen + out with our old _bonhomme_, and with Gor too; and, as he told + you, if I were to repeat it to those with whom his Highness is + displeased, they would be much astonished. Apart from my passion + [for you], I know what course I have to take; but, my dear, as I + have promised you to do nothing without your consent, I wish to + let you know about it beforehand. My intention is to write to him, + and to say to him that I was very much annoyed that duty had + involved me in a dispute with the person in the world whom I + honour most; but, as I had carefully taken note of the words he + addressed to me, I had observed at the time that he said [that] if + I repeated [it] to all those whom our master holds in contempt, + there would be many who would be undeceived; I thought that your + Excellency would not be offended, if I asked you to be good enough + to inform me privately, whether I am unfortunate enough to have + displeased Monseigneur the Elector—in order that I might shape my + course accordingly. For hitherto I had served him from affection + only, and without any interested motive; and, if I was unfortunate + enough to have incurred his disfavour, it would be impossible for + me to serve him any longer.[248] This was, in substance, what I + wished to say to him, being aware of your opinion. I can assure + you that I positively perceived that his rage directed itself + against me. I am surprised at my own patience, and I cannot + understand how I managed to control myself, for I had it very + often on the tip of my tongue to say to him what I intend to write + to him. The second misfortune troubles me a great deal more. I saw + your windows open; the Ref[ormer] came out of your dressing-room; + without [my] seeing you there, though I raised my voice tolerably + high, and passed and repassed; but there was nothing—one could not + see a living soul there. I suppose that, as it was late, you were + already in the room of the _Romaine_. I should be inconsolable, if + I had not the hope of seeing you this evening at 6 o’clock. To + what am I reduced! I count it the greatest good fortune in the + world to see you a thousand feet off. In good truth, it will be a + great consolation to me if I can have this pleasure. That of + writing to you is very dear to me, and I would not give it up for + a Kingdom. I fear that my Diabolical destiny will deprive me of + it; this would be my finishing stroke. I conjure you, take your + measures so well that we may not miss this joy. You know, I hope, + through your own self that one would not be able to live without + this. Alas! why am I not Reden or Hortense[249]; so long as you + are there, it matters not if you were to hate me. I shall, + however, have the joy of seeing her whom I adore; it is our love + which takes the one far away from the other; without my love, I + should be wherever you are; but because I love you I am in bad + repute, I am disregarded, I am forgotten. But never mind; let them + spit in my face, I will not take offence at it. + +----- + +Footnote 248: + + The meaning of this passage is hopelessly obscured in the original + by the wild use of brackets, and by a reckless interchange between + _oratio obliqua_ and _directa_, and the second and third persons. + +Footnote 249: + + Von Reden was Chamberlain to the Electress Sophia. ‘Hortense’ is + the Abbé Hortensio Mauro, mentioned in Chapter III. In her + letters, the Electress often refers to him as ‘Ortence.’ + +----- + + + F 13 + + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + [Hanover, _latter part of 1693_].[250] + + In fear of not being able to speak to you, I take the liberty of + expressing to you my concern at the misfortune which has happened + to you. God knows that my heart forewarned me of it; but my + companion was never willing to wait, although I begged him to do + so; but, by way of climax to my ill luck, I have to wait till my + intimate friend has had the pleasure with his troublesome + companion of an interview with you; it seems to me that I have + great reason to complain of the Gods, as they are unjust enough to + deprive me of all means of being serviceable to you, while at the + same time they furnish such means to those from whom I have most + to fear. Since this accident strange things have come into my + head, and I am foolish enough to believe that the accident which + happened yesterday is a prognostic of my ill luck, and that this + is the same man who will be the cause of all these troubles to me. + The result will be that I shall have him watched as closely as + possible while I am away, and, if I hear the slightest thing, + believe me as a man of honour that I will never see you again, and + that I would rather seek out the innermost parts of Lapland than + appear before those eyes which [once] enchanted me. I detest my + companion, for without this I should have had the pleasure of + serving you, instead of my seeing this joy in the breast of a man + whom I abhor, and who is impertinent enough to come and tell me of + it himself, informing me of the condition in which you were, your + _déshabillement_, without a cap, your hair loose over your + incomparable bosom. O God, I am too furious to write any more. + +----- + +Footnote 250: + + This and the following two letters might belong to the spring of + 1692; but I think that they may with more probability be assigned + to the latter part of 1693. + +----- + + + F 14 + + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + [Hanover, _latter part of 1693_.] + + While I was reflecting on the miserable state in which I found + myself they brought me your letter, which I had little expected. + My joy was so great that I forgot my sufferings, throwing myself + on the letter as if nothing were wanting to me. You have done + everything that I wished to see you do; it therefore only remains + for me to thank you for your kindness, and to give you every + assurance of my fidelity: + + _Io ti saro fedele, + Ne mai ti tradiro. + Se ben mi sei crudel, + Sempre t’adorero._ + + If you do not believe me, I am ready to abandon Mother, Kinsfolk, + Friends, Possessions and Country, the better to convince you of + it; and it will only depend on you whether I shall take the + journey of which you are well aware. My unhappy condition + furnishes me with a good excuse; I shall be able to pretend + illness for a long time. If you agree with me, I beg you to let me + know; for I will take my measures accordingly; it is the greatest + proof [of my affection] which I can offer you at present; so pray + accept it, and thus make me happy; for the satisfaction of seeing + you far surpasses the ambition which I have of making my fortune. + I could not find any greater [good fortune], and that of + possessing you is so dear to me that I do not any longer meditate + on any of the others. By your letter you have so purified my heart + that there no longer remains in it the slightest suspicion of + jealousy; the eagerness which you show to know the state of my + health sufficiently convinces me that you love me. To meet your + wish, I will tell you that I suffer extremely; yet the pain of not + seeing you greatly exceeds that of my fall. I expect to be better + in four days; but if you accept my proposition, I shall keep my + room for ten days longer. This will not prevent me, so soon as I + shall be able to walk, from being able to embrace you in the + well-known locality; to have news of you, I believe that the + safest way is for one of my people (in whom I am able to place + confidence).... + + + F 15 + + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + [Hanover, _latter part of 1693_.] + + Anyone but myself would put you to the proof, to see whether your + love will carry you so far as to come to me; but, as for me, I + love you too much to be able to expose you to this risk, and your + offer is sufficient for me. However, in order not to lose the + occasion of seeing you (since I have so little time for remaining + with you) I will come to you this evening, if you consent; and I + shall wait to hear from you the hour of the _rendez-vous_. If you + think it well that I should appear at court, I will do so, but not + otherwise. The joy of seeing you again makes me forget all the + trouble that my illness has brought upon me; for the rest, I am + well enough pleased with you; I cannot, however, forget how little + opposition you have to offer on the subject of my journey, having + a good excuse for dissuading me from it; I do not know at what + judgment to arrive on the subject.[251] Only, may God grant that + this absence may not prove of deadly import to me! You accuse me + of not loving you enough; how can you be so unjust, but I will + pass over this point without reply, knowing well that you are too + fully convinced of my love, which is the purest that ever existed, + and which will last so long as I live. I have often protested this + to you in prose; permit me on the present occasion to do it in + verse: + + While breath within my heart remains, Beloved is _votre nom_ by + me; So long as blood runs in my veins, It shall retain the mark of + thee; And with the current of my days, Love shall remain with me + always. + + At 6 o’clock my man shall be in front of the room of the _bonne, + bonne amie_.[252] + +----- + +Footnote 251: + + The reference seems to be to his intention to quit the Hanoverian + service. + +Footnote 252: + + Fräulein von dem Knesebeck. + +----- + + + F 20 + + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + [Hanover, _latter part of 1693_.][253] + + I perceive the pleasure that I had taken in embracing you vanishes + entirely since the Troublesome One has appeared so suddenly. I + confess to you that this countenance displeased me very much so + soon as I perceived it; a thunderclap could not have surprised me + more. But it is fated that there should always be disagreeable + faces to prevent a tender meeting like that which all appearances + allowed us to think ours was to be. Yes, my idea of it was so full + of joy that I could not sleep all the night; but alas! all is + vanished, and I have to pass a second night without sleeping, and + with grief instead of the joy with which the first filled me; it + is certain that, unless you are so kind as to console me, I shall + bathe in my tears. Console me then, divine beauty, and comfort a + man who is dying for you, and who is so set upon your charms that + his head turns: + + For a toy [?] of charming beauty + Such flame me doth consume, + That to love her is reason and duty, + Till I am laid in my tomb. + + Such is my maxim, and you shall see me carry it out exactly; my + greatest satisfaction shall be to prove to you that only death is + alone capable of extinguishing my love. But, for the love of God, + think of the motto, ‘Nothing impure inflames me’;[254] adieu! + +----- + +Footnote 253: + + This and the following letter ought possibly to be dated in the + spring of 1692; but I think the date assigned the more probable + one. + +Footnote 254: + + The seal on some of Königsmarck’s letters in the Lund + Correspondence represents a flaming heart on an altar, the sun + shining down upon it, with the circumscription, _Rien d’impure + m’allume_. Wilkins, p. 123. + +----- + + + F 21 + + [FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA] + + [Hanover, _latter part of 1693_] _6 o’clock_. + + I cannot go away from here without thanking you for having rescued + me from such a difficulty. Surely I was a lost man without + yesterday evening’s conversation. I go away as happy as a man can + do who leaves behind what he adores; but what consoles me is that + I am well assured of your friendship, and that my absence does me + no harm; my soul is so at ease that I am quite a different man + from what I was before. I beg of you, no _tête-à-têtes_—not with + anybody, in particular with M. R.[255] I shall know everything, + for I have good friends here whom you do not in the least suspect. + Adieu, _Bella dea_, think of me as much as I think of you. I kiss + your knees a thousand times, and am eternally your slave. + +----- + +Footnote 255: + + I cannot guess at ‘M. R.’ Prince Maximilian’s second name was + William. + +----- + + + + + APPENDIX C + NOTE ON THE RELIGIOUS SITUATION IN SCOTLAND, AS IT AFFECTED THE + HANOVERIAN SUCCESSION + + +The Church of Scotland was, in the main, well affected to the Union +and the consequences which it entailed as regards the Succession. +But the friends of the House of Hanover had to guard against two +distinct sources of weakness within the Establishment itself. + +(I) Episcopacy in Scotland had never been more than a compromise, +even in the districts where it had not been violently opposed. The +best instance of this is Aberdeenshire, where protests against the +government of Charles II are late in date and are confined to verbal +expressions of sympathy with the persecuted Presbyterians. But the +_Records of the Exercise_ [Presbytery] _of Alford_ (New Spalding +Club, 1897), dealing with the period 1662-1688, show clearly enough +that the episcopal function was ordination, and that the government +and, in many respects, the public worship of the Church was +Presbyterian. The effect of this was that, at the Revolution, +Episcopal clergymen were permitted to remain in their parishes on +condition of their taking the oath to William and Mary, although +they were forbidden to take part in Presbyteries, Synods, or +Assemblies. The tendency was for such men to conform to Presbytery, +but they formed a distinct ‘left wing.’ They were most numerous in +the north-east, and they were well represented in the Universities. +Both the Universities of Aberdeen, for example, were Jacobite in +sympathy. The result was that many ministers shared in, and urged +their people to join, the ’15. They were deposed in 1716, and the +Universities were ‘purged’ by the Commission of 1717. + +(2) A section of the more robust Presbyterians in the Church +sympathised with their brethren who had declined to accept the +Revolution Settlement, and their feeling was accentuated by a gross +breach of faith on the part of the British Parliament—the passing of +the Patronage Act of 1712, which disturbed the Church for more than +a century and a half. So strong was this tendency that, as late as +1745, the Provincial Synod of Moray considered it necessary to +inform George II that ‘with pleasure we reflect that very few of the +people who hold communion with us have joined those enemies of your +Majesty’s crown and government.’ (Allardyce, _Jacobite Papers_.) + +Episcopalian Jacobitism within the Church practically disappears in +1716, and the clergy, as represented in ecclesiastical and academic +records, were devotedly loyal to George I and II, from that date. + +Outside the Church we have a body who were not Dissenters in the +English sense, for they approved of the constitution of the Church, +but objected to the establishment of Episcopacy in England, and the +toleration of Dissenters in Scotland. They were the men who had +suffered most in the ‘killing time,’ and their only associations +with the functions of government were connected with Grierson of +Lagg and Bloody Mackenzie. They considered it possible that James +Stewart might be turned from the error of his ways, and take the +Covenant as Charles II had done. Their attitude, in fact, was +precisely similar to that of their predecessors, who had crowned +Charles II after fighting against Charles I. They declined to +acknowledge the Revolution Settlement and the Union. They spoke of +Queen Anne as ‘that wicked Jezabel the pretended Queen,’ and ‘the +late woman.’ But even when they had little hope of the Pretender’s +conversion, they protested against ‘the Prince of Hanover, who hath +been bred and brought up in the Luthren religion, which is not only +different from but even in many things contrar unto that purity in +doctrine, reformation, and religion we in these nations had attained +unto.’ (_Protestation against the Union._) + +The Episcopalians, the largest section of Protestant Dissenters, +were, almost without exception, High Tories. They had suffered for +refusing the oath to William and Mary, and had undergone some +trifling inconveniences as the defeated and unpopular party. The +rising of 1715 was, therefore, very largely supported by +Episcopalians, who found themselves ranged along with extreme +Presbyterians and Roman Catholics. The religious aspect of the ’15 +and the ’45 has never been satisfactorily examined. Mr. Blaikie +said, not long since, that the ‘45 was much more Presbyterian than +is commonly imagined. I hope he will work out the subject. + + R. S. RAIT. + + + + + INDEX + + + Act for the further Security of the Protestant Succession, 370 + Act of Precedence, 404, 406 + Act of Security (1704), 372-3 + Act of Settlement (1701), 7, 225 _note_, 321-2 + Act of Union (1707), 373, 392 + Addison, 388-9; + cited, 335 _note_ + Adolphus John, Prince, 108-9 + Alexander VII, Pope, 162 + Amalia, Landgravine of Hesse-Cassel, 97 + Amalia, Raugravine (niece of Sophia), 102, 371 + Amalia von Solms, Princess of Orange, 43, 56, 82 + Anna Eleonora, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg, 115 + Anna Maria, Duchess of Savoy, 225 _and note_, 301, 321 + Anne, Queen (wife of James I), 13 + Anne, Queen of England, suggested marriage of, with George Lewis, + 189; + Bill of Rights (1689) as affecting, 217; + birth of her son the Duke of Gloucester, 219; + political intrigue (1700), 312; + attitude towards Sophia and relations with her, 363, 366 _and + notes_—9, 386-7, 390-1, 394, 396, 403, 404 _note_ 173, 408, + 410; + attitude towards Hanoverian Succession, 366, 368-9, 391, 396, + 409, 412-13; + towards her half-brother James, 369, 372, 392-3, 408; + proposed visit of Sophia to England opposed by, 370, 386; + death of her husband, 395; + ministerial crisis (1710), 396-8; + relations with Augustus II, King of Poland, 404 _note_ 173; + illness (1713), 414, 415; + speech at opening of Parliament (Feb. 1714), 416-17; + attack of erysipelas (Mar. 1714), 437 _note_; + letter to Sophia (Apr. 1714), 421-2; + attitude towards affair of delayed Parliamentary writ for + Electoral Prince, 419, 426; + letters to Hanover on the subject, 428-31; + dismisses Oxford, 437; + last illness, 437; + appoints Shrewsbury Lord Treasurer, 438; + death, 436, 438; + political incapacity, 368-9, 387; + Toryism, 368; + otherwise mentioned, 8, 293 _note_, 305, 307-8, 344, 347, 365, + 389 _note_ + Anne of Gonzaga (Princess Palatine), marriage and career of, 66-8; + schemes of, 126, 129, 166, 175, 176 + Antony Ulric, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, ambition and career + of, 146-7; + conversion to Roman Catholicism, 176; + marriage scheme for his son, 185; + romance by, regarding Sophia Dorothea, 192 _and note_, 239 _and + note_, 283 _note_; + opposition regarding Hanoverian Electorate, 235-8; + _Mesopotamian Shepherdess_ by, 333 _note_; mentioned, 201, 203 + Arcy, Marquis de, 193 + Arundel, Lord, 71 _note_ + Assing, Rosemunde von, 343 _note_ + Attainder and Abjuration Acts (1702), 364-5 + Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, 145 + Augustus II, King of Poland, 404 _and note_ 173 + Augustus the Strong. _See_ Frederick Augustus, Elector of Saxony + Augustus Frederick, Prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, 185, 189 + Austria, Bavarian treaty with (1628), 48 + Aveiro, Duke of, 106 + + Bahr, von, 282 + Balati, Abbé, 164 _note_, 194 + Bannier, Colonel, 278 + Barclay, Robert, 122 + Bard. _See_ Bellmont + Bayle, 300 + Behmen, Jacob, 343 + Bellmont (Bellamont), Lady (Francesca Bard), 103, 375 _note_ + Benedicta Henrietta (niece of Sophia), 69, 128, 166, 167 + Berkeley, Earl of, 440 + Berner, E., cited, 188 _note_ + Bernhard of Weimar, Duke, 50, 60, 71 + Bernstorff, Baron Andreas Gottlieb von, relations of, with de + Robethon, 378; + accompanies George Lewis to + England, 442; + estimate of, 376-7; + otherwise mentioned, 185, 276, 351-2, 411 + Berwick, Duke of, 321, 400, 409, 413; + communication from, to Prince James quoted, 420 + Bill of Rights (1689), 5, 7, 216-20 + Blanche, Electress Palatine, 17 + Blanche, Queen, 128 + Bohemia: + Frederick V elected king of, 31; + deposed, 36-7 + Heirship to, question as to, 21 _and note_ 8, 29-31 + Böhme, Jacob, 34 _note_ + Bolingbroke, —, attitude of, towards Bothmer, 405 _and note_ 175; + policy of, 410; + rivalry with Oxford, 418, 428, 434; + misses his opportunity, 437-8; + cited, 442; + otherwise mentioned, 408, 413, 415, 416, 422, 426, 429 + Boncour, de, 214 + Borkowski cited, 313 _note_ + Bossuet, 348 + Bothmer, Hans Caspar von, Hanoverian envoy extraordinary in London, + 399, 400-2; + mission to England on Sophia’s death, 433-4; + activities on Queen Anne’s death, 439 _and note_; + estimate of, 378-9; + otherwise mentioned, 313, 351, 362 _note_, 397, 404, 412, 419, + 427, 438 + Boufleurs, Marshal, 228 + Bouillon, Duke of, 67 + Boyer, 429 + Brandenburg: + Hanover, alliance with, 235-6, 289 + Prussian kingdom, absorption into, 289 + Brauns, Baron, 381 + Brinon, Mme. de, 175, 177 _note_, 336; + efforts of, to convert Sophia to Roman Catholicism, 348-9 + Brisson, Mme. de, 135 + Bromley, Secretary, 415 + Brunswick, origin of Duchy of, 144 + Buckingham, Duke of (1629), 46 + Buckingham, — (1705), 387 + Bülow, Minister von, 276 + Bunbury, Selina, cited, 12 _note_ + Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, action of, on Bill of Rights, 218; + Sophia’s correspondence with, 342; + her estimate of book by, 334; + cited, 214-15, 323-4, 386-7; + quoted, 312 + Bussche, Frau von dem. _See_ Weyhe, Mme. von + Bussche, Major-General von dem, 248 + + Calixtus (theologian), 153 + Camerarius, Ludwig, 45, 94 + Carleton, Sir D. (Viscount Dorchester), 44 + Carlisle, Earl of, 369 + Caroline Matilda (daughter of George III), 280 _note_ 112 + Caroline of Ansbach. _See_ Wilhelmina Caroline + Carray (? Carr), Lady, 86 + Cartignano, Count of, 15-16 + Catharine d’Orléans, 129 + Celle, Duchess of. _See_ Eleonora + Celle, Duke of. _See_ George William + Chapman, Rev. Alexander, 25 _note_ + Charbonnier, 328 + Charles, Duke of Lorraine, 195 + Charles, Elector Palatine (nephew of Sophia), 8, 99, 101 _and + note_, 230 + Charles, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, 214 + Charles I, King of England, foreign policy of, 46-7; + internal policy, 372 _note_; + acknowledges Charles Lewis as Elector Palatine, 59; + efforts for Palatine House, 71 _note_; + execution of, 83 + Charles II, King of England, rumour of projected marriage of, with + Sophía, 82-5; + relations with Sophía at the Hague, 84-5; + with his aunt Elizabeth, 137-8 _and note_ 59; + with Sophia during his reign, 209; + death of, 210; + otherwise mentioned, 8, 11, 114, 137 _note_ 59, 167, 183 _note_ + Charles II, King of Spain, 178, 317 + Charles III, King of Spain, 400 + Charles VI, Emperor, 348 + Charles X Gustavus, King of Sweden, 108 + Charles Emmanuel, Duke of Savoy, 15 + Charles Lewis, Elector Palatine (brother of Sophia), birth of, 26; + Sophia’s relations with, 57; + visit to England (1635), 59; + armed attempt on the Palatinate, 59-60; + imprisoned by Richelieu, 60; + renews attempt for the Palatinate, 60-1; + suggestion of assuming British Crown, 61-2 _notes_; + residence in England, 62; + relations with his brother Philip, 80; + position under Peace of Westphalia, 83; + efforts for his subjects, 88-9 _and note_; + relations with his mother, 93-4, 138, 140-1; + quarrel with Rupert, 94-6 _and note_; + marriage (1650), 97; + domestic difficulties, 96-102; + relations with Ferdinand III, 107; + Sophia’s wedding (1658), 114; + marriage of his daughter (1671), 89, 175; + death of, 8, 196; + characteristics of, 56-9; + love of his country, learning and liberal-mindedness of, 90-2; + cited, 333; + otherwise mentioned, 52 _note_, 68, 122, 133, 137 _note_ 59, 138, + 163 + Charles Lewis, Raugrave (nephew of Sophia), 249 + Charles Maurice (nephew of Sophia), 102 + Charles Philip, Prince (son of Sophia), 171, 202, 222, 224, 228 + Charlotte Elizabeth, Electress Palatine (sister-in-law of Sophia), + conjugal difficulties and troubles of, 96-102, 116; + characteristics of, 98, 104; + attitude towards Sophia, 108 + Charlotte Felicitas, Duchess of Modena (grandniece of Sophia), 167 + Charlotte Sophia, Princess of Courland, 103 _and note_ + Chéruel, M., cited, 67 + Chevreau, Urban, 176 _and note_; + cited, 336 + Christian, Count of Anhalt, 19, 29-30 + Christian, Duke of Brunswick, 42 _and note_ 22 + Christian, Prince (son of Sophia), birth of, 171; + at French Court (1687-9), 206; + attitude towards George Lewis’ accession, 288; + death of, 202-3, 339 _note_ 139 + Christian of Halberstadt, 45-7, 145 + Christian IV, King of Denmark, 47 + Christian V, King of Denmark, 234, 236 + Christian Lewis, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, 150-1, 162, 170 + Christina, Queen of Sweden, 50 _note_, 59, 73, 77 _note_, 162, 335 + Clarendon, Earl of (Lord Cornbury), 434 _and note_, 440 + Clarendon, Lord Chancellor, 104; + quoted, 65 + Clement XI, Pope, 322-3, 363, 388 _note_ + Clifford, H., cited, 41 _note_ + Cocceius, Prof. Johannes, 118 + Collins, Anthony, 342 + Colt, Lady, Sophia’s correspondence with, 221 _note_ 92, 428 _note_ + Colt, Sir William Dutton, 221 _and notes_, 222; + despatches of, cited, 257 + Combe Abbey, 12 _and note_–14 + Conway, Lord, 44 + Conway, Sir Edward, 35-6 + Cowper, Lord, 423 + Craggs, Secretary, 439 + Craven, Earl of, armed attack by, on the Palatinate, 59; + imprisonment and ransom, 60, 63; + devotion to Elizabeth of Bohemia, 77-8, 137; + correspondence with Sophia, 211; + mission to Hanover after passing of Bill of Rights, 219; + otherwise mentioned, 77 _note_ 39, 81 _note_, 86, 117 _note_, + 140, 365 + Cresset, James, envoy at Lüneburg Courts, 222-3; + marriage of, 222 _note_; + cited, 274, 280 _note_ 113, 286, 288 _note_; + otherwise mentioned, 319, 367, 370-1, 375 + + Danckelmann, Eberhard von, 203, 296-7 + Dartmouth, Lord, 212 + Dawes, Archbishop, 415 + Degenfeld, Louisa von, 58, 98-102 + Della Rota, 45 + Denmark: + Danish War (1625-6), 47 + Jealousy of, towards Sweden, 45 + Lauenburg Succession question, 224-5, 237, 271 + Descartes, correspondence of, with Elizabeth (sister of Sophia), + 72-3 _and note_, 83-4; + death of, 105 + Devonshire, Duke of, 404 + Digby, John, 14, 41 + Doebner, Dr. R., cited, 183 + Dohna, Achatius von, 31 + Dohna, Alexander von, 313 _note_ + Doncaster, Lord (Earl of Carlisle), 44 + Donne, 44 + Dormer, Jane, 41 _note_ + Dorothea, Electress of Brandenburg, 151 + Dorset, Earl of, 439-40 + Dover, Lord, cited, 188 _note_ + Dudley (son of Prince Rupert), 103 + Dutton, Sir W. D., cited, 253-4 + + Edward (brother of Sophia), conversion of, to Roman Catholicism, 9, + 67; + at Heidelberg, 69 _note_, 105; + career of, 66-9 _and note_; + Charles Lewis’ allowance to, 94; + relations with Louisa Hollandina, 126-7; + Elizabeth’s bequest to, 141 _note_ 63 + Eleonora d’Olbreuze (Mme. de Harburg, Countess of Wilhelmsburg), + Duchess of Celle, connexion of, with George William, Duke of + Celle, 168-71, 180-1, 184-6, 193; + styled Mme. de Harburg, 170; + jealousy against, 182 _note_ 76; + created Countess of Wilhelmsburg, 184; + honoured by Empress Eleonora, 185; + marriage with Duke of Celle, 186; + subsequent honours, 187; + attitude towards her daughter, 240, 282; + Sophia’s attitude towards, 168, 170, 187, 192, 240, 310, 337; + urges William III to decided course anent Hanoverian Succession, + 308-9; + relations with Sophia on the subject, 310; + death of, 282; + otherwise mentioned, 221, 288, 377 + Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia (mother of Sophia): + Career, chronological sequence of: + Childhood at Combe Abbey, 12; + Roman Catholic plot regarding, 13; + youth, 22; + marriage, 12, 14, 23; + life at Heidelberg, 24-9; + birth of two sons and eldest daughter, 26; + attitude towards Bohemian Kingship question, 32-3; + at Prague, 34-7; + birth of third son, Rupert, 35; + flight from Prague, 37; + in Silesia, 37; + in Brandenburg, 38-9; + birth of fifth child, Maurice, 39; + at Berlin, 39; + at Wolfenbüttel, 40; + in the Netherlands, 40; + exile of, 2, 5, 6, 44; + loss of infant son Lewis (1624), 53; + of eldest son (1629), 25, 53; + of infant daughter Charlotte (1630), 53; + attitude towards Swedish Royal Family, 50 _note_; + towards Charles I of England (1644), 62 _note_ 30; + on departure of Louisa Hollandina (1658), 126-7; + visit to England (1661), 137-9; + death, 140, 142 + Characteristics of: + Beauty, 43 + Frivolity, 57 + High spirit, 43 + Self-consciousness, 29 + Soldier-sympathy, power of attracting, 43 + Vigour of mind and body, 52 + Children, her own, attitude towards, 34, 54, 65 _note_ 33, 68 + _note_, 78, 80-1; + their attitude towards her, 56-7, 141 _note_; + attitude towards children in general, 136 + Debts of, 29, 56, 76, 93-4, 138 + Family of, fate of, 8-9 + Letters of, quoted, 50 _note_, 52 _note_ + Portrait of, in C.C.C., Cambs., 25 _note_ + Pursuits and interests of, 24, 25, 33, 52, 54, 57 + Titles of: Queen of Bohemia, 52 _and note_; + Queen of Hearts, 41 _note_; + the King’s only sister, 52 _note_ + Will of, 131, 141 _note_ 63 + otherwise mentioned, 75, 86, 336 _note_ + Elizabeth, Princess (sister of Sophia), birth of, 26; + childhood, 34, 39; + career, 9, 70-1; + relations with her mother, 57, 80-1; + affected by King Charles’ execution, 83; + visits to Heidelberg, 92, 105; + with Electress Charlotte, 116-17; + at Cassel, 117; + Abbess of Herford, 118-25; + death of, 125, 196; + inscription on tomb of, 125 _note_; + characteristics of, 70-3; + match-making propensities of, 70, 103; + mentioned, 141 _note_ 63 + Elizabeth Charlotte (aunt of Sophia), 39 + Elizabeth Charlotte, Duchess of Orleans (niece of Sophia), birth + of, 99; + with her aunt (1656-63), 99, 172; + nature of upbringing of, 244; + visit to her grandmother, 136, 157; + trip to Holland with her aunt, 157; + recalled to Heidelberg (1663), 173-4; + conversion of, to Roman Catholicism, 8, 68, 89, 174-7; + marriage, 89, 174-7; + subsequent career of, 178-9; + on Maximilian William, 204 _note_ 88; + on Ernest Augustus, 205, 206 _note_; + good offices for Christian and Ernest Augustus, 205-6; + attitude towards Sophia Dorothea, 248, 249; + Königsmarck affair, 279; + on George Augustus’ succession prospects, 206 _and note_, 441 + _note_ 192; + characteristics of, 59; + lifelong attitude towards Sophia, 151 _note_, 173, 377; + Stewart sympathies of, 393; + cited, 33, 108, 132-5, 159 _note_, 333, 393; + quoted, 151 _note_, 176, 332 _note_ 134, 336; + Sophia’s correspondence with, 10, 414; + nature and value of her own correspondence, 179-80; + correspondence cited and quoted, 177, 188 _note_, 191, 192, 234, + 244 _note_; + otherwise mentioned, 135, 213, 240 _note_, 243, 283, 337, 339-40, + 380 + Elizabeth Louisa, Countess Palatine, Abbess of Herford, 117 + Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (husband of Sophia): + Career, chronological sequence of: + First visit to Heidelberg, 107; + early acquaintance with Sophia, 107; + second visit to Heidelberg, 110; + George William’s arrangement in favour of, 112-13, 154-5, 181; + marriage with Sophia, 114; + intimacy with George William, 156; + jealousy of him, 157-8; + Bishop of Osnabrück, 158-9; + assists the United Provinces, 167; + operations against Sweden, 168; + conjugal infidelities of, 190-1 _and note_; + victory at Conz, 183; + attitude towards Sophia Dorothea, 247, 253-4; + at the defence of Frankfort (1689), 228; + proposal of, regarding conversion to Church of Rome, 232, 348; + Swedish treaty (1691), 263; + attainment of Electorate (1692), 222-3, 228-34; + investiture, 234-5; + last journey to Italy (1684), 247-8; + attitude towards the British Revolution, 212, 215; + adherence to Grand Alliance (1692), 267; + ill-health (1694), 245-6; + action in Königsmarck affair, 274-5; + Lauenburg claims (1694), 237; + last illness, 224, 286-7; + death, 212-13, 224, 238, 276, 287, 296 + Dynastic policy of, 184, 193-4 + Energy of, 163 + Extravagance of, 198, 330 + Estimate of, 156 + Political attitude towards his wife, 241, 340 + mentioned, 266 + Ernest Augustus, Prince (son of Sophia), birth of, 171, 205; + devotion to his eldest brother, 205, 271; + at French Court (1687-9), 206; + remains in Hanover (1714), 441; + succeeds to Bishopric of Osnabrück, 441 _and note_ 193; + death of, 207; + estimate of, 206 + Ernest Lewis, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, 240 _note_ + Estrées, Angélique d’, 128 + Eugene, Prince, 425 + Evelyn quoted, 56; + cited, 261 _note_ + + Falaiseau, 351 + Feder cited, 114 + Ferdinand, Archduke of Styria, 30-31 + Ferdinand II, Emperor, 107 _note_, 161 + Ferdinand III, Emperor, 60, 107 + Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans, 107-8 + Ferrar, Nicolas, 24 + Fischer, Prof. Kuno, cited, 331; + quoted, 340 + Foley, Paul, 218 + Fraiser, Sir Peter, 380 + France: + Grand Alliance against. _See_ Grand Alliance + Hanoverian Succession recognised by, 405, 408 + Huguenot persecutions in, 177 _note_ + Palatinate’s troubles from (Orleans War), 90, 178 + Partition Treaty (First) with England (1698), 307 + Partition Treaty (Second) with England, 310, 317-18 + Peace with, proposal of (1711), 400-1, 403, 407; + accomplished, 409 + Savoy’s adhesion to (1696), 302 + Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, 154 + Frederick, Prince of Wales (great-grandson of Sophia), 359-60 + Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg. _See_ Frederick I, King of + Prussia + Frederick I, Elector Palatine, 181 _note_ + Frederick II, Elector Palatine, 16 _note_, 21 _note_ 9 + Frederick III, Elector Palatine, 16 _note_, 18, 40 + Frederick IV, Elector Palatine, 17, 19 + Frederick V, Elector Palatine and King of Bohemia (father of + Sophia), visit of, to England (1612), 21 _and note_ 8, 22; + marriage, 12; + difficulties as to court precedence, 27-8; + approves league with Savoy, 26; + elected King of Bohemia, 31; + deposed, 36-7; + under ban of the Empire, 38, 41; + secret visit to Palatinate (1627), 48; + meets Gustavus Adolphus (1632), 49; + death of, 50; + characteristics of, 20, 37; + devotion to his wife, 52-3; + estimate of, by Wotton, 27 + Frederick I, King of Prussia (Frederick III, Elector of + Brandenburg), marriage of, to Sophia Charlotte, 203, 207, 292; + succeeds his father as Elector, 294; + concerts measures against Louis XIV, 227; + efforts regarding Hanoverian Electorate, 234-5, 238; + leagues of alliance with Ernest Augustus, 235-6; + at Cleves (1696), 303; + intrigue with Countess von Wartenberg, 299, 357; + coronation (1701), 289, 300; + relations with George Lewis, 358 _note_; + otherwise mentioned, 302, 330 _note_ 133, 341, 343 + Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, 258 + Frederick Augustus (Augustus the Strong), Elector of Saxony, King + of Poland, 237, 261, 272, 278, 289 + Frederick Augustus, Prince (son of Sophia), birth of, 157; + jealousy of his elder brother, 201; + death of, 202, 221-2, 224, 228; + estimate of, 171, 172 + Frederick Henry, Prince (brother of Sophia), birth of, 26; + marriages projected for, 45, 46; + death of, 25, 26, 53 + Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, 21 _note_ 8, 40, 43, 55 + Frederick Ulric, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, 145 + Frederick William (the Great), Elector of Brandenburg, sentiments + of, towards Sophia’s sister Elizabeth, 71, 72, 117; + efforts regarding _Wildfangsstreit_, 89 _note_; + marriage with Dowager Duchess Dorothea, 151; + attitude towards Hanoverian Court, 203; + favours William of Orange, 214; + on creation of ninth Electorate, 229-30; + opposes Duke John Frederick, 163 + Frederick William I, King of Prussia (grandson of Sophia), birth + of, 294; + childhood, 299; + William III’s attitude towards (1700), 312-14, 317; + education, 313 _note_; + marriage with granddaughter of Sophia, 249, 284, 346 _note_ 145; + relations with George Lewis, 435 + Fuchs, Paul von, 199, 227; + cited, 338 + + Gabor, Bethlen, 47 + Gargan (secretary to Sophia) cited, 310 + Garnett, Dr. Richard, cited, 251 _note_ + Gaultier, Abbé, cited, 415, 426 + Geerds, Dr. Robert, cited, 259 _note_ + Gentz, 353 + George I, King of England. _See_ George Lewis + George II, King of England. _See_ George Augustus + George III, King of England, correspondence with Copenhagen + destroyed by order of, 280 _note_ 112; + letters of Sophia destroyed by order of, 393; + kindliness of, to Stewart family, 394 _note_ + George IV, King of England, 394 _note_ + George, Duke of Lüneburg, 148 + George, Prince of Denmark, 189, 318, 337; + death of, 395 + George Augustus, King George II of England (grandson of Sophia), + birth of, 195, 247; + his father’s attitude towards, 284, 441; + at Göhrde, 307; + Queen Anne’s opposition to his visiting England, 370; + marriage of, 359; + relations with his wife, 288, 359; + receives the Garter, 388, 404 _note_ 172; + created Duke of Cambridge, 388; + precedence for, 404; + suggestion of sending, over to England (1713), 418, 419, 422-3; + delay in transmission of Parliamentary writ for, 423-7; + Queen Anne’s letter to, 429, 431; + rumoured suggestion of passing over, in the English Succession, + 206 _and note_, 441 _note_ 192; + characteristics of, 362; + attitude towards his mother, 284 _and note_; + domestic language of, as British sovereign, 55; + otherwise mentioned, 280, 299, 312 + George Frederick of Waldeck, 163 + George Lewis, King George I of England (son of Sophia): + Career, chronological sequence of: + Birth, 157; + victory at Conz (1675), 183; + visit to England (1680-1), 189, 210; + proposed match with Sophia Dorothea, 190 _note_ 79, 191-4; + the marriage, 194-5, 231, 239-41; + military exploits, 195; + at the defence of Frankfort, 228; + estrangement from his wife, 246, 249, 252-4; + campaigning against Turks, 248; + recreating at Florence and Naples, 248; + infidelity to his wife, 250; + relations with Melusina von der Schulenburg (Duchess of + Kendal), 251 _and note_; + the Königsmarck affair, 282-4; + divorce, 276; + succeeds his father as Elector, 289; + repulses Antony Ulric’s attack on Hanover, 238; + meets William III at Göhrde (1698), 307; + receives the Garter, 325; + strong position of (1705), 376; + relations with Frederick I of Prussia, 358 _note_; + expresses his views on residence in England, 391; + commands army of the Lower Rhine (1707), 395; + envoy of, admitted to Electoral College (1708), 238, 395; + on dismissal of Sunderland, 396-7; + refuses to oust Marlborough in supreme command, 398-9; + against proposed peace with France, 401, 403, 407; + instructions to von Schütz the younger, 413; + reply to Queen Anne’s letter (May, 1714), 422-3, 427; + affair of the delayed writ, 426-7; + death of his mother, 433-4; + has fresh instrument of Regency prepared, 435; + in friendly relations with German princes, 435; + accession of, as King George I of England, 439; + proclamation as king, 10; + leaves Hanover, 440; + sails for England, 442; + coronation, 443; + death, 206-7 + Characteristics of: + Courage and military capacity, 242 + Cynicism, 283 _note_ + Firmness and impassivity, 355, 443 + Loyalty, 242 + Reserve, 171, 242 + Self-restraint, 443 + Sincerity, 242, 444 + Stolidity, 195, 242 + Court of, as Elector, tone of, 339 _note_ 138 + Domestic language of, as British sovereign, 55 + Herrenhausen gardens arranged to suit taste of, 328 + Relations with: + Anne, Queen, 368, 369 + Ernest Augustus (his youngest brother), 205, 271 + Marlborough, Duke of, 375-6, 384, 398 + Sophia (his mother), 171, 244 _and note_, 288, 340, 355 + Sophia Charlotte (his sister), 297 + Succession question, attitude towards, 309, 319, 323; + (1705), 379-80; + (1713-14), 412-13, 418-19, 423 + otherwise mentioned, 110, 194 _note_, 352, 366 _note_ 157, 389 + _note_, 393, 402, 441 _note_ 192 + George William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (later of Celle), visit + of, to Heidelberg (1656), 109-10; + suitor for Sophia, 110; + breaks off his engagement, 111; + renunciation in favour of his younger brother, 112-13, 154-5, + 181, 231; + his brother’s jealousy, 157-8; + difficulties made by John Frederick as to succession, 162-3; + assists the United Provinces, 167; + operations against Sweden, 168; + connexion with Eleonora d’Olbreuze, 168-71, 180-1, 185-6; + marriage with her, 186; + court of, 182 _note_ 75; + favours William of Orange, 214; + the Königsmarck affair, 275-6, 280 _and note_ 113, 281; + conference with William III at Göhrde, 307; + meeting with William III at the Loo (1700), 311, 312; + later interview with him (1701), 362; + death of, 376; + estimate of, 151-3; + otherwise mentioned, 150, 201, 303, 305, 309, 319, 366 _note_ 157 + George William, Elector of Brandenburg, 38, 71 + Giusti, Tommaso, 329 + Gloucester, Duke of (son of Princess Anne), birth of, 219; + delicacy of, 308-9; + death of, 311 + Godolphin, Earl of, 217, 369, 382, 399, 402 + Goedeke, 439-40 + Göhrde, the, 307 _and note_ + Gondomar, Count, 24 + Gourville, de, 166, 182, 292; + cited, 337, 345 + Grana, Dossa, 329 + Grand Alliance: + Conclusion of, 228 + Hanoverian adhesion to, 222, 267 + Savoy’s adhesion to (1695), 302; + abandonment of (1696), 225, 302 + Saxony’s adhesion to, solicited, 221 _and note_ 93 + Green, Mrs. Everett, work of, cited, 257, 265 _note_ + Grote, Count Otto von, 233-6 + Grote, Baron Thomas von, mission of, to London (1712), 405-6, 408; + death of, 411; + cited, 335; + mentioned, 352 + Guelfs, German branch of, 143-5; + Leibniz’ History of, 243, 354 + Gustavus (brother of Sophia), 53-4 + Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, landing of, in Pomerania, 11, + 49; + death of, 50; + mentioned, 45, 148 + Gustavus II Adolphus, King of Sweden, 15 + Gwynne, Sir Roland, 384, 390 + + Halberstadt, 42 _and note_ 21 + Halifax, Lord (Charles Montagu), 388 and note–9, 391, 404 _note_ + 172 + Hamilton, Duke of, 84 + Hammerstein, George Christopher von, 110, 115 + Handel, 412 _note_ + Hanmer, Sir Thomas, 386 + Hanover, House of: + Alliance of, with Brandenburg and Saxony, 232-3 + Electorate conferred on, 222-3, 228, 234; + investiture, 234-5; + introduction of envoy to Electoral College, 236-9, 395 + Rise of, 7, 10 + Strong position of (1705), 376 + Succession of, to British Crown: + Significance of, to Britons, 3-4 + Settlement of. _See_ Act of Settlement + Hanover, Leine Palace at, 247 _note_, 281 + Harburg, Mme. de. _See_ Eleonora, Duchess of Celle + Harcourt, Lord, 423-5 + Harding, Rev. Dick, 77 + Hardwicke, Lord, 315 + Harington, Lord and Lady, 12-13, 22, 24 + Harley, Robert. _See_ Oxford + Harley, Thomas, missions of, to Hanover, 404, 407, 410, 421-2, 426, + 427 + Harling, Frau von, 173, 280, 291, 299 + Harrington, James, 81 _note_ + Hartlip, S., quoted, 117 _note_ + Haversham, Lord, 383 + Hedwig, Princess of Denmark, 107 _note_ + Hedwig Sophia, Landgravine of Hesse-Cassel, 72, 117 + Hedwig Sophia, Landgravine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 103 + Hedwig Sophia, Princess, 301 + Heidelberg Castle, 17-18 + Heidelberg Catechism, 25 + Heidelberg University, 18 + Heiland, Hiskias Eleazar, 101 + Helmont, Francis Mercurius von, 332 _and note_ 134 + Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans (daughter of Charles I), 8, 175, 225 + Henrietta Maria, Princess (sister of Sophia), characteristics and + career of, 74-5; + marriage of, 52 _note_, 106; + death of, 9, 116 + Henrietta Maria, Queen, 81, 130 + Henry, Count of Nassau. _See_ Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange + Henry, Duke of Bouillon, 20 + Henry, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, 145 + Henry, Prince (son of Charles I), 7-8 + Henry, Prince of Wales (son of James I), 7, 22 + Henry of Dannenberg, 181 _note_ + Henry the Lion, 143 + Henry Casimir of Nassau-Dietz, 189 + Henry Frederick, Prince (brother of Sophia), 26 + Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, 145 + Herbert, Colonel, quoted, 218 + Herbert of Cherbury, Lord, 44 + Hereford, Lord, 395 + Herford, 118-19 + Herrenhausen, 327-9 + Hervey, Lord, cited, 284 _note_ + Hoffmann, memoranda of, cited, 424-5 + Holstenius, 153-4 + Hompesch, General, 304 + Hoorn, Anna Maria van, 122 + Howard, Mrs. Charles, 395 + Howe, Brigadier-General Emmanuel Scroope, 141 _note_ 63, 392 _and + note_ 168 + Hughes, Margaret, 103, 392 _note_ 168 + Hutton, Dr., 397 + + Ibberville, despatches of, cited, 416 _note_ + Ilten, Jobst von, 234, 237, 279, 313 + Innocent X, Pope, 154 + Innocent XI, Pope, 198 _note_ + Innocent XII, Pope, 234, 322 + + Jambonneau, M. de, 69 _note_ + James I, King of England (grandfather of Sophia), European + ambitions of, 14-16; + family pride of, 26-7; + attitude towards Bohemian Kingship question, 32, 36; + negotiations with Mansfeld and Halberstadt, 45-6; + otherwise mentioned, 13, 39, 41 + James II, King of England (cousin of Sophia), accession of, 210; + relations with Sophia, 210-11, 317; + abdication of, 5; + hopes of regaining his kingdom, 303; + refuses aid towards securing Polish throne, 303 _note_; + Pope Clement XI’s letter to, 323; + death of, 363; + otherwise mentioned, 8, 139, 394 _note_ + James, Prince of Wales (son of James II), birth of, 211; + calumnious doubts regarding, 211-12; + recognised by Louis XIV as king, 363; + Anne’s attitude towards, 369, 372, 392-3, 408; + letter to Pope Clement XI on coming of age, 388 _note_; + expedition to Scotland, 394; + rumours as to succession of, 402; + Berwick’s communication to (1712), 409; + Hanoverian protest against residence of, in Lorraine, 413, 422; + scheme for bringing over to England and Anglicanism (1713-14), + 413, 415-16; + Berwick’s communication to (1714), quoted, 420; + proclamation against (July, 1714), 436; + otherwise mentioned, 8, 306, 315-16, 381, 400, 413 + James, B. B., cited, 121 _note_ + Jeffreys, Lord, 365 + John Casimir, Administrator, 19 + John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, disposition of his + father regarding, 150; + conversion of, to Roman Catholicism (1651), 153-4; + quarrel regarding Succession, 112, 162-3; + French sympathies and tastes of, 111, 165, 287; + Herrenhausen Palace begun by (1665), 327; + Leibniz engaged by, as librarian, 164-5, 197, 233, 354; + Electorate desired by, 165, 229; + career of, at Hanover, 164-5, 197; + marriage of, 166; + death of, 165, 180, 193; + estimate of, 112, 167 + John George IV, Elector of Saxony, 237, 358 + John Sobiesky, King of Poland, 303 _note_ + Joseph I, Emperor (King of the Romans), 198 _note_, 231, 400 + + Kendal, Duchess of (Melusina der Schulenburg), 246 _note_, 251-2, + 442 + Keppel (Earl of Albemarle), 302, 304 + Kielmannsegg, Baron von, 250-1 + Kielmannsegg, Baroness von, 330 _note_ 133, 440, 442 + Killigrew, Tom, 76 _and note_ + King, Major-General (Lord Eythin), 60 + Klopp, cited, 417 _note_ + Knesebeck, Eleonora von dem, 237, 239 _note_, 264, 272, 273, 277, + 284 + Köcher, Prof. Adolf, cited, 240 _note_, 259 _note_ + Königsmarck, Count von, 259 _note_ + Königsmarck, Aurora von, 237, 255-6, 261-2, 278 + Königsmarck, Count Charles John von, 260-1 + Königsmarck, Count Philip Christopher von, 254-81, App. B + Kreyenberg, von, 399, 411, 426, 438 + Kufstein, Count, 63 + + La Manoelinière, Susan de, 191 _note_ + Labadie and Labadists, 119-21, 343 _note_ + Lassaye, Marquis de, 248-9 + Lauderdale, Duke of, 84 + Lauenburg Duchy claim, 225, 232, 237, 271 + L’Hermitage, 411 + Leibniz, position of, as librarian at Hanover, 164-5, 197, 233, + 354; + expresses views on Electoral position, 229; + varied activities at Hanover, 354; + President of the Berlin Society of Sciences (1700), 298; + _Théodicée_ (1710), 290, 354-5; + political influence on the decline, 352, 397; + epigram on Queen Anne, 411; + Abbess Elizabeth’s correspondence with, 124; + Sophia’s friendship with, 9, 288, 327, 331, 350, 351, 354-6; + her correspondence with him cited, 204, 215, 216, 311, 344, 347, + 381, 419, 424, 427, 432; + Sophia Charlotte the pupil of, 207; + her friendship with, 290, 297-8 _and note_, 356; + Caroline of Ansbach’s friendship with, 356, 358; + views and activities on the English Succession question, 305, + 308, 309, 311, 319-20, 323, 350-2, 374-5, 384, 412; + philosophy of, 334; + estimate of, 353; + cited, 102, 114, 274, 389; + quoted, 341, 343, 344, 345-6; + otherwise mentioned, 153, 195, 212, 223, 227, 279, 300, 343 + _note_, 364, 392, 396, 398, 402, 407, 431 + Leopold, Emperor, 184, 211, 222, 233 + L’Epinay, Colonel de, 78-80 + Lewenhaupt, Count Axel, 261 + Lewenhaupt, Countess, 255 + Lewis Philip (son of Louisa Juliana), 39 + Lexington, Lord, 224-5 + Limbach, President von, 233, 238-9 + Lippe-Bückeburg, Countess Johanna von der, 430 _and note:_ 186, 432 + Lodensteyners, 118 + Longueville, Mme. de, cited, 79 + Lösenius, 29 + Loretto, 161 + Louis II, Elector Palatine, 17 + Louis XIV, King of France, courtesy of, towards Sophia, 178, 291-2; + Orleans War, 227; + attitude towards suggested re-marriage of William III, 301; + offers James II aid towards securing Polish throne, 303 _note_; + Peace of Ryswyk and relations with William III, 306; + First Partition Treaty (1698), 307; + attitude towards Act of Settlement, 321; + recognises James Prince of Wales as King, 363; + lukewarm in his support, 416; + secret offers of assistance to Queen Anne, 435; + otherwise mentioned, 129, 165, 182, 188 _note_, 278 + Louis Philip (uncle of Sophia), regent of Palatinate, 50 + Louisa, Raugravine (niece of Sophia), Sophia’s correspondence with, + cited, 286, 305, 317, 367; + companionship with Sophia, 430; + position of, at Hanover, 102 + Louisa Charlotte, Duchess of Courland (cousin of Sophia), 38 + Louisa Dorothea, Electoral Princess of Brandenburg (granddaughter + of Sophia), 302, 304 + Louisa Henrietta, Electress, 72, 105 + Louisa Hollandina, characteristics and career of, 73-4, 81; + Montrose’s project of marriage with, 84; + conversion of, to Roman Catholicism (1658), 9, 66, 68, 126-7; + in France, 127, 129-31; + Abbess of Maubuisson, 131-5; + death of, 135; + mentioned, 125 + Louisa Juliana, Electress (grandmother of Sophia), retirement of, + from Heidelberg, 28; + on Bohemian Kingship question, 32; + Frederick’s children entrusted to, 34, 39; + religious fervour of, 19-20; + death of, 61; + otherwise mentioned, 20 _note_, 49 + Lowther, Sir John, 218 + Lucia, Countess of Bedford, 12 _note_ + Lüneburg, House of, 148 (_see also names of Dukes of + Brunswick-Lüneburg_) + Luttrell cited, 325 + + Macaulay cited, 217 _note_ + Maccioni, Valerio, Bishop of Morocco, 164 _and note_ + Macclesfield, Earl of (1701), 324 _and note_ + Macpherson cited, 411 _note_ + Maintenon, Mme. de, 179, 337 + Malebranche, 124 + Mansfeld, 41-2, 45-7 + Maria Anne (niece of Sophia), 128 + Maria Eleonora, Queen-Dowager of Sweden, 50 _note_ + Maria Eleonora (wife of Regent Louis Philip), 50 + Maria-Elizabeth, Duchess of Holstein-Gottorp, 359 + Maria Elizabeth, Princess, of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, 126-7 + Marie of Gonzaga, Queen of Poland, 68 + Marlborough, Duke of, in favour with Queen Anne, 369, 382; + relations with Elector George Lewis, 375-6, 384, 398; + visits to Hanover (1704 and 1705), 375, 384; + on the Gwynne letter, 390-1; + overthrow of, 397-9; + copies of Anne’s letters sent from Hanover to, 430 _and note_ + 185; + double dealing of, 435; + otherwise mentioned, 283, 425, 437 + Mary of Orange, Queen of England, marriage of, 209; + attitude towards her father, 213; + relations with Sophia, 213, 222, 224; + Bill of Rights as affecting, 217; + death of, 224, 301; + otherwise mentioned, 8, 81, 82, 84, 214 + Mary Beatrice, Queen (wife of James II), 213 + Matilda (wife of Henry the Lion), 143 + Matthias, Emperor, 30 + Maubuisson, Abbey of, 127-9 + Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse, 19, 20, 97 + Maurice, Prince (brother of Sophia), birth of, 39; + in the British Civil War, 61, 63-4; + death of, 9; + characteristics of, 65-6 + Maurice, Raugrave, 330 _note_ 132 + Maurice of Orange (Nassau), Stadholder, 28, 32, 40, 43, 53, 56 + Mauro, Abbate Hortensio, 164 _note_, 198 + Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria, 30, 32, 36, 41, 45 + Maximilian Emmanuel, Elector of Bavaria, 300 + Maximilian William, Prince (son of Sophia), birth of, 171; + early piety of, 204 _note_ 87; + protest and revolt against principle of primogeniture, 202-3, + 252-3; + arrest of, 203; + release and subsequent career, 204; + conversion of, to Roman Catholicism, 204; + attitude towards George Lewis’ accession, 288-9; + estimate of, 204; + otherwise mentioned, 267, 332 _note_ 134, 340, 341 + Mazarin, Cardinal, 67 + Melville, Lewis, cited, 246 _note_ + Metternich, von, 234 + Meysenbug, Clara Elizabeth von. _See_ Platen, Baroness von + Meysenbug, Marie von. _See_ Weyhe + Meysenbug family, 190 _note_ 80 + Mohun, Lord, 324 + Molanus, Abbot Gerhard Wolter, career and estimate of, 346 _and + note_ 146; + quoted, 334-5; + mentioned, 343 _note_, 356 + Moltke, von (Master of the Hunt at Hanover), 203-4, 252 + Molyneux cited, 430 + Montrose, Marquess of, 84 + More, Dr. Henry, 117 _note_ + Morton, Albertus, 29 + + Naturalisation Act (1705), 385-6, 388, 390 + Netherlands, United Provinces of the: + Bishop of Münster’s attack on (1655-6), 167 + Brunswick-Lüneburg, treaty with, 223 + Elizabeth of Bohemia’s exile in, 2, 5, 6, 40, 44 + English Succession, agreement as to, 388, 438 + French invasion of (1672), 183 + Nicholas, Secretary, 109 + Nördlingen, battle of, 51, 59 + Nottingham, Earl of, 423 + + Olbreuze, Mlle. d’. _See_ Eleonora, Duchess of Celle + Orleans, Duchess of. _See_ Elizabeth Charlotte + Orleans, Duke of (brother of Louis XIV), 175, 177 + Orleans, Duke of (son of Elizabeth Charlotte), 177-8 + Orleans War (1688-90), 90, 178, 227 + Ormonde, 383, 401, 403, 420 + Osnabrück, _See_ of: + English rumour as to, 348 _note_ + Ernest Augustus (husband of Sophia), Bishop of, 157-8 + Ernest Augustus (son of Sophia), Bishop of, 441 _and note_ 193 + Lüneburg right regarding, 149, 192-3 + Secular principality, proposed conversion into, 184 + Otto the Child, 144 + Oxford, Earl of (Robert Harley), attitude of, towards Bothmer, 405; + pronouncement of, against Hanoverian Succession, 415; + double-dealing of, 417; + rivalry with Bolingbroke, 418, 428, 434; + professes devotion to House of Hanover, 421, 429; + vacillation of, 436; + dismissed from office, 437; + policy of, 401-2; + estimate of, 396-7, 409; + otherwise mentioned, 370, 382, 406, 408, 413 + Oxsordre, Mme. d’, 126 + + Paczkowski, Dr., 259 _note_ + Palatinate: + Condition of (1627-32), 48-9; + (1633-4), 50-1; + (1635-44), 51, 60; + (1650), 88-9; + (1674-80), 89-90 + Orleans War (1688-90), 90, 178, 227 + _Wildfangsstreit_, 89 _note_ + Palatine House, history of, and position in seventeenth century, 16 + and note-17 + Palmblad, Professor, 265 _note_ + Penn, William, 122; + quoted, 123-4 + Pepys quoted, 139 + Peter the Great, Tsar, 191, 335 + Peterborough, Earl of, 391 + Philip, King of Spain (grandson of Louis XIV), 318, 363 + Philip, Prince (brother of Sophia), career of, 80; + quarrel with de l’Epinay, 79; + death of, 9; + mentioned, 68 + Platen, Count Ernest Augustus von, jealous of Colt, 221; + Hanoverian plenipotentiary at Augsburg, 231; + cited, 313; + otherwise mentioned, 248, 352, 367 + Platen, Countess von (Clara Elizabeth von Meysenbug), mistress of + Elector Ernest Augustus, 190-1, 246; + opera-house built for, 199 _note_; + Königsmarck affair, 268-70, 272, 278, 280-1; + otherwise mentioned, 246 _note_, 248, 250, 262 + Platen, Sophia Charlotte von. _See_ Kielmannsegg + Pless, Frau von, 28-9, 54 + Podewils, Marshal von, 271 + Poley, Edmund, 375 _note_ + Polwarth, Lord, 426 _and note_ + Portland, Earl of, 304, 365 _and note_ + + Quakers, 122 _and note_ + Quarles, Francis, 24 + Queensberry, Duke of, 373 + Quirini zu Lynar, Count Rochus, 328, 329 _note_ 131 + + Rait, R. S., on religious condition of Scotland, App. C + Rammingen, Pawel von, 94 + Rantzau, Count Christopher von, 153 + Ranuccio II, Duke of Parma, 112 + Regency Act (1706), 387-8; + Oxford’s proposed revision of, 417 + Rheenen property, 56 _and note_, 96 _and note_ + Richelieu, Cardinal, 60 + Rivers, Earl, 397-8, 402-3 + Robethon, Jean de, 351-2, 398, 406, 442; + estimate of, 377-8; + cited, 418, 426-7 + Rochester, Earl of, 382 _and note_, 386 + Roe, Sir Thomas, 60; + services of, to Queen of Bohemia, 44; + cited, 42, 62 + Roxburghe, Earl of, 373 + Rudolf Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, 146 + Rudolfine, Mme., 147 + Rupert, Prince (brother of the Electress), birth of, 35; + visit to England (1635), 59, 62; + captured at Vlotho, 60, 63; + in the British Civil War, 61, 63-4; + buccaneering exploits, 65; + quarrel with Charles Lewis, 94-6 _and note_; + visits to Heidelberg, 99-100, 104-5; + connexion with Francesca Bard, 103, 375 _note_; + position in England, 139-40; + death of, 9, 140; + characteristics of, 64 + Rupert III, Elector Palatine, 16 + Rupert ‘England’ (son of Elector Palatine Louis II), 17 + Ruperta (niece of Sophia), 103, 141 _note_ 62, 392 _note_ 168 + Rusdorf, 45, 48 + + Saint-Simon cited, 134 + Salomon, Dr., cited, 387 _note_, 405 _note_ 175, 410 _note_, 411 + _note_, 416 _note_, 417 _note_, 419 _note_ + Sandys, Dr., 325 + Sartorio, 327 + Saxony, compact of, with Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, 237 + Say and Sele, Lord, 324 + Schism Act, 436 + Schlitz-Görz, Baron von, 442 + Schönberg (Schombergh), Hans Meinhard von, 28 + Schulenburg, General von der, 415, 419 + Schulenburg, Melusina von der. _See_ Kendal, Duchess of + Schurmann, Anna Maria von, 120 + Schütz, Baron von (son of Celle Chancellor), Hanoverian resident in + London, 319, 352, 366; + correspondence with Sophia, 183 _note_; + quoted, 293 _note_, 347; + cited, 319 _note_, 339 _note_ 125, 383, 385 _note_; + death of, 399 + Schütz, Baron George William Helwig Sinold von (grandson of Celle + Chancellor), 412, 423-6 + Schütz, Baron Lewis Justus von, distinguished services of, to Duke + of Celle, 183, 185-6; + estimate of, 185, 376-7 + Scotland: + Act of Security (1704), 372-3 + Act of Union (1707), 373, 392 + Anti-English feeling in, as affecting Hanoverian Succession + question, 372-3, App. C + Assistance from, to the Palatinate, 50, 51 _note_ + Scultetus, Abraham, 24-5, 35 + Selz, Baron von, 137 _note_ 59 + Seymour, Edward, 364 + Shrewsbury, —, 438 + Sichel cited, 437 _note_ + Siegen, Ludwig von, 64 _note_ + Sigismund, Prince of Transylvania, 75 + Sintzendorf, Countess von, 240 _note_ + Smith, L. Pearsall, cited, 36 _note_ + Solms. _See_ Amalia von Solms + Somers, 402 + Somerset, Duke of, 424 + Sophia, Electress of Hanover (earlier Duchess of + Brunswick-Lüneburg): + Appearance of, 75-6 + Career, chronological sequence of: + Birth, 11, 52, 53; + childhood at Leyden, 54-5; + at the Hague, 55, 56, 69-70, 73; + upbringing and education, 25, 224, 331; + services to her eldest sister, 73; + rumour of projected marriage with Prince Charles of England, + 82-5; + starts for Heidelberg, 86; + life with her brother Charles Lewis, 87, 96-8, 103-7; + attitude towards him, 57; + matrimonial prospects, 106-12; + attack of small-pox, 106; + accepts Duke Ernest Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg, 112; + marriage, 114; + companionship of ‘Liselotte,’ 99, 172-3; + at Hanover, 156; + difficulties with George William, 157; + visit to her mother at the Hague (1659), 136, 157; + birth of George Lewis, 157; + of Frederick Augustus, 157; + last meeting with her mother (1661), 137; + visit to Italy (1664), 161; + John Frederick’s _coup_, 162-3; + friendly relations with Roman Catholic dignitaries, 164 _note_; + at Osnabrück and Iburg, 158-9, 167-8; + affair of Mlle. Eleonora d’Olbreuze, 168-70; + Celle Succession question, 180, 185-7; + infidelities of her husband, 190-1 _and note_; + visit to Herford, 121; + interest in British affairs, 209; + visit to Maubuisson (1679), 135, 178; + visit to her niece Elizabeth Charlotte, 178; + attitude towards proposed match between George Lewis and Sophia + Dorothea, 190 _note_ 79, 191-2; + towards Countess of Wilhelmsburg (Eleonora d’Olbreuze), 192-4; + visit to French Court with her daughter (1679), 207, 291-2; + visit to Queen of Denmark (1680), 150; + last visit to Herford, 124; + death of her eldest sister and of her eldest brother (1680), + 196; + life at Hanover, 197-200; + marriage of her eldest son (1682), 194-5, 240; + marriage of her daughter (1684), 207-8; + on William III’s accession, 215-16; + activity regarding the English Succession question (1689), 216, + 218; + Bill of Rights (1689), 216, 218-20; + death of her son Charles Philip, 202; + investiture of her husband with Electorate (1692), 235; + Königsmarck affair, 245, 253, 268, 269, 278, 280 _and note_ 2, + 285; + visit to Wiesbaden (1694), 224; + visit to the Loo (1696), 301, 303; + illness and death of her husband, 286-8; + accession of George Lewis, 289; + attitude towards Sophia Dorothea at Ahlden, 277, 284-5; + attitude towards the English Succession question (1698), + 309-11, 314-17, 319-20, 323; + relations with Duchess of Celle on the subject, 310; + alleged ‘Jacobite letter,’ 315-16; + visit to Aix-la-Chapelle (1700), 300; + conference with William III at the Loo (1700), 300, 312; + meeting with William III at the Hague, 317; + Act of Settlement (1701), 321-2; + receives copy of Act of Settlement, 324-6; + relations with Queen Anne at latter’s accession, 366 _and note_ + 2-9, 371; + proposed visit to England opposed by Queen Anne, 370; + continued activities regarding the Succession question (1703), + 374; + death of her son Christian (1703), 202-3, 339 _note_ 139; + Scottish Act of Security (1703-4), 372-3; + death of her daughter (1705), 356-8; + Tory attempt to bring her to England, 380, 382-3, 386-7; + naturalisation as English subject, 385 _and note_; + embassy of Lord Halifax with Naturalisation and Regency Acts + (1706), 388-91; + Act of Union (1707), 373-4; + ministerial crisis in England (1710), 396, 398; + attitude towards the Succession question (1711), 402; + visit of Thomas Harley (1712), 404, 407; + severe illness (Nov. 1713), 414; + Anne’s letter to (Apr. 1714), 421-2; + instructions to von Schütz regarding Parliamentary writ for + Electoral Prince, 423-7; + reply to Anne’s letter, 422-3, 427; + Anne’s letter on the writ affair, 428-31; + death, 428, 430-2; + obsequies, 433 + Characteristics of: + Alertness of mind, 96, 341 + Artistic capacity, 329-30 + Coarseness, 58 + Critical insight and true vision, 56, 333 + Curiosity, intellectual, 331 + Cynicism, 161, 336 + Dignity, 2 + Discretion and prudence, 2, 104 + Enthusiasm, dislike of, 342 + _Finesse_, intellectual, 211 + Frankness and straightforwardness, 211, 245, 336 + Freedom of spirit, 4 + Geniality and affability, 270, 338 + High spirit, 106 Hospitality, 338 + Humour, sense of, 5, 58, 74, 290, 335, 338, 413 + Kindliness of heart, 58 + Maternal affection, 171-2, 201 + Open-mindedness, 338 Reasonableness, 341 + Religious feeling, 339 _note_ 139, 345; + opinions, 343-8, 350; + attitude towards Church of Rome, 348-9 + Self-control, 4, 58 + Sincerity, 2, 157, 245 Tact, 157, 338 + Vivacity, 5, 74, 75 + Walking, fondness for, 328-9, 360 + Wit, 335-6 + Coffin of, inscription on, 1 + Correspondence of: + Cited, 167, 257, 372 _note_ + Estimate of, 336 + Quoted, 207, 321 _note_ + Correspondence of, with: + Balati, Abbé, cited, 194 + Bothmer, von, cited, 362 _note_ + Brinon, Mme. de, quoted, 350 + Burnet cited, 323-4, 342, 386 + Canterbury, Archbishop of, cited, 386 + Charles Lewis cited, 20 _note_ + Colt, Lady, 221 _note_ 2, 428 _note_ + Court of St. Germains, destruction of, 393 + Craven, Earl of, 211 + Elizabeth Charlotte, Duchess of Orleans, 10, 179-80, 414; + cited, 303 _note_ + George William, 186 + James II, 211 + Leibniz cited, 204, 215, 216, 311, 344, 347, 381, 419, 424, + 427, 432 + Louisa, Raugravine, cited, 305, 317 + Maccioni, 164 _note_ + Portland, Earl of, quoted, 365 _note_ + Schütz, von (the elder), 183 _note_; + quoted, 293 _note_, 374; + cited, 319 _note_, 339 _note_ 139, 383, 385 _note_ + Schütz, von (the younger), 423-4 _and note_, 425 + Sophia Charlotte, destruction of, 357 + Strafford cited, 410 + William III cited, 220 + Estimate of, by Sir W. D. Colt, 253 + Health of, 360 + Income for, proposal as to, 362, 366, 368, 413, 422 + Literary tastes of, 332-5 + _Memoirs_ of: + Circumstances of compilation of, 196 + Cited, 5, 53, 73, 74, 82, 87, 113, 169, 187 + Political influence of, 241, 340-1 + Relations with: + Anne, Queen, 363, 366 _and note_–9, 371, 386–7, 390-1, 394, + 396, 403, 404 _note_ 2, 410 + Caroline of Ansbach, 348, 359, 377 + Charles II, 209 + Charles Lewis, 57 + Eleonora of Celle, 168, 170, 187, 192, 240, 310, 337 + Elizabeth of Bohemia (her mother), 56-7, 136, 141 _note_ + Ernest Augustus (her husband), 241, 340 + George Lewis, 244 _and note_, 288, 340, 355 + James II, 210-13, 216 + Leibniz, 9, 288, 327, 331, 350, 351, 354-6 + Marlborough, 375, 384 + Mary of Orange, 213, 222, 224 + Nephews and nieces, 87, 102, 249, 339 + Sophia Charlotte, 171, 207, 230, 290, 294, 356-7 + Sophia Dorothea, 195, 240, 243, 248, 268, 284-5 + von Bernstorff, 377 + William of Orange, 210, 215-16, 219-22 + Succession question, attitude towards, 216, 218, 309-11, 314-17, + 319-20, 323, 374, 402, 418-19; + views regarding right of succession, 389 + Tories, attitude towards, and relations with, 383, 387 _and + note_, 399, 403, 418 + Whigs, attitude towards, and relations with, 380-1, 387 _and + note_, 395, 399, 403, 418 + otherwise mentioned, 25, 72, 176, 177, 226 + Sophia, Princess (daughter of James I), 11-12 + Sophia of Nassau-Dietz cited, 42 + Sophia Amalia, Queen of Denmark, 149-50 + Sophia Charlotte, Electress of Brandenburg, later Queen of Prussia + (daughter of Sophia), birth of, 171; + childhood, 207; + education, 291; + visit to French Court (1679), 207, 291-2; + marriage (1684), 38, 203, 207-8, 293; + sympathy with Maximilian, 289; + birth of eldest son, 294; + life and interests at Berlin and Brandenburg, 294-5; + at Lützenburg, 295-6; + family troubles, 298-9; + consulted by Sophia Dorothea (1692), 269; + visit to the Loo (1696), 301, 303; + visit to Aix-la-Chapelle, Brussels, and Holland (1700), 300; + conference at the Loo, 300, 312; + meeting with William III at the Hague, 317; + death of, 356-8; + characteristics of, 171, 290-1, 295; + indifference to politics, 230, 293-4; + religious views, 346; + her support of Leibniz, 355; + relations with her mother, 171, 207, 230, 290, 294, 356-7; + otherwise mentioned, 213, 313 _note_, 371 _note_ + Sophia Dorothea, Electoral Princess, later Duchess of Ahlden + (daughter-in-law of Sophia), birth of, 171; + upbringing, 243-4; + wealth, 181; + suggested naturalisation in France, 182 _and note_ 2; + question of legitimation and marriage, 185; + suitors, 189; + proposed match with George Lewis, 190 _note_ 1, 191-4; + the marriage, 194-5, 231, 239-41; + estrangement from her husband, 246, 249, 252-4; + Court life, 247; + in Rome, 248; + alleged intrigue with de Lassaye, 248-9; + relations with Königsmarck, 254-9, 262-78, App. B; + repairs to her parents at Brockhausen, 273; + at Ahlden, 275-6; + divorce, 276; + von Bernstorff’s attitude in the affair, 377; + subsequent life, 281-2; + death, 283-4; + estimate of, 240; + romance by Antony Ulric regarding, 192 _and note_, 239 _and + note_, 283; + mentioned, 7 + Sophia Dorothea, Queen of Prussia (granddaughter of Sophia), birth + of, 195, 249; + marriage, 195, 249, 284; + marriage-treaty, 346 _note_ 2; + attitude towards her mother, 280, 284; + at Göhrde, 307 + Southwell, 304 + Spain: + Charles I’s peace with (1630), 48 + James I’s negotiations with, 46 + Succession question, 310, 318 + Spanheim, Ezechiel, 333; + cited, 20 _note_, 190 _note_ 1 + Spinola, 36 + Spinoza, 176 _note_ 1 + Spittler cited, 113 _note_; + quoted, 331 + Stamford, Lord, 366 _note_ 2 + Steffani, Agostino, 198 _and note_ + Steinghens, 415 + Stepney, George, 225, 319-20, 371; + cited, 304; + his letter to Sophia (1700), 314-15 + Stewart, House of: + Depression of, 6 + Hanoverian sympathy with, 210-13, 216, 393-4 _and note_ + Strafford, Earl of, 349, 403, 410, 414, 419, 422, 438 + Sturmer, H. H., cited, 169 _note_ + Suireau, Marie (Mère des Anges), 129 + Sunderland, Earl of, 396-7, 402 + Sutton, Anne, 28 + Sweden: + Danish jealousy of, 45 + Ernest Augustus’ operations against (1666), 168 + Imperial war against (1675), 184 + + Tallard, Count, 307 + Taranto, Princess of, 97, 168 + Tavernier, 199 + Thynne, Thomas, murder of, 260-1 + Tilly, 47 + Toland, Sophia Charlotte’s + attitude towards, 295; + visit to Hanover (1701), 324; + Sophia’s attitude towards, 342, 367-8, 380-1; + her repartee to, 336; + cited, 325, 329, 339 _note_ 1, 348 _note_, 362 + Torcy, de, 405, 415, 420 + Treaties: + Austro-Bavarian (1628), 48 + Brandenburg and Hanover, between, 235-6, 289 + Britain and France, between. _See subheading_ Partition Treaty + Britain and Netherlands, between (1654), 93 + Britain and Netherlands, between, as to Hanoverian Succession, + 388, 438 + Brunswick-Lüneburg and Britain, between, 223 + Brunswick-Lüneburg and Netherlands, between (1692), 223 + Brunswick-Lüneburg and Sweden, between (1691), 263 + Electoral compact (1692), 233 + Grand Alliance. _See that title_ + Nürnberg settlement, 93, 95, 96 + Partition Treaty between England and France—First (1698), 307; + Second, 310, 317-18 + Prague, Peace of (1634), 51, 145, 148 + Ryswyk, Peace of (1697), 306 + Utrecht, Peace of (1713), 407-8, 412 + Westphalia, Peace of (1648), 45, 83, 97, 146, 149, 192, 229 + Trumbull, Sir William, 304 + Tunbridge, Lord, 324 + Turenne, Marshal, 67, 80, 183 + Tweeddale, Marquis of, 373 + Tyndall, Humphrey, Dean of Ely, 21 _note_ 1 + + Vane, Sir Harry, 61 + Velasco, Don Alonso de, 21 + Vere, Sir Horace, 41 + Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy, 225, 301-2, 321 _and note_ + Villiers, Lady Mary, 46 + + Wallenstein, 47 + Waller, Sir William, 104 + Walpole, Horace, cited, 260, 280-1 + Walpole, Sir Robert, 281 + Ward, Nathaniel, 63 + Wartenberg, Cardinal Francis William von, 158 + Wartenberg, Countess von, 299-300, 357 + Wartenberg, Kolbe von, 299 + Weber, O., cited, 405 _note_ 1 + Weston, Sir Richard, 35-6 + Weyhe, General von, 246 + Weyhe, Mme. von (Marie von Meysenbug, Frau von dem Bussche), 242, + 246 _and note:f103#_, 248 + Wharton, Lord, 385 + Wilhelmina (great-granddaughter of Sophia), 298-9 + Wilhelmina Caroline of Ansbach, Queen (wife of George II), + childhood of, 358; + marriage, 359; + influence with her husband, 288; + birth of eldest son, 359; + relations with Sophia, 348, 359, 377; + otherwise mentioned, 280-1, 355, 395, 429, 431, 441 + Wilhelmsburg, Countess of. _See_ Eleonora + Wilkins, W. H., cited, 246 _note_, 257, 258 _note_, 265 _note_, 280 + _note_ 112 + William II, Prince of Orange, 57 + William III, Prince of Orange (King William III of England), + marriage of, 209; + visit to Hanover (1680), 209-10; + on James II’s accession, 210; + relations with Sophia, 210, 213, 215-16, 219-22; + expedition to England, 212, 214-15; + Bill of Rights (1689) as affecting, 217; + correspondence with Sophia on Bill of Rights, 219-20; + appealed to regarding Lauenburg claims, 237-8; + Succession policy, 225-6; + attitude towards the Savoy Succession, 225, 301; + death of his wife, 224, 301; + suggestions as to re-marriage, 301-4, 312; + the Assassination Plot (1696), 302; + ill-health, 303, 311; + visit to Cleves, 304 _and note_; + attitude towards admission of Elector of Hanover to Electoral + College, 305; + secret negotiation with France, 306; + First Partition Treaty with France (1698), 307; + conference at Göhrde with George William of Celle (1698), 307; + interview with Duchess of Celle regarding English Succession + question, 308-9; + relations with Sophia on the question, 309-10, 314, 317; + attitude towards Electoral Prince of Brandenburg (1700), 312-14, + 317; + at the Hague with the two Electresses, 317; + relations with his Parliament, 310; + meeting with Duke George William and Prince George Augustus at + the Loo (1701), 362; + death of, 365; + title of, to British Crown, 8; + otherwise mentioned, 102, 110, 153, 163, 189, 190 _note_ 1, 193, + 300, 344, 369, 378, 385 _note_ + William V, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, 97 + Wimbledon, Lord, 47 + Winchelsea, Lord, 337, 367 + Withypol (Wittepole), Lady, 86 + Wladislaw IV, King of Poland, 70-1 _and note_ + Woods, Mrs., cited, 262 _note_ + Worthington, Dr., 117 _note_ + Wotton, Sir Henry, visit of, to Heidelberg Court, 26-8 _and note_; + mission to Vienna, 35-6; + devotion to Queen of Bohemia, 43-4; + cited, 52 _note_; + mentioned, 15, 161 + + THE END + + + + + + + + + PRINTED BY + SPOTTISWOODE AND CO. LTD., COLCHESTER + LONDON AND ETON + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + Transcriber’s Note + +Appendix B contains a series of letters in French. The editor +comments (p. #447): “The spelling of the words in the Letters, the +way in which those words are run into one another...have ... been +left as they stand in the transcript.” With that approach, with +three exceptions (obvious transpositions of letters), no corrections +have been made. + +Likewise, there are frequent quotations from contemporary sources, +and any deviations from our standard spellings are left untouched, +but noted here: mesages (44.23), l’esperane 495.6, contrar (552.8). + +At 10.11, there is an error. the Electress Sophia died in 1714 not +1712, two months before Britain’s Queen Anne died and Sophia’s son +George became George I of England. + +In the Index, references to a note on a given page, may include the +original note number (e.g., ‘323 _note_ 1’) should there be more +than one. In those cases the original number is changed to the +resequenced number. + +The Index entry on p. 101 for Charles (Elector Palatine does not +exist. . Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been +corrected, and are noted here. The references are to the page and +line in the original. or, if in a note, to the page, note and line +within the note. + + 2.26 of militant Protestan[t]ism Inserted. + + 71.15 the hand of [his/her] elder sister Replaced. + + 140.15 the Round Tow[n/er] at Windsor Castle Replaced. + + 188.4 in her _[ç/c]i-devant_ lover Replaced. + + 319.19 at the Court of St. James.[’] Removed, + + 371.159.2 May 27th, 1[9/7]02 Replaced. + + 401.18 no warrant for either as[s]umption; Inserted. + + 460.10 je soufri[ar/ra]ÿ pour vous Transposed. + + 461.16 des remaide indi[ng/gn]e d’un honest homme Transposed. + + 466.15 comme je pouraÿ postai[ts/st]re recevoir Transposed. + + 503.30 for its sake[.] Added, + + 522.6 obedient servant’ser[vant].[1] Removed, + spurious. + + 540.1.1 in the immediate vi[nc/cin]ity Replaced. + + 563.14 40[1/4] _note_ Replaced. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77237 *** diff --git a/77237-h/77237-h.htm b/77237-h/77237-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f2cbeff --- /dev/null +++ b/77237-h/77237-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,22161 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> + <head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title>The Electress Sophia and the Hanoverian Succession | Project Gutenberg</title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + body { margin-left: 8%; margin-right: 10%; } + h1 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.4em; } + h2 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.2em; } + h3 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.2em; } + h4 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.0em; } + .pageno { right: 1%; font-size: x-small; background-color: inherit; color: silver; + text-indent: 0em; text-align: right; position: absolute; + border: thin solid silver; padding: .1em .2em; font-style: normal; + font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; } + p { text-indent: 0; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify; } + sup { vertical-align: top; font-size: 0.6em; } + .sc { font-variant: small-caps; } + .large { font-size: large; } + .xlarge { font-size: x-large; } + .small { font-size: small; } + .under { text-decoration: underline; } + .lg-container-b { text-align: center; } + .x-ebookmaker .lg-container-b { clear: both; } + .lg-container-l { text-align: left; } + .x-ebookmaker .lg-container-l { clear: both; } + .lg-container-r { text-align: right; } + .x-ebookmaker .lg-container-r { clear: both; } + .linegroup { display: inline-block; text-align: left; } + .x-ebookmaker .linegroup { display: block; margin-left: 1.5em; } + .linegroup .group { margin: 1em auto; } + .linegroup .line { text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em; } + div.linegroup > :first-child { margin-top: 0; } + .linegroup .in10 { padding-left: 8.0em; } + .linegroup .in13 { padding-left: 9.5em; } + .linegroup .in2 { padding-left: 4.0em; } + .linegroup .in4 { padding-left: 5.0em; } + .linegroup .in6 { padding-left: 6.0em; } + .linegroup .in9 { padding-left: 7.5em; } + .index li {text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em; } + .index ul {list-style-type: none; padding-left: 0; } + ul.index {list-style-type: none; padding-left: 0; } + em.gesperrt { font-style: normal; letter-spacing: 0.2em; margin-right: -0.2em; } + .x-ebookmaker em.gesperrt { font-style: italic; letter-spacing: 0; margin-right: 0; + } + div.footnote > :first-child { margin-top: 1em; } + div.footnote p { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: 0.0em; margin-bottom: 0.0em; } + div.pbb { page-break-before: always; } + hr.pb { border: none; border-bottom: thin solid; margin-bottom: 1em; } + .x-ebookmaker hr.pb { display: none; } + .chapter { clear: both; page-break-before: always; } + .figcenter { clear: both; max-width: 100%; margin: 2em auto; text-align: center; } + .figcenter img { max-width: 100%; height: auto; } + .id001 { width:60%; } + .x-ebookmaker .id001 { margin-left:20%; width:60%; } + .ig001 { width:100%; } + .table0 { margin: auto; margin-top: 2em; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 0%; + width: 100%; } + .table1 { margin: auto; margin-top: 1em; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 0%; + width: 100%; } + .table2 { margin: auto; margin-left: 14%; margin-right: 15%; width: 71%; } + .table3 { margin: auto; width: 90%; } + .colwidth12 { width:12% ; } + .colwidth13 { width:13% ; } + .colwidth18 { width:18% ; } + .colwidth2 { width:2% ; } + .colwidth34 { width:34% ; } + .colwidth4 { width:4% ; } + .colwidth46 { width:46% ; } + .colwidth5 { width:5% ; } + .colwidth6 { width:6% ; } + .colwidth68 { width:68% ; } + .colwidth69 { width:69% ; } + .colwidth7 { width:7% ; } + .colwidth8 { width:8% ; } + .colwidth84 { width:84% ; } + .nf-center { text-align: center; } + .nf-center-c0 { text-align: left; margin: 0.5em 0; } + .c000 { margin-top: 1em; } + .c001 { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: 0.0em; margin-bottom: 0.0em; } + .c002 { page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em; } + .c003 { margin-top: 4em; } + .c004 { margin-top: 2em; } + .c005 { border: none; border-bottom: thin solid; margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 42%; width: 15%; margin-right: 43%; } + .c006 { page-break-before:auto; margin-top: 4em; } + .c007 { margin-top: 2em; text-indent: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.0em; } + .c008 { text-decoration: none; } + .c009 { margin-right: 5.56%; text-align: right; } + .c010 { margin-left: 2.78%; } + .c011 { vertical-align: top; text-align: right; padding-right: 1em; } + .c012 { vertical-align: top; text-align: justify; text-indent: -1em; + padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; } + .c013 { vertical-align: top; text-align: right; } + .c014 { vertical-align: top; text-align: center; padding-right: 1em; } + .c015 { vertical-align: top; text-align: left; padding-right: 1em; } + .c016 { vertical-align: top; text-align: justify; text-indent: -1em; + padding-left: 1em; } + .c017 { vertical-align: top; text-align: left; padding-right: 1em; + text-indent: 0.7em; } + .c018 { vertical-align: top; text-align: left; } + .c019 { vertical-align: top; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.7em; } + .c020 { border: none; border-bottom: thin solid; width: 10%; margin-left: 0; + margin-top: 1em; text-align: left; } + .c021 { margin-top: 1em; text-indent: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.0em; } + .c022 { margin-top: 1em; font-size: 95%; } + .c023 { text-indent: 0; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.0em; } + .c024 { page-break-before: always; margin-top: 2em; } + .c025 { vertical-align: top; text-align: center; } + .c026 { margin-left: 5.56%; margin-top: 1em; } + .c027 { vertical-align: middle; text-align: left; padding-right: 1em; } + .c028 { vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; padding-right: 1em; } + .c029 { page-break-before: auto; margin-top: 2em; } + .c030 { page-break-before: auto; margin-top: 1em; } + .c031 { margin-right: 44.44%; text-indent: 0; margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 0.0em; } + .c032 { text-indent: 0; margin-top: 0.0em; margin-bottom: 0.0em; } + .c033 { margin-right: 5.56%; margin-top: 1em; text-align: right; } + .c034 { margin-right: 5.56%; } + .c035 { margin-right: 5.56%; margin-top: 1em; } + .c036 { page-break-before: auto; margin-top: 4em; } + .c037 { margin-right: 5.56%; text-indent: 0; margin-top: 0.0em; + margin-bottom: 0.0em; } + .c038 { margin-right: 5.56%; text-indent: 1em; margin-top: 0.0em; + margin-bottom: 0.0em; } + .c039 { margin-right: 4.17%; text-indent: 1em; margin-top: 0.0em; + margin-bottom: 0.0em; } + .c040 { margin-right: 5.56%; margin-top: 1em; font-size: 95%; } + .c041 { margin-right: 5.56%; text-indent: 0; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.0em; + } + .c042 { margin-right: 5.56%; margin-top: 2em; text-indent: 1em; + margin-bottom: 0.0em; } + .c043 { margin-right: 5.56%; margin-top: 2em; } + .c044 { margin-top: .5em; } + .c045 { margin-right: 5.56%; margin-top: 8em; } + a:link { text-decoration: none; } + div.tnotes { padding-left:1em;padding-right:1em;background-color:#E3E4FA; + border:1px solid silver; margin:1em 5% 0 5%; text-align: justify; } + .blackletter { font-family: "Old English Text MT", Gothic, serif; } + .epubonly {visibility: hidden; display: none; } + .htmlonly {visibility: visible; display: inline; } + .x-ebookmaker .htmlonly { visibility: hidden; display: none; } + .x-ebookmaker .epubonly { visibility: visible; display: inline; } + .pageno { color:red; font-size:110%; } + .multiline {display: inline-block; margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em; + text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; padding:0; } + .multir { text-align: left; font-size: 80%; } + p.ctr { clear:both; margin:auto; text-align:center; } + p.rgt { text-align:right; margin-right: 1em; } + div.box { border: 1px solid black; padding: 0.5em; clear:both; margin: 4em auto; + width:50%; text-align: center; } + .column-container { margin: auto; margin-top: 1em; clear: both; width:80%; } + .col { display: inline-block; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width:49%; + } + .sigright { display: inline-block; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom; + width:64%; } + ins.correction { text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray; } + .quote { font-size: 95%; margin-top: 1.0em; margin-bottom: 1.0em; } + .linegroup .group { margin: 0em auto; } + td.bl { border-left: 1px solid black; padding:0em; } + td.bb { border-bottom: 1px solid black; padding:0em; } + td.blb { border-left: 1px solid black; border-bottom: 1px solid black; padding:0em; + } + div.shrink { font-size: 85%; } + </style> + </head> + <body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77237 ***</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c000'> +</div> +<div class='tnotes'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div>Transcriber’s Note:</div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c001'>Footnotes have been collected at the end of each chapter, and are +linked for ease of reference.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please +see the transcriber’s <a href='#endnote'>note</a> at the end of this text +for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered +during its preparation.</p> + +<div class='htmlonly'> + +<p class='c001'>Any corrections are indicated using an <ins class='correction' title='original'>underline</ins> +highlight. Placing the cursor over the correction will produce the +original text in a small popup.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<img src='images/cover.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +</div> + +</div> +<div class='epubonly'> + +<p class='c001'>Any corrections are indicated as hyperlinks, which will navigate the +reader to the corresponding entry in the corrections table in the +note at the end of the text.</p> + +</div> + +</div> + +<div> + <h1 class='c002'>THE <br> ELECTRESS SOPHIA <br><span class='small'>AND THE</span><br>HANOVERIAN SUCCESSION</h1> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div>THE</div> + <div class='c000'><span class='large'>ELECTRESS SOPHIA</span></div> + <div class='c000'>AND THE</div> + <div class='c000'><span class='large'>HANOVERIAN SUCCESSION</span></div> + <div class='c004'><span class='small'>BY</span></div> + <div class='c000'>ADOLPHUS WILLIAM WARD</div> + <div class='c000'><span class='small'>LITT.D., HON. LL.D., F.B.A., MASTER OF PETERHOUSE</span></div> + <div class='c003'><i>SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED</i></div> + <div class='c003'>LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.</div> + <div class='c000'><span class='small'>39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON</span></div> + <div class='c000'><span class='small'>NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA</span></div> + <div class='c000'>1909</div> + <div class='c000'><span class='small'>All rights reserved</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='box'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><i>BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</i></div> + </div> +</div> + +<hr class='c005'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><span class='small'><i>First published with numerous illustrations by</i></span></div> + <div><span class='small'><i>Messrs. Goupil & Co. in October 1903</i></span></div> + <div class='c000'><span class='small'><i>Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged, cr. 8vo.</i></span></div> + <div><span class='small'><i>published by Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co.</i></span></div> + <div><span class='small'><i>in October 1909</i></span></div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_v'>v</span> + <h2 class='c006'>PREFACE<br> TO <br> SECOND EDITION</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c007'>The long and eventful life of the Electress Sophia +admits of being treated from various points of view, +each of which possesses an interest of its own. A +Stewart by descent and breeding, and naturally +enough in a large measure by sentiment also, she +likewise, by reason of her birth and through the +traditions and experiences of her youth, had an +immediate part in the declining fortunes of the +Palatine House. The title acquired by her, for +herself and her descendants, to the succession to the +throne of her maternal ancestors, was a Parliamentary +title; but it rested ultimately on the relation of +herself and the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg to the +political and religious conflicts—the struggle against +France and the resistance to Rome—on whose issue +the future of Europe, and that of England in particular, +mainly depended. Personally, thanks to the +unflagging vivacity and unfailing candour of her +mind, fostered by an education carried on by her +through life, she became one of the foremost feminine +representatives of the intellectual liberalism of her +age.</p> + +<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_vi'>vi</span>In the succeeding pages, the aspect of the +Electress Sophia’s career to which prominence has +been designedly given, is the part played by her, +on her own behalf and on that of her descendants, +in the history of the question of the British Succession. +To this one aspect it has been necessary to +subordinate the rest, without, it is hoped, unduly +neglecting any one of them. It has not been easy +to refrain from dwelling at some length on the story, +often but never yet quite adequately told, of the +Queen of Bohemia, with its alternations of light and +shadow. And it would have been an interesting task +to seek to put into shape all that we know as to the +extraordinarily varied experiences, in Court and +camp, and in the contiguous spheres of religious and +intellectual activity, of Sophia’s brothers and sisters. +But, with her marriage, there opens the period of +her life at the close of which, as the ancestress and +the source of the Hanoverian dynasty of British +sovereigns, she stands forth by herself as an important +historical figure; and it was her connexion +with the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg +that moulded her own future and rendered it propitious +for the destinies of Great Britain. In the +present narrative, there has accordingly been included +an account of so much of the history of that +House in the period preceding Sophia’s marriage as +might suffice to indicate, not only its main dynastic +purposes and principles of policy, but also the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_vii'>vii</span>share which it had come to take in the general +progress of European affairs. On this there follows +a more special consideration of the attitude consistently +maintained by the Hanoverian family, +as the representative branch of the whole House, +towards the question of the British Succession, +which gradually became one of the chief questions +of European politics at large. In these transactions +the chief responsibility, on the Hanoverian side, +necessarily devolved upon the Electress Sophia, +though her eldest son pursued his own course, in +general but not in invariable conformity with her +own. And thus, both the House of Hanover and +Sophia herself contributed directly to a result of +high historical significance.</p> + +<p class='c001'>In describing the ambitions, the achievements, +and the experiences, good or evil, of the House of +Brunswick-Lüneburg, in the period more immediately +preceding its accession to the British +throne, I have not thought it right to draw a +veil over episodes which have often been intentionally +slurred over or misrepresented. On one of +these episodes, the most vexed and the most painful +among them, fresh light, but not such as to disturb +conclusions already to all intents and purposes +established, is thrown, in an Appendix to the present +volume, by a supplementary series of documents now +(with two exceptions) for the first time made public. +Such episodes a truthful narrator cannot pass by; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_viii'>viii</span>but they should not be allowed to affect his judgment +on questions connected with his story which possess +a far higher historical interest. In my opinion, +the debt of the British nation to the House of Hanover, +from the times of the Electress Sophia to those +of Queen Victoria, is one to which no conscientious +student of the history of the dynasty, in both the one +and the other period, ought to refuse to bear witness.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The materials for a history of the Electress +Sophia, in its connexion with the Hanoverian +Succession, are so abundant that they could only be +satisfactorily enumerated in an elaborate bibliography, +for which room could hardly be found in the +present volume. A succinct bibliography of the +history of the Succession, so far as it enters into the +general course of European history, will be found in +Vols. v. and vi. of the <cite>Cambridge Modern History</cite>, in +connexion with the chapter on <cite>Party Government +under Queen Anne</cite> and the section on the <cite>Hanoverian +Succession</cite>, by Mr. H. W. V. Temperley and by the +author of the present work respectively. The materials +in question may be summarised as follows. They +consist primarily of Sophia’s own <cite>Memoirs</cite> (which, +however, only reach the beginning of the year 1681) +and of her voluminous correspondence, preserved in +the State Archives at Hanover. Among her letters, +the collections of those addressed to her mother, to the +Elector Palatine Charles Lewis, to her nephews and +nieces, the Raugraves and Raugravines, and to her +<span class='pageno' id='Page_ix'>ix</span>Mistress of the Robes, Frau von Harling, have been +admirably edited by Dr. E. Bodemann, and that +of her letters to her son-in-law, King Frederick I. +of Prussia, by Professor E. Berner; and to these +has recently been added a very interesting collection +of her (and her daughter’s) letters to Hanoverian +diplomats (more especially the younger Schütz and +Bothmer). None of these collections, however, +equals in general interest the correspondence of the +Electress Sophia with Leibniz, published several +years ago by the late Onno Klopp, the author of +the monumental <cite>Fall of the House of Stuart</cite>. Besides +her own letters, we have many from the hand of +her mother, the Queen of Bohemia. So much of her +correspondence as was in her hands at her death, went +to her son Prince Rupert, and was published, in whole +or in part, by Sir George Bromley, Bart., the great-grandson +of Prince Rupert’s illegitimate daughter +Ruperta, under the title of <cite>A Collection of Original +Letters</cite> (1787). Some of her letters to Sir Edward +Nicholas in 1654-5 were printed by Mr. J. Evans for +the Society of Antiquaries, and another set appeared +with the private correspondence of Charles I. and +Sir Edward Nicholas appended to Wheatley’s edition +of Bray’s <cite>Diary and Correspondence</cite>. Many of the +Queen’s letters are, of course, to be found in the late +Mrs. Everett Green’s <cite>Life of Elizabeth</cite>, a work which +has long held its own and is on the point of being +republished in a new edition, carefully revised by the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_x'>x</span>expert hand of Mrs. Lomas, of the Record Office, +and provided by her with an admirable Introduction. +In this Mrs. Lomas refers to a very interesting +set of Elizabeth’s letters, addressed by the Queen +to her son, the Elector Charles Lewis, accompanied +by a few drafts of his replies, which was +a few years ago edited by Miss Anna Wendland +for the Stuttgart Literary Society.<a id='r1'></a><a href='#f1' class='c008'><sup>[1]</sup></a> The letters +of Charles Lewis himself and his family have been +edited by Dr. W. L. Holland for the Stuttgart +Literary Society; and there is, in addition, the +inimitable and endless series of letters by Charles +Lewis’ daughter, Sophia’s beloved niece and second +self, Elizabeth Charlotte Duchess of Orleans, among +which mention need only be made of the selection of +letters to her aunt, edited in two volumes by Dr. +Bodemann. The letters addressed by Sophia’s +youngest son, Prince Ernest Augustus (afterwards +Bishop of Osnabrück and Duke of York), to his +friend J. F. D. von Wendt, edited by Count Erich +Kielmannsegg, together with the editor’s notes, +throw much light on certain passages and personages +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xi'>xi</span>of Hanoverian history; unfortunately, their continuous +sequence breaks off in November, 1713. +To these may be added the letters and memoranda +of Ilten, Schulenburg and other Hanoverian politicians +and courtiers, including Bernstorff’s correspondence +and autobiographical fragment; the +numerous contributions of Leibniz, in the historical +section of Pertz’s edition of his <cite>Collected Works</cite>, +to the politics and later history of the House of +Brunswick-Lüneburg; and Toland’s account of his +visit to Hanover, told well if not too wisely. Of +the despatches of our envoys and residents +preserved in the Record Office and elsewhere, +part only have been given to the world by J. M. +Kemble and others; while a vast amount of matter +of this kind, especially from the despatches of the +Imperial envoys and residents in London, preserved +in the Vienna Archives, is embedded in Onno +Klopp’s <span lang="la"><i>magnum opus</i></span>. A very useful guide to +the <span lang="fr"><i>personnel</i></span> of the diplomatic representation +of England and the North German Governments +at the respective courts is furnished by the <cite>List of +Diplomatic Representatives and Agents, England and +North Germany, 1689-1727</cite>, contributed by Mr. +J. F. Chance to Professor Firth’s <cite>Notes on the +Diplomatic Relations of England and Germany</cite>. The +<cite>Memoirs</cite> of de Gourville have not been lost sight of; +and the records of the court of Hanover, selected +for publication by the experienced hand of C. E. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xii'>xii</span>von Malortie, and illustrated by him with much +additional matter, have been of occasional use.</p> + +<p class='c001'>There seems no necessity for referring in this +place to the secondary authorities to which, as a +matter of course, I have made more or less frequent +reference—from Spittler to Havemann and O. von +Heinemann and to the late Professor Adolf Köcher’s +standard <cite>History of Hanover and Brunswick, from 1648 +to 1674</cite>, beyond which date the author unfortunately +did not live to carry his invaluable work. Häusser’s +<cite>History of the Rhenish Palatinate</cite>, a work which +satisfied the requirements of its day, and is most +readable into the bargain, has been in constant +use. Among earlier biographical sketches of the +Electress Sophia I may mention, besides J. G. H. +Feder’s and W. Nöldeke’s monographs, Dr. E. +Bodemann’s account of her in the <span lang="de"><cite>Historische +Taschenbuch</cite></span> for 1888; H. Forst’s article on <span lang="de"><cite>Sophie +Herzogin von Braunschweig Lüneburg, Frau von Osnabrück, +1661-1679</cite></span>, in the 1889 <span lang="de"><cite>Jahrgang</cite></span> of the <cite>Mittheilungen +of the Osnabrück Historical Society</cite> (kindly made +accessible to me by Mr. S. Jaffé of Sandfort), in which, +however, there is little as to her life at Osnabrück +and Iburg, of which one would gladly know more, +besides what is to be found in her correspondence; +and R. Fester’s and H. Schmidt’s biographical essays, +to the latter of which is appended a contribution by +Professor A. Haupt on <cite>Art (plastic and pictorial) at +Hanover in the times of the Electress Sophia</cite>. The +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xiii'>xiii</span>masterly chapters in the late Kuno Fischer’s great +book on Leibniz which deal with his political and +religious activity, and with his relations to the +Electress Sophia and her family, are certain to be +consulted by serious students; nor will the late M. +Foucher de Careil’s <span lang="fr"><cite>Leibniz et les deux Sophies</cite></span> be +overlooked. Of Sophia’s brothers, Charles Lewis +has found a careful as well as sympathetic biographer +in Dr. K. Hauck, who has printed a large number of +the Palatine family letters in the <span lang="de"><cite>Neue Heidelberger +Jahrbücher</cite></span>; and Miss Eva Scott has recently +published a useful <cite>Life of Prince Rupert</cite>. The +Princess Palatine Elizabeth would no doubt have +preferred to live in her correspondence with her +great friend Descartes, which will be found in Victor +Cousin’s edition, and in Vols, iii., iv., and v. of +the definitive edition of the philosopher’s works +by C. Adam and P. Tannery. Several attempts +have, however, been made to put the materials for +the biography of this fair sage—and saint—into form. +Among these are G. E. Guhrauer’s exhaustive essay +in the <span lang="de"><cite>Historische Taschenbuch</cite></span> for 1850 and +1851; the admirable monograph by Foucher +de Careil, <span lang="fr"><cite>Descartes et la Princesse Palatine</cite></span>, and +M. V. de Swarte’s <span lang="fr"><cite>Descartes Directeur Spirituel</cite></span>, +which contains a commentary on his correspondence +with both the Princess Elizabeth and Queen Christina. +The reader should not fail to consult Miss E. S. +Haldane’s <cite>Descartes, His Life and Times</cite>. I may +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xiv'>xiv</span>also mention M. J. Bertrand’s paper <span lang="fr"><cite>Une Amie de +Descartes</cite></span> in the <span lang="fr"><cite>Revue des Deux Mondes</cite></span>, Vol. cii., +and another contributed by the present writer to +<cite>Owens College Historical Essays</cite> (1901). I have not +seen an essay on the Princess by Dr. J. Witte in the +<span lang="de"><cite>Neue Heidelberger Jahrbücher</cite></span> (1901), which is +described as very attractive. A biography of the +Princess has quite recently been published by Miss +Elizabeth Godfrey, under the title of <cite>A Sister of +Prince Rupert</cite>. I am not aware of any attempt to put +together in more than outline the curious life’s story +of another member of the family—the Princess Louisa +Hollandina; the source of most of what I have been +able to add to details generally accessible on the +subject is acknowledged below. I have, of course, +used Guhrauer, Varnhagen, and the later memoir +writers for various kinds of collateral information; +and on the Succession question I have, besides +the works mentioned above, consulted divers +essays as to special points by A. Schaumann, O. +Meinardus, Reinhold Pauli, and others. It has not +been part of my design to trace the way in which the +progress of the Succession question was affected by +the course of English party history on the one hand, +or on the other by the action of the exiled Stewarts, +and of the Jacobite interest at home and abroad. +But I have endeavoured to keep both influences +in view, noticing any Parliamentary transactions +of importance, and attempting to utilise such +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xv'>xv</span>information as is afforded by the Reports of the +Royal Historical MSS. Commission, including those +on the Stuart Papers at Windsor, and on the Harley +MSS. Among recent secondary works on the +subject, I am greatly indebted to Dr. F. Salomon’s +extremely valuable research relating to the history +of the last four years of Queen Anne; I have also +referred to Mr. W. Sichel’s <cite>Bolingbroke</cite>, Mr. E. S. +Roscoe’s <cite>Oxford</cite>, and Mr. Percy M. Thornton’s useful +<cite>Brunswick Succession</cite>. I may take this opportunity +of noting the fairness of tone which characterises +Mr. Lewis Melville’s now completed book, <cite>The +First George in Hanover and England</cite>. Finally, +I have sought to keep abreast of the learning +which, I am glad to say, continues to stream into +the exemplary <cite>Journal of the Historical Society for +Lower Saxony</cite>. +I have to thank Mr. John Murray and Messrs. +Longmans, Green & Co., as well as the Editors of the +<cite>Quarterly, Edinburgh</cite>, and <cite>English Historical Reviews</cite>, +and of the <cite>Owens College Historical Essays</cite>, for +allowing me to make use of various articles by me +which have appeared in these quarters on subjects +treated in this volume. For a remarkably full +account of the Abbey of Maubuisson and of the +connexion with it of the Princess Louise Hollandina, +its twenty-sixth Abbess—many details of which I +have reproduced—I am indebted to the excerpts +made by M. L. Toyant from the <cite>History and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xvi'>xvi</span>Cartulary of the Abbey</cite>, edited from original documents +by MM. A. Dutilleux and J. Depoin for +the Societé Historique du Vexin Français (1882). +M. Toyant rendered me this service at the request +of Mr. H. Tinson (late of Messrs. Goupil & Co.), +without whose skilled assistance, most readily and +courteously given, the first (illustrated) edition of +the present work could not have been produced. +In revising the last chapter of the present edition, +I had the advantage of utilising some notes kindly +made by Mr. J. F. Chance on the section entitled +<cite>The Hanoverian Succession</cite> contributed by me to +Vol. vi. of the <cite>Cambridge Modern History</cite>, which +volume also contains a most valuable section +by Mr. Chance on the earlier foreign policy of +George I—a subject closely connected with that +of his European policy before his accession to +the English throne, which is discussed in the +present volume. Mr. R. W. Goulding, Librarian +to the Duke of Portland, was so kind as to +communicate to me in 1903 extracts from three +letters from the Electress Sophia to the Earl of +Portland, dating from the years 1703-4, preserved, +together with eight others, at Welbeck Abbey. Of +these extracts I have in my last chapter taken the +liberty of translating that which has reference to the +death of King William III. I desire also to thank +Miss A. D. Greenwood (who has just published a work, +based on careful research, dealing with parts of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xvii'>xvii</span>the subject treated in this volume), and Mr. A. T. +Bartholomew, M.A., of Peterhouse, and the Cambridge +University Library, for aid given in the +preparation of one of the Appendices to the present +edition.</p> + +<p class='c001'>In this Appendix will, as already indicated, be +found, a series of letters between the Electoral +Princess Sophia Dorothea and Count Philip +Christopher in Königsmarck. This correspondence, +which supplements the much longer series deposited +in the University of Lund, is preserved in the +Royal Secret Archives of State at Berlin, and is now +(with the exception of two letters forming part of +it) printed for the first time. I have to offer special +thanks to the authorities of these Archives for allowing +this correspondence to be transcribed for me. I +request the eminent historian, Geh. Oberregierungsrath +Dr. Koser, who holds the office of Director of +the Archives, to accept the expression of my sincere +obligations; and I desire very particularly to thank +the Second Director, Geh. Archivrath Dr. Bailleu, +to whose historical works I owe a debt which the +present is not the occasion for recording at length, +for his courtesy in arranging for the transcription of +these letters and thereby facilitating the execution +of my task. For the translation of the letters I +am myself responsible, as well as for some elucidatory +remarks concerning these documents. The Appendix +on the Religious Situation in Scotland, as it affected +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xviii'>xviii</span>the Hanoverian Succession, I owe to Mr. R. S. Rait, +of New College, Oxford, whose command of Scottish +history is well known.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The present edition of this book necessarily +appears without the illustrations which adorned +the first. In the Preface to that edition I expressed +my own gratitude and that of my publishers (Messrs. +Goupil & Co.) for services rendered in many quarters +both at home and abroad, towards the collection +and reproduction of the illustrations in question. +More especially, I asked leave to offer the respectful +thanks of publishers and author to the present +Head of the House of Hanover, His Royal Highness +the Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, K.G.,who +had, through Privy Councillor and Chamberlain von +der Weise, kindly granted permission for the +reproduction of a series of family portraits preserved +at Herrenhausen and in the Fideicommiss. +Gallery in the Provinzial-Museum at Hanover. +I expressed at the same time our gratitude to the +Right Hon. the Earl of Craven for allowing the +reproduction of several of the pictures forming the +unique collection at Combe Abbey, which contains +so many of the portraits of the Queen of Bohemia.<a id='r2'></a><a href='#f2' class='c008'><sup>[2]</sup></a> +Next to the collection of Palatine portraits at +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xix'>xix</span>Combe Abbey, the most interesting is that at Blair +Castle, of the existence of which Miss Haldane, the +translator of Descartes, was so good as to apprise +me. His Grace the Duke of Athol, whom the +Marchioness of Tullibardine had, at the instance +of Miss Haldane, informed of my interest in the +pictures, kindly wrote to me that there are at +present in Blair Castle original portraits in panel +by Gerard Honthorst of the Princess Palatine +Elizabeth, Louisa Hollandina and Henrietta Maria +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xx'>xx</span>(married to Prince Sigismund of Transylvania). +These portraits, together with two of the Queen of +Bohemia and Prince Rupert, likewise by Honthorst, +and ‘head and shoulders’ portraits on panel, belonged +to John, first Duke of Athol, who probably inherited +them from his mother, daughter of James, seventh +Earl of Derby. At the Duke’s death in 1724 he +left the furniture of Huntingtower to his widow +(who had been his second wife); and the last-named +two pictures being there, were after her death removed +to England by her eldest son, Lord John Murray, +from whom they descended to W. H. G. Bagshawe, +Esq., of Ford Hall, Chapel-in-the-Frith, Derbyshire; +but the portraits of the three Princesses, being at +Dunkeld, went to the Duke’s heir and successor. +Mr. Bagshawe (who informs me that the portrait +of the Queen is extremely like that of her in the +National Portrait Gallery) in 1886 allowed copies +of these two portraits to be made for the Duke of +Athol, which are now with the three originals +of the three Princesses at Blair Castle. I recollect +seeing a charming portrait of at least one of +the Palatine Princes at Ford Castle, Northumberland.</p> + +<p class='c001'>M. Toyant’s researches, communicated to me +by Mr. Tinson, showed that, besides the portraits +of the Princess Louise Hollandina at Combe Abbey, +Hanover, and Herrenhausen (to which has to +be added that at Blair Castle), there exists +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxi'>xxi</span>one at Wilton House, the Earl of Pembroke’s seat +near Salisbury.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Of the Electress Sophia herself, one of the two +portraits by Gerard Honthorst at Combe Abbey +served as the frontispiece to the first edition of this +book. The other, and a third of her and her +daughter, Sophia Charlotte, said to be the work +of the Princess Louisa Hollandina, were reproduced +at later points in the volume; in which also +appeared engravings of Engelhard’s statue of the +Electress, in a sitting position, in the gardens at +Herrenhausen, and of a gold medal in her honour +designed by Lambelet, of which a plaster cast is in +the British Museum. Other medals struck in her +honour are depicted in Rehtmeier’s <span lang="de"><cite>Hannöverische +Chronik</cite></span>. On the occasion of the serious illness, +in October, 1701, of an old and confidential friend, +the Electress Sophia wrote that ‘if she was to have +her medal made of her portrait, she ought to do it +now; for, should Frau von Harling recover, she would +not allow me to spend so much on <span lang="fr"><i>ma vieille trogne</i></span>.’ +Personal vanity, or personal self-consciousness of +any kind, was not among the shortcomings traceable +in the character of the brave and high-minded +Princess of whose life I have attempted to trace the +unblemished record.</p> + +<div class='c009'>A. W. WARD.</div> + +<div class='lg-container-l c010'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='small'><span class='sc'>Peterhouse Lodge, Cambridge.</span></span></div> + <div class='line in6'><span class='small'><i>April, 1909.</i></span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_xxii'>xxii</span> + <h2 class='c006'>CONTENTS</h2> +</div> + +<table class='table0'> +<colgroup> +<col class='colwidth7'> +<col class='colwidth84'> +<col class='colwidth8'> +</colgroup> + <tr> + <td class='c011'>CHAP</td> + <td class='c012'> </td> + <td class='c013'>PAGE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'> </td> + <td class='c012'> </td> + <td class='c013'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'> </td> + <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Preface</span></td> + <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_v'>v</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'> </td> + <td class='c012'> </td> + <td class='c013'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'> </td> + <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Introductory</span></td> + <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'> </td> + <td class='c012'> </td> + <td class='c013'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'>I.</td> + <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Descent and Parentage; Childhood and Girlhood</span></td> + <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_11'>11</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'> </td> + <td class='c012'> </td> + <td class='c013'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'>II.</td> + <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Early Womanhood and Marriage</span></td> + <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_87'>87</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'> </td> + <td class='c012'> </td> + <td class='c013'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'>III.</td> + <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>The Duchess Sophia</span></td> + <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_143'>143</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'> </td> + <td class='c012'> </td> + <td class='c013'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'>IV.</td> + <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>The Electoral House of Hanover</span></td> + <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_209'>209</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'> </td> + <td class='c012'> </td> + <td class='c013'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'>V.</td> + <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>The Heiress of Great Britain</span></td> + <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_327'>327</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'> </td> + <td class='c012'> </td> + <td class='c013'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'> </td> + <td class='c012'> </td> + <td class='c013'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c013' colspan='3'>APPENDICES</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'> </td> + <td class='c012'> </td> + <td class='c013'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'>A.</td> + <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Genealogical Tables</span></td> + <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_445'>445</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'> </td> + <td class='c012'> </td> + <td class='c013'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'>B.</td> + <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Correspondence between Princess Sophia Dorothea and Count Königsmarck. From the Berlin Secret Archives of State. With Introductory Note and Translation</span></td> + <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_447'>447</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'> </td> + <td class='c012'> </td> + <td class='c013'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'>C.</td> + <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Note on the Religious Situation in Scotland, as it affected the Hanoverian Succession. By R. S. Rait</span></td> + <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_550'>550</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'> </td> + <td class='c012'> </td> + <td class='c013'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c011'> </td> + <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Index</span></td> + <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_553'>553</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_xxiii'>xxiii</span> + <h2 class='c006'><i>Corrigenda.</i></h2> +</div> + +<table class='table0'> +<colgroup> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth5'> +<col class='colwidth13'> +<col class='colwidth5'> +<col class='colwidth68'> +</colgroup> + <tr> + <td class='c014'><i>Page</i></td> + <td class='c011'>21,</td> + <td class='c015'><i>line</i></td> + <td class='c011'>7</td> + <td class='c016'>from bottom: <i>for</i> Henry Frederick <i>read</i> Frederick Henry.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'>”</td> + <td class='c011'>71</td> + <td class='c017'>”</td> + <td class='c011'>15:</td> + <td class='c016'><i>for</i> his <i>read</i> her.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'>”</td> + <td class='c011'>97</td> + <td class='c017'>”</td> + <td class='c011'>10:</td> + <td class='c016'><i>for</i> Tarento <i>read</i> Taranto.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'>”</td> + <td class='c011'>141,</td> + <td class='c018' colspan='3'>note, <i>line</i> 12: <i>for</i> Scroope Emmanuel <i>read</i> Emmanuel Scroope.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'>”</td> + <td class='c011'>151,</td> + <td class='c015'><i>line</i></td> + <td class='c011'>15:</td> + <td class='c016'><i>for</i> Charles <i>read</i> Christian.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'>”</td> + <td class='c011'>164,</td> + <td class='c018' colspan='3'>note, <i>line</i> 4 from bottom: <i>for</i> Court <i>read</i> Coat.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'>”</td> + <td class='c011'>195,</td> + <td class='c015'><i>line</i></td> + <td class='c011'>23:</td> + <td class='c016'><i>for</i> 1685 <i>read</i> 1687.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'>”</td> + <td class='c011'>224</td> + <td class='c017'>”</td> + <td class='c011'>7</td> + <td class='c016'><i>et al</i>: <i>for</i> Cressett <i>read</i> Cresset.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'>”</td> + <td class='c011'>224</td> + <td class='c017'>”</td> + <td class='c011'>6</td> + <td class='c016'>from bottom: <i>for</i> 1696 <i>read</i> 1694.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'>”</td> + <td class='c011'>292</td> + <td class='c017'>”</td> + <td class='c011'>4</td> + <td class='c016'>from bottom: <i>for</i> his <i>read</i> this.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'>”</td> + <td class='c011'>333</td> + <td class='c017'>”</td> + <td class='c011'>11:</td> + <td class='c016'><i>dele</i> better.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'>”</td> + <td class='c011'>371</td> + <td class='c017'>”</td> + <td class='c011'>8</td> + <td class='c016'>from bottom: <i>for</i> 1694 <i>read</i> 1704.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'>”</td> + <td class='c011'>371,</td> + <td class='c018' colspan='3'>note, <i>line</i> 2 from bottom: <i>for</i> 1902 <i>read</i> 1702.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'>”</td> + <td class='c011'>392</td> + <td class='c019' colspan='3'>”      ”   4 from bottom: <i>after</i> Howes <i>read</i> (or Hughes).</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'>”</td> + <td class='c011'>393,</td> + <td class='c015'><i>line</i></td> + <td class='c011'>5:</td> + <td class='c016'><i>after</i> clause <i>read</i> as.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1'>1</span><span class='large'>THE</span></div> + <div><span class='large'>ELECTRESS SOPHIA</span></div> + <div><span class='large'>AND THE</span></div> + <div><span class='large'>HANOVERIAN SUCCESSION</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c006'>INTRODUCTORY</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c007'>In the burial-vault of the Guelfs, at Hanover, stands +a coffin enclosing the remains of the Electress Sophia, +and bearing the inscription: <span lang="la"><i>Magnæ Britanniæ +Hæres</i></span>. These words sum up her story as that of a +great hope, long cherished but never fulfilled. Yet +a biography of this Princess, who died, though +herself uncrowned, the ‘mother of our Kings to be,’ +will, if truthful, be found to treat a nobler theme +than a personal ambition born of chance upon chance, +vexed by prolonged delays, and doomed to final +disappointment. The Electress Sophia was in +herself worthy to be the source of a dynasty whose +last and most august member left to her successor +a throne far securer than that which was mounted +by Sophia’s eldest son. But the nation, of whose +institutions a limited monarchy has long formed +an integral part, also owes a debt to the very fact +<span class='pageno' id='Page_2'>2</span>of the accession of the House of Hanover, and therefore +to the insight and self-control exhibited by that +House, and conspicuously by the Electress Sophia, +during the entire preceding period of uncertainty. +At a highly critical date in the course of those years, +when the Electress and her family were most anxious +to avoid any rash or false step on their own part, +she told a correspondent that, at the English Court, +it was held indispensable to pretend to wish for the +succession of the Electoral line—<em>because of the +people</em>. Although there were, in those days, Jacobites +enough and to spare in London and other parts +of the kingdom, and although the stolidity of our +first Hanoverian King, and the self-conceit of his +successor, retarded the growth of personal sympathy +between monarch and subjects, yet the perception, +in both dynasty and nation, of a definite community +of interests formed a sufficient beginning for the +growth of a close mutual attachment. To this the +Electress Sophia contributed, it is not too much to +say, both by the circumstances of her birth and by +the conduct of her life. She was the daughter of a +Stewart Princess, on whose Protestant marriage the +nation had set its hopes, and whom it had seen +condemned, because of her husband’s youthful +venture in the cause of militant <a id='corr2.26'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='Protestanism'>Protestantism</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_2.26'><ins class='correction' title='Protestanism'>Protestantism</ins></a></span>, to +long years of exile and privation. In her own +conduct Sophia displayed a prudence, a dignity, +and a sincerity, which have rarely, under conditions +<span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span>so trying, been so consistently combined. The +legend, indeed, of her having often declared that she +would die content if those other words, ‘Sophia, +Queen of Great Britain,’ could be inscribed on her +tomb, is irreconcileable with the whole tenor of her +known private thoughts, as well as of her public +acts. She was far from indifferent to the greatness +that might be in store for her, or to the necessity, +in the interests of her House, of constant vigilance, +promptitude, and tact. But she deemed it enough +to be found, at no stage of her career, either unequal +to her present fortunes or unready for those responsibilities +of a greater future which cast their shadow +before them. Thus it is largely due to her, and, as +it is but just to acknowledge, with her and after her, +to the next heir to her expectations, that, so far as +the House of Hanover is concerned, the history of its +succession to the British throne may be reviewed +without the feelings of humiliation too often aroused +by narratives of disputed inheritances. At the same +time, the essential significance of that history would, +in any case, have to be sought deeper than in the +vicissitudes of personal ambitions or the machinations +of families or factions. The Hanoverian +Succession was, in fact, only another name for the +Protestant Succession in flesh and blood, and, as +such, represented the principal gain which most +Englishmen and Scotchmen were intent upon +bringing home out of the long struggle against the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>Stewart monarchy. Not that the disputes and +efforts connected with the Hanoverian Succession +throughout, or, at times, mainly addressed themselves +to the religious issue; but it would be futile +to ignore, or to seek to obscure, the origin and basis +of the great political transaction in which the +Electress Sophia was called upon to play so prominent +a part. She was fitted to play it, alike by +the circumstances of her descent and marriage, and +by the qualities of her character and intellect, and +above all by a perfect self-control, joined to a freedom +of spirit in which, during the efforts and trials +of her life, she found encouragement and consolation.</p> + +<p class='c001'>From the relation in which the Electress Sophia +stood to the question of the British Succession, +that loomed so large on the political horizon during +her later years, the story of her life derives its paramount +interest. Even on the experiences of her +earlier years, whose memories carry us back to the +time of the Thirty Years’ War and of the great Civil +Conflict in this island, it is impossible to dwell without +thinking of the great destiny reserved for her +line, and of the many helps and hindrances which +were to facilitate or to impede its accomplishment. +But in the semi-obscurity of her youth, as under +the gaze of inquisitive eyes to which her maturity +was exposed, she remains true to herself; and few +biographical records could prove more fascinating +than one covering her fourscore years, were it but +<span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span>possible to depict her from first to last in the same +life-like colours in which she has portrayed herself +in her <cite>Memoirs</cite>, and in which she reappears on +almost every page of her correspondence. Unfortunately, +it is difficult to convey by extracts, and +impossible to preserve in translation, the constant +alertness of thought, and refreshing vivacity of +expression, frequently touched by real humour, and, +at all times, free from any tinge of affectation, which +are not less characteristic of her letters than they must +have been of her conversation. As for her autobiography, +it breaks off as early as 1681, and thus fails to +cover that longer half of her life in which she was to +become a figure of importance in European affairs. +For it was the ‘abdication’ by flight of King James II +and the subsequent passing of the Bill of Rights +which brought about and established the restriction +of the English Succession to Protestants, and which +first placed Sophia and her line, though not as yet +by name, in direct relation to that Succession as a +question of practical politics.</p> + +<p class='c001'>It is accordingly proposed, in the following +pages, to speak, in the first instance, of Sophia’s +descent and parentage; of her mother, who, while +remaining, even throughout the woful sequel of +her Bohemian Queenship, conscious of her position +as a Stewart Princess, never faltered in her adherence +to the Protestantism for whose sake her husband +had cast a long blight upon the fortunes of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>Palatine House; and of her brothers and sisters, +Princes and Princesses of that House, not one of +whom, in spite of their many distinctions and qualities, +brilliant or solid, succeeded altogether in rising +above the depression which had fastened upon the +family, as Sophia herself rose in the eyes both of +her contemporaries and of posterity. The task will +thus become easier of describing, in turn, the three +stages of that part of her life which preceded the +acquisition by her and her House of a definite +expectation of the succession to the British throne. +During her childhood and girlhood she was virtually +confined to the refugee Court of her parents, afterwards +that of her widowed mother, in the Netherlands. +She next passed some years at Heidelberg, in +the land of her forefathers, then restored in part to +the Palatine rule. The earlier years of her married +life, divided between Osnabrück and Hanover, +introduced her to new personal relations and to +new political interests; but, though these at times +conflicted with each other, she learnt how to identify +herself more and more with the dynastic policy of +the House, to the fortunes of whose future head +she had united her own. A second period of her +life may be said to open when the question of +the British Succession unexpectedly comes into the +foreground of European political life; and in this +period, again, two stages are very clearly distinguishable. +The earlier of these extends from the passing +<span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>of the Bill of Rights (1689), with its strict limitation +of the Crown to Protestants, up to the Act of Settlement +(1701). Within these years the House of +Hanover, while actually or in prospect consolidating +the various territorial interests of the Brunswick-Lüneburg +line, firmly established its position as an +electorate in the Empire, and began to be taken +into account by the ambition of France, the chronic +disturber of the peace of Europe. Incidentally, +the skilful management and the stern resolution by +which this advance of the House was effected, led +to unhappy consequences; and no narration of +its history in this period can pass by the catastrophe +of one of Sophia’s sons, or pretend to ignore the +tragic story of her daughter-in-law, Sophia Dorothea. +In the second stage of this period we recognise, in the +Electress Sophia, a personage of importance in the +great theatre of general European history, but +calmly standing back herself from the glare of the +footlights. By the Act of Settlement the Succession +was settled upon her and the heirs of her body, being +Protestants. She thus obtained a Parliamentary +title for herself and for her descendants.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Before this point is reached in our narrative, +it will have shown how largely fortune had contributed +to the genesis of this title. Of James I’s +two sons, the elder, Henry, had died in the early +flower of his youth. Charles I left three sons, of +whom the third, another Henry, also died young +<span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>and unmarried. Since Charles II left no lawful +issue, the Crown fell to James II, and, having been +transferred from him to his son-in-law, William of +Orange, and to his elder Protestant daughter, Mary, +passed in turn to his second Protestant daughter, +Anne. Mary had left no issue, and her widowed +husband, on whose issue by another wife the Crown +had been eventually settled, should Anne die childless, +declined to marry again. Of Anne’s numerous +progeny, none survived their infancy except the +Duke of Gloucester, and he died in 1700. Nor +could there be any question of the conversion to +Protestantism of any child of James II by his +second, Catholic, wife except the Prince afterwards +known as the Old Pretender; for all the others died +in their infancy, with the exception of Marie Louise, +who survived into her twelfth year. The chance +passed away of finding a Protestant successor to the +Crown among the grandchildren of Charles I’s +youngest daughter, Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans, +in the House of Savoy and it was therefore necessary +to turn to the offspring of James I’s only daughter, +Elizabeth, the Protestant consort of a Protestant +prince. But of the sons born from this union who +survived to maturity, the eldest, Charles Lewis, +died in 1680; his only legitimate son, Charles, +died without issue in 1685; his only daughter, +Elizabeth Charlotte, became a Catholic on her +marriage to the Duke of Orleans. Of the others who +<span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>remained Protestants, Rupert persistently refused +to marry, and died in 1682; Maurice and Philip, +both of them homeless wanderers, had perished in +1654 and 1650 respectively. Edward, alone among +the younger brothers, married and became the +father of a family; but he had been carried away +from the traditions of his House by the wave of +Catholic propaganda, of which this biography will +repeatedly have to take note; and his three daughters +all became the wives of Catholic husbands. +Of Sophia’s elder sisters, one, Louisa Hollandina, +fell under the same religious influence, and became +the Abbess of a Catholic convent; another, the +eldest of the sisterhood, who came to hold the same +position in a Protestantised foundation, likewise +elected to remain the votaress of an unmarried life; +a third, Henrietta Maria, died in 1652, soon after +she had been wedded to a Transylvanian prince. +No other personage possessed a claim of birth equal +to Sophia’s, yet even of pretensions palpably inferior +to her own on this score, fortune, which seemed in +this question always on her side, disposed in her +favour.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The Electress Sophia’s later years were chiefly +spent in the tranquillity of Herrenhausen, more +especially after she had become a widow in 1698; +and here she held intellectual intercourse with +Leibniz, her own and her daughter’s friend, and with +other fit companions of her solitude, while keeping +<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>up her voluminous correspondence with her favourites +of heart and mind, among them her inimitable +niece, the Duchess of Orleans. She lived to see the +territorial power of the House of Hanover fully +established at home, and its foreign policy completely +merged into that of the Grand Alliance against +France; and there remained now nothing but the +consummation of the British Succession. This she +was not destined to see accomplished in her own +person; but less than two months after her death, on +June 8th, <a id='corr10.11'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='1712'>1714</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_10.11'><ins class='correction' title='1712'>1714</ins></a></span>, her eldest son, the Elector George +Lewis of Hanover, was proclaimed King George I of +Great Britain and Ireland.</p> + +<hr class='c020'> +<div class='footnote' id='f1'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. The reader may like to be referred to certain contributions +to the biography of the Queen of Bohemia, besides Häusser and +Söltl’s well-known <cite>Elizabeth Stuart</cite>; viz. J. O. Opel, <span lang="de"><i>Elizabeth +Stuart von der Pfalz</i></span> (<span lang="de"><i>Histor. Zeitschrift</i></span>, Vol. xxiii.); K. Hauck, +<span lang="de"><i>Elizabeth, Königin von Böhmen, Kurfürstin von der Pfalz, in +ihren letzten Lebensjahren</i></span> (<span lang="de"><i>Kleine Schriften zur Geschichte der +Pfalz I</i></span>); A. Wendland, <span lang="de"><i>Hannoverische Erinnerungen an die +Winterkönigin</i></span> (, +Jahrg. 1903). The last named contains some notes on portraits.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f2'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r2'>2</a>. I may perhaps take this opportunity of observing that the +many portraits of the Queen of Bohemia which I have seen at +Combe Abbey, at Herrenhausen, in the National Portrait +Gallery, in Corpus Christi College Lodge, Cambridge, and +elsewhere, do not all agree in details of feature, or, of course, +of costume, though in most of them the Queen wears one of +those mighty farthingales which her father (poor man!) in vain +attempted to moderate. In most of her portraits her eyes are +dark, in one at least they are slate-grey. In a contemporary +account of her wedding special mention is made of the long +flow of her amber-coloured hair, which descended to her waist; +and I notice that Miss Wendland speaks of her children as ‘fair’ +(<span lang="fr"><i>blond</i></span>) ‘like their beautiful mother.’ But of her appearance in +later life we have a different account from the trustworthy +hand of the Duchess of Orleans, who says that she remembered +her grandmother as if she had been in her presence on +the day of writing, and who notes her black hair, long face, +and powerful nose. Elizabeth Charlotte adds that there was a +great likeness between the Queen and her eldest son, of whom, +as of her second, she was in his early days fond of speaking +to the King, his father, as her ‘petit black babie.’ Altogether +there can be no doubt that she was one of the ‘dark ladies’ +to whom Shakespeare and others have attributed so peculiar a +fascination, and for whom Goethe had so marked a preference. +The other feature noted by the Duchess of Orleans was inherited +by all of Elizabeth’s children whose portraits are accessible—notably +by Prince Rupert and the Princesses Elizabeth and Sophia +and her family, including numerous Honthorsts and some +works ascribed, I suppose traditionally, to Louisa Hollandina’s +active brush. More than a quarter of a century has passed +since I had the privilege of paying a visit to Combe Abbey; +but the memory of it has never left me.</p> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span> + <h2 class='c006'>I <br> <br> DESCENT AND PARENTAGE; CHILDHOOD AND GIRLHOOD<br> <br> (LEYDEN, THE HAGUE, AND RHEENEN, 1630-1650)</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c007'>Sophia, the youngest daughter and the youngest +but one of the thirteen children of Frederick, sometime +Elector Palatine and King of Bohemia, and +of his wife Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of King +James I of England, was born at the Hague on +October 14th, 1640 (N.S.). She was thus, by only +a few months, the junior of her first cousin Charles, +afterwards King Charles II, whose ‘star’ was so +long to remain under a cloud in the period of her +youth, and who was himself in those dubious days +to play a transient part in her personal history; +while the date of her birth was preceded, at a not +much longer interval, by that of the landing of +Gustavus Adolphus in Pomerania, the turning-point +of the Thirty Years’ War, although not, as her +family had hoped, also that of their fortunes. Her +baptismal name of Sophia she doubtless owed to +the remembrance of her mother’s youngest sister, +buried in Westminster Abbey in 1607, the ephemeral +<span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>flight of whose earthly existence strangely contrasts +with the long life in store for the younger Sophia.</p> + +<p class='c001'>It was by her marriage to Frederick V, Elector +Palatine, on St. Valentine’s Day, 1613, that James +I’s only surviving daughter Elizabeth was first +brought into contact with the political problems +that were agitating Europe. The bridegroom, it is +true, was only a boy of sixteen, who would not till +August, 1614, be entitled to assume the government +of his paternal inheritance. Elizabeth was only +a year older than he, and her previous life had been +marked by but one personal experience of general +interest. As early as 1603 she was consigned to +the care of Lord and Lady Harington, and with them +she soon took up her residence at Combe Abbey, near +Coventry, in Warwickshire—the lordly castellated +mansion which, whether or not she re-visited its +moated solitude towards the close of her life, still +remains as it were consecrated to her royal memory.<a id='r3'></a><a href='#f3' class='c008'><sup>[3]</sup></a> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>King James, in the early years of his English +reign, had good reason for dreading the designs +of some of his Roman Catholic subjects, and Elizabeth’s +mother, Queen Anne, the sister of Christian +IV of Denmark, had not yet given way to the +influences which (as is now ascertained beyond +all doubt) afterwards caused her to become a secret +convert to the Church of Rome. The sound +Protestantism, of the Puritanising type, but probably +intermingled on both sides with strains of literary +sentiment, that had marked out Lord and Lady +Harington for this charge, was unmistakably the +primary source of those feelings of attachment to +the Reformed religion from which in times both +fierce and fickle Elizabeth never swerved a hair’s +breadth. In her childhood the country round +Combe Abbey was full of more or less open adherents +of the Church of Rome; and by some of these a +conspiracy was hatched, which was to co-operate +with, and supplement, the Gunpowder Plot. On +the day at last fixed for the demonstration in chief +at Westminster, the eight-year-old Princess at Combe +Abbey was to be seized by a body of gentlemen who +had agreed to assemble for the purpose on the pretext +of a meet of hounds, and so soon as the throne +became vacant she was to be proclaimed Queen, +professing herself at the same time a member of the +unreformed Church. But <span lang="la"><i>non tali auxilio</i></span> was this +future ancestress of our sovereigns herself to ascend +<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>a throne. Combe Abbey was warned, the moat was +drawn up, and the towers were manned, and the +Princess was conveyed in safety to the loyal town of +Coventry, where the townsmen armed in her defence. +As fate would have it, John Digby, the young +Warwickshire gentleman who bore to King James I +the tidings of his daughter’s peril and preservation, +was afterwards to be the most prominent agent of +the royal policy which, with admirable intentions, +only served to thwart the English nation’s hope of +helping to restore, at least in part, the fortunes of +Elizabeth and her children.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The political significance of the marriage, which +in 1613 brought the Princess Palatine Elizabeth’s +girlhood to a close, was perfectly patent alike to +James I’s subjects and to those Powers which +more or less benevolently interested themselves in +his foreign policy. In 1612, when the marriage was +arranged, that policy had not yet fully revealed its +visionary purpose and its shifty methods; while at +home his quarrels with his Parliaments had scarcely +more than begun. Three years earlier the affairs of +Europe had, with the death of Henry IV of France, +assumed a wholly new aspect, and it had become +evident that the struggle between the House of Habsburg +and its adversaries, in which James I had long +hoped to play the august part of a pacificator, must +take place under quite new conditions. This aspiration, +together with a pride of descent natural to a +<span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>Stewart and a Scot, had led him to scheme marriages +for his children with half the chief reigning houses +in Europe, including those of France, Spain, and +Sweden (whose youthful King, Gustavus II Adolphus, +was, however, soon put aside as unequal to a +match with a daughter of the House of Stewart). +But when, in 1610, friendly relations, soon to be +sealed by a double marriage, had set in between +the French and Spanish Courts, James I was not +slow in perceiving how this turn of affairs must +affect the political prospects of his own kingdom. +On the outbreak of the European conflict which was +expected on all sides, it would go hard with the +Protestant interest, unless it contrived to consolidate +itself into an alliance capable of confronting the +great Catholic Powers. When, in March, 1611, the +Count of Cartignano arrived in England as a special +ambassador from Duke Charles Emmanuel of +Savoy to negotiate a double marriage between the +Houses of Savoy and England, James, though he +refused to enter into this scheme, seemed willing +to approve of the marriage of his daughter to the +Prince of Piedmont. In November, Cartignano +reappeared with fresh instructions, and at the +audience in which he asked Elizabeth’s hand for the +Prince Sir Henry Wotton, who had had a hand +in the negotiations, was present. But the King +had practically already decided how to dispose of +his daughter’s hand, and the Savoyard returned +<span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>home in dudgeon. The step which was now taken +by James I, and by means of which a Protestant +Succession was ultimately to be secured to the +English throne, was in full accordance with the +identification of England with militant Protestantism, +which had been accomplished as a matter of +fact rather than of deliberate purpose in the great +age of Queen Elizabeth. After, in March, 1612, +concluding an alliance with the Union of German +Protestant Princes, of which the Palatine House +had from the first assumed the leadership, James, +to the delight of the large majority of his subjects, +resolved upon the marriage of his only surviving +daughter to the young ‘Palsgrave,’ as he was called +in England, Frederick V.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The line of the Electors Palatine boasted a high +antiquity and dignity; and though it would take +us too far to account for the claims maintained +by them to the first place among the temporal +Electors, the familiar fact may be recalled that +early in the fourteenth century the Elector Rupert +III, of the older Electoral line of the Wittelsbach +House to which the Simmern line had since succeeded, +had worthily held the high dignity of German +King.<a id='r4'></a><a href='#f4' class='c008'><sup>[4]</sup></a> It is after him that Elizabeth is supposed to +have named her third son, whose name of Prince +<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>Rupert is so familiar to our ears; but she may also +have been aware that an earlier English Princess who +had become Electress Palatine—Blanche, daughter +of King Henry IV and wife of the Elector Palatine +Louis II—had named her son Rupert, and that +during his short life he bore the cognomen ‘England.’ +Though portions of the Palatine territory had from +time to time been split off in accordance with the +German tendency to subdivision which no systematic +effort was made to repress till after the times of the +Thirty Years’ War, the electorate about the time +of the opening of that war extended far on both +banks of the Rhine, being on one side contiguous +with the kingdom of Bohemia. If not equal in size to +any of the other temporal electorates, it was not far +inferior to Saxony, and hardly at all to Brandenburg, +in territorial importance, being largely composed +of districts peerless among the German lands in +beauty and productivity—amidst whose orchards +and vineyards throve a busy and light-hearted +population. The religious sympathies of the electorate +were in so far divided, that the Upper Palatinate +(on the left bank of the Rhine) adhered to +Lutheranism, while the inhabitants of the Lower or +Rhenish were, like the dynasty, Calvinists. The +electoral residence was Heidelberg, whose castle +and its treasures were reckoned among the wonders +of the Western world. To its graceful earlier buildings, +the florid taste of the Elector Frederick IV +<span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>had added the splendid but pretentious structure, +in the artificial style of the latest Renascence, of +which a characteristic remnant is the inner side, +decorated, something after the manner of Alnwick, +with statues of defunct Palsgraves. The outside +commands the wondrous view over the valley of the +Neckar, to which nothing but the genius of a Turner +could have imparted an additional charm. The +choicest possession of the castle was the electoral +Library, the finest collection of books in Germany +and far beyond, thrown open with rare liberality +to the use of all qualified comers. And the pride +of both court and town was the University, now +again, as it had been under the single-minded rule +of the Elector Frederick III, the foremost Calvinist +seminary of higher learning in Europe.</p> + +<p class='c001'>But though the Electoral Palatine House honoured +learning, and, as both the bringing-up of +Frederick V and that bestowed by him on his own +children showed, set a high value upon a many-sided +intellectual as well as upon a careful religious and +moral education, its interests had in the early years +of the seventeenth century become engrossed by +public affairs, and it had acquired a political importance +out of proportion to its territorial power. +Partly by force of circumstances and because of the +situation of the Palatinate, on the confines of France +and on the water-way to the Netherlands, but still +more by their own zeal and ambition, its Princes +<span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>and certain of their statesmen stood in the front +of that active party in the Empire which might +be termed the advanced, or militant, Protestant +Opposition. This party, among whose other members +Landgrave Maurice of Hesse and Count Christian +of Anhalt are pre-eminent, derived its impulse +entirely from Calvinist sources. Palatine blood +had been shed and treasure spent under the Elector +Frederick III and the Administrator John Casimir +on behalf of the Revolt of the Netherlands and the +cause of the French Huguenots; and under his +successor, Frederick IV, these designs had taken a +wider range. He was a man of great intellectual +force; and, more especially in connexion with the +later history of his dynasty, it is interesting to note +that in the later years of his life he was much +occupied with the scheme of a union, on a broad +basis, between all Protestant confessions.<a id='r5'></a><a href='#f5' class='c008'><sup>[5]</sup></a> But +the young Elector Frederick V had probably been +more especially influenced by the pure Calvinism +of his mother the Electress Dowager Louisa Juliana, +the daughter of William the Silent and of Charlotte +de Montpensier, who had taken refuge at the Palatine +Court for the sake of the Religion. Louisa Juliana, +though at the crisis of the Palatine fortunes her +judgment was not obscured by her sympathies, was +one of those women the fervour of whose religious +convictions communicates itself as a legacy of faith +<span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>and love to the minds of their descendants for +generation upon generation.<a id='r6'></a><a href='#f6' class='c008'><sup>[6]</sup></a> Maurice of Hesse-Cassel +also had a Nassau Juliana to wife, so that +the three Houses at the head of the Calvinistic +movement were closely linked together by intermarriage. +In his father’s lifetime, the young +Frederick had been placed at the Court of the +Calvinist Henry Duke of Bouillon, whose second +wife was likewise a daughter of the great William of +Orange, and to Sedan he afterwards returned, with fit +diplomatic and theological counsellors by his side, +for a second sojourn till the year before his marriage. +To these multiplied influences the Princess Elizabeth’s +husband may in part have owed the fortitude +of spirit which, although not naturally a man of strong +character, he exhibited under a long and heavy +pressure of trouble; while to the liberality of his +education may fairly be ascribed something of the +refined and lovable gentleness which he preserved +to the last.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Under the Elector Frederick IV, the first head +of the Union, vast designs had been set on foot +against the Catholicising policy of the House of +Habsburg, and for a dismemberment of its dominions. +In 1612, the hopes of the Palatine House +and its counsellors were already directed towards the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>attainment of the Bohemian Crown; moreover, +as the Spanish ambassador, Don Alonso de Velasca, +informed the Spanish Council early in 1613, +James I was then of opinion that in a few years +Frederick V would be King of Bohemia. Thus, the +expectation of the Bohemian Crown unmistakably +contributed to bring about the marriage which +determined the course of Elizabeth’s life.<a id='r7'></a><a href='#f7' class='c008'><sup>[7]</sup></a> To the +English public, of course, ‘the Palsgrave’ was a +handsome and courtly Prince, the nephew of Maurice +of Orange, heroic father’s heroic son,<a id='r8'></a><a href='#f8' class='c008'><sup>[8]</sup></a> and in their +eyes his union with the Princess Elizabeth promised +to connect the royal family not only with the great +Protestant Houses already mentioned, but with the +Protestant interest at large.<a id='r9'></a><a href='#f9' class='c008'><sup>[9]</sup></a> As a matter of fact, +English royalty was thus to become connected with +the dynasties of Brandenburg, Sweden, and Transylvania.</p> + +<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>The young Elector Frederick V had hardly +presented himself at the English Court, when a deep +shadow passed over the sunny prospect seemingly +opening before Elizabeth, and she and her possible +descendants were suddenly brought nearer to a +Succession undreamt of by her for them. In November, +1612, Henry Prince of Wales, whose heart was +entirely with his sister’s in her Protestant preferences +as in other matters, died suddenly of typhoid fever, +though, in accordance with the evil fashion of the age, +credulous or clamorous Protestants, perhaps not +quite inexcusably, attributed his death to poison. +At the Court of James and Anne, or in its vicinity, +for which the Princess had since 1608 exchanged the +retirement of Combe Abbey, she had continued to +carry on her studies, which were specially directed +to the French and Italian tongues and to the art of +music, while the general guidance of Lord and Lady +Harington still continued to sustain the serious +impulses that contended with the frivolous in her +receptive and responsive nature. As a matter of +course, the brother and sister, who dearly loved one +another, were companions in the elaborate entertainments +that absorbed so large a share of their +royal parents’ attention, and in the field-sports by +which the masques and tilts were diversified, and in +which Elizabeth long retained an eager interest. +There is some evidence that she also shared the +higher aspirations discernible in the many-sided +<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>and ambitious activity of the brother who was taken +so suddenly from her side.<a id='r10'></a><a href='#f10' class='c008'><sup>[10]</sup></a> But youth and the +exigencies of her position exercised their effacing +powers; and thus, within little more than three +months, the brother’s funeral was followed by the +sister’s wedding. Indeed, while the echoes of both +events are loud in the literature of the time, the same +poetic voices occasionally attune themselves in +turn to condolence and to congratulation. But, +though the show was great that carnival week, +and though besides so much of the powder as would +go off for the fireworks, plenty of incense was burnt +on the occasion by Chapman, Beaumont, Thomas +Heywood, Campion,<a id='r11'></a><a href='#f11' class='c008'><sup>[11]</sup></a> Francis Bacon, Taylor the +Water-poet, and the rest, an undertone of doubt +or apprehension was audible among the rejoicings. +The bride laughed too much at the wedding, and +her father yawned too soon in the course of the +ensuing festivities, which he finally felt obliged +<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>to cut short in fear of the bill and of the House of +Commons. And most ill-omened of all was the +fact that among the representatives of foreign +Powers bidden to the solemnity the Spanish ambassador +remained away. Count Gondomar ‘was, +or would be, sick.’</p> + +<p class='c001'>It was not till after Easter that the young Electress +and her husband were allowed to take their +departure from London, nor till the beginning of +June that, after a semi-royal progress from Holland +up the Rhine, they at last set foot in Heidelberg. +The greater part of the Electress’ English suite, +which included Francis Quarles and Nicolas Ferrar, +soon afterwards left her—Lord Harington, by a +pathetic fate, dying on the way at Worms, so that +his wife returned home a widow. Elizabeth’s life in +her new home was for many a day much what it had +latterly been in her old—a round of Court festivities, +banquets, and hunting-expeditions. Nor does she, +after the protracted honeymoon was over, seem to +have ceased to be preoccupied with the trivialities +of her daily life. We may discount the report of a +divine who visited her husband’s Court, that ‘she +is not often heard to speak of God ... she is fond +of grandeur and the precedence of rank.’ And +we may excuse her for not allowing the ascendancy +of the Court-preacher, Abraham Scultetus, to +dominate her thoughts and conduct, in spite of the +potent authority exercised by this divine, afterwards +<span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>one of the most vigorous of the anti-Remonstrants +at Dort (where he had the satisfaction of seeing that +Heidelberg Catechism, which Sophia was so ruefully +to remember as the religious <span lang="la"><i>pabulum</i></span> of her youth, +adopted as the symbol of the Dutch Church). At +Heidelberg she had her own English Chaplain.<a id='r12'></a><a href='#f12' class='c008'><sup>[12]</sup></a> +For the rest, it seems to have been the use of her +horse and gun which, on the occasion of the death +of her firstborn child, assuaged the first sharp +sorrow of her married life. While the high state +kept by King James’ daughter—with her army of +ladies-in-waiting, chamberlains, chaplains, and the +rest—could not fail to heighten the splendour and +swell the outlay of the Palatine Court, her influence +must have helped to soften and refine its tone, +though in neither respect was the ground unprepared. +It may safely be ascribed to Elizabeth and +to her bringing-up that the place of German was +taken by French as the Court tongue at Heidelberg. +Her husband, whose favourite extravagance was +that of building, was much engaged at this time +in perfecting the Castle gardens in the most approved +<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>French style, and in adding a new ‘English wing’ +to the Electoral residence itself. On January 1st, +1617, she gave birth to her eldest son, and half the +Protestant Powers of Europe were represented round +the baptismal font. The fortunes of the family had +sunk low, when, fifteen years later, this Prince—Henry +Frederick—was, in his unhappy father’s sight, +drowned off Haarlem. On December 22nd, 1617, +another son was born to the Electoral couple, Charles +Lewis, afterwards Elector Palatine; and on December +26th, 1618, followed the birth of their eldest +daughter, Elizabeth.</p> + +<p class='c001'>There were, however, certain drawbacks to the +perfect contentment of Elizabeth in the ‘merry’ +Heidelberg days, which readily revealed themselves +to the eye of the sympathising observer. Even at a +distance she dwelt as it were in the shadow of the +paternal throne; and the pride of her father, to +which her own seems to have very readily responded, +obliged her to assert extravagant claims in matters +of precedence. As to these pretensions full information +is furnished by the communicative pen of Sir +Henry Wotton, who in April, 1616, when on his way +to Turin and Venice, spent six days in the Electoral +Court at Heidelberg. He had some public business +of moment to transact with the Elector, to whom he +submitted a plan for a league with Savoy, which +Frederick approved and promised to lay before the +Princes of the Union. But it was his chief duty +<span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>to give some account to the King of the Court of +Heidelberg, and of the treatment there extended +to the King’s daughter in those matters which her +father had so much at heart. Sir Henry Wotton, +whose deep admiration for Elizabeth, expressed +in undying verse, has indissolubly linked his name +with her own, addressed himself to his task with +even more than his usual diligence. He describes +the Electoral Court as one ‘of great sobriety,’ and +very well attended. The Elector he found ‘<span lang="fr"><i>par +boutades</i></span> merry, but for the most part cogitative, +or, as they here call it, melancolique; his chiefest +object was money, and his principal delight architecture.’ +The Electress, although already at that +time ‘the mother of one of the sweetest children,’ +still retained ‘her former virginal verdure in her +complexion and features.’ Very manifestly, though +the ambassador approaches the subject with many +courtly involutions, things had not at first, and +did not even now, run quite smoothly between the +Elector and his consort. At first, some trouble was +caused by the ‘emulation’ of servants—in other +words, rubs between the English and the German +members of the Court; and now there remained +the cardinal difficulty about ‘placing her Highness.’ +The claim which James I had set up before his +daughter’s departure from England, and which +Frederick had then promised to allow, that she +should have precedence in her husband’s and other +<span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>non-royal Courts, had proved one which Frederick +found it impossible in practice to reconcile with +self-respect; and Wotton hardly bettered the +situation by trying to prove too much.<a id='r13'></a><a href='#f13' class='c008'><sup>[13]</sup></a> The problem +was ultimately settled in no very satisfactory +fashion; the Electoral pair decided to pay no further +visits to other Courts; and Louisa Juliana, +the Electress Dowager, whom Elizabeth had expected +to give her the <span lang="fr"><i>pas</i></span>, withdrew for some time +from her son’s Court.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Wotton had judiciously recommended the +Elector to state his case to the King through +a nobleman particularly valued by the Electress—Hans +Meinhard von Schönberg (Schombergh), +Marshal of the Palatinate. Schönberg had, in March, +1615, married Anne Sutton, daughter of Lord +Dudley, a favourite lady-in-waiting of Elizabeth, +with whom she had remained after Lady Harington’s +departure; but she had been taken from +him by death in the following December. Schönberg’s +advice, the Electress informed Wotton, had +been of the utmost value to her, ‘though by divers +provocations and offences, of the greatest part for +her sake, he had been moved and had himself +resolved to be gone.’ (He was now serving as a +colonel under Maurice of Nassau.) She also spoke +with gratitude of the attentions of Frau von Pless +<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>(who had been her husband’s governess), though she +desiderated the company of another English lady +of Anne Sutton’s age. With the services of the +English secretary, Albertus Morton (Wotton’s +nephew), whom her father had sent to her, Elizabeth +was well content.</p> + +<p class='c001'>We must conclude from this report that the +English-born Electress had to bear at Heidelberg +some of the unpopularity incurred by her countrymen +who, in search of amusement or employment, swelled +her Court without being attached to it; and that she +had also to suffer from the consequences of a self-consciousness +fostered by her father. It is further +clear that, in one way or another, she came at this +early period of her career to be oppressed by a +burden of debt which it was not easy, with or without +good advice, to shake off. Perhaps these features +of her life as Electress Palatine should be called to +mind, before the customary version of her conduct +at the crisis of her consort’s destinies and her own +is unhesitatingly followed. In 1619, the great +opportunity for which the Palatine diplomatists had +been so long scheming arrived at last. It has been +seen that the idea of the Bohemian Crown had been +present to them for some time; probably, the first +suggestion of it arose in the course of the negotiations +carried on by the Palatine Government in +1605-7, the chief advocate of the notion being +Lösenius, while it was actively supported by Christian +<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>of Anhalt.<a id='r14'></a><a href='#f14' class='c008'><sup>[14]</sup></a> But, though the chance of carrying +it into execution was now before the Palatines, it +found them and their allies, great and small, unprepared. +They had not succeeded in turning to +account the strong feeling which prevailed in many +quarters against the choice as Emperor of the +Archduke Ferdinand of Styria, the destined head +of the House of Austria, and the formally acknowledged +successor to the Bohemian and Hungarian +thrones. They had dallied with idle thoughts of the +King of France and the Duke of Lorraine, and had +then concentrated their efforts upon the paradoxical +device of securing as a candidate the head of the +Catholic branch of the House of Wittelsbach, Duke +Maximilian of Bavaria, who was also the head of the +Catholic League. But Maximilian, though by the +tradition of his House jealous of Habsburg, better +knew his own mind and his own interests. Thus, +when (in March, 1619) the Emperor Matthias passed +away, the Elector Palatine wasted the little time +remaining in protests; and, when the day of election +arrived (August 28), after some empty words +accepted the predetermined vote in favour of +Ferdinand of Styria. The pupil of the Jesuits was +seated on the Imperial throne; but, on the very +evening when this defeat of the Palatine policy +was proclaimed at Frankfort, the news arrived that +<span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>it had scored a victory at Prague. Here, only a +year previously (1618), the troubles between the +government and the Utraquists had come to an outbreak, +and on the Hradschin had been perpetrated +the <em>defenestration</em> (ejection through the window) +of certain Ministers of the Crown, which it is usual +to regard as the opening of the Thirty Years’ War. +Quite unable to establish his authority in Bohemia, +Ferdinand had been actually menaced in his palace +at Vienna by the Utraquist chiefs, with an army +at their back. And now it was announced that, +after deposing Ferdinand, the Bohemian Estates +had elected Frederick V Elector Palatine King +of Bohemia in his stead.</p> + +<p class='c001'>‘Thou hast it now.’ After a few diplomatic +operations by Achatius von Dohna, the Elector +Palatine had only to stretch his hand from Amberg +across the Bohemian frontier, and a great historic +throne was his,<a id='r15'></a><a href='#f15' class='c008'><sup>[15]</sup></a> with its large territorial dependencies, +and with a second electoral vote ensuring +the majority in the College to the Protestant interest. +He was Calvinist enough in his habits of mind +to be able afterwards to declare conscientiously +that, in accepting this Crown, he obeyed an inner +voice, which he thought spoke the will of God. +And, certainly, there was no pressure of advice to +urge him in this direction. His Council, setting +<span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>forth the <em>pros</em> and <em>cons</em> in the argumentative fashion +of the day, could only find six reasons in favour of +acceptance to balance fourteen against; and the +gist of their opinion was after all that everything +depended on the support the Elector would receive +in a forward policy. But at most of the friendly +Courts opinion was found to be adverse; and while +Maurice of Orange and others eagerly advised +acceptance, Maximilian of Bavaria with honourable +candour raised a clear voice of warning. As for +Frederick’s father-in-law King James, he was not +at present prepared to depart from his masterly +attitude of declining to pronounce against acceptance, +while desiring not to be supposed to have +advised in favour of it. Whether or not a strong +protest from James before Frederick’s formal +acceptance of the Crown might have arrested that +final step, no such protest was made.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Frederick’s mother, Louisa Juliana, though a +woman cast in no ignoble mould, is said to have +burst into tears and fallen ill on hearing of her son’s +election to the Bohemian throne. On the other hand, +it has again and again been asserted, or at least +represented as highly probable, that it was the urgent +representations of the Electress Elizabeth which +determined her consort to cast the die; and everybody +has heard the anecdote of her taunting him +with the avowal that she would rather partake +of sour-krout with a King, than of a joint of roast +<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>meat with an Elector. Elizabeth is unlikely either +to have forgotten herself so far, or to have sought +for any analogy between her own position and that +of the Bohemian Princess who shortly after Wyclif’s +death had mounted the English throne. Moreover, +we have the statement of her grand-daughter, the +free-spoken Duchess of Orleans, that at the time +of the Bohemian offer the Electress knew nothing +at all about the matter, her thoughts being in those +days entirely absorbed by plays, masquerades, and +the reading of romances. No doubt the Duchess, +though deeply attached to her father’s house, is not +to be absolutely trusted in her statements as to all +the members of her father’s family; but her account +of the condition of Elizabeth’s mind at the time when +she was first brought face to face with the chief +problem of her life, harmonises with all we know +as to its previous current. After all, however, the +point is not very material. Even before her husband +had actually decided to become a King, she +stood forth every inch a Queen; nor was it with a +light heart, or in a spirit inflated with vanity or +ambition, that at the last she left the decision in his +hands. She was, in her own words, prepared to bow +to the will of God, and, if need were, to suffer what +He should see fit to ordain. Of her worldly goods +she at the same time declared herself ready to +make any reasonable sacrifice, by pledging her +jewels, or whatever else of value she possessed. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>Early in October (1619) the last bridge had been +burnt.</p> + +<p class='c001'>From this time forward, Elizabeth’s troubles +came thick upon her; and indeed, but for a very imperfect +return of prosperity towards the close of her +life, they may be said never to have ceased again on +earth. When, with Frederick, she quitted the +Palatinate for Bohemia towards the end of October, +they left behind them at Heidelberg, in the care of +the Electress Dowager Louisa Juliana, their two +children Charles Lewis and Elizabeth; but, though +the former was long his mother’s favourite, it was +hardly in her way to be deeply affected by a separation +from her babes. The part which the new +King and Queen were called upon to play during +the twelve-month of their residence at Prague was +from the outset the reverse of easy. The self-conscious +and stiff-necked Bohemian Estates had +not the least intention of being ruled in fact as well +as in name by the sovereign of their making; while +part at least of the population was steeped in ignorance +like the peasants who welcomed his entry +with shouts of <span lang="la">‘Vivat rex <em>Ferdinandus</em>!’</span><a id='r16'></a><a href='#f16' class='c008'><sup>[16]</sup></a> In +Frederick’s mistake of importing and maintaining +among Utraquist (i.e. Lutheran) surroundings, a +rigid and aggressive Calvinism, incarnate in the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>iconoclastic Scultetus, Elizabeth probably had no +share; for, as is worth remembering in connexion +with the rather complicated religious history of her +children, she never became a Calvinist herself or +displayed any liking for Calvinistic ways. She did +her best to gain popularity for herself and her consort, +checking the insolence provoked among her +courtiers by the uncouth manners and customs +of her new subjects, and delighting all and sundry +by pleasant English ‘hand-shakes.’ Now and then, +offence was given by such innovations as the holding +of Court balls on great Church holidays, and by the +fashions of the attire worn on these occasions by the +Queen and her ladies; and more serious umbrage +was taken at the King’s conclusion of an alliance +with the Calvinist Transylvanian, and at the project +of another with the Sultan himself. Finally, +there was the eternal difficulty as to ways and means, +alike in Silesia (where the royal pair had been +received with great rejoicing) and in Bohemia itself. +Among all these agitations Elizabeth’s spirits from +time to time flagged, both before and after the birth +of her third son; for the changeful story of Prince +Rupert’s life began at Prague in December, 1619.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Within less than a year from this date the brief +glories of her Bohemian royalty had ‘turned to +coal.’ In July King James, while sending Sir +Edward Conway and Sir Richard Weston to Prague, +ordered Sir Henry Wotton to repair to Vienna, where, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>if the King of Bohemia consented, he was to propose +the settlement of the difficulty by means of an Imperial +Diet; while to all Princes visited by him on the +way he was to protest his master’s abstinence from +any participation in the election to the Bohemian +Crown. The choice of Wotton for this singularly futile +mission was in itself extraordinarily infelicitous; very +naturally, however, his task impressed itself at once +upon the chosen ambassador’s vivid imagination. +For it was on the eve of his departure for Vienna that +Wotton, ‘being in Greenwitche Parke, made a sonnet +to the Queen of Bohemia,’ of which he sent copies +to Lady Wotton and Lord Zouche, and as to which +Wotton’s latest biographer remarks, with perfect +truth, that ‘such is the magic of art, these verses +have done more than anything else, perhaps, to +make both’ Ambassador and Queen ‘remembered.’<a id='r17'></a><a href='#f17' class='c008'><sup>[17]</sup></a> +Neither the Prague nor the Vienna mission had any +effect whatever; indeed, before Conway and Weston’s +reply reached Wotton, all was over. Early +in September the Leaguers under Maximilian of +Bavaria, the head of the rival Wittelsbach line, had +joined their forces against him, while Spinola’s +Spaniards were approaching the Palatinate. Soon +the enemies of the new Bohemian monarchy had +closed in upon it. The battle of the White Hill was +waged and lost in an hour (November 8th); and, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>though Frederick can hardly be blamed for the actual +loss of the battle, in his accidental absence from +which there was nothing disgraceful,<a id='r18'></a><a href='#f18' class='c008'><sup>[18]</sup></a> he had entirely +failed to take precautions for the event of such a +catastrophe, and lacked the self-confidence which +alone could have made possible further resistance +on the spot. Thus, though he did not at first quite +understand the full significance of his overthrow, +Bohemia had passed for ever out of the weak hands +of the Winter—or Twelfth Night—King. When, +on the evening of the rout, the long stream of +vehicles, headed by Queen Elizabeth’s coach, +ebbed out of Prague, bearing with it whatsoever +was portable of the Protestant interest, no hopes +remained except such as were wholly illusory. +But Elizabeth intended that, even though Bohemia +was lost and the Palatinate, which, as Louisa Juliana +had formerly lamented, had ‘gone into Bohemia,’ +might prove to be lost with it, the drama so swiftly +played out should have no ignoble epilogue. She +had resolved—in her own words—‘not to desert her +husband, and, if he was to perish, to perish by his +side.’ Fate dealt with her after no such sudden +fashion; but she was true to the spirit of her vow.</p> + +<p class='c001'>From Prague Frederick and Elizabeth first +made their way into Silesia, then still a dependency +of Bohemia; but soon Frederick, though, owing +<span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>to Wotton’s protest against the invasion of the +Palatinate, the ban of the Empire did not descend +on him till the following January, had to realise +the position to which he was reduced. He sent on +his wife before him, to seek shelter in the dominions +of his brother-in-law, the Elector George William +of Brandenburg. This Prince, a Calvinist and one +of those who had advised the acceptance of the +Bohemian Crown, was afraid at the same time of the +Swedes and of the Emperor, to whose policy he had +not yet rallied; and in after days the great Elector’s +sister, the brave Duchess Louisa Charlotte of Courland, +recognising in the experiences of her own +married life some analogy to those of her Aunt +Elizabeth’s, recalled as memorable the impunity +with which her father had afforded a passing refuge +to his unfortunate relatives.<a id='r19'></a><a href='#f19' class='c008'><sup>[19]</sup></a> The intimacy between +the two Calvinist Electoral Houses was to +survive backslidings on the part of Brandenburg +in the course of the great War, and was at a later +date to be very notably renewed, in spite of +the perennial jealousy between the two dynasties +and governments, by the marriage of Elizabeth’s +grand-daughter Sophia Charlotte with the future +first Prussian King. But, in these early days, the +welcome extended by the Elector George William to +his fugitive kinsfolk was limited to the coldest +<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>courtesies. At Küstrin, where on Christmas Day, +1620, Elizabeth gave birth to her fifth child, the Prince +Maurice to be known in later life as Rupert’s <span lang="la"><i>fidus +Achates</i></span>, the royal mother and her attendants are +said to have hardly had enough to eat, and, when +in January, 1621, they were joined by her husband +from Breslau, he brought no good tidings with him. +The Union was on the eve of dissolution; an offer +of aid from the Sultan, so at least it was rumoured, +had been refused by Frederick; and the vacillations +of King James were more hopeless than ever. At +Berlin, where the fugitives were received by Frederick’s +sister, the Electress Elizabeth Charlotte, they +were glad to leave behind them the infant Maurice +in the faithful charge of his grandmother Louisa +Juliana, who, with his elder brother and sister +in her care, had taken her departure from Heidelberg +even before the battle of Prague. Her own estates, +together with those of her second son Lewis Philip, +long remained sequestrated; though neither of them +had taken any part in the Bohemian business. +The boys were afterwards removed to Holland; +but the young Princess Elizabeth continued under +her grandmother’s care till her ninth year, chiefly +at Krossen in Silesia. This early training and the +closer connexion into which it brought her with the +Brandenburg Electoral family, were to exercise a +notable influence upon her character and upon her +later personal history.</p> + +<p class='c001'>From Berlin her parents, luckless emigrants, +had still been obliged to move on, Queen Elizabeth +journeying to Wolfenbüttel, the residence of the +elder branch of the House of Brunswick, Frederick +roaming about the Lower Saxon Circle in quest of +military or other aid. Finally, they entered the +Netherlands together by way of the Rhine. Everywhere +in the Low Countries they were warmly +welcomed, not only as kinsfolk of the House of +Orange, but also as fellow-martyrs of those Protestant +refugees to whom, in the Elector Frederick +III’s days, the Palatinate had accorded so hospitable +a reception. On April 14th, 1621, they were +received with the utmost cordiality by the great +Stadholder, Maurice of Orange, in the midst of a +large assemblage of princes, nobles, and foreign +ambassadors; and soon the States-General of the +United Provinces, and the States of Holland and +Friesland in particular, gave substantial expression +to the universal warmth of the public welcome.</p> + +<p class='c001'>But the arm of the young Dutch Republic, though +strenuous, was not long enough to reach effectively +into the heart of the Empire. In the previous +autumn, Frederick Henry of Nassau, the Stadholder’s +brother, had made a show of protecting the +Palatinate with a couple of thousand men, among +whom there was an English contingent; but the effort +had come to nothing. Already in 1620 the greater +part of the Lower Palatinate had been occupied by +<span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>the Spaniards; and in 1621, after Frederick had +been placed under the ban of the Empire and the +execution of the sentence had been entrusted to +the expectant Duke of Bavaria, the inhabitants of the +Upper Palatinate were called upon to forswear their +allegiance. Frederick’s cause was upheld only by +the English volunteers under Sir Horace Vere and by +Mansfeld’s mercenaries. The Union had dissolved +itself in the spring, and after midsummer James, +while still cherishing the hope of bringing to pass +a friendly intervention by Spain, was attempting +through his ambassador Digby to obtain favourable +terms at Vienna. Before the year was out, Maximilian +of Bavaria had, with the aid of Rome, obtained +an imperial promise of the reversion of the forfeited +Electorate; and the future, as well as the present, +seemed wholly dark for the Electoral couple and +their children. Near or far, no ally seemed prepared +to strike a blow in their interests, except that +already, in 1621, the Queen of Hearts—as she came +to be called in the days when she exercised no other +sovereignty<a id='r20'></a><a href='#f20' class='c008'><sup>[20]</sup></a>—had found a true knight neither +anxious, like King James, about probabilities of +failure, nor, like the great <span lang="it"><i>condottiere</i></span> Mansfeld, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>solely intent upon the main chance. This was Duke +Christian of Brunswick, the administrator or (as +an English letter of the time aptly calls him) the +‘temporal bishop’ of the see of Halberstadt.<a id='r21'></a><a href='#f21' class='c008'><sup>[21]</sup></a> +There is no evidence of his having ever met, or so +much as corresponded with, the Queen; but Sir +Thomas Roe distinctly states that it was only for +her sake that he had engaged in the war, and he +made much the same confession himself to his +mother; while the story of his having worn in his +helmet a glove belonging to the Queen, which he +had vowed to restore to her in reconquered Prague, +can be traced back as far as 1646. After losing an +arm, he rode forth in 1624 with a substitute made of +iron. Though a poet’s son, he was as rough a campaigner +as any of the captains of the age; and in +1625 a flagrant act of violence placed him under a +cloud. In the following year a fever ended the +excesses of his military career, his wild defiances +of Spain and the League, and his romantic passion, +which, as we know from a letter written by his +sister, Sophia of Nassau-Dietz, pined almost to the +last for some mark of recognition by its object.<a id='r22'></a><a href='#f22' class='c008'><sup>[22]</sup></a> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>Elizabeth’s power of attracting the sympathy of +soldiers, which had been so conspicuously exhibited +in the case of Christian of Halberstadt, and to which +afterwards Lord Craven’s life-long devotion was to +testify, was further exemplified by the goodwill +shown to her in these times of distress by her martial +kinsmen of the House of Orange. The readiness of +the great captain Maurice of Nassau to further her +interests so far as in him lay was shared by his +younger brother, Prince Frederick Henry, who, +in 1625, succeeded him in the stadholdership, and +between whom and one of Elizabeth’s ladies-in-waiting, +attached to her person since her Heidelberg +days, Maurice a few weeks before his death +arranged a marriage. But the new Princess of +Orange proved to be as proud as the beautiful +Countess Amalia von Solms had been poor; and, +before long, her desire of furthering the interests of +the House into which she had been admitted made +her hostile to those of the family of her former +mistress.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The charm of Elizabeth’s beauty, and the stimulus +of her high spirit, also inspired with a warm +personal concern in her affairs, those of her father’s +numerous diplomatists who were or became known to +her. Sir Henry Wotton seems never to have seen +her again after their ‘merry hour’ of meeting at +Heidelberg; but he remained stedfast in his admiration +for his ‘Royal Mistress,’ and among the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>intimate letters of the days of his retirement at +Eton are those which he addressed to her, then a half-forgotten +exile at the Hague. In his will he left +to the Prince of Wales her picture, with an inscription<a id='r23'></a><a href='#f23' class='c008'><sup>[23]</sup></a> +which reappears, with slight modifications, in two +of his published pieces. Wotton’s successor at +Venice, Sir Dudley Carleton (afterwards Viscount +Dorchester), who had likewise been received by the +Electoral pair at Heidelberg, and who was English +ambassador at the Hague when the fugitives +arrived there, cheerfully gave up his house for their +use; besides judiciously exerting himself in their +interest both in this and in his second embassy to +the United Provinces. Lord Herbert of Cherbury +was warmly thanked by Elizabeth for his exertions +at Paris; and Lord Conway did his best for her +cause with the Emperor at Prague. Lord Doncaster +(afterwards Earl of Carlisle) had, during his futile +mission before the Bohemian crisis, gained her goodwill +in such a degree as to be honoured by her with +the intimate nickname of ‘camel-face’; and it +was through him that his eloquent chaplain Donne +was privileged to ‘deliver <a id='note44.23'></a><a href='#n_44.23'><ins class='correction'>mesages</ins></a>’ to the Queen +when in sore straits. More to the purpose were +the active services of Sir Thomas Roe, the ‘honest +fatt Thom’ of her correspondence; but, although +these had begun before this diplomatist’s return +from Eastern Europe, he does not seem to have come +<span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>into much personal contact with her before +1628.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Only a few brief indications can be given here +of the general course of the exiled family’s fortunes +during the quarter of a century which elapsed, before +a definitive settlement of the Palatinate problem +was at last reached in the Peace of Westphalia. +Negotiations were at first carried on in Sweden, +through Ludwig Camerarius, who from 1623 directed +the diplomacy of the Palatine House, with the +purpose of engaging King Gustavus Adolphus in +offensive operations, in the course of which the +latter intended that Frederick should appear in the +Palatinate at the head of an army; but the perennial +Danish jealousy of Sweden put a stop to the plan. +About the same time (1623-4) the faithful Rusdorf +sought, by negotiations in London, to obtain fair +terms for his master at Vienna, Frederick signifying +his willingness to allow his eldest son (Frederick +Henry) to be educated at Vienna, with a view to +his marriage with an Imperial Princess; but the +overtures came to nothing, as did the specious offers +of the disguised Capuchin della Rota. These latter +proved, in truth, to be mere pretences on the part +of Maximilian of Bavaria, who, in 1624, was received +into the College of Electors in Frederick’s place. +Towards the close of 1623, King James I, who +earlier in the year had broken off negotiations +with Mansfeld and Christian of Halberstadt and +concluded a truce with the Infanta at Brussels, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>which Frederick was obliged to ratify, had at last +been undeceived as to the intentions of Spain. He +saw at last how during the Spanish marriage negotiations +he had been tricked into the false hope +that good terms would be obtained by Spanish +mediation for the Palatines; and, during the last +year of his reign, when war with Spain was becoming +more and more imminent, a treaty promising an +English army for the recovery of the Palatinate +was concluded with Mansfeld, who was for the +moment the lion of London, whither he was soon +followed on a similar errand by Christian of Halberstadt. +Thus, when in March, 1625, James I was +succeeded on the English throne by Charles I, +Elizabeth’s hopes rallied with pathetic buoyancy, +and she cherished the hope that her brother’s +approaching French marriage would further advance +the interests of her family. There can be no doubt +of Charles I’s intention to serve his sister and her +children; and his wishes on this head were shared by +Buckingham. The Duke is even said, when visiting +the Palatine family at Leyden, not long before his +assassination in January, 1629, to have had in his +head a scheme—which, if fate had so willed it, +might have had strange consequences for the +British Succession—of a marriage between his +daughter Lady Mary Villiers and Elizabeth’s +eldest son, Prince Frederick Henry. But, as is well +known, the history of Charles I’s foreign policy +<span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>during the first part of his reign, in which the question +of the recovery of the Palatinate could not possibly +hold the central place as it had in his father’s, +had, as Eliot summed it up in his scathing speech, +been one of constant and utter failure. Afterwards, +of course, the King was so hopelessly at issue with +his Parliament, that all chance of effective intervention +had come to an end. Mansfeld’s army +at first remained inactive in the Low Countries, +where it was not increased, except by fragments +of the levies of Christian of Halberstadt, which a +tempest had scattered at sea. Instead of reinforcing +the mercenary troops, the English expedition +which sailed under Lord Wimbledon in October, +1625, had orders for Cadiz. When, in 1625, Elizabeth’s +uncle, Christian IV of Denmark, at last +took the field as chief of the Lower Saxon Circle, +the death of his namesake soon deprived him of +his best commander; and, in 1626, Mansfeld, after +being defeated by Wallenstein at Dessau, was +‘chased’ by him into Hungary, whence, after +making over his army to Bethlen Gabor, he took his +departure only to die. In August of the same +year, Tilly entirely overcame Christian IV at Lutter, +and the ‘Danish War’ was virtually at an end. +Henceforth, no further intention was entertained +either at Vienna or at Munich of granting any terms +to Frederick, although, on Cardinal Khlesl’s principle +of never either dropping negotiations or +<span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>concluding them, conditions were still offered him. +In return for the restoration of part of his paternal +dominions, he was, while renouncing both the +Bohemian Crown and the Electoral dignity, to pay +the costs of the war, and to consent to bring up his +children as Catholics; but the former condition +he could not, and the latter he would not, accept. +It is said that, at this very time (1627), the unhappy +ex-Elector paid a secret visit to the Palatinate, +whose fate seemed sealed for ever by the +Austro-Bavarian treaty of the following year. The +Spaniards held the left bank of the Rhine and the +Bavarians the right; conversion was forced upon +the inhabitants, who began to emigrate rather than +submit to it; and, when, in June, 1630, Rusdorf +presented a letter from his master at Ratisbon, +where the Bavarian policy was conspicuously to +the front, the Emperor had no answer to return +except a demand of unconditional submission. Had +the Palatine family yielded to this demand, and +accepted the further condition of conversion to the +Church of Rome, they might perhaps have been +allowed some sort of domicile in the Empire. But +they were of a different metal, and held out, though +their prospects had never been gloomier; for, in the +same year, peace was concluded between England +and Spain, and whatever hopes had been placed +upon King Charles’ anti-Spanish policy were thus +brought to nought.</p> + +<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>Yet, soon after these events—in July, 1630—Gustavus +Adolphus landed on the Pomeranian coast, +and in him the Palatine family hoped to find both +an avenger and a deliverer. The Electress Dowager +Louisa Juliana met him at Berlin, and after his +great victory at Breitenfeld he approached the +Palatinate. Before the end of 1631 most of it had +been recaptured and re-Protestantised; and early +in the following year Frederick was on his way +to meet the conquering hero. Frederick’s Dutch +hosts had furnished him forth with great liberality, +and the number of state coaches with which he +arrived at Frankfort, in February, 1632, had been +increased to two score by Gustavus Adolphus +himself, who treated him with great courtesy as +King of Bohemia. But the future of the Palatinate +was left undiscussed between the two Kings; nor +was it till after Gustavus had continued his victorious +progress through Bavaria, that he proposed +a settlement. It showed unmistakably that the +treatment of the Palatinate formed but a subsidiary +part of his great design, and filled Frederick, +who was looking for restoration to his patrimony, +with alarm. For, besides other onerous conditions, +there were imposed on him the admission of Swedish +garrisons to some of his chief towns, the concession +of the supreme military command to Gustavus, +and the grant of equal rights to the Lutherans in +the Calvinistic half of the Palatinate. Hard as +<span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>these terms seemed to Frederick, amicable negotiations +were still in progress between him and the +great Swedish King, when the awful news arrived +of the death of Gustavus on the field of Lützen. +Frederick had a little before this fallen ill of a fever; +but, as if driven by his doom, he once more began to +wander from town to town, till, on November 29th, +1632, thirteen days after the death of Gustavus, he +breathed his last at Mainz. The homeless wanderer’s +heart was buried in the church at Oppenheim, in +his own Palatinate; his corpse was hurriedly borne +hither and thither—being carried off from Frankenthal +by Bernhard of Weimar on his retreat in +1635, to preserve it from desecration—till it was +at last composed in peace within the walls of +Metz.<a id='r24'></a><a href='#f24' class='c008'><sup>[24]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c001'>After Frederick’s death, the regency of the +Palatinate was assumed by his brother Louis +Philip, who was married to a Brandenburg Princess +(Maria Eleonora); but though under his rule +Heidelberg was recovered, and with the aid of foreign +(especially Scottish) beneficence the prosperity of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>the Palatinate began to revive, the fatal day of +Nördlingen (September 6th, 1634) undid all the work +of the previous two years, and the sufferings of the +Palatinate from both ‘friends’ and foes—from +Swedes and Bavarians—began afresh. After the +Peace of Prague, in 1635, the Swedes fell back upon +the Main, and after Heidelberg had been once more +occupied by the Imperialists, the Palatinate remained +for some five years under the government +of the Emperor, which banished all Calvinist and +Lutheran preachers with their families and households, +and in every way promoted the decay of +University and schools. It cannot be said that the +general condition of the population, whose sufferings +were of the most heartrending description, and +productive of that awful brutalisation which is +so characteristic of the later period of the Thirty +Years’ War, was much affected by changes in the +occupation of the country.<a id='r25'></a><a href='#f25' class='c008'><sup>[25]</sup></a> The renewal of warfare +in these parts, in 1640 and again in 1644, brought +in the French and their German allies and the +Bavarians to augment these troubles. It will be +noted below how the dispossessed heir of the Palatinate +bore himself in these evil years, and what +he finally saved for his House out of so pitiful a +wreck. The Bohemian Crown was, of course, a +<span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>thing of the past, though to the end Elizabeth +retained the royal title.<a id='r26'></a><a href='#f26' class='c008'><sup>[26]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c021'>The birth at the Hague, on October 14th, 1630, of +Sophia, the youngest of the children of Frederick and +Elizabeth, had preceded the death of her father by +very little more than two years. Her mother, it +must be remembered, was then still in the full flower +of her womanhood—in the thirty-fifth year of her +age—an eager horsewoman and fond of the pleasures +of the chase; and in mind she remained not less +vigorous than in body, venting her wrath freely on +both enemies and neutrals—on that ‘devil’ the +Emperor and that ‘beast’ the Elector of Saxony, +just as at a later date she had to search in the Book +of <cite>Revelation</cite> for analogues fitly expressing her +sentiments concerning Oliver Cromwell. Yet private +as well as public griefs had helped to sadden +her heart as well as to sober her spirit even before +the death of her husband, whose affection towards +her had remained unchanged, showing itself in little +expressions of care and tenderness such as abound +<span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>in his letters almost to the day of his death. In +1624, they had lost an infant son, Lewis; and, in +January, 1629, their first-born, Frederick Henry, +a boy of fifteen, was (as already noted) drowned off +Haarlem as he was travelling back in the common +passengers’ boat with his father from Amsterdam, +whither Frederick had gone to collect the share of +the profits from a captured Spanish treasure-fleet +assigned to him by Maurice of Nassau. The infant +Princess Charlotte was laid in the grave by her +brother’s side only three days before the christening +of Sophia. But, as there survived five brothers +(to whom a sixth, significantly named Gustavus, +was added two years after Sophia’s birth), the statement +may perhaps be credited with which her +<cite>Memoirs</cite> open, that her arrival in this world caused +no excess of joy to her parents. She relates that her +name—the name which narrowly missed marking +the beginning of a new English dynasty, and which, +in token of its popularity in this country, was +bestowed upon his heroine by the author of one +of the masterpieces of our literature—was drawn +by lot out of several written for the purpose on slips +of paper, because of the small choice of godmothers +remaining in the case of so large a family. Sophia’s +destinies were not encumbered by a second name +like that which her sister Louisa Hollandina bore +in honour of her godfathers; although the States +of Friesland, who undertook the same responsibility +<span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>for the infant Sophia, presented her with a pension +of forty pounds for life and handsome supplementary +gifts. So soon as it was possible to transport her, +she was sent to Leyden by her mother, who preferred +that her children should be brought up at a distance +from herself, ‘since,’ says Sophia, ‘the sight of her +monkeys and dogs was more pleasing to her than +that of ourselves.’ At Leyden, therefore, Sophia +spent her early childhood, chiefly in the company +of her youngest brother Gustavus, who died nine +years after his birth. Her graphic reminiscences +of her tender years chiefly turn on the cumbrous +etiquette (<span lang="fr"><i>tout à fait à l’allemande</i></span>) by which she +was environed, and on the lessons in the Heidelberg +Catechism (which she ‘knew by heart without +understanding it’) imparted by her venerable +governess, Frau von Pless, with the assistance of +her two daughters, ladies of ‘awe-inspiring’ presence, +whose age seemed to the child almost equal +to her own. ‘Their ways were straight in the eyes +of Heaven as before men.’ The good ex-Elector +had been consistently careful as to providing sound +Calvinistic instruction for his children, and Frau von +Pless had been his own instructress in his infancy; +but his English wife, at least during part of her +residence in the Netherlands, continued to employ +the services of a Church of England chaplain. In +general, it is clear that at Leyden, and afterwards +at the Hague, Sophia, while her wits quickly opened +<span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>to the demands of life, passed, like the rest of her +brothers and sisters, through a training which +equipped them more or less efficiently for the +struggle before them. In her case, it must also have +helped to regulate the remarkable intellectual +curiosity with which she was naturally endowed, +and which, though it cannot be shown to have +carried her to great heights or depths of study or +thought, at least enabled her in later life to rise +serene above the troubles and trials of the hour. +The usual training of the Palatine Princes and +Princesses, while including some mathematics, +history, and law, appears to have been based in the +main upon the study of languages, of which most +of them came to have several at command. Their +mother they always addressed in English, but +among themselves they used French, as had been +the custom of their father in his letters to his wife, +and as continued to be the practice of Sophia’s son +and grandson in domestic conversation, even when +they had become British sovereigns.</p> + +<p class='c001'>On Prince Gustavus’ death, in 1641, Sophia, who +was herself suffering from illness, quitted Leyden +for the Hague, bidding farewell to her <span lang="fr"><i>bonnes +vieilles</i></span>, whom she said she had loved from gratitude +and habit, ‘for sympathy rarely exists between old +age and youth’—a maxim to be flatly contradicted +by the experience of her own later years. At the +Hague, where, during the rule of Frederick Henry, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>his consort Amalia strained every nerve to prove the +authority of the House of Orange equal to that of a +royal dynasty, the Queen of Bohemia was beginning +to find some of the conditions of her life oppressive, +and, worst of all, the continuous pressure of debt +unbearable. Already in her husband’s time, the +generosity of Maurice had furnished them with a +pleasant summer retreat at Rheenen, in the wooded +country on the Rhine, not far below Arnhem, described +by Evelyn as ‘a neate palace or country house, built +after the Italian manner, as I remember.’<a id='r27'></a><a href='#f27' class='c008'><sup>[27]</sup></a> But +Sophia, on first arriving at the Hague, found the +change so delightful as to make her think that she +was ‘enjoying the pleasures of Paradise.’ This +early glamour must, however, have soon passed off; +for, though blessed with good spirits even in her +later years, Sophia was without that gift—sometimes +enviable, sometimes dangerous—of seeing +things rather as one wishes them to be than as they +are, which her brother Charles Lewis described +himself as having inherited from their mother. +And it was this mother herself to the flaws in whose +brilliant and in many respects noble personality +<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>Sophia seems to have been from the first unable +to shut her eyes. It cannot have been only her +love of horses and dogs, or her <span lang="fr"><i>penchant</i></span> for what +may be called the pleasures of the toilet which +affected both Sophia and her eldest sister Elizabeth +unsympathetically; there seems to have been in +the Queen a vein of frivolity, inherited perhaps +from her own mother, which estranged from her +these and perhaps some other of her children, +though they could not fail to recognise that her life +was devoted to the interests of her family as a whole. +It must, however, have been to his sister Elizabeth, +and not to Sophia, that their brother Charles Lewis +refers in expressing a hope that their mother may +not find reason ‘to use her with the former coolness.’</p> + +<p class='c001'>Of her eldest brother, Charles Lewis himself, +Sophia can have seen but little in the days of the +family life at the Hague and Rheenen, although she +afterwards grew warmly attached to him and came +to regard him, as she says, in the light of a father +rather than of an elder brother. He was a prince of +remarkable intellectual gifts, which, till on his father’s +death he by his mother’s wish took service under +William II, Prince of Orange, he had cultivated to +so much purpose at the University of Leyden, that +he was afterwards credited with a share in the +writings of Pufendorf, the chief glory of the restored +University of Heidelberg. His disposition resembled +his youngest sister’s in not a few points, as their +<span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>correspondence shows. His nature, like hers, was +at bottom both kindly and humorous, and, while +both had a turn for sarcastic wit, there was, one +must confess, a coarse fibre in both for which the +habits and traditions of Palatinate life are not to be +held altogether responsible. It must have been +because of this natural wit, rather than because +of the avarice born of necessity which Charles Lewis +displayed in later passages of his career, that he +was called <em>Timon</em> by his brothers and sisters, to +whom Shakespeare, with whose plays Charles Lewis +was not unacquainted, is quite as likely as Lucian +to have suggested the nickname. He was through +life a friend of English literature, and, so late as 1674, +John Philpot’s edition of Camden’s <cite>Remains</cite> was +dedicated to him. There is evidence of his having +had other literary tastes—among the nicknames +which he gave to his eldest son by Louisa von +Degenfeld were those of ‘Pantagruel’ and ‘Lancelot +du Lac.’ But his favourite book was the Bible +(‘<span lang="de"><i>meinliebotes Evangelium</i></span>’). At the same time he +was, like his sister Sophia, free-spoken on all subjects; +though, on occasion, as is not wonderful when +his experiences are remembered, a pathos welled up +in him which she, not so much from cynicism +as from habitual self-control, steadily repressed.<a id='r28'></a><a href='#f28' class='c008'><sup>[28]</sup></a> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>Nor was he free-spoken only; he might be called +a free-thinker but for that aforesaid love of the +Bible which, together with a double share of his +intellectual alertness, he bequeathed to his daughter +Elizabeth Charlotte, Duchess of Orleans.</p> + +<p class='c001'>After his father’s death, Charles Lewis had been +acknowledged as Elector Palatine by King Charles +I and some of the German Protestant Princes; +and his mother, though he was and always remained +the darling of her heart, would have urged him to +assume his place in the Palatinate, had not the +battle of Nördlingen placed any such attempt out of +the question. Charles Lewis and his brother Rupert +were accordingly sent to England (1635). Here +for two or three years they led a life of gaiety and +dissipation; but they could hardly, in any case, have +effected anything to the purpose, even had the young +‘Elector’ devised some more practical scheme than +that of asking the hand of the young Queen Christina +of Sweden. After their return to Holland, however, +the two Princes were, in 1638, stirred to a more +vigorous activity on their own account. They began +badly by the loss of all their stores at Meppen +in Frisia; but they, notwithstanding, resolved to +make an armed attempt upon the Palatinate, of +which the cost was defrayed by Lord Craven, who +himself held a command in it. They were supported +<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>by a Swedish force under Major-General King (the +Lord Eythin of Marston Moor); but, after siege had +been laid to Lemgo, the gallant raid came to an +unfortunate end at Vlotho on the Weser, both +Rupert and Craven remaining behind in captivity. +Hereupon, Charles Lewis, in 1639, once more set forth +from Holland with the design of placing himself at +the head of the army left without a leader by the +death of Duke Bernhard of Weimar; but Cardinal +Richelieu, whose schemes the success of the adventure +would have thwarted, gave it an unexpected turn by +causing Charles Lewis to be arrested and detaining +him, for the most part in prison, during several +months. In 1640, he used the freedom which he +had regained for new efforts, first in Denmark, and +then at the Diet of Ratisbon, upon whose walls +Swedish guns were playing. Once more, there was +much excitement in the ‘Palsgrave’s’ favour in +both England and Scotland—it was in fact the last +occasion on which King and Parliament might have +united in a policy approved by the nation at large; +and when, in 1642, the Emperor Ferdinand III +propounded a settlement which would, on stringent +terms, have restored a portion of the Palatinate, +the English ambassador (Sir Thomas Roe) joined +the agents of Charles Lewis in protesting against +its inadequacy. The horrors of war were renewed +in the exhausted Palatinate, and Charles Lewis once +<span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>more betook himself to England (1644), where he +presented a memorandum to Parliament, which +allowed him £30 a day for his stay in London, but +limited it in the first instance to a fortnight. Early +in this year, Louisa Juliana had died, and it almost +seemed as if the hopes of her descendants were to be +buried with her; for, though a dim prospect of a +general peace was opening, there seemed little hope +that, in the conflict between the great Crowns, +thought would be taken of the Palatinate. In +England, the Civil War had been for nearly two +years in progress; both Rupert and Maurice had, +to their brother’s actual or pretended displeasure, +taken service under the King; and it is hardly +possible that, at such a time, Charles Lewis could +have reckoned on obtaining military or pecuniary +support for his schemes for the recovery of his +patrimony. He has, accordingly, been supposed to +have harboured deeper designs, and these have been +connected with Sir Harry Vane’s proposal, rather +earlier in the year, of dethroning King Charles I. +But whether or not the idea of supplanting his uncle +had entered into Charles Lewis’ mind—and Sophia’s +mention in her <cite>Memoirs</cite> of Vane’s previous visit to +the Hague lends some colour to the conjecture +(she calls him Vain and speaks of him and his large +chin without seriousness)—it is certain that the +Prince was well received by the Parliamentary +<span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>leaders.<a id='r29'></a><a href='#f29' class='c008'><sup>[29]</sup></a> In return for his supposed goodwill to +their cause, to which he is stated to have testified +even by taking the Covenant and sitting in the +Assembly of Divines at Westminster, he was granted +an annual allowance of £8,000 and assigned the +Deanery at Windsor as a residence, where he thought +it most prudent for the time to give himself up to his +scientific studies.<a id='r30'></a><a href='#f30' class='c008'><sup>[30]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c001'>The career of Prince Rupert, whose personal +attractions had eclipsed those of his elder brother +during their former joint visit to England, was +widely to diverge from Charles Lewis’, now that +they both found themselves once more in the land +of their maternal ancestry. In those earlier days, +Sir Thomas Roe had informed Elizabeth how the +King took pleasure in the sprightliness of her second +son, from whom, in her fondness for his senior, she +had expected so little; and Charles Lewis himself +reported to his mother his dismay that <span lang="fr"><i>Rupert le +Diable</i></span> was always in the company of Queen Henrietta +Maria, her ladies, and the Papists. At the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>same time, Prince Rupert was understood to be +engaged in discussing with his uncle the King wild +schemes for the foundation of a colony in Madagascar. +The Princes were recalled home; the +Madagascar scheme collapsed; and Rupert’s Protestantism +henceforth stood firm. It has been +already seen how he was taken prisoner in the fight +at Vlotho (1638). The offer of Lord Craven, who +had paid £20,000 for his own ransom, to increase +this sum, were he allowed to share Prince Rupert’s +captivity, was refused, and the Prince was lodged +in captivity at Linz under the care of Count Kufstein. +He came forth from it, having resisted all +attempts to lure him from his religious belief and +into the Emperor’s service; neither, however, was +he inclined to avail himself of the prospects of a +wealthy Huguenot marriage held out to him in Paris. +With his faithful brother Maurice, he hereupon betook +himself to England, where they devoted themselves +to the cause of the King in his struggle against +Parliament, and became the very types and exemplars +of the Cavaliers. Across the seas, in New +England, the good old Puritan minister Nathaniel +Ward, who had held Rupert in his arms as a child, +‘when, if I mistake not, he promised to be a good +Prince,’ prayed that even now he might be turned +into ‘a right Roundhead, a wise-hearted Palatine, a +thankful man to the English,’ and that his soul might +be saved, ‘notwithstanding all his God-damn-me’s.’ +<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>But the ordinary picture of Prince Rupert as +general of the horse, impetuous even to foolhardiness, +and as a passionate partisan who could +not restrain his vehemence even in the presence of +the King himself, conveys no complete view either +of his services in the Civil War, or of his character. +As to the former, neither the calamity of Marston +Moor, for which he was not responsible, as he +certainly was for that of Naseby, nor perhaps even +the surrender of Bristol, should have been allowed +to obscure their lustre. As to his character, he +was not less humane than resolute, and self-reliance +was combined in him with the nobler kind of self-respect. +His intellectual curiosity was a genuine +family characteristic, though it happened in him +to take a peculiar turn towards applied science and +the technicalities of art.<a id='r31'></a><a href='#f31' class='c008'><sup>[31]</sup></a> After the fall of Oxford, +in 1646, the Princes Rupert and Maurice left England, +the former to hold a command in France; +but, in the year before the execution of King Charles, +he once more came forward to serve the sinking +cause of the English monarchy, and took charge +of the royal fleet. Maurice was, of course, once +more found by his side, and, after the King’s death, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>they engaged in those remote maritime adventures +in the course of which the younger brother met his +death. Rupert’s earlier naval—or buccaneering—career +continued till 1653, when he returned to +France, creating a considerable sensation by his +entry into Paris ‘like an old Spanish <span lang="es"><i>conquistador</i></span>, +with Indians, apes and parrots.’<a id='r32'></a><a href='#f32' class='c008'><sup>[32]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c001'>Sophia’s third brother Maurice was, as has been +seen, an all but inseparable follower of his elder Rupert, +whose equal he can have been neither in military +genius nor in general intellectual ability and personal +charm—‘he never,’ says Clarendon, who resented +the pride of the Palatines, ‘sacrificed to the Graces, +nor conversed amongst men of quality, but had +most used the company of ordinary and inferior +men, with whom he loved to be very familiar.’ +Sophia writes to him as to one little interested in +intrigues of State, and his preference through life +seems to have been for the camp rather than the +Court.<a id='r33'></a><a href='#f33' class='c008'><sup>[33]</sup></a> But, whatever other abatement should be +made from the censures with which, like the brother +of his heart, he was visited by both Puritan animosity +<span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>and Royalist spite, he most certainly possessed +in a rare degree the soldier’s cardinal virtue of +fidelity. Thus we may fain hope that, in accordance +with the most trustworthy account, his fate overtook +him, whelmed beneath the deep gulf of the +Atlantic, and that he was not, as a different tradition +would have it, carried off by corsairs to Algiers, +there to linger out a forgotten existence.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The sixth and seventh brothers, Edward and +Philip, had been brought up in common; but in +their later lives they were much divided. About 1637, +they had, with their brother Maurice, been sent +to school in Paris, whither, as has been seen, the +Palatine family long looked for political succour; +and here they remained after Maurice had taken +his departure, with a view to beginning his military +career. In 1645 the elder of the pair took a step +which estranged him not only from his brother +Philip, but from the whole of the Palatine family, and +which, together with a similar proceeding at a later +date on the part of Princess Louisa Hollandina, stands +in direct contrast to the general tenour of the family +history. Anne of Gonzaga, second daughter of the +Duke Charles of Gonzaga-Nevers, afterwards Duke +of Mantua, was already a celebrity in French society, +when, her amour with Henry of Guise having come +to an end which wounded her self-esteem, she in +1645 secretly gave her hand to the Prince Palatine +Edward, and henceforth became the ‘<span lang="fr"><i>Princesse +<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>Palatine</i></span>,’ under which name she plays a conspicuous +part in the literature of contemporary French +memoirs. We have, however, no concern here with +her share in public affairs at a rather later time, +when (in 1650) she effected a union between the two +branches of the Fronde and thus drove Mazarin +into temporary exile, and when, after being herself +persuaded by the Cardinal to ‘rally’ to Anne of +Austria, she (in 1651-2) succeeded in bringing +over to the same side the Duke of Bouillon and the +great general Turenne.<a id='r34'></a><a href='#f34' class='c008'><sup>[34]</sup></a> Mazarin, when indicating the +price (a great Court office) at which her support might +be gained, described her as a <span lang="fr"><i>femme intéressée</i></span>; +but, as M. Chéruel observes, it was not this aspect +of her character which was in the mind of Bossuet +when, in a funeral discourse, he dwelt on her great +qualities of head and heart. In an age of confessional +propaganda she was a great proselytiser in +high places; and it was a signal instance of her +activity in this direction, that she should have +exacted Prince Edward’s conversion to the Church +of Rome as the condition of her acceptance of his +hand. For she thus secured to herself a claim for +direct interference in the affairs of the Palatine +House, which still possessed a certain importance +and might again acquire a greater. Her foresight +<span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>was justified; for, in course of time, there can be +no doubt that she contrived to have a hand in the +conversion of Princess Louisa Hollandina, as +well as in yet another conversion, which made it +possible for Charles Lewis’ daughter Elizabeth +Charlotte to become the wife of Louis XIV’s +brother, Philip Duke of Orleans. Although the new +Princess Palatine had retained her share of the wealth +of the Gonzaga, notwithstanding the efforts of her +father to accumulate the whole for bestowal on his +eldest daughter Marie, who in this same year 1645 +became Queen of Poland, the agitation of Edward’s +mother at the news of his change of religion was +extreme, and was shared by most of her children. +Charles Lewis besought his mother ‘with her +blessings to lay her curse’ upon Prince Philip, who +was about to quit Paris for the Netherlands, should +he too ‘change the religion he had been bred in.’ +As for Prince Edward, his fortunes were henceforth +more or less severed from those of the family, +though we find him, in 1651, at the Hague, as he +passed the ambassadors of the English Commonwealth +in the streets, calling them ‘rogues’ to their +faces, and thus doing his best to embroil the United +Provinces with the enemies of the House of Stewart.<a id='r35'></a><a href='#f35' class='c008'><sup>[35]</sup></a> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>With Edward’s daughter, Benedicta Henrietta, +born in 1652, we shall meet again as the wife of +John Frederick, Duke of Hanover, Sophia’s brother-in-law. +In her the Palatine type, of which Sophia +herself and her niece Elizabeth Charlotte were such +striking examples, was well-nigh effaced; but it +will not be overlooked that by descent she stood +nearer to the English Succession than her father’s +youngest sister.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Of Prince Philip’s fateful conduct at the Hague +immediately. While, before his return to her mother’s +little Court, Sophia had necessarily seen little of him +or of her brothers there or at Rheenen, she was, as a +matter of course, much thrown into the society of +her three sisters. At first, as she tells us, she was +by no means troubled to find them handsomer and +more accomplished than herself, and admired by +everybody; and she was perfectly contented that +her juvenile gaiety and <span lang="fr"><i>railleries</i></span> should help to amuse +them. ‘Even the Queen took pleasure in my fun’; +for she was gratified to see the child tormented, so +that her wits might be sharpened by the process of +being put on her defence. It became the established +practice for her to ‘rally’ any and everybody; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>the clever people were delighted by it, and the +others were made afraid of her. Gradually, however, +Sophia’s quick ears heard the ‘milords’ at her +mother’s Court say to one another that, when she +had finished growing, she would surpass all her +sisters. And the remark inspired her with an affection +for the whole English nation; ‘so greatly is one +pleased, when young, to be thought good-looking.’</p> + +<p class='c001'>Elizabeth, the eldest of the Palatine Princesses, +though by no means indifferent to the family interests, +or without sympathy at any time of her life +with the troubles either of her father’s or her +mother’s House, was of an introspective turn of +mind, grave and thoughtful, and little inclined by +nature to the levity inborn in most of her brothers +and sisters. Both as imbued with the Calvinism in +which she had been so carefully nurtured by her +grandmother amidst the congenial Brandenburg +surroundings, and perhaps also because, though an +accomplished linguist, she alone of the sisterhood +had no occasion to learn to speak Dutch, she already +as a girl fell into a way of leading much of her life +to herself. At the same time, she was always interested +in public affairs, and more especially in +marriage projects, which in those times formed an +important part in politics; and it is noticeable +that she continued fond of match-making even after +she had herself settled down to a single life. Among +the suitors for her hand was the young King Wladislaw +<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>IV of Poland, a tolerant and liberal-minded +Prince.<a id='r36'></a><a href='#f36' class='c008'><sup>[36]</sup></a> But the marriage fell through, because +the Diet would not hear of their King marrying an +‘English’ Protestant; and Elizabeth, of whose +noble character perfect veracity formed one of the +noblest traits, refused in her turn to listen to a +diplomatic suggestion that she should become a +convert to Rome. In January, 1639, there was a +notion of making a match between her and Bernhard +of Weimar. We are not told that the Electoral +Prince Frederick William of Brandenburg—afterwards +known as the Great Elector—between whom +and Princess Louisa Hollandina a marriage was +at one time projected, had ever thought of asking +the hand of <a id='corr71.15'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='his'>her</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_71.15'><ins class='correction' title='his'>her</ins></a></span> elder sister. But he may have +met Elizabeth in 1638 at Königsberg, when, after +the Peace of Prague, George William was induced by +troubles in his Margravate to send his whole family +into Prussia, whither some of their Palatine kinsfolk +also came; and he was in these years much at +Rheenen, where he cannot but have been attracted +by the Princess Elizabeth, whose unflinching Protestant +sentiment resembled his own, which formed a +constant factor in his shifting system of policy. She +was afterwards a visitor to Berlin, where, in 1646, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>Princess Louisa Henrietta of Orange, whose spirit +was akin to hers, held her entry as Electress, and at +Krossen, where the Dowager Electress (Frederick V’s +sister) kept a Court of her own, and where Elizabeth +is said to have specially interested herself in +the instruction of the Elector Frederick William’s +sister Hedwig Sophia, afterwards Landgravine of +Hesse-Cassel. We shall see in what fashion the +Great Elector ultimately succeeded in providing for +the peace and comfort of his kinswoman. Before +this time, owing chiefly to her friendship with Descartes, +by which she is probably now chiefly remembered, +Elizabeth’s mental horizon had unmistakably +widened; and, though she retained to the last a +sincere piety and (a trace or so of pride of birth +apart) a touching modesty of spirit, her growing +familiarity with broader philosophical principles +gradually freed her from some of the narrowing +influences of Calvinism. Descartes’ intimacy with +the Princess Palatine, against whose family he had, +curiously enough, in former days borne arms in +Bohemia, was during her absence from the Hague +maintained by an exchange of letters between them, +of which the artless Sophia contrived the conveyance.<a id='r37'></a><a href='#f37' class='c008'><sup>[37]</sup></a> +Although the relations between the great +<span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>thinker and his matchless pupil were not in the +least of a kind to suggest clandestine methods, +Elizabeth was not, like Queen Christina, independent +of control; and Sophia’s services in screening the +correspondence from her mother’s unsympathetic +notice, while they earned her the gratitude of the +first philosopher with whom she was brought into +personal relations, show that, notwithstanding her +raillery and ridicule of her eldest sister’s moments +of distraction, kindly feelings prevailed between +them. Elizabeth’s refined beauty, though it was +hardly in reference to this that her sisters nicknamed +her <span lang="fr"><i>la Grecque</i></span>, is described by Sophia in her <span lang="fr"><i>Memoirs</i></span> +very vividly, but not without an admixture of spite.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The second of the sisterhood, Louisa Hollandina, +is stated by Sophia not to have been so beautiful +in the days of the Hague and Rheenen as Elizabeth, +but, as it seemed to the young critic, of a more +pleasing disposition. ‘She applied herself entirely +to painting, and her love of this art was so strong, +that she made likenesses of people without having +ever cast her eyes upon them.’ This master-passion +possessed her to the last, although, perhaps, it was +only when Honthorst touched up her pictures that +they did full justice to his teaching. Some of her +<span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>handiwork is to be found in the galleries containing +portraits of her family; an Annunciation was painted +by her at the age of seventy-three, and several other +pictures from her hands were bestowed by her upon +the parish churches in the vicinity of Maubuisson +during the period of her rule there as an Abbess. +In her younger days, as we learn from the observant +Sophia, Louisa Hollandina, while intent upon painting +the portraits of her friends and acquaintances, was +too neglectful of her own personal appearance. +On the other hand, it seems wholly unjust to +infer from the ripple of unaffected gaiety which +overspread the calm of her maturer years, that +her nature was essentially frivolous. While her +life, as we shall see, was one of piety and unselfishness, +we may conclude her to have possessed +in her youth what she preserved in her old age—much +of her youngest sister’s intellectual alertness +and vivacity, and perhaps also something of her +humorous turn of mind, without attaining to the +depth of thought, any more than she had passed +through the intellectual training, that distinguished +their elder, Elizabeth.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Of Sophia’s third sister, the Princess Henrietta +Maria (so named after Charles I’s charming but ill-starred +Queen), a portrait is drawn in the <span lang="fr"><cite>Memoirs</cite></span> +hardly less attractive than that which pictures her +on canvas. But of the younger Henrietta Maria’s +disposition and character nothing is recorded, except +<span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>that she cared only for needlework and preserves, +by which latter taste of her sister’s Sophia declares +herself to have been the principal gainer. She +must, however, have had her share of the delightful +vivacity which marked her sisters Louisa Hollandina +and Sophia—for the Queen of Bohemia was afterwards +vividly reminded of her ways by the irresistible +<span lang="fr"><i>espièglerie</i></span> of the little Elizabeth Charlotte. Largely +through the match-making activity and Protestant +sympathies of her sister Elizabeth, a marriage was, +in 1651, brought about between Henrietta Maria +and Prince Sigismund, a younger son of Prince +George I of Transylvania, who had died in 1648, +after carrying his throne and country safe through +eighteen years of peril, first as the ally of Sweden and +France, and then under Turkish pressure in friendly +relations with Austria. But she died a few months +after her outlandish marriage, and was soon followed +to the grave by her husband, who did not live to +witness the troubles which in the end overwhelmed +his brother, the reigning Prince George II.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Such were the brothers and sisters who were the +objects of Sophia’s unstinted affection in the youthful +years of which she has drawn so pleasant a +picture and which to her were beyond all doubt +the happiest of her life. Nor has she refrained from +drawing her own portrait as a young girl, with light-brown +hair naturally falling into curls, of gay +and unembarrassed manners, of a well-shaped but +<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>not very tall figure, and with the bearing of a +princess. Like most of her family, and especially +like her favourite brother Charles Lewis, whom their +mother the Queen had been wont to call her ‘little +black baby,’ she had the complexion of a <span lang="fr"><i>brunette</i></span>. +Even more than by their royal mien and handsome +features, these Palatines were distinguished among +other men and women by the <span lang="la"><i>vis vivida</i></span> with which +they were hereditarily endowed. Although, however, +to their mother display was second nature, and +although during her residence in the United Provinces +she was in the long run most fortunate in the +bounty, interested or other, of her hosts, yet the +time came when she could not keep more than the +ghost of a Court, and as a matter of fact frequently +found herself in sore straits. In 1645 one of her +sons describes her Court as worried by rats and +mice, but most of all by creditors. And Sophia, who +was still young enough to find even financial difficulties +good fun, writes that her mother’s banquets +were more sumptuous than Cleopatra’s, since in +order to provide them she had sacrificed not only +pearls but diamonds. Yet even the poorest of +royal exiles are rarely left without hangers-on, +moved by the remembrance of past kindness or by +the expectation of favours to come; and such +Court followers as ‘Tom Killigrew,’<a id='r38'></a><a href='#f38' class='c008'><sup>[38]</sup></a> ‘the elder,’ as +<span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>he is usually called, and the ‘reverent Dick Harding,’ +of whom she often makes humorous mention in her +letters, appear to have clung to the Queen’s skirts till +the end of her exile was at hand. But she and her +family had other friends, or at least one other friend, +Lord Craven, whose attachment and devotion were of +the sort that gives rather than takes, so much so that +one can hardly imagine how but for him she would +have tided over her troubles. Of little body, but +with a soul full of generosity, he had gone forth in +1631 to serve under the Swedish deliverer; and +very soon he had begun to identify himself with the +cause of Elizabeth, and to lay at her feet what he +had saved of the great fortune bequeathed to him +by his father, the Lord Mayor of London.<a id='r39'></a><a href='#f39' class='c008'><sup>[39]</sup></a> It has +been seen how his sword had been drawn and his +treasure spent in the futile raid upon the Palatinate; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>and now he was back at the Hague paying the homage +of his service to the unfortunate Queen. But Lord +Craven, though at the time little more than forty +years of age and destined to outlive by some thirty-five +the loved Queen of whom an unauthenticated +tradition persists in asserting him to have finally +become the clandestine husband, seemed to Sophia’s +disrespectful young eyes merely a kind old gentleman +with a purse full of money, and with a quantity of +little trinkets to bestow upon the young folk. She +appears not to have thought him quite so brilliant +a member of society as it was his wish to be, although +among other things which she heard him say purely +for the sake of effect was the assertion that, when he +chose, it was in his power to think of nothing at all. +Perhaps she shrewdly suspected the <span lang="fr"><i>vieux milord</i></span>, +as she calls him, of a tender sentiment for her mother; +perhaps she could not help looking down upon him +as, with all his munificence, a new man; for the +Palatines were as proud as they were poor.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Of their pride—or at least of that of some of the +members of the family—a lurid illustration is to be +found in an episode of the year 1646 which, tragical +in its results, went far towards creating a permanent +breach between the Queen of Bohemia and some +of her children. Colonel de L’Épinay, formerly a +favourite of the Duke of Orleans, had brought with +him from France to the Hague the reputation of an +<span lang="fr"><i>homme à bonnes fortunes</i></span> or lady-killer, something +<span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>in the style of the Königsmarck to be mentioned +on a later page of this biography. He had gained +a footing at the Queen of Bohemia’s Court, where +probably no very rigorous rules were observed as to +affairs of gallantry; and here rumour was once more +busy with his supposed triumphs. The Queen of +Bohemia herself was said—it does not appear on +what authority, but the laws of evidence are not +much studied in schools for scandal—to have +looked on him with favour. Her daughter Louisa +Hollandina was, so far as we know, only connected +with de L’Épinay through the malicious pen of +Madame de Longueville, who, on her return from +a visit to Holland, declared that, after casting eyes +on the Princess, she no longer thought that anyone +would envy him his crown of martyrdom. In any +case, the pride of Prince Philip, who may have +known something in France about the earlier adventures +of this squire of dames, had taken umbrage +at his actual or rumoured proceedings at the Hague. +A quarrel ensued between the Prince and de L’Épinay; +of which the end was that one evening in June, +Prince Philip, returning home late with a single companion, +was assaulted by two Frenchmen, and that, +while defending himself against them, he recognised +de L’Épinay as one of his assailants, and called out +his name. De L’Épinay took to flight; but meeting +him on the following day in the market-place, Philip +rushed upon him and engaged him in a hand-to-hand +<span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>struggle. In this de L’Épinay lost his life. The +deed, possibly for more reasons than one, roused +the anger of the Queen of Bohemia against her son +Philip; he fled from Holland, and, though Charles +Lewis pleaded for him with his mother, she never +seems to have been reconciled to him. He was one +of the most luckless of the brotherhood. On his +leaving Paris, his eldest brother had sought to obtain +employment for him under the English Parliament; +but the attempt, doubtless made with the view of +strengthening Charles Lewis’ own interest in that +quarter, proved futile, and the unfortunate Philip +was left to his own devices. In 1649, we find him +in the company of Charles Lewis (who seems to have +had a special kindness for him), on the occasion of +the entry of the Elector into the capital town of his +diminished patrimony. Philip met with his death +in the battle of Rethel in 1650, fighting among the +French royalists against Turenne and the Spaniards. +On the occasion of the killing of de L’Épinay the +Princess Elizabeth appears to have taken her +brother Philip’s side; indeed, according to one +version of the matter, it was she who had instigated +him to commit the fatal deed. In any case, she in +1646 absented herself from her mother’s Court +and the Low Countries for more than a year; +and, though she seems afterwards to have returned +thither for a time and certainly to have been +again on good terms with the Queen, her life was +<span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>henceforth generally led apart from her mother. +No deeper sympathy can at any time have +existed between them. Princess Louisa Hollandina +remained at her mother’s Court for eleven years +after the de L’Épinay affair, leading, it is stated, an +exemplary life, and gradually falling more and more +under the dominion of religious ideas very far +removed from the sphere of those which came home +to her sister Elizabeth.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Not very long after Sophia’s introduction to her +mother’s Court a succession of English visitors were +attracted to it, whom the troubles that had broken +out on this side of the sea had driven across.<a id='r40'></a><a href='#f40' class='c008'><sup>[40]</sup></a> In +1642 came Queen Henrietta Maria, to ask assistance +from the States-General for King Charles I, and +bringing with her the Princess Royal, Mary, the +youthful wife of the heir of the House of Orange, +upon whom was afterwards to be thrust so important +a part in the affairs of her adopted country. +By discovering in Sophia a slight resemblance to her +own daughter, Madame, Henrietta Maria gratified the +authoress of the <span lang="fr"><cite>Memoirs</cite></span> so sincerely as to induce +her to revise her first criticism of the little Queen of +England’s charms. More direct compliments were +before long paid to Sophia by some of the English +<span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>lords and gentlemen; and, as time went on, the +English residents at the Hague began to speculate +very eagerly upon her chances of securing the hand +of no less a personage than her cousin the Prince of +Wales, who at the time of his father’s confinement +in the Isle of Wight (which she spells <i>Weit</i>) was +about to seek a refuge in Holland. But this scheme, +or rumour of a scheme, was strongly resented by +the Princess of Orange (Amalia von Solms), whose +soaring ambition was intent upon gaining the valuable +but not very easily negotiable prize for one of +her own daughters. While to Mary, the future +Princess of Orange, the Queen of Bohemia’s heart +seems to have opened with a warmth of feeling +which she was not in the habit of manifesting towards +her own daughters, a very different sentiment had +come to animate her towards Prince Frederick +Henry’s consort. Upon the favour of her former +dependant, who aspired to be in everything but +name a Queen, Elizabeth now herself in a sense +depended. We cannot, therefore, place implicit +trust in the account of the intrigue the <span lang="fr"><cite>Memoirs</cite></span> +state to have been set on foot by Amalia. If the +back-stairs information received by Sophia was +correct, the Princess of Orange sought to ruin her +young kinswoman’s reputation by causing an unmarried +son of her own to compromise her by his +advances. Though this trick fell through, yet, +when the Prince of Wales had reached the Hague +<span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>in 1648, it soon became evident to the Queen of +Bohemia and her daughter that there would not +and could not for the present be on his part any +question of marriage.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Charles remained in Holland after to him, in his +turn, a barren royal title had accrued. When the +terrible news of the execution of King Charles I +arrived in Holland, it came home with the utmost +poignancy to his sister and her family. The younger +Elizabeth in particular was almost overwhelmed, +physically and mentally, by the catastrophe; and +for once the philosophical reflexions of Descartes, +which certainly fell short of the occasion, afforded +her little or no comfort. The time had of course +long passed when any service could be rendered to +the Palatine family by the King to whose good +offices it had of old looked forward so hopefully; and, +in this very year 1648, after two years of weary +negotiations, which had almost taken the heart out of +the efforts of Charles Lewis and his agents, the Peace +of Westphalia had at last restored to him part of his +patrimony, with the dignity of Elector. The Lower +Palatinate with the fair town of Heidelberg was +his once more; but the Upper remained with +Bavaria, whose Duke retained the first temporal +Electorate, while to the Elector Palatine fell only a +newly created eighth. Alike for the Palatine House, +and for the Electorate recovered by it, the conditions +of the Peace were full of disappointment and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>humiliation; but the worst, at all events, had not +happened, when there was some danger of its happening; +and Descartes could impress upon his friend +and pupil the expediency of her brother’s accepting +the half-loaf which Fate had bestowed upon him.</p> + +<p class='c001'>In the meantime, the thoughts of Sophia—and +perhaps not hers alone in the family—were still turned +chiefly in a different direction. When the most +enterprising of the followers of ‘King Charles II,’ +the gallant Montrose, early in 1650 started for +Scotland with a royal commission, he had, Sophia +tells us, resolved on demanding from the King, +should the enterprise prove successful, the hand +of her sister Louisa Hollandina. Sophia’s own +chances of securing her royal cousin’s hand still +formed a subject of speculation; and, on his return +from France in 1650, the Princess of Orange still +thought it worth while to influence the Presbyterian +leaders among the King’s suite (Hamilton and +Lauderdale) against Sophia, on the ground that she +was a bad Presbyterian and in the habit of accompanying +his Majesty to Common Prayer. Sophia +was with her mother at Breda, when Charles agreed +to take the Covenant. This, she writes, was not +the only weakness she observed in him. From the +first he had shown her pleasant cousinly attentions; +but of a sudden, at the instigation of certain of his +followers who had designs upon Lord Craven’s +purse and took this roundabout way of seeking to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>open its strings, these attentions developed rather +alarmingly. After some extravagant compliments to +her charms, which he pronounced superior to those of +‘Mistress Berlo’ (a misspelt <i>alias</i> of Lucy Waters), he +informed Sophia that he hoped to see her in England. +But, with the same circumspection in dangerous +situations which she displayed in later years, she +preserved her name free from taint on the occasion +of this trying adventure. She had, as she says, +wit enough to perceive that this was not the way +in which the marriages of great princes are made, +more especially as at Breda she noticed that ‘the +King,’ who had previously sought opportunities +of conversing with her, avoided them in the presence +of the Scottish Commissioners. Thus she in her +turn sagaciously contrived to keep out of his way; +and this first brief vision of an English throne, which +had probably excited those around her more than it +had moved herself, came to an end. ‘King Charles II’ +passed out of the horizon of Sophia’s hopes and +calculations; and, when afterwards he returned to +Holland, his prospects were much darker, and she +was no longer resident at her mother’s court.</p> + +<p class='c001'>It could hardly be but that this episode, although +it had touched neither her honour nor her heart, +should have made Sophia all the more ready to +quit her mother’s court, in which of late years new +troubles had begun to add themselves to old sorrows, +and which was now no longer the centre of the life +<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>of the Palatine family. In 1650 she was evidently +rather tired and out of harmony with a sphere of +existence in which at the outset she had taken so +much pleasure; and this not so much for any +special reason as because it was gradually borne in +upon her that ‘her joy could not endure there.’ +Thus it was settled between her and two ladies +in her particular confidence, whom she calls the +Ladies Carray (Carr?) and Withypol (the latter is +mentioned under the name of ‘fraw Wittepole’ +as residing in Heidelberg Castle in 1658), and the +good Lord Craven, that she should try a change +of scene and life by starting in their company to pay +a visit to her brother, the restored Elector Palatine, +at Heidelberg. At first her mother the Queen +objected, still clinging to the fancy of a match +between her youngest daughter and the head of the +House of Stewart. At last, however, she acquiesced +on being assured that this consummation would not +be prevented by the proposed journey; and so, +borrowing a vessel from the friendly States of +Holland, Sophia, who was now in her twentieth +year, and whose travels had hitherto not extended +beyond an occasional jaunt to Leyden, Delft, or +Rheenen, in the summer of 1650 set forth on her +voyage up the Rhine towards Heidelberg and the +unknown.</p> + +<hr class='c020'> +<div class='footnote' id='f3'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r3'>3</a>. Lord and Lady Harington, as will be seen, accompanied +Elizabeth after her marriage to Heidelberg. From them Combe +Abbey descended to their daughter Lucia, Countess of Bedford, +Drayton’s ‘sweet nymph of Ankor’ (on whose banks the Abbey +is situated) and earlier ‘Idea,’ and the recipient of other poetic +tributes from Ben Jonson and Donne. (See Courthope’s <cite>History +of English Poetry</cite>, Vol. iii. pp. 29 <i>sqq.</i>) It was her prodigal +tastes which made it necessary to sell Combe Abbey, which was +finally purchased by the Earl of Craven. (See the notes to +<cite>Combe Abbey</cite>, a historical tale of the reign of James I, by +Selina Bunbury (Dublin, 1843)—the first work of the authoress, +written in an ardently Protestant spirit. In this novel are +cited the stanzas, ‘This is a joye, This is true pleasure,’ said to +have been composed by the Princess Elizabeth in her childhood.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f4'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r4'>4</a>. In the fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries respectively, +two Palatine Electors, Frederick II and Frederick III, aspired +to the German Kingship.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f5'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r5'>5</a>. See Häusser, <span lang="de"><cite>Geschichte der Rhein-Pfalz</cite></span>, Vol. ii. pp. 243-4.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f6'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r6'>6</a>. A memoir of her was published in 1645 by the scholar and +diplomatist Ezechiel Spanheim, of whom Sophia frequently makes +respectful mention in her correspondence with her brother +Charles Lewis.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f7'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r7'>7</a>. See Gindely, <span lang="de"><cite>Geschichte des dreissigjähr. Krieges</cite></span>, Vol. i. +p. 186, and note. It may perhaps be added, by way of a <span lang="la"><i>curiosum</i></span>, +that at this time there survived in England the lineal descendant +of a declared heir to the Bohemian Crown in the person of +Humphrey Tyndall, Dean of Ely, who died in 1614 and whose +brass still remains in Ely Cathedral. See Bentham’s <cite>History +and Antiquities of the Conventual and Cathedral Church of Ely</cite>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f8'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r8'>8</a>. On his visit to England in 1612 Frederick was accompanied +by Count Henry of Nassau (who in 1625 became Henry Frederick +Prince of Orange). His companion duly fell in love with a +daughter of the Duke of Northumberland. (<cite>Letters of George +Lord Carew.</cite>)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f9'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r9'>9</a>. A Count Palatine Frederick (Frederick II of the old line) +had visited England early in the sixteenth century; but he had +come in the service of the House of Habsburg.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f10'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r10'>10</a>. The theatrical company (formerly the Lord Admiral’s) +which had been under the patronage of the Prince of Wales, +sought and, on January 4th, obtained that of the Palsgrave, the +Fortune continuing to be their playhouse. After 1625, they +appear to have ceased to be under the Elector’s ‘patronage.’ +(<cite>Henslowe’s Diary</cite>, ed. Greg, Part ii. pp. 98-9.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f11'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r11'>11</a>. Part of a stanza in a song in <cite>The Lords’ Masque</cite>, accompanying +a dance of stars, may be quoted, if only to suggest the +contemporary pronunciation of the King’s name:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c022'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘So bravely crown it [the night] with your beams,</div> + <div class='line in2'>That it may live in fame</div> + <div class='line'>As long as Rhenus or the Thames</div> + <div class='line in2'>Are known by either name.’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f12'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r12'>12</a>. Alexander Chapman, Fellow of Corpus Christi College, +Cambridge, D.D. 1610, and Archdeacon of Stow and Prebendary +of Lincoln in the same year. In 1618 he was appointed Prebendary +of Canterbury, where, on his death in 1629, ‘an elegant +Monument of blue and white Marble, with a demy Effigie of him +thereon, was erected to his memory by his Brother.’ See R. +Masters’ <cite>History of C.C.C.</cite>, pp. 264-5. He was possibly the donor +of the speaking likeness of Elizabeth which hangs in the Master’s +Lodge at Corpus.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f13'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r13'>13</a>. ‘My Lady,’ he argued, ‘was not to be considered only +as the daughter of a King, like the daughters of France, but did +carry in her person the possibility of succession to three Crowns.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f14'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r14'>14</a>. See M. Ritter, <cite>Deutsche Geschichte in der Zeit d. dreissigjähr. +Krieges</cite>, Vol. ii. p. 201.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f15'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r15'>15</a>. ‘Then County Palatine, and now a King.’ (<cite>Tamburlaine</cite>, +Part II, Act i, Sc. i. l. 103.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f16'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r16'>16</a>. The entry of Frederick into Prague, and his handsome +reception by the three Estates ‘after the manner of our ancient +Kings,’ was witnessed by Jacob Böhme.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f17'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r17'>17</a>. See L. Pearsall Smith, <cite>Life and Letters of Sir Henry Wotton</cite>, +Vol. i. p. 171.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f18'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r18'>18</a>. The <span lang="fr"><cite>Mercure Français</cite></span> stated that he took part in the +battle, and lost his ribbon of the Garter on the occasion! +(Charvériat, <span lang="fr"><cite>Histoire de la Guerre de Trente Ans</cite></span>, Vol. i. p. 235, note.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f19'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r19'>19</a>. <span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>See A. Seraphim, <span lang="de"><cite>Eine Schwester des grossen Kurfürsten</cite></span>, &c. +(<span lang="de"><cite>Quellen und Untersuchungen zur Gesch. d. Hauses Hohenzollern II.</cite></span>). +Berlin, 1901.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f20'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r20'>20</a>. The origin of the application of this title seems unknown. +It had been formerly connected in a peculiar fashion with Elizabeth’s +august godmother. (See the weird story in H. Clifford’s +<cite>Life of Jane Dormer</cite>, how not long before Queen Elizabeth’s death +a playing-card, the Queen of Hearts, with an iron nail knocked +through the head, was found at the bottom of her chair. Soon +afterwards all hopes of her recovery were abandoned.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f21'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r21'>21</a>. Halberstadt was one of those sees which had by special +treaties with the Chapters been made hereditary in particular +Protestant princely families. (Opel, <span lang="de"><cite>Niedersächs. Krieg</cite></span>, Vol. i. +p. 193.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f22'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r22'>22</a>. It must at the same time be allowed that the epithets +applied to James I by Christian after the breakdown of the +scheme of 1623 could hardly under any circumstances have +been condoned by the King’s daughter. (See Ritter, <span lang="de"><cite>Deutsche +Geschichte</cite></span>, &c., Vol. iii. p. 253.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f23'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r23'>23</a>. ‘<span lang="la"><cite>Inter Fortunæ sortem, extra Imperium.</cite></span>’ (See L. Pearsall +Smith, <i>u.s.</i>, Vol. i. p. 297, note.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f24'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r24'>24</a>. Elizabeth bore no love to the Swedish royal family, partly +because of these memories, partly perhaps because of the Danish +blood in her. (‘The States,’ she writes on one occasion, ‘are +justly punished for assisting the Queen of Sweden against my +uncle’ (Christian IV). She detested Gustavus’ daughter +Christina. On the death of the Queen Dowager Maria Eleonora, +she writes: ‘Queen Mother is dead, which makes her rap out +with many an oth.’ (<cite>Unpublished Letters of the Queen of Bohemia +to Sir Edward Nicholas</cite>, <cite>Antiq. Soc. Publ.</cite> 1857 (xvi).)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f25'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r25'>25</a>. The project of despatching a Scottish army in 1639 to occupy +the Palatinate broke down because of a disagreement between +Leslie and the Covenanters.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f26'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r26'>26</a>. It would seem as if after her husband’s death she had for a +time approved the style of ‘the King’s only sister.’ (See Wotton’s +letter <i>ap.</i> L. P. Smith, <i>u.s.</i>, Vol. ii. p. 342.) When, on the +marriage of her daughter Princess Henrietta in 1651, her son +Charles Lewis took exception to the title ‘Queen of Bohemia,’ +Elizabeth wrote to him indignantly that ‘leauing it you doe me +so much wrong as to the memorie of your dead father, as if you +disapproved his actions’; and declared that whatever public +instrument she might at any time have to sign, she would never +sign it without the royal style. <cite>Letters</cite>, &c., ed. by A. +Wendland, p. 16.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f27'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r27'>27</a>. As to Rheenen, the best account appears to be contained +in J. Kretzschmar, <span lang="de"><cite>Mittheilungen zur Geschichte des Heidelberger +Schlosses</cite></span>, pp. 96-132, which I have not seen. There seems +at one time to have been a notion of making it over to Prince +Rupert; but it afterwards became the property of Sophia, who +says that it had cost 40,000 crowns to build (<span lang="de"><cite>Briefe an Hannov. +Diplomaten</cite></span>, p. 229). The Electress Sophia, not being able to +sell the property at its estimated value, made it over to her son +Ernest Augustus.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f28'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r28'>28</a>. See his extraordinary outburst of passionate woe on +receiving the news of the death of a daughter (in 1674) in <span lang="de"><cite>Briefe +des Kurfürsten Karl Ludwig an die Seinen</cite></span>, pp. 234-5: ‘I do not +know, why the Lord God seeks to try me so—when I have but a +few years more to live, and after all did not create myself, and +have no conscious desire of committing any sin,’ &c.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f29'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r29'>29</a>. As to the possibility of an offer of the Crown to Charles +Lewis by the Parliamentary leaders, see W. Michael, <span lang="de"><cite>Englische +Geschichte</cite></span>, &c., Vol. i. p. 282.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f30'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r30'>30</a>. It should be remembered that in this morigeration Charles +Lewis had the support, up to a certain point, of his mother, who +in the days of the Civil War blamed Queen Henrietta Maria for +opposing the attempts of Charles Lewis to bring about a reconciliation +between his uncle and the Parliament. Gradually, however, +all that the King did seemed right to his sister, and she blamed +Charles Lewis for remaining on good terms with the Parliament. See +K. Hauck, <span lang="de"><cite>Elizabeth, Königin von Böhmen</cite></span> (Heidelberg, 1905).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f31'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r31'>31</a>. The honour of having discovered the art of engraving in +mezzotint, frequently claimed for Prince Rupert, seems due to a +Hessian officer named Ludwig von Siegen, who, meeting the +Prince at Brussels about 1654, taught him the new process. +See Cyril Davenport, <cite>Mezzotints</cite> (‘The Connoisseur’s Library,’) +pp. 52-65.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f32'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r32'>32</a>. See K. Hauck, <span lang="de"><cite>Karl Ludwig, Kurfürst von der Pfalz</cite></span> (Leipzig, +1903), p. 252.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f33'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r33'>33</a>. His mother’s coolness towards him is curious. She communicated +the news of his disappearance to Charles Lewis without +a word of sympathy, and advised that, should he really be +at Algiers, no ‘great inquierie’ should be made, lest his ransom +should be fixed at a quite inordinate height, or Cromwell should +purchase him from the corsairs. <cite>Letters</cite>, &c., ed. A. Wendland, +p. 43.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f34'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r34'>34</a>. See A. Chéruel, <span lang="fr"><cite>Le rôle politique de la Princesse Palatine +pendant la Fronde en 1651</cite></span>. (<span lang="fr"><cite>Séances de L’Acad. des Sc. Mor. et +Pol.</cite></span>, January-February, 1888.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f35'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r35'>35</a>. His mother seems to have been pleased with this outburst, +and to have testified to her gratification by presenting to Edward +certain family articles of value—more in number than was agreeable +to Charles Lewis. Edward, who certainly seems to have +had in most things an eye to the main chance, had a cynical +vein in him, like some of his brothers and sisters. When he +came to Heidelberg in 1658, accompanied by a facetious M. de +Jambonneau, Charles Lewis writes to his ‘second’ wife: +‘He turns everything into a joke, so that I cannot bring him on +with me.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f36'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r36'>36</a>. This was at the time (1636) when Charles I was very active +in his negotiations on behalf of the Palatine House, sending +Lord Arundel on a special mission to Vienna, projecting an +alliance with the States-General and France, and scheming the +Polish match mentioned in the text. Everything failed.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f37'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r37'>37</a>. The correspondence of the Princess Elizabeth and Descartes +extends over the years 1643 to 1649. Comte Foucher de Careil, +after publishing his <span lang="fr"><cite>Descartes et la Princesse Palatine</cite></span> in 1862, +was enabled to supplement the letters of Descartes by those of +the Princess in a second volume, published in 1879. A most +interesting summary is furnished by V. de Swarte’s attractive +<span lang="fr"><cite>Descartes Directeur Spirituel: Correspondance avec la Princesse +Palatine et la Reine Cristine de Suède</cite></span> (Paris, 1904).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f38'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r38'>38</a>. ‘Tom Killigrew is here, who makes a rare relation of the +Queen of Sweden.’ (Elizabeth to Sir Edward Nicholas, in +Evelyn’s <cite>Diary and Correspondence</cite>, Vol. iv. p. 216.) Not long +afterwards, in January, 1655, moved perhaps by the remembrance +of the sport made by him of Christina, she makes a +humble suit on his behalf to her royal nephew. As late as 1705 +Sophia (then Electress Dowager) is found speaking with scant +respect of this ancient and faithful, but somewhat volatile, +Cornish family, the remembrance of whom still survives at +Falmouth. ‘Tom Killigrew’s’ son Robert was anxious to commend +himself to the favour of the Electress; but she left it to her +‘posterity’ to attend to his claims. (<span lang="de"><cite>Briefe an Hannoverische +Diplomaten</cite></span>, p. 195.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f39'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r39'>39</a>. The Earl of Craven took his title from the deanery of that +name in Yorkshire, of which his father (Sir William Craven) was +a native. See D. Whitaker, <cite>History and Antiquities of the +Deanery of Craven</cite>, 3rd edn., by A. W. Mount, Leeds and London, +1878.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f40'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r40'>40</a>. One of the members of the Queen of Bohemia’s Court in +Holland was James Harrington, the author of <cite>Oceana</cite>, a relative +of her former guardian, Lord Harington. He had just left +Oxford, and afterwards took service under Lord Craven.</p> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span> + <h2 class='c006'>II<br> <br>EARLY WOMANHOOD AND MARRIAGE<br>(HEIDELBERG, 1650-1658)</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c007'>A home, to which Elizabeth of Bohemia was +fated never to return, was opened to her daughter +Sophia. For eight years—from 1650 to 1658—she +was the guest of her beloved brother Charles +Lewis in that part of the Palatinate which had been +at last restored to the family in his person. To +these congenial surroundings she easily acclimatised +herself; nor did she ever afterwards forget how, +before her destiny at last bore her away from Heidelberg +and its familiar neighbourhood, the interests +of her maiden life had long centred in the affairs of her +brother, in his troubles both public and private, +and in his children, for whom her large heart never +ceased to cherish a peculiar tenderness, even after +the welfare of her own numerous family had become +the chief anxiety of her existence. She was not at +first aware that her departure from Holland had +been against her mother’s wish—a fact which she +discreetly passes over in her <span lang="fr"><cite>Memoirs</cite></span>.<a id='r41'></a><a href='#f41' class='c008'><sup>[41]</sup></a> After telling +<span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>of her leisurely journey along the route formerly +followed by her parents on their wedding journey +home, she graphically describes the forlorn poverty +which stared her in the face, when she first +entered her brother’s shrunken dominions. He and +his Electress met her at Mannheim and took her +on with them to Heidelberg, where the castle still +lay in ruins, and they had to lodge in the town.</p> + +<p class='c001'>In truth, the Lower Palatinate had barely begun +to recover from the tribulations which it had undergone +both in the earlier and in the later periods +of the Thirty Years’ War; and the population was +literally the merest fragment of what it had been +before the outbreak of the conflict—one-fiftieth +part of it, according to a calculation which it seems +almost impossible to accept. Moreover, Charles +Lewis only gradually recovered possession even of +the moiety of his patrimony allotted to him, nor +was it till 1652 that the last Spaniard quitted the +land. It is all the more to the honour of this Prince, +and in a measure atones for the grievous aberrations +of his private life, that after his restoration he should +have held his head high in the Electoral College, +to which, as his father’s son, he had been so +grudgingly readmitted; and still more, that during +the whole of his rule—which lasted till 1680—he +<span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>should have spared neither thought nor effort for +the welfare of his sorely tried subjects.</p> + +<p class='c001'>It was not his fault that, while engaged in these +beneficent labours, he had again and again to turn +the pruning-hook back into a sword.<a id='r42'></a><a href='#f42' class='c008'><sup>[42]</sup></a> In 1666, he +maintained a brave heart through his weary campaigning +against French and Lorrainers, although +he met with little luck under arms and suffered +severely in health. Five years later, he sacrificed +the happiness of his daughter Elizabeth Charlotte +by yielding to the French demand for her hand, and +went near to sacrificing his honour by allowing her, +against her own wish or disposition, to be converted +to the Church of Rome. When, in 1674, the first +of the wars between the Empire and France broke +out, Charles Lewis may have indulged in some +passing dreams of an Austrasian kingdom under +French supremacy; as a matter of fact, he found +that neither the Orleans marriage nor his exertions +to remain neutral protected his unhappy lands +<span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>from invasion and its attendant horrors. Things +went better when, in 1675, he had thrown in his +lot with the Empire; for there can have been no +truth in the rumours which made themselves heard +in the city of gossip, Venice, that his father’s son +was aiming at the Bohemian Crown. The troubles +of the Palatinate recommenced when, in 1679-80, +the French added to pretended reprisals the monstrous +mockery of the so-called <span lang="fr"><i>réunions</i></span>; but of +these Charles Lewis only survived to see the beginnings, +and he was spared the bitterness of witnessing +the devastation of his beloved Palatinate in the +so-called Orleans War, of which his own daughter’s +supposed claims were, to her unspeakable anguish, +made the pretext. For the rest, the Elector Charles +Lewis was a genuine son of the Palatinate, to which +he devoted so much care and labour; he loved its +good things, including the Bacharach wine, whose +praises he sang in homely dithyrambs, and the +wealth of choice fruit, mindful of which he denounced +the sour pears and bullet grapes outside his own +promised land. Like his daughter after him, he was +nowhere so happy as in the midst of it, and his very +diction is coloured with a proverbial phraseology +of native Palatinate growth. As late as 1665, he is +found declaring that if ten years more of life were +granted him, and no war or pestilence came in +the way, he would, <span lang="fr"><i>en despit de l’envie</i></span>, turn Mannheim +into a second Rome. Nor were his thoughts +<span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>only set upon material things; whether justly or +not, he was regarded as one of the most learned +princes of his age; he was consistently anxious to +revive the prosperity of the University of Heidelberg, +and had nearly crowned his efforts on its +behalf by securing Spinoza as one of its teachers. +The education of his own children was to him a +subject of anxious and minute care.<a id='r43'></a><a href='#f43' class='c008'><sup>[43]</sup></a> In his youth, +the evil times on which Charles Lewis had fallen had +(it is not uncharitable to assume) taught him to +dissimulate; but in his later years he had retained +little of the Puritan associations of his earlier manhood +except a love of the Bible and a hatred of +Rome, and of priests and priestcraft in general. +He was, in short, a most liberal-minded and tolerant +Prince, who found satisfaction in the <span lang="la"><cite>Imitatio Christi</cite></span> +as well as in the New Testament, who would gladly +have made his Palatinate a refuge for persecuted +adherents of any religious creed, and whose dedication, +not long before his death, of a church (at +Mannheim) to <span lang="la"><cite>Sancta Concordia</cite></span> was far from being +<span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>an empty pretence. He had, moreover, inherited +his mother’s taste for poetry, and during his sojourn +in England had acquired considerable familiarity +with its literature, and its drama in particular. +In a way it brings Sophia herself nearer to us that +her favourite brother freely quoted Shakespeare, +that a version by him of Ben Jonson’s <cite>Sejanus</cite> +was acted at Heidelberg, and that he was so sturdy +a critic as to pronounce the Spanish drama superior +to the French, but the English best of all.</p> + +<p class='c001'>But, heavy as were the burdens laid upon the +head of the Palatine House after Charles Lewis’ +partial restoration, the troubles that came nearest +home to him, and that in the end infected the whole +atmosphere of his court, were of his own making. +He cannot be held accountable for the financial +difficulties which obliged him to discourage his +mother’s desire to return to the Palatinate; and, +even before the troubles in question broke out, +more general considerations may have rendered him +the reverse of eager for her presence. His policy +was to bury the past, which she in a sense typified; +and he may have feared her extravagant ways, +and thus preferred to lighten her expenditure by +inviting his sisters Elizabeth and Sophia to his +capital. His offer of some rooms in the <span lang="de"><cite>Ottheinrichsbau</cite></span> +of Heidelberg Castle, which he could not afford +to furnish, failed to attract, and the hope which she +had cherished, that she might end her days in her +<span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>own good dowry town of Frankenthal, it was not in +his power to fulfil. Meanwhile, the compensation +for the temporary occupation of the place by the +Spaniards, which had been promised in the Nürnberg +settlement of 1651, supplementary to the Peace of +Westphalia, remained unpaid by the Emperor. +Charles Lewis, who had in the first instance to think +of his Electorate and its defences, was without +resources enabling him to respond to his mother’s +requirements; and the recriminations which followed +on her part left the situation unaltered. Even +before mother and son had been at odds on this +subject, there was a dispute between them as to +various heirlooms at the Hague and at Rheenen, +which she refused to give up to him as he demanded. +In short, their correspondence had reached a most +painful stage, and it is pitiful to read the description +of the sore straits to which she found herself reduced, +just when the cloud seemed to be at last lifting from +the fortunes of their House. She was, she wrote, +entirely dependent upon the monthly allowance of +the States-General; it amounted only to a thousand +florins, and was not made for more than a single +year, and she had only accepted it as a <span lang="fr"><i>pis aller</i></span> +when she found it out of the question that her claims +on payments from England should be made part +of the Anglo-Dutch treaty concluded in 1654. As a +matter of fact, her case was a very hard one; for her +creditors had never been so pressing as now, when +<span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>there seemed a chance of payment; the very heirs +of the faithful Ludwig Camerarius demanded +the redemption of a favourite jewel which she had +pawned to them; all her children were in debt +like herself, from the high-minded Elizabeth to the +volatile Edward; and it is touching to find her +entreating a loan of a thousand pounds for the purpose, +because the jewel ‘was my brother Prince +Henry’s.’ At an earlier date, Charles Lewis had +suggested to an agent that it would be desirable +for her to approach Cromwell as to the relief of her +creditors, but was told in reply that she would +certainly never do this, ‘but only break into passion +against those that should give such advice.’ So +matters went on till other reasons came to a head +which made the Elector undesirous of receiving her +at his Court; and his seeming ingratitude infused +another drop of bitterness in her cup.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The quarrel between Charles Lewis and his +brother Rupert, which became mixed up with the +cardinal trouble of the elder brother’s later years, +and caused great sorrow to their mother, had its +origin in the financial difficulties which beset them all. +In 1653, the Elector had settled a modest allowance +on his brother Edward, and in 1654 he made a +similar arrangement with Rupert, who on his +arrival in Paris had entered into negotiations on the +subject through the Palatine envoy, Pawel von +Rammingen. Rupert was to be allowed 2,500 +<span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>dollars <span lang="la"><i>per annum</i></span>, to rise after five years to 4,000, +while the Emperor agreed to pay him a substantial +sum under the Nürnberg settlement. But Rupert +could not sit down contented with this compact, +and, quite in the spirit still prevailing in many of the +princely Houses of Germany, demanded a share of +the Palatinate territory as his younger brother’s +portion. Charles Lewis at first dallied with the +proposal, which, however, could not be to his mind, +more especially as he had no wish for introducing +into his Electorate the permanent influence of so +martial and combative a spirit as his brother’s. +Rupert, however, insisted on his demand, and in +1656, after refusing to receive any further payments +of his allowance, asked for an immediate interview. +The Elector having declined to receive him at Heidelberg, +but offered to meet him at Neustadt, and in +the meantime to increase his allowance, the fiery +Prince repaired uninvited to the capital, and, having +been refused admittance to the castle by the colonel +in command, swore an angry oath that he would +never return to the Palatinate, and passed on to +Mainz. Here he proceeded to lay his grievances +before the Arch-Chancellor of the Empire, and then +offered his sword to the Emperor. But, though he +seems to have actually entered into the Imperial +service, he found its atmosphere uncongenial, and, +when in 1661 he made another attempt to obtain a +high command (in the Turkish War) and at the same +<span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>time to obtain payment of the sums promised him +under the Nürnberg settlement, he was unsuccessful. +This failure he ascribed to the intrigues of his brother +the Elector, and he now settled down after a +fashion in England, whither he had betaken himself +on the Restoration. Though it was not till later that +the brothers were again on good terms, the dispute +between them was settled in 1670, when the arrangement +of 1654 was put into force again, Rupert’s +allowance being, however, raised from 4,000 to +6,000 dollars, the balance of the Nürnberg compensation +paid over, and the Rheenen property +being given up to him—an old notion of his mother’s, +which he had formerly rejected.<a id='r44'></a><a href='#f44' class='c008'><sup>[44]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c001'>At the time when Charles Lewis’ quarrel with +Rupert broke out, the elder brother was in the +midst of a difficulty which, unlike those just +described, was essentially of his own making. Of +this trouble Sophia’s quick wit had, already on +arrival at Mannheim, and first meeting with her +brother the Elector and his bride, detected the +germs. She had perceived at once that all was not +well between the pair. While her brother met her +with his usual geniality of manner, the Electress, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>whose mien was <span lang="fr"><i>fort dolente</i></span>, said very little. When +the party proceeded to Heidelberg, where Sophia +had the satisfaction of seating herself in the best-appointed +carriage on which she had cast eyes since +her departure from the Hague, she found that her +praise of this vehicle gave offence to her sister-in-law, +to whom it had been presented as her wedding-coach, +and in whose opinion it was vastly inferior +to one presented to her sister for her marriage with +the Prince of Tarento. This afflicting comparison +was, however, only the first and slightest clause in +her long litany of grievances.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Charlotte Elizabeth, daughter of Landgrave +William V of Hesse-Cassel, and his wife, Amalia +Elizabeth, seemed marked out by descent as a most +fitting consort for the restored Elector Palatine. +Her grandfather, Landgrave Maurice, had in his day +been one of the foremost representatives of militant +Calvinism, and at once the boldest and the most +steadfast of all the Princes of the Union. Her +mother, the Landgravine Amalia, deserves lasting +remembrance as one of the most remarkable Princesses +of her age, by whose exertions Hesse-Cassel was +preserved from ruin in the Thirty Years’ War, and +to whom more than to anyone German Calvinism +owed the rights of parity at last secured to it in the +Peace of Westphalia. But her married life with the +Elector Charles Lewis, which began in February, 1650, +proved a singularly unhappy one; nor can there +<span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>be any pretence but that she was made to suffer +grievous and intolerable wrong. It is at the same +time undeniable that the aggravating elements in +her character—to Sophia’s critical eye there seemed +to be such even in her beauty—contributed to the +beginning of the end. Sophia rapidly arrived at +her own conclusions as to the intellectual capacity +of her sister-in-law—what with her love of dress +and her stories of Duke Frederick of Würtemberg-Neustadt, +not to mention the Brunswick-Lüneburg +Dukes, George William and Ernest Augustus, and +several other admirers, to whom she had been +forced by her mother to prefer her present jealous +‘old’ husband. In his turn, Charles Lewis, although +he far too demonstratively adored his +handsome wife, confessed that there were defects +in her education, which he entreated his shrewd +youngest sister to correct. Very soon, however, +Sophia perceived that the comedy was taking a +serious turn. The quarrel between the pair began +with an outburst of jealousy on the part of the Elector, +followed, in more violent fashion, by another +from the Electress. Charles Lewis hereupon became +violently estranged from his consort; and his aversion +was deepened by a passion which he conceived +for one of his wife’s maids-of-honour, Baroness +Louisa von Degenfeld. Perhaps this more decorous +Anne Boleyn was rendered all the more attractive +in his eyes by her literary turn of mind, if we may +<span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>judge from their initial correspondence under names +borrowed from an Italian novel,<a id='r45'></a><a href='#f45' class='c008'><sup>[45]</sup></a> and from the liking +which she afterwards showed for such classics as +Lucian, Corneille, and Molière. For some years +or so, however, the husband and wife rubbed on +together, two children being born to them. The +elder, born 1651, was Charles, afterwards Elector +Palatine, the last of the Simmern line, who died +less than five years after his father (1685); had he +survived, he must of course have stood before +Sophia in the English Succession. In most respects +he had little character of his own, perhaps partly +because he had been over-educated; but he was a +devout Calvinist, and would probably have remained +such had it been his fate to mount the throne to +which, in earlier times, some of the English Parliamentary +politicians may have thought of raising +his father. The younger of the two children, born +1652, was Elizabeth Charlotte, the <span lang="fr"><i>Liselotte</i></span> of her +father’s affections and of those of her aunt Sophia, +by whom she was partly brought up, and a darling +of whose later years she became.</p> + +<p class='c001'>For a time the Elector contrived to conceal his +amour from his wife; but, in 1657, a letter addressed +by Prince Rupert to the Elector’s mistress, by whose +<span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>beauty and wit he seems to have been attracted on a +previous visit, having fallen into the hands of the +Electress, and the quarrel between the brothers +having probably contributed to exacerbate matters, +there was an end of the secret. Put on the track +of her husband’s infidelity, the Electress ruthlessly +ran him and his mistress to earth; and the result +was a public scandal without an equal in the domestic +annals of this anything but shamefaced age. +The Elector having at last withdrawn from Heidelberg +with Louisa von Degenfeld, whom he in the +first instance settled with many precautions at +Schwetzingen, there ensued a long and disgraceful +series of proceedings which, to the unfortunate +Electress, must have recalled a notorious episode +of her native Hessian history in the days of +Landgrave Philip the ‘Magnanimous.’ Salving his +conscience as best he might with the obsequious +assistance of his court divines, Charles Lewis, +early in 1658, married Louisa von Degenfeld as his +second wife. He had previously conferred upon her +the ancient title of Raugravine Palatine, with a provision +that a corresponding titulature was to be +transmitted to their issue. From this abnormal +union, which lasted till Louisa’s decease, twenty +years afterwards, there sprang not less than fourteen +children, of whom eight survived their mother. The +marriage—if marriage it may be called<a id='r46'></a><a href='#f46' class='c008'><sup>[46]</sup></a>—supplied +<span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>him with the felicities of a tranquil home, though +for some time he had to keep watch over it with an +anxious care, of which the humorous aspect escaped +him, against the evil designs imputed by him to ‘X,’ +his repudiated wife, and though her Hessian relations +long endeavoured to assert her rights. Latterly +the ‘second wife’ seems chiefly to have resided +with her children at Frankenthal, where the proud +Queen of Bohemia had hoped to find repose for her +last years. The correspondence between Charles +Lewis and Louisa shows him to have been entirely +faithful to her, and to have passionately loved his +children. But, though his fidelity to his chosen +companion was unswerving, the relations between +them were disturbed by occasional dissensions. +On her death he put forth, together with an account +of her Christian ending drawn up by the divine +whom he had originally consulted as to his ‘second +marriage’ (Hiskias Eleazar Heiland), an elaborate +analytical statement of her virtues and shortcomings +during their union, for which, with a conscientiousness +showing that there was still a drop of Calvinistic +blood in his veins, he had himself contributed the +most important materials. For his children, the +surviving Raugraves and Raugravines, he had +intended to make ample provision, but had perplexed +himself so much about its conditions, that +his legitimate son and successor, the Elector Charles, +declared all his father’s arrangements on the subject +<span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>invalid. Several of the sons afterwards distinguished +themselves in the field. Charles Maurice, +who was till his death in 1702 a familiar figure at +Hanover, and who is the Trimalchio of the banquet +‘after the manner of the ancients’ described in +Leibniz’s correspondence with Sophia, drank away +his remarkable intellectual powers. But the children +of Louisa von Degenfeld were treated kindly by +the Dowager Electress Charlotte, and Sophia took +them one and all to her heart, more especially +the two sisters Louisa and Amalia, ‘<span lang="fr"><i>les deux sibylles +de Francfort</i></span>.’ Louisa was in later years at Hanover +appointed Mistress of the Robes; and it is said that +there was at one time some intention of entrusting her +with a confidential mission to England in connexion +with the Succession question.</p> + +<p class='c001'>After the death, in 1677, of Louisa von Degenfeld, +Charles Lewis, having in the first instance (with +Sophia’s approval) taken to himself a mistress, +was desirous of inducing the Electress to consent +to a divorce, which would have enabled him by a +‘third’ marriage to seek to secure the Succession of +his (the Simmern) line, resting as it did on the life +of his legitimate son Charles only.<a id='r47'></a><a href='#f47' class='c008'><sup>[47]</sup></a> But Charlotte +Elizabeth was not found ready to oblige her +erratic husband thus far. Prince Rupert, with +<span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>whom Charles Lewis had gradually come to be on +better terms, had already, in 1675, declined to come +to the rescue. The match-making Princess Elizabeth +had in vain desired a match between her +brother Rupert and her young kinswoman Princess +Charlotte Sophia of Courland.<a id='r48'></a><a href='#f48' class='c008'><sup>[48]</sup></a> That young lady’s +aunt, Landgravine Hedwig Sophia of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, +opined that nothing would come of the +match, especially as Prince Rupert was on the look-out +‘not only for beauty, but for means.’ As a +matter of fact, the ardour of Rupert’s aspiring +youth had by this time settled down into a sober +though still singularly active maturity; moreover, +he had formed a connexion so close that it has been +suspected to have amounted to a secret marriage, +with Francesca Bard, an Irish Roman Catholic lady +of good birth, with whom and their child, called +‘Dodley’ (Dudley) by Sophia, the indulgent Palatine +family were on friendly terms. But neither +this boy nor, of course, Ruperta, Prince Rupert’s +daughter by the actress Margaret Hughes, was +ever formally acknowledged by him; and thus this +brother, too, left no descendant who when the time +came, might have forestalled the claims of Sophia +and her progeny to the English Succession.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Sophia’s own life at Heidelberg, though much +clouded by her brother’s domestic troubles, of which +more than enough has now been said, and towards +<span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>which, in its initial stages, she appears to have +borne herself with a discretion already habitual to +her, was by no means without its agreeable aspects. +It had at first been made uncomfortable by the +ways of the Electress Charlotte, whose favourite +amusements, field sports and the card-table, were +not much to Sophia’s personal taste. Still, the life +of the Palatine court, though an economy little +dreamt of in former days now prevailed there, was +not without diversions in which she took pleasure—among +them those <span lang="de"><cite>Wirthschaften</cite></span>, a fashionable +amusement half-way between a fancy fair and a +<span lang="fr"><i>bal costumé</i></span>, of which the Queen of Bohemia had +shared the vogue in Holland. Mention has already +been made of Charles Lewis’ familiarity with the +literature of the English stage; and the English +comedians whom he saw at Frankfort possibly +also found their way to Heidelberg. But his sisters +had more direct opportunities for keeping up their +interest in England and things English, since +Charles Lewis seems to have entertained a good +many English gentlemen at his capital, where some +of them settled down as they have done in later +days. Among his English guests was the former +Parliamentary General, Sir William Waller, though +with the Restoration Charles Lewis became a good +Royalist again, and contrived to put himself on good +terms with Lord Chancellor Clarendon. We have +already seen how Prince Rupert himself was an +<span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>occasional visitor at Heidelberg, as was his younger +brother Edward—though the latter proved so full +of ‘<span lang="fr"><i>ralierie</i></span>’ that Charles Lewis refused to take him +to visit the lady whom he wished to be regarded +as his wedded wife. Before this, Princess Elizabeth +had, in 1648 and again in 1651, arrived +as a visitor at the Electoral Court—much changed, +as on the latter occasion Sophia and Edward thought, +both in outward appearance and in tone of mind, +which Sophia expressly attributes to her recent +sojourn at Berlin, at the Court of the pious Electress +Louisa Henrietta. Perhaps, too, she was saddened +by the death of Descartes (1650), and perhaps by a +growing estrangement from her mother; in any +case, her whole nature was more and more tending +towards that contemplative life whose attractiveness +for some minds seems so incomprehensible +to others. Unfortunately, as Sophia confesses, +she was weak enough to join her brother and sister-in-law +in rebelling against a certain air of superiority +which in their eyes Elizabeth seemed to assume. +She warmly interested herself in the Elector’s +efforts to give a new life to the University of Heidelberg, +where she is said to have acquired a personal +reputation by her exposition of the Cartesian +philosophy. Sophia’s day for listening to the +conversation of philosophers had hardly yet arrived, +and she at no time aspired to place herself on what +may be called the professorial level. There is no +<span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>appearance of the two sisters having been permanently +alienated from one another; but mutual +sympathy could not otherwise than dwindle between +one who was preparing to bid farewell to the +world, and one who was intent upon establishing +her position in it.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The real reason of Sophia’s quitting Holland had +been her sense of the uncertainty of her own position +there; yet, even had the prospect been wholly +agreeable, she could not now look forward to a +permanent residence at the strangely distracted +Court of her eldest brother. As the solitude of a +religious, or of a quasi-religious, life would not have +been to her mind (though it was about this time +that she sat for her portrait in the costume of a +Vestal Virgin), a suitable marriage engagement had, +in a word, become a necessity for her. So attractive +and high-spirited a princess might fairly expect +to find an acceptable husband without having, like +her sister Henrietta Maria, to espouse a Transylvanian +prince. Unluckily, in the latter part of 1651 +or beginning of 1652, Sophia underwent an attack of +small-pox, which, as she confesses, seriously impaired +her beauty. But she had no mind to take whoever +might be the first comer; and not long after her +recovery she declined overtures made to her on behalf +of the Portuguese Duke of Aveiro; ‘having had +thoughts of marrying a King she could not stoop +to a subject.’ In much the same mood she about +<span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>this time broke off an innocent correspondence (on +the subject of compositions for the guitar) into +which she had entered with a prince with whom +she had in her childhood made acquaintance in +Holland, and who, when recently passing through +Heidelberg on his way to Venice, had seemed to +her more charming than ever. This prince, who +‘pleased everybody,’ was no other than her future +husband, Duke Ernest Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg. +Since, however, he was the youngest +of four brothers and (as will be seen immediately) +without any present prospect whatever of enjoying +any territorial dominion of his own, he was clearly not +<span lang="fr"><i>bon à marier</i></span>; and it was best to avoid a kind of gossip +of which Sophia had only too vivid an experience.</p> + +<p class='c001'>There appears to have been some talk of other +matches for Sophia, and above all of a design of +marrying her to a more important personage than +the disinherited King of England—the young +King of the Romans, who, as such, during the last +year of his life bore the designation of Ferdinand +IV.<a id='r49'></a><a href='#f49' class='c008'><sup>[49]</sup></a> It is true that, in 1652, the Elector Charles +Lewis had, on the occasion of his being received by +the Emperor Ferdinand III within the unconscious +walls of Prague, established excellent relations +between the Imperial House and himself. But it +<span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>is difficult to suppose that anything could have +come of this scheme, which would have involved +as a preliminary transaction the conversion of +Sophia to the Church of Rome; and the statement +that the young King of the Romans had fallen in +love with Sophia, and intended to marry her, rests +only on the authority of the Duchess of Orleans. +Charles Lewis might, in the interests of the Palatinate, +have assented to the match; but Sophia +would assuredly have refused it with more determination +than was afterwards shown by her niece when +the Orleans marriage proposal was pressed upon +her. The earlier project, however, came to a speedy +end with the death of the young Roman King in +1654.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Thus the first suitor proper of Sophia during +her stay at her brother’s Court was Prince Adolphus +John, brother of the newly crowned King of Sweden, +Charles X Gustavus, and like him a scion of the +Zweibrücken line of the Palatine House. Though +he had no prospects of the throne, he was, as his +subsequent conduct at a critical moment after his +great brother’s death showed, an ambitious prince, +and his suit was favoured by the Electress Charlotte, +who would have been pleased to be rid of her +sister-in-law. But Sophia looked very coolly on +the negotiations that ensued; for she had conceived +an aversion to this suitor, which she declares +could only have been conquered by a virtuous +effort. He was a widower, and was said to have +<span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>ill-treated his first wife. Fortunately for Sophia, +the difficulty of marrying a princess who had been +trained as a Calvinist into a rigidly Lutheran land, +stood in the way of the proposal; and, though the +match was announced with much satisfaction to +Secretary Nicholas by the Queen of Bohemia for +the information of King Charles II, the negotiations +were still incomplete, and the King of Sweden’s +approval of his brother’s offer in doubt, when the +likelihood of another proposal intervened. The House +of Brunswick-Lüneburg, this time in the person of +George William, the second of the brothers between +whom its territorial inheritance was divided, now +appeared upon the scene. It will be more convenient +to review at a rather later point the general position +and prospects of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg +at the time when Sophia definitively threw in her lot +with its destinies, and when the first step was thus +taken towards its acquiring an interest in the question +of the English Succession. At the time of his visit +to Heidelberg, in 1656, George William, afterwards +the ruler of the Lüneburg-Celle portion of the +paternal inheritance, held the Calenberg-Göttingen +portion, and resided at Hanover. He had recently +been urged to marry by his Estates, who were +anxious to avert any likelihood of blending the +several divisions of the family inheritance; and, +though he had always felt the strongest repugnance +to any such step, much preferring to a married life +the Venetian pleasures of bachelorhood, he now +<span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>thought of giving way to the Estates, if they would +in return vote an increase in his revenue. George +William and his brother Ernest Augustus were +united by an intimacy and affection as close as that +which in the next generation tied the namesake +of the latter to his eldest brother George Lewis +(George I); and there is every probability that it +was the report of Ernest Augustus after his earlier +visit which induced George William to make preliminary +enquiries through an agent, George Christopher +von Hammerstein, who was much in the +confidence of the dynasty. Hereupon he paid a +visit to Heidelberg in person, but accompanied +by his favourite youngest brother. George William’s +attentions to Sophia were well received; and +though (for the painful reasons to be indicated +below) she could never have been brought to confess +it in her <span lang="fr"><cite>Memoirs</cite></span>, her heart seems to have been +really touched; and it may be added that, through +all the vicissitudes which ensued, she retained a +kindly feeling towards him. As for the present, she +allows that when at last he requested her permission +to ask her hand from her brother, she failed to +answer like a heroine in romance, ‘for I did not +hesitate to say Yes.’ Probably what attracted +her in George William, whose political principles +must at the time have been a matter of indifference +to her, while she could not, like King William III +in later days, have much sympathised with his +<span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>love of hunting and of a good glass of wine, was the +comparative refinement of manners which distinguished +both him and his younger brothers +among the German princes of the day. Though +two of the Brunswick-Lüneburg Dukes afterwards +came to be known as resolute opponents of the +political designs of France, yet George William and +Ernest Augustus, as well as their brother John +Frederick, belonged to the new school of German +princes, who loved the society and cultivated the +fashion and manners of Frenchmen, and who with +more or less of success sought to model their Courts +on Versailles. This fact should not be overlooked; +for patriotic Englishmen (especially when in Opposition) +afterwards made a constant point of deriding +the unrefined Teutonism of the Hanoverian Court. +At the same time, George William’s frequent visits +to Italy, and especially to Venice, cost a great +deal of money to the Estates of his principality; +and they were accordingly anxious that he should +arrive at a settlement, while he, with a view to the +bargain proving to his advantage, kept the engagement +to which the Elector Palatine had assented +as secret as possible. Of a sudden there came from +Venice, whither the brothers had proceeded after +their visit to Heidelberg, the unexpected and +mortifying news that George William, who had +been leading a loose life at Venice, had found it +necessary to break off his engagement. Sophia, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>though ‘too proud to be touched,’ thus found +herself placed in a most cruel position. Who can +say what in these circumstances might have been +the result of an offer made to her on behalf of +Ranuccio II, Duke of Parma (dependent, of course, +upon her previous conversion), had not her Hanoverian +suitor shown himself most anxious to do +what in him lay to remedy the wrong which he had +inflicted on her? He now proposed that his +youngest brother Ernest Augustus should marry +her in his stead, taking over with her the principalities +at present held by George William, and in +return only promising to pay to the latter a comfortable +pension. But to this arrangement the +third of the four brothers, John Frederick, a prince +of much ambition as well as obstinacy of character, +very naturally objected as unfair to his own interests, +and a serious illness which had befallen Ernest +Augustus further delayed proceedings. Thus it +was not till 1658 that the transaction was actually +carried out, though on lines somewhat different +from those first contemplated. Sophia’s hand was +transferred from Duke George William to Duke +Ernest Augustus, the former undertaking to remain +unmarried during the lifetime of his brother and his +consort, and in that of any male heirs whom they +might leave behind them. This renunciation, for +which there were several precedents in the annals +of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg and doubtless +<span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span>in that of other German princely houses also,<a id='r50'></a><a href='#f50' class='c008'><sup>[50]</sup></a> is +set forth at length in the original German in Sophia’s +<span lang="fr"><cite>Memoirs</cite></span>, though even she could not when copying +it out be aware of the full significance which it +possessed for the future of the family. She knew, +however, that of her husband’s three brothers the +eldest was childless and the third still unmarried, +while the second had renounced the prospect of +lawful issue. The possibilities of future importance +which her marriage now open to her husband and +herself were, therefore, wholly due to the arrangement +by which this marriage was accompanied. The +renunciation of George William contained in it the +germ of the greatness which awaited the line founded +in his stead by his brother; while the consequences +of the fact that his promise was half broken, half +kept, clouded the initial stage of that greatness with +the shame of a terrible family catastrophe. Sophia +dwells on the weakness and inconstancy of George +William in yielding to the demands of his councillors +that he should reduce the handsome yearly allowance +promised by him to his brother; unhappily, as she +hints, the same defects were to be exhibited by him +in matters of far greater gravity.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Sophia’s engagement to Ernest Augustus was for +a time kept secret from her mother; but she seems +to have borne the pair no malice, and to have +<span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>sent her blessing in due course, with congratulatory +letters from King Charles, in English to the bride, +and in Latin to the bridegroom.<a id='r51'></a><a href='#f51' class='c008'><sup>[51]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c001'>The Elector Charles Lewis, however, who acted in +the place of a father to his sister, found the expenses of +her marriage weigh heavily upon his reduced finances. +‘Besides her due,’ he wrote to the Queen, his mother, +by way of excusing himself for being ‘uncapable of +what her Majesty was pleased to require of him,’ +‘I am bound to an extraordinary, more especially +for the friendship she always shewed me, and because +nobody else hath done anything for her.’ Sophia +tells us that on Ernest Augustus’ arrival for the +wedding she found him lovable, because she had +made up her mind to love him; and something +of this resolute spirit of attachment may, in the +face of many provocations to the contrary, be said +to have characterised her relations to him throughout +their married life. According to Leibniz, the +wedding took place towards the end of September, +1658; but, according to a contemporary authority +cited by Sophia’s biographer, Feder, the date was +October 17th of that year. She describes the wedding +solemnities, which, if not so magnificent or +appealing so persuasively to the imagination as those +of her mother on the banks of the Thames, showed +the Palatine House to be equal to itself in the +maintenance of a stately etiquette. A few days +<span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>afterwards he posted back to Hanover, and she soon +followed, attended by an ample escort which he +had provided for her. The indispensable Hammerstein +conducted the journey, on which her brother, +the Elector, accompanied her as far as Weinheim. +She held her entry into Hanover on November 19th, +being received by the whole family, her mother-in-law, +the Duchess Anna Eleonora (widow of +Duke George), at its head. On her wedding-day +Sophia had, like her niece Charlotte Elizabeth on +her subsequent marriage with the Duke of Orleans, +renounced any future claims to the Succession in the +Palatinate, unconscious of the remoter claims which +she was to owe indirectly to her Palatine, as well as +directly to her English, blood. But, though she +dearly loved her brother, and shed a few tears on +parting from him, they would, as she declares, have +flowed more abundantly had her heart not been +with her husband, and, as we may add, had not her +hopes rested on the future which she went forth +to meet by his side.</p> + +<p class='c021'>While to Sophia, at an age of life neither late +nor very early—for she was near concluding her +twenty-eighth year—married life thus opened with +its duties, cares, and consolations, it was otherwise +with the two sisters of whom she has told us most, +and whose life was likewise to be prolonged beyond +the period of early womanhood. (Her third sister, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>Henrietta Maria, had died already in 1661.) Both of +them, by a singular dispensation of fate, at a time +not far removed from that of her marriage, embraced +a religious life, though in two different communions; +each was to end her days as the abbess of a conventual +establishment, revered and beloved in no ordinary +measure by those around her. Since Sophia’s +marriage, though it cannot be said to have estranged +her from either of these sisters, concentrated her +interests upon spheres of activity from which theirs +were in the main or altogether removed, the present +may be the most appropriate place for recalling the +twofold picture of their later lives, whose tranquillity +contrasts so strangely with the agitations +with which hers was necessarily filled.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The Princess Elizabeth, whom we have seen +more or less absorbed in her own high thoughts and +ennobling pursuits while still a resident at her +mother’s Court in Holland, and again actively +interested in the learned studies for which the rule +of her brother, the Elector, had once more provided +a home at Heidelberg, remained behind in the +Palatinate for some three or four years after Sophia’s +marriage. They cannot have been happy years, for +the scandal of the Elector’s second union was now +at its height, and the Electress, on whose side, whatever +Charlotte’s faults of temper, her sister-in-law’s +high sense of moral rectitude could not fail to range +her, still held out, perhaps chiefly for the sake of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>Electoral children.<a id='r52'></a><a href='#f52' class='c008'><sup>[52]</sup></a> When, in 1662, the Electress, her +own efforts and those of her kinsfolk having proved +vain, at last left Heidelberg for Cassel, Elizabeth +followed her thither. In the preceding year her +attached cousin, the Elector Frederick William, +had named her Coadjutress of the Abbess of Herford, +and her ultimate destiny was thus assured. The six +years (or the greater part of them) which intervened +before she succeeded the Countess Palatine Elizabeth +Louisa as Abbess of the Westphalian convent +were peacefully spent by her at Cassel, in the society +of the Landgravine Hedwig Sophia, a daughter of +her aunt, the Electress of Brandenburg, and herself +a lady of strong religious feeling and, as her administration +of her dower-estate of Schmalkalden +showed, a determined Calvinist. Elizabeth’s own +Calvinism, it is interesting to note, had, already +before she settled for the remainder of her days +at Herford, assumed a peculiar hue. She seems +<span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>about this time to have been much impressed by +the Dutch divine, Johannes Cocceius, professor at +Leyden, whose personal acquaintance she had made +on a visit to her aunt at Krossen. Cocceius, who +played an important part in the religious movement +known as Pietism, in so far as it affected the Reformed +or Calvinistic Church, recalls to us other +eminent religious teachers in whom the evangelical +and the latitudinarian have been blended. The +gist of this teaching was a direct appeal to Scripture +and a deprecation of any insistence on the <span lang="la"><i>formulæ</i></span> +of dogma. Elizabeth, whose mind had expanded, +and whose religious conceptions had deepened +under influences very different from the rigid +Calvinism of an earlier type, welcomed the simple +and profound enthusiasm of Cocceius and of the +so-called ‘Lodensteyners,’ whom the endeavour +to bring home religion to the individual mind and +conscience had all but led into secession or sectarianism. +Thus it came to pass that, after Princess +Elizabeth had, in 1667, become Abbess of Herford +in her own right, her rule was signalised by her +sympathetic relations with sectarian movements.</p> + +<p class='c001'>In the middle of the seventeenth century the +prosperous Westphalian Hanse town of Herford +which had always been Lutheran, had lost its position +as a free imperial city, and had been finally +annexed by the Elector of Brandenburg, as representing +the former Protectors of the Abbey. This +<span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>foundation had been Lutheranised rather less than +a century before; but since the time of the Thirty +Years’ War the Abbess might be either a Lutheran +or a Calvinist, and the Brandenburg influence of +course favoured the second alternative. Though +she had lost her sovereign rights, she was still +regarded as an Estate of the Empire, and as such +represented at the Diet; she had a Court of her own, +with regular (even hereditary) officers, and a limited +jurisdiction; and with her and her Chapter was +connected a foundation, which indeed outlasted +them, for the education of young ladies of family. +The position was thus one of considerable traditional +dignity and actual influence; and nothing +of either was lost in the tenure of Elizabeth, a true +princess as well as a genuine student. She was at +the same time well aware that, as a matter of fact, +the authority of the Abbess of Herford was dependent +upon the stronger arm of the Elector of +Brandenburg—in her case a dependence ungrateful +neither to the protector nor to the protected.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Thus, when in 1670 she was asked to extend +the hospitable shelter of Herford to Jean Labadie +and his following of women and men, which from +some fifty gradually rose to seven or eight times +that number, her first step was to assure herself of +the consent of the Great Elector. With him, as +with her, religious tolerance was a constant principle; +nor is there any reason for assuming that the goodwill +<span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>shown by her towards both Labadists and +Quakers had any other root than Christian humility, +wherein for such as she lies the beginning of wisdom +It is of course easy to trace the more immediate +influences by which she was drawn to the founder +of the now half-forgotten sect of Labadists. He +had begun his career as a Jesuit, and, after seeking +to set up a new congregation within the Church of +Rome, had become a convert to Calvinism, and in +this new sphere tried the experiment over again +with a freer hand, and with greater success. At +Geneva he was assisted in his endeavours by the +brother of Anna Maria von Schurmann, whose +learning had made her the ‘wonder of her age,’ +but whose thoughts were now set on other things. +Soon afterwards, she permanently associated herself +with Labadie’s attempt to realise without delay +his scheme of the true Church. After ministering +to a small Walloon congregation at Middelburg in +Zeeland, he was duly excommunicated; whereupon +he carried on his work at Amsterdam, in a small +community with peculiar institutions, as a declared +schismatic. It was from the tyranny of the Amsterdam +mob that, at her friend Anna Maria von Schurmann’s +request, the Abbess of Herford summoned, +them to take refuge in the ‘liberties’ of her abbey. +Very soon, notwithstanding the Elector’s approval +of her reception of the fugitives, the Lutheran +burghers of Herford raised a loud clamour against +<span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>the practices of the strangers, and then tried to +starve them out, till a commission of enquiry, +appointed by the Elector, arrived in the town. +During the respite thus obtained another visitor, +attracted by motives of curiosity, arrived at Herford +in the person of the Abbess’ sister Sophia. She +brought with her no faith in supernatural gifts and +a mocking tongue; and the account of her visit +admirably illustrates the innate difference between +the two sisters. The report of the commission was on +the whole favourable to the liberties of the strangers; +and, after Elizabeth had with much spirit refused +to obey a mandate of the Imperial Aulic Tribunal +at Speyer ordering their removal, and had journeyed +in person to Berlin to bring about a decisive intervention +on the part of the Elector, the question was solved +in 1672 by the imminence of the French invasion of +the Low Countries. This danger obliged Labadie and +the majority of his followers to fly t`o Holstein, while +the rest remained behind under the protection of the +Abbess. Thus closed a noteworthy episode, in the +course of which a high-minded and enlightened +princess had, on behalf of a band of sectaries with +whom her own sympathy can hardly have been +other than imperfect, successfully upheld the cause +of tolerance against both official and civic bigotry.<a id='r53'></a><a href='#f53' class='c008'><sup>[53]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>The last of the Labadists had not yet left Herford, +when Elizabeth began to hold intercourse +with a sect of greater significance than theirs in +modern religious history—the English Quakers, +or, as we find her brother Charles Lewis disguising +their name, ‘quaquors.’<a id='r54'></a><a href='#f54' class='c008'><sup>[54]</sup></a> Three years later, in 1667, +she received two visits from William Penn and +Robert Barclay during their missionary journey in +Holland and Germany, including the Palatinate. +From Penn’s account of these interviews, and the +letters exchanged between him and the Abbess, +it is clear that the latter, who was on both occasions +attended by her intimate friend, Countess Anna +Maria van Hoorn, a canoness of the Abbey, was +deeply moved by Penn’s appeals to her heart and +conscience. But it is equally clear that the humility +which bade her listen prevented her from accepting +the conclusion that she, too, was divinely called to +teach. Her mind was equipped; her soul alert; +but she still waited. Five years later, when she had +passed away from the religion of doubts and difficulties, +Penn inserted in a new edition of his +treatise, <cite>No Cross no Crown</cite>, among the testimonies +to the significance of <cite>Serious Dying as well as Living</cite>, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>the following reminiscence of ‘the late Princess +Elizabeth of the Rhine’:—</p> + +<div class='quote'> + +<p class='c001'>She chose a single life, as freest of care, and best +suited to the study and meditation she always inclined +to; and the chiefest diversion she took, next the air, +was in some such plain and housewifely entertainment +as knitting, &c. She had a small territory, which she +has governed so well, that she shewed herself fit for a +greater. She would constantly, every Last-day in the +week, sit in judgment, and hear and determine cases +herself; where her patience, justice, and mercy were +admirable; frequently remitting her forfeitures, where +the party was poor, or otherwise meritorious. And, +which was excellent, she would temper her discourse +with Religion, and strongly draw concerned parties to +submission and agreement; exercising not so much the +vigour of her power, as the power of her persuasion. +Her meekness and humility appeared to me extraordinary. +She never considered the quality, but the +merits of the people she entertained.... Thus, though +she kept no sumptuous table in her own Court, she +spread the tables of the poor in their solitary cells.... +Abstemious in herself, and in apparent void of all vain +ornaments.</p> + +<p class='c001'>I must say her mind had a noble prospect. Her +eye was to a better and more lasting inheritance than +can be found below, which made her often to despise +the greatness of Courts, and the learning of the Schools, +of which she was an extraordinary judge.</p> + +</div> + +<p class='c001'>Then he gives instances, very simply put, of her +way of deprecating too narrow an interpretation +of the duty of paying respect to our betters; of her +distrust of her power to walk in the straight way +<span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>she had chosen; of her humility towards the +humblest; and he concludes:</p> + +<div class='quote'> + +<p class='c001'>I cannot forget her Last Words, when I took leave +of her, ‘Let me desire you to remember me, though I +live at this distance, and that you should never see me +more—I thank you for this good time; and know and +be assured, though my condition subject me to divers +temptations, yet my soul hath strong desires after the +best things.’</p> + +</div> + +<p class='c001'>In view of this record of the eternal longings +with which this beautiful soul was filled at the last, +it seems vain to make any reference to the earthly +cares which still from time to time occupied her, +in connexion no doubt chiefly with the family +history, or even to the intellectual occupations which +continued to engage her interest to the last. She +was a diligent collector of books and manuscripts, +and the last great writers with whom she corresponded +were Leibniz and Malebranche, the mystical +and Christian follower of her former teacher, Descartes. +Shortly before her death, Elizabeth sent +for her sister Sophia to pay her a long visit, and +received her, Sophia relates in her <span lang="fr"><cite>Memoirs</cite></span>, with a +joyfulness as if an angel from Heaven had descended +to heal her. She then notes that the Abbess had +been surrounded by people whose melancholy +notions of a religious life had made hers a martyrdom. +Wasted away in body, she was, however, calm in +spirit and prepared for death, though full of sympathy +<span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>with her sister and with the troubles which +might await Sophia out in the turbulent world. Elizabeth +died in peace at Herford Abbey in February, +1680; a letter addressed by her to her sister Louisa +Hollandina, Abbess of Maubuisson, shows that +more than three months before she was already +making herself ready for death.<a id='r55'></a><a href='#f55' class='c008'><sup>[55]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c021'>Not much is known as to the life of the Princess +Louisa Hollandina herself during the years which +followed on the occurrence of the de L’Épinay +scandal, and which she quietly spent at her mother’s +<span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>Court in Holland. Nothing seems to have been +bruited abroad concerning her except that she was +leading an exemplary life, and that she was very +intimate with a lady whose name is given as Madame +d’Oxsordre, and had frequent conversations with +her on the subject of ‘the bases of the Protestant +religion.’ In other words, a propagandist influence +was steadily at work upon her, and in the end she +made up her mind to become a convert to Rome. +Conversions to Roman Catholicism were common +during the whole of this period, and there can be +little doubt but that in this particular transaction +her brother Edward and his wife, the Princess +Palatine Anne (of Gonzaga), had an important +share. In December, 1657, Louisa Hollandina, +who had reason enough to fear the maternal +wrath should her intention become known, secretly +left the Hague at night-time in the habiliments of +a maid-servant, and made her way to Antwerp, +where, in January, 1658, she abjured Protestantism +for the Church of Rome. Her change of confession +was not the result of any sudden resolution, but +it could not fail to incense as well as grieve +her mother, whose wrath, however, fell upon +Princess Maria Elizabeth of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, +hitherto an intimate of her court. Whether or not +a letter from this lady to Princess Louisa Hollandina +had finally determined her flight, further +letters from the same hand, which appear to have +<span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>been accompanied, or preceded, by the whisperings +of verbal scandal, reflected in no measured +terms on the Palatine <span lang="fr"><i>ménage</i></span>. Elizabeth hereupon +insisted on the expulsion of the slanderer +from her place of residence, Bergen-op-Zoom, +pending further enquiry. The ‘Princess of Zollern’ +hereupon entered into a series of further charges, +culminating in the suggestion that Louisa had been +obliged to fly in order to conceal her shame. The +Queen behaved with prudence as well as dignity, +counselling her son the Elector to contradict this +calumny, but to do so quietly and civilly, without +demanding proofs as if he had any doubts on the +subject. In December, 1658, or thereabouts, Louisa +Hollandina addressed a not undignified letter to her +mother, in which she announced her admission into +the Church of Rome, which the occasion of the +Christmas Communion had made necessary to her +conscience, and begged her mother’s pardon for the +trouble thus caused to her. About the same time the +Princess made her way to Havre, having ascertained +that she would be received with open arms by the +French Court, which had formerly remained deaf to +her mother’s solicitations for support. Immediately +after Louisa’s arrival on French soil, she was welcomed +by her brother, the Prince Palatine Edward, +and conducted by him to the Abbey of Maubuisson, +near the river Oise, and almost immediately facing +Pontoise, the ancient capital of the Vexin. Edward’s +<span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>own daughters, Maria Anne and Benedicta, were +being educated here, each receiving at the same +time a handsome pension out of the Abbey funds. +This ancient Benedictine nunnery (originally +planted in a wooded part of the country infested +by brigands; whence the name <span lang="fr"><i>le buisson maudit</i></span>) +dated from the middle of the thirteenth century, +and the favour accorded to it by Queen Blanche, +who was buried in the convent after assuming its +habit on her deathbed, attracted to it the frequent +presence of her son, St. Louis. His example was +followed by other sovereigns of France, and the +later history of the Abbey is full of interest. But +here it must suffice to say that, in the second half +of the sixteenth century, the prevalent decay of +conventual life in France particularly affected +Maubuisson, which had so long been connected +with the Court, and lay so near to Paris, and that +this corruption became complete under the reckless +<span lang="fr"><i>régime</i></span> of Angélique d’Estrées, the sister of Henry +IV’s Fair Gabrielle, who was herself buried with one +of her infants in the Abbey. After her death Henry +IV came there no more; but this period of worldly misrule +was not ended, till in the next reign Mère Angélique +came from Port Royal to reform Maubuisson +under the supervision of St. François de Sales, and +after a hard struggle effected her purpose. Once +more there was a terrible backsliding; but better +times returned in 1627 with the choice as Abbess +<span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>of the worthy Mère des Anges (Marie Suireau) +who was really a nominee of Mère Angélique’s, and +who brought with her a fresh infusion of religious +zeal from Port Royal. Her twenty-three years of +conscientious administration once more restored +the convent to a well-ordered and pious life. On her +return to Port Royal, the worthy abbess of Lieu +Dieu became Abbess of Maubuisson, where in the +course of her short rule she received Louis XIV; +and after her Louisa Hollandina’s immediate +predecessor, Catharine d’Orléans, an illegitimate +daughter of the Duke de Longueville, against whom +nothing remains on record except a series of +unfortunate ‘architectural improvements’ in the +Abbey church. But these changes have long been +obliterated, together with the church itself, which, +after at the Revolution the Abbey had been taken +over by the nation and sold, was in 1790 blown up +by powder. At the present moment the traces of +this notable historic monument are described as +hardly discernible.</p> + +<p class='c001'>There can be little doubt that, probably +owing to the efforts of Louisa Hollandina’s powerful +sister-in-law, the French ‘<span lang="fr"><i>Princesse Palatine</i></span>,’ it +had been from the first determined to provide for +this interesting princely convert at Maubuisson. +No sooner had her foot touched the soil of France +than the royal favour of Louis XIV, whose magnanimous +hospitality never did things by halves, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>shone upon her. After her first visit to Maubuisson +she was taken to see her aunt, Queen Henrietta +Maria, who was at the time residing with the +Visitandines at Paris, and who, after vain attempts +to convert her sons Charles and James to the Church +of Rome, was engaged in a project for obtaining +the hand of the young French King for her daughter +Henrietta, brought up as a Roman Catholic. Hereupon, +Louisa was received at Court, and assigned +a liberal pension by the King; and thus she was +enabled, on terms befitting her position, to form a +definite connexion with the Maubuisson convent. +After a noviciate of eighteen months, she took the +vows on September 19th, 1660, in the presence +of a distinguished assembly, before whom the +Bishop of Amiens preached ‘divinely.’ Happily +for her peace of mind, the kindness shown her by +the French Court had impressed itself upon her +mother, for whose forgiveness Queen Henrietta Maria +persistently sued. In October, 1659, Elizabeth +informed her son Charles Lewis that this intercession +had prevailed with her, and that, in +obedience to the King and Queen’s commands, she +had forgiven ‘Louyse,’ and prayed God also to +forgive her, ‘which is all my letter in a few lines.’<a id='r56'></a><a href='#f56' class='c008'><sup>[56]</sup></a> +But Louisa Hollandina was the only one of her +<span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>mother’s surviving children left without mention +in her will.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The long evening—if it should be so called—of +Louisa Hollandina’s life, which lasted till 1709, was +a peaceful one; but it would be unjust to her, more +especially in view of some misconceptions which +have arisen on the subject, not to say a word as +to the spirit in which she both entered upon this +period of her existence, and to which she throughout +remained true. Just before she took the vows, she is +said to have been warned by one of the Maubuisson +sisters, who belonged to a reactionary clique in the +convent, desirous of obtaining a mitigation of the +severer rule introduced from Port Royal, not to +engage herself to observe any standard of discipline +in excess of the proposed reduction, for which it was +probably hoped to secure the requisite sanction +with the aid of an Abbess in so much favour at +Court. But she refused point-blank, and, during +the few years which she spent at the convent as a +simple religious, would not consent to be relieved +from any one of the duties incumbent on her. When, +in August, 1664, she was, on the death of the Abbess, +named as her successor, her first act after accepting +the office was to sell part of the silver plate which had +been presented to her by the Queen of France in +order to defray part of the debt pressing upon the +convent. She abolished the practice of former +abbesses of keeping up a retinue and footmen of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span>her own, saying that she had abandoned the world +on purpose to see no more Courts; and her niece, +the Duchess of Orleans, in her humorous manner, +describes her as going about the convent and garden +all alone and with her skirts tucked up, and giving +her orders in an authoritative tone that nobody +ventured to disobey. She even—no insignificant +sacrifice for a Palatine—ceased to use the arms of +her House. This simplicity was partly natural to +her, for even before her retirement it had been +noted how careless she was as to matters of dress +and outward appearance. Partly it was due to a +resolute humility of spirit, and a determination +to avoid any assumption of superiority on her own +part over the sisters of the convent, to which Saint-Simon +bears express testimony. She would not +seat herself on the throne hitherto occupied by +the Abbess in the convent church, and as a fitter +object of reverence placed a statue of the Virgin +there. On the other hand, she opposed a steadfast +resistance to the tendency manifested by some +of the nuns towards a relaxation of the conventual +discipline; she observed the entire seven months’ +fast imposed by the Cistercian rule, until at last +she became as thin as a lath; according to the +account of her niece she never ate flesh except +when ill, and slept on a mattress as hard as stone, +with no other furniture in her chamber but a +straw-chair; and she rose every midnight for prayer. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span>Beneath her dress she wore an undergarment of +hair-cloth. She was careful to obey the rule which, +except in special circumstances, prohibited the +religious of Maubuisson from leaving the convent, +and absented herself from it only thrice in the +forty-nine years of her residence. According to +the Duchess of Orleans, who spoke on this subject +with sympathetic insight, the good Abbess’ +tongue was her temptation; and she always chose a +deaf sister to live with her in her chamber, so as +not to be seduced into conversation.</p> + +<p class='c001'>On the charitable activity of the good Abbess +there is less necessity for dwelling, since it accorded +with the habits that were natural to her, as well as +with her Palatine warmth of heart. In her indefatigable +activity she resembled her brother Charles +Lewis, to whom in her later years she bore so +striking an outward likeness. Idleness of any kind +was impossible to her; ‘never,’ writes a contemporary, +‘was she without some virtuous and religious +occupation; either she was plying her brush +or her needle, or reading or praying.’ To her love +of painting, an art which she is said to have practised +from her eighth year to past her eightieth, +reference has already been made. Though it would +not appear that her artistic powers increased in +her later years, she utilised them for the decoration +not only of the Abbey, but of several churches of +the neighbourhood, and even found time to paint +<span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span>pictures for other recipients. Sacred subjects seem +to have chiefly occupied her in these days; to the +<span lang="fr"><i>Cour des Comptes</i></span> at Paris, which had rendered an +efficient service to her Abbey, she presented an +elaborate pictorial allegory of Justice.<a id='r57'></a><a href='#f57' class='c008'><sup>[57]</sup></a> During her +administration the structural accommodation of +the Abbey was considerably enlarged, and, in the +centre of it, a handsome fountain was for the first +time erected.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Beneath all the other qualities of Louisa Hollandina +and, one is tempted to say, at the root of them, +lay that cheerfulness of soul which is a blessing +to all who are brought into contact with its happy +possessor. The Duchess of Orleans, who had all +her aunt’s vivacity of mind, but little of her tranquillity +of spirit, refers again and again to the +delightfulness of her periodical visits to the dear +old lady; and we may well believe that in their +intercourse the seasoning of <span lang="fr"><i>malice</i></span> (in the French +sense of the word) was not wanting. But Saint-Simon, +an observer not less keen, though the +satirical vein in him took a different turn, informs +us that the Abbess of Maubuisson was adored by all +the sisters of the convent, of which she had made +herself the very life and soul, because of her charity, +her sweetness, and her loving-kindness. From a +character so pure—or perhaps it should be said +so purified—the shafts of ill report glance off +<span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span>harmlessly; nor is it impossible that they had their +origin in traditions with which the Palatine Princess +had no concern, and which her rule as Abbess ought +to have been allowed to extinguish. While she +held sway at Maubuisson, it became a chosen place +as a religious retreat by ladies of rank; among +these was Madame de Brisson, <span lang="fr"><i>l’âme de Saint-Cyr</i></span>, as +Madame de Sévigné calls her, soon after her dismissal +from that seminary. In 1679, the good +Abbess had the pleasure of a visit from the Duchess +Sophia, who was delighted with the happy regularity +of her sister’s life, ‘which would suit me quite well, +had I no husband and children.’ The Duchess of +Orleans herself, though she would hardly have +come in the character of a penitent, in one of the +crises of her life at the French Court begged the +King to allow her to finish her days at Maubuisson.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Some two years before her death, Louisa Hollandina, +who had hitherto only been subject to the +<span lang="fr"><i>migraine</i></span>—for the statement that she had died +in 1704 to save herself the trouble of periodically +reminding the States-General of the annuity granted +to her at her baptism was only a friendly jest—had +a paralytic stroke, and the remainder of her +life was full of suffering. She took it all easily, +saying that people would not desire life so much +if they knew to what it amounted near the end. +She died in February, 1709, eighty-six years of age; +the good Princess, wrote her heart-broken niece to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span>Louisa Hollandina’s sister Sophia, ‘is now where +she long was wished to be’; Sophia herself, in her +very direct way, observed that, as there was so little +besides life left in her sister, there was the less to +deplore in her loss. She was buried by the nuns, +who had loved her dearly and nursed her tenderly, +in her abbey-church at Maubuisson, as her sister +Elizabeth had been buried in hers at Herford +twenty-nine years earlier; and both the Catholic +and the Protestant Abbess deserve each, in her own +way, to be remembered among the good women +in whom their age, with all its shortcomings, was +so rich.</p> + +<p class='c021'>And here we must take leave of the Palatinate +family, except in so far as Sophia herself and those +younger members of it with whom in her married +life she came into personal contact are concerned. +Late in 1659, Queen Elizabeth had the pleasure of a +visit from Sophia at the Hague, having had to solicit +from Charles Lewis ‘a little money in extraordinaire’ +for the purposes of the meeting. They seem to +have been happy together, and the Queen wrote that +she would be ill-natured had she failed to show ‘kindness +to Sophie, because she shows so much love +to me,’ The real success of the visit was, however, +Sophia’s little Palatine niece Liselotte, of whom +more hereafter, who captured her grandmother’s +heart, although ‘you know I care not much for +<span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span>children.’<a id='r58'></a><a href='#f58' class='c008'><sup>[58]</sup></a> Sophia remained in Holland till March, +1660, when her mother was so much hindered by +people coming in to tell the English news about +Monck that she could hardly find time for writing.<a id='r59'></a><a href='#f59' class='c008'><sup>[59]</sup></a> +Mother and daughter, however, met again in the +following year; and Sophia’s last farewell to ‘<span lang="fr"><i>cette +bonne princesse</i></span>,’ her mother, took place on board +the vessel on which, in May, 1661, Queen Elizabeth +was about to sail from Rotterdam for England. +For the high-souled royal exile was not, at the +last, denied an honourable refuge in her native land, +though she arrived there without the special invitation +which she had been led to expect, and an attempt +was even made to delay her on the way. What +could surpass in pathos the picture of her arriving in +London in the darkness, with hardly a friend but +the faithful Earl of Craven to guide her home from +the riverside? At Craven House she resided till +she moved to the house in Leicester Fields successively +occupied by her great namesake’s two +favourites, the Earls of Leicester and Essex. She +had no intention, as she told Prince Rupert, of +playing the poor relation. The King, her nephew, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span>showed much cordiality to her as well as to her +sons; but his courtesies were for the most part +inexpensive, and she confessed that he owed her +nothing, though the Parliament owed her much.<a id='r60'></a><a href='#f60' class='c008'><sup>[60]</sup></a> +He promised, accordingly, to see if her debts could +not be paid by Parliament, and it actually granted +her certain sums, which she applied as fast as they +came in to the redemption of her jewels, though she +still had to appeal to Charles Lewis for assistance +in the process. A series of unpleasant demands and +counter-demands ensued between the King and the +Elector, each calling upon the other to pay to the +Queen the outstanding moneys lawfully due to her. +In the end, King Charles II granted her a pension +of a thousand pounds a month, of which she did +not live to enjoy the first year’s total, and offered +her a residence (Exeter House), into which she +had not time to move.<a id='r61'></a><a href='#f61' class='c008'><sup>[61]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c001'>The Queen of Bohemia, as she called herself to +the last, was seen at times in public—at the theatres +and elsewhere—with the court; and much attention +<span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span>was shown to her by her son Prince Rupert, who +(as has been seen) had returned to England a few +months after the King. Pepys, whose mention of +Rupert’s return is the first notice of this Prince in the +<cite>Diary</cite>, observes that he was ‘welcome to nobody.’ +Perhaps the diarist had a presentiment of the friction +which, sooner or later, could hardly fail to occur +between a budding official like himself and a man +of the sword with a popular reputation, whom he +appears to have throughout regarded as passionate +and self-willed. But Prince Rupert was well +received in England both by the Royal Family +and by the public at large, though it proved before +long that he, like others who had served the throne +in the days of stress, was out of touch with the +younger generation of courtiers and politicians. +He had not found congenial employment abroad; +but his readiness for active work had not yet +passed. The proposed expedition under his command +to the Guinea Coast was abandoned (1664), +partly because of an illness which had befallen +him; but he was placed at the head of one of +the squadrons in the First Dutch War, and in +the Second superseded the Roman Catholic Duke +of York as commander-in-chief of the English fleet. +The breakdown of his plan of action by his want +of success in the last battle of this war (1673) was +attributed by him to the misconduct of the French +and the intrigues of the friends of the Duke of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span>York; and thus it rather heightened than hurt his +popularity. For a time he seemed to be cultivating +relations of intimacy with Shaftesbury and the +Opposition; but he never harboured any disloyal +intentions, though his sympathy with the Protestant +feeling in the country is of a piece with the +traditions of his family and with the whole of his +own career. He now withdrew more and more into +a retirement which suited both his scientific pursuits +and his growing aversion from the hopeless frivolity +and viciousness of the Court. Although he still +continued to take an occasional part in public +affairs, his time was chiefly spent among his chemical +apparatus and his pictures and curiosities in the +Round <a id='corr140.15'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='Town'>Tower</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_140.15'><ins class='correction' title='Town'>Tower</ins></a></span> at Windsor Castle, of which he had +been named Constable in 1668. He died in 1682, +and was buried in Westminster Abbey, the faithful +Lord Craven acting as chief mourner on the +occasion.</p> + +<p class='c001'>His mother, to whom he had been a good son +to the last, had long before this passed to her rest. +Her correspondence with her son Charles Lewis had +in the last period of her life assumed a more painful +tone than ever, turning as it did upon a past that +could not be set right, whatever might happen +in the future. In the contention as to whose fault +it had been that she had not temporarily taken up +her residence at Heidelberg he seems to have been +more in the right than she; and it is satisfactory to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>observe that, though in the very last letter preserved +from her hand, while she expresses a hope that his +anger will be now over, she begs that he will +add to what he is paying to her of the jointure +which is her due, his last letter to her, and the +draft of one dated in the month of her death, +end on a dutiful and even affectionate note.<a id='r62'></a><a href='#f62' class='c008'><sup>[62]</sup></a> +After her death, Charles Lewis, as her eldest—he +had once been her favourite—son, made a claim +for her jewels as heirlooms; and once more a bitter +dispute ensued between the brothers.<a id='r63'></a><a href='#f63' class='c008'><sup>[63]</sup></a> The proposal +that her eldest daughter should cross the water to +see her had met with no response. Of Sophia’s +seeming content with her lot the Queen had, shortly +before coming to England, heard with pleasure; +but she could not shut her eyes to the changes +<span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>that fate brings; ‘for it is easier said then done +to care for nothing.’ Still, wherever she might +find herself, the lonely woman kept a stout heart +and an unclouded front; though, whether at +Whitehall or at Combe Abbey (if she visited it +again), she must have seemed to herself like a +<span lang="fr"><i>revenante</i></span>—a ghost of the past come back. She +died, at Leicester House, on February 13th, 1662—a +few hours before the dawn of what, had her husband +still been by her side, would have been her +golden wedding day; and, on a night as full of +storms as her life had been, she was buried in the +Abbey where so many of her descendants were +to be crowned with a crown less rapidly evanescent +than hers.</p> + +<hr class='c020'> +<div class='footnote' id='f41'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r41'>41</a>. Charles Lewis wrote to his mother in much trouble on the +subject, only eliciting the reply that ‘as for Sophia’s journey, +I will never keep anie that has a minde to leave me, for I shall +never care for anie bodies companie that does not care for +mine.’ <cite>Letters</cite>, &c., ed. A. Wendland, p. 9.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f42'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r42'>42</a>. The celebrated <span lang="de"><cite>Wildfangsstreit</cite></span>, which was carried on by +Charles Lewis in the years 1665 and 1666, is passed by in the +text, where few readers would probably care to find it discussed. +This strange dispute turned on the rights of the Electors Palatine +over bastards and aliens (<span lang="de"><cite>Wilden</cite></span>) in their own and <em>adjoining</em> +territories, and troubles which had thence arisen between +Charles Lewis and his neighbours, in which the Great Elector +of Brandenburg was involved through his alliance of May, 1661, +with the Elector Palatine. The Great Elector’s efforts brought +about a settlement on the whole favourable to his ally. (See +<span lang="de"><cite>Urkunden und Aktenstücke zur Gesch. d. Grossen Kurfürsten +Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg</cite></span>, Vol. xi. (<span lang="de"><cite>Polit. Verhandl.</cite></span> +Vol. vii.). Ed. F. Hirsch, Berlin, 1887).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f43'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r43'>43</a>. He drew up elaborate instructions for the tutors and +governesses of the Electoral Prince Charles and Princess +Elizabeth Charlotte. One of the former was Ezechiel Spanheim, +who had accompanied his father, a rigid Calvinist, when the +latter had been summoned to Leyden by Elizabeth and the +States-General. Ezechiel was himself called from Geneva in +1656 to Heidelberg, where he afterwards passed from theology +to diplomacy. It was in the Brandenburg service, which he had +entered in 1680, that he was accredited to the English Court, +of which he wrote an <cite>Account</cite> (1706). He was buried in Westminster +Abbey.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f44'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r44'>44</a>. In 1655 she writes to Charles Lewis that she had sent him +all that she could spare in the house there, and entreats him at +the same time to dismiss the concierge, ‘for he is the veriest +beast in the world and knave besides.’ See <cite>Letters</cite>, &c., ed. A. +Wendland, p. 67.—I have revised my account of the dispute +between Charles Lewis and Rupert with the aid of K. Hauck, +<span lang="de"><cite>Karl Ludwig, Kurfürst von der Pfalz</cite></span>, pp. 251 <i>sqq.</i></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f45'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r45'>45</a>. This was quite in the style of the age, which loved the +mystifications of pseudonyms, and of ciphers without much concealment. +Elizabeth mentions that her daughter Sophia writes to +her about Berenice’s business (Sophia’s own), and that they are +discussing it with Tiribazus (Charles Lewis). <cite>Letters</cite>, &c., p. 91.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f46'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r46'>46</a>. It is, Elizabeth plainly told her son, ‘both against God’s +law and man’s law.’ <cite>Letters</cite>, &c., p. 92.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f47'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r47'>47</a>. The Queen of Bohemia was very anxious about her grandson, +in whose early days she had recorded with satisfaction +that the little Prince of Orange (William III) was a year older, +but considerably smaller in size.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f48'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r48'>48</a>. She died at an advanced age as Abbess of Herford.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f49'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r49'>49</a>. A match between his grandfather, afterwards Emperor +Ferdinand II, and Sophia’s great-aunt on the mother’s side, +Princess Hedwig of Denmark, had been suggested in 1617.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f50'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r50'>50</a>. According to Spittler, not less than six of the uncles of +George William (brothers of Duke George) promised to remain +unmarried.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f51'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r51'>51</a>. <cite>Letters</cite>, &c., ed. A. Wendland, p. 100.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f52'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r52'>52</a>. In 1660 and the following year there is a good deal of talk +and solemn banter between Dr. Worthington and his correspondent +S. Hartlib as to the expected arrival in England of the +Princess Elizabeth with her mother. Dr. (Henry) More is repeatedly +referred to as specially interested in the hoped-for +event. On May 28th, 1661, however, Hartlib reports a profane +piece of gossip: ‘I hear a secret of the Princess Elizabeth that +Lord Craven is like to marry her. I wish she were in England, +that she might marry Dr. More’s Cartesian notions, which would +beget a noble offspring of many excellent and fruitful truths.’ +(See <cite>Diary and Correspondence of Dr. Worthington</cite>, edited by +J. R. Crossley for the Chetham Society, Vols. i. and ii.; and cf. +Crossley’s note on the Princess in Vol. i. <i>s. d.</i> October 15, 1660. +The Princess Elizabeth never came to England.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f53'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r53'>53</a>. The Labadists seem to have ultimately taken refuge in +Maryland, where the sect was gradually absorbed and is now +almost forgotten. (See Bartlett B. James, <cite>The Labadist Colony +in Maryland</cite>, John Hopkins Press, 1899.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f54'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r54'>54</a>. The passage (in <span lang="de"><cite>Schreiben das Kurfürsten Carl Ludwig</cite></span>, &c. +must be quoted: ‘To-day we have had in our presence an +English <span lang="la"><i>quaquor</i></span> or trembler; I repeatedly silenced him, for +his mind works very slowly indeed; he never takes off his hat +and always calls me “thou”; but he loses his temper if he +is contradicted.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f55'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r55'>55</a>. I must take leave to insert here the inscription on her +tomb in the Abbey Church, Herford, kindly copied for me by +Miss A. D. Greenwood, who mentions that the name of the +Princess Palatine is commemorated in that of the Elizabethstrasse, +a curly old street near the Minster:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c022'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in4'><span lang="la">D. O. M.</span></div> + <div class='line in4'><span lang="la">H. S. E.</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="la">Serenissima Princeps et Antistita Herfordiensis</span></div> + <div class='line in4'><span lang="la">ELISABETH</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="la">Electoribus Palatinis et Magnæ Britaniæ Regibus orta</span></div> + <div class='line in4'><span lang="la">Regii prorsus animi Virgo</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="la">Invicta in rebus gerendis prudentia ac dexteritate</span></div> + <div class='line in4'><span lang="la">Admirabili eruditione atque doctrinâ</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="la">Supra sexus et ævi conditionem celeberrima</span></div> + <div class='line in4'><span lang="la">Regum studiis Principum amicitiis</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="la">Doctorum vivorum Literis ac monumentis</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="la">Omnium Christianorum gentium linguis ac plausibus</span></div> + <div class='line in4'><span lang="la">Sed maxime propriâ virtute</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="la">Sui nominis immortalitatem adepta.</span></div> + <div class='line in4'><span lang="la">Nata anno 1618, die 26 Decembris</span></div> + <div class='line in4'><span lang="la">Denata anno 1680, die 8 Februarii</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="la">Vixit annos 61 mensem 1 et dies 16</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="la">Rexit annos 12 menses 10 et dies 2.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f56'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r56'>56</a>. See <cite>Letters</cite>, &c., ed. A. Wendland, p. 118. These letters +at last throw a full light on this episode of the Palatine family +history.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f57'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r57'>57</a>. In 1871, this picture was consumed in the flames.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f58'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r58'>58</a>. <cite>Letters</cite>, &c., ed. A. Wendland, p. 122.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f59'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r59'>59</a>. <i>Ib.</i>, p. 136. It was about this time that Elizabeth was also +enjoying the company of the young Baron von Selz, an illegitimate +son of her son Charles Lewis from his London days. She was +warmly interested in him, and in 1660 induced King Charles II +to take the youth to London in the suite of Henry Duke of +Gloucester. But Selz died in London, much to Elizabeth’s +grief, before his friend the Duke. (Hauck, <cite>Elizabeth</cite>, p. 53.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f60'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r60'>60</a>. On another occasion she writes with generous frankness: +‘The King is not bounde to doe for me but what he pleases, for +being maried out of the house he might justly pretend not to be +bound to give me anything, but he is kinder than many nephews +would be, his income besides is not settled as you believe it is.’ +(<cite>Letters</cite>, &c., p. 207).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f61'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r61'>61</a>. She told her son that she would have to order ‘states,’ +chairs, stools, and carpets all new for Exeter House, as ‘that +beast, your Castelin,’ had allowed what ‘stuff’ there was at +Rheenen to go to ruin. (<i>Ib.</i>, p. 211.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f62'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r62'>62</a>. <cite>Letters</cite>, &c., pp. 212-3.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f63'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r63'>63</a>. The Queen’s last will and testament shows that she declared +Charles Lewis her heir, but left special legacies to Rupert—jewels, +plate, and furniture, with the papers of which the <cite>Original +Royal Letters</cite>, published by Sir George Bromley in 1787, passed +into the hands of his lineal ancestress Ruperta, daughter of Prince +Rupert and wife of Scroope Emmanuel Howe. To Edward the +Queen left a large diamond; to Elizabeth emerald ear-rings; +and to Sophia the string of pearls which her mother had ordinarily +worn. Probably the medallion with the lock of King Charles I’s +hair, which was found on her breast after her death, was buried +with her. Many years later, when the death of the Abbess +of Herford was apprehended, Sophia wrote to Charles Lewis +that he would not find so much reason for discontent on this +occasion as on that of their mother’s death—‘for she seems to +bear no malice against you.’ It is distressing that Sophia’s want +of sympathy towards her mother, which may have been explicable +enough in earlier days, should have lasted beyond the grave.</p> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span> + <h2 class='c006'>III<br> <br> THE DUCHESS SOPHIA<br>(HANOVER, OSNABRÜCK, AND HANOVER, 1658-1688)</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c007'>Ernest Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg +was the youngest son of his House, as Sophia was +the youngest daughter of the Palatine family; +nor was the scion of the Guelfs, as such, unfitted to +mate with one who could boast an ancestry illustrious +like hers. Previously to the marriage conferring +upon Sophia a right of partnership, of +which time only could reveal the significance, in the +fortunes of the German branch of the Guelfs, more +than one great historic opportunity had occurred +to that ancient House. Five centuries had passed +since Henry the Lion had held sway over territories +reaching from the shores of the German Ocean and +the Baltic to those of the Adriatic. He had been +the husband of an English princess—Matilda, +daughter of King Henry II; nor was Sophia +unmindful of this ancestral connexion. We cannot +follow here the repeated dynastic changes, or the +numberless partitions and transfers that succeeded +<span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span>each other in the hereditary lands between Elbe +and Weser, saved out of the shipwreck of the great +Guelfic dominion, and granted to Henry’s grandson, +Otto the Child, as an imperial fief under the designation +of the Duchy of Brunswick.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The severance declared by Otto’s eldest two +sons, between the territories of which Brunswick +and Lüneburg were respectively the original centres, +was—the numerous shiftings of ownership between +the representatives of the Old, Middle, and New +Brunswick and Lüneburg lines notwithstanding—never +undone, and continues in a sense to the +present day. Thus, it was only within the limits +of each main division that it proved possible in the +course of time to assert those two principles upon +which, repugnant though they were to the traditions +of Germanic life, the political future of the +princely Houses of the Empire depended—namely, +that of indivisibility of tenure, and, more tardily, +that of primogeniture. Nor was there any consistent +endeavour to supply the want of a single dominant +authority in the Brunswick and Lüneburg +Houses (as they were generally called, their various +subdivisions being further distinguished for the +most part according to the names of their chief +‘residences’) by an identity, or at least by an +agreement, of policy. Thus the German Guelfs +missed the great dynastic opportunity of the +Reformation, although the populations over which +<span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span>they ruled were at one in their ready acceptance +of Lutheranism, and although a series of wealthy +ecclesiastical foundations fell into the laps of the +princes. Duke Henry of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel +opposed the Reformation with so much vehemence +as to be denounced by Luther in the character of +bugbear-in-chief of the supporters of the national +movement. Still, with their augmented territorial +strength, the Guelfs might have played an important +part in the critical period which preceded the long-expected +outbreak of the great religious conflict, +and perhaps, during its earlier stages, might have +done much to resist the inroads of the Reaction. +Instead of this, after the ‘evil Harry’s’ accomplished +grandson, Duke Henry Julius, had applied +his ability as a statesman wholly to the furtherance +of the imperial interest, his timorous successor, +Frederick Ulric, had failed to avert from the Lower +Saxon Circle the fury of war, drawn down upon it +by the passionate Protestant partisanship of his +brother, Christian of Halberstadt, the champion +of Elizabeth of Bohemia. A change of dynasty +occurred at a highly critical epoch of the Thirty +Years’ War, when nearly all the Protestant estates +adhered to the compromise of the Peace of Prague +(1634); and the ‘New’ House of Brunswick +entered into possession at Wolfenbüttel in the person +of Duke Augustus, a cautious ruler and a man +of kindly disposition and of bookish tastes. At +<span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>the Peace of Westphalia the rich see of Hildesheim +had to be given up by the elder (Brunswick) branch; +and for a time adversity seemed to have impressed +upon it the expediency of uniting its policy with that +of the younger, which had issued forth in a more +advantageous position from the Great War. During +this temporary accord between the two branches, the +ambitious Duke Rudolf Augustus of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel +was assisted by his Brunswick-Lüneburg +kinsmen in the important achievement, +which the resolute Dukes of the Middle House of +Brunswick had essayed in vain, of permanently +subjecting to their territorial authority the proud +Hanseatic city of Brunswick. And, alike in the +war provoked by Louis XIV’s invasion of the +United Provinces (in 1672), in the march against +the Swedes which was crowned by the victory of +Fehrbellin (1675), and in the campaign against the +Turks which ended with the recapture of Neuhäusel +(1685), the armed forces of the two Guelfic lines +fought side by side. But, while the New Lüneburg +line was, by consolidation, preparing its future +greatness, the advancement of the New Brunswick +line, the repartitions of whose territories cannot +occupy us here, again came to a standstill. Duke +Rudolf Augustus survived till 1704, a prince whose +virtues were of the passive kind, and with whom his +ambitious younger brother, Antony Ulric, was associated +in the government from 1685 onwards. In +<span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span>order to ensure the Succession to the offspring +of his brother, the good Duke Rudolf Augustus, +after the death of his first wife, contracted a <span lang="fr"><i>mésalliance</i></span> +with the daughter of a Brunswick barber-surgeon, +who, as Madame Rudolfine, led a life of +happy obscurity by his side at Brunswick. His +brother, Duke Antony Ulric, held his Court at +Wolfenbüttel, where he cherished the literary +studies in which he had engaged in the University +of Helmstedt, and successfully essayed his own +powers as an author, both in the favourite contemporary +species of historical romances <span lang="fr"><i>de longue +haleine</i></span> and in psalmody. But the mental activity +of Antony Ulric, who in 1704 succeeded to sole +ducal authority at Brunswick, was far from being +absorbed by his literary pursuits; or rather, as we +shall see, he contrived to make them subservient +to the influences of dynastic ambition. He kept +a jealous watch, now self-interested, now malevolent +and revengeful, over the advance of the Lüneburg +dynasty, so nearly akin to his own. And, in +whatever measure the same jealousy may have +been a factor in his own ultimate conversion to +the Church of Rome, it certainly contributed to +make him press on those splendid marriages of his +grand-daughters with Emperor and Tsarevich, +whereby he sought to redeem his own political +insignificance.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Very different results attended the progress, in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span>and after the latter part of the Thirty Years’ War, of +the New House of Lüneburg, as it was called. Duke +George was the sixth of seven brothers, of whom +it fell in turn to the eldest four to conduct the +government of the Lüneburg-Celle dominions. Here +the principle of indivisibility had been established +in 1592 and confirmed in 1610; but it did not +apply to acquisitions by the line accruing after +that date. In order to maintain this principle +intact, all the brothers, with the exception of Duke +George, remained unmarried, and, by a singularly +orderly disposition of fate, the second, third, and +fourth succeeded in due course, each on the demise +of his next elder brother. The fifth and seventh +died before the arrival of their respective turns, +and thus it was to the progeny of Duke George +that the lands and their government descended. +He was accounted one of the most capable commanders +of the latter part of the war, and an ardent +supporter of the Protestant cause, with whose +great champion Gustavus Adolphus he had been +one of the earliest among the German Princes to +enter into an understanding. But he was so +unwilling to imperil the immediate interests of the +dynasty, that, in 1634, he gave in his adhesion to +the Peace of Prague. In 1635 he assumed the +government of the principality of Calenberg, which, +by the repartition made at that date, was transferred +to the Lüneburg line; and in the following year he +<span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span>laid the foundations, in the fortified town of Hanover, +of the castle which was to be expanded, in after +ages, into the palace of Electors and Kings. He +died in 1641; but his principality was preserved +to his dynasty in the settlement of the Peace of +Westphalia, and they further secured a ‘satisfaction,’ +though by no means an adequate one, for +the losses or disappointments undergone by them, +in the shape of the right of appointing a prince of +their family to the see of Osnabrück on every +alternate vacancy. Thus, with a territory whose +resources seemed to have been hopelessly exhausted +by the devastations of the War and by the exactions +of both war and peace, whose social system had been +dislocated, and whose life had been in various respects +demoralised, the sons of Duke George of +Lüneburg entered upon a period in the history of +their dynasty which was to conduct it from petty +beginnings to unforeseen greatness.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The family consisted of four brothers and three +sisters, of which latter two died in infancy. The +surviving sister, Sophia Amalia, had in 1643 married +the future King Frederick III of Denmark, and took +a notable part in the defence of Copenhagen against +the Swedes (1658), as well as in the few despotic +excesses to be charged against the absolute rule with +which, at a time when the Danish power had been laid +low, her consort had been suddenly entrusted. The +Duchess Sophia, who by her marriage had become +<span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span>sister-in-law to Queen Sophia Amalia, met her at +Altona in 1671, and paid her a visit at her dower-palace +at Nykjöping in 1680. Sophia saw this +redoubtable sovereign on her amiable side, and +relates how, on the occasion of a <span lang="fr"><i>battue</i></span> of hares, +the Queen encouraged her to fire the first shot that +she, her mother’s degenerate daughter, had ever +discharged. Of the four brothers, the eldest, +Duke Christian Lewis, had in 1641 succeeded to +his father’s principality of Calenberg; but in +1648, when he assumed the government of the +Lüneburg-Celle dominions proper and took up his +abode at Celle, Calenberg, with its residential +town of Hanover, passed to the second brother, +Duke George William. The third and fourth, +Dukes John Frederick and Ernest Augustus, in +accordance with their father’s will, remained without +territorial possessions (the reversion of the +Osnabrück bishopric had not yet fallen in); and it +was arranged that, in the first instance, John +Frederick should reside at the Court of Celle, and +Ernest Augustus at that of Hanover. The young +Brunswick-Lüneburg Dukes were left without +paternal control in the very period in their lives +when it was most needed by them; for, at the +time of his father’s death in 1641, the eldest, Christian +Lewis, was only nineteen, and the youngest, +Ernest Augustus, eleven years of age. The brothers +had been brought into little contact with the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span>old-fashioned academical training, of which the influence +is recognisable in the Dukes of the elder +branch; and Christian Lewis, whose years of rule +at Hanover left behind them the memory of a +prince of the Mohocks, was incapable of introducing +the refinements of the modern era at Celle. At +the same time he, in this larger sphere, did his duty, +as he understood it, in both Church and State; +staunchly adhering to the Lutheranism of his line, +asserting his ducal authority against the recalcitrance +of the good town of Lüneburg, and providing +himself with the beginnings of a standing army +in defiance of his Estates. His best friend and ally +was the Great Elector of Brandenburg, who afterwards +married, as his second wife, Charles Lewis’ +widow, the Dowager Duchess Dorothea. This +princess, who by birth belonged to the House +of Schleswig-Holstein-Glucksburg, played an important +part in the last years of her second husband, +and, according to the irreverent expression of his +descendant, Frederick the Great, ‘ruled the hero’; +but her interference in the interest of her children +cannot be proved to have gone the length, or to +have produced the effects, frequently attributed to +it.<a id='r64'></a><a href='#f64' class='c008'><sup>[64]</sup></a> The second brother, George William, who was +to occupy so prominent a place in the history of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span>his House and in that of the personal life of Sophia, +was deficient neither in courage nor in insight, and the +constant habit of foreign travel added the charm of +agreeable manners to the attractiveness of an open +and amiable nature. But, after, in his youth, he had +seen some service under Frederick Henry of Orange, +he had cast to the winds military ambition and serious +purpose of any kind, and, leaving his ministers, +as best they might, to carry on his government and +manage his Estates, had with his ‘flying Court’ +(as Sophia calls it) frittered away his time in a +series of visits to Holland and, more especially, to +Venice. During the intervals which he spent at +home in Hanover, he pursued the same round +of frivolous pleasures, intent upon nothing but +‘going a-hunting and making love.’ Announcing +a visit from him at Heidelberg to the Elector Palatine +Charles Lewis, Sophia bids her brother ‘retail +the wicked doings of his own youth in England +for the entertainment of his guest, but not touch +on matters of State; for, though George William +has plenty of wit and judgment, he wastes them +on his jests and trifling amusements.’ As he grew +older, he came to be extolled both as a ‘mighty +Nimrod’ and as a connoisseur in champagne; +but he also, as will be seen, subjected himself to +influences which had the effect of refining his +<span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span>personal tastes and habits, while his intimacy +with King William III could not but impart +strength of purpose to his political action. But +the moral infirmity of the good easy man remained +incurable, and proved a source of sorrow to others +besides Sophia.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The third of the brothers, John Frederick, +like George William, matured his mental powers by +travel rather than by study. But this prince, +whose highest honour it is to have introduced +Leibniz into the service of the House of Guelf, was +not wholly undeserving of the praise lavished on +him after death by the courtly philosopher in both +German prose and Latin verse.<a id='r65'></a><a href='#f65' class='c008'><sup>[65]</sup></a> John Frederick +was at any rate possessed by an ardent ambition, +besides being determined to think out his own +salvation. During a visit to Rome, in the year +of Jubilee, 1650, he was much impressed by the +arguments of Count Christopher von Rantzau, +who, after adopting the irenic ideals of the great +Helmstedt theologian Calixtus, had at Rome been +brought over to Catholicism through the influence +of the eminent convert and convert-maker Holstenius. +In February, 1651, Duke John Frederick +was himself at Assisi received into the Catholic +Church; but it was not till several months later +that his conversion became known. In December +<span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span>of the same year, at the very time when commissioners +sent by his elder brothers had arrived at +Rome to dissuade him from such a step, he made +a public profession of his change of faith. There +is no reason for supposing that the wish for a +Cardinal’s hat was one of the motives that actually +prompted his conversion, though he certainly was +in the course of his life a man of many ambitions—including +the High Mastership of the Germanic +Order, and the Polish Crown. The Cardinalate +desired for, if not by, John Frederick, was bestowed +by Pope Innocent X upon a previous convert of +Holstenius’, Landgrave Frederick of Hesse-Darmstadt; +and, after lengthy negotiations, it was +settled that Duke John Frederick’s <span lang="fr"><i>apanage</i></span> should +be increased on condition of his not returning to +Celle. But the good-natured George William gave +him quarters at Hanover, and even provided +for his private exercise of his religion in the Palace. +This in turn alarmed the Calenberg Estates; and +further difficulties threatened when the convert, +well aware of the vantage-ground which he occupied +by reason of these very difficulties, showed himself +disposed to marry. It was the fear that, in this +event, the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg would +become a Catholic House, which impelled George +William, after he had made up his mind to remain +a bachelor himself, to hasten the marriage of +Ernest Augustus. The religious question thus, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span>already at this point, directly affected the determination +of the future of the dynasty with whose fortunes +Sophia was about to associate her own; nor is it +astonishing that John Frederick should have bitterly +resented the preferential position conceded to +Ernest Augustus, the youngest of the brotherhood.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The future husband of Sophia had, as the +youngest of the sons of his mother, the Duchess +Anna Eleonora, been kept near home in his boyhood. +He had even spent two years at the University +of Marburg, where, in accordance with +servile academic usage, he had filled the office of +<span lang="la"><i>Rector Magnificentissimus</i></span>, and he had afterwards +been elected <em>Coadjutor</em> by the (Lutheran) Chapter of +Magdeburg. This was a suitable preparation for +the succession to the ‘bishopric’ of Osnabrück, +which, in accordance with the provision of the +Peace of Westphalia, was reserved for Ernest +Augustus on the occasion of the next vacancy in +the see. The conduct of this prince was, from the +first, marked by a circumspection which neglected +no opportunity; he was on the best of terms with +both the eldest two of his brothers, and was devotedly +attached to the second, whose companion +he was in a long series of journeys and sojourns +on the Lagoons.<a id='r66'></a><a href='#f66' class='c008'><sup>[66]</sup></a> Thus there established itself +<span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span>between George William and Ernest Augustus a +brotherly intimacy—a <span lang="it"><i>fratellanza</i></span>, to use an +Italian term of almost technical significance—which +goes some way towards explaining how +Sophia’s marriage had been finally brought about. +Ernest Augustus’ affection for his favourite brother +may be regarded as the most attractive feature +in his character; on the whole, his personality +was a stronger though a less pleasing one than +that of George William. Like many of his descendants, +Sophia’s husband had an insatiable liking for +ceremonial and was a stickler for etiquette, albeit, +in the early as well as in the later years of his +married life, his manners appear to have been +remarkably free from restraint in the privacy of +domestic life.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Although Sophia’s marriage had not been +exactly a love-match, in the beginning, as she +joyfully reported to her brother at Heidelberg, all +was roses at Hanover; her husband’s behaviour +made her feel assured that he would love her all the +days of his life, and she idolised him so sincerely +as to think herself lost when deprived of his company. +The two good English ladies who had +adhered to her since she left the Hague were in all +kindness dismissed from her service; one returning +to Holland, and the other being provided with a +<span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span>settlement on the spot; henceforth, the life of Sophia’s +husband was to be her own life. Unluckily, +however, this involved a constant intimate association +with his brother George William, of which +she soon perceived the inconveniences, and which, +but for her sincerity and tact—for she was obliged +to give proof of both qualities—might have placed +her in the falsest of positions. After she had appeased +her husband’s jealous suspicions, the two +brothers joined in pressing her to accompany +them on one of their Italian journeys; but she +was quit for a trip to Holland in the company +of her little niece Elizabeth Charlotte, whom, +as will be seen, her brother had assigned to her care. +After her return to Hanover she gave birth, on May +28th (O.S.), 1660, to her first-born child, George +Lewis, afterwards King George I of Great Britain +and Ireland. The following winter was spent by +her husband in Italy with his brother, according to +his custom; but they accompanied her down the +Rhine from Heidelberg, where she had been staying +with her brother, to Rotterdam, where, as has been +seen, she bade a last farewell to her mother, the +Queen of Bohemia, then on the point of starting +for England. The two Dukes and Sophia soon +afterwards returned to Hanover, in time for the +birth, on October 2nd, 1661, of her second son, +Frederick Augustus. Two months afterwards, the +see of Osnabrück at last fell vacant by the death +<span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span>of the Catholic Bishop, Cardinal Francis William +von Wartenberg. The event (which had been +rumoured to have taken place already two years +earlier) must have been welcome to Sophia, as +relieving her from a position by no means free +from difficulty, although in her letters she makes +no reference to her husband’s jealousy of his brother. +After Ernest Augustus had held his entry at Osnabrück +as Bishop—a ceremony at which, as Sophia +remarks, she felt that her presence would be superfluous,—she +joined him at the castle of Iburg, +which became her residence for many years. The +little Court moved about a good deal between +Osnabrück and Iburg, besides (after a time) occasionally +staying at Celle and at Diepholz, the +former seat of the Counts and <span lang="de"><i>Edelherren</i></span> of Diepholz, +whose line had become extinct in 1585.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The change from Hanover was a delightful +one for the Duchess Sophia; for, apart from the +fact that the Old-town of Hanover, within whose +walls lay the ducal castle, was a sombre and crowded +enclosure very unlike what was destined to become +ultimately one of the most cheerful and attractive +of German capitals, she and her husband had +resided there in a position which, in spite of the +excess of affection surrounding them, remained +one of dependence. They now for the first time +tasted the pleasures, on however small a scale, of +sovereignty. She was, in German fashion, ‘the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span>Bishopess’; when she travelled in France, her +<span lang="la"><i>incognita</i></span> designation was ‘Madame d’Osnabrück.’ +As the old episcopal lodging at Osnabrück was +found inadequate to the ample requirements and +luxurious tastes of the new Bishop,<a id='r67'></a><a href='#f67' class='c008'><sup>[67]</sup></a> he at once set +about buying land and house property of all kinds +with a view to the erection of a suitable episcopal +palace. The building of it seems to have been +begun in 1665, and seriously taken in hand from 1668; +but it was not ready till early in 1673, from which +date Ernest Augustus and Sophia continuously +resided there for the last five or six years before +their removal to Hanover. The palace, which +still stands (it was restored with quite unusual +success by the last King of Hanover), bears the +name of Ernest Augustus on its portal, with the +Arcadian motto <span lang="la"><i>Sola bona quæ honesta</i></span>. The +building erected by Ernest Augustus seems to +have been intended for a direct reminiscence of +the Luxembourg, at a time when Versailles and the +Louvre were only in course of construction, and +was, like its prototype, surrounded by magnificent +gardens, designed by the Bishop’s own gardener, +Martin Charbonnier, whom he had brought from +Paris, and who seems to have been a pupil of Lenôtre. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span>The castle at Iburg was of a similar type of architecture—heavy +but not ineffective—and betrayed +the same lack of finish, due to the inadequacy of +the expenditure upon artistic work.<a id='r68'></a><a href='#f68' class='c008'><sup>[68]</sup></a> Meanwhile, +on the breezy heights of Iburg, as is shown by the +evidence of her own letters and those of the incomparable +Palatine niece whom she carried thither +from Hanover, Sophia spent the happiest if not the +most exciting years of her life. After all, she writes +in her favourite ironical vein, ‘One cannot live more +than once. Why vex one’s soul, if one can eat, +drink and sleep, sleep, drink and eat? All is +vanity.... Tranquillity of the spirit is lovely, +since from it springs our bodily health. Those +whom the Lord loves He blesses in their sleep. +We play at nine-pins, breed young ducks, amuse +ourselves with running at a ring or backgammon, +talk every year of paying a visit to Italy; and in +the meantime things go quite as well as is to be +expected for a petty bishop, who is able to live in +peace and, in case of war, can depend upon the +help of his brothers.’ In the summer an annual +visit was paid to the waters of Pyrmont, and +gradually things became more lively at home—in +1663, we find a company of French musicians engaged +for the pleasure of the Court. As a matter +<span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span>of fact, Sophia, though she was very far from vegetating +in either mental or bodily inactivity, visited +Italy but once, crossing the Alps for the first time in +April, 1664. Nor is there any better or more convincing +proof of her rare powers of observation and +insight than that she should have learnt so much—and +not only as to the beauty of Italian gardens +and the charm of Italian manners—in the course of a +sojourn extending over little more than a twelve-month. +While by no means irresponsive to the +aesthetic attractions of Rome and Florence, she was +the last person to give way to the religious influences +in readiness to be exerted upon her. Loretto +annoyed her; and at Rome, with a spirit which +Sir Henry Wotton would have applauded, she +refused an offering to the Blessed Mary of Victory, +to whom the Emperor Ferdinand II had dedicated +his sceptre in grateful remembrance of the battle +of Prague. At Venice, amidst whose gaieties and +gallantries she found herself altogether ‘<span lang="fr"><i>depaisée</i></span>,’ +though, nevertheless, by no means incapable of +amusing herself, it was brought home to her how +largely religion was used as a cloak in a society +where the nuns made themselves agreeable to +gentlemen and the very churches were used for +the purpose of assignations. Much in the cynical +tone which became habitual to Sophia and to her +intimates is attributable to experiences such as +these, rather than to natural irreverence. An +<span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span>attempt made at Rome to ‘save her soul’ by +bringing her over to Catholicism was so feeble that +she had no difficulty in repelling it; nor could anything +have been better calculated to heighten +the repugnance with which such overtures inspired +her than the want of appreciation of the dignity +of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg, which she +thought observable in the illustrious convert (almost +a <span lang="fr"><i>bête-noire</i></span> to some of the Palatines) Queen Christina +of Sweden, as well as in Pope Alexander VII.</p> + +<p class='c001'>By none of the family was this indifference more +keenly felt than by Sophia’s brother-in-law, Duke +John Frederick, who showed no sign of any wish +that his conversion should remain its own reward. +Sophia was to have reason for congratulating +herself on her discretion in abstaining from receiving +an <span lang="la"><i>incognito</i></span> visit from him at Rome, before he +left the city. For hardly had her husband and she, +in the early spring in 1665, once more set foot in +Germany on their homeward journey, when they +learnt that the eldest of the brothers, Duke Christian +Lewis, had died, and that John Frederick, having +returned from Rome just in time, had made forcible +entry into Celle and Lüneburg, to which he contended +that George William, having once made his +choice of Calenberg-Göttingen, could no longer claim +any right of succession. Inasmuch as the question +between George William and John Frederick, which +the latter thus proposed to settle by a <span lang="fr"><i>coup de main</i></span>, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span>turned on the interpretation of the will of their +father, a bitter <span lang="de"><i>Bruderstreit</i></span> seemed to be announcing +itself; and John Frederick, in his usual sanguine +way, boasted his hopes of both Imperial and French +support for his efforts as a Catholic prince. On +the other hand, the facile temper of George William, +who, moreover, at the time of his more ardent +brother’s incursion, was occupied with his own +private affairs in Holland, might have given John +Frederick a chance, but for the exertions of Count +George Frederick of Waldeek, afterwards celebrated +as the right hand of William of Orange, and for the +intervention of the Elector of Brandenburg. Several +Catholic Estates, such as the Elector of Mainz and +the Bishop of Münster, favoured John Frederick; +on the other hand, Sophia had solicited the diplomatic +intervention of her brother, the Elector +Charles Lewis. After long and angry negotiations, +in which the Scandinavian Powers as well as +France took part, John Frederick had to rest satisfied +with the addition of Grubenhagen to the territories +transferred to his sway from that of George +William, who in his turn entered into possession +of the eldest brother’s portion of Lüneburg-Celle. +The energy of Ernest Augustus, which +had been as conspicuous in these transactions as had +George William’s want of this quality, was rewarded +by the transfer to the Bishop of Osnabrück of the +Countship of Diepholz.</p> + +<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span>We are obliged to refrain from more than +touching upon the remaining course of John Frederick’s +career, and the <span lang="fr"><i>régime</i></span> now established by +him at Hanover—one of the most peculiar of the +vicissitudes undergone by that capital in the course +of its many and changeful experiences. Capuchin +friars once more found a home at Hanover, +which, in days of old, had been a town full of +churches and cloisters; a Vicar Apostolic and Bishop +of Morocco <span lang="la"><i>in partibus</i></span> resided there as the centre +of a propaganda fostered alike by Pope and Emperor.<a id='r69'></a><a href='#f69' class='c008'><sup>[69]</sup></a> +The Jesuits at the same time had a centre +of activity at Hildesheim. But there was no interference +either with the rights of the Lutheran +establishments, or with the claims of free intellectual +enquiry, as represented by those whom John +Frederick’s high-minded liberality drew to his +<span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span>Court, and, above all, by his librarian, Leibniz. +The political ambition of the Duke, who cherished +the design of securing a Ninth Electorate for the +House of Brunswick-Lüneburg a generation before +it was actually accomplished, ranged him on the +side of France in the chief political conflict of his +times, and thus led him to stand in opposition, +not only to the interests of the Empire, but also +to the policy, on which his brothers finally determined, +of resisting the action of Louis XIV. On +the other hand, it was John Frederick who set his +younger brother the example of a firm monarchical +administration, and who took the all-important +step of providing this administration with the +support of a standing army (two-thirds of which +he was, however, pledged by a secret treaty to +hand over as auxiliaries to France). But, before +the issues of the great European contest in which +he was prepared to sustain the part chosen by him +finally declared themselves, he was overtaken +by death, on his last journey towards his beloved +Italy, in 1679. Many ambitions, as has been seen, +had fretted his (far from pygmy) body. It was +natural that, estranged as he was from his brothers, +he should have hoped himself to become the founder +of a dynasty; and it was equally inevitable that +his brother Ernest Augustus and his sister-in-law +Sophia, who were already intent upon guarding in +every way the interests of their own descendants, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span>should have shown scant sympathy with his matrimonial +projects, which were, as a matter of course, +directed to securing the hand of a Catholic princess. +Towards this end no aid could be more effective, +as none was more ready, than that of Sophia’s +sister-in-law, the ‘<span lang="fr"><i>Princesse Palatine</i></span>’ (Anne of +Gonzaga), in whose dexterous hold were successively +gathered the threads of so many marriage-schemes +calculated to advance the interests of France, and +approving themselves to the Church of Rome. +The <span lang="fr"><i>Princesse Palatine</i></span> accordingly apprised John +Frederick, whose ambition was at the time occupied +with thoughts of the next vacancy on the Polish +throne, that an alliance with one of her and Prince +Edward’s daughters might ease the way to such a +goal:—‘<span lang="fr"><i>pour cela, il faut commencer avec le mariage</i></span>.’ +The negotiations for the match were carried on by +the busy French diplomatic agent de Gourville, +who, during these years and again at a later date, +was employed by the Government of Louis XIV +in the task of trying to win over the Brunswick +Dukes to the interests of France, and whose <span lang="fr"><cite>Memoirs</cite></span> +are thus a notable source of information concerning +their Courts and their policy.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The danger with which Sophia and her husband +found themselves ‘<span lang="fr"><i>toujours menassés</i></span>’ was realised, +when, in 1667, John Frederick gave his hand to the +youngest of Edward’s daughters, Benedicta Henrica. +But, though two daughters were born to John +<span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span>Frederick (the elder of whom, Charlotte Felicitas, +afterwards became Duchess of Modena, while the +second, as the consort of Joseph I, attained to the +dignity of Empress), his hopes were not crowned +by the birth of a son. Of the Duchess Benedicta, +who, as a Catholic, was excluded from the English +Succession, to which, in her later years, she had +the first claim by birth among the surviving descendants +of the Queen of Bohemia, Sophia’s correspondence +contains occasional kindly mention; +though there was little trace of the high spirit of the +Palatines in the gentle and sombre-featured widow +of the massive John Frederick. His own soaring +ambition and imperious will isolate his memory in +the annals of his House, while the shadowy figure +of his consort has come to be all but forgotten in the +history of the English Succession.</p> + +<p class='c001'>It may be convenient to note in this place that, +owing to the attack made by ‘Münster’s prelate,’ +as an ally of Charles II of England, upon the United +Provinces, the States-General had appealed for aid +to George William and Ernest Augustus, who duly +arrived in their support. In return, the Bishop of +Münster threatened the city of Osnabrück, where +Sophia and her children accordingly had to take +up their abode during the winter 1665-6, under +the protection of the Bishop’s troops, Iburg being +too exposed to be safe. It would have been a +curious accident if this Bishop’s war had ended in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span>any mischance, by which the future Heiress of +Great Britain should have been taken prisoner by the +ally of its King. In June, 1666, Sophia was enabled +to return to the ‘delightful solitude’ of Iburg. +The autumn and winter of 1666 she spent chiefly +at Osnabrück, while her husband and his brother +were carrying on operations against Sweden in +defence of the city of Bremen.</p> + +<p class='c001'>At the time of the negotiations which ended +in the establishment of Duke George William +at Celle, and of Duke John Frederick at Hanover, +their youngest brother, Ernest Augustus, and his +faithful Duchess were much exercised in spirit +by the beginnings of another family trouble, of +which the course was to be more protracted and the +consequences far more enduring. For some time +George William’s brother and sister-in-law had been +disquieted by the attentions paid by the amorous +Duke to Mademoiselle Eleonora d’Olbreuze, who, +in 1665, when he first made her acquaintance at the +Hague, was lady-in-waiting to the Princess (Henry +Charles) of Taranto, by birth a Princess of Hesse-Cassel. +The <span lang="la"><i>animus</i></span> of Sophia, which renders it +necessary to treat with the utmost caution any +statement made by her or hers in the present connexion, +is evident from her earliest mention of +the lady who was to be the object of her long and +bitter hatred, as ‘<span lang="fr"><i>une fille qui estoit à la princesse de +Tarente</i></span>.’ Mademoiselle d’Olbreuze sprang from +<span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span>an ancient Poitevin family which belonged to the +minor nobility of a province long full of Huguenot +sympathies, and which held a leading position in +the oligarchy, as it has been called, that charged +itself with the religious and intellectual interests +of Protestantism in these regions.<a id='r70'></a><a href='#f70' class='c008'><sup>[70]</sup></a> That she +was exceptionally endowed with an ability including +a great deal besides tact, is abundantly clear +not only from the success of her manœuvres for +raising herself, and afterwards her child, to such +greatness as was attainable by them, but also from +her living to be chosen as the spokeswoman of the +House of Brunswick-Lüneburg on a memorable +occasion in its history. Nor can there be any doubt +but that her intellectual influence was a refining one, +while her personality must have possessed a charm +which is hardly suggested by such portraiture of +her as remains. Sophia, after having, apparently +through Mademoiselle d’Olbreuze’s own judicious +prudence, been spared her company in Italy, had +found herself constrained, by her husband’s anxiety +to please his brother, to bring her over almost in +state from Hertogenbosch to Iburg; and, though +the <span lang="fr"><cite>Memoirs</cite></span> refer with scorn to the Frenchwoman’s +real or pretended conquests before that of George +William, Sophia is obliged to confess that she found +the intruder both modest and pleasant of speech, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span>and altogether very amiable. Thus it is clear that +she prepared with consummate skill the first upward +step on which so much depended, and which she +actually accomplished in November, 1665. On +the solemn occasion of the funeral of Duke Christian +Lewis, the whole family, including his widow, +his brothers George William and Ernest Augustus, +and Sophia, met at Celle; and to this august conclave +the new ‘Duke of Celle,’ as he was now so +usually called, made known what Sophia terms his +‘anti-contract’ of marriage with Eleonora d’Olbreuze, +and what, in other words, was his recognition +of her as his mistress <span lang="fr"><i>en titre</i></span>. In this document, +signed by his brother and sister-in-law, as well as +by his mistress and himself, George William repeated +his promise to remain unmarried, which he declared +to have been dictated by his affection for his brother, +and by a desire to consult his interests and those +of his children. Mademoiselle d’Olbreuze, who +had innocently begged that she might henceforth +bear the name of Madame de Celle, had instead +to put up with that of Madame de Harburg, by +which, as Sophia rather savagely adds, she continued +to be known for the next ten years.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Sophia and her husband seem at first to have +regarded this revised arrangement, which was substantially +quite in accordance with German as +well as Italian precedents, as on the whole likely +to ensure what to them was naturally the main +<span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span>point, the continuance of George William’s bachelorhood. +In September, 1666, his mistress bore him +a daughter, the ill-fated Sophia Dorothea. From +the same year onward, Ernest Augustus and his +wife’s own family rapidly increased, by the birth, +in December, of their third son, impartially christened +Maximilian William after the Catholic Elector +of Cologne and the Protestant Elector of Brandenburg, +and the births of their daughter Sophia +Charlotte, in 1668, and of their sons Charles Philip, +Christian, and Ernest Augustus, in 1669, 1671, and +1674 respectively. Sophia’s love for her children +forms, perhaps because of the perfectly natural +expression which she gives to so natural an affection, +a most delightful feature of her personality. This +love enveloped alike the more and the less gifted, +the successful and the unlucky, the phlegmatic +and mild-mannered, though ungainly ‘Brunswicker’ +(her eldest son, George Lewis), and the fearless little +spitfire of a ‘Palatine’ (her second son, Frederick +Augustus)—as she described them in their early +days. We shall see how her tenderly loved only +daughter’s bright and enquiring spirit also commended +her to her mother’s intellectual sympathies; +but her motherly heart flowed out towards all her +sons, and even the inexpansive nature of the eldest +seems to have in a measure warmed towards her. +But she could only with difficulty reconcile herself +to a policy which made it necessary to sacrifice +<span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span>the interests of his younger brothers to his, or rather +to those of the House as a whole; and even among +these younger brothers themselves, it would almost +seem as if her anxiety, like a true mother’s, had been +deepest for those who most needed support. Thus +we find her, when both Frederick Augustus and +Charles Philip were serving the Emperor in arms, +pitifully pointing out to Leibniz how the younger +of the pair was not ‘<span lang="fr"><cite>si chiche de ses sollicitations</cite></span>’ +nor ‘<span lang="fr"><i>si misanthrope</i></span>’ as his brother, and succeeded +better accordingly. Yet his prosperity, too, she +had at heart; nor could she suppress the thought +that the sum spent on the purchase of a regiment +for him by his father was less than what the latter +had on occasion been known to lose at the basset-table.</p> + +<p class='c001'>In these earlier years, however, before the +deeper anxieties of her motherhood had yet come +to Sophia, although the happiness of her life was +already beginning to centre in her children, it owed +much to the presence at Hanover and Iburg of the +niece, who had become to all intents and purposes +her adopted child. From her fourth to her eleventh +year, Elizabeth Charlotte, the Elector Palatine’s +only daughter by his unhappy first marriage, was +the constant companion of her aunt, to whom this +joyous period of intimacy sufficed to bind her heart +and soul during a long life of trials. It was in a +happy moment that her father resolved upon sending +<span class='pageno' id='Page_173'>173</span>his child, in the company of her governess (afterwards, +as Frau von Harling, one of the most +favoured recipients of Elizabeth Charlotte’s flow +of confidences), to what became the home of her +heart, and was, in after days, the perennial refuge +of her thoughts. As a child ‘Liselotte’—so she +was familiarly called—was the very incarnation of +high spirits and natural gaiety, delighting in air and +movement like the leaves which the wind drives +before its blast; hence the sobriquet, untranslateable +but conjuring up a world of fairies and imps of +mischief, by which she liked to speak of herself, +even when cribbed and confined amidst the royal +splendours of Versailles. <span lang="de"><i>Rauschenblattenknechtchen</i></span> +never forgot either the homely comforts of +Hanover in meat and drink, or the airy freedom +of the heights of Iburg; and for its <span lang="fr"><i>châtelaine</i></span>, +for her virtues and her wisdom, for her high intellectual +powers, and for the charm of her style, +she conceived a loving admiration, which long +outlived its object, and which found expression +in many volumes of letters, brimful, from the +first to the last, of quick observation, animated +comment, and a piquant or pleasantly malicious +wit, relieved here and there by touches of an equally +irresistible natural pathos. So early as 1663, Liselotte +was, to her unfeigned sorrow, summoned back +to Heidelberg by her father, whom her mother’s +departure to Cassel had at last enabled to arrange +<span class='pageno' id='Page_174'>174</span>his family life after his own fashion. Sophia deeply +regretted her niece’s departure from Iburg, where, +as she wrote, they had led a vagabond life together; +but, with her usual common-sense and self-control, +she declared it quite in order that the Infanta of +the Palatinate should be brought up at a Court like +Heidelberg, rather than down in Westphalia, where +her kinsfolk had lived in simple <span lang="fr"><i>bourgeois</i></span> condition +and seen few people. To her changed home +Elizabeth Charlotte’s nature, readily susceptible to +kindness, without difficulty accommodated itself +during seven further happy years. The moral +atmosphere in which they were spent was that of a +religious tolerance springing partly from kindliness +of disposition and partly from indifference; the +epoch of religious strife seemed over, and another +at hand, of less fettered thought and philosophic +speculation. Into this new movement it was easy +to enter superficially, encouraged by the lofty +aspirations for a reunion of Christendom that +occupied some of the foremost among contemporary +thinkers. From these influences, of whose effect +upon the Elector Palatine Charles Lewis and his +favourite sister Sophia note has already been taken, +so receptive a mind as that of his Elizabeth Charlotte +was not likely to escape; and they undoubtedly +help to account for the process of the conversion which +ominously preceded a marriage destined to alter +the whole course of her life. To the ‘<span lang="fr"><cite>Princesse +<span class='pageno' id='Page_175'>175</span>Palatine</cite></span>’ (Anne of Gonzaga) and her allies no path +seemed impracticable that led to Rome; and, in +the case of the niece, no such apparatus of argument +was required as had to be set in motion when the +attempt was made at a later date to work upon +the mind of the Duchess Sophia and her husband +through the pertinacious fervour of Madame de +Brinon and the swooping condescension of the +‘Eagle of Meaux.’ For Elizabeth Charlotte was +constrained by the instinct of filial obedience, her +father having persuaded himself that the welfare +of the Palatinate necessitated, together with the +sacrifice of his daughter’s happiness, the ignoring +of her conscience. That in this calculation he, +as was indicated above, terribly deceived himself, +and that the bond thus knit proved the ruin of +the land which it was intended to benefit, only +enhances and deepens the cruel irony of the whole +transaction. A marriage had been arranged between +Elizabeth Charlotte and Louis XIV’s brother, +the Duke of Orleans (whose first consort, +Charles II’s sister Henrietta, had died in 1670, +in circumstances long regarded as suspicious); +and, though no mention of the subject of religion +had been made in the contract, her conversion +to the Church of Rome was regarded as an indispensable +preliminary step to its execution, and it +was necessary that this step should seem to have +been taken spontaneously. She was accordingly +<span class='pageno' id='Page_176'>176</span>prepared for it by her father’s secretary,<a id='r71'></a><a href='#f71' class='c008'><sup>[71]</sup></a> to the +diversity of whose historical and philosophical +learning two volumes of <cite>Chevreana</cite> survive to +testify. Hereupon she was taken to Strassburg, +whither her aunt the Duchess Sophia also found +her way to meet her and her father, but where also +appeared the presiding genius of the whole business, +the ‘<span lang="fr"><i>Princesse Palatine</i></span>.’ After the sojourn at +Strassburg—where aunt and niece parted—Elizabeth +Charlotte passed on to Metz, where she was received +into the Church of Rome, and thence into her new +married life. The religious comedy was completed +by a letter from her to her father entreating his +pardon for her change of faith, and by his reply, +the really contemptible part of the process, making +pretence of a virtuous indignation. Whatever +Elizabeth Charlotte’s feelings may have been at +the time, she afterwards made no secret of the +matter to her aunt Sophia, and frequently dwelt +upon her aunt’s share in the transaction. ‘It was +you,’ she says on one occasion, ‘who made me a +Catholic’; and, when Duke Antony Ulric had gone +over to Rome, ‘Why,’ she asks, ‘should you be +so sorry, when you are such a fine convert-maker +yourself?’<a id='r72'></a><a href='#f72' class='c008'><sup>[72]</sup></a> But, though the constraint which had +<span class='pageno' id='Page_177'>177</span>been put upon her never ceased to rankle in her +mind, and though her conversion was not consummated +without some rubs and some qualms, these +feelings perhaps never went very deep. Her real +grief, which made her ‘cry all through the night +from Strassburg to Chalons,’ was at parting from +her German home and its associations, in which her +whole heart was wrapped up; and of this parting +the enforced change of religious profession was +merely an incident. ‘ Between ourselves,’ she +afterwards wrote to her aunt, out of her gilded +exile, ‘I was stuck here against my will; here I must +live and here I must die, whether I like it or not.’</p> + +<p class='c001'>And so the genial daughter of the Palatinate, +true of heart and sound in body and mind, became +the wife of a feeble and effeminate voluptuary, +devoid of all character or will of his own, and by him +the mother of a prince who, though neither incapable +nor ill-meaning, typified the decadence of that +<span class='pageno' id='Page_178'>178</span>France which he was called to rule as Regent. +But with this long second stage of her life we cannot +concern ourselves here. About August, 1679, she +had the pleasure of a visit from the Duchess Sophia, +who, as already noted, came to France at that time +to see her sister at Maubuisson. The aunt found +her beloved niece stouter, but in excellent spirits. +On the invitation of the Duke of Orleans the +Duchess Sophia was present at Fontainebleau on +the occasion of the wedding of the Duke’s daughter +by his first marriage to the King of Spain (Charles +II); and, though she kept up her <span lang="la"><i>incognito</i></span>, King +Louis XIV called upon her, and charmed her by +his conversation, which he magnanimously turned +to the success of the Hanoverian arms at the bridge +of Conz, mentioned below. For the rest, the sacrifice +of which, for all her philosophy of good humour, +Elizabeth Charlotte was the conscious victim, +was, as we know, not only made in vain, but brought +upon her father’s and her own beloved Palatinate, +in the shape of the so-called ‘Orleans War’ (1688-90), +consequences which were the direct opposite of those +intended by him, and which caused her many +days and nights of anguish. During the half-century +of her exile—for down to the day of her +death, in 1722, she never saw the Palatinate again—though +she held her head high, with eyes undazzled +even by the closest propinquity to the sun, +there was hardly an experience of bitterness and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_179'>179</span>disappointment which she was not fated to undergo; +and through all she had but one consolation, +which was her pen. She wrote because she loved +her correspondents, but also because she loved the +relief of writing, and the opportunities thus afforded +of self-expansion and of free expression for the +loves and hatreds of her soul. That—in the days +of Louis XIV—her letters would be opened, +so as to ascertain the working of her Protestant +sympathies, and perhaps of her interest in the +English Succession question, troubled her not a +whit; if her insults to Madame de Maintenon—apparently +quite unprovoked, and certainly, in +a large measure, baseless—were made known to +their object, this was so much gain to their author. +Yet, after every deduction has been made on account +of the pride, the jealousy, the personal and +other prejudices, and the perennial impatience +which weariness of heart had made second nature +to the kindly-hearted Palatine, her picture of the +Court of Louis XIV, in the latter half of his reign, +possesses a historical value which is only surpassed +by its general human interest.<a id='r73'></a><a href='#f73' class='c008'><sup>[73]</sup></a> It is, above all, in +Elizabeth Charlotte’s letters to Sophia, and in the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_180'>180</span>references to <span lang="fr"><i>ma tante</i></span> in those addressed to her +various other correspondents, that the pathetic +side of her humour asserts itself, together with the +malicious; nor has the whole literature of confidences +any second example quite comparable to +this, either in volume or in the directness of its +derivation from nature’s self.</p> + +<p class='c021'>We return to Osnabrück and Iburg, whither +Elizabeth Charlotte longed to fly, tying herself to +the end of a ribbon transmitted by her as a sample +of the fashions of Versailles. So long as the relations +between Duke George William and Madame +de Harburg remained unchanged, Ernest Augustus +or his descendants were assured of the Succession +in Celle and Lüneburg; for it had been finally +settled with John Frederick that the right of further +option, against which he had formerly protested, +had now determined. John Frederick’s marriage, +in 1668, seemed to cut off from Ernest Augustus +and his line the prospect of succeeding in +Hanover likewise, until John Frederick, whose +hopes of a son and heir had been repeatedly +disappointed, died in 1679 without having seen +them fulfilled. Thus, during these years, it was upon +the Succession at Celle that the ambition of Ernest +Augustus and Sophia was concentrated; nor had +they for some time any reason to fear that their +wishes would be thwarted by George William. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_181'>181</span>Indeed, his acceptance of the existing situation +seemed clear from his endeavours to secure, by +means of a series of treaty arrangements, a large +private estate in land to his children by Madame +de Harburg. The early death of all of these, with +the sole exception of the eldest, Sophia Dorothea, +born in September, 1666, eventually made her a +wealthy heiress; but some time passed before her +father abandoned all expectation of a son, and a +disquieting rumour reached Osnabrück that, if +George William’s mistress were to present him with +the desired heir, it was his intention to marry her, +his ‘anti-contract’ notwithstanding. As there had +been precedents in plenty for the promise,<a id='r74'></a><a href='#f74' class='c008'><sup>[74]</sup></a> so it +might no doubt be possible to find others for +setting it aside. Already, Eleonora was tactfully +asserting herself at Celle, and her personality was +becoming the dominant power in the ducal Court. +Some of her Poitevin relations held high office +there; and, though the fact that other Frenchmen +of family entered the military service both of +George William and of his brother the Bishop +was, at the time, by no means an exceptional +<span class='pageno' id='Page_182'>182</span>phenomenon, yet it added to the significance of an +influence which the policy of Louis XIV might +just then deem worth cultivating.<a id='r75'></a><a href='#f75' class='c008'><sup>[75]</sup></a> For the Brunswick +Dukes were, from the time of the Triple Alliance +(1668) onwards, political personages of much +interest both to France and to her adversaries, and +had, two years earlier, even seemed to have some +chance of subsidies from a Government more in the +habit of receiving than granting them—the Government +of Charles II. After John Frederick of Hanover +had, as has been seen, decided finally to throw in +his lot with France, his brothers George William and +Ernest Augustus continued to be solicited by her +diplomacy; and it was with the palpable purpose of +gaining over the former and more important of the +pair, that, in 1671, de Gourville was instructed to +question him by presenting a royal ordinance, +naturalising his daughter by Madame de Harburg in +France as ‘<span lang="fr"><i>Demoiselle Sophia-Dorothée de Brunswick +et de Lunebourg</i></span>.’ But the bait was too minute.<a id='r76'></a><a href='#f76' class='c008'><sup>[76]</sup></a> +Larger issues were involved, and, though in 1671, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_183'>183</span>apprehensive of the consequences which a bolder +policy might have for the safety of his bishopric, +Ernest Augustus actually entered into a treaty +of neutrality for two years with France, George +William was by his far-sighted Chancellor, Baron +Lewis Justus von Schütz,<a id='r77'></a><a href='#f77' class='c008'><sup>[77]</sup></a> prevailed upon to stand +firm. When the invasion of the United Provinces +of the Netherlands took place in 1672, Duke +George William ranged himself on the side of +the adversaries of the French invader, and very +soon Ernest Augustus followed suit. In 1674, +George William, accompanied by Ernest Augustus, +was in command of the Brunswick-Lüneburg +troops forming part of the imperial army opposed +to Marshal Turenne, the devastator of the Palatinate, +in Alsace; and, in the following year, the Bishop +of Osnabrück and his eldest son George Lewis +achieved a brilliant military success at the bridge +of Conz, and followed it up by taking part in the +recovery of Treves. Before leaving Osnabrück +for this campaign, Ernest Augustus had handsomely +raised his consort’s dowry to an annual +income of 16,000 dollars. ‘I hope,’ she wrote, +‘that I shall never need it, and that the Parcæ +<span class='pageno' id='Page_184'>184</span>will allow him to survive me.’ On this occasion +he returned wreathed in laurels. At Osnabrück an +imposing triumphal arch was erected by ‘the +dancing-master Jemme,’ and all the princes and +princesses at the little Court joined in a dance given +in his garden by the same public-spirited professor. +In 1675, they took part in the war carried on by +the Empire against Sweden, which they helped to +oust for a time from the duchies of Bremen and +Verden. To allies so loyal and so useful as the two +Dukes, no reasonable favour could be refused by +the Emperor Leopold, who was manifestly unaware +of the conflict between the desires of the elder and +the interests of the younger brother. (It is interesting, +as an illustration of the consistent dynastic +policy of Ernest Augustus, that, when in 1674, +after some cautious hesitation, he had concluded +a ten years’ league with the Emperor, the United +Provinces, and Spain, he procured the insertion +in the compact of a clause binding the States-General +to use their whole influence in the peace +negotiations in favour of his bishopric of Osnabrück +being turned into a secular principality.) In July, +1674, a patent issued from the Vienna Chancery, +granting to Madame de Harburg, for herself and her +children, the hereditary title of Countess of the +Empire (<span lang="de"><i>Reichsgräfin</i></span>) of Wilhelmsburg—the designation +of the landed property between Hamburg +and Harburg settled upon her and her descendants +<span class='pageno' id='Page_185'>185</span>by her protector. At the same time, the Empress +Eleonora, a scion of the Catholic Neuburg branch +of the Palatine House, conferred upon her namesake +at Celle the Order of the Female Slaves of +Virtue, hitherto reserved for princesses. Soon +afterwards, the right was secured to Eleonora’s +daughter Sophia Dorothea, in the event of her +marrying a prince, of bearing the arms of the +House of Brunswick and of being recognised as +herself belonging to that House. The name of the +prince who was to secure the prize of the heiress’ +hand while thus raising her in advance of her +mother, to the coveted rank, was no longer a secret: +it was Augustus Frederick, the youthful eldest son +of Duke Antony Ulric of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. +Antony Ulric was at the time, though co-regent +with his elder brother, involved in debt and prepared +to bring about a rise in the prospects of his +family, even by means of a matrimonial connexion +in other respects not a little dubious. For the +conclusion of this match Sophia Dorothea’s legitimation +was indispensable; but her aunt, the +Duchess Sophia, indignantly relates that a shorter +and readier way of reaching this end was suggested +to her brother-in-law by his Chancellor Schütz. +He advised the Duke to marry Sophia Dorothea’s +mother. Schütz was the most capable politician +in his master’s Court, and served him, as his son-in-law +Bernstorff afterwards served Ernest Augustus +<span class='pageno' id='Page_186'>186</span>and his son, with equal fidelity and distinction. +There is no reason for attributing sordid motives +to the advice which this petty Wolsey gave to his +easy despot—that he should take the course on +which his heart might not unnaturally be supposed +to be set. For the moment, the incomplete step +of securing a patent of legitimacy for his daughter +was deemed sufficient; but, very soon, Eleonora, or +Eleonora’s ally, prompted by the restless Antony +Ulric, again entered into campaign. At first, a +morganatic marriage, with renewed safeguards +for Ernest Augustus and his line, was suggested; +then, a preliminary attempt was made to place the +lady on a level with her lord, by obtaining for her +the title of Princess. The Duchess Sophia was on +the alert, and cites at length a letter which she +wrote to her brother-in-law in order to avert the +impending thunderbolt, and his bland reply assuring +her that it would prove absolutely harmless to her +family. In April, 1676, the marriage of George +William and Eleonora, who still remained Countess +of Wilhelmsburg only, was celebrated at Celle; +and nothing could, on the face of it, be more reassuring +than the treaty which followed in May, and +which, while guaranteeing the Succession in George +William’s dominions to his brother and his brother’s +descendants, actually provided that the oaths of +allegiance taken by his subjects in future should +be sworn to his brother as well as to himself. It +<span class='pageno' id='Page_187'>187</span>seemed to Sophia that this procedure might opportunely +have been set on foot when George William’s +wife was again expected to present him with a son. +Meanwhile Eleonora speedily achieved the remainder +of her ascent; in April, 1676, Sophia had to learn +that the Frenchwoman—in her intimate correspondence +this designation would have been avoided +as colourless—was prayed for in church at Celle, +as if she were the reigning Duchess; and, soon +afterwards, the final blow descended, when it +became known that the Emperor’s envoy had saluted +her by the title of Highness. Sophia expresses +herself, with not undeserved contempt, as to the +excuse preferred by George William, that he could not +help obliging one whom others called his wife. From +the silence which, in the remaining pages of Sophia’s +<span lang="fr"><cite>Memoirs</cite></span>, ensues on a topic which cannot fail to have +continued to exercise her patience, we infer that, +though it was very long before either she, or anyone +who cared for her, had a good word for the Duchess +of Celle, the common-sense which no kind of emotion +ever extinguished in her induced her to abandon +the struggle against the inevitable. She consoled +herself, as she told her favourite niece, with the +reflexion that, whatever title the intruder might +herself bear, no son of hers could ever be more +than a Count of Wilhelmsburg, and that George +William might still be trusted, in the event of a son +being born to him, to keep his promise to his brother. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_188'>188</span>The Duchess of Orleans did her best to promulgate +this faith to unbelieving or indifferent listeners at +Versailles; but it was not in this way that Sophia’s +half-pathetic trust in her <span lang="fr"><i><a id='corr188.4'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='çi-devant'>ci-devant</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_188.4'><ins class='correction' title='çi-devant'>ci-devant</ins></a></span></i></span> lover was destined +to be put to the proof.<a id='r78'></a><a href='#f78' class='c008'><sup>[78]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c001'>The influence of the Duchess of Celle upon her +husband’s mode of life, and upon the tone of his +Court, was altogether so excellent that we may +without much hesitation discredit her sister-in-law’s +insinuations as to the bringing-up of George William +and Eleonora’s only surviving child, the ill-fated +Sophia Dorothea. The engagement which had +<span class='pageno' id='Page_189'>189</span>actually been concluded between her and the youthful +Prince Augustus Frederick of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel +came to a sudden end by his death +in August, 1676, from wounds received at the siege +of Philippsburg; and the attempt of his father +Duke Antony Ulric to secure the hand of the heiress +for one of his younger sons met with no ready +acceptance. Other suitors appeared or were spoken +of: the young Hereditary Governor of Friesland, +Henry Casimir of Nassau-Dietz, who was recommended +to George William by his cousinhood with +William III of Orange, and Prince George of Denmark, +for whom fate had in store the splendid, if +not in all respects enviable, position of consort to an +English Queen. Curiously enough, the hand of +the Princess Anne had at this time been also thought +to be within reach of Ernest Augustus and Sophia’s +eldest son George Lewis, who paid a visit to England +from December, 1680, to the following March. +But for him, too, a different destiny was reserved; +nor, if the account of a most sagacious observer and +true friend is to be trusted, had this particular +honour ever been coveted either by the Prince +himself or at Hanover—for this among other reasons, +that Princess Anne’s birth on the mother’s side +was from a very second-rate family. The Prince +had, accordingly, taken very little trouble in the +matter; so that, when he left England, it was +thought that the marriage would never take place—all +<span class='pageno' id='Page_190'>190</span>of which things Queen Anne never forgot.<a id='r79'></a><a href='#f79' class='c008'><sup>[79]</sup></a> +Before long a project of dynastic ambition ripened, +as we must conclude, in the minds of the brothers +at Celle and Osnabrück, which, if carried out, +besides serving the immediate end of replenishing +the resources exhausted by the extravagant life +of Ernest Augustus, would go far towards ensuring +the ultimate union of all the dominions of the Brunswick-Lüneburg +line. As to the former purpose, +it probably weighed heavily with Sophia’s husband, +whose expenditure on travel abroad and on pomp +and ceremony at home had long been excessive, +and who had more recently added to his self-indulgences +the costly luxury of a mistress <span lang="fr"><i>en titre</i></span>, +in the person of Clara Elizabeth von Meysenbug, since +1673, by her marriage to one of Ernest Augustus’ +chief courtiers, Baroness von Platen.<a id='r80'></a><a href='#f80' class='c008'><sup>[80]</sup></a> It would +not be easy to show from Sophia’s letters how she +was affected by a <span lang="fr"><i>liaison</i></span> which lasted during her +husband’s lifetime; one quite welcomes the late +<span class='pageno' id='Page_191'>191</span>indication afforded by her remark, on the occasion +of the visit of the Tsar Peter the Great, in 1697, +that in Russia all women paint, and that this was +why Countess Platen so much charmed the Muscovites. +Of her personal power over Ernest Augustus, +and of certain other features in her history and +that of her family, something will have to be said +below; but it may be as well to point out that there +is no satisfactory evidence to show that she played +the part ascribed to her in the tragedy to be +noticed below. This was not Ernest Augustus’ +only infidelity, for about the same date we hear +of a relation between him and one ‘Esther,’ a <span lang="fr"><i>femme +de chambre</i></span> in the service of his wife.<a id='r81'></a><a href='#f81' class='c008'><sup>[81]</sup></a> Sophia, from +whom her husband’s affections were thus being +alienated, after she had borne him six children, +seems at first to have felt anything but satisfaction +at the project of a marriage between her eldest son, +George Lewis, and his cousin, Sophia Dorothea; +indeed, in a letter of November, 1677, the Duchess +of Orleans, as her aunt’s faithful echo, profanely +denounces the union of such a creature with so +worthy a young prince as a sin against the Holy +Ghost. In 1679, Sophia describes the pill as +difficult to swallow, though adequately gilded, and +adds that, for her part, she would have preferred +<span class='pageno' id='Page_192'>192</span>a daughter of John Frederick of Hanover with a +third of the gilding. But, three years later, in 1682, +the Duchess of Orleans treats the marriage as an +accomplished fact. ‘She will,’ she observes, ‘imitate +the discretion of her aunt;’ but ‘like the parrot +of the Duke of Savoy, though she holds her tongue, +she thinks a great deal.’ A large amount of fiction, +the origin of which is traceable to the same tainted +source—a ‘historical’ novel published, nearly a +generation afterwards, by the ingenious but far +from disinterested Duke Antony Ulric<a id='r82'></a><a href='#f82' class='c008'><sup>[82]</sup></a>—has accumulated +round the supposed exertions of Sophia to +induce her brother-in-law, despite the reluctance +of his wife, to approve the sacrifice of their daughter. +All we know is that, by 1681, the tone of Ernest +Augustus and Sophia towards Eleonora had entirely +changed; and it is clear what had made both the +parents of the ‘worthy’ Prince George Lewis intent +upon bringing the matter to a conclusion. About +this time, Ernest Augustus had conceived the design +of obtaining the Emperor’s consent to the postulation +of one of his sons as his successor in the bishopric +of Osnabrück, notwithstanding the express provision +of the Peace of Westphalia that it should +be alternately held by a Catholic and a Lutheran. +Sophia was quite prepared to drive a coach and +four through that settlement, and let the Catholics +<span class='pageno' id='Page_193'>193</span>afterwards appoint two bishops in succession if they +chose. But this would have been a merely temporary +gain for the House. At the close of the year +1679, as has been seen, John Frederick of Hanover +had died without leaving a son; and to Ernest +Augustus, on succeeding to his principality, the +prospect of an enduring greatness for himself and +his dynasty at last clearly opened. If the cordial +relations between his surviving brother and himself +could be maintained, the actual union in his hands, +or in those of his descendants, of the entire territories +of the Brunswick-Lüneburg House, was now merely +a matter of time; and on the possession of so extensive +and solid a dominion his dynastic ambition +would be warranted in basing ulterior designs. +Already personages of the greatest political consequence +in Europe began to interest themselves in +the fortunes of the House of Hanover, and in the +immediate scheme of a marriage promising results +of so high an importance. Hardly had Ernest +Augustus and Sophia held their entry at Hanover, +when, by the express advice of William of Orange, +they at once recognised the ducal title of Eleonora. +In the same year the august counsel of Louis XIV, +still hopeful of conciliating the goodwill of the +Brunswick-Lüneburg Dukes, was bestowed in favour +of the match, through his minister at Celle, the +Marquis d’Arcy, to whom the Duchess Eleonora +spoke with gratification of the civilities of her +<span class='pageno' id='Page_194'>194</span>sister-in-law. The Estates of Celle-Lüneburg, on +the one hand, and those of Calenberg (Hanover), +on the other, with a docility surprising after their +former insistence on continued separation, declared +that, if the marriage was actually concluded, they +would consent to the establishment of the principle +of primogeniture; and a law establishing this +principle, the very coping-stone of Ernest Augustus’ +dynastic policy, received the Imperial sanction +in 1683, though it was only promulgated in the +Brunswick-Lüneburg dominions, as part of the will +of Ernest Augustus, on his death fifteen years +afterwards. This provision was to entail upon +Sophia even more personal unhappiness than the +marriage of her eldest son itself; but a renunciation +of her own wishes had by this time become +a law of her life.</p> + +<p class='c001'>In September, 1682, the Duchess Sophia informed +her ubiquitous correspondent, the Abbé +Balati, that henceforth Hanover and Celle would +reckon as a single State—a result so advantageous +as to warrant defiance of the German genealogical +scruple about being equally grand on both sides of +the tree. Prince George Lewis had made up his +mind, and his mother trusted that he had done so +under a good constellation.<a id='r83'></a><a href='#f83' class='c008'><sup>[83]</sup></a> On November the 21st +following, the wedding of George Lewis and Sophia +<span class='pageno' id='Page_195'>195</span>Dorothea took place at Celle, and was celebrated +by Leibniz (such are the vicissitudes of Court life) +in indifferent French verse. Nothing is known as +to the early married life of a husband and wife +who were no better, though perhaps not much +worse, assorted than most couples united under +similar conditions. Sophia Dorothea’s was an +indolent and emotional nature; the habits of +George Lewis were active; he was fond of the +camp and the chase; and his bearing was characterised +by a reserve which afterwards became stolidity. +But, in these years, he was much absent from home, +continuing his military career in the Imperial +service, taking an honourable part in the historic +achievement of the rescue of Vienna by Sobiesky, +in 1683, and distinguishing himself two years later +at the capture of Neuhäusel in the Hungarian +campaign of Duke Charles of Lorraine against the +Turks. Sophia Dorothea bore her husband two +children—George Augustus (afterwards King George +II), in 1683, and Sophia Dorothea (afterwards +Queen of Prussia and mother of Frederick the +Great), in 1685. Some letters of her mother-in-law, +in 1684 and the following year, show that Eleonora’s +daughter had not been successful in conciliating +permanently the sympathies of Sophia, whose +politeness towards the mother had not developed +into any warm goodwill towards the daughter; +but the complaints against Sophia Dorothea are +<span class='pageno' id='Page_196'>196</span>not very serious, and rather suggest a spoilt child +in the company of an unsympathetic but by no +means stony-hearted relative.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The <span lang="fr"><cite>Memoirs</cite></span> of Sophia break off early in 1681, +when, after a visit to the Queen of Denmark in the +latter part of the preceding year, she was again +left alone by her erratic husband, who had departed +on one of his pilgrimages across the Alps, although +she was plunged into grief by the news of the death +of her beloved brother, the Elector Palatine. Her +eldest sister, the good Abbess of Herford, had, as we +saw, died a few months before their brother, and, +in her solitary sorrow, Sophia wrote that it would +not be long before she followed them. When, +therefore, these <span lang="fr"><cite>Memoirs</cite></span> are made to serve as a +principal source for her biography, the troubled circumstances +of the time in which they were actually +written should be taken into account. She little +knew how soon a new epoch in her life was to begin, +destined to impose upon her a responsibility as +great as it was unexpected. With however prudent +a self-restraint she might meet it, neither in her own +eyes nor in those of the numerous observers who +henceforth watched every one of her actions or +movements, could it fail to add signally to her +personal importance. And although, according to +modern notions, the Hanover of the later seventeenth +century might seem to differ but slightly, in its +capacity to become a theatre of political transactions +<span class='pageno' id='Page_197'>197</span>of moment, from the neighbouring city of Osnabrück, +yet it should be remembered how strenuously +the deceased Duke John Frederick had exerted +himself to make his capital one of those secondary +centres of political and general intellectual life +which, in this age, paid the homage of imitation to +Versailles. To him was owing the creation of a +library which, if it could not rival that for which +Sophia’s paternal ancestors had found a home at +Heidelberg, was fostered by the care of Leibniz, +whose services were the noblest legacy left by his +first Hanoverian patron, John Frederick, to his +successor, Ernest Augustus—a legacy of which the +value was to be so fully recognised by Sophia. In +other respects, too—notably in that of the attention +now given at Hanover to the cultivation of the +dramatic and musical arts—court and town had been +transformed under John Frederick’s liberal <span lang="fr"><i>régime</i></span>; +and an impulse had been given which his younger +brother sought, after his own fashion, to sustain. +Leibniz, of course, remained in his service, and was +treated with a consideration which he owed to his +usefulness both as publicist and historiographer, +and which, thanks to the favour of Sophia, was +never discontinued during her husband’s reign. +Relations with Italy and Italian musical art +were certain to be kept up under so constant a +lover of Venice as Ernest Augustus; an Italian +opera was again established at Hanover under the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_198'>198</span>conduct of the distinguished Venetian composer, +Agostino Steffani;<a id='r84'></a><a href='#f84' class='c008'><sup>[84]</sup></a> and the Abbate Hortensio +Mauro, who took up his residence at Hanover about +1681, maintained at the Court of Ernest Augustus +and Sophia a lasting interest in the Italian language +and in Italian art, while himself becoming a trusted +servant and friend of the Electoral family. The +Court of Ernest Augustus and France were from +the first mainly connected with his love of foreign +luxury and elegance of all kinds. So early as 1668, +Baron Platen had secured for him a Parisian <span lang="fr"><i>maître +d’hôtel</i></span>; and, nearly every year, the Duke sent his +<span lang="fr"><i>valet de chambre</i></span> to Paris, there to consult a resident +agent as to the requisites of Sophia and her ladies. +The Palace at Hanover was greatly ‘beautified,’ +though a great deal more money was spent on decoration +of one kind or another than on architecture +proper. It is reckoned that on the former Ernest +Augustus expended nearly 25,000 dollars at Hanover. +Tapestry and pictures were imported from Holland, +and particular attention was given to stucco-work, +under the direction of an Italian <span lang="it"><i>maestro</i></span> named +Sartorio. In course of time, Sophia could summon +French artists to conduct the weaving of a great +<span class='pageno' id='Page_199'>199</span><em>Gobelin</em> tapestry, which was carried out in the +<span lang="de"><i>Reithaus</i></span> at Hanover, and which represented scenes +from the life of Duke George of Brunswick-Lüneburg, +the ancestor of the Hanoverian dynasty, and +from that of Sophia’s mother, the Queen of Bohemia. +In 1695, the interior of the <span lang="de"><i>Schlosskirche</i></span> was completely +gilded. With the exception of the great +<span lang="de"><i>Rittersaal</i></span>, however, a very pompous and heavy +structure, nearly all the renovated palace buildings +were destroyed by fire in 1741. Ernest Augustus +also built, in direct connexion with the Palace, a new +opera-house.<a id='r85'></a><a href='#f85' class='c008'><sup>[85]</sup></a> From the year 1684 we have an +account—<span lang="la"><i>merum mel</i></span>—of a visit paid to Hanover +(following on one to Celle) by the celebrated French +traveller Tavernier, whom Duke Ernest Augustus +came over (from Herrenhausen?) to welcome, together +with visitors so august as the Duchess Dowager +of East Frisia and so distinguished as the celebrated +Brandenburg diplomatist and statesman, Paul Fuchs. +The old gentleman (Tavernier was then over eighty), +who mentions that the Duke spent Sunday morning +at the ‘temple’ and the afternoon at a performance +of his company of French comedians, was delighted +both by the agreeable turn which the conversation +<span class='pageno' id='Page_200'>200</span>took at dinner—viz. the subject of his own travels +in Persia and India—and by the general urbanity +and courteous liberality of his reception.<a id='r86'></a><a href='#f86' class='c008'><sup>[86]</sup></a> There +can be no doubt but that in these respects there were +few contemporary courts which outshone those of +the Lüneburg Dukes. We shall see how, as time +went on, Sophia did what in her lay to maintain +around her a culture both higher and wider than +would have specially commended itself to the +personal tastes of her husband, or of her eldest son.</p> + +<p class='c001'>For the present, everything at Hanover seemed +shaping itself for the benefit of the Hereditary +Prince George Lewis, as the representative of that +principle of primogeniture which, in his father’s +eyes, was of paramount importance for the future +of the Brunswick-Lüneburg line, but which brought +many tears into the eyes of his mother. The principle +in question was by no means a new one in the +history of the House of Brunswick. It already +obtained in the elder branch, and in the younger +had been established for Lüneburg-Celle and for +Calenberg-Göttingen individually. Unless it were +secured, the Brunswick-Lüneburgers could never +hope to hold a more than subordinate position +among the Princes of the Empire; no dream of a +Ninth Electorate was worth dreaming; and any +<span class='pageno' id='Page_201'>201</span>calculation as to further possibilities would have +been more baseless than a fabric of the air. But, +while this was understood by Ernest Augustus, +and doubtless also by his eldest son, it is not wonderful +that the next brother, Frederick Augustus, +should have bitterly resented the consequences +which followed for himself, and that his mother +Sophia should have been full of sympathy with +his trouble. After obtaining legal advice, Prince +Frederick Augustus communicated his grievance +to the willing ears of his kinsman, Duke Antony +Ulric, at Wolfenbüttel; and, in the same quarter, +the Duchess Sophia was lamenting the quarrel +which had already taken place between her husband +and their second son. ‘Poor Gussy’ (<span lang="de"><i>Arm Gustchen</i></span>), +she wrote in December, 1685, ‘is altogether +cast out; his father will no longer give him any +maintenance. I cry about it all night long; for +one child is as dear to me as another; I am +the mother of them all, and I grieve most for +those who are unhappy.’ Finally, a protest on +the part of Antony Ulric was presented to Sophia +at Herrenhausen, and forwarded by her to her +husband, who was, according to his wont, enjoying +himself at Venice. The pressure was applied +in vain; and, though ultimately, through the +good offices of George William, an understanding +was patched up between his brother and +the hot-tempered Antony Ulric, Prince Frederick +<span class='pageno' id='Page_202'>202</span>Augustus was left to his own devices. He followed +the example of his elder brother by taking +service with the Emperor and fighting +against the Turks; but he was still intending +to institute a suit at Vienna for the recovery +of his rights, when, in January, 1691, he fell +in a skirmish at Chemetzvar, near St. Giorgy, +in Transylvania. After a heroic struggle, the +fourth of Sophia’s sons, Charles Philip, had likewise +fallen in battle against the Turks at Pristina, in +Albania, almost exactly a year before Frederick +Augustus. Charles Philip seems to have been his +mother’s favourite boy—possibly because of a +natural disfigurement (of the head) which had from +the first aroused her loving pity; and the tragic +details of his dying, covered with wounds, on the +battlefield, went to her heart. She fell seriously ill, +and even a visit to Carlsbad in the spring of the +year failed completely to restore her to health. +We may so far anticipate the chronological +sequence of events as to note that, after the +death of Frederick Augustus, the third brother, +Maximilian William, who had at first acknowledged +the principle of primogeniture, entered +the lists against it. He was joined in his resistance +by the fifth, Christian, who was likewise +in the Imperial service, and who afterwards (in +July, 1703), as Major-General in the Imperial +army, met with his death by being drowned +<span class='pageno' id='Page_203'>203</span>in the Danube near Ehingen. When the news +of his death came, those around his mother +feared for her health—as she could not find the +relief of tears. In Maximilian’s quarrel, his mother’s +sympathies were again on his side, though, to judge +from passages in the correspondence of Sophia +Dorothea, he was of a more or less flighty disposition; +and, when his father had not unnaturally declined +to pay him his appanage, she attempted to obtain +some pecuniary support for him at the Danish +or at the English Court. Like his brother, he +took the officious Antony Ulric into his confidence, +and communications were opened with Danckelmann, +the powerful Minister of the Elector of +Brandenburg, who, with the distinct purpose of +thwarting the designed consolidation of the Celle-Hanover +dominions, kept up the tension existing +between his and the Hanoverian court, and that notwithstanding +the marriage, in 1684, of the daughter +of Ernest Augustus, Sophia Charlotte to the Electoral +Prince—from 1688, Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg. +A plot was now hatched, of which the precise +object remained in some measure obscure, but as to +whose progress the quick-witted Sophia Charlotte +contrived to send sufficient information to her father. +On December 5th, 1691, Prince Maximilian William +was arrested at Hanover, together with the chief +agents of his design; and one of these, the Master +of the Hunt (<span lang="de"><i>Oberjägermeister</i></span>), von Moltke, with +<span class='pageno' id='Page_204'>204</span>whom Danckelmann had been in communication, +had shortly afterwards to pay the penalty of death +for the high treason laid to his charge. Prince +Maximilian himself was allowed to depart unharmed, +after renouncing all claims to the Succession, except +in the case of his elder brother’s dying without +leaving a son. Although he did not keep his oath +very scrupulously, he refrained from any open +violation of it during the lifetime of his father, +expending his energy in the military service of +Venice and of the Emperor. He commanded +the first line of cavalry at Blenheim, and survived +till 1726, having missed the reversion of the see +of Osnabrück by a late conversion to the Church of +Rome.<a id='r87'></a><a href='#f87' class='c008'><sup>[87]</sup></a> Earlier rumours of a change of faith on +his part had sorely vexed his mother, to the unconcealed +amusement of her niece, the Duchess of +Orleans; but his letters to Sophia, and the references +to him in hers to Leibniz, give a pleasing +impression of his frank and open nature, although, +impulsive as he was, he seems to have been deficient +in filial piety as in other qualities showing moral +depth.<a id='r88'></a><a href='#f88' class='c008'><sup>[88]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_205'>205</span>Sophia’s youngest son, Ernest Augustus, destined +when the time came (1715) to succeed to the +see of Osnabrück, formerly held by his father, +and also to be created Duke of York and Albany, +was still in his boyhood at the critical stage which +we have now reached in the history of his House. +His birth in 1674, which for a time endangered +her life, had elicited from his mother the confession +that she already had boys enough; and, inasmuch +as there was some difficulty in finding a godfather +for him as the latest-born of so large a family, +his eldest brother George Lewis was called upon +to undertake the responsibilities of the office. The +special bond thus established between the two +brothers held out firmly so long as their lives +endured; indeed, the Duchess of Orleans regrets +that, instead of waiting upon his mother, the Prince +followed about his elder brother ‘like a spaniel’ +(1707). While it is impossible not to respect the +loyal devotion of the younger of the pair, the +affectionate return made to it on the part of the +elder, ‘serious’ as he always was in manner, should +not be overlooked by those who desire to form a +fair estimate of the character of George I. Ernest +Augustus’ childhood was spent under his mother’s +eye; and, in 1687, the good Duchess of Orleans +<span class='pageno' id='Page_206'>206</span>undertook to introduce his elder brother Christian +and himself at the French Court, where, for the better +part of two years, the two Princes, and Ernest +Augustus in particular, by his charming manners +and quickness, did credit to their descent. In 1689, +they started on the indispensable Italian tour; +and, in 1693, Prince Ernest Augustus received the +baptism of fire equally necessary to this masculine +brood in the battle of Neerwinden (Landen), where +three sons of the Duchess Sophia—George Lewis, +Christian, and Ernest Augustus—were engaged. +In August, 1714, the Duchess of Orleans makes a +very curious remark concerning him, which suggests +that there was a notion at the time of passing over +the Electoral Prince (afterwards George II) in the +English Succession.<a id='r89'></a><a href='#f89' class='c008'><sup>[89]</sup></a> The correspondence of Ernest +Augustus, which covers the years 1703 to 1726, reveals +a simple and soldier-like character, thoroughly +loyal and singularly modest. His elder brother, +King George I, actually died in his arms at +<span class='pageno' id='Page_207'>207</span>Osnabrück, and Ernest Augustus, as Sir Henry +Wotton might have written, ‘liked it not, and +died,’ little more than a year later (August 14th, +1728).</p> + +<p class='c001'>Of Sophia Charlotte, her parents’ only daughter, +the ‘<span lang="fr"><i>Figuelotte</i></span>’ of a delightful babyhood, and during +life the darling and in many respects the semblance +of her mother, it will be more convenient to speak +in our next chapter. Her youth had been happier +than Sophia’s, from whom she had inherited, +together with her black hair, to which her blue eyes +offered a charming contrast, a rare healthiness of +mind, as well as, seemingly, of body, inexhaustible +high spirits, and a rapidity of apprehension which +made her in her early girlhood a linguist such as her +mother and her mother’s brothers and sisters had +been in their generation. In 1679, she accompanied +her mother on a visit to the French Court, where +her natural charms, and above all the brightness of +her intelligence, made so pleasing an impression +that it was at the time thought likely that she +might return thither as the bride of one of the +Princes of the House of France. But at Hanover +she soon seemed intent upon very different interests; +and she had become the pupil of Leibniz before +her destiny called her to give her hand to the +widowed Electoral Prince Frederick of Brandenburg +(September, 1684). ‘It is fortunate,’ wrote +her mother, ‘that she does not care for externals.’ +<span class='pageno' id='Page_208'>208</span>The parting went very near to the heart of the +Duchess Sophia, who was now, more than ever, left +alone to support the dynastic endeavours and +suffer from the domestic troubles of the House of +Hanover, while meeting the responsibilities of her +own title to the English Succession.</p> + +<hr class='c020'> +<div class='footnote' id='f64'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r64'>64</a>. According to the Duchess of Orleans (Elizabeth Charlotte), +the Duchess Dorothea presented her, as a child, with two parrots, +and the Duchess Sophia ordered her to give in return her dog +<i>Fidel</i>. ‘This was, to the best of my belief, the only occasion in +my life on which I ever obeyed you reluctantly; for my little +dog was very near to my heart.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f65'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r65'>65</a>. See <span lang="de"><cite>Leibnizens Geschichtl. Anpätze und Gedichte I.</cite></span> (Vol. iv. +of Pertz’ collected edition).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f66'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r66'>66</a>. In 1686 was published at Venice a folio, with nine plates, by +G. M. Alberti, entitled <span lang="it"><cite>Giochi festivi e militari, danze, serenate, +machine, boscareccia artificiosa, regatta solemne, e posti alla +sodifattione ... dell’ Ernesto Aufsusto Duca di Brunswick e +Luneburgo in Venetia</cite></span>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f67'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r67'>67</a>. We have it on the authority of the Duchess of Orleans, that, +when Ernest Augustus became Bishop of Osnabrück, he at once +launched forth into so large an increase of his household, as to +create in the child the impression that he had become the +possessor of great wealth.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f68'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r68'>68</a>. See A. Haupt, <span lang="de"><cite>Die bildende Kunst in Hannover zur Zeit der +Kurfürstin Sophie</cite></span>, Appendix to H. Schmidt, <span lang="de"><cite>Die Kurfürstin +Sophie von Hannover</cite></span>. Hanover, 1903.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f69'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r69'>69</a>. This was the vivacious Valerio Maccioni, one of the pleasant +Catholic ecclesiastics who were Sophia’s familiar associates and +correspondents in these kindly days. (Others were the Abbé +(afterwards Count) Balati, a Florentine nobleman who was +afterwards of service to Ernest Augustus as a diplomatist and to +the ladies of his family in the matter of <span lang="fr"><i>chiffons</i></span> at Paris, and +the Abbé Hortensio Mauro, Italian secretary, and afterwards +attached to the Court at Celle.) Maccioni, after acting for some +years as John Frederick’s ecclesiastical adviser and as papal +representative at Hanover, was episcopated in 1669, when about +thirty-eight years of age. He died at Hanover in 1676. Sophia +was on the easiest of terms with him, as is shown by the references, +in her letters to him, to the Holy Court at ‘Traive,’ and to a +prophetess with a magic mirror, whom she requested the Bishop +to exorcise, should he opine that the devil had a hand in her +manifestations.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f70'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r70'>70</a>. This information I owe to Mr. H. H. Sturmer, author of +<cite>Some Poitevin Protestants in London</cite> (London, 1896).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f71'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r71'>71</a>. Urban Chevreau accomplished the task of ‘instructing’ +Elizabeth Charlotte in four weeks. It must have been about +this time that the same <span lang="fr"><i>savant</i></span> induced her father to read a few +pages of Spinoza, who was thereupon invited to Heidelberg.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f72'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r72'>72</a>. It should be noted that, at the time of Elizabeth Charlotte’s +change of confession, toleration still obtained in France. We +have her own assurance that, had the persecutions of the Huguenots +at that date already begun, she would have refused to be +converted. In 1698, she writes to her aunt Sophia: ‘At Court +one never hears a word spoken on behalf of those of the Reformed +faith. If they had been persecuted in this way twenty-six years +since, when I was still at Heidelberg, you would never have +succeeded in persuading me to turn Catholic.’ Sophia herself, +when replying to a renewed attempt upon her Protestantism by +Mme. de Brinon, by the remark that she trusts in the goodness of +God, who cannot have created her to see her lost, adds that she +cannot reconcile herself to the persecution of the Protestants in +France, who crowd England, the Netherlands, and Germany as +refugees.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f73'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r73'>73</a>. In a series of articles in the <span lang="fr"><cite>Revue des Deux Mondes</cite></span>, beginning +October 15th, 1906, entitled <span lang="fr"><cite>Madame, Mère du Régent</cite></span>, M. +Arvé de Barine takes great pains to show that in estimating the +Duchess of Orleans’ censure of the state of morals at the French +Court we should remember that she might have found a good +deal to complain of nearer her parental home.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f74'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r74'>74</a>. One of these was the case of the Elector Palatine, Frederick I, +just a century earlier (1472), who after, on his usurpation of his +nephew’s dominions, making a promise similar to George +William’s, twenty years afterwards married his mistress with his +nephew’s consent. Another instance is that of Henry of Dannenberg, +who, notwithstanding a supposed promise, married, +greatly to the vexation of his brother William the Younger, the +founder of the New House of Lüneburg.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f75'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r75'>75</a>. No doubt a less reputable class of French and Italian +adventurers also found their way to George William’s court, which +in 1670 Sophia states ‘under the roos’ to be called ‘<span lang="fr"><i>le Royaume +de la Canalle</i></span>,’ adding that the nobility is held of no account +there, and that cooks are probably better paid than Ministers +of State.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f76'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r76'>76</a>. According to another view, this naturalisation of her +daughter, together with permission to herself to return to France +in the event of danger, had been sought by Eleonora herself, +aware of the jealousy with which she was regarded by most of +her protector’s relatives.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f77'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r77'>77</a>. The elder Schütz was sent to London in 1683, to congratulate +Charles II on his escape from the Ryehouse Plot. His +reports from London are preserved from 1689 to 1709, the year +of his death; but his interesting correspondence with Sophia +(recently edited with other letters from her and Queen Sophia +Charlotte by Dr. R. Doebner) does not, with the exception of a +single letter, include any letters dated before 1701.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f78'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r78'>78</a>. It was a proud experience of the Duchess of Orleans (in +1717) to find that Louis XIV had observed her dislike of <span lang="fr"><i>mésalliances</i></span>, +and more than one racy reference to a horrible occurrence +of the kind might be cited from her letters. The Celle +marriage she could never have forgiven, if only for her aunt’s +sake. Yet <span lang="fr"><i>mésalliances</i></span> were not altogether unknown in the +House of Brunswick (see above as to ‘Madame Rudolfine’)—perhaps +for the very reason that it was formerly one of those +ancient German princely Houses (i.e. Houses which had a seat +and vote in the Diet before 1582) which sought to maintain the +principle of <span lang="de"><i>Ebenbürtigkeit</i></span>. It is only in the branch of the +House which attained to a royal throne that a wise policy (embodied +in the Act of 1772) substituted for a rigid rule a provision +which has sufficiently protected the dignity of the royal family +and the interests of the Empire. It may be added that, according +to Lord Dover, the <span lang="fr"><i>mésalliance</i></span> with Eleonora d’Olbreuze +prevents the British royal family from taking rank as what is +called <span lang="fr"><i>chapitrale</i></span> in Germany. (See Horace Walpole’s <cite>Letters</cite>, ed. +Cunningham, Vol. ii. p. 251, note.) Concerning the <span lang="de"><i>Ebenbürtigkeit</i></span> +principle as recognised in the House of Hohenzollern, and the +rights of the head of the House with regard to the marriages of +its members, see an article by E. Berner in <span lang="de"><cite>Historische Zeitschrift</cite></span>, +1884, 4, <span lang="de"><cite>Die Hausverfassung der Hohenzollern</cite></span> (a review of H. +Schulze, <span lang="de"><cite>Die Hausgesetze der reg. Deutschen Fürstenhäuser</cite></span>).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f79'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r79'>79</a>. See Ezechiel Spanheim’s <cite>Account of the English Court</cite>, +printed by Dr. R. Doebner in <cite>English Historical Review</cite>, Vol. +ii. 1887, pp. 757 <i>sqq.</i> Spanheim’s statement as to the scruples +felt at Hanover is exactly borne out by an observation of Sophia, +<span lang="fr"><i>à propos</i></span> of the proposed match between her son George Lewis +and the Princess Sophia Dorothea, that the example of the +Prince of Orange (William III) ‘renders the notion more endurable.’ +In other words, the House of Hanover thought a marriage +with a daughter of Anne Hyde a sort of <span lang="fr"><i>mésalliance</i></span>. (See <span lang="de"><cite>Briefwechsel +d. Herzogin Sophie mit d. Kurfürsten Karl Ludwig</cite></span>, p. 387.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f80'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r80'>80</a>. The Meysenbug family makes its first appearance as residing +at the Court of Osnabrück during Ernest Augustus’ episcopate.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f81'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r81'>81</a>. An earlier <span lang="fr"><i>faiblesse</i></span> (1668) of Ernest Augustus for a French +lady, Susanne de la Manoelinière, had been treated by his wife +with great discretion and success.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f82'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r82'>82</a>. Vol. vi. of <cite>The Roman Octavia</cite>, a romance in the then +fashionable style of the <cite>Grand Cyrus</cite>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f83'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r83'>83</a>. ‘<span lang="fr"><i>Il est à present</i></span>,’ she adds, ‘<span lang="fr"><i>avec sa maîtresse</i></span>.’ It is to +be feared that this should be translated literally.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f84'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r84'>84</a>. Steffani, after being employed in other diplomatic business +by the Hanoverian Court, was chosen to accompany the Princess +Amalia, daughter of the late Duke John Frederick, on her +journey to Modena, where she was married to the Roman King +Joseph. Pope Innocent XI hereupon created him Bishop of +Spiga <span lang="la"><i>in partibus</i></span>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f85'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r85'>85</a>. It was broken up in 1852. See A. Haupt, <i>u.s.</i>, where the +palace on the property of Count Alten, which was at the time +mortgaged to the Platens, is said to be the one important specimen +remaining of the Italian architecture in the Hanover of the +period. It was said to have been built by Ernest Augustus for +Countess Platen.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f86'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r86'>86</a>. <span lang="fr"><i>Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, Baron de l’Aubonne, Chambellan +du Grand Électeur. D’après des documents nouveaux et inédits, +par Charles Joret, Paris, 1881, pp. 342 sqq.</i></span></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f87'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r87'>87</a>. Already, as a child of six, Maximilian (who seems to have +been the survivor of a pair of twins) had displayed an unusual +piety, and kept a prayer-book in his bed for matutinal use.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f88'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r88'>88</a>. The Duchess of Orleans, who had been informed that +a complaint had been preferred to the Emperor by Maximilian, +as to a sum of money demanded by him from his mother, the +Electress Sophia, not having been sent to him by her, who had +loved him so well, exclaims: ‘This is abominable; this Prince +can never meet with any good fortune either in this world or in +the next, after having done this abominable thing, which I can +never forgive him.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f89'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r89'>89</a>. ‘I do not know whether it is true, but it is said here’ [at +Versailles] ‘that the English are ready to have the Elector of +Brunswick for their King, but that they will make it a condition, +that the Electoral Prince shall never succeed him on the throne. +Duke Maximilian I do not know, but, between ourselves, I would +rather it were Duke Ernest Augustus than the Electoral Prince; +for my cousin, Duke Ernest Augustus, has a good ancestry on +both sides and is of wholly German descent, whereas the Electoral +Prince has some very bad ancestors, and is described to me as +so mad that I have often heartily pitied his wife; of Duke Ernest +Augustus I have never heard anything but praise, and I have +therefore a hearty regard for him.’</p> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_209'>209</span> + <h2 class='c006'>IV<br> <br> THE ELECTORAL HOUSE OF HANOVER<br> (HANOVER AND HERRENHAUSEN, 1688-1701)</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c007'>None of the varied experiences through which +Sophia had passed during a life of nearly sixty +years, had either made her forget her English +descent, or led her to regard English interests as +alien to her own. During the reign of Charles II +her personal recollections of his years of vagrancy +could not but render her discreetly indisposed +to keep up by letter any direct intercourse with +her royal cousin; but she was not the less desirous +of remaining in touch with the progress of events +in her mother’s first and final home. After her +brother Rupert had at last settled down in England, +she expressed a wish that he should be made a +peer, and thus be enabled to attend in Parliament +and keep her informed of the course of public +business. She was naturally much interested in +the marriage, in 1677, of William Prince of Orange +to the Duke of York’s elder daughter, the Princess +Mary; and, in 1680, she had the satisfaction of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_210'>210</span>welcoming to Hanover the Prince who had thus +become closely connected with the English royal +family, and of receiving his assurances of his +anxiety to render some substantial service to her +husband’s House. It has already been incidentally +noted how, in 1681, her eldest son, George Lewis, +had paid a visit to England, where he might, it was +hoped, secure the hand of Mary’s younger sister, the +Princess Anne. This scheme was favoured by the +Prince of Orange, whose own marriage had remained +childless, and who could not ignore the fact that +the design for excluding his Roman Catholic +father-in-law from the English Succession had +already assumed definite shape. In 1685, after +King Charles II had passed away, ‘unconcerned +as became a good Christian’—or, in other words, +after having received the last consolations of the +Catholic faith—William expressed his conviction +that Sophia would share both his sorrow for the +late King’s death, and his joy at hearing of the +unhindered accession of ‘<span lang="fr"><i>celluy d’apresent</i></span>.’ And +King James II himself could assure her that he +would always ‘continue the same good correspondence +which she had with the late King his +brother.’<a id='r90'></a><a href='#f90' class='c008'><sup>[90]</sup></a> James II, to judge from an extant +<span class='pageno' id='Page_211'>211</span>series of letters to Sophia from his hand, proved as +good as his word, and she answered him in the +same spirit. A constant communication seems, +moreover, to have been kept up between her and +the English royal family, through the personal +agency of the faithful Lord Craven, of whom in +1683 she writes as ‘at present my sole correspondent +in England.’ James II had appointed +him Lieutenant-General of the Forces, and he would +have been quite ready, had it rested with him, +to act a decisive part with his Coldstreams on the +King’s behalf in the closing hours of his reign. +Thus, when, in July, 1688, on the occasion of what +ought to have been the happiest event of that +reign—the birth of an heir to the throne—Sophia +gave expression to her pleasure, the King wrote +in return that he could have expected nothing +less from her; ‘for beside our being so near related, +you have always upon all occasion expresst a concerne +for me of which you shall always find me +very sensible.’ And, with the straightforwardness +of character which was not less distinctive of her +than was her intellectual <span lang="fr"><i>finesse</i></span>, she never, either +by word or by deed, belied her goodwill to the +unfortunate King, or allowed herself to be impressed +by the <span lang="la"><i>consensus</i></span> between blatant prejudice and +more or less wilful blindness that ‘doubted’ the +genuineness of the Prince of Wales. She transmitted +to the Emperor Leopold a letter in which +<span class='pageno' id='Page_212'>212</span>King James had reproduced, for her benefit, the +substance of the refutation of these calumnious +doubts laid by him before his Privy Council; and, +so late as 1704, she is found reproaching Leibniz +for the courtier-like insinuations which he seems +to have hazarded as to the Prince’s birth. Accordingly, +at the time when the expedition of William +of Orange was preparing, King James wrote to +Sophia in a perfectly trustful tone; he had heard +that, with the exception of her husband, all her +Protestant neighbours had contributed to the +armament; but, if the wind continued, he hoped +nevertheless to be able to give a good account of it. +As a matter of fact, Ernest Augustus maintained a +neutral attitude so long as he could; and, so late +as 1691, James II is again found applauding +Sophia’s husband for declining to support the +‘vemper’ (William of Orange). Early in the +next year, he continues to harp on the same string +to her, while avowing his confidence in the continuance +of her good wishes and requesting her +to use no ceremony in writing to him. In 1693, +Lord Dartmouth, whom Sophia received at Hanover +with much distinction because of the kindness +shown by his grandfather to her brothers Rupert +and Maurice, was informed by her that she maintained +a constant correspondence both with King +James and with his daughter Queen Mary. On +the death of Ernest Augustus, both King James +<span class='pageno' id='Page_213'>213</span>and Queen Mary Beatrice warmly condoled with +the widow, the former avowing his gratitude for +all the marks of esteem and kindness which she +had so frequently shown to him. It is interesting, +too, to observe how Sophia, in conjunction with her +second self, the Duchess of Orleans, used her best +endeavours to make peace between King James +and his eldest daughter, whose conduct towards +him he pardonably misjudged, but in whose sincerity +of soul a sure instinct led Sophia to place +full trust. The two kinswomen had never met, +when, in June, 1689, Queen Mary wrote to Sophia +to complain of the harsh terms in which the +Electress Sophia Charlotte of Brandenburg was +reported to have spoken of her, and took occasion, +with her usual candour, to dwell upon the conflict +of feelings through which it was her duty to guide +her conduct. An active correspondence ensued +between the two women, who were truly worthy +of one another, and who had, moreover, some +experiences of wedlock in common; and from +this it is clear that Queen Mary had, to her deep +satisfaction, found in Sophia a friend ready to +credit her with real filial affection for her father. +In return she writes to the Duchess with a frankness +declared by her to be indigenous to Holland, +where she had herself so long lived and where +Sophia had been born—each of them, as she says, +having to bear her cross as best she could.</p> + +<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_214'>214</span>But, though Sophia was never willing to let +political considerations warp her natural affections +or suppress her natural sense of justice, she would +hardly, like Mary, have gone so far as to say of +herself that she was unfitted for politics. The +interests of her family and of the Hanoverian +dynasty were steadily kept in view by her, and it +was these, rather than any personal motives or +wishes of her own, which determined her conduct +at the critical epoch of the Revolution. The events +that cost James II his throne, as speedily became +clear to her, opened a new political future for +herself and her descendants. Before the sailing +of William’s expedition, when engagements in +his favour were being entered into by the new +Elector (Frederick William) of Brandenburg, the +Landgrave (Charles) of Hesse-Cassel and the Duke +of Celle, Burnet, as he tells us, sent, from the Hague, +a messenger to the Duchess Sophia at Hanover. +This messenger, a French refugee named de Boncour, +was instructed to inform her of the design of the +Prince of Orange, and of the certainty that, should +the expedition prove successful, it would result +in the perpetual exclusion of Papists from the +English throne. If she could persuade her husband +Ernest Augustus to sever his interests definitively +from those of France, there was little doubt but +that, after the two daughters of King James and the +Prince of Orange, from none of whom any issue +<span class='pageno' id='Page_215'>215</span>was surviving, the Succession would be lodged in +her person and posterity. Burnet, who asserts +that, in making this communication, he acted +entirely on his own responsibility, though his action +afterwards gained him William’s approval, adds +that the message was warmly entertained by the +Duchess Sophia, but that her husband let it pass +by him. Ernest Augustus, not unnaturally, looked +on the whole question with a self-control facilitated +by the fact that, in any case, he could only benefit +from the English Succession through his wife. +Whatever may be the measure of truth in this +story (which, curiously enough, is not to be found +in Burnet’s <cite>Original Memoirs</cite>), it is extremely +improbable that the Duchess Sophia should have +allowed Burnet’s agent to ascertain her personal +views concerning his suggestions. When the expedition +was actually on its way, she wrote a letter +to Leibniz from which nothing can be concluded as +to her feelings in the matter, except that, as was but +natural, she was very anxious to know what would +come of it all, especially, as she writes in her customary +half-ironical vein, ‘inasmuch as the words +“for religion and liberty” are to be read on all the +banners of the Prince of Orange.’ After the expedition +had been carried to a successful issue, we find +her addressing the same correspondent in much the +same tone; and, though her letter of congratulation +to William III is perfectly cordial and contains +<span class='pageno' id='Page_216'>216</span>a remarkably <span lang="fr"><cite>à propos</cite></span> reference to the Blatant +Beast, she shows true dignity as a descendant +of the Stewarts in avowing her sympathy for +William’s dethroned predecessor. But with the new +King’s reply, written from Hampton Court less +than a fortnight after the Coronation, the relations +of Sophia to himself, and to the throne occupied +by him and his Queen, entered into a new stage, +which may be called the business stage.</p> + +<p class='c001'>In this letter, King William, without any +circumlocution, expresses his hope of finding good +allies in the whole House of Lüneburg—that is to +say, in Sophia’s husband, as well as in her brother-in-law, +on whom he could already securely count. +On the other hand, he points out that Sophia has a +very real interest in the welfare of his three kingdoms, +inasmuch as, to all appearance, one of her +sons would some day reign over them. Although +Sophia still wrote to Leibniz (then at Modena) +in her habitual half-jesting tone as to the chances +now opening to her, there can be no doubt that she +is correctly stated to have at once taken action +on King William’s hint, and to have requested several +English politicians known to her to support the +project of naming her in the Succession. The +attempt made in this year (1689) to carry the project +in question through Parliament proves that +the appeal had not been made in vain.</p> + +<p class='c001'>On May 8th, 1689, the Bill of Rights and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_217'>217</span>Succession came up for its third reading in the House +of Commons of the Convention Parliament. While +otherwise conforming to the Declaration accepted +by William and Mary earlier in the year, and containing +a clause excluding Papists, it made no provision +for the event of the death without issue of +Queen Mary, the Princess Anne, and King William, +upon whose issue the Succession was, in the above +order of sequence, settled. Such an event was at +the time far from improbable; should it actually +occur, there was considerable obscurity as to where +the Crown would devolve. Would, for instance, +an infant child of Popish parents be excluded;<a id='r91'></a><a href='#f91' class='c008'><sup>[91]</sup></a> +and—a far more momentous question—would the +exclusion extend to a Popish prince who might have +been converted to Protestantism in time to succeed? +Godolphin, a statesman not unnaturally suspected, +at this season, of facing both ways, but perhaps +more benignantly towards the <span lang="fr"><cite>régime</cite></span> under which +he had risen so high than towards that in which +his own place was still doubtful, proposed a rider +guarding the rights of ‘any Protestant prince or +princess’ as to his or her future hereditary succession +to the Crown. The proviso, in which, to +the mover’s virtuous indignation, more than one +member suspected the influence of a foreign Power, +was rejected; but it is notable that, in the course +<span class='pageno' id='Page_218'>218</span>of the debate, Colonel Herbert stated that he had +‘seen a letter of a sister of Prince Rupert’s, wherein +she was complaining of great hardship done to her +children, that they were not regarded in the entail +of the crown;’ he therefore moved that they +should be mentioned in the Bill. The proposal, +which may confidently be ascribed to the action of +Sophia adverted to above, fell to the ground, the +judicious opinion of Paul Foley prevailing, that it +was inexpedient suddenly to introduce any further +limitation of the Succession; but it had not been +made wholly in vain. When the Bill of Rights and +Succession reached the House of Lords, after, on +the motion of the Bishop of Salisbury (Burnet), +a clause had been added extending the exclusion +of Papists from the Succession to princes or princesses +married to Papists, the same useful henchman, +in accordance with the directions of the King, +proposed, as a further addition to the Bill, the naming, +in the Succession, of the Duchess of Hanover +and her posterity. This amendment having been +adopted by the Lords without debate (which could +hardly have been the case had the ground not been +prepared there) was carried down to the Commons, +who, in a debate held on June 19th, treated it in a +very different spirit. One member (Sir John Lowther) +dwelt on the inexpediency of attempting to +settle the Succession a long time beforehand, instead +of following the example of Queen Elizabeth, who +<span class='pageno' id='Page_219'>219</span>‘was a wise Princess’; ‘this Princess of Hanover,’ +he pointed out, might turn Catholic before the time +for her succession had arrived. In the end, the +amendment was rejected without a division, and, +a conference between the two Houses having proved +fruitless, the Bill was lost for the Session. The +birth, on July 27th, of Princess Anne’s son (afterwards +Duke of Gloucester) took away from the proposed +addition its immediate significance; but, whatever +may have been the cause of the failure to give +effect to the King’s wish, the fault certainly did not +lie with the Duchess Sophia. There were ‘heats’ +enough in the politics of the day, and in the relations +between Lords and Commons in particular, to +explain the incident; nor is it surprising that, when +Parliament reassembled in the autumn, the Bill +of Rights and Succession which was now passed +contained no mention of the Duchess of Hanover +or her descendants. Burnet, ubiquitously assisting +at every stage of every transaction with which, as +narrated by himself, he had any connexion at all, +says that by King William’s wish he wrote to Sophia +an account of the entire affair. We know, however, +that Lord Craven was sent to Hanover to explain it +or to soften any unpleasantness in the effect which +it might produce; and, in a letter to Sophia, dated +December 10th, 1689, William himself explained to +her that, though she had not been designated in +the Bill, she might rest satisfied with things as +<span class='pageno' id='Page_220'>220</span>they stood. She was Heiress Presumptive, in the +event of claims beyond those named in the Bill +coming into consideration; and the suggestion of +Burnet was quite superfluous, that ‘if any in the +line before her should pretend to change, as it was +not very likely to happen, so it would not be easily +believed.’ Sophia’s answer to King William, in +which she cordially thanks him for his exertions on +her behalf, closes the entire episode. She trusts +that the expectation of heirs implied in the Bill may +prove correct; as for herself, her life will be at an +end before the matter is decided. She was, at the +time, close upon the sixtieth year of her life; and a +son had just been born to Princess Anne, who very +possibly might yet have other children that would +survive her.</p> + +<p class='c001'>After this negative, but in no sense final, result +had been reached, the Succession question remained +in abeyance for something like eleven years. It +accords neither with the circumstances of the situation +nor with the character of Sophia, to represent +her as during this long interval sleeplessly intent +upon an issue so remote, so precarious, and so +unlikely to prove, in the strictest sense, personal to +herself. But, on the one hand, her and her family’s +interest in the Succession question had once for all +been brought directly home to her; and, on the +other, she had had reason to appreciate the <span lang="la"><cite>bona +fides</cite></span> and the genuine goodwill towards her own +<span class='pageno' id='Page_221'>221</span>contingent claim exhibited by King William III. +Already in 1689, primarily with a view to the +restoration of amity between Denmark and Holstein-Gottorp, +Sir William Dutton Colt was appointed +Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary +to the Brunswick-Lüneburg Courts, being also +accredited to Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Hesse-Cassel; +and in 1692 he was further formally instructed +to treat for the entry of the Dukes of Celle +and Hanover into the Grand Alliance.<a id='r92'></a><a href='#f92' class='c008'><sup>[92]</sup></a> He appears +to have contrived to gain the good graces +of the ducal families both at Hanover and at +Celle, and in 1693 he reports that the Platens +were jealous of his favour with the ‘Electrisse’;<a id='r93'></a><a href='#f93' class='c008'><sup>[93]</sup></a> +for Sophia and Eleonora were godmothers to +his daughter, and bestowed upon her their united +names. The personal relations between Sophia +and the King and Queen of England at the +same time grew more and more cordial. William, +though not as a rule inclined to sentiment, early +in 1691 condoled with Sophia on the death, at the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_222'>222</span>close of the previous year, of her son Frederick +Augustus, for whom he had cherished ‘<span lang="fr"><cite>une amitié +toute particulière</cite></span>’; and early in the following +year Queen Mary delicately expressed her regret +at Sophia’s fresh family troubles (the death of her +son Charles Philip, and perhaps the catastrophe +of his brother Maximilian). These kindly feelings +combined with political motives to induce King +William to contribute his good offices for bringing +to a successful end, in the same year (1692), the +endeavours to which, as we shall see immediately, +the main political energy of the House of Hanover +had long been devoted—for the attainment of the +Electoral dignity. He had his reward when, as +part of the bargain between Ernest Augustus +and the Emperor Leopold, the House of Hanover +definitively threw in its lot with the interests of the +Empire and the cause of the Grand Alliance. On +Sir William Colt’s death in the following year (1693), +a new English Minister Plenipotentiary to the Courts +of Celle and Hanover was appointed in the person +of James Cressett,<a id='r94'></a><a href='#f94' class='c008'><sup>[94]</sup></a> who, though at first he represents +the Courts to which he was accredited as having +‘gaped upon him like roaring lions’ (not feeling +<span class='pageno' id='Page_223'>223</span>quite certain about the British Parliament’s earnestness +in the War), soon contrived to place himself on +a footing of intimacy there. Leibniz speedily fell into +a correspondence with him about the lead produce of +the Harz as compared with that of the English mines. +But less academic matters also occupied the attention +of the new envoy; for, in 1692, two treaties +had been concluded between the Ducal Government +and those of England and the United Provinces, +according to which Hanover was to furnish a force +of 7,000 men, and the two maritime Powers were to +pay respectively 20,000 and 10,000 dollars a month +for their support, besides defraying two-thirds of the +cost of their rations and forage. In December, +1693, these subsidy treaties were discussed in the +House of Commons, and though the ‘Duke of Hanover’ +was praised as a loyal ally, objection was +taken to the payment for bread and forage, on the +ground that he might well pay a larger proportion, +‘now that he is Ninth Elector.’ In return, it was +pointed out that, on the one hand, the Elector had to +pay his quota to the Empire, and that, on the other, +if these troops were not paid by England, they must +be by France—a comment not altogether unwarranted +by the changes of Hanoverian policy. +Cressett remained the diplomatic representative +of Great Britain at the Lüneburg Courts till 1703.<a id='r95'></a><a href='#f95' class='c008'><sup>[95]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_224'>224</span>A time of trouble was imminent for the domestic +peace of the House of Hanover, and Sophia, as was +noted above, had not long before suffered a severe +shock in both mind and body by the death of her son +Charles Philip, soon followed by that of his brother +Frederick Augustus. In the spring of 1694 she was +again seriously ill. Cressett, while noting that ‘her +credit is not good in affairs,’ says that he ‘should +be heartily sorry to lose her, for she loves England.’ +She recovered her strength at Wiesbaden, and +we find the good Queen Mary returning fervent +thanks for her cousin’s restoration to her usual +health. She needed all her strength to carry her +through the painful experiences awaiting the +Electoral family—the tragedy of Sophia Dorothea, +and, after this, the long illness and death of the +Elector Ernest Augustus. Amidst such anxieties we +may rest assured that, even had intrigue and manœuvring +suited her disposition, she would have had +little leisure for engaging in them. Her attitude +during this period towards the Succession question, +which few events on the great political theatre +were of a nature to affect (for even Queen Mary’s +death in 1696 made no material change in the +situation), was one of quietude—no doubt a vigilant +quietude. In 1694, Lord Lexington, a diplomatist +whom William III had good reason for trusting, and +who, together with a Dutch plenipotentiary, had +mediated in the quarrel between Denmark and the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_225'>225</span>Brunswick-Lüneburg Dukes concerning the Lauenburg +Succession, passed through Hanover on his +way to his post at Vienna. And, in the following +year, we find Leibniz discussing with George Stepney, +the brilliant English diplomatist who, in 1693, +was suddenly summoned into prominent activity +in several of the German Courts, the applicability +of the exclusion clause in the Bill of Rights to +children, whether Protestants or Papists, born of +papistical parents. William III has been said to +have formed the plan of placing in the Succession +the Prince expected to be born to Victor Amadeus +II, Duke of Savoy, by his Duchess Anna Maria, +and of educating him for the purpose in England +as a Protestant. The Duchess Anna Maria was a +daughter of the Duchess Henrietta of Orleans, and +thus a grand-daughter of King Charles I; so that +on the ground of descent pure and simple she would +have a claim to the English Succession before the +children of the Queen of Bohemia. But there is no +proof of any such design, or of any response to any +suggestion of the kind on the part of the Duke of +Savoy; and, at the most, the idea was quite transitory. +If any hopes had been raised as to William’s +intentions, Victor Amadeus effectively extinguished +them by abandoning the Grand Alliance in 1696.<a id='r96'></a><a href='#f96' class='c008'><sup>[96]</sup></a> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_226'>226</span>Of course, it by no means follows from the fact that +Leibniz was, throughout, Sophia’s chief counsellor +with regard to the Succession, either that she uniformly +took his advice, or that she was always +desirous of being privy to the efforts in furtherance +of the claims of herself and her descendants, which, +at times with <span lang="fr"><i>trop de zèle</i></span>, came from his indefatigable +publicistic pen. But it remains at all +events a curious coincidence that, soon after the +House of Savoy had, as it were, fallen out of the +running, William III’s interest in the House of +Hanover—and perhaps in its claims concerning the +Succession—should appear to have revived. We +shall return to this date a little later; for the moment +we must make some reference to matters +which seemed of far more importance to the House +of Hanover than the remote chances of the English +Succession.</p> + +<p class='c021'>The House of Hanover, apart from the interest +which it had shown in the military system of the +Empire,<a id='r97'></a><a href='#f97' class='c008'><sup>[97]</sup></a> had a very direct share in causing the +declaration of war against that Empire, by which, +in September, 1688, at the very time when he +<span class='pageno' id='Page_227'>227</span>was promising assistance to James II against the +expedition of William of Orange, Louis XIV laid +bare his own designs against the peace of Europe. +According to the manifesto of the King of France, +the successes of the Imperial arms in the east had +obliged him to protect his western frontier by crossing +it; and, a little before or after this declaration, +his armies had entered the Netherlands, and had +invaded the Palatinate to enforce the claims shamelessly +put forward by him in the name of the innocent +Duchess of Orleans. In the Imperial advance in +Hungary, and in the simultaneous reconquest of the +Morea on behalf of the Venetian Republic, Hanoverian +troops had borne a most distinguished part. +It was therefore not unfitting that the counter-manifesto, +in which the glove hurled down by Louis +XIV was taken up, should have been composed +by Leibniz, whose publicistic pen was at the disposal +of the House of Hanover. And among the German +princes who, in the October of this eventful year, +at the instigation of the new Elector of Brandenburg, +Ernest Augustus of Hanover’s son-in-law, +and through the exertions of his minister, Paul von +Fuchs, met at Magdeburg to agree upon joint +action against the assailant of the Empire, none was +more prompt, either in promise or in action, than +Ernest Augustus himself. While the Brandenburg +troops covered the Lower Rhine, the Hanoverian, +Saxon, and Hessian secured the line of the Main, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_228'>228</span>by the occupation of Frankfort (November, 1688). +In May, 1689, the Grand Alliance was concluded, +and though the Palatinate could not be preserved +from devastation, Frankfort was once more saved, +being occupied by a Hanoverian force of 8,000 men +under Duke Ernest Augustus and his eldest son, +George Lewis. Under the command of their +Hereditary Prince, of whom there remains at least +one letter written, in the course of the campaign, +with an afflatus of humour proving that his heart +was in active warfare, the Hanoverians forced +Marshal Boufleurs to relinquish the investment of +Coblenz, and materially contributed to the recovery +of Mainz (September 1st, 1689). They were then +transferred to the Low Countries, where a series of +campaigns was to ensue, contemporaneous with the +continuance of the conflict with the Turks. We +have seen how the sacrifices made by the House of +Hanover within a twelvemonth (January, 1690, +to January, 1691) included the heroic death of +Prince Charles Philip in Albania, and that of his +brother Frederick Augustus, hardly more than a +boy in years, in Transylvania. It neither was, nor +could be expected to be, the intention of Ernest +Augustus, that his House, which had served the +Empire so well in both west and east, should have +so served it without reward. And the recompense +desired by him—one which, while conferring upon +himself, as the head of the House of Hanover, the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_229'>229</span>highest dignity to which, as an Estate of the Empire, +he could, within its boundaries, lay claim, would +at the same time reflect lustre upon the Brunswick-Lüneburg +line, whose future he had come to regard +as absorbed in that of its Hanoverian branch—could +be no other than the creation of a Ninth, that is +to say Hanoverian, Electorate.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The desire or demand for this dignity was neither +a sudden nor even a new one. It had been in the +mind both of Duke John Frederick and of his +librarian, Leibniz, though the latter, while giving +utterance to it in his <span lang="la"><cite>Cæsarinus Fürstenerius</cite></span> (1677), +had at the same time delivered himself of an elaborate +protest against the preeminence in rights and +dignity claimed by the Electors over the other +Princes of the Empire. Such a protest was of +course quite compatible with lending a willing ear +to any suggestion of conferring the Electoral dignity +upon a representative branch of the Brunswick-Lüneburg +line itself. And suggestions of the kind +were inevitable, if only from the obvious point of +view that the Peace of Westphalia had left the +number of Protestant Electors in a disproportion +of three to five, as against their Catholic colleagues. +The Great Elector of Brandenburg, in the varying +combinations of whose policy a single-minded care +for the Protestant interest was perhaps the most +constant factor, had already during the peace +negotiations at Nimeguen expressed his willingness +<span class='pageno' id='Page_230'>230</span>to assist in bringing about the admission into the +Electoral College of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg—probably +at that time in the person of +George William of Celle, as Ernest Augustus was +still merely Bishop of Osnabrück. But the argument +from the Protestant point of view became +a much stronger one, when, in 1685, the death of +the last Elector Palatine of the Simmern line +(Sophia’s nephew Charles) transferred the Eighth +Electorate to the Catholic (Neuburg) line. Nor +should it be forgotten that, although the political +jealousy between the Houses of Brandenburg and +Brunswick-Lüneburg had never ceased to exist and +to operate, and although the advantage of balancing +the growing power and influence of the former, by +adding to the <span lang="fr"><i>prestige</i></span> of the latter, was very distinctly +perceived at Vienna, the two Houses were +since 1684 closely linked together by intermarriage. +Sophia Charlotte, the new Electoral Princess (from +1688 Electress) of Brandenburg, was never mistress +of the situation at Berlin, and, unlike her mother, +gave to matters political only just so much attention +as seemed absolutely necessary. On the other +hand, Hanoverian interests could not but benefit +from the presence at the Brandenburg Court of a +princess whose personality was not one to be +ignored, and who had in her mother a monitress +to whom the constant affection between them +always made her ready to listen. And the friend +<span class='pageno' id='Page_231'>231</span>whom both mother and daughter trusted above +all others as an adviser, had in 1685 begun to +devote his powers of argument to the cause which, +to the head of the House of Hanover, had become +of paramount importance.</p> + +<p class='c001'>But a long siege was needed before the <span lang="de"><i>Hofburg</i></span> +could be expected to yield. The services and sacrifices +which the Empire owed to the House of Hanover +were indisputable, and the solidity of its dynastic +future must have seemed beyond cavil, after the +Duke of Celle had confirmed his renunciation of +any transmission of his dominions to a possible +son of his own, and had married his only daughter +to the Hereditary Prince of Hanover, where the law +of primogeniture had been established. The meeting +(1689-90) of a Diet at Augsburg for the election of a +Roman King in the person of the future Emperor +Joseph I, seemed a suitable opportunity for bringing +forward the Hanoverian proposal of a Ninth Electorate +through Ernest Augustus’ plenipotentiary, +Count Platen. Yet, although it could not but be +of great importance to the Emperor to make sure +of the adherence of Hanover to the alliance against +France, of which at this very Diet he impressed the +necessity upon the Electors, the request of Ernest +Augustus met with no acceptance either at Augsburg +or in the course of the ensuing negotiations at +Vienna. So soon as the Emperor appeared to +favour Hanover’s desire for an Electoral hat, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_232'>232</span>Bamberg, Salzburg, Würzburg, Hesse-Cassel, and +Pfalz-Sulzbach were immediately on the alert to +try for the Ninth Electorate on their own account; +and this general eagerness conveniently supplied +the Imperial Government with a new bait for gaining +votes in the Council of Princes.<a id='r98'></a><a href='#f98' class='c008'><sup>[98]</sup></a> Moreover, the +high-handed action of the Brunswick-Lüneburg +brothers in the matter of the Lauenburg Succession +(September, 1689) had exercised a retarding influence, +by which so friendly a court as that of Brandenburg +had been for a time affected. Even certain +overtures made through his emissary by Ernest +Augustus—we may venture to surmise without +the privity of his wife—that, if such a concession +would solve the difficulty, he might be found disposed +to listen to suggestions as to his conversion +to the Church of Rome, and his enumeration of +the services which his House had rendered to that +Church, proved in vain. Hanoverian diplomacy +hereupon tried a different tack, and occupied itself +with a scheme for bringing about a combination +between Brandenburg, Saxony, and Hanover, which +would put the requisite pressure upon the Emperor +by standing neutral between him and France. The +device, for which more than one historical precedent +could have been found, produced its effect on this +occasion also, after Saxony had been induced to fall +<span class='pageno' id='Page_233'>233</span>in with it. According to the current account, the +eminent Hanoverian minister, Count Otto von +Grote (who like Leibniz had been introduced by +Duke John Frederick into the Hanoverian service, +in which he spent twenty-eight years, doing his +duty to the State in the very spirit of Frederick the +Great), forced the hand of the Emperor by exhibiting +to him at Vienna the compact with Saxony which +realised the menace of a Third Party in the European +conflict. Even if this story is apocryphal, there can +be no doubt that the neutrality project furnished +a very powerful lever in the negotiations carried on +at the Imperial Court by Grote in conjunction with +the resident Hanoverian minister, President von +Limbach. Their arguments were supported by +representations on the part of Great Britain, the +United Provinces, and Brandenburg; but they were +still more effectively reinforced by the Emperor +Leopold’s pressing requirements for his next campaign +against the Turks. Thus, then, early in 1692, +was concluded the Electoral Compact (<span lang="de"><i>Kurtractat</i></span>), +in which the Dukes of Hanover and Celle undertook +to provide, in addition to subsidies, a force of 6,000 +men in their own pay, to be employed in the first +instance against the Turks, and afterwards against +France, while a supplementary agreement bound +both sides to perpetual amity and military assistance, +and assured to the House of Austria the +support of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_234'>234</span>future Imperial elections as well as in the matter +of the coming Spanish Succession. Hereupon, on +March 19th, 1692, the Imperial rescript conferring +an Electoral hat upon the Duke of Hanover was +placed in the hands of his representative at +Vienna.</p> + +<p class='c001'>But, before this act of authority on the part of +the Emperor could command the assent of the +Estates of the Empire which he required in order +to proceed to the investiture, much remained +to be done at Vienna, where Grote was active in +person during the latter half of the year; at Dresden, +where Jobst von Ilten, another specially trusted +servant of the Hanoverian dynasty, successfully +exerted himself; and elsewhere. In the midst of +these difficulties, the Duchess of Orleans wrote to +her aunt that she was convinced as to the source +of opposition being German Princes rather than +France. As a matter of fact, not only the political +but the religious interests were agitated with which +the House of Hanover had been, or might hereafter +be, in conflict; and Grote was informed that both +the King of Denmark (Christian V) and the Pope +(Innocent XII) were adverse to the desired investiture. +The good offices of Brandenburg were, however, +freely exerted in its favour, and the Elector +Frederick III’s envoy at Ratisbon, von Metternich, +was instructed to tranquillise the Catholic Electors +by undertaking that, in the event of the dying-out +<span class='pageno' id='Page_235'>235</span>of the Bavarian and Palatine lines, the establishment +of a new Catholic Electorate should be +promoted by Brandenburg, Saxony, and Hanover. +Thus, by the middle of October, 1692, a majority +of the Electors had been secured for the investiture, +and it was possible to ignore the violent opposition +of Duke Antony Ulric of Wolfenbüttel, who, as +Elizabeth Charlotte had hinted, was irreconcilable +on this subject, and was calling out troops as if the +world were out of joint.<a id='r99'></a><a href='#f99' class='c008'><sup>[99]</sup></a> On December 10th following, +the investiture took place at Vienna, and Grote +received the coveted Electoral hat for his master. +Ernest Augustus and Sophia were at Berlin on a +visit to their daughter when the good news reached +them; a series of brilliant festivities ensued as a +matter of course, since Frederick III was always +glad of a reason for display; and, two days before +Christmas, a defensive alliance for three years was +concluded between the two Electors, to be followed +a month later by an ‘everlasting league.’ This +alliance, to whatever other results it might or might +not lead, unmistakably signified the recognition +of an important success gained for the ‘Evangelical’ +<span class='pageno' id='Page_236'>236</span>cause in Germany. Brandenburg, which was so +soon to merge in the Prussian Kingdom, and +Hanover, whose heir was not long afterwards +to mount the English throne, would, if they +held together, suffice to defy any religious reaction +in the Empire, and likewise be able to resist any +attempt in any quarter at asserting a political +domination.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Neither, however, had Grote’s labours as yet +come to an end—though they were a few months +afterwards cut short by his death—nor were the +aspirations of the House of Hanover within the +Empire satisfied by the Electoral investiture of +December, 1692. Brandenburg, Saxony, and most +of the other German courts recognised the new +Elector; but the question of his introduction into +the Electoral College, which implied his admission +as Elector to his due share in the administration of +the affairs of the Empire—the question <span lang="la"><i>quo modo</i></span>—had +still to be settled. The progress of its solution +was delayed by a persistent opposition, of which the +guiding spirit was once more Duke Antony Ulric +of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and which included +the King of Denmark as Duke of Holstein, the +Dukes of Mecklenburg, and a number of other +princes, both temporal and spiritual, in the north +and west of the Empire. In 1693, these formed an +association which designated itself as that of the +Princes ‘corresponding’ against a Ninth Electorate, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_237'>237</span>thus, as was justly observed to the Emperor by the +Elector of Brandenburg, who continued loyally to +support the demand of his father-in-law, lowering +the Imperial authority by ‘maintaining’ a resistance +against a decision already announced by it. +The Elector of Saxony, John George IV, had been +likewise well disposed to the Hanoverian promotion; +but, in 1694, he had been succeeded by his brother +Frederick Augustus (Augustus the Strong, the lover +of Aurora von Königsmarck), whom, as will be seen +in a different connexion, private as well as public +motives had estranged from the Hanoverian Court; +and thus a fresh obstacle had been put in the way +of the admission of Ernest Augustus into the College +of Electors. The virulence of Antony Ulric’s +jealous hatred, which, as we shall also see, was to +find in the Königsmarck catastrophe of 1694 and +its antecedents a most tempting opportunity for +damaging the reputation of the Hanoverian family, +suggested to him what the Hanoverian diplomatist +Ilten termed a ‘<span lang="fr"><i>projet d’alliance diabolique</i></span>.’ Frederick +Augustus was to be gained over to the association +of ‘Corresponding’ Princes by a surrender to +Saxony of the Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel claims to +part of the Duchy of Lauenburg, and he was to +cooperate with Denmark in dispossessing Hanover +and Celle, who had occupied other parts of the +duchy claimed by them. Ernest Augustus had to +appeal to King William III to put a stop to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_238'>238</span>manœuvres which threatened seriously to affect +the general peace of Europe.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Although the machinations of Antony Ulric +were thus frustrated, he succeeded in depriving his +hitherto so fortunate kinsman, Ernest Augustus, +of the satisfaction of attaining in person to the +consummation of his chief dynastic ambition. +Soon after the death of Ernest Augustus, in January, +1698, the insensate jealousy of Antony Ulric led +him to make, with fresh assistance, an armed +attack upon Hanover, which amounted to an act +of hostility against the Empire, committed at a +critical season in the affairs of Europe. The +defeat of this attempt by the energetic action of +the Elector George Lewis broke down the opposition +of Antony Ulric in the matter of the Ninth Electorate +(1702); and soon afterwards he acknowledged +the Electoral dignity and the precedence of the +Hanoverian Elector at the Diet (1703). Previously +to these occurrences, the exertions of Frederick III +of Brandenburg had succeeded in inducing the +three Spiritual Electors to abandon their resistance +to the new Protestant Electorate (1699); but the +outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession +had thereupon caused further delays. Thus it +was not till 1707 that the positive assent of all +the Electors was secured, nor till September 7th, +1708, sixteen years after the investiture at +Vienna, that the Hanoverian envoy, von Limbach, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_239'>239</span>at last took his seat in the Electoral College at +Ratisbon.</p> + +<p class='c021'>The marriage between Sophia Dorothea of Celle +and her cousin George Lewis of Hanover, which was +to end so disastrously, came as a matter of course +to be represented as having been ill-omened at the +outset. It is, however, impossible to trust either +the account of the transactions that preceded this +marriage, or that of the long train of events ending +in its dissolution, to be found in a long series of +versions of this pitiful story. In substance, if not +in every detail, they all go back upon the parent +romance compiled by Duke Antony Ulric, very +probably with the aid of information furnished to +him by the confidante of the unhappy heroine. An +authority so signally untrustworthy is best ignored; +though it would be idle to pretend that the copious +stream, which has flowed through all sorts of +channels from this turbid source, is likely to be +wholly devoid of some admixture of truth.<a id='r100'></a><a href='#f100' class='c008'><sup>[100]</sup></a> In +<span class='pageno' id='Page_240'>240</span>point of fact, we cannot tell in what frame of mind +Sophia Dorothea entered on her married life, or +even what was her mother’s view of the match. +Eleonora, beyond all doubt, tenderly loved her +daughter; but Sophia Dorothea’s nature was +light and frivolous, and there had not, so far as is +known, been anything in her life to incline her to +resistance. The views of the Duchess Sophia on +the subject of her eldest son’s marriage it may seem +easy to guess. But, though she had execrated the +d’Olbreuze connexion in all its earlier stages, and +though she seems at no time to have pretended to +anything like affection for Eleonora’s daughter, we +may take it for granted that, so soon as the marriage-project +had been formally adopted as a matter of +court and state policy, the Duchess completely +acquiesced in it. And, indeed, no doubt could +exist as to the advantages of the arrangement, +whether from the point of view of the political +future of the dynasty, or from that of the present +resources of the House. The marriage-contract +<span class='pageno' id='Page_241'>241</span>gave to the Hereditary Prince the free use of his +wife’s income, though it secured her fortune—which +was certain to be a very large one—to herself in the +event of her husband’s decease preceding her own. +It was only at a later date, when a dissolution of her +marriage seemed desirable to Sophia Dorothea, that +she complained of the terms of this settlement. The +great wealth of the bride might well be held to +cover whatever minor disabilities might result to +the possible issue of the marriage from the imperfection +of her own descent.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Nothing, it may be added, could be more improbable +than that either George Lewis or his +mother should have been at the pains of considering +how far Sophia Dorothea’s character and disposition +were suited to his own, or whether she would find +any difficulty in accommodating herself to his way +of life. The Duchess Sophia had learnt by long +experience to bear with the open faithlessness of +her husband, and with his frank neglect of herself, +without forfeiting the influence which her intelligence +had long assured to her over him and his +affairs. How should she, with her shrewd apprehension +of the ways of the world, have supposed +that the same lesson would not be learnt by her +new daughter-in-law? And it may at once be +stated that there is no indication of George Lewis +having during the early years of his married life kept +up any relation that would have been unbearable +<span class='pageno' id='Page_242'>242</span>to his young wife. If there was any truth in +the rumour that he had been on terms of intimacy +with Countess Platen’s younger sister, Frau von dem +Bussche (<span lang="fr"><cite>née</cite></span> Marie von Meysenbug), the relation +must have been broken off before his marriage, as +indeed a further circumstantial piece of scandal +asserted. She appears to have been a very pretty +person, with plenty of admirers; and she is said to +have set the fashion of ‘drinking tobacco’ among +the ladies at Hanover.<a id='r101'></a><a href='#f101' class='c008'><sup>[101]</sup></a> For the rest, although +George I was at no time in his life in the habit of +seeking personal praise, and in truth cannot be said +to have received an overflowing measure of it +either from contemporaries or from posterity, yet +he was not without qualities sure to impress themselves +on anyone brought into close contact with +him. His unflinching courage and military capacity +were generally known; and it may further be +averred in his honour, that he was never found +false to his word, and that he was unswervingly +true to any attachment once formed by him. His +manners may, in his younger days in particular, have +had a smack of the camp, and they must at all +times have given proof of the reserve which was +part of his nature, and which bad and good fortune +combined to harden into the stolidity of his later +years. That he made no pretence to intellectual +tastes (though he quarrelled with his illustrious +<span class='pageno' id='Page_243'>243</span>historiographer’s unpunctuality in fulfilling his +engagement to digest the ancient records of the +House of Guelf) may have disappointed his mother, +but could hardly perturb Sophia Dorothea, who +came of no lettered stock. In general, she might +well have been thought likely to suit her own fluid +temperament to a character cast in a stronger and +sterner mould. The portraits which remain of her +show her to have been graceful and pleasing +beyond the common, and this impression is confirmed +by notices of her personality dating from +the early years of her married life. Perhaps +there may be perceptible in certain of her portraits +(one of which reminded the ingenious Wraxall of +Sterne’s Eliza) a sentimentality of the superficial +kind; but nothing could be more cruelly unfair +than to draw from these likenesses conclusions as +to her levity of disposition. On the other hand, +the Duchess Sophia may be thought a prejudiced +witness, when, in 1684 and 1685, she is found +expressing distrust of both the smiles and the tears +of her daughter-in-law, and setting her down as an +unsatisfactory example for Sophia Charlotte, the +apple of her mother’s eye; in truth, however, the +Duchess’ strictures cannot, in this instance, be +said to be very serious. The bad maternal bringing +up of Sophia Dorothea, on which the same censor’s +faithful echo, the Duchess of Orleans, was afterwards +fain to dwell as the original cause of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_244'>244</span>Princess’ misfortunes, has been waived aside as a +mere invention of spite; yet it should not be forgotten +that both Sophia and her niece were, in their +girlhood, carefully and even rigidly educated, and +that to this training the unfaltering rectitude that +marked the conduct of both is, in no small measure, +attributable. At the same time, it is equally +obvious that the kindly guidance by which the most +perfect system of moral discipline needs at times to +be supplemented, or by which the absence of such +discipline may be in part redeemed, was wanting to +Sophia Dorothea at Hanover. While there can be +no reason for gainsaying this, and while it must be +allowed to have been natural enough that those +who had hated the mother should have treated the +misconduct of the daughter as what might have +been expected almost as a matter of course, yet the +attempt to throw upon the Electress Sophia the +responsibility of the catastrophe which we are about +to narrate may be at once denounced as inherently +absurd. Whether or not George Lewis cruelly ill-treated +his wife—and there is no trustworthy +evidence to support any such supposition—the +assumption is altogether unwarranted that either +in his bearing towards her, or in any other important +relation of his life, he allowed himself to be influenced +by his mother.<a id='r102'></a><a href='#f102' class='c008'><sup>[102]</sup></a> Least of all was he likely to be +<span class='pageno' id='Page_245'>245</span>amenable to her counsel at a stage of his career +when he must have known her to be at heart adverse +to his interest in the matter, all-important to himself, +of the institution of primogeniture. And as +for Sophia herself, though elaborate efforts have been +made to represent her as morally guilty of her +daughter-in-law’s ruin, there is not a tittle of +evidence to support a conjecture in itself utterly +improbable. For her frankness and sincerity are +never found belying themselves; and intrigue of all +kinds, as both her public and her private conduct +show, was wholly foreign to her nature. Moreover, +though, as will be noted, no letters from her hand +referring to the crisis in Sophia Dorothea’s affairs +have been allowed to survive, the general tone of +her correspondence during these eventful years is +one of a serenity of mind unbroken, except by her +grief for her losses as a mother.</p> + +<p class='c001'>At first, things seem to have gone well with +Sophia Dorothea at Hanover. The Hereditary +Prince (for he was, of course, not styled the Electoral +Prince till 1682) continued the military career which +best corresponded both to his aspirations and to his +habits—serving during a series of campaigns in the +Imperial army, and taking no part in the home +government till, about 1694, his father’s health +<span class='pageno' id='Page_246'>246</span>began to give way. Doubtless George Lewis’ long +and repeated absences must have contributed to +keep him estranged from the Princess, and, as already +observed, there were at Hanover no members of +the ducal family or court likely to aim at endearing +themselves to her. The star of Countess Platen, +mistress <span lang="fr"><i>en titre</i></span>, remained steadily in the ascendant, +and her villa of Monplaisir, in the immediate neighbourhood +of the capital, became the centre of its +fashionable dissipations. Her sister, Frau von dem +Bussche, was likewise still to the front (she took +part in Ernest Augustus’ farewell expedition of +pleasure to Italy, to be noticed immediately); but, +whether or not she had formerly been a recipient +of the Hereditary Prince’s favours, they do not +appear to have continued to be bestowed upon her +either under her present name, or when, after her +husband’s death (at Landen), she bestowed her hand +upon another gallant officer, General von Weyhe.<a id='r103'></a><a href='#f103' class='c008'><sup>[103]</sup></a> +When the exigencies of etiquette did not require her +<span class='pageno' id='Page_247'>247</span>presence at the interminable court dinners and +suppers, or at the operas in the new theatre, in which +the heart of Ernest Augustus delighted, Sophia +Dorothea may be concluded to have led a life as +solitary as it was dull in her apartments in the +Leine Palace at Hanover.<a id='r104'></a><a href='#f104' class='c008'><sup>[104]</sup></a> The favourite companion +of her long hours of idleness was her lady-in-waiting, +Fräulein Eleonora von dem Knesebeck, +who had come with her from Celle, and whose +devotion, self-sacrificing though by no means blind, +was to involve her in the consequences of her +mistress’ aberrations.</p> + +<p class='c001'>In October, 1683, the Hereditary Princess gave +birth to a son, who was named George Augustus, in +honour of his father and grandfather respectively, +and who was nearly half a century later to ascend +the throne of Great Britain and Ireland as King +George II. We may feel assured that an event so +auspicious for the future of the dynasty, and so +speedily fulfilling the hopes with which the marriage +had been brought about, specially commended her +to the favour of her father-in-law; and, that this +favour continued, is shown by his consideration for +her some two years afterwards. In 1684, Duke +Ernest Augustus had undertaken his last journey to +the beloved land of Italy, being accompanied on it +<span class='pageno' id='Page_248'>248</span>by an oddly composed company consisting, among +others, of Count Platen and Major-General von dem +Bussche and their wives. During this visit the +Duchess remained behind, professedly <span lang="fr"><cite>à son grand +regret</cite></span>, and Prince George Lewis was, for part of +the time, engaged in one of his Hungarian campaigns +against the Turks. But his Princess, at the +particular request of her father-in-law, joined the +ducal party at Venice, arriving there just before the +opening of the carnival of 1686. ‘I am delighted +to hear,’ writes the Duchess Sophia from Hanover +in January, ‘that my daughter-in-law and her +following are in good condition.’ Sophia Dorothea +then accompanied the Duke for the Holy Week to +Rome, where their sojourn cost the cruel sum of +twenty thousand dollars; but, though her husband +had by this time finished his campaign, ceremonial +difficulties (which one would have thought would +have affected the father as much as the son) prevented +him from coming to the papal city, and he +amused himself with a trip to Florence and Naples +on his own account. All these things are told +without so much as a suggestion of untowardness; +nor was it till long afterwards that a scandal, +promptly credited by the Duchess of Orleans, declared +Sophia Dorothea to have consoled herself +for her husband’s absence by an amour carried on +at Rome with a French marquis of the name of de +Lassaye. But the story in question rests entirely +<span class='pageno' id='Page_249'>249</span>on the braggadocio to which this squire of dames +treated the Duchess, and on the still more doubtful +evidence of certain compromising letters purporting +to have been addressed by him to Sophia Dorothea +when at Rome, and printed by him in his old age—as +late as 1738. Thus the shame of this denunciation +lies entirely with its cowardly author.</p> + +<p class='c001'>There seems, however, little doubt but that, +after her return from Italy, Sophia Dorothea became +further estranged from her husband. To this date +would have to be assigned, were it otherwise worth +noticing, the attraction said by the Duchess of +Orleans to have been exercised by Sophia Dorothea +upon the Raugrave Charles Lewis, one of the family +of nephews and nieces ‘by the left hand’ to whom +the Duchess Sophia extended so benevolent and +almost maternal a protection. According to the +same authority, it was to escape the wiles of the +light-hearted Princess that the Raugrave took service +against the Turks in the Morea, where he met with +his death in 1688; but there was very probably +more malice than truth in the story. In March, +1687, Sophia Dorothea gave birth to a second child, +the daughter who was named after her, and who, +as the wife of King Frederick William I of Prussia, +was to become the mother of Frederick the Great +and of his brother Augustus William, the direct +ancestor of the subsequent Kings of Prussia and +of the German Emperors of our own times. It +<span class='pageno' id='Page_250'>250</span>cannot have been till after this event that George +Lewis, who seems to have remained nearer home +after his campaign in 1685, began to follow his +father’s example and give publicity to his preference +of other attractions to those of his wife. But much +uncertainty exists as to the date at which this +infidelity began, and as to the extent to which it +was carried. It has been widely assumed, and is +constantly repeated, that Countess Platen sought +to maintain the family influence over the Hereditary +Prince, after he had tired of her sister, through her +daughter; but this assumption, which, because +of its revolting character, was carefully kept alive +and cherished by the detractors of George I and +his dynasty, must be dismissed as baseless. This +celebrated lady, who, like the Duchess Sophia’s +own daughter, had been christened Sophia Charlotte, +in 1701 became the wife of Baron von Kielmannsegg, +a nobleman of honourable reputation, +who had for some years been attached to the +Hanoverian Court. Here the pair lived in unbroken +union and enjoyed a distinguished position; their +villa of <span lang="fr"><cite>Fantaisie</cite></span> on the avenue to Herrenhausen +being regarded as a favourite resort of foreign +visitors to Hanover. They afterwards followed +King George I to England, where, after the resignation +of the Duke of Somerset, the high household +office of Master of the Horse was left vacant, in +order that its duties might be performed by the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_251'>251</span>Hanoverian <span lang="de"><i>Oberstallmeister</i></span>, while his wife was +created Countess of Leinster in the Irish and afterwards +Countess of Darlington in the English peerage. +Neither at Hanover nor in England had George I +ever made any secret of the nature of the tie which +he believed to exist between her and himself; he +had consistently treated her as his half-sister, giving +her at the Electoral Court precedence over the +Raugraves and Raugravines, and, in the patent +that conferred an Irish peerage upon her, causing +her to be designated <span lang="la"><i>consanguinea nostra</i></span>. So simple +an explanation of the honour in which she continued +to be held till her death in 1727 was of course +insufficient for Jacobite spite, for anti-German +prejudice, and for the love of scandal on its own +account. On the other hand, the only personage +whom, either before or after he mounted the English +throne, George publicly recognised as mistress, +was also the only lady at the Hanoverian Court +who seems in the days of his married life to have +exercised a strong fascination over him. Yet +Melusina von der Schulenburg (afterwards Duchess +of Kendal)<a id='r105'></a><a href='#f105' class='c008'><sup>[105]</sup></a> appears at this time to have refrained +from thrusting herself into notice; and this agrees +with the indications of refinement which it is +<span class='pageno' id='Page_252'>252</span>impossible to ignore in the portrait remaining of her +in the period of her youth.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Thus, then, scarcely anything is ascertainable +as to the beginnings and rise of the general sense of +unhappiness which is known to have come over +Sophia Dorothea during her life at Hanover, and +to which—some time in 1692 or later—she gave +<span lang="fr"><i>naïve</i></span> expression by the avowal, afterwards, with +cruel ineptness, judicially quoted against her, +that she would rather be a ‘<span lang="fr"><i>marquise</i></span> in France’ +than Electoral Princess of Brunswick-Lüneburg. +Yet fixed antipathies of this kind are commonly +of gradual growth, and it would have been difficult +for a nature like Sophia Dorothea’s, craving for +impulse to meet impulse, and quite incapable of +renunciation, to settle down into the dull acquiescence +which, with so many women, has to do duty +for contentment. The restraint of a monotonous +existence and the petty rules of an elaborate +etiquette, imposed upon her among surroundings +in which there was so much to annoy her and so +little to sustain her self-respect, must in any case +have made her restive and unhappy. Least of all +could she have felt any inclination to take an interest +in the schemes of dynastic ambition to which she +knew herself to have been sacrificed—perhaps +against the wish of her best friend, her mother. The +anecdote that it was attempted to implicate her +in the plot hatched by Prince Maximilian—Moltke, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_253'>253</span>who was to pay the penalty of the discovered +design, being offered his release, if he would charge +her with a guilty knowledge,—may be dismissed +as fictitious. And it may be observed, by the way, +that, while there is no authority for connecting Countess +Platen with the supposed offer, it could not +possibly have been promoted by the Duchess +Sophia, whose sympathies were on the side of +Maximilian’s revolt against the principle of primogeniture. +Sophia Dorothea was, no doubt, on +pleasant terms with her high-spirited but flighty +brother-in-law Maximilian, who, indeed, unmistakably +oppressed her with his attentions; but +it is quite clear that, in no sense of the word, +can there have been anything ‘serious’ between +them. We do not know how Sophia Dorothea was +affected by the rise in the family dignity which +procured for her the title of Electoral Princess. +But, in regard to a question of still greater importance +for the future of the House, we have it on excellent +authority that she took a line opposite to that +adopted by her husband. Sir William Dutton +Colt, who, as was seen, had entered upon his duties +as English Envoy Extraordinary and Minister +Plenipotentiary at Hanover in 1689, while describing +the Duchess Sophia as an incomparable person, +full of charming wit, kindness, and civility, and +speaking of the ‘Princess of Hanover’ (Sophia +Dorothea), for whom and her infant son, he says, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_254'>254</span>Duke Ernest Augustus showed great fondness, as +beautiful, accomplished, and agreeable, notes (in +1691) that the Princess was distinctly anti-English +in her sympathies. Her partiality for France might +have found a sufficient explanation in her descent, +and in the associations so long cherished by her +mother at Celle; but Sir William Colt assigns another +reason that cannot be overlooked. The eldest son +(George Lewis), the envoy reported, was not in +the least French in his inclinations; and the French +party, discontented with this, paid all the court +imaginable to the Princess—‘and I fear not without +success, for she has no great fondness for the Prince.’</p> + +<p class='c001'>It is, therefore, clear that, by this time (1691), +Sophia Dorothea’s feelings towards her husband +had passed into a condition of more or less active +antipathy. And there can no longer be any pretence +of doubt that, whether or not the indifference of +her husband towards herself had hardened into +positive unkindness, and whether or not this unkindness +(as there is absolutely nothing to prove) +had shown itself in actual ill-treatment, Sophia +Dorothea was already under the influence of a +growing passion for another man. The story of +the guilty loves of Sophia Dorothea and Königsmarck +need not be related at length here, since +large portions of their correspondence are generally +accessible, at least in a translation from the French +originals, while a supplementary part is for the first +<span class='pageno' id='Page_255'>255</span>time (with the exception of two letters which have +appeared elsewhere) printed in an Appendix to the +present book. The evidence for the genuineness of +this correspondence, in so far as the greater part of +it is concerned, which covers 679 pages, and is now +extant in the University Library at Lund, was +practically irresistible as it stood, and is confirmed +beyond the last shadow of doubt by the letters in +the Royal Secret Archives of State at Berlin, which +cover 65 pages, and which are seen at the first glance +to belong to the same correspondence. They agree +in the handwritings, and in the use of the same +cipher, as well as in all the distinctive features of +style; they refer to numerous details mentioned in +the Lund letters; and to some of these certain of +the Berlin documents stand in the relation of supplements +or answers. It is said—but on no stated +authority—that to these letters might be added +others, of contents unknown, in the possession of +the present head of the House of Hanover. No part +of Count Königsmarck’s correspondence with the +Princess Sophia Dorothea remains in the possession +of the present representative of his family. As for +the Lund documents, their history can be satisfactorily +traced up to the direct descendants of Countess +Lewenhaupt, the elder sister of Count Philip Christopher +von Königsmarck. The younger sister, the +famous Countess Aurora, as will be seen, actively +intervened in the transactions that followed on its +<span class='pageno' id='Page_256'>256</span>discovery, at a time when both the sisters were residing +at Hamburg. It must be supposed that Aurora +at some time transferred the letters from her +custody into that of her elder sister; how they +came into her own, must remain matter of conjecture, +though it is a not unnatural supposition +that they were entrusted to her by the recipients. +On the other hand, the evidence of handwriting +obtained by a comparison of these documents with +others of incontestable genuineness, from the hands +of Sophia Dorothea and Königsmarck respectively, is +entirely satisfactory—though this part of the subject +is complicated by the fact (for as such it may +be set down) that the Princess possessed the art of +writing in two different hands, while portions of her +part of the love correspondence were dictated by her +to her confidante. (Königsmarck wrote his own love-letters; +but his official letters at Hanover are, except +the signatures, probably in the handwriting of his +private secretary.) But it is the internal evidence +contained in the documents themselves, in face of +which the refusal to accept them, though maintained +by at least one historian of high eminence to +whom this period of Brunswick-Lüneburg history +and this particular episode were familiar as to no +other among his contemporaries, must be said to +have broken down. The internal evidence in the +present case consists mainly of a number of coincidences +of circumstance and date, such as it is +<span class='pageno' id='Page_257'>257</span>impossible to ascribe either to chance or to design, +that have been proved to exist between incidental +statements in these letters and in contemporary +documents of unimpeachable authenticity. The +most important of these are the letters and contemporary +despatches of Sir William Dutton Colt, +the envoy to the Courts of Hanover and Celle +mentioned above, now preserved in our Record Office, +and extending over the period from July, 1689, to +December, 1692. (To these have, at all events, to +be added passages in the correspondence of the +Electress Sophia, and isolated statements as to the +campaign in the Netherlands and the battle of +Steenkirke in particular, in a military list cited +by Havemann, and in a contemporary account of +the battle in the <span lang="la"><i>Theatrum Europæum</i></span>.) The credit +of placing this investigation on lines which could +not but lead up to an irrefutable issue belongs to the +late Mrs. Everett Green, for whom a careful second +transcript had been made of the letters of which a +first, incomplete, transcript had been presented to +her by the late Count Albert von der Schulenburg-Klosterrode. +The second, complete, copy, carefully +digested and arranged, was placed by Mrs. Green in +the British Museum, after she had, for prudential +reasons, abandoned the idea of embodying it in a +published work. This task was accomplished by +the late Mr. W. H. Wilkins, in his own way, in a +book afterwards republished in a new and revised +<span class='pageno' id='Page_258'>258</span>edition; but he did not live to carry out his +contingent design of some day ‘translating the whole +correspondence at Lund, at Berlin, and at Gmünden, +and arranging it in chronological order with the aid +of first-hand documentary evidence drawn from +other sources.’ The corroboration of the genuineness +and authenticity of the Lund documents +furnished by those now printed from the originals in +the Berlin Archives is, as observed, complete, and all +the more convincing, inasmuch as they must have +been separated from the rest at a very early date. It +is stated in the Register of the Archives of State at +Berlin that they were found among the papers of +Frederick the Great at Sans Souci after his death; and +the superscription which they bear (‘<span lang="fr"><cite>Lettres d’Amour +de la Duchesse D’allen au Comte Konigsmarc</cite></span>’) is in +the King’s own handwriting. How they came into +his possession must remain a matter of conjecture, +which will be more appropriately discussed elsewhere. +It should perhaps be added that the whole problem +of the genuineness of this correspondence is of very +secondary historical significance; but, apart from +the human interest of the letters themselves, their +whole story shows how difficult it is to find, and +perhaps also how difficult it is to kill, the truth.<a id='r106'></a><a href='#f106' class='c008'><sup>[106]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_259'>259</span>Nothing indicates that Count Philip Christopher +von Königsmarck, the ill-fated hero of the tragedy +of Sophia Dorothea’s life, made his appearance at +Hanover before the month of March, 1688, when +his presence at a court <span lang="fr"><i>fête</i></span> is accidentally mentioned—just +a twelvemonth after the birth of the second +and last of George Lewis’ and Sophia Dorothea’s +children. Königsmarck was a member of a Swedish +family of high position and great wealth, which +had derived lustre from the important services +of Field-Marshal von Königsmarck in the latter +<span class='pageno' id='Page_260'>260</span>part of the Thirty Years’ War, and which had, +through him, acquired large estates in northern +Germany. The branch of the family to which +Philip Christopher belonged were citizens of the +world; to set them down as adventurers argues an +imperfect apprehension of the spirit of their age, +and indeed of that of a great part of the following +century also. Like the rest of them, Philip Christopher +had seen many courts already in his youthful +days; and nothing could be more probable than +that he should have found his way to Celle, especially +as he had a family connexion with France, such as +would always have ensured him a welcome at the +court of George William and Eleonora. He may +thus very well have formed a boy and girl acquaintance +with their daughter; but the statement said +to have been afterwards made by him, that he had +loved her from childhood, is insufficiently authenticated, +and does not recur in any of his love-letters. +He then accompanied his elder brother, Count +Charles John, whose wanderings had been more +widely varied than his own (and with whom he is +confounded by Horace Walpole, in his careless +way), on a visit to England. Here the elder brother +was the principal figure in a <span lang="fr"><i>cause célèbre</i></span>, the trial +of himself and others for the murder of the wealthy +Thomas Thynne (‘Tom of Ten Thousand’), of +which crime an elaborate representation may to +this day be seen carved in relief on the victim’s +<span class='pageno' id='Page_261'>261</span>tomb in Westminster Abbey.<a id='r107'></a><a href='#f107' class='c008'><sup>[107]</sup></a> Fortunately for himself, +Count von Königsmarck escaped the gallows, +where the careers of his accomplices ended; but +England was no longer an agreeable place of sojourn +for the two brothers, and their travels recommenced. +The elder died in the Morea in 1686; so that it was +the younger who, in 1688, inherited the wealth of +their uncle, on his death after a distinguished +career as a commander in the service of the Venetian +Republic. Thus, when Königsmarck, after visiting +France and becoming acquainted with the Saxon +Prince afterwards known as Augustus the Strong, +King of Poland, in this same year, 1688, arrived at +Hanover, he was not only a nobleman of much knowledge +and experience of the world, but a personage +of great wealth, and an extremely desirable acquisition +for a court such as that of Hanover, where +there were excellent opportunities for spending +money as well as for encouraging its expenditure. +On his side, Königsmarck, as the head of his migratory +family, may have wished to further the settlement +of his sisters; and the elder, about this time, +married the Swedish Count Axel Lewenhaupt, +who two years later passed into the service of the +Duke of Celle. The younger, Aurora, had not as +yet found at Dresden, where her brother was probably +already well known, the sphere in which her +<span class='pageno' id='Page_262'>262</span>beauty and wit, after liberally diffusing their +radiance in many regions, were for a time established +as supreme; at Hanover, so fixed a constellation +as that of the Platen family was sure to regard +this brilliant meteor with much displeasure. But +Countess Platen could raise no objection to Ernest +Augustus’ offer of a commission to Königsmarck; +and this offer was certainly made and accepted. +For he is soon found commanding a Hanoverian +regiment, in frontier operations and in Flanders, +and afterwards holding, in the same service, a +colonelcy of dragoons.</p> + +<p class='c001'>So far we stand on solid ground; but, as to the +beginnings of the intimacy between Sophia Dorothea +and Königsmarck, and as to the incidents that +occurred in the period before the commencement +of the extant correspondence between them, we +possess no trustworthy account whatever. There +is no evidence even to show the authenticity of the +story, which has been used with much effect in a +recent poetic drama (very different in conception +from that imagined by Schiller on the same theme),<a id='r108'></a><a href='#f108' class='c008'><sup>[108]</sup></a> +that Königsmarck accompanied Prince Charles +Philip in the campaign in which the Duchess Sophia +lost her favourite son, and that he shared the Prince’s +dangers, though escaping his doom.</p> + +<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_263'>263</span>At the time when the correspondence between +Sophia Dorothea and Königsmarck opens—at the +beginning of July, 1691—he must at any rate have +been for some time back in Hanover; for he had +started at the head of a regiment of foot in the ducal +service on a march towards the Elbe, undertaken +for the purpose of ensuring the safety of Hamburg. +A few weeks later, he was himself sent to that city +on a diplomatic mission for the conclusion of a +treaty of alliance with Sweden,—a balancing operation +on the part of Ernest Augustus, before he had +made up his mind to join the Grand Alliance against +France. That this charge, for which of course his +Swedish descent rendered him particularly suitable, +should have been given to Königsmarck, proves +him to have been at this time in full favour at the +Hanoverian court.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Inasmuch as, already in the earliest of his extant +letters to Sophia Dorothea, Königsmarck describes +himself as <span lang="la"><i>in extremis</i></span>, though at the same time +assuring her that his respect for her is as great as +his love, we find the pair already on the brink of +an abyss of passion, and understand why their +correspondence was a clandestine one. Such, in +fact, it was, from first to last, intended to be and to +remain; and all the usual devices of secrecy at the +command of the writers of these letters were adopted +for the purpose. Of course they were all—or nearly +all—written in French, the language ordinarily +<span class='pageno' id='Page_264'>264</span>used at the Hanover as well as the Celle Court. +The communications from Königsmarck, which +may be said to form about two-thirds of the +whole series of letters or portions of letters, are, +when they bear any address at all, directed to +Fräulein von dem Knesebeck, either by name or +by some kind of designation under which she is +evidently intended. Part of the Princess’ letters +are written in a hand differing so much from that +which wrote the remainder, and which a comparison +with her undoubtedly genuine writing seems +to identify as her own, that it may be assumed to +be the hand of the confidante. In the actual composition +of the letters, the writers had further +agreed to guard themselves by the adoption of a +twofold—or perhaps one should say threefold—system +of cipher, which it needs no Œdipus to +unriddle, at all events sufficiently for the purposes +of detection.<a id='r109'></a><a href='#f109' class='c008'><sup>[109]</sup></a> Under such flimsy safeguards, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_265'>265</span>explicable in Sophia Dorothea’s case only by her +youth and utter inexperience, and in Königsmarck’s +by the habits of a roving life which had led him to +cast himself recklessly into a whirlpool of excitement, +the lovers gave full vent to their feelings of amorous +and jealous passion. The voice of nature is audible +in this correspondence, but it is singularly devoid +of charm. Königsmarck’s tone, as could hardly +but be expected, has a general tendency to coarseness, +and is at times very gross, calling to mind +Stepney’s description of the unfortunate man, after +his catastrophe, as a loose fish whom he had long +known and would always have avoided. No +similar charge is to be brought against the letters +of Sophia Dorothea, which are written in an easy +and flowing style. But her letters, as well as +Königsmarck’s, contain passages irreconcilable with +any conclusion except one—that theirs was a guilty +love. For the rest, there is no straining of style +in the correspondence, and those who regarded it +<span class='pageno' id='Page_266'>266</span>as fabricated might well describe it as a ‘clumsy’ +forgery; for it omits to make certain points which a +forger could hardly have missed. In the Lund letters, +at all events, Königsmarck, except when calling up +the image of the Electoral Prince George Lewis in his +marital capacity, refers to him with good humour; +and Sophia Dorothea gives quite a matter-of-fact +account of a quarrel between her parents.</p> + +<p class='c001'>It would be unprofitable to attempt here to +follow the course of this unhappy passion, of which +many incidents have now been verified as to time +and place, chiefly by means of the despatches of the +English envoy, while the main event of its catastrophe +is lost in impenetrable gloom. Königsmarck—who +asserts that, had he proceeded from +Hamburg to Sweden, he would have readily been +admitted into the service of that monarchy, where, +on account of his numerous connexions in many +lands at many Courts, he might very possibly have +come to play a conspicuous part—chose, instead, +to return to Hanover, probably in consequence of +the favourable reception accorded by the Princess +to his still hesitating written advances. His +letters now begin to assume a freer tone. Temporary +separations inevitably ensued. He accompanies +Duke Ernest Augustus to Wolfenbüttel, +while she remains behind; she joins in a visit, in +which he is not included, to her father at his hunting-seat +at Epsdorff, or at Wienhausen; and he +<span class='pageno' id='Page_267'>267</span>has to swear eternal fidelity in a letter signed in his +blood, and to protest that he will go to the Morea +(whither Ernest Augustus’ son Christian was at the +time intent upon proceeding), in order to relieve +her of his compromising presence. It seems to +have been not long after this that Sophia Dorothea +succumbed to her passion; and, early in 1692, +fears were already pressing upon them of discovery—in +the first instance through her mother; for +Königsmarck had followed her to the Court of +Celle. At last, in June, 1692, he was obliged to +join the Hanoverian force under the command of +Sophia Dorothea’s husband in Flanders; for Ernest +Augustus, resolved on striking a bargain for the +Ninth Electorate, had now openly become a member +of the Grand Alliance. With the opening of the +Flemish campaign (during which Königsmarck took +part in the battle of Steenkirke) begins the series of +the Princess’ letters, several of which are dated +from Brockhausen, where Prince Maximilian had +taken refuge with the Duke of Celle after his trouble +at Hanover, while others are written from Wiesbaden, +which later in the year she visited with her +mother. Many of these letters contain details that +admit of verification from Colt’s despatches. The +intrigue between Sophia Dorothea and Königsmarck +had now passed into a phase in which +expressions of love, jealousy, and haunting apprehensions, +breathlessly crowd upon one another; and, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_268'>268</span>after the Princess had returned to Hanover, it almost +seemed as if she must listen to the advice which he +had sent to her from the Low Countries, and cut +the knot of their difficulties by flying with him.</p> + +<p class='c001'>We here touch one of the obscurest passages in +this pitiful story, and one which must here be dealt +with quite briefly. It was quite impossible that +Königsmarck’s devotion to the Princess before his +departure to Flanders should have remained unnoticed +at the Hanoverian court; and nothing +could have been more appropriate than that her +mother-in-law, the Duchess Sophia, who, without +at all suspecting the worst, must have been seriously +annoyed by what she had observed—unless we are +to adopt the absurd supposition that she was +pleased to see her daughter-in-law beginning to +go wrong—should have lectured the Princess on her +want of <span lang="fr"><i>conduite</i></span>. But Sophia Dorothea was aware +that there was at court another and a less straightforward +influence, which she suspected would be +adverse to her—that of the Countess Platen. From +what followed, there can be no doubt that the +Countess had reasons for bearing Königsmarck a +grudge; and it has been unhesitatingly assumed, +in accordance with an unauthenticated tradition, +that her motive was jealousy, and that he had +formerly shared her favours. On the other hand, +the Duchess of Orleans deliberately states that there +is no <span lang="de"><i>apparentz</i></span> of Countess Platen having sought to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_269'>269</span>attract to herself so young a man, and that it is +more likely that, as the Electress Sophia had been +informed, the Countess cajoled Königsmarck in the +hope of his marrying her daughter; ‘for he was a +good match.’ This story also long found acceptance; +but it does not very well suit either Königsmarck’s +account of his later meeting with Countess +Platen, or the jealousy of her which this account +unmistakably excited in the Princess. In any case, +when it occurred to Sophia Dorothea to consult the +Electress Sophia Charlotte of Brandenburg on the +situation—a step which at all events shows her to +have been without fear of any underhand action on +the part of her cousin or her mother-in-law—Sophia +Charlotte counselled her to conciliate the Countess +Platen; and this piece of advice was communicated +by Sophia Dorothea to Königsmarck. On his return +to Hanover, about November, he seems to have +determined to contribute towards the appeasing of +the powerful mistress; but, whether in sheer recklessness, +or because he considered himself safe with +the Countess, who would assuredly remain silent on +the subject towards her august protector, he clearly +overdid his part. After this escapade, a sort of +desperate rage seems to have seized upon him, and +the correspondence of the year 1692 concludes with +a brutally sarcastic tirade launched against the +new ‘Electoral Princess’ by her infuriated lover. +It is, then, manifest that Sophia Dorothea had +<span class='pageno' id='Page_270'>270</span>grounds for distrusting Countess Platen; but, how +far the double insult offered to the Elector’s mistress +by Königsmarck’s conduct is to be connected with +the terrible events that followed, no evidence exists +to show, and the part of evil genius assigned to the +Countess in the tragedy has had to be written up +with the aid of conjecture and fiction.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The last chapter of the correspondence, which +extends from the early summer to the close of the +year 1693 (or thereabouts), shows the fatal passion +of the pair still aflame, but the clouds of danger +thickening around them. In the absence of her +husband during the year’s campaign in Flanders, +the Electoral Princess continued to idle away her +days with her parents-in-law at Luisburg, or with +her own parents at Brockhausen, whither Königsmarck +followed her. She took some comfort from +the good humour of the Electress Sophia; though, +foreseeing that, if she came to know the truth, she +would show no pity, Königsmarck warned the +Princess that her mother-in-law would, sooner or +later, be her ruin. At Brockhausen, a nocturnal +meeting between the lovers was not wholly unwatched, +and the letters afterwards interchanged +by them show increasing apprehension. Countess +Platen herself vaguely warned the Princess as to +the risk she was running—an act which it must be +conceded at least admits of a kindly explanation. +In her last extant letter, Sophia Dorothea utters +<span class='pageno' id='Page_271'>271</span>what comes very near to a cry of hopeless despair. +In the course of the month in which this letter was +written (August, 1693) Königsmarck was obliged +to absent himself from Court, in order to take part +in a military movement intended to check a Danish +<span lang="fr"><i>coup de main</i></span> upon the contested duchy of Lauenburg. +When he returned to Hanover, fresh warnings +reached him—from old Marshal von Podewils,<a id='r110'></a><a href='#f110' class='c008'><sup>[110]</sup></a> +under whom he had served, and from the youngest +of the Hanoverian Princes, Ernest Augustus, whose +devoted attachment to his brother, the Electoral +Prince, appears not to have prevented this act of +kindness. These warnings themselves, together +with other indications, show that, although the +actual character of the intrigue between Sophia +Dorothea and Königsmarck may have remained +unknown—unless indeed some letters had already +fallen into the wrong hands—the <span lang="fr"><i>liaison</i></span> itself was, +as is, after all, usual in such cases, more or less of an +open secret, and that thus the pair were rushing +headlong to their ruin. Quite at the end of the +year, Königsmarck had once more to go away from +Hanover; and, at this point, the Lund correspondence +comes to an end with a letter from him +evidently addressed to the confidante, and, through +her, assuring <span lang="fr"><i>Léonisse</i></span> that, whatever might befall, +he would not abandon her.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The cessation of the correspondence leaves us in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_272'>272</span>some doubt as to the precise nature of the occurrences +in Hanover in the earlier half of the year 1694, +which was to see the end of this lamentable history. +Königsmarck, who had returned to Hanover, +quitted it again in April; and, without having +resigned his Hanoverian commission, betook himself +to the Court of the Elector Frederick Augustus +of Saxony (Augustus the Strong) at Dresden. Here +he undoubtedly behaved with an indiscretion beyond +that habitual to him, and it is probable +enough—though this again cannot be proved—that +his vaunts included some reference to his successes +with Countess Platen. However this may have +been, Königsmarck, though he had not accepted a +commission offered him in the Saxon army and still +remained a Hanoverian officer, could hardly expect +on his return to Hanover to carry on his amour as +before. There had been indications of an uneasy +feeling at Court, which explain themselves without +the supposition that a combination was at work +there to drive Sophia Dorothea to her ruin, and +without the wholly gratuitous assumption that, in +the front of that combination, stood the Electress +Sophia. Attempts were afterwards said to have +been made to provoke ill-will between the Electoral +Prince and his wife through the agency of her lady-in-waiting, +Fräulein von dem Knesebeck; and, +though there is no reason for suspecting her of any +interference of the kind, it is certain that, about +<span class='pageno' id='Page_273'>273</span>the early part of June, Sophia Dorothea left the +Electoral Court and repaired to her parents at +Brockhausen. Once more, there is nothing to +show that her departure had been caused by actual +ill-treatment on the part of her husband. On her +way home to Hanover, she refused to alight at +Herrenhausen in order to pay her respects to the +Elector and Electress; and, after ascertaining at +Hanover that her husband was away at Berlin, she resolved +once more to join her parents at Brockhausen. +But they refused to receive her; and, on the fatal +night of July 1st, 1694, she was still with her faithful +lady-in-waiting in the Leineschloss at Hanover.</p> + +<p class='c001'>On the same night, Count Königsmarck left his +house at Hanover, never to be seen again. That +his intention was to enter the Leine Palace and the +apartments of the Electoral Princess, there can be +no doubt; but the actual purpose of their meeting, +and the plan on which they then agreed or on which +they had agreed before, remain unknown. They +may have merely designed to contrive her escape +with his help to Wolfenbüttel, where she might +rely on a welcome from Duke Antony Ulric; or +they may have intended to realise the dream to +which their correspondence refers, and henceforth +to belong wholly to one another. But, from Sophia +Dorothea, no attempt was afterwards made to +extract an avowal on this head; and the confidante, +Eleonora von dem Knesebeck, persisted from first +<span class='pageno' id='Page_274'>274</span>to last, both during her imprisonment and after she +had effected her escape from it, in asserting the +innocency of her mistress. Yet Fräulein von dem +Knesebeck confessed to having known of a ‘plot,’ +and to having been so full of uneasiness that tears +and entreaties were needed to persuade her to +remain in the Princess’ service.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Some days passed before the disappearance of +Königsmarck attracted public notice. The first +sign that there was something wrong appears to +have been the intimation, noticed in a despatch of +July 3rd from Cressett (Colt’s successor), that, while +the Electoral Prince remained at Berlin, the Princess +was sick at Hanover. As a matter of fact, both she +and her confidante had been strictly confined to her +apartments; whether any letters from Königsmarck +had been discovered in her keeping, we do +not know. But there is evidence that, already in +May and June, hands had been laid on some of the +correspondence between the lovers; and the knowledge +of this had probably determined the Elector +Ernest Augustus to proceed against his daughter-in-law. +And it is certain that some of her letters +were sent by the authorities at Hanover to her +parents; for Leibniz positively asserts that, had not +her letters been produced, they could not have +thought her so guilty at Celle. These letters must +have been found in Königsmarck’s residence; and +we have no reason for doubting the statement that +<span class='pageno' id='Page_275'>275</span>a thorough search was made in his cabinet, in the +presence of officials only, although it is added that a +packet of letters thought to be incriminating was sent +by persons who had been in his confidence to Celle, +where his sisters soon afterwards made their appearance. +These latter, in all probability, formed the correspondence +which ultimately found its way to Berlin.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Both the Elector Ernest Augustus and Sophia +Dorothea’s father, the Duke of Celle, considering +her guilt to be established, the question next arose +as to the way in which her case should be treated. +In the first instance she was taken to Ahlden, a +magistrate’s house or ‘castle’—no one who has +cast eyes on it could ever think of it as anything but +a ‘moated grange’—situate in a lonely marshland +corner of her father’s territory, at some twenty miles’ +distance from Hanover. While she was detained +here in strict custody, the mode of procedure against +her was arranged. It was resolved, for the honour +of the House—which, for good or ill, was the dominant +motive in the whole of this melancholy +business—to keep the name and person of Königsmarck +out of the affair altogether, and to make +the desertion of her husband by the Princess the +ground of a suit of divorce before a specially +constituted Consistorial tribunal. This course, +which could hardly have succeeded but for the +attitude maintained by her, was carried through +with a completeness which must have surpassed the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_276'>276</span>anticipations of the astute minds that had devised it. +Throughout the enquiry, the Princess made no confession +whatever of any act of infidelity, adhering +to the instructions conveyed to her by her father’s +ministers, Bernstorff and Bülow, who, in an interview +at Ahlden, had informed her that ‘everything +was discovered’—manifestly another reference to +the evidence of part of her correspondence with +Königsmarck. Accordingly, notwithstanding the +representations of the honest counsel with whom +she had been provided—and to whose dissatisfaction +with the proceedings and desire to preserve the +proofs of his not having been responsible for their +result is due the private preservation, at least in +part, of the documents of the divorce-suit—she +refused to swerve from her declared resolution no +longer to live with the Electoral Prince as her +husband. After some attempts on the part of +the Duke of Celle to mitigate the rigour of the +expected result, which were successfully resisted +on the part of the Hanoverian Government, the +sentence of the Consistorial tribunal was pronounced +on December 28th, 1694, and delivered to the Princess +at Lauenau, whither she had been temporarily removed, +on the last day of the year. It dissolved +the marriage between her and the Electoral Prince, +granting him, as the innocent party, permission +to remarry, but withholding this from her as the +guilty party. She at once accepted the sentence; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_277'>277</span>a few days later her confessor informed her father +that she acknowledged ‘<span lang="fr"><i>sa faute</i></span>,’ and the justice +of the punishment inflicted upon her; and, in +1698, on the occasion of the death of the Elector +Ernest Augustus, she wrote to her former husband +and to his mother, the Electress Sophia, beseeching +them to pardon her faults of the past, and entreating +the favour of being allowed to see her children. This +favour was never granted to her.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The Hanoverian court and Government had, +as has been seen, persistently striven to dissociate +the disappearance of Königsmarck from the disgrace +of the Princess. In the first instance, this disappearance +had been simply ignored, while a +circular had been issued to foreign courts, drawn +up in this sense, and attributing the alienation of +the Princess from her husband to the machinations +of Fräulein von dem Knesebeck, who was soon +afterwards clapped into a dungeon at Scharzfels +in the Harz, from which she did not make her escape +till four years afterwards.<a id='r111'></a><a href='#f111' class='c008'><sup>[111]</sup></a> As to the vanished +Königsmarck, it had been easy to stifle the anxieties +of the unhappy Sophia Dorothea, who, before she +was effectually silenced, had written a letter expressive +of her fear that he had fallen into the +hands of a certain lady, and that his life might +be in danger. There can hardly be any doubt +<span class='pageno' id='Page_278'>278</span>but that this referred to Countess Platen, although it +merely proves Sophia Dorothea to have been afraid +of the consequences of the Countess’ anger. Nor +could it be impossible to baffle the curiosity of the +world at large—represented by no less august an +enquirer than Louis XIV—in the assurance that +the mystery would in due course be forgotten as a +nine days’ wonder. But it proved a serious task +to meet the pertinacious efforts of Königsmarck’s +sister Aurora, who, adopting a rumour which for +some time found an extraordinary amount of credit, +insisted that her brother was still alive, and, while +demanding that the truth should be revealed, +pursued Countess Platen (with whom she had a +quarrel of old standing) with special animosity. It +is noteworthy that the Electress Sophia should be +found taking the side of Countess Platen, who, she +writes, is not accustomed to be spoken of in the +terms applied to her by the Countess <span lang="fr"><i>Orrore</i></span>. Having +been forbidden to show herself in Hanover, Königsmarck’s +dauntless sister betook herself to Dresden, +in order to secure the assistance of the Elector +Frederick Augustus in her quest. It was on this +occasion that she conquered that potentate altogether; +and he espoused her cause so heartily as to +send Colonel Bannier to Hanover, there to demand +that Königsmarck, as an officer in the Saxon service, +should be given up to him. As late as December, +1694, Bannier remained convinced that the Count +<span class='pageno' id='Page_279'>279</span>was still alive, and detained as a prisoner somewhere +in the Palace. Not until after some months had +passed was the tempest raised by Aurora allayed, +largely through the diplomatic skill of the Hanoverian +minister at Dresden, Jobst von Ilten. But her +passionate activity, and the widespread interest +excited by so impenetrable a mystery, already in +1695 led to the publication of a narrative purporting +to have been sent from Hamburg to the French +minister at the Danish court, which the Duchess +of Orleans characterised as impertinent and mendacious, +and to which Leibniz was instructed to +supply a corrective commentary. Meanwhile the +Electoral Government had not only maintained +an absolute silence as to the Königsmarck affair, +but had resorted to the expedient of systematically +destroying all evidence concerning it or in any way +connected with it. This policy was carried through +with extraordinary vigilance and consistency, as +might be shown in various instances, of which some +reach down to our own times. Above all, a systematic +destruction took place of all the documents, +whether public or private, at Hanover, in London—and +even in Ahlden—which might have thrown light +on the episode. Among the rest, the letters of the +Electress Sophia bearing on it were destroyed. This +was in accordance with the wish of the Duchess +of Orleans, whose sagacity apprised her that there +was something in the rumours which had reached +<span class='pageno' id='Page_280'>280</span>her, although the excellent Frau von Harling had +declared them to be all lies.<a id='r112'></a><a href='#f112' class='c008'><sup>[112]</sup></a> It would, however, +appear that, whether because of a desire on the +part of the Duke of Celle that some evidence should +be procured which would justify his assent to the +severe treatment of his daughter,<a id='r113'></a><a href='#f113' class='c008'><sup>[113]</sup></a> or because of +the Electress’ own wish not to annihilate all proof, +certain incriminating portions of the correspondence +remained undestroyed; and these were perhaps +the letters which are supposed to have been +afterwards sent to Berlin, in order to remove the +doubts of Sophia Dorothea’s daughter and namesake +as to the misconduct of her mother, to whom she +always behaved with kindness—and which, afterwards, +certainly found their way into the hands of +Frederick the Great and thence into the Secret +Archives of State. So far as Königsmarck is +concerned, the current story as to his death, +and as to the horrible part played in it by the +Countess Platen, still remains unauthenticated. +Horace Walpole, the author of <cite>Historic Doubts +on the Life and Reign of King Richard III</cite>, was +prepared to believe a story which he professed +to have derived from George II, through Queen +<span class='pageno' id='Page_281'>281</span>Caroline and Sir Robert Walpole, according to +which, on the occasion of some repairs in the Leine +Palace, the remains of Königsmarck were discovered +under the floor of Sophia Dorothea’s dressing-room; +and, of the assassins rumoured to have been hired +by Countess Platen, one at least is said to have been +enabled by his crime to found a family of much +respectability at Hanover.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Sophia Dorothea herself was henceforth lost to +the history of her House, and almost fell out of the +remembrance of the world in which she might have +played so prominent a part. She was now officially +styled the Duchess of Ahlden, the village on the +Aller over whose immediate district a certain petty +jurisdiction was given to the prisoner, together +with a few shadowy rights of honour. During a +period of thirty-two years she lingered out here her +life of durance—never being allowed to quit Ahlden, +with the single exception, when a movement of +Saxon-Polish troops seemed to render her place of +detention unsafe, of a brief visit to Celle, where, +however, her father declined to see her. Neither +was she at any time permitted to go forth from her +castle beyond a distance of six miles; and her +carriage, closely attended by a guard of honour, had +always to drive along the same road.<a id='r114'></a><a href='#f114' class='c008'><sup>[114]</sup></a> She had the +occasional consolation of a visit from her mother till +<span class='pageno' id='Page_282'>282</span>the Duchess Eleonora’s death in 1722; for the +mother’s love never waned, and her will contributed +to make the prisoner nominally the possessor of +great wealth. On the other hand, she was, as +already noted, never allowed to see her children. +She occupied herself much with works of charity +and piety. She presented an organ and candelabra +to the parish church where during part of her imprisonment +she worshipped—and was extremely +popular in the village, which she rebuilt at her own +cost after a fire in 1715; and she gave much attention +to the affairs in the neighbourhood, receiving +formal visits, and bestowing great care upon her +personal adornment. She never quite abandoned the +hope of a change in her condition, until shortly +before her death she discovered that her interests +had been betrayed, and (it is said) most of her large +accumulated capital made away with, by an agent +(a certain von Bahr), in whom she had reposed confidence. +The records of the poor woman’s life +during the long years of her confinement do not +change our notions of her character; but the story +of her solitary woe needs no deepening.</p> + +<p class='c001'>George Lewis has met with nothing but blame +for his share in the whole story of Sophia Dorothea’s +misfortunes. Our age happily refuses to accept +the view that what is unpardonable in a wife is +venial in a husband; but such was not the opinion +of George Lewis’ contemporaries. On returning to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_283'>283</span>Hanover, he had found the relations between his +wife and Königsmarck very much of an open secret +at court; and, when proofs were in his hands, a +divorce was the only course open to him, if the +honour of his House was to be vindicated. There +was afterwards a rumour, mentioned by Elizabeth +Charlotte to her aunt, that he would take back his +wife on his accession to the Electorship at his +father’s death; and, in 1704, a report was again +current at Paris, that the Duke of Marlborough +hoped to effect a reconciliation between the Elector +and his discarded consort. But, as a matter of fact, +he never varied his attitude towards her of absolute +and immutable estrangement; and least of all did +he show any inclination to invite her to share the +glories of the English throne, though it is probable +that he might, by such a step, have diminished the +prejudices to which he was exposed in his new +kingdom.<a id='r115'></a><a href='#f115' class='c008'><sup>[115]</sup></a> On the occurrence of her death on +November 13th, 1726 (which, as is known, preceded +<span class='pageno' id='Page_284'>284</span>his own by but a few months), he prohibited a +general mourning in the Electorate, and she was +buried without ceremony in the family vault at +Celle, after her interment at Ahlden had proved +impracticable. There can be no doubt that the +bitter resentment with which her conduct had +inspired him was, in a measure, continued in his +feelings towards his son, the future King George II; +but, though the accounts on this head are contradictory, +it is at least doubtful whether Sophia +Dorothea’s son ever exhibited any active sympathy +for his unfortunate mother.<a id='r116'></a><a href='#f116' class='c008'><sup>[116]</sup></a> Sophia Dorothea the +younger, who, in 1706, married the Crown Prince +of Prussia (afterwards King Frederick William I), +kept up some communication with her mother, and, +after she became Queen, took Eleonora von dem +Knesebeck into her service, besides entering into a +more frequent correspondence with the prisoner. But +mother and daughter never met; and, finally, there +seems to have been a marked difference of opinion between +them as to the famous Double Marriage Project +between the courts of Great Britain and Prussia.</p> + +<p class='c001'>That the unfortunate prisoner should have +gained the active goodwill, which the fair young +Princess had never conciliated, of her mother-in-law, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_285'>285</span>the Electress Sophia, was hardly to be expected. +Such advances as were made to her by the Duchess +of Ahlden seem to have been coldly rejected; and +the tone in which the Duchess of Orleans continues +occasionally to speak of her ill-fated relative no +doubt reflects, with tolerable accuracy, that adopted +by her aunt in her non-extant letters. The Electress, +as we now know, had verified the conclusion of +Elizabeth Charlotte, that Sophia Dorothea’s case +exemplified the proverb as to there being no smoke +without fire; and, while we may regret that the +charity which, in the matter of morals, the Electress +Sophia readily showed to the shortcomings of the +men of her family, was never extended by her to +the daughter of Eleonora d’Olbreuze, there is in +this rigour nothing unnatural or incompatible with +the rules of life which she consistently observed. +To argue, however, from this severity back to the +unproved supposition of an active cooperation on +the part of Sophia towards the ruin of her daughter-in-law, +is palpably unjust. And it should always +be borne in mind that the sympathy of posterity +was secured to Sophia Dorothea by her misfortunes, +not by her character, in which there is little or +nothing to admire, while much in it may have justly +repelled the sound and self-controlled nature of her +mother-in-law; and that the Electress was more +impressed by the Princess’ fall than by what +might seem its legitimate consequences.</p> + +<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_286'>286</span>There seems no reason for attributing to the painful +experiences through which the House of Hanover +had recently passed the decline which, about this +time, set in in the health of the Elector Ernest +Augustus. His illness (which Cressett thought in a +large measure imaginary) has quite gratuitously +been brought into connexion with Sophia Dorothea’s +catastrophe, the suggestion being that the wife and +the mistress of the Elector had conspired to avert +the consequences which might ensue, in the event +of his death and the accession of a new Electress. +In June, 1697, the Electress Sophia informs the +Raugravine Louisa that, though the other symptoms +in the Elector’s condition are good, his nervous +debility is great, and that it has been resolved +to try the skill of a Dutch empiric, with whose +‘<span lang="fr"><i>charlattaneri</i></span>’ she characteristically expresses impatience. +Towards the end of the year the course +of his malady seemed to have been in a measure +arrested; but the decay of his powers soon set in +again with alarming rapidity. His life of constant +self-indulgence ended very miserably; for some +time loss of sight in one eye was feared, and after +this he was all but deprived of the use of speech. +The Electress Sophia faithfully nursed him to the +last. Even in the days of his health she had bravely +accustomed herself to his habits; and she afterwards +humorously related that she had made a +point, in the hour of domesticity, of filling his pipe +<span class='pageno' id='Page_287'>287</span>with the tobacco which she loathed. In his last +illness she, during many months, never left his side, +except when he was asleep. The end came on +January 24th, 1698; and a letter written by Sophia +a few months later shows her still in a condition +of deep and unaffected grief—hopeful only ‘<span lang="fr"><i>que +le bon Dieu me fera bientost rejoindre ce cher Électeur +en l’autre monde</i></span>,’ but consoled by the attentions +of her children and her brother-in-law. Ernest +Augustus had well played his part as a ruler, not +only providing a sure basis for the progress of his +dynasty to augmented power and influence, but also +strengthening and consolidating the civil as well as +the military administration of the Electorate established +in his person. His extravagant expenditure on +himself and on his court, though no doubt largely +occasioned by habits of self-indulgence and a profligate +temperament, seemed in consonance with what +was probably a well-merited reputation for liberality +of conduct and feeling towards those who served him +well. Thus he proved, in his way, an apt imitator of +the great French prototype whom he, not less than his +brother John Frederick, kept before his eyes; and the +style in which he lived and reigned suited the interest +of the dynasty as well as his own tastes. At the same +time, he knew how to combine with his magnificence +and generosity a self-restraint that enabled him in +his will to dispose of an unencumbered personal +estate. To Sophia his death, in more respects than +<span class='pageno' id='Page_288'>288</span>one, brought a considerable change. She had never +ruled him, not even controlled him by her influence, +as Eleonora of Celle long controlled her Duke, or as, +in another generation, Sophia’s favourite Caroline +of Ansbach was to control King George II. But the +aid of her counsel had been of great value to Ernest +Augustus, both in the ordinary business of government +and in great questions of state policy; and +much of the authority which thus accrued to her +passed away with him. George Lewis was not of a +disposition likely to induce him, from motives of +piety, to show to his mother a deference beyond that +of ordinary custom. On the other hand, the death +of Sophia’s husband gave to her more of that freedom +which no princess ever used less ostentatiously +or more nobly; it made her, in certain respects, +more distinctly the centre of the intellectual life of +the Hanoverian Court than she had cared to be, or +at all events to seem, in the lifetime of Ernest +Augustus; it probably brought her closer to her +daughter, and certainly allowed her a fuller enjoyment +of the friendship of Leibniz.</p> + +<p class='c001'>No sooner had the reign of Ernest Augustus +come to an end, than his sons Maximilian and +Christian renewed their protest against the principle +of primogeniture which he had so persistently +maintained;<a id='r117'></a><a href='#f117' class='c008'><sup>[117]</sup></a> and the sympathy with Maximilian +<span class='pageno' id='Page_289'>289</span>displayed by his sister, the Electress Sophia Charlotte +of Brandenburg, can hardly have failed to +find a secret response in the maternal heart of the +Electress Dowager Sophia herself. But, though +there was some talk of her paying a visit at this +season to Berlin, she had learnt to tutor her own +wishes, and was well aware how much depended +upon the maintenance of the good understanding +between the two Electoral Governments, which +was at the time endangered by certain territorial +questions that may here be passed by. Thus +George Lewis succeeded without let or hindrance +to the whole of the paternal inheritance and expectancies; +and, as was noted above, Hanover +and Brandenburg were united by a close and +‘perpetual’ alliance at the very period when the +dynastic ambition of the one seemed on the point +of consummation, and that of the other was near +achieving its absorbing object—the acquisition of +a royal (Prussian) crown. That the Hanoverian +court was filled with joy by the success of the +operations which ended, early in 1701, with the +coronation of the first Prussian King, Frederick I, +would be an unnatural supposition. The event had, +however, been rendered virtually inevitable by the +accession, in 1697, of the Elector Frederick Augustus +of Saxony to the Polish throne; and the Elector +George Lewis was personally not so constituted as +to be impelled, even by jealousy, to an eagerness to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_290'>290</span>follow suit. As for the Dowager Electress Sophia, +there was, to her, something more than compensation +in the thought that a royal crown now +surmounted the brow of her favourite child.</p> + +<p class='c021'>Sophia Charlotte, her parents’ only daughter, +had grown up in a long and unbroken intimacy +with her mother. With that mother, as already +noted, she had in common a clear and penetrating +intelligence, a charm of manner irresistible to anyone +whom she chose to admit to familiar intercourse, +and a self-possession against which scandal +waged war in vain. She also had her mother’s +intellectual curiosity and general love of knowledge; +but she must have approached more nearly +to her aunt Elizabeth in her power of entering into +problems of philosophy, though it is only with a +grain of salt that the assertion can be accepted as +to the conferences between her and Leibniz having +originated his <span lang="fr"><cite>Théodicée</cite></span>. On the other hand, what +little remains from her hand in the way of familiar +correspondence, can scarcely be said to be lit up +with the natural humour that her mother and the +Duchess of Orleans always had at command. Notwithstanding +her power of delighting those admitted +to her society by the sunny brightness of her manner, +when she was so disposed, or when she was stimulated +by intellectual interest, her nature seems from early +years to have possessed the tranquillity which +<span class='pageno' id='Page_291'>291</span>reason and resignation enabled her mother more +gradually to acquire. Probably a certain physical +indolence, or phlegma, may have contributed to +this result; together with a calm determination to +please herself—a luxury in which her mother had +rarely or never enjoyed opportunities of indulging.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Already in her childhood, benefiting by the +traditions in her mother’s family as to the necessity +of a good education based on linguistic knowledge, +she had exhibited signs of talent; while her character +probably owed much to the training of Frau +von Harling (who was also Elizabeth Charlotte’s +governess), one of those teachers whose destiny it +is to be loved for their administration of the rule +of law by pupils who, under a less vigorous influence, +would certainly be inclined to remain a law +to themselves. In the eleventh year of her age, +Sophia Charlotte, as we saw, accompanied her +mother on a visit to the French Court, while her +father was recruiting his health at Ems. It was a +delightful visit—perhaps one of the happiest episodes +of Sophia’s life—in the mixture which it offered of +pleasant retrospect under the caresses of the faithful +Duchess of Orleans, and of still earlier reminiscences +in the genial company of the Abbess of Maubuisson, +with a hopeful looking-forward to the future in +store for her charming daughter. King Louis XIV +himself was the perfection of magnificent courtesy, +requesting his brother, the Duke of Orleans, not to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_292'>292</span>whisper in Sophia’s presence, and taking magnanimous +notice of her daughter. Sophia’s quick wit +helped her through every difficulty, and enabled +her to avoid any mistake—even that of accepting +a <span lang="fr"><i>tabouret</i></span> when self-respect bade her take a <span lang="fr"><i>fauteuil</i></span>, +or not sit at all. She knew how to meet both the +stiffness of the French Queen (a Spanish princess) +and the effusiveness of the Spanish Queen (a +French princess); nor was her self-possession +disturbed even by the splendour of Versailles, for +which, as she justly observed, art had done more +than nature. As for Sophia Charlotte, the impression +created, both by her beauty and by the extent +of her knowledge, was such as to suggest to Louis +XIV the idea of a match between her and one of +his princes. Nothing, however, came of the notion +except, perhaps, an accentuation of the diplomatic +activity of de Gourville at the Lüneburg courts. +Sophia Charlotte’s quiet life continued; and, +though there was some talk of a Bavarian suit for +her hand, it gradually became known that her +destiny was shaping itself nearer home. The establishment +of relations of intimacy between the +Courts of Brandenburg at Hanover had become +a political necessity, and Sophia had recognised +the expediency of promoting his object with the +aid of her daughter’s hand. When, in 1683, the +Electoral Prince Frederick of Brandenburg became +a childless widower, these speculations at once +<span class='pageno' id='Page_293'>293</span>assumed a practical aspect. The obstacles which +had to be surmounted did not include a religious +difficulty, inasmuch as the Reformed (Calvinist) +faith, of which Sophia Charlotte made public profession +shortly before her marriage, was a form of +religion always favoured, though never actually +professed, by her mother.<a id='r118'></a><a href='#f118' class='c008'><sup>[118]</sup></a> There is no reason +for crediting the story (which rests only on the +gossip of Pöllnitz) that it had been thought unnecessary +to anticipate Sophia Charlotte’s own +choice of a form of Protestantism till it was known +whom she was to marry. But, whatever the +daughter’s religious profession, tolerance would +always have formed part of her creed, as it did +of her mother’s. The marriage was celebrated at +Herrenhausen on September 28th, 1684.</p> + +<p class='c001'>From the first, Sophia Charlotte displayed that +indifference to playing any part in politics which +seemed so strange in her, considering the capacity +which she indisputably possessed for exerting influence +alike by her personal charms and by her +<span class='pageno' id='Page_294'>294</span>intellectual powers. But, during the few remaining +years of the Great Elector’s life, the Electoral +Prince Frederick was under a cloud; and, in 1686, +he had to withdraw with his consort to Halle. In +1688 he succeeded his father as Elector, and a few +months later his consort presented him with an +heir to his honours (the future King Frederick +William I). She continued, however, to show +little disposition to assert the authority and influence +which had now accrued to her; and, though, +during the ensuing decade, so eventful in the +history of the relations between the Houses of +Hanover and Brandenburg, she was always happy +to exchange visits with her parents and to listen to +the advice bestowed on her by her mother, she +cannot be said to have taken much trouble to use, +either directly or indirectly, the power which she +can hardly have lacked aught but the will to +exercise. It was not that she had to contend against +any great strength of character in her husband, +who, if humoured in a few things, could without +much difficulty be ruled in the rest. But she did +not care to stoop even to the level of his rather +commonplace and formal nature, in order to conquer +for herself an all-controlling influence in both +public and private affairs. She preferred to create +a sphere or circle of her own, into which only those +were admitted who approved themselves to her, +more especially by their intellectual gifts. Here +<span class='pageno' id='Page_295'>295</span>simplicity, typified by black dress, was the rule. +The colony of French refugees, which was in these +years establishing itself at Berlin and Brandenburg, +was largely represented in her intimate social circle. +Sophia Charlotte appreciated those gifts of conversation, +of which, in her age, Frenchmen and +Frenchwomen possessed, if not the monopoly, at +least a predominant share; and she seems herself +to have become mistress of an art which is always +more easily described than reproduced. She was +fond of theatrical entertainments of many kinds, +and probably gave more offence to the pietism +prevailing around her by these, for the most +part, innocuous tastes than by her philosophising +tendencies. Toland amused her, and she was +not, like her mother, obliged to respect British +prejudices about his views or principles, though she +was indignant to have been supposed to have gone +so far as to ask a man without birth or official +position to dine at her table. In general, she was, +no doubt, very much <span lang="fr"><i>sans gêne</i></span> in her relations +with persons whom she liked; but, though +scandal was busy with these freedoms, she never +compromised herself by indulging in them too far. +The height of her personal influence seems to have +been reached when, by 1696, the Elector Frederick +III had fulfilled her heart’s desire by building for +her a country residence in the village of Lützen on +the pleasant declivities of the Spree. She had never +<span class='pageno' id='Page_296'>296</span>been willing to sojourn in the castle of Copenick, +where her predecessor, Frederick’s first wife, had +pined away her days; and the ample gardens at +Berlin, which he had presented to his Electress, she +had, with intelligent philanthropy, mainly distributed +in allotments among the townsfolk, with +whom, for this reason, and perhaps also because of +a sympathetic quickness of wit indigenous among +the inhabitants of the growing capital, her reputation +always stood high. Lützenburg, as the Italian +villa, which gradually grew into a palace, was called, +became Sophia Charlotte’s chosen abode, although +the magnificence with which it was in course of time +adorned, both inside and out, had not received its +final touches before her death, when this famous +royal residence was, in remembrance of her, rechristened +Charlottenburg.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The death of Ernest Augustus, in 1698, as we +saw, drew mother and daughter more closely +together; and, in the same year, a very important +ministerial change at Berlin, the circumstances of +which to this day occupy the attention of historical +students, greatly increased Sophia Charlotte’s opportunities +of exercising a personal influence upon the +government and policy of her husband. The fall +of the hitherto omnipotent minister, Eberhard von +Danckelmann, which was speedily followed by his +incarceration, affords a most striking instance of +the uncertainty of princely favour, and a cruel +<span class='pageno' id='Page_297'>297</span>illustration of the recompense that may await great +political services.<a id='r119'></a><a href='#f119' class='c008'><sup>[119]</sup></a> Here it must suffice to say, +that Sophia Charlotte had certainly been jealous of +Danckelmann’s influence, and that his downfall +was regarded by her mother and her friends, even +more decidedly than by herself, as an epoch in her +personal career. Leibniz wrote to her, with rather +exasperating <em>aplomb</em>, surmising that, since she had +now secured the entire confidence of the Elector +her husband, she would recognise the necessity of +taking advantage of the situation (<span lang="fr"><i>ménager la conjoncture</i></span>). +As there was, he continued, an identity +of interest between her and her mother, it was to be +hoped that they would find consolation for the +evils that had befallen them (the death of Ernest +Augustus) in employing their gifts so as to bring +about a complete union between Sophia Charlotte’s +brother and her husband. (It may perhaps be +noted that the sorrow afterwards shown by George +Lewis on his sister’s death indicates the existence of +a genuine affection between them.) Leibniz could +not think of anyone likely to manage so effectively +the requisite communications between the two +Electresses as it would be within his own power to +do; and he suggested that this purpose would be +most easily accomplished if he were to be appointed +<span class='pageno' id='Page_298'>298</span>to some supervising post connected with science +and art at Berlin, and thus supplied with a ready +reason for occasional visits to that capital. As a +matter of fact, Sophia Charlotte used her best +endeavours to induce Frederick III to call into +life a (prospectively) Royal Society or Academy of +Science, which, as the Elector was quick to perceive, +would conspicuously add to the reputation of +his court and to the glory of the monarchy of which +he was ambitious to become the founder; and, +after Leibniz had spent several months at Berlin, +and conducted the deliberations on the subject, +besides participating in the intellectual delights of +‘Lustenburg’ (Lützenburg), the Society of Sciences +was, in July, 1700, actually called into life, with +Leibniz as its perpetual president.<a id='r120'></a><a href='#f120' class='c008'><sup>[120]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c001'>Danckelmann’s fall had, however, not put an +end to Sophia Charlotte’s difficulties at her husband’s +court. Some of these were of much the same sort as +those from which her mother had suffered so much at +Hanover, and from which the more sensitive nature +of her grand-daughter Wilhelmina was afterwards +<span class='pageno' id='Page_299'>299</span>to suffer at Baireuth. The Elector Frederick III’s +new minister-in-chief, Kolbe von Wartenberg, +had himself many attractive qualities; but his +wife was of humble origin and undistinguished +manners. It pleased the Elector, apparently only +for the sake of the completeness of the thing, to +confer on her the position of his mistress <span lang="fr"><i>en titre</i></span>. +Sophia Charlotte’s pride long rebelled against receiving +this lady at her private court. Another +source of anxiety to Sophia Charlotte was the training +of her son Frederick William, which, during part +of his fourth year, she had entrusted to the veteran +Frau von Harling at the court of her mother, the +Electress Sophia. But the boy, both passionate and +obstinate, could not agree with his cousin George +Augustus, and had to be taken back to Berlin. As +he grew up he seemed to care for nothing but +soldiering, while he detested the ceremonial dear +to his father’s heart, and more distinctive than ever +of the Court of Berlin since the manœuvres for securing +a royal Crown had assumed a definite shape, +and this project had come to absorb the entire +policy of the Brandenburg court and Government. +Neither Sophia Charlotte’s nor her mother’s intelligence +could fail to grasp the situation. The +Electress of Brandenburg made up her mind that +no personal grievance should interfere with the +maintenance of a good understanding between her +consort and herself, and received the Countess of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_300'>300</span>Wartenberg at Lützenburg, although, oblivious of her +guest’s imperfections of education, she welcomed +her there with a few words of French. The Electress +Dowager Sophia was willing to cooperate; +and, partly with a view to procuring for the furtherance +of the project the good offices of King William +III and of the Elector Maximilian Emmanuel of +Bavaria, Governor of the Austrian Netherlands, it +was, in the spring of 1700, arranged that the two +Electresses should, on the pretext of Sophia Charlotte’s +health, repair to the baths of Aix-la-Chapelle, +and thence visit Brussels and Holland. They +accomplished this journey, on which Leibniz was by +his own ill-health prevented from accompanying +them, but in the course of which they, at the Hague, +made the personal acquaintance of another philosopher +of European reputation—‘<span lang="fr"><i>l’illustre Bayle, +honneur des beaux esprits</i></span>.’ And, in October, 1700, +they were received at the Loo, where (as we shall +see immediately) other matters were also discussed +between the Electress Dowager and King William, +and where he promised Sophia Charlotte to acknowledge +her husband as the first King in Prussia. The +desire of Sophia Charlotte’s consort (rather than +her own) was consummated by their coronation as +King and Queen of Prussia at Königsberg on +January 18th, 1701—the year which likewise proved +her mother’s conference with her host at the Loo +not to have been held in vain.</p> + +<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_301'>301</span>To understand this result, it is necessary to go +back a few years, and to recall the circumstances +which, in 1696, had led to an earlier, but more transitory, +visit on the part of the two Electresses to the +Loo. The year 1696 was one of some importance in +the history of the English Succession question. After +the death of Queen Mary, on December 28th, 1694, +some time had necessarily passed before even a conjecture +could be formed as to the future intentions +of King William, who was prostrated with grief. +But he was only in his forty-fifth year, and his +remarriage was therefore by no means an unlikely +event. In the course of 1695, speculation was +accordingly rife on the subject, and, taking time by +the forelock, Louis XIV provided that any overtures +made on William III’s behalf at Stockholm (for +the hand of the Princess Hedwig Sophia) should +meet with a cold reception. The hopes of the +House of Savoy were once more aroused. The +claims by descent of the Duchess Anna Maria, +daughter of Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans, and +grand-daughter of Charles I, and of her issue, were +superior to those of the Electress Sophia and the +House of Hanover; and, in the twofold event of +another son being born to Anna Maria and Victor +Amadeus II, and of the boy being brought over +to England and there educated as a Protestant, he +might acquire a Parliamentary title. William III +was supposed to look favourably upon this scheme; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_302'>302</span>and, though, already in the summer of 1695, there +were rumours of Savoy having entered into secret +negotiations with France, Victor Amadeus was one +of the Princes who, about this time, ratified the +renewal of the Grand Alliance. But, in the following +year, after France had paid the price of the +restoration of Pignerol, the Duke of Savoy went +over to her side (thus executing a movement of +which he carried out the exact converse in 1703, +early in the great War), and thereby closed any +prospect of his House inheriting the English throne.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Meanwhile, King William’s widowed state occupied +the thoughts of the dynasty of whose close +connexion with the House of Hanover we have just +been treating. Immediately after the campaign of +1695 and the renewal of the Grand Alliance, the +Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg had begun to +sound King William, through the agency of his +favourite, Keppel (soon afterwards created Earl of +Albemarle), as to the royal intentions on the subject +of a remarriage, with a view to directing the King’s +attention to the Electoral Princess Louisa Dorothea, +then fifteen years of age. In the following year, +1696, William had found himself the object of an +unprecedented popularity in England, owing to +the discovery of the Assassination Plot, at the time +when James II was known to be preparing an +invasion of these shores. The Jacobite interest, +which was to have benefited by the most gracious +<span class='pageno' id='Page_303'>303</span>proclamation ever drafted by the exiled King, +experienced one of the most disheartening of its +many rebuffs; and, instead of reconquering his +kingdoms, James II informed the Abbot of La +Trappe, that ‘all these attempts which seemed to +be lost labour in the eyes of the world, were great +advantages as he managed them in order to that +great end which had now become his sole concern.’ +Still, the ‘Prince of Orange’s’ weak condition of +health prevented King James from regarding the +chances of his restoration as at an end; and, in the +event of his rival’s death, he was resolved to ‘return +into England, though three men had not followed +him.’<a id='r121'></a><a href='#f121' class='c008'><sup>[121]</sup></a> In May, 1696, King William resumed the +command of the army in the Low Countries, but no +military operations of importance took place; and, +in the course of the summer, the Elector Frederick +III, with his family and court, took up their residence +at Cleves, whither the Duke of Celle likewise +found his way, and whence in August the Electress +Sophia Charlotte, with her mother the Electress +Sophia, paid an <span lang="la"><i>incognito</i></span> visit to the Loo in the +King’s absence. He was then invited to Cleves; +but he preferred in the first instance to send two +<span class='pageno' id='Page_304'>304</span>agents—an Englishman (Southwell) and a Dutchman +(General Hompesch)—to report to him on the +personality of the Princess Louisa Dorothea. Their +reports were unfavourable, and, the King’s visit +having been deferred on the plea of difficulties of +ceremonial,<a id='r122'></a><a href='#f122' class='c008'><sup>[122]</sup></a> no less a personage than Portland was +sent by him to Cleves to make another report. +Though this again proved deterrent, William resolved +to trust to his own eyes, and, in September, +paid a visit to Cleves, of which a full account +remains in a letter from Stepney, then in the royal +suite, to Sir William Trumbull. The Princess stood, +during four hours, as a spectatress of the royal game +at <span lang="fr"><i>l’hombre</i></span>, while the favourite, Keppel, was accommodated +with a seat. But the visit led to no +result; and, when it became known that the two +Electresses had abandoned their proposed tour +through Holland, it was understood that the +marriage project was for the present at an end.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Whether or not because of his own unwillingness +to contract a second marriage, as well as on account +of the secession of the House of Savoy from the +Grand Alliance, the attention of William III, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_305'>305</span>in the latter part of 1696, turned more decisively +than before to the Electress Sophia and the House +of Hanover. He interested himself directly in the +still unsettled question of the admission of the +Elector of Hanover into the Electoral College. +About the same time (October), when George +William of Celle had returned home from a long +visit to the Loo, whither he had proceeded from +Cleves, Leibniz (who, it must be remembered, was +in the service of the entire House of Brunswick-Lüneburg) +put forth one of those feelers by which +he is henceforth found from time to time endeavouring +to test the sentiments of the Electress Sophia +on the Succession question. Though on this occasion +he approaches the subject most cautiously, +it may be looked upon as significant that he prophesies +for Sophia’s grandson a renewal of the historic +achievement of William III. Nothing, however, +could be more explicit than her reply refusing +to act on his insinuation. Two months later, +she wrote to her niece, the Raugravine Louisa, +then on a visit to London, where she had met with +scant courtesy on the part of the Princess Anne, +that everything ‘Palatine’ seemed to have quite +fallen into oblivion in England, nor did anybody +there remember her (the Electress’) existence, +inasmuch as there was no apparent intention of +allowing the Crown to descend to her family.</p> + +<p class='c001'>During the period immediately ensuing, William +<span class='pageno' id='Page_306'>306</span>III was necessarily occupied by the task of securing +his own seat upon the English throne, rather than +by that of determining its ulterior devolution. The +success of the peace negotiations which opened +at Ryswyk, in June, 1697, was rendered more than +doubtful by the avoidance of any direct communication +between the representatives of the King of +France and of the King of England, whom Louis +had as yet refused to recognise; and William III +had accordingly taken the startling step of entering +into a secret negotiation with France. Among the +extraordinary rumours that hereupon spread as +to the compromise contemplated by the two sovereigns, +was one, wholly false, which contrived to +make its way into ‘history.’ William, it was said, +intended to purchase peace by promising to secure +the Succession to the English Crown to the son and +heir of James II. In the instrument of the peace, +William was not actually recognised as King of +England, Scotland, and Ireland by Louis XIV; +but he was mentioned as such in the preamble, and +secured in his possession of these kingdoms by a +formula binding Louis XIV to refuse any direct or indirect +assistance to William’s enemies. Indeed, this +indirect recognition, and the check which it implied +upon the original designs of Louis, constituted +England’s chief gain by the peace. William’s +motives for seeking, in the period next ensuing, +to remain on good terms with Louis XIV, cannot +<span class='pageno' id='Page_307'>307</span>be discussed here; but they help to account for a +certain slackness on William’s part in his dealings +with the Succession question, at a time when it was +becoming of the highest importance for the future +of his kingdoms.</p> + +<p class='c001'>In the autumn of 1698, however, shortly after +the secret conclusion of the First Partition Treaty +between Louis XIV and William III, the latter +took up this question of a Succession which concerned +him more nearly than that to the Spanish +monarchy. He was in the habit of annually welcoming +to the Loo, at this season, his old friend +and fellow-sportsman, Duke George William of +Celle; but on the present occasion they met in the +hunting-castle of the Göbrde,<a id='r123'></a><a href='#f123' class='c008'><sup>[123]</sup></a> near Lüneburg. The +Elector George Lewis also put in an appearance +there, as did his son, the Electoral Prince George +Augustus, and his daughter, Sophia Dorothea +the younger, then eleven years of age. Although +Count Tallard, the French ambassador at the +Court of St. James, was thoroughly puzzled as to +the purpose of the King’s journey, it could be no +secret to the members of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg. +In September, the Princess Anne, who +stood next in the Succession so long as King William +remained childless, had given birth to another +<span class='pageno' id='Page_308'>308</span>still-born infant; and her only surviving child, the +Duke of Gloucester, was known to be in weak +bodily health. Nor could any reliance be placed +upon Princess Anne herself, who was in constant +communication with St. Germains, and who, had her +father but given his assent to her mounting the +throne in due course, would have been glad enough +afterwards to play it into the hands of her half-brother. +King William must, therefore, manifestly +have visited the Brunswick-Lüneburg territories +with at least a predisposition towards placing +the House of Hanover in a more satisfactory +position, in regard to the Succession, than it held at +present; but he had no reason for supposing that +the members of that House were themselves eager +to meet him half-way. Strangely enough, the +personage who now came forward to urge upon him +a decisive course, was the Duchess Eleonora of +Celle—perhaps with a view to thus recovering some +of the influence lost to her through her daughter’s +catastrophe, perhaps in the hope of mitigating +the effects of that catastrophe for the unhappy +Sophia Dorothea herself, or simply from an inborn +love of diplomatic action and a general desire +to make things pleasant. Leibniz afterwards +assumed to himself the credit of having given her +the first hint of speaking to the King. This she +did before he quitted the Göhrde, representing +herself as obeying an inspiration from Hanover, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_309'>309</span>and begging her royal guest—now that the House +of Savoy was out of the question—to promote the +placing of the Electress Sophia and her descendants +in the Succession. When the King pointed out that +the Duke of Gloucester, though in delicate health, +might imitate him by growing up into manhood, +Eleonora further suggested that her grand-daughter, +Sophia Dorothea the younger, would be a suitable +match for the Duke. George William of course agreed +<span lang="la"><i>ex post facto</i></span> to the step taken by his wife, but stipulated +that it should be mentioned to his nephew, +the Elector, who gave vent to his annoyance that +the King should be led to suppose him to have sanctioned +this manœuvre. But, when the King met +the Electress Sophia at Celle, he referred to the +question of establishing her and her descendants’ +claim, and, as Leibniz expresses it, made considerable +advances in this direction. Sophia, we may be +sure, received these advances discreetly; but that +she should have rejected them, or have met them +with coldness, is a conjecture unwarranted by her +conduct either before or after. Neither can she be +shown to have viewed with displeasure the activity, +restless though it undoubtedly was, of Leibniz, who +about this time corresponded with London as frequently +as possible and encouraged the efforts of a +Hanoverian agent there. Had Sophia taken up an +attitude of indifference, King William would hardly, +in June, 1699, have informed her in writing that he +<span class='pageno' id='Page_310'>310</span>had used his best endeavours to bring the business +to a conclusion satisfactory to her, and that he felt +assured of effecting his purpose within a very short +space of time. It is, moreover, significant that the +two branches of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg +were acting in perfect harmony with one another; +in May, Gargan, the Electress’ secretary, declares +it impossible to listen without emotion to the conversations +between the two illustrious ladies (Sophia +and Eleonora), whom he describes as related to +one another not less closely by blood than by +friendship.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The reason why the Celle interview led to no +immediate results in England lay, not in Sophia, +but in the discordant relations between King William +and his Parliament, caused mainly by his policy +with regard to the Spanish Succession, into which +of course the Electress and the House of Hanover +had not been initiated. So late as July, 1700, she +wonders what interest England and the United +Provinces could have in seeking to cement the +power of France. The unfriendliness of Parliament +to the King had been heightened when, about a +month earlier, the substance of the Second Partition +Treaty had become known in this country; and, +as matters now stood, there was little or no chance +of the House of Commons in particular agreeing +to any proposals concerning the Succession that +should emanate from the King. In the midst +<span class='pageno' id='Page_311'>311</span>of this trouble, less doubt than ever remained as to +the decrease of his physical strength, at no time +anything but precarious; so that, after Anne, +the only hope for the Succession depended on the +feeble vitality of the young Duke of Gloucester. +Suddenly, on July 30th, 1700, the frail thread of his +life was snapped, and the prospect had vanished +of a successor who would have been generally acceptable, +and, in all probability, have proved both an +intelligent and a kindly ruler. In announcing the +news to the Electress Sophia from Berlin, her vigilant +monitor, Leibniz, promptly pointed out that it would +now more than ever be time to think of the English +Succession. But it so chanced that already, three +days previously, she had written to him on the same +subject from Hanover, exhibiting her usual perfect +self-control. Though she took very coolly the news of +the young Duke’s ‘decampment’—as she called his +death, perhaps in cynical allusion to his innocent +military tastes,—she by no means showed herself blind +to the importance of the event. Were she younger, +she told Leibniz, when informing him that, in +October, 1700, the Duke of Celle was to visit King +William at the Loo, she might fairly have looked forward +to a Crown; as it was, had she the choice, she +would rather see her years increase than her grandeur. +But she well knew that persons in her station rarely +have a choice, if they are resolved not to fall short +of their sense of duty. She could hardly be aware +<span class='pageno' id='Page_312'>312</span>of the fresh intrigues that were being carried on by +the Princess Anne, or of the hopes, still entertained +by certain of William’s most loyal English subjects, +that he would marry again, perhaps this time +choosing a Danish princess. But she could not +have remained unaware that the thoughts of a wider +circle of Englishmen were taking the direction of +Hanover. Partly, however, under the influence of the +regrets caused by the recent death of the young Duke +of Gloucester, partly because of the wish to secure an +heir to the throne young enough to be Anglicised +and, more especially, <em>Anglicanised</em> before his advent +to it, politicians, and Tory politicians in particular, +were as yet intent rather upon the ultimate succession +of the Electoral Prince than upon that of his +father, the Elector, or that of his grandmother, the +Dowager Electress.</p> + +<p class='c001'>At the meeting of King William with the Duke +of Celle at the Loo, it was arranged that he should +receive there the Electress Sophia and the Electress +of Brandenburg, on the occasion of the visit to the +baths of Aix-la-Chapelle on which the latter had +persuaded her mother to accompany her. Burnet +insists that now ‘the eyes of all the Protestants of +the nation turned towards the Electress of Brunswick’; +but the arrival in Holland, as his mother’s +and grandmother’s visit drew to a close, of the +young Electoral Prince of Brandenburg (afterwards +King Frederick William I of Prussia) seems to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_313'>313</span>have vividly suggested to William III the notion +of placing the heir of the Hohenzollerns in the +position left vacant by the Duke of Gloucester. +This passing fancy may be regarded as the sequel +of a not less transitory ambition which appears to +have flitted through the mind of the Elector Frederick +III, of taking advantage of the Princess Anne’s +unpopularity to endeavour himself to find his way +to the English throne. The idea of including the +Electoral Prince of Brandenburg in the Succession +could not of course be welcome to the House +of Brunswick-Lüneburg; and we accordingly find +Bothmer, who was in the Celle service as envoy +at Paris and was soon to play an important part +in the progress of the Succession question, complaining +to Ilten (August 31st, 1700) that the Berlin +Ministry were preparing for their young Prince the +plurality of King of Prussia, Stadholder, and King +of England. Count Platen afterwards stated that +he had heard it suggested that the Calvinism of +Berlin might suit King William better than the +Lutheranism of Hanover. Nor is it at all unlikely +that he recognised in the Electoral Prince the germ +of administrative powers to which full justice has +only very tardily been done.<a id='r124'></a><a href='#f124' class='c008'><sup>[124]</sup></a> But, however this may +<span class='pageno' id='Page_314'>314</span>have been—and perhaps something might be said +as to the religious influence noticeable in this +period of Hanoverian history—there is no proof that +William III seriously thought of adopting the Electoral +Prince of Brandenburg, or of introducing him +in any other way into the English Succession. +Moreover, even had this been on his part more +than a passing wish, he of course possessed no right +of nomination. No doubt, he would more speedily +have dismissed the fancy, had he believed the House +of Hanover to be very eagerly intent upon the +prospect now opening before it. But, at all events +it is neither proved nor probable, that at the Loo the +Electress Sophia once more rejected the overtures +of her host on the subject of the Succession. The +question possesses so much significance, if we are +desirous of forming a judgment as to the whole +tenor of her conduct in this matter, that it must +needs be dwelt upon at some length. What actually +passed between her and the King on the occasion +is unknown; and her behaviour can only be conjectured +from the attitude which she maintained +during a journey undertaken by her, it must be +remembered, in the first instance at all events, in +her daughter’s interest rather than in her own.</p> + +<p class='c001'>At Aix-la-Chapelle Sophia had received a remarkable +letter from Stepney, written from +<span class='pageno' id='Page_315'>315</span>London about the middle of September, in which +he reviewed the entire situation. Remembering +that in her veins ran the blood of the Stewarts, and +that her personal reminiscences mounted back to +the days of Oliver Cromwell, he excused himself +from offering a decided opinion of his own as to the +genuineness of ‘<span lang="fr"><i>le Fils</i></span>,’ but pointed out that there +was no chance of his ever abandoning the religion +of Rome, or escaping from the political leading-strings +of France. On the other hand, he assured +the Electress that the English were not Republicans +at heart, and that among them there was nobody +capable of playing Oliver’s part over again as +‘Captain-General.’ In response to his modest +appeal for a reply (by means of which he no doubt +hoped to be able to clear up the situation at head-quarters), +Sophia wrote the letter, undated, in +which, from Lord Hardwicke downwards, so many +critics have found indications of her Jacobite +tendencies. In this letter she declares that, were +she thirty years younger, she would have sufficient +confidence in her descent and in the religion professed +by her, to believe in her being thought of in +England. After her death, which in the natural +course of things would precede the deaths of the +King and his appointed successor, her sons would +be regarded as strangers. Moreover, the eldest of +them was far more accustomed to sovereign authority +than was the poor Prince of Wales, who was so +<span class='pageno' id='Page_316'>316</span>young and would be so glad to recover what his +father had thrown away that they would be able +to do with him what they liked. After referring to +her hope of shortly seeing the King in Holland, +whither she had been induced by her daughter to +accompany her, she added that she was of course +neither so philosophical nor so foolish as to dislike +hearing a Crown talked of, or as to refuse full consideration +to her correspondent’s extremely sensible +and obliging remarks on the subject, though the +number of factions apparently existing in England +made it difficult to feel sure about anything.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Such is the substance of what is sometimes cited +as the ‘Jacobite letter’ of the Electress Sophia. +Clearly, it is nothing of the kind; but at most +shows that, while primarily desirous of deferring +all discussion till she should meet the King, she +desired to apprise him, through a safe channel, that +she was alive to the <em>cons</em> as well as the <em>pros</em>—the +uncertainties as well as the opportunities—of the +situation. Above all, she wished to show herself +aware of the possibility of that situation being +fundamentally changed by the conversion to Protestantism +of the ‘Prince of Wales,’ as—assuredly +without any <span lang="fr"><i>arrière pensée</i></span>—she naturally called +the kinsman whose claim to this title she had never +professed to doubt. Nor is any ‘Jacobitism’ on +her aunt’s part proved by the Duchess of Orleans’ +nearly contemporary graphic account of King +<span class='pageno' id='Page_317'>317</span>James II’s tender sentiments towards the Electress, +who, as he stammered, ‘<span lang="fr"><i>m’a tou-toujours aimé</i></span>.’</p> + +<p class='c001'>The visit to the Loo was succeeded by a brief +meeting between the King and the two Electresses +at the Hague, just before his departure for England. +It was on this occasion that Sophia Charlotte was +accompanied by her son Frederick William, for +whom the King manifested a sudden personal +fancy. Whether under its influence, or because he +had resolved to respond to Sophia’s guarded attitude +by maintaining a reserve of his own, or, as is most +probable, because English opinion was in his +judgment, as well as in hers, still unripe for action—certain +passages in the Electress’ correspondence +with the Raugravine Louisa, a few months later +in date, show that William III had not arrived at +any immediate decision as to naming the Electress +and her descendants in the Succession, though he +had held out to her the prospect of such a result +being brought about. This implies that she had +by no means refused to entertain such a proposal. +In a word, the attitude of cautious expectancy +maintained by her and her House, was confirmed +by her brief personal intercourse with the actual +occupant of the English throne.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Before the end of this year, 1700, all hesitation +vanished from the policy of William III. His +hopes of securing the peace of Europe by an international +agreement based on the Second Partition +<span class='pageno' id='Page_318'>318</span>Treaty were finally extinguished, when the death of +Charles II of Spain, on November 1st, was followed +by the acceptance of his will, bequeathing the +whole of the Spanish monarchy to the Duke of +Anjou, by that Prince’s grandfather, Louis XIV. +In February, 1701, French troops surprised the +Dutch garrisons in the Barrier fortresses; and +the States General recognised King Philip of Spain. +The question whether England would follow suit, +or declare war, would have to be decided by the +new Parliament, summoned for February, 1701, ‘in +respect of matters of the highest importance’; +which expression, as de Beyrie, the Hanoverian +resident in London, informed the Electress, unmistakably +applied to the choice of the Duke of +Anjou, and to the English Succession. Stepney, +or some other correspondent, had previously apprised +her of the course which events might be +expected to take in Parliament with regard to the +Succession. The Whigs would press for a further +limitation in the Protestant line, and, if necessary, +for the exclusion of any child or pretended child of +James II except the Princess Anne. An effort +(proceeding from the Marlborough interest) in +favour of the Princess Anne’s consort, Prince George +of Denmark, would serve to lead Parliament to the +direct Protestant line, beginning with the Electress +Sophia, and going on to the Elector and the Electoral +Prince. Early in the same month (November) the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_319'>319</span>Electress, who was accompanied by Leibniz, conferred +with her brother-in-law at Celle. The +Elector George Lewis was not present; and the +confidential memorandum on the rights of the House +of Brunswick-Lüneburg in respect of the English +Succession drawn up immediately afterwards by +Leibniz for the use of Cresset, then at Celle, contained +a significant passage. The Succession, it +was observed, could much more easily be secured +by the House, while King William, Duke George +William, and the Electress Sophia were still ‘<span lang="fr"><i>pleins +de vie</i></span>.’ Soon afterwards, Sophia herself drafted a +letter, which was approved by the Duke of Celle, +asking the King’s advice as to the course of action +to be pursued; and Leibniz, who thought this +insufficient, was permitted to compose a supplementary +letter to Stepney, for the information of +Baron Schütz, who represented the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg +at the Court of St. <a id='corr319.19'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='James.’'>James.</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_319.19'><ins class='correction' title='James.’'>James.</ins></a></span><a id='r125'></a><a href='#f125' class='c008'><sup>[125]</sup></a> In this +it was suggested that, while the Electress wished +not to appear at present to be taking any active +steps, a further limitation of the Act of Settlement +might advantageously be promoted in England by +means of private overtures and of pamphlets not +<span class='pageno' id='Page_320'>320</span>purporting to emanate from Hanover. The Electress +once more showed a judgment superior to that +of Leibniz, who, in his zeal, offered, if called upon, +to proceed to London in person, but whom, in May, +1701, Stepney informed that, in his opinion, the +English nation was so well disposed towards the +Hanoverian Succession that neither pamphlets nor +men of talent were needed to push it.</p> + +<p class='c001'>In the meantime, Parliament, which sat from +February to June, had nearly concluded its session. +The Speech from the Throne had duly recommended +the further limitation of the Succession in the +Protestant line; and a proposal for carrying this +recommendation into effect was, without loss of +time, brought forward by the Whigs in the House +of Commons (March 3rd). But, though the Tory +majority in the House was not as a whole unfriendly +to the Hanoverian claims, the opinion +prevailed that it would be well to postpone the +naming of any further successor, until certain +additional securities had been obtained for the +rights and liberties of the subjects of the Crown. +It was generally understood that the Electress +Sophia should be named; but some desired to name +the Elector and the Electoral Prince likewise, in +the expectation that the Electress Dowager and the +Elector would waive their claims. On the other +hand, it was felt that such an arrangement would +involve a difference between the English and the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_321'>321</span>Scottish limitation, which latter had, already in +1689, been made to include Sophia’s name; and this +could not have been easily set right until the anti-English +feeling excited in Scotland by the Darien +Settlement affair should have had time to subside.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Thus, after the eight articles had been agreed +upon which were to take effect from the beginning +of the new limitation to the House of Hanover, +and some of which were, as a matter of fact, dictated +by jealousy of the rule of a foreign line, the name +of the Electress Sophia was inserted without opposition; +and by the <cite>Act for the further Limitation of +the Crown, and better securing the Rights and Liberties +of the Subjects</cite>—called in short the <cite>Act of Settlement</cite>—the +Crown of England was, in default of issue +of the Princess Anne or King William III, settled +upon the Electress and her posterity, being Protestants. +A protest, inspired by the Duke of +Berwick acting under instructions from Louis XIV +was, indeed, raised by the Duchess Anna Maria +of Savoy, and communicated to both Houses of +Parliament by the envoy of Duke Victor Amadeus +II; but no notice was taken of it.<a id='r126'></a><a href='#f126' class='c008'><sup>[126]</sup></a> On June 12th, +1701, the Act of Settlement received the royal +assent, and, in his Speech from the Throne, King +<span class='pageno' id='Page_322'>322</span>William, after thanking the two Houses for further +securing the Protestant Succession, passed on to the +subject of the Grand Alliance. The answer of the +House of Commons was an Address promising to +support the King in sustaining the alliances deemed +necessary by him for upholding the liberty of +Europe and the welfare of England, and for reducing +the exorbitant power of France.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The Act of Settlement, which secured the +Hanoverian Succession, accordingly at the same +time imposed certain fresh restrictions of the +prerogative, which had an important bearing upon +the nature of the royal authority exercised by +Sophia’s posterity. Furthermore, the Act, in +which both the great English political parties +concurred, secured the Hanoverian Succession at +a time when the critical struggle was about +to open between France and the renewed Grand +Alliance; and thus, at the very moment when +the House of Hanover acquired a Parliamentary +title to the expectancy of the English throne, it +was, again with the assent of both parties, +identified with the adversaries of France in the +great European conflict. Nor is it without significance +that at this very time a Pope (Clement XI) +had been seated in St. Peter’s Chair, who, in +a far greater measure than his predecessor—for +Innocent XII had on the whole disappointed the +hopes of Louis XIV—served the interests of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_323'>323</span>France. The letter addressed by Clement XI on his +election in November, 1700, to James II, had, +in its ‘beautiful terms of paternal tenderness,’ +drawn tears ‘more from the heart than from the +eyes’ of the exiled King.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Throughout these transactions, the conduct of +the Electress Sophia had been uniformly judicious—observing +a wise mean between the adoption, as a +matter of course, of the advice readily given to her +by Leibniz, and an absolute impassiveness like that +maintained by her eldest son. It seems unwarranted +to regard her as having energetically defended +her rights up to the time when policy and the condition +of affairs in England imposed upon her a +certain reserve, and having at the last enjoyed the +satisfaction of seeing both King and Parliament +sue for her acceptance of their offer. On the other +hand, her conduct is misunderstood when she is +supposed to have resisted so long as possible the +unwelcome necessity of securing the inheritance of +a throne to which she believed her kinsman, the +Prince of Wales, to have had a just claim. She +had frankly accepted the situation, and done her +best to promote a solution in the interests of her +dynasty, without going further than would have +been either seemly or judicious. Her letter written +on June 22nd, 1701, to Burnet (who describes himself +as in more or less continuous correspondence +with her from the death of the Duke of Gloucester +<span class='pageno' id='Page_324'>324</span>onwards) exactly expresses her point of view. +Though sensible of his affection to her in the matter +of the Succession, which excluded all Catholic +heirs, ‘who had always caused so many disorders +in England,’ she felt herself ‘unfortunately too old +ever to be useful to the nation.’ Yet she wished +that ‘those who were to come after her might +render themselves worthy of the honour awaiting +them.’</p> + +<p class='c001'>On August 14th, 1701, the Earl of Macclesfield +arrived in Hanover, in order formally to notify to +the Electress Sophia the passing of the Act of Settlement, +of which, kneeling before her, he presented +her with a splendidly illuminated copy, still preserved +in the Hanover Archives. Macclesfield +appears to have been chosen for the office at his +own request, as the son of a cavalier closely associated +with Prince Rupert and a visitor at the Hague +in Queen Elizabeth’s days, and therefore likely to +be <span lang="la"><i>persona gratissima</i></span> to the Electress<a id='r127'></a><a href='#f127' class='c008'><sup>[127]</sup></a>—though his +own antecedents rather associated him with the +Mohocks. He was accompanied by three other +Whig Lords, Say and Sele, Mohun (Macclesfield’s +intimate, who is stated to have taken care to be +on his best behaviour) and Tunbridge. In their +suite was the ingenious Toland, with his enquiring +<span class='pageno' id='Page_325'>325</span>eyes wide open, and in his pocket, according to +Luttrell, a ‘treatise lately wrote in relation to the +Succession, intituled <cite>Anglia Libera</cite>, or The Limitation +and Succession of the Crown explained and +asserted,’ for presentation to the Electress. With +them were also ‘Mr. King the herald,’ who brought +the Garter for the Elector, and Dr. Sandys, the +ambassador’s chaplain, who read the common +prayers of the Church of England before the Electress +in her ante-chamber. ‘She made the Responses, +and performed the Ceremonys as punctually +as if she had been us’d to it all her life.’ These +and other details may be read in Toland’s <cite>Account +of the Courts of Prussia and Hanover</cite>, which he published +after his return. He was particularly anxious +to recount the honours which he had received at +Hanover and Herrenhausen, including that of +conversing with the Electress, who, on one occasion, +had told him that ‘she was afraid the Nation had +already repented their Choice of an old Woman, +but that she hop’d none of her Posterity wou’d give +them any Reason to grow weary of their Dominion’—much +the same words as those which she had used +to Burnet.</p> + +<p class='c001'>We need not dwell upon the solemnities at +Hanover and Celle, whither the special embassy +proceeded in due course, nor upon the lavish +munificence bestowed upon the ambassador,<a id='r128'></a><a href='#f128' class='c008'><sup>[128]</sup></a> nor +<span class='pageno' id='Page_326'>326</span>upon the medals distributed in honour of the event, +among which none was more remarkable than that +which exhibited the portrait of the English Matilda, +the consort of Henry the Lion, and, on the reverse, +that of the Electress Sophia, ‘<span lang="la"><i>Angliae princeps ad +successionem nominata</i></span>.’ But it may be worth our +while in our next chapter to return to Toland, and +to his account of the Court of Hanover, as giving +an interesting, though no doubt rather rose-coloured, +picture of the Electress and her surroundings, at a +point of time which may be described as the climax +of her fortunes.</p> + +<hr class='c020'> +<div class='footnote' id='f90'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r90'>90</a>. It is interesting to find Queen Mary Beatrice thanking the +Dowager Duchess Benedicta at Hanover for her congratulations +on the same occasion, and referring to her constant interest +in the royal family, and to the links between them.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f91'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r91'>91</a>. Macaulay, who mentions this doubt, illustrates it by the +supposed case of an infant prince of Savoy. (See below.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f92'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r92'>92</a>. <cite>Notes on the Diplomatic Relations between England and +Germany</cite>, ed. C. H. Firth: <cite>List of Diplomatic Representatives +and Agents, England and North Germany, 1689-1727</cite>, contributed +by J. F. Chance, Oxford, 1907.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f93'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r93'>93</a>. As Colt died in 1693 (at Heilbronn), on a mission on which +he was sent to treat with the Elector of Saxony, to bring him +into the Grand Alliance, I cannot say what was the nature of the +series of holograph letters from the Electress Sophia to Lady +Colt, extending from 1681 (?) to 1714, reported in the <cite>Times</cite> of +April 14th, 1905, as sold by auction.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f94'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r94'>94</a>. There seems good reason for believing that the foreign lady, +named Louise-Marie, married by Cressett in 1704, about the close +of his residence at the Court of Celle, was a kinswoman of the +Duchess Eleonora. Cf., as to a survival of this connexion with +the dynasty, H. Walpole’s <cite>Memoirs of the Last Ten Years of the +Reign of George II</cite> (1822), Vol. i. p. 79.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f95'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r95'>95</a>. In 1700 he was also accredited to Berlin, where already in +1702 Queen Sophia Charlotte thought him a trifle <span lang="fr"><i>passé</i></span>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f96'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r96'>96</a>. In 1701, however, the Duchess Anna Maria protested +against the Act of Settlement, which limited the Succession to +Sophia and her issue, being Protestants. For an account of the +reasons of Victor Amadeus’ original estrangement from France, +and a searching analysis of his character, see a remarkable +<span lang="fr"><cite>Relation de la Cour de Savoie</cite></span>, July 15th, 1692, in Appendix to +G. de Léris, <span lang="fr"><i>La Princesse de Virrue</i></span> [for a time the Duke’s mistress +<span lang="fr"><i>et la Cour de Victor Amad. de Savoie</i></span>, Paris, 1881, pp. 238-9.]</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f97'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r97'>97</a>. See as to F. C. von Platen’s mission on the subject in December, +1686, R. Fester, <span lang="de"><cite>Die Augsburger Allianz</cite></span>, pp. 124 <i>sqq.</i>, 167 <i>sqq.</i></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f98'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r98'>98</a>. Droysen, <span lang="de"><cite>Geschichte der Preussischen Politik</cite></span>, Vol. iv. Part i. +p. 87.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f99'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r99'>99</a>. See as to his opposition Bodemann, <span lang="de"><cite>Anton Ulrich und +seine Correspondenz mit Leibniz</cite></span>, in <span lang="de"><cite>Zeitschr. d. histor. Ver. für +Niedersachsen</cite></span>, 1879. It was largely from ambitious motives +that this Duke entered so zealously into the great scheme for +a reunion between Catholics and Protestants. (See Clemens +Schwarte, <span lang="de"><cite>Die neunte Kur und Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel</cite></span>, in +<span lang="de"><cite>Münstersche Beiträge zur Geschichtsforschung</cite></span>, Neue Folge, +Münster, 1905.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f100'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r100'>100</a>. The supplementary (sixth) volume of the <cite>Roman Octavia</cite>, +which contains the story of Sophia Dorothea under the title of +the <cite>History of the Princess Solane</cite>, was first published in 1707, +when Sophia Dorothea’s lady-in-waiting, Fräulein Eleonora +von dem Knesebeck, who had, from first to last, been in the +secret of the Princess’ relations with Count Königsmarck, either +was or recently had been resident at Wolfenbüttel under the +protection of Duke Antony Ulric after her escape from prison. +In the revised edition of this ‘historical novel,’ published at +Nürnberg in 1712 and dedicated to the ‘<span lang="de"><i>Hochlöbliche Nymfen-Gesellschaft +an der Donau</i></span>, the name of <span lang="de"><i>Solane</i></span> was altered to +<span lang="de"><i>Rhodogune</i></span>, and there were certain other changes. The derivation +of the traditional narrative from Duke Antony Ulric’s +romance was convincingly traced by the late Professor Adolf +Köcher, who, though disbelieving in the genuineness of the +correspondence to be mentioned immediately, succeeded in +throwing a flood of light upon the entire course of Sophia Dorothea’s +story.—Writing, in 1709, about the amour between the +Landgrave Ernest Lewis of Hesse-Darmstadt and the (married) +Countess von Sintzendorf, the Duchess of Orleans observes that, +since the lady is quite ready to show the Prince’s letters, it would +be easy for Duke Antony Ulric to turn their affair into a romance.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f101'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r101'>101</a>. See <span lang="fr"><cite>Briefe des Herzogs Ernst August</cite></span>, &c., p. 33, note.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f102'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r102'>102</a>. ‘That the Elector is a dry and disagreeable gentleman,’ +writes the Duchess of Orleans in 1702, ‘I had opportunity +enough to discern when he was here ... but where he is entirely +in the wrong, is in his way of living with his mother, to whom he +is in duty bound to show nothing but respect.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f103'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r103'>103</a>. He served with distinction under Marlborough in Flanders. +The marriage took place in 1696, two years after the Königsmarck +catastrophe. Yet the late Mr. Wilkins makes Countess +Platen, ‘with a refinement of cruelty,’ try to induce Sophia +Dorothea to be present at the wedding. This significant blunder, +repeated in the second edition of <cite>The Love of an Uncrowned +Queen</cite>, is exposed by Mr. Lewis Melville, <cite>The First George</cite>, Vol. i. +pp. 52-6. A Fräulein von Weyhe was in Sophia Dorothea’s +service. The court of Hanover, after all, has much of the aspect +of a large family party. In 1701, Sophia mentions a tour to the +Harz made by the Elector in a company which included three +ladies, ‘the Schoulenburg, Madame Wey, and Ernhausen, the +Schoulenburg’s sister.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f104'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r104'>104</a>. The Palace was enlarged about this time, and entirely +‘restored’ in 1831-41. In Sophia Dorothea’s days the bear at +his chain and the lynx in his cage were still to be seen near the +guard-house at the outer gate.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f105'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r105'>105</a>. Of the persistently repeated story of King George I’s +morganatic marriage to the Duchess of Kendal there appears to +be no proof. The late Dr. Richard Garnett, who could hardly +have failed to come across whatever evidence on the subject +existed, assured me that he knew of none.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f106'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r106'>106</a>. For an examination of the whole question of the genuineness +of the Lund letters I must refer the reader to an article on the +original edition of Mr. Wilkins’ book, <span lang="de"><cite>The Love of an Uncrowned +Queen</cite></span>, contributed by me to the <cite>Edinburgh Review</cite> for January, +1901. I have since re-examined the cipher with the aid of the +key supplied by the late Count Schulenburg to the late Mrs. +Everett Green; and it certainly fills one with amazement that +any rational human beings should have thought concealment +attainable by so perfectly transparent a disguise. But the +miserable folly of the whole business is at least consistent with +itself.—As to the Berlin letters, Mr. Wilkins does not explicitly +say that he had seen them; but it was unnecessary that he should +do so, as an exhaustive account of them (with the text of two of +them) was given by Dr. Robert Geerds in the <span lang="de"><i>Beitlage</i></span> to the +<span lang="de"><cite>Allgemeine Zeitung</cite></span>, No. 77, Friday, April 4th, 1902. The eminent +historian Dr. A. Köcher, after first directing attention to these +letters in the <span lang="de"><cite>Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie</cite></span>, Vol. xxxiv. (art. +<em>Sophia Dorothea</em>), and declaring them an audacious forgery (he +repeated this assertion privately to myself), deposited in +the Royal Archives at Berlin a statement of his belief that a +comparison of handwritings left him in no doubt as to the letters +being spurious; but Dr. Geerds’ explanations on this head (see +<i>Appendix B</i>) are to my mind perfectly satisfactory.—I should like +to add that at my request Count Königsmarck, in December last, +most kindly allowed the examination of his family archives at +Plaue near Berlin on my behalf by Archivrath Dr. Paczkowski, +but that no part of any correspondence between Sophia Dorothea +and her lover was discovered there. Dr. Paczkowski carried out +the task which he was so good as to undertake with a thoroughness +and <span lang="fr"><i>savoir faire</i></span> reflecting the highest credit upon himself and +the distinguished official body of which he forms part.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f107'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r107'>107</a>. See Evelyn’s <cite>Diary</cite> as to the scandal which surrounded the +trial.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f108'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r108'>108</a>. See Schiller’s <span lang="de"><cite>Dramatischer Nachlass</cite></span>, ed. G. Kettner, Vol. ii. +pp. 220 <i>sqq.</i> (Weimar, 1825), and the references there given to +articles by Kettner on the subject.—The play to which allusion +is made in the text is Mrs. Woods’ <cite>The Princess of Hanover</cite> (1902).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f109'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r109'>109</a>. First, they use pseudonyms of a more or less allusive nature +in lieu of proper names. Thus <em>Don Diego</em> and <span lang="fr"><i>la Romaine</i></span> signify +the Elector and the Electress (the former is not a flattering nickname +in contemporary English literature; it will be remembered +that the eldest of Sophia’s sisters had in former days been called +<span lang="fr"><i>la Grecque</i></span> by the younger); <span lang="fr"><i>le Grondeur</i></span>, <span lang="fr"><i>la Pédagogue</i></span>, are farcical +names for the Duke and Duchess of Celle, while the Electoral +Prince, Sophia Dorothea’s husband, is (not quite so intelligibly) +called <span lang="fr"><i>le Réformeur</i></span>; Countess Platen (query with an allusion +to Monplaisir) <span lang="fr"><i>la Perspective</i></span>, and Sophia Dorothea herself goes +by the appellation of <span lang="fr"><i>la petite louche</i></span>, or of <span lang="fr"><i>le cœur gauche</i></span>, or of +<span lang="fr"><i>Léonisse</i></span>, a character in a romance of the times. Aurora von +Königsmarck is <span lang="fr"><i>l’Avanturière</i></span>, and Prince Ernest Augustus +<span lang="fr"><i>l’Innocent</i></span>. Secondly, the writers of these letters employ a +numerical cipher of a tolerably simple kind. Of this Professor +Palmblad, who published a few of the letters (carefully selecting +the worst), and who formed a monstrous hypothesis upon them, +lacked the key; Mrs. Everett Green, who possessed it, was +already able to decipher most of the names; Mr. Wilkins +had not to leave much obscure. Thirdly, names, and occasionally +other words, are spelt in figures, the chief difficulty of deciphering +being in this case the phonetic spelling adopted by Königsmarck +(<i>biljay</i> = <i>billet</i>, &c.). Finally, the lovers also resorted to an occasional +cryptogram, which would not deceive a child. A name, +such as Chauvet, is split up and interlarded with the letters +‘<i>illy</i>’—thus: ‘<i>illychauillyvetilly</i>.’ The farce of insertion might +have gone further. Cf. <i>Appendix B</i> as to the Berlin letters.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f110'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r110'>110</a>. ‘<span lang="fr"><i>Le bonhomme</i></span>’ in the lovers’ cipher.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f111'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r111'>111</a>. Of this castle little or nothing remains at the present day +but a ‘restored’ gate and staircase.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f112'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r112'>112</a>. According to W. H. Wilkins, <cite>A Queen of Tears</cite>, George III +similarly ordered the destruction of the entire correspondence +with Copenhagen occasioned by the catastrophe of his daughter +Caroline Matilda of Denmark and Struensee.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f113'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r113'>113</a>. In the spring of 1695, Cresset reports that the Duke and +Duchess of Celle feel some distaste, now, for the company of the +Electress, on account of the divorce proceedings.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f114'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r114'>114</a>. Her habit of driving along it at a furious pace recalls the +practice of a very different captive—Napoleon at St. Helena.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f115'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r115'>115</a>. It is a curious instance of a certain cynical hauteur in George +Lewis (which, however, contains an element of manly self-possession) +that he should have supplied the Duchess of Orleans +with a key to the characters of the Supplement to the <cite>Roman +Octavia</cite>, in which Duke Antony Ulric had taken the opportunity, +perhaps with the help of Fräulein von dem Knesebeck’s reminiscences, +of giving to the world a version of the whole story of the +Duchess of Ahlden.—A French MS., <span lang="fr"><cite>Histoire de Frédegonde, Princesse +de Chérusque, Duchesse d’Hanovre, Épouse de George, Roi de +la Grande Bretagne</cite></span>, proposing to give an account, <span lang="la"><i>inter alia</i></span>, of +‘<span lang="fr"><i>sa Prison au Chateau d’Alhen, où elle a fini ses jours</i></span>,’ supposed +to date from about 1740, was not long since advertised for sale.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f116'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r116'>116</a>. Lord Hervey’s story of his having preserved his mother’s +picture may be true; but the further statement that he proposed, +if she had survived, to have brought her over and declared her +Queen, needs a stronger qualification than the ‘it was said,’ by +which it is accompanied. (<span lang="fr"><cite>Memoirs</cite></span>, Vol. iii. pp. 348-9.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f117'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r117'>117</a>. Early in 1694, Cresset reports him as ‘moving heaven and +earth’ on the subject.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f118'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r118'>118</a>. ‘I used,’ she writes to the elder Schütz in 1703, ‘to know +all the common prayers, practically, by heart, but I was never +taught that our religion much differed from the reformed religion +of France and Germany, and I have communicated in this also;’ +and, again: ‘I have had prayers offered for the Queen’ [Anne] +‘in both the German and the French reformed churches here’ +[at Hanover], ‘with the permission of the Elector.’—Erman, +preacher at the French Reformed church in Berlin, subsequently +wrote <span lang="fr"><cite>Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire de Sophie Charlotte, Reine +de Prusse</cite></span>.]</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f119'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r119'>119</a>. See H. Breslau, <span lang="de"><cite>Der Fall des Oberpräsidenten E. von Danckelmann</cite></span>, +1692 (H. Breslau and S. Isaacsohn, <span lang="de"><cite>Der Fall zweier +Preuss. Minister</cite></span>). Berlin, 1878.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f120'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r120'>120</a>. Curiously enough, on the day after the opening of this +august institution, Leibniz took a prominent part in a ‘Village +Fair’ at the Court, of which a graphic description remains in a +letter from him to the Electress Sophia. It seems to have been +a revised edition of the <span lang="de"><i>Wirthschaften</i></span> of her youth, and of similar +Arcadian diversions of later days.—For an interesting survey of +the relations—both personal and philosophical—between Leibniz +and Sophia Charlotte, see A. Foucher de Careil, <span lang="fr"><cite>Leibniz et les deux +Sophies</cite></span>, Paris, 1876.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f121'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r121'>121</a>. This was the time when James II refused Louis XIV’s +offer of aid towards securing for him the Polish throne, then +vacant by the death of John Sobiesky; on which occasion Sophia +wrote to the Duchess of Orleans that King James might pass +for a saint, since we are told to become as little children, or we +shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f122'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r122'>122</a>. These were of a kind of which the Electress Sophia had, +as we have seen, had some experience. According to English +usage, the King was alone entitled to an arm-chair (<span lang="fr"><i>fauteuil</i></span>); +but, according to the German rule, the Electors were privileged +to occupy an arm-chair even in the presence of the Emperor. +Hence the King and the Elector could not <em>sit</em> in one another’s +company; and, when the King actually came to Cleves, the +Elector had to absent himself from the royal <span lang="fr"><i>partie</i></span>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f123'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r123'>123</a>. This favourite seat of both George I and George II was +in September, 1813—shortly before Leipzig—the scene of a +Hanoverian success against a French division.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f124'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r124'>124</a>. It may be noted that Borkowski, <span lang="de"><cite>Königin Charlotte als +Mutter und Erzieherin</cite></span> (in <span lang="de"><cite>Hohenzollern-Jahrbuch</cite></span> for 1903), +defends the Queen against the charge of having insufficiently +cared for the education of the heir to the throne, and cites +in proof letters addressed by her to Alexander von Dohna, +whom she selected and maintained against all opposition as the +supervisor of her son’s education.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f125'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r125'>125</a>. She told Schütz, about this time, that she was very sensible +of the kindness shown her by the English people, but very +sorry that she was so old that she would never be of any use +to them, and much annoyed that her son had not the same +inclinations on this head as she had herself, and made no secret +of his sentiments.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f126'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r126'>126</a>. ‘I do not see,’ writes Sophia in April, 1701, ‘how he can +claim the English Crown before King James and his two sons, +being himself as much a papist as they are; but perhaps he is +offering to have his son educated in the Anglican religion.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f127'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r127'>127</a>. She writes that Macclesfield’s father had been most friendly +to her as well as to Prince Rupert—‘<span lang="fr"><i>car il voulait me donner au +roi Charles</i></span>.’—Macclesfield died shortly after his journey to +Hanover.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f128'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r128'>128</a>. The Electress bestowed on him a golden ewer and her +portrait in a jewelled frame—the total expense amounting to +20,000 dollars—rather more than two-thirds of the sum spent +during twoscore years on the maintenance of the palace buildings +at Hanover. No wonder that this profuse expenditure was +looked upon without much satisfaction in the long years of +waiting that ensued.</p> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_327'>327</span> + <h2 class='c006'>V <br> THE HEIRESS OF GREAT BRITAIN <br><span class='small'>(HERRENHAUSEN, 1701-1714)</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c007'>Great Britain was never to see the face of its +heiress, and the widowhood of the Electress Sophia +was almost entirely spent in the tranquillity of +Herrenhausen. More than any other place associated +with her name, this palace and its still delightful +gardens, in the midst of which her statue now +stands, recall her regal personality. The building +of the palace that was so long her home, and the +laying-out of the gardens where Leibniz was so +frequent a companion of her long daily walks, were +begun by Duke John Frederick as early as the +year 1665, when the old hunting-box of Lauenstädt +was transferred hither. Herrenhausen Palace seems +to have been reconstructed, under the superintendence +of Sartorio, in imitation of the new palace at +Osnabrück, of which, as has been seen, the younger +brother, Ernest Augustus, had more or less borrowed +the design from the Luxembourg at Paris. Ernest +Augustus and Sophia elaborated John Frederick’s +<span class='pageno' id='Page_328'>328</span>beginnings, considerably enlarging the gardens, +which were designed by the elder Charbonnier, and +carried out by him and his son, in 1697, though it +was not till 1705 that the Elector George Lewis +caused them to be completed in their present form, +which suggests Dutch influences. Thus a pleasing +mixture of styles and associations is presented by +the solid clipped hedges, some of which in the garden +theatre serve as side-scenes and conceal dressing-rooms +(these are attributed specially to Quirini), +by the prim summer-houses and the wilderness, by +the grottoes and the cascades with their stalactites +and shells, and by the profusion of statuary in gilt +lead among the hedges and in cool marble by the +artificial water. It was in these gardens that, +during her married life, when she was already +accustomed to solitude, Sophia consoled herself +with the company of the nightingales, and here +that, in 1700, she is found amusing herself with her +ducks and swans, and with the new lodgings erected +by her for their convenience. She had a genuine +fondness for innocent open-air delights; at Lützenburg +she speaks of her promenades with her daughter +as affording her the greatest delight, while her sons +disported themselves at the opera and at comedies +played by ‘noble’ comedians; and on the gravelled +paths of her Herrenhausen gardens she indulged her +love of walking almost literally to the moment of her +death. No fine day was allowed to pass without +<span class='pageno' id='Page_329'>329</span>an hour or two—or even more—of her favourite +pastime; and her persistency tired out all her +attendants, except, as Toland elegantly puts it, +when they had the honour of enjoying her conversation.<a id='r129'></a><a href='#f129' class='c008'><sup>[129]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c001'>Among the buildings at Herrenhausen, where +Sophia spent the greater part of her life from 1698 +to 1714, the Orangery, one of the largest of its kind +in Europe, ought specially to attract the visitor, +since a portion of it was the residence, modest in +dimensions, but decorated in a florid Italian style, +of the Electress Dowager. It had been erected in +1692; its great hall was painted by Tommaso +Giusti and stuccoed by Dossa Grana. The Electress’ +rooms are small and narrow, but overloaded +with decorations, and not in the most perfect taste, +with the exception of the fine portal into the little +garden.<a id='r130'></a><a href='#f130' class='c008'><sup>[130]</sup></a> There seems no reason for crediting her +with an artistic taste transcending that of most of +her contemporaries, or sufficiently formed to maintain +the Dutch preferences of her younger days +against the more debased French and Italian, but +more especially Italian, modes favoured by her +husband and his brother.<a id='r131'></a><a href='#f131' class='c008'><sup>[131]</sup></a> Clever with her hands +<span class='pageno' id='Page_330'>330</span>as in every other way, she understood the use of the +brush<a id='r132'></a><a href='#f132' class='c008'><sup>[132]</sup></a> as well as of the embroidery needle;<a id='r133'></a><a href='#f133' class='c008'><sup>[133]</sup></a> but +neither artistic industry nor art, although as a +descendant of the Stewarts she had doubtless inherited +some love of both, was a sphere in which +she sought to shine. Her husband consistently +treated art as a mere handmaid to luxurious self-indulgence; +thus, while he devoted nearly 25,000 +dollars to the furnishing and adornment of his new +opera-house, he wasted an even larger sum in the +expenditure of a single carnival season.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Sophia had never shown much sympathy with +what may be called the Venetian tastes of her +husband; and, after her youth had ebbed away, had +more and more come to live an intellectual life of +her own. Perhaps, before recalling the political +incidents of her last thirteen years in connexion +with the question which invested them with an +European significance, we may pause for a moment +to summarise our impressions as to the most important +<span class='pageno' id='Page_331'>331</span>features of her mind and character, as they +present themselves to us more especially in these +final years. The tragic part of her life was now +over; but, as has been well said by the finest of +the modern critics of her career, Professor Kuno +Fischer, she had herself never played the part of a +tragedy queen. Even a panegyric like that pronounced +upon her by the old Hanoverian historian +Spittler—by no means an undiscerning flatterer—seems +too highly strung. He speaks of the +‘<span lang="de"><i>Teutschgründliche überfürstliche Aufklärung</i></span>’—as +who should say, the enlightenment above the ordinary +enlightenment of princes, and one in its depth and +thoroughness possible only to the Germanic mind—that +rendered her deserving of the friendship of +Leibniz. Beyond a doubt, Sophia was distinguished +by an intellectual curiosity that was still uncommon, +though much less so than is often supposed, among +the women of her age. This curiosity her linguistic +attainments (she was, as has been seen, from her +youth up mistress of half a dozen languages) had +long enabled her freely to satisfy. To the excellent +system of education under which she had been +trained she owed her acquaintance with various +elements of theology, philosophy, and history. This +knowledge she had improved in the course of a long +life, abounding in (often involuntary) intervals of +leisure, and bringing with it not a few special opportunities +of learned intercourse. She had spent +<span class='pageno' id='Page_332'>332</span>some years at Heidelberg, once more a fountainhead +of learning; and, already at Osnabrück, she +had been ambitious of converting that modest +episcopal city into a centre of philosophical speculation, +holding colloquies there with Francis Mercurius +von Helmont, the interesting son of the +great physicist.<a id='r134'></a><a href='#f134' class='c008'><sup>[134]</sup></a> At a later date she read at least +one of Spinoza’s works, towards which she seems to +have been drawn by ideas of moral philosophy in +which some resemblance to his has been thought +traceable.<a id='r135'></a><a href='#f135' class='c008'><sup>[135]</sup></a> Yet it may be doubted whether either +here or afterwards at Hanover and Herrenhausen +she was ever a profound student, or even so much +as an ardent reader of books. She was fond of +reading memoirs—such as those of Pierre Chanut, +French ambassador at the Court of Christian of +Sweden, or the celebrated autobiography of Marshal +de Bassompierre. She had, also, a <span lang="fr"><i>penchant</i></span> for +novels, preferring to the fashionable long-winded +romances of her youth works enlivened by a +humour congenial to her own. She asked Leibniz +<span class='pageno' id='Page_333'>333</span>to draw up for her a list of all the novels she had +read; for she had come to an end with <cite>Don Quixote</cite> +and <span lang="de"><cite>Don Guzman d’Alfarache</cite></span>, of which she preferred +the former. Of German romances, it is almost +equally to her credit that she mentions <span lang="la"><i>Simplicissimus</i></span>, +while avoiding the stagnant fashionable +bombast of her age.<a id='r136'></a><a href='#f136' class='c008'><sup>[136]</sup></a> A still more striking testimony +to her critical insight may be found in the remark, +which the admiring Duchess of Orleans states to +have been confirmed by the Elector Palatine +Charles Lewis, that nobody in the world better +possessed Michel de Montaigne better than her +aunt Sophia. Nor was she afraid of even more +potent draughts; for, during her return journey +from Italy, the <cite>Gargantua</cite> was read to her by Ezechiel +Spanheim, divine and diplomatist. On the other +hand, she does not appear to have greatly cared for +historical reading on its own account; according +to Leibniz, the reason why she took pleasure in +Clarendon was ‘because she was acquainted with +many persons mentioned by him.’ Yet she had no +personal acquaintance with the Emperor Justinian, +whom, as known to her from the Byzantine historian +Procopius, she compares with Louis XIV. She +certainly had a liking for moral theology and +philosophy, which were, in general, more in the way +<span class='pageno' id='Page_334'>334</span>of the ladies of the period than the historical +sciences. She had read Boëtius, and was invited +by Leibniz to read the Jesuit Friedrich von Spee, a +leader in the crusade against that long-lived form +of bigotry—the persecution of ‘witchcraft.’ Dogmatic +theology had no charms for Sophia; and +even the faithful Bishop Burnet’s book on a theme +which ought to have interested her, namely, the +Thirty-nine Articles, she put aside as ‘<span lang="fr"><i>bon à feuilleter, +mais non pas à lire</i></span>,’ flippantly adding that the good +binding of her copy would make it an ornament +to her library. Philosophy, like religion, seems to +have interested her primarily on the ethical side; +the stoical maxims of Seneca and Epictetus had +impressed her mind before it had opened itself to +more comprehensive problems under the influence +of Spinoza, whom, as we know, her favourite +brother had sought to domesticate at Heidelberg, +and afterwards, and, above all, under the influence +of Leibniz. She can at no time have been very +well seen in metaphysics, the study of which is held +to contribute so largely to the formation of ideas +on religion; she shared her eldest son’s somewhat +crude notions on the origin of ideas, and would not—or +could not—understand Leibniz’s argument +about monads. Possibly, like many clever people of +both sexes, she was rather too fond of startling her +interlocutors; and the excellent Molanus respectfully +shakes his reverend head at ‘<span lang="la"><i>Serenissima +<span class='pageno' id='Page_335'>335</span>nostra, quæ a paradoxis sibi temperare nunquam +potest</i></span>.’ On the other hand, the diplomatist Thomas +von Grote, another of her intimates, moved perhaps +by a not unnatural jealousy, opined that the learned +companions of her Herrenhausen walks would in +the end take her a little out of her depth, though +he had no fear that for her the consequences would +be what they had been for Queen Christina of +Sweden. As for the mathematical and physical +sciences, she took that casual interest in them +which, in the case of great personages, and of great +ladies in particular, alternately makes the delight +and the despair of <span lang="fr"><i>savants</i></span>; Leibniz distinctly +states that works dealing in detail with such subjects +are not among those which the Electress was fond +of reading. When, in the last year of her life, the +Czar Peter came to Hanover and talked mathematics +to her, ‘she held her tongue.’</p> + +<p class='c001'>And yet, though neither a profound philosopher +nor a phenomenally accomplished blue-stocking, +Sophia was the very reverse of a commonplace +personage. She was a woman of the world, but a +very wise one. In age, as in youth, she sparkled +with wit and intelligence, and in her both these +gifts were interfused with that third and greatest +gift of humour, which is a property of the soul as +well as of the intellect.<a id='r137'></a><a href='#f137' class='c008'><sup>[137]</sup></a> Of her conversation we +<span class='pageno' id='Page_336'>336</span>can only judge from her letters, of which we fortunately +possess a quite extraordinary quantity; +but, if her speech was like her writing, its style must +have been equally far ‘<span lang="fr"><i>esloigné de l’aigreur</i></span>,’—to +borrow a phrase from Madame de Brinon, to whom +she told not a few home truths. Her letters combine +with the supreme charm of perfect naturalness +a pungency in the choice of expressions superior, +in the opinion of the Duchess of Orleans, to any +minted by the academies; ‘for to write agreeably is +better than to write correctly.’ Occasionally, her +wit was singularly incisive, as when she called the +same Madame de Brinon ‘<span lang="fr"><i>une religieuse qui passe +pour bel esprit</i></span>,’ and her eloquence extraordinary +‘<span lang="fr"><i>car elle parle toujours</i></span>’; or when, Toland having +<span lang="la"><i>more suo</i></span> taken it upon himself in argument to +whitewash the cannibals, she commended him for +his prudence, in that, with all Christendom against +him, he had provided himself with protectors. Not +unfrequently, however, frankness and cynicism did +<span class='pageno' id='Page_337'>337</span>duty for wit. Her jests spared neither Leibniz, nor +the House of Hanover, nor ‘<span lang="fr"><i>le bon lord Winchilsea</i></span>,’ +whom she found so heavy in hand, nor Queen Anne’s +husband, Prince George of Denmark, of whom, when +it was proposed to create him King Consort, she +observed that he would be a King like Jove among +the frogs—and perhaps popular for that very reason. +She had, too, a good deal of fun as well as wit—as +when, in acknowledging the courtesy of an unknown +Mr. Smith in sending a descriptive account of England +and the English (among whom she had ‘been +brought up till she reached the age of twenty’), +she says that he describes London and St Paul’s +and the ‘<em>pantquitinhouse</em>’ as if she had never heard +a word about them. De Gourville, whose qualities +as a butt possibly remained a secret to his +sublime self-consciousness, suspected her of a +natural inclination to criticising any fellow-mortal +brought into her presence, though he allowed that +the person bantered by her was sure to be the first to +laugh. She was a good hater, and could even hate +at second hand, as in the instance of Madame de +Maintenon, the bugbear of the Duchess of Orleans. +But her aversions were, like all her feelings, kept in +constant check by the dictates of reason as well as +by her care for the interests of her family and +House; and we have seen how even her sentiments +towards Eleonora d’Olbreuze underwent a gradual +mitigation which outsiders judged to be a complete +<span class='pageno' id='Page_338'>338</span>change. It may, too, be doubted whether sarcasm +was really natural to her, though her sense of humour +always responded to the irony of things. She was +alike open-minded and open-handed, and had +nothing of the stinginess which sits so ill on high +rank and position. Though towards the close of +her life she was desirous that an income should be +granted her by the British Crown and Parliament, +it was only for political purposes that she desired +this. She had quite money enough, she said, +to keep up her German establishment. When she +found that the distinguished services of the Brunswick-Lüneburg +officers and men were left unnoticed +in the <cite>Gazette</cite>, she was anxious to pay for a proper +mention of them out of her own pocket. The +geniality of her disposition shows itself in an affability +which was the same to both great and small, +and in her power to interest herself with the same +readiness in the discourse of philosophers, the conversation +of ministers of State, and the gossip +of country ladies on domestic thoughts intent. +It also showed itself in a hospitality which made +everyone welcome at Hanover and Herrenhausen, +and a tact which put all at their ease there; at no +court in the world, wrote the Brandenburg statesman +Paul von Fuchs, are <span lang="fr"><i>les étrangers et les gastes</i></span> +treated better than at the Hanoverian. Though, +during her later years, she lived chiefly in retirement +at Herrenhausen, she by no means secluded herself, +but received a large variety of visitors, both princely, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_339'>339</span>personages and political and literary celebrities. +Above all, it was always a delight to her to see +Englishmen at her Court, as indeed it had been even +before the passing of the Act of Settlement; and in +welcoming them she carefully eschewed any and +every distinction between parties—divided as these +were in England with a severity unknown at the +time to any other country. Occasionally, when +the Elector was away on his campaigns, she took his +place at Hanover in the reception of distinguished +guests.<a id='r138'></a><a href='#f138' class='c008'><sup>[138]</sup></a> Amiable to all, she reserved the treasures +of her affection for those who were nearest to her—not +only for the survivors of her own passionately +loved brood, but for all the younger members of +her family, in which she included the children of +her favourite brother.<a id='r139'></a><a href='#f139' class='c008'><sup>[139]</sup></a> The Duchess of Orleans +comically avows her annoyance that everyone who +<span class='pageno' id='Page_340'>340</span>has had the privilege of living with her aunt should +be brought to entertain towards her the very +sentiments of love and affection cherished by Elizabeth +Charlotte herself. Yet she was quite impervious +to flattery, and, when told by a diplomatist +that the court of Versailles was full of her daughter’s +praises, remarked that these were the usual talk +to which an envoy was treated when there was +nothing else to say to him. In her later years, +Sophia seems never to have indulged herself either +in outbursts of temper or in moods of discontent; +although she allows that her vexation about the +vagaries of her son Maximilian had proved to her +that her philosophy was only skin deep.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Those, wrote Elizabeth Charlotte, who thought +her aunt incapable of being of use in affairs of State, +could have little knowledge of her intellectual +powers. We have seen, however, that during her +husband’s lifetime she had been allowed little +direct interference in state concerns, though on +several occasions Ernest Augustus had benefited +both from listening to her advice and from utilising +her personal influence. Her eldest son was not +the kind of man to concede, like a sultan at Constantinople, +a position of acknowledged control +over his Government to his mother, the Electress +Dowager. When unable to render to Leibniz a +service solicited by him, she wrote rather bitterly +that there were times when she found silence best. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_341'>341</span>But, apart from the Succession question, towards +which she, of course, occupied a distinct position +of her own, a considerable sphere of political influence +remained open to her in the last period of her +life. More especially, she rendered excellent service +by maintaining a good understanding with the +court of Berlin, and by restoring it when the relations +between the two courts had become strained, +and her daughter proved unable to manage them. +The influence which had been established over King +Frederick I of Prussia by his ‘<span lang="de"><i>gnädigste Mama</i></span>,’ +she contrived, though she saw through him, to +exercise even after her daughter’s death.</p> + +<p class='c001'>But even Sophia’s ‘nimbleness of mind,’ to use +another expression of her favourite niece’s, was +not so marked a characteristic of her as was the +reasonableness which proceeded in nearly equal +proportions from intellectual enlightenment and +from a beneficent disposition towards humanity. +She was, wrote Leibniz about 1701, ‘entirely on the +side of reason; consequently, all measures calculated +to make kings and peoples follow reason, +will meet with her approval.’ A rationalist in the +stricter sense of the term she can hardly be called; +though her wholly unembarrassed way of expressing +herself on any subject in heaven or earth at times +resembles a want of reverence.<a id='r140'></a><a href='#f140' class='c008'><sup>[140]</sup></a> She was irritated +<span class='pageno' id='Page_342'>342</span>by Toland’s restless tongue; but, while thanking +Burnet for putting her on her guard, indicated that +she was too old for Toland to give her another twist +(perhaps this may be a coarse translation of ‘<span lang="fr"><i>pli</i></span>’) +in religion than that to which she had been long +accustomed. For the rest, it was not, she said, +her habit to ‘catechise’ English visitors. Anthony +Collins’ plea for ‘Free-thinking’ struck her as both +mischievous and ridiculously superfluous—‘more +especially in England, where there was such a +multitude of factions’; ‘Free thinquers,’ she observed, +when complaining of his insolence in sending her +the book, ‘are against all religions.’ All men, she +allowed, might like to think as they choose so long +as their conduct was honourable; but in a well-governed +State all men ought not to be free to +publish their opinions. Herein her conscientiousness +as a German Princess no doubt counted for +something. Thus, when she was asked to lend her +aid towards inducing the East Frisian Government +to proceed against the spreading eccentricities of +the Pietists, she upheld the rights of authority. +‘Lutheran Princes,’ she declared, ‘are the Popes +of our Church, and must be obeyed.’ For herself, +she had a thoroughgoing dislike of anything +‘enthusiastic,’ and would not hear of shoemakers +<span class='pageno' id='Page_343'>343</span>(like Jacob Behmen) becoming inspired prophets +instead of sticking to their lasts.<a id='r141'></a><a href='#f141' class='c008'><sup>[141]</sup></a> More than this: +Kuno Fischer rightly says that ‘to her clear practical +intellect the mysteries of religion remained +obscure and alien’; and, when he asserts that she +was at bottom a deist in her opinions, this is in so +far true, that, while she avowed her belief in a +personal Creator, she cannot be shown to have gone +further in any declaration of her convictions. +In 1709, Leibniz informed Toland that the Electress +‘was accustomed to quote and give particular +praise to that passage of Scripture which demands +whether it be consistent with reason that He that +planted the ear should not hear, and He that formed +the eye should not see?’ At the same time, her +latitudinarianism was perfectly candid. She certainly +(in 1702) encouraged the notion which had occurred +to her son-in-law, the King of Prussia, of introducing +the English Church liturgy into the Calvinistic services, +telling him that he might then call himself +Defender of the Faith. On the other hand, she had +<span class='pageno' id='Page_344'>344</span>no sympathy with the views of what in one of her +letters she calls ‘<span lang="de"><i>Heyschortz</i></span>’ men;<a id='r142'></a><a href='#f142' class='c008'><sup>[142]</sup></a> she laughed +at an English clergyman who refused to set his foot +in a Calvinist ‘temple,’ and she seriously blamed +the early attempts of Queen Anne, as she interpreted +them, to force the Presbyterians into conformity +both in Scotland and in England. It was +as a declared adherent of the Reformed or (as in +England alone it was called) Calvinist confession, +in which she had been brought up, that, as Toland +notes, she built a ‘pretty church’ in the New +Town of Hanover for the French Huguenot refugees, +to which in his day King William III liberally +contributed; and she seems to have at least +intended to build a church for the German members +of the same religious body. ‘You must know,’ +she humorously wrote to Leibniz on this occasion, +‘that I am <span lang="fr"><i>une dame fort zêlée</i></span>.’ It was probably +no mere commonplace of shortsighted criticism +when, in 1700, about which time the idea of seeking +to evangelise the heathen was first taking root +in Germany, she pronounced it ‘a fine enterprise +indeed’ to send out missionaries to India. ‘To +me it seems,’ she remarked, ‘that the first thing +ought to be to make good Christians at home in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_345'>345</span>Germany, without going to so great a distance for +the purpose of manufacturing them.’ In a word, +she should be credited with genuine religious feeling; +though demonstrativeness, whether on this or on +any other subject, was altogether out of her way. +And she hated religious factiousness, which she +thought domesticated in England.<a id='r143'></a><a href='#f143' class='c008'><sup>[143]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c001'>We have spoken of the Electress Sophia’s profession +of the Reformed faith—a fact as to which, +although it has been called into question, there +cannot really be any doubt. As we saw, she was, +according to her own account, in her childhood +taught the Heidelberg Catechism; and, when she +married the Lutheran Ernest Augustus, it was +arranged that, though she was to take no Calvinist +minister with her to Hanover, one should visit the +town three or four times in each year, in order +to administer the Sacrament to her. Toland +explicitly states (as de Gourville, who in 1687 had a +little scheme of his own for bringing over her husband +and his family to Rome, had also stated at an +earlier date) that the Electress was a Calvinist; +but he adds, in illustration of the tolerance prevailing +at the Court of Hanover, that ‘most of her women +and other immediate servants were Lutherans, just +as her son the Elector, though himself a Lutheran, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_346'>346</span>had many Calvinists belonging to him; and both +their Highnesses, to show a good example and their +unfeigned charity in these lesser differences, do often +go to church together.’<a id='r144'></a><a href='#f144' class='c008'><sup>[144]</sup></a> Their only daughter married +a Calvinist,<a id='r145'></a><a href='#f145' class='c008'><sup>[145]</sup></a> and Sophia herself steadily adhered +to the confession in which she was born, though her +latitudinarian tendencies fell in easily enough with +the tolerant principles prevailing in the Lutheran +Church of Hanover, and represented by the head +of its ecclesiastical administration, the worthy +‘Abbot’ Molanus.<a id='r146'></a><a href='#f146' class='c008'><sup>[146]</sup></a> Nor is there any reason for +<span class='pageno' id='Page_347'>347</span>supposing that, had she been actually summoned +to ascend the English throne, she would, in the +matter of religion, have failed to do what was expected +of her. Early in 1713, she wrote to Leibniz +that Molanus had so well explained to her his +Lutheran creed, that there had been some talk of +putting his exposition into print for publication in +England. Clearly, it was not any question of this +kind which would have interfered with her accession +to the throne. She had sufficient confidence in +herself to shrink from no step approved by both +her reason and her conscience. Moreover, there +are indications that she by no means regarded the +Church of her mother and her brother’s native land +with coldness; and, had Leibniz apprehended any +objection on her part, he would hardly have +proposed that the English establishment which +he desired for the Electress should include an +Anglican chapel. Indeed, in 1703, she is found +expressing a wish that Queen Anne would carry +her ecclesiastical zeal as far as Hanover, and +contribute to the English church there; ‘in +which event we would call it the English Church, +and read the Book of Common Prayer in both +tongues.’</p> + +<p class='c001'>The one change, however, to which she would +at no time have consented,—not even, whatever +de Gourville may have believed, when her husband +was entertaining some such thought in connexion +<span class='pageno' id='Page_348'>348</span>with his long effort for the Ninth Electorate<a id='r147'></a><a href='#f147' class='c008'><sup>[147]</sup></a>—was +conversion to the Church of Rome. In her old age, +when Princess Caroline of Ansbach, for whom she +cherished a particular affection, was systematically +tempted to qualify herself by conversion to Rome +for the hand of Archduke Charles, afterwards the +Emperor Charles VI, there can be little doubt that +the Princess was encouraged in her resistance +by the Electress as well as by Leibniz.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Sophia was no stranger to one of the loftiest +among the lofty conceptions which occupied the +great mind of her friend and counsellor, Leibniz,—that +which aimed at the reunion of Christendom. +The correspondence on this topic between Leibniz +and Bossuet, which took place in 1691-5, and after +a pause was renewed in 1699, was brought about +through the joint mediation of Sophia and her sister, +the Abbess of Maubuisson. Mixed up in the transaction +was Madame de Brinon, who found a refuge +at Maubuisson after the sudden termination of her +rule at Saint-Cyr. This good lady, whose ardent +temperament was in glaring contrast with Bossuet’s +<span class='pageno' id='Page_349'>349</span>imperturbable calm, made repeated attempts to +bring the Electress of Hanover back into the fold, +<span lang="fr"><i>en attendant</i></span> its enlargement by means of the Reunion. +But Sophia was not at all flattered by these high-minded +efforts. She trusted—so she told Madame +de Brinon—in the goodness of God, who could not +have created her in order that she should be lost; +for the rest, she could not reconcile herself to the +persecutions of the Protestants in France.<a id='r148'></a><a href='#f148' class='c008'><sup>[148]</sup></a> But +her aversion from Roman Catholicism went further +than this. Although at times she spoke of such +doctrines of the Church of Rome as the Intercession +of Saints with nothing more than contemptuous +indifference, she occasionally assumed +an attitude of open hostility towards a creed which, +as a child, she had been taught to hate. Of all +religions, she told Lord Strafford, there was none +that she abhorred so much as the Popish; for there +was none so contrary to Christianity. Other +passages to much the same effect might be cited. +For the rest, in an undated letter to Madame +de Brinon, Sophia, with her characteristic humour +and perhaps her characteristic want of external +reverence, so clearly explains her general religious +position, that we may conclude our attempt to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_350'>350</span>indicate it by extracting from this letter the +following passage:—</p> + +<div class='quote'> + +<p class='c001'>The tranquillity of mind which God has granted to +me on this topic, I take to be so great a blessing, that +He would not have bestowed it upon any person whom +He had not chosen to be among the number of His +elect. David wished to be only a door-keeper in the +house of the Lord; and I lay claim to no more important +charge. Those who are more enlightened than +I am will perhaps fill higher places; for we are told +that in the Father’s house there are many mansions. +When you are in yours and I am in mine, I will not +fail to pay you the first call; and I fancy that we +shall agree very well; for there will then no longer be +any question of religious controversies.</p> + +</div> + +<p class='c001'>Leibniz, whose name has already so often +occurred in this chapter and in this volume, was +consulted by the Electress Sophia in other matters +besides religion, philosophy, and science. Both as +enjoying her confidence and on his own account, +he was a welcome guest at several courts, including +the Imperial; and to the Houses of Hanover and +Celle, in whose joint employment he stood as +historiographer, he rendered invaluable service, +not only in that capacity, but also as a publicist, +on important occasions, demanding a comprehensive +as well as effective treatment of the problems +handled by him. But his direct influence upon +the policy of the dynasty seems practically to have +been limited to the question of the English Succession, +which, as we have seen, had, up to the passing +<span class='pageno' id='Page_351'>351</span>of the Act of Settlement, been regarded as more +or less personal to the Electress, and which, after +that date, continued to be largely, though by no +means entirely, dealt with in the same way. Thus +his position at the Electoral Court, where there +is no sign of his having been consulted in matters +of general politics by either Ernest Augustus or +George Lewis, was perhaps occasionally misunderstood +at the time, and has certainly been misunderstood +since. He was never the Electress’ secretary, +or even her quasi-official political adviser; he was +only her trusted personal friend and servant, whose +function in such matters was to suggest rather than +to advise, and whose influence upon the conduct +of affairs in which the Electress took an interest +accordingly varied at different times. His exertions +as to the English Succession, before 1701, +have been already noticed. After the passing +of the Act of Settlement, the Electress Dowager +appointed, as her confidential agent to England, +a diplomatic adventurer of the name of Falaiseau, +who had come over to Hanover in Lord Macclesfield’s +suite; and his reports seem, as a rule, to +have passed through the hands of Leibniz. From +1702 onwards, as will be seen, the conduct of the +relations of the House of Hanover began to fall +largely into the hands of Bothmer; and, in 1705, +on the union between Celle and Hanover, Bernstorff, +and with him Robethon, passed out of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_352'>352</span>service of the late Duke George William into that +of his nephew, the Elector. The more regular +system of diplomatic representation at the Court +of St. James of itself diminished the influence +of Leibniz on these relations, more especially as +Sophia never seems to have had much personal +liking either for Bernstorff (perhaps because of +his ineradicable ill-will against Brandenburg-Prussia, +perhaps for other reasons) or for Robethon, who +became invaluable to the Elector as his private +secretary. The credentials of the Hanoverian +envoys—the Schützes, Bothmer, and Grote<a id='r149'></a><a href='#f149' class='c008'><sup>[149]</sup></a>—and +residents at the Court of St. James—de Beyrie +and Kreyenberg—were made out in the joint +names of the Elector and the Electress Dowager, +and all the official letters sent to England from this +time forward in the name of either were drafted +by Robethon. Thus, notwithstanding the active +interest taken by Leibniz in a question the progress +of which had owed much and continued to be +indebted to his assiduity, its threads were no +longer continuously in his hands. Whether this was +a misfortune for its ultimate development and +solution, need not be here discussed. From his +<span class='pageno' id='Page_353'>353</span>earlier days onwards he had exhibited something +of the defect habitual to politicians more exclusively +academical than himself, who had a considerable +experience of affairs—the defect of excess, +which includes the mistake of not letting well alone. +Not only, however, did the force of his genius +enable him to find out the heart of every political +problem to which he addressed himself, but the +universality of his insight made clear to him its +various aspects, and the energy of his mind supplied +the impulse which converts design into action.<a id='r150'></a><a href='#f150' class='c008'><sup>[150]</sup></a> +Finally, his literary skill,<a id='r151'></a><a href='#f151' class='c008'><sup>[151]</sup></a> added to his gifts of +finding his material and disposing it according +to the leading ideas with which he approached it, +made him in the times in which his lot fell, as it +made Gentz, an infinitely inferior personality, in +another period of even deeper national humiliation, +the foremost publicist of his age.<a id='r152'></a><a href='#f152' class='c008'><sup>[152]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_354'>354</span>That Leibniz, whose political services to the +Electress and her dynasty were, in any case, highly +important, should at the same time have become +her chosen intimate and personal friend, forms +one of his titles to the grateful remembrance of +those who believe this pair to have been worthy +of one another. From his conversation and correspondence, +which, in her later years, became more +and more of a necessity to Sophia, her active and +receptive mind derived constant stimulus and +refreshment; while his humane as well as lofty +wisdom, at no time seeking to avoid contact with +the actualities of life, but neither ever conceding +to them a larger claim than was their due, helped +to fortify her character against the risk of being +mastered by the element of frivolity inborn in most +of her mother’s children. Leibniz’ own activity +at Hanover, from the time when (as far back as +1673) he had first entered into the service of Duke +John Frederick, was remarkably varied. He held +the offices of librarian, archivist, and historiographer; +fostered, among other activities in the dominions +of his patrons, the endeavours of technical science, +as in the instance of the mining industry of the +Harz; and organised both scientific and literary +effort, in connexion with his onerous task as the +historian of the Guelfs, with his work as a philologer +and with the studies in mental and moral philosophy, +which were, in 1710, crowned by the production of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_355'>355</span>his <span lang="fr"><cite>Théodicée</cite></span>. His influence upon the foundation +of academies as levers for the advancement of +scientific research<a id='r153'></a><a href='#f153' class='c008'><sup>[153]</sup></a> was by no means limited to +Berlin, where success had attended on his labours +in consequence of the sympathetic support of +Sophia’s daughter. The hopes placed by him +on the third of the illustrious ladies of the Hanoverian +dynasty who felt themselves honoured by his +intimacy, were, notwithstanding her loyal efforts +at the outset, doomed to disappointment. The +Electoral Princess (Caroline of Ansbach) had been +solaced by his <span lang="fr"><cite>Théodicée</cite></span> in a season of great anxiety; +but, when the political consummation to which +Leibniz had so actively helped to prepare had been +actually achieved, he had to remain behind in +Germany; and she found herself unequal to the +task either of impressing his claims upon her +impassive father-in-law—or of reconciling his merits +with those of Newton.</p> + +<p class='c001'>During the years of Sophia’s widowhood, to +which we must here confine ourselves, Leibniz +was drawn nearer to her, not only by intellectual +and moral sympathy, but also by the discomforts +to which she was subjected by the Elector’s coldness, +and by that Prince’s habit of expecting all services to +be absolved as per contract. Sophia was unable to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_356'>356</span>secure the fulfilment of Leibniz’s wish for a sinecure +like that by which his friend, ‘Abbot’ Molanus, +was recompensed for his ecclesiastical services. +But her friendship with Leibniz was not dependent +upon favours given or received. Not only was +the encouragement which he derived from his +intimacy with her and from that which through +her he enjoyed with Sophia Charlotte and Caroline, +of high value to him in the labours and in the trials +of his life; but in the Electress Sophia’s case, +at all events, her nature was in many respects +supplementary to his own. Their correspondence +thus furnishes a memorial of a friendship alike +sincere and productive; and their names will +always remain inseparable from one another.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Sophia Charlotte, though her marriage had +long since made it necessary for her to leave her +mother’s side, and though the trials to which she +had since been subjected had greatly added to +that mother’s anxieties, and had often been +mitigated by her tact and good-humour rather +than by those of the Queen herself, remained +Sophia’s truest joy, till taken away by death in +1705. Mother and daughter had kept up a continuous +correspondence with one another, besides +interchanging visits when possible; nor could the +completeness of the confidence existing between +them be better illustrated than by the treatment +which, after Sophia Charlotte’s death, it was +<span class='pageno' id='Page_357'>357</span>thought judicious to apply to the documents of +their mutual affection. At the instigation of +Leibniz, the extant letters of the Electress Sophia +to her daughter were committed to the flames at +Berlin, so that only a small remnant of the series, +copied out by him for his own use, have been preserved. +Inasmuch as neither have any letters from +Sophia Charlotte to her mother come down to us, +they may be surmised to have been similarly +destroyed by way of precaution. Possibly, these +proceedings may have been in part due to evidence +contained in these letters as to efforts made, in +the Hanoverian interest, at the Court of Berlin by +Leibniz or others. The chief trouble of Sophia +Charlotte’s married life—King Frederick I’s infatuation +for the Countess von Wartenberg—had +been particularly acute in the period just preceding +the Queen’s death; and her last visit to her mother +(in January, 1705) could only be carried out by her +submitting to the condition that an invitation to +Hanover should also be sent to her detested rival. +During this visit Sophia Charlotte died, the victim +of a painful and incurable disease that befell her +when her intellectual abilities were at their full +height. Her death, even more impressively than +her life, proved the justice of her grandson Frederick +the Great’s tribute to her strength of soul. The +illness of the Queen had been concealed from her +mother, who herself lay ill; and thus, as she wrote, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_358'>358</span>heart-broken, to her widowed son-in-law, she lost +her darling child without even setting eyes upon +her.<a id='r154'></a><a href='#f154' class='c008'><sup>[154]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c001'>Princess Wilhelmina Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach +had, in her thirteenth year, been left an +orphan by the death of her mother, who had been +united to the Elector John George IV of Saxony +as her second husband. In 1696, the child had +been placed under the care of her guardians, afterwards +the first King and Queen in Prussia. Thus +Lützenburg became the home of Caroline’s childhood; +and here she became familiar with the +intellectual society which Sophia Charlotte loved +to gather around her, and above all with Leibniz. +The nature of their intercourse may be gathered +from the letter, sublime in thought, which he +wrote to her on the occasion of Sophia Charlotte’s +death. Only a few months after this event—in +September, 1705—Caroline, lovely in person and +richly endowed in intellect, had illustrated the +saying of the Electress Sophia, that ‘nowadays +princesses are sacrificial victims.’ After a proper +interval had been allowed to elapse upon the +breakdown of the project of marrying Caroline to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_359'>359</span>Archduke Charles, the Electoral Prince George +Augustus, to whom the thoughts of his grandmother, +the Electress, had been directed already +during the attempts made in 1704 to induce Caroline +to change her religion, paid a preliminary visit to +Ansbach. The rumour which had arisen in 1702, that +the Electoral Prince was to find a consort in Sweden +and Queen Sophia Charlotte’s counter-suggestion +of the Duchess Marie-Elizabeth of Holstein-Gottorp, +had alike come to nothing. On September 2nd, 1705, +the marriage between the Electoral Prince and +Caroline of Ansbach was celebrated at Hanover. +Here Caroline spent the following nine years of her +life, beyond a doubt its happiest period; and, +during the remainder of Sophia’s own existence, she +in a large measure filled the place in her affections +which her daughter Sophia Charlotte had so long +occupied. The congeniality of their tastes and +dispositions made her a delightful companion at +Herrenhausen to her grandmother-in-law; and +thus a kindly fortune granted to Sophia, who was +so singularly capable of enjoying it, the truest +joy of old age. The Electress repeatedly speaks +of the happiness of the marriage; nor can there +be any doubt as to the genuine affection on both +sides which constituted that happiness. Early in +1707, the Electoral Princess gave birth to her +eldest son (destined afterwards to disappoint an +indulgent world as Frederick, Prince of Wales), +<span class='pageno' id='Page_360'>360</span>upon whom, a year later, his great-grandmother +is found bestowing an infantine equipment for a +fancy ball; and three daughters were subsequently +born to the young pair, before they accompanied +King George I to England. The prospects of a +permanent establishment of the Hanoverian dynasty +upon the British throne were thus signally advanced +by this marriage; and to these prospects and their +initial realisation we must now finally turn. They +filled Sophia’s last years with anxieties and uncertainties; +yet, on the whole, life flowed more +easily for her in this final period of her existence; +although the joyousness of girlhood, which she so +vividly recalls in her <cite>Memoirs</cite>, was a thing of the past, +together with the experiences—some grotesque, +some painful, some tragic—of her married days. +The deep agitations of her life were at an end; and +she might pace the Herrenhausen gardens without +caring too deeply even for the chances of the English +Succession.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Thus we may imagine this spirited and sensible +lady, at any time in these last thirteen years of +her long life, exemplifying the old saw of ‘<span lang="la"><i>mens +sana in corpore sano</i></span>.’ In the main, she enjoyed +excellent health; and Leibniz’ description of the +day of her arrival at Lützenburg is certainly astonishing +for a lady of seventy-four. It included, in +accordance with her usual habits, two hours of +walking exercise. Erect and handsome, with her +<span class='pageno' id='Page_361'>361</span>mother’s aquiline nose and abundant hair, she was, +if not a Gloriana as imagined by poets, a princess +worthy to mount a royal throne—or at least one +who, if placed there, would of a certainty not lose +the firmness of her footing by reason of such an +elevation.</p> + +<p class='c021'>After, in 1701, a copy of the Act pledging King +and Parliament to the new limitation of the Succession +had been placed in the hands of the Electress +Sophia, thirteen long years of expectancy awaited +her, which might have made a less stout heart +grow faint. Or, perhaps, it would be more correct +to say that a nature less happily balanced, and +uninured by experience, both inherited and personal, +to the necessity of patience and resignation, might +have fallen into mistake upon mistake, and have +thus courted failure. Sophia, prudently choosing +her own path, almost to the last did nothing to +affront the approach of success. To suppose, +however, that either her policy or that of her House +was one of masterly inactivity, would be almost as +contrary to fact as the converse assumption that, +either before or after 1701, she was possessed by an +absorbing desire to find herself seated on the +English throne. The former supposition is confuted +by the single circumstance that, by way +of furnishing the necessary means in the event +of a sudden crisis, a sum of not less than 300,000 +<span class='pageno' id='Page_362'>362</span>dollars was secretly provided by the Committee +of the Calenberg Estates, and placed in the hands +of the Hanoverian envoy in London—the secret +of this expenditure being kept for not less than +seventy years.<a id='r155'></a><a href='#f155' class='c008'><sup>[155]</sup></a> The other assumption is simply +irreconcilable with the whole tenor of Sophia’s life.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The festivities at Hanover and Celle, on the occasion +of the transmission of the Act of Settlement, +were hardly at an end, when King William III had a +meeting at the Loo with his old friend Duke George +William. The Duke was accompanied by his +grandson, the Electoral Prince George Augustus, +whom, according to Toland, the King received +as a son. This Prince certainly seems in his youth +to have displayed attractive qualities, which were +afterwards driven into the background by his master +quality, self-conceit; curiously enough, though +he was a fair linguist, it had not been thought +necessary to make him well acquainted with the +English tongue. At this interview, the account of +which shows how loyally the old Duke of Celle +was working for the interests of the dynasty, King +William promised to use his influence in order +to obtain from Parliament an annual revenue for +the Electress Sophia, and mentioned his intention +of inviting her and the Electoral Prince to visit +<span class='pageno' id='Page_363'>363</span>England in the coming spring. On his sounding +his next heir, the Princess Anne, at all events as +to the proposal of summoning the Electress, she is +said to have pretended to be still in hopes of an heir. +The Electress on her side seems to have trusted +in the fulfilment of the King’s promise, not only +during the remainder of his reign, but for a few +months afterwards.</p> + +<p class='c001'>But no time was left to the King for carrying +out his design. On September 6th, 1701, nine days +after the conclusion of the Grand Alliance to +which William III had set the seal on his visit to +Holland, James II died; and, by recognising his +son as King of England, Louis XIV once again, +and more completely by his own act than ever, +identified himself with the Stewart cause. His +grandson, King Philip of Spain, followed his example; +and Pope Clement XI publicly extolled the +action of Louis XIV, as entitling him to the gratitude +of posterity. In the final form of the instrument +of the Grand Alliance—which William III +was not to live to see actually concluded—a clause +was inserted binding the contracting Powers not +to conclude peace with France, until the King of +England should have received satisfaction for +the grave insult involved in the recognition of the +‘pretended Prince of Wales’ as King. In other +words, the War of the Spanish Succession had +become a War of the English Succession also; and, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_364'>364</span>to whatever extent this fact might be overlooked +during the course of the conflict, it was certain +to become prominent again so soon as a settlement +began to be seriously discussed. Inasmuch as the +first public suggestion of such a clause had been +made by a prominent Tory politician (Edward +Seymour), it can hardly have been inspired from +Hanover, though in a letter to the Electress, written +as early as 1701, Leibniz had stated such a stipulation +to be desirable.</p> + +<p class='c001'>In England, the recognition of the Pretender +by Louis XIV had an immediate consequence +in the Attainder and Abjuration Acts, passed in +January, 1702, by William III’s sixth Parliament. +The Act of Attainder had been criticised beforehand +by the Electress Sophia, who, in October, 1701, +told Leibniz that there was an intention of declaring +the poor Prince of Wales a rebel, such as Monmouth +had been declared to be before him, ‘though his +personal merit deserved a better fate.’ Why +should she have refused this modicum of sympathy +to her kinsman, who, not more unfortunate in his +fate than he was in his infatuation, was about this +very time rejoicing that Pope Clement would manifestly +‘leave no stone unturned to show how much +he favours us’? The Abjuration Act, which led +to long and warm debates in both Houses, provided +both for abjuring the ‘pretended Prince of +Wales,’ and for swearing fidelity to the ‘rightful +<span class='pageno' id='Page_365'>365</span>and lawful King’ and ‘his heirs according to the +Act of Settlement.’ A motion in the Commons, +carried by a single vote, made these engagements +obligatory; the opposition in the Lords ended in +nothing but a protest, the list of whose signatories, +including the names of Craven and Jeffreys, as +it were mirrors the story of the downfall of the +Stewart monarchy in England.</p> + +<p class='c001'>On March 8th, 1702, King William III died, after +a fortnight’s illness following on his fall from his +horse. To Portland, the faithful friend for whom +the King had asked, without being able to speak +to him intelligibly, shortly before his death, the +Electress Sophia, when the first shock of the blow +had passed over, wrote in unaffected sorrow—</p> + +<div class='quote'> + +<p class='c001'>I assure you, Sir, that I have received with much +pleasure the proof of your kind remembrance of me, +and that, in the midst of the sad change which has +come upon us, I called to mind that you would weep +with us for the loss which the whole of Christendom +has undergone. But when one does not die oneself, +one has to see many others pass away; and I cannot +think that I shall live to see yet another calamity for +England of the same kind; for Queen Anne is much +younger than I am, who have entered my seventy-second +year. Nevertheless, I feel much happier than a +Queen; for, God be thanked, I am still in very good +health, and have joined my daughter here, in order to +enjoy myself with her here in her country-seat.<a id='r156'></a><a href='#f156' class='c008'><sup>[156]</sup></a></p> + +</div> + +<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_366'>366</span>By the death, on March 8th, 1702, of King William +III and the accession of Queen Anne, the prospect +which the Act of Settlement seemed to have once +for all thrown open to the House of Hanover was +again clouded over. Queen Anne, indeed, at once +sent an assurance to the Electress through the +Hanoverian resident, the elder Schütz, that her sentiments +towards the House of Hanover were the +same as those of her predecessor,<a id='r157'></a><a href='#f157' class='c008'><sup>[157]</sup></a> and a few days +afterwards repeated the message in writing. An +Order in Council directed the Archbishop of Canterbury +to insert the name of the Princess Sophia in +the Book of Common Prayer; and, as was usual in +such cases, this Order was in due course sent on to +Dublin.<a id='r158'></a><a href='#f158' class='c008'><sup>[158]</sup></a> It has been observed, nor is there great +exception to be taken to the remark, that beyond the +issue of this Order nothing was done by Queen +Anne in the whole of the earlier period of her reign +on behalf of the Hanoverian Succession. In other +words, the proposals discussed at the Loo, which +were to have resulted in the payment of an +annuity to the Electress, and to her or the Electoral +Prince residing in England, were not carried further. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_367'>367</span>Interchanges of civility, however, took place; and +the Earl of Winchelsea arrived at Hanover, in order +to return the congratulations brought thence by +Count Platen on the occasion of Queen Anne’s +accession. But, though the special mission was +flattering, Sophia’s wish, that the ambassador might +bring with him some money which she might apply +to the necessities of her sons Christian and Maximilian, +remained unfulfilled. For the rest, she told +the Raugravine Louisa that, for all the compliments +which had passed, ‘time would show’ +whether she was still wanted in England; and she +continued to bear herself calmly, avoiding the +appearance of excessive zeal that some of her +partisans could not deny themselves. She had +thought it a piece of impertinence, when, after his +return to England, Toland had, early in this year, +followed up his <span lang="la"><cite>Anglia Libera</cite></span> by another publication +provocatively entitled <cite>Reasons for addressing +His Majesty to invite into England their Highnesses +the Electress Dowager and the Electoral Prince of +Hanover</cite>; which, soon after Queen Anne’s accession, +was duly censured by the House of Lords. The +Electress had reasons for disliking a championship +which under King William would have been superfluous +and was now inopportune. She could not +consider Toland so ‘<span lang="la"><cite>infâme</cite></span>’ as Cresset painted +him; and she took care that in her presence he +should not say a disrespectful word about Queen +<span class='pageno' id='Page_368'>368</span>Anne. But, when, in 1702, Toland found it convenient +again to quit England for Germany, he left +the court of Hanover unvisited; nor does he seem +to have reappeared there till 1707.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The Elector’s instincts as to the doubtfulness of +Queen Anne’s real sentiments on the subject of the +Hanoverian Succession were justified by what +ensued. The hope of an immediate grant to the +Heiress Presumptive out of the ample Civil List +good Queen Anne frustrated by the highly popular +step of making over to the Exchequer £100,000 +towards lightening the burdens of the nation. The +claims upon the national resources were many and +urgent; and Parliament could perhaps hardly be +expected to consider how much a subvention was +needed by the Electress, more especially in view +of the presents which, in accordance with the usage +of the times, she as well as the Elector had to make +to a succession of English special ambassadors. +There can, however, be no doubt but that, already +in this early part of Queen Anne’s reign, and even +before the Toryism of her first Parliament had +encouraged in her the tendency which her choice +of ministers had implied, deliberate attempts had +been made to influence unfavourably her attitude +towards the Succession of the House of Hanover. +Moreover, her nature was so peculiarly prone to strong +personal attachments, and her gift of insight into +the motives of men was so unmistakably accompanied +<span class='pageno' id='Page_369'>369</span>by an absence of all real power of political judgment, +that she could hardly but be dominated by +a strong prepossession against the line so likely +to succeed her on the throne of her ancestors. Yet, +hitherto, neither the Electress Sophia nor any of +the members of her House—and least of all her +impassive eldest son, who at one time had been supposed +to have a chance of the hand of the Princess +Anne—had been on unfriendly terms with the new +Queen; nor is there any reason for supposing her +to have imparted to any of them a share in the wild +scheme rumoured to have been set on foot for +ousting her from the Succession. When, however, +in May, 1702, the Whig Earl of Carlisle, the First +Lord of the Treasury, carried in the House of Lords +his demand for an enquiry into the scandalous +rumour which asserted that King William had +intended by a kind of posthumous <span lang="la"><cite>coup d’état</cite></span> to +raise the Electoral Prince to the throne, Queen +Anne showed no desire for the vindication of her predecessor’s +good faith towards herself, and pointedly +dismissed Carlisle from office. Nor is it probable +that, at this early stage, the Queen was much intent +upon the interests of her half-brother, the Pretender. +The favourite advisers by whom she was swayed—Marlborough +and Godolphin—could have no wish +to hurry her intervention on behalf of either of the +two sides, with both of which they desired to stand +well; and the Tory majority in the Commons, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_370'>370</span>typified by the Speaker, Harley, were certainly not +prepared to unsettle the Act of Settlement. The +Act for the further Security of the Protestant +Succession passed in December, 1702, which declared +it high treason to seek to defeat the Succession to +the Crown as now limited by law, or to set aside +the next Succession, followed the precedent of a +similar Act passed in the previous reign, and accordingly +encountered no resistance. Thus Queen +Anne was slow to take up any definite attitude +towards the political problem which overshadowed +the whole course of her reign; and she was consequently +all the more unwilling, and remained so +from first to last, to listen to any suggestion of +carrying out William III’s promise and inviting the +Electress Dowager and the Electoral Prince, or +either of them, to England. The probability of +this plan being brought forward, either as a +practical proposal or by way of testing the +sincerity of her own views on the subject, acted +as a perennial irritant upon the Queen. Neither +she nor her advisers are to be blamed for leaving +without response the suggestion, pardonably enough +made by Sophia, that the un-English title of +‘Hereditary Princess’ should be conferred upon +her. Other signs were noticeable of the uncertainty +prevailing at the Court of St. James. At Hanover +and Herrenhausen, Cresset watched the Electress +with a suspiciousness that could not escape her +<span class='pageno' id='Page_371'>371</span>attention, though she commented on it with her +usual <span lang="la"><cite>insouciance</cite></span>; and Stepney even left off corresponding +with her and her intimates, in order not +to give offence nearer home. In conversing with +the Englishmen and Scotchmen who attended the +Court of Hanover, anxious to promote its fortunes +or their own, the Electress naturally sought to +emphasise her confidence in her august relative, the +Queen. But in her intimate correspondence she +was fain to strike a different key. She told the +Raugravine Amalia that Queen Anne had no desire +to be survived by her, although (quoting a Dutch +proverb which she has made classical) she allowed +that ‘<em>creaking wagons go on for a long time</em>,’ and +suggested that the Queen’s real preference was for +her brother.<a id='r159'></a><a href='#f159' class='c008'><sup>[159]</sup></a> Matters continued very much in +this stagnant and unsatisfactory condition during +the first three years (or thereabouts) of Queen Anne’s +reign. In March, 1694, Sophia writes with some +bitterness, that Queen Anne ‘seems to have more +friendship for the King of Prussia than for us, inasmuch +as she speaks of the’ [Prussian] ‘and says +nothing of the Brunswick troops, without whom the +battle’ [of Blenheim] ‘could not have been won. +This is a sample showing what is to be expected in +that quarter.’ And she adds that the statement in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_372'>372</span>the <cite>Gazette</cite> of the great presents sent by the Queen +to Hanover is untrue, whoever caused it to be +inserted.</p> + +<p class='c001'>It may, at this point, be noted that the violence +of public feeling which about this time disturbed +Scotland had very seriously endangered the prospects +of the Succession of the House of Hanover in +that kingdom. Here, it was universally believed that +Queen Anne cherished the secret wish of securing +the Succession to her brother; and no declarations +to the contrary exercised the slightest effect upon +the stubbornness of preconceived Scottish opinion. +At the same time, a strong belief that she meditated +a Prelatic as well as a Jacobite reaction, led to the +anti-Episcopalian legislation of the last Scottish +Parliament, which met in 1703.<a id='r160'></a><a href='#f160' class='c008'><sup>[160]</sup></a> The Act of +Security brought forward in this Parliament provided +that the Estates of the Realm should meet +within twelve days after the present Queen’s death, +and should proceed to name a successor professing +the Protestant religion. A proposal to insert the +name of the Electress Sophia was rejected; but the +ministers, besides frustrating an attempt at inserting +<span class='pageno' id='Page_373'>373</span>a series of limitations calculated to take away +the last vestige of authority from the Crown, also +defeated a proposal to limit the Protestantism of +the successor to ‘the true Protestant religion as by +law established within this kingdom,’ which would +have excluded the Lutheranism of the House of +Hanover. On the other hand, the Government +could not resist a clause, proposed by the Earl of +Roxburghe, precluding Parliament from naming, as +successor to the Crown of Scotland, the person who +was successor to the Crown of England, unless conditions +should have been previously settled securing +the interests of Scotland against English or foreign +interference. The Act of Security, with this clause +inserted in it, passed by large majorities; but the +Duke of Queensberry refused to give to it the royal +assent. In 1704, however, the national and religious +agitation remaining unalloyed, the Marquis of +Tweeddale touched the Act with the royal sceptre: +and a condition of things was thus legalised which +might at any time put an end to the personal union +of the two countries, or actually provoke war between +them. But time often provides its own +remedy; and, in January, 1707, the Act of Union +became law, whose Second Article, limiting the +Succession to Sophia and her heirs, had met with +only a feeble opposition upholding the provisions of +the Act of Security. When the Union was on the +eve of actual accomplishment, the Electress Sophia +<span class='pageno' id='Page_374'>374</span>expressed herself as well satisfied, adding that, +though she had never supposed the Scottish lords +against her, she thought it quite natural that conditions +should be imposed—another illustration of +the way in which she looked upon constitutional +questions. In Ireland, the Succession had already +in the previous year been regulated by a measure +modelled upon the English Act of Settlement, but +subjecting all officials and magistrates to a rigid +Church of England test.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Even in this early period of Queen Anne’s reign, +the Electress Sophia, though, according to her wont, +she abstained from all restless manœuvring, was +by no means without thought for the future. On +June 4th, 1703, she signed three powers for Schütz, +the envoy extraordinary in London, authorising him, +in the event of the Queen’s death, to bring forward +her lawful claim to the throne; and she kept up +a correspondence with friends in England, both +directly and through Leibniz. In November, 1703, +she put it to Schütz that, if Marlborough resigned +the command in the Low Countries, it would be +right to appoint the Elector in his place; ‘for if it +is wished that the Elector should have a good +opinion of the English, they ought to do something +towards making him entertain such an opinion and +enabling him in any court to support those who +were in his favour.’ As for Leibniz, though indefatigable +and full of initiative as ever, he naturally +<span class='pageno' id='Page_375'>375</span>enough occasionally fell short of the necessary +familiarity with English persons and affairs. Thus, +about this very time, the Electress had to comment +on his approval of a scheme for marrying the Electoral +Prince to one of Marlborough’s daughters, by reminding +him that the Duke had no more daughters +in the matrimonial market. Marlborough, however, +gained the goodwill of the Elector, above all +by commending the behaviour of the Hanoverian +troops at Blenheim; and, on a visit to Hanover in +December, 1704, while the laurels of his great +victory were still green, he completely won over +the Electress by the fascination of his manner. She +declared that she had never seen anyone ‘<span lang="fr"><i>plus aisé, +plus civil, ny plus obligeant</i></span>,’ and that he was as +good a cavalier as he was a captain. The extraordinary +civility shown to him on this occasion, +when a special household was provided for him and +other courtesies were multiplied,<a id='r161'></a><a href='#f161' class='c008'><sup>[161]</sup></a> was not thrown +away. His correspondence with the Electoral +<span class='pageno' id='Page_376'>376</span>court—and with the Elector in particular, whose +admiration for the military genius of the great +commander was genuine—now became continuous.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The year 1705 marked an epoch in the history +of the Succession question, as we saw that it did +in the personal life of the Electress Sophia, who, +during its course, lost not only her beloved daughter, +but also her old admirer and constant friend, Duke +George William of Celle. All the dominions of the +Brunswick-Lüneburg line were now at last united +under the single rule of the Elector George Lewis, +and into his coffers flowed most of the great private +wealth of his late uncle and father-in-law, which had +materially contributed to the high consideration +enjoyed by George William. About the same time +the long-standing quarrel with the elder (Wolfenbüttel) +branch of the House of Brunswick was +brought to a close, and the House of Hanover stood +stronger than ever before the world. No season +could have been more opportune for taking up the +question of the Succession with renewed earnestness. +Its vigorous prosecution was further favoured +by the circumstance that the late Duke of Celle’s +prime minister, Baron Andreas Gottlieb von Bernstorff, +now passed into the Hanoverian service, and, +on the death of Count Platen in 1709, became +prime minister at Hanover. He was already a +statesman of proved ability, trained in the school +of his father-in-law, Chancellor Schütz, whom he +<span class='pageno' id='Page_377'>377</span>describes as one of the greatest and most capable +ministers ever known to him. While he always +kept his political ends clearly in view, Bernstorff’s +political action was marked by ruthlessness that is +apt to make a statesman of his type cordially hated +where he is not eagerly followed; and his bitter +jealousy of Brandenburg-Prussia in particular was +unlikely to commend him to the goodwill of the +Electress Sophia. Her faithful echo at Versailles +allows us to make a guess as to the sentiments of the +Electress concerning him; and they were afterwards +reproduced by Queen Caroline, who, like Elizabeth +Charlotte, was unwilling to differ in her opinion of +men or measures from their venerated senior. Bernstorff’s +activity in the last stage of Sophia Dorothea’s +catastrophe proves that he had not been captivated +by the influence which had so long been dominant at +Celle; and the Duchess Eleonora doubtless held the +same opinion of him as the other ladies. He devoted +himself with indefatigable zeal to advancing the +greatness of the Hanoverian dynasty; but he +laboured in no narrow spirit and with no petty aims, +as an adequate survey of his statesmanship in the +earlier years of George I, should it ever be made, +could not fail to show. With Bernstorff (to mention +no other name) Jean de Robethon had passed from +the service of Celle into that of Hanover—a perfect +type of the sort of man and the sort of mind whose +destiny it is to be <span lang="fr"><i>a secretis</i></span> of those whose grasp is +<span class='pageno' id='Page_378'>378</span>on the wheel of State. After the Revocation of the +Edict of Nantes had driven him, like so many other +capable Frenchmen, into the service of the foes of +France, he had served his apprenticeship under no +less a master than William III. During Queen Anne’s +reign he became one of the most assiduous and useful +instruments in the transactions connected with the +Succession. For a time, he in Bothmer’s absence +attended to affairs at the Hague; but he then +returned to Hanover, where as confidential secretary +he was of infinite service to both the Elector and the +Electress, and played a political part not the less +important because it was to a great extent played +behind the scenes. Bernstorff trusted no man more +implicitly than Robethon, who, in the end, was said +to have acquired an unbounded influence over him; +and by Robethon were drafted all, or virtually all, +the despatches and letters sent to England by the +Electoral family from the date of his entrance into +their service to that of George I’s landing in England. +All the more important of these documents likewise +passed through the hands of Hans Caspar von Bothmer, +whose services to the dynasty had likewise +begun at Celle; whence he had been sent as envoy +to Vienna, passing on, after he had acted as a plenipotentiary +at Ryswick, to Paris. Unlike Bernstorff, +and unlike Bernstorff’s master, Bothmer united +political insight of a high order with remarkable +diplomatic ability and tact; and, after he had, when +<span class='pageno' id='Page_379'>379</span>the crisis came, shown perfect prudence in the +supreme moment of success, he was perhaps the +only one of the Hanoverians of the early Georgian +period who attained to personal popularity in +London. But this was later. On the accession of +Queen Anne, it had been thought desirable that he +should in the first instance take up a post of observation +at the Hague, since the Queen was at present +unlikely to welcome so prominent a Hanoverian +diplomatist to her Court. Thus it was from the +Hague that he actively helped to bring about the +English legislative enactments, which we shall immediately +notice, and which signally improved the +prospects of the Hanoverian Succession. We shall +see that, though his first and second stay as envoy +in London were but short,<a id='r162'></a><a href='#f162' class='c008'><sup>[162]</sup></a> he returned thither in +time to direct the final stage in the transactions connected +with the Succession, and to apply to this task +a consummate skill and an equally conspicuous +courage.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The ministerial arrangements made after the +death of his uncle by the Elector George Lewis, +who was at no time wont to delegate to others +any part of what he had clearly recognised as his +own bounden duty, might seem to imply that, +from 1705 onwards, the conduct of the Succession +<span class='pageno' id='Page_380'>380</span>question was more and more taken out of the hands +of his mother. It is true that the Elector had, +as the head of his dynasty, become more vigilant; +but her interest in the question had remained the +same. And, as a matter of fact, at no previous time +had her name been bandied about between the +political parties in England as it was now and +during the remaining years of her life. To the +close of the year 1705 belongs that strange episode +in the party history of the reign, the attempt on the +part of a section among the Tories to bring the +Electress over to England.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Hitherto, she had wisely refrained—nor is there +any indication that her eldest son and her grandson +had done otherwise—from identifying the interests +of her House with either of the two Parliamentary +parties, both of which had had a part in the Act +of Settlement. No doubt it was the Whigs who +had most warmly supported the insertion of her +name in that Act; the embassy which had brought +it over to Hanover had been exclusively made up +of Whigs; and, writing to Leibniz towards the close +of 1701, Sophia, apparently with reference to the +approaching English elections, excusably lets slip +the phrase: ‘<span lang="fr"><i>le parti des Whigs qui est le nostre</i></span>.’ +But, already in the following year, when annoyed +by the officious importunities of Toland and that +other <span lang="fr"><i>grand fâcheux</i></span>, Sir Peter Fraiser, she confided +to her niece Elizabeth Charlotte her resolution not +<span class='pageno' id='Page_381'>381</span>to mix herself up with the manœuvres of the +Presbyterians and Whigs, which, as we have seen, +were at that time agitating Scotland. ‘Besides,’ she +observed, with a fastidiousness not inexplicable +when the composition of Macclesfield’s embassy +is remembered, ‘the Whigs that came to me here +I found anything but charming.’ And, again in +1703, she ordered Baron Brauns not to answer +one of Toland’s long diatribes against the Tories +by more than a simple acknowledgment. There +was no fear, she remarked, of their supporting the +Pretender; no person of substance, in fact nobody +but Catholics and adventurers set on making their +fortunes, were on his side; for the rest, she found +as many honest men among the Tories as elsewhere. +She had, as a matter of fact, certain affinities with +this party; while some of their opponents in +the House of Commons offended her, as a true +Stewart who remembered the excesses of the +Commonwealth days, by comparing the Prince of +Wales to Perkin Warbeck and branding him as a +bastard—all in order to tickle the ears of <span lang="fr"><i>le petit +peuple</i></span>. There could be no question, she told +Leibniz in the same letter, as to the Prince’s claims +interfering with her own; her right was based on +her Protestantism; except for this, many others +stood between the Crown and herself. While, then, +she adhered to her determination to place herself +in the hands of neither party, there was no reason +<span class='pageno' id='Page_382'>382</span>why the Tories should not in their turn seek to +make her listen to their charming. When, about +the end of 1704, it had become known through +Marlborough that the Electress would be pleased +to receive a formal invitation to England, both +parties seem to have risen to the occasion; but, +while the Whigs returned to the notion of bringing +over the Electoral Prince, some of the Tories +became intent on the Electress herself being invited. +Partly to ingratiate themselves with her, partly +to spite Queen Anne, who preferred to their guidance +that of the moderates of both sides under the +leadership of Marlborough, Godolphin, and Harley, +the malcontent Tories, led by Rochester and known +as the ‘High-fliers,’ resolved on an attempt to take +the game into their own hands. With Rochester +she had been on friendly terms from the first; in +June, 1702, she writes that he was among the +first to vote for the Act of Settlement, and that she +had always mentioned this to those who wished +to set her against him.<a id='r163'></a><a href='#f163' class='c008'><sup>[163]</sup></a> Towards the end of September, +1705, a correspondent informed Rochester +of the cordial response returned by the Electress +to certain overtures made on his behalf; he declared +himself convinced that, whenever the Queen and +Parliament called upon her, the Electress would, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_383'>383</span>in the face of all difficulties, wait upon Her Majesty +in England; and, more than this, she had told him, +and those in attendance on her, that, so soon as the +Parliament summoned her, she was ready to obey. +(In a letter to Schütz of about the same date, +Sophia, however, qualifies this consent by requiring +a proviso that she should be supplied with means of +living in England as became a Princess of Wales.) +Though, Rochester’s correspondent added, the +Elector was exceeding modest on the subject of +some of his family coming to England, the Electress +spoke as the Elector thought. Sophia was on +friendly terms with other members of the Tory +party besides Rochester. With Ormonde, for +instance, she kept up a correspondence both in this +and in the following year. But the task of moving +an address to the Crown, in which it was proposed +that the Heiress Presumptive should be invited +to England, was committed to a quite recent +convert to the ranks of the High-flyers, Lord +Haversham. He displayed a proper zeal by hazarding +the suggestion that it would be of the greatest +advantage for the Electress to make the personal +acquaintance of the Bench of Bishops. The comedy +ended in the rejection of Haversham’s motion +by a majority of Peers; but he returned to the +fray in a pamphlet. In the Commons a letter +advocating the proposal, hinting that it was approved +by the Electress and censuring the Whigs +<span class='pageno' id='Page_384'>384</span>for opposing it, was voted libellous. This much-vext +letter was signed by Sir Rowland Gwynne, +who was at the time residing at Hanover; but +its real author was Leibniz. Towards the close +of 1705, Marlborough made use of the opportunity +of another visit paid by him to Hanover for explaining +the situation to the Elector. Marlborough, +who, while anxious both to please the Queen and +to keep the game so far as possible in his own hands, +was more and more identifying his own interests with +the ascendancy of the Whigs, easily succeeded in +making clear to the Elector, how it was not in his +interest that his mother should at present proceed +to England; and he was able to add effect to his +arguments by exhibiting an official notice of the +intention of the English Cabinet to introduce +Naturalisation and Regency Bills in the interests +of the Electoral House. The understanding between +the Elector and Marlborough now became +better than ever, while the Elector’s confidence +in the Whigs steadily grew. It is impossible to +say whether this was the time when Marlborough +proffered at Hanover a loan of £20,000 in return +for a blank commission signed by the Electress +Sophia, which conferred on him the supreme command +of the military and naval forces of the three +kingdoms after the death of Queen Anne.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The High-fliers had thus merely played into +the hands of the Whigs, who were in the majority +<span class='pageno' id='Page_385'>385</span>in the new House of Commons that met in October, +1705. The Address to the Queen had warmly +thanked her for her great care and endeavour to +settle the Succession of the kingdom of Scotland +in the House of Hanover; and soon afterwards the +Bills were brought in which Marlborough had +announced at Hanover. By the first of these, +the Princess Sophia, Electress and Duchess Dowager +of Hanover, and her issue were naturalised as +English subjects; and it is strange that the legal +status thus secured to her should have been so +persistently ignored in English national biography.<a id='r164'></a><a href='#f164' class='c008'><sup>[164]</sup></a> +The second of these Bills, purporting to provide +for the better security of the Queen’s person and +Government, was introduced in the Lords with much +eloquence by the ever-young Lord Wharton. This +Bill made it high treason to assert in writing, +and attached the penalties of a <span lang="la"><i>præmunire</i></span> to the +assertion by word of mouth, that the Queen was +not a lawful Sovereign, or that the Sovereign in +Parliament could not limit the descent of the +Crown; and it further appointed seven great +officers of State, and certain other persons, to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_386'>386</span>administer the government of the realm in the +event of the Queen’s demise and the absence from +England of her lawful successor. The Bill met with +no opposition in the Lords, though Rochester +contrived to carry a limitation, supposed to safeguard +the Act of Uniformity; but in the House +of Commons it lay long on the table. The High-fliers, +putting forward as their spokesman Sir +Thomas Hanmer (who up to the last professed +the deepest devotion to the interests of the Electress +Sophia), were once more attempting to take the +game out of the hands of the Whigs by proposing +that the Electress should be brought over. Much +use was made, as appears from a passage in Burnet’s +inaccurate narrative, of a letter written in November +by the Electress Sophia to the Archbishop of +Canterbury, in which she had reiterated the position +consistently maintained by her, that she was prepared +to come to England, should both the Queen +and Parliament desire it. This position was alike +logical and appropriate; but the letter did not +suit the Whigs, who were well aware that Queen +Anne would never be brought to express such +a desire. On the rejection of Hanmer’s motion +the Electress informed Burnet with much dignity +that, should it prove to be in the interests of State +and religion, she remained ready to cross to England +if invited, provided she were created Princess +of Wales. But, at the same time, she expressed to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_387'>387</span>Marlborough her conviction that her intentions +had been so misrepresented to the Queen that her +coming to England now would be superfluous. +There is no reason for accepting Burnet’s statement +that her letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury +had been instigated by the Tories; but neither +did she show any disposition towards encouraging +the Whigs. In truth, though Sophia was not +destined to mount a royal throne, and though what +might be termed her monarchical apprenticeship +had been served in a State that had but recently +ceased to be petty and whose system of government +was to all intents and purposes absolute, +she displayed a higher capacity for constitutional +rule than Queen Anne, who could only maintain a +balance between factions by subjecting herself to +their leaders in turn. It cannot be satisfactorily +shown that the Electress definitely preferred the +Tories, while the Elector favoured the Whigs. In +fact, she remained on good terms with both the +leading parties; although she did not turn a deaf +ear even to overtures from so unsafe a politician +as Buckingham, who, after taking a leading part +in the attempt to bring her over to England, tried +to engage her in a fresh intrigue to that end.<a id='r165'></a><a href='#f165' class='c008'><sup>[165]</sup></a> The +<span class='pageno' id='Page_388'>388</span>Regency Bill, as it was shortly called, in the end +became law; and Parliament, which had further +shown its goodwill to the House of Hanover by +voting a modest subsidy for the payment of additional +Hanoverian and Celle troops, was prorogued +in March, 1706.</p> + +<p class='c001'>In the following May, Lord Halifax, who as +Charles Montagu had been a leading Whig statesman +already under William III and had quite recently +been appointed one of the Commissioners for the +Union with Scotland, was chosen, no doubt on +account of his position and accomplishments +rather than because of any personal attractiveness, to +proceed to Hanover, there to present the Naturalisation +and Regency Acts to the Electress Sophia, +now the first subject of the English Crown.<a id='r166'></a><a href='#f166' class='c008'><sup>[166]</sup></a> Halifax +was also the bearer of a Garter for the Electoral +Prince, on whom a few weeks later the Queen +conferred the title of Duke of Cambridge. On his +way Halifax had secured the inclusion of a guarantee +of the established Succession in future treaties with +the United Provinces. In his suite was Addison, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_389'>389</span>now one of the Under-Secretaries of State; but +the reticence of this celebrated personage seems +to have disappointed the Electress.</p> + +<p class='c001'>From a later remark of Leibniz we gather that, +on the occasion of Halifax’s embassy, the Electress +made no secret of the view held by her and the +Elector with reference to the Succession. It +rested, she considered, on hereditary right; though, +in the interests of the nation, certain persons possessed +of claims prior to her own had been excluded. +In other words, she acknowledged that Parliament +had a right to exclude Catholics from the Succession, +but declined to regard her title to the Crown as +primarily a Parliamentary one. As a matter of +fact, neither the Electress nor the Elector was much +edified by the embassy of Halifax. He submitted +to her a list of twenty-one persons, whom according +to the Regency Act she was called upon to appoint +as Lords Justices, in addition to the great officers +of the Crown, for carrying on the government after +Queen Anne’s death in the event of her own absence +from England. Of these twenty-one names, as it +afterwards appeared, she struck out seven, one of +which was that of Halifax himself.<a id='r167'></a><a href='#f167' class='c008'><sup>[167]</sup></a> As to the titles +<span class='pageno' id='Page_390'>390</span>conferred upon the Electoral Prince (which, Sophia +said, were so many that she had to write them +down in her almanack lest she should forget them), +the grant of an annual income to herself as Heiress +Presumptive would have been more to the point; +inasmuch as the titles were given to enable the +Prince to take his seat in Parliament, from which +Hanover was a long way off.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The elements of satisfaction contained in the +Acts brought to Hanover by Halifax were not over-estimated +by the Electress, to whom it must by +this time have become clear that the real difficulty +in placing the House of Hanover in its proper +position towards the country with which it was to +be inseparably connected, lay with Queen Anne herself. +More especially after the publication of Sir +Rowland Gwynne’s unfortunate letter, the Queen +thought that explanations were due to her from the +Electress, who in truth had none to give. Marlborough +had been wise enough to abstain from +delivering at Hanover a letter written by the Queen +in this sense and entrusted by her to him, and, +instead, had held conciliatory language, advising +both Electress and Elector to declare themselves +absolute strangers to the obnoxious manifesto. +The advice was judicious; for, as Marlborough +<span class='pageno' id='Page_391'>391</span>had predicted, the original proposal did not die +out. In 1707, one Scott, an Englishman or Scotchman +in the service of the Elector, entered, according +to Marlborough with the cognisance of the Electress, +into a negotiation with the High-fliers; but he was +stopped by the Elector himself. In July of the same +year, the Earl of Peterborough, when returning +to England from Spain to give an account of his +proceedings there, spent some days at Hanover and +Herrenhausen, where he addressed a letter to the +Elector and another to the Electress, in which he +insisted on the necessity of the residence of a +member of the Electoral House in England. Sophia +handed the letter intended for herself to her son, +who, in the plainest terms, expressed his determination +to take no steps in this direction, unless +with the approval of the Queen and her ministers. +Meanwhile, though perfectly prudent in her own +conduct, the Electress could not altogether conceal +the annoyance caused to her by the cold and suspicious +attitude maintained by Queen Anne towards +everything connected with the Succession. Sophia +complained repeatedly that from England came +nothing but titles and compliments, and declared +that she would not be made to pay for any more +special ambassadors from the Court of St. James. +(Her present of gold plate to Halifax had cost +her some 30,000 florins.) For the conveyance of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_392'>392</span>honours that cost nothing she was, she said, perfectly +content with Mr. Howe.<a id='r168'></a><a href='#f168' class='c008'><sup>[168]</sup></a> When Leibniz +reported to her as to prospects of the Union between +England and Scotland, which was actually achieved +early in 1707, she rather sharply replied that she +had no wish to discuss the affairs of either kingdom: +‘<span lang="fr"><i>comme je n’en tire rien, je n’y suis point intéressée</i></span>.’ +She can, however, hardly have been so indifferent +to the subject as she pretended to be; since a +clause in the Act of Union definitively settled the +Scottish Succession upon herself and her descendants. +Nor can she have remained unaware that, as Queen +Anne’s reign continued and the apprehensions +excited by the growing intolerance of the Church +of England more and more endangered the maintenance +of the Union, Scottish Presbyterianism was, +irrespective of this consideration, obliged to look +to the Hanoverian Succession as the best guarantee +of its own security.</p> + +<p class='c001'>We know for certain that the Electress was well +informed as to the existence of a secret sympathy +on Queen Anne’s part with the Pretender; since +we have the explicit statement of the Duchess of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_393'>393</span>Orleans that her aunt believed the Queen to be +secretly desirous of the accession of her half-brother, +and further believed ‘that she would some day +bestow the Crown upon him.’ Nor can we regard +the latter clause a mere phrase, when we remember +the earlier communications in this sense between +Anne and her exiled father. But it by no means +follows from this that this solution was one desired +by the Electress Sophia herself. According to a +fairly well authenticated anecdote, a bundle of +letters was, some time in the reign of George III, +found in Kensington Palace, endorsed in William +III’s own handwriting ‘<cite>Letters of the Electress +Sophia to the Court of St. Germains</cite>’; and a plan +which had been formed for publishing these letters +was frustrated through their being destroyed by +George III’s orders. But as to the contents of +these letters there is no satisfactory evidence at all. +Again, it is no doubt true, and of a piece with George +I’s habitual method of dealing with inconvenient +evidence, that, in 1714, he requested the Duchess +of Orleans to destroy all the letters received by her +from the Electress which contained any reference +to the House of Stewart; and, though the Duchess +of Orleans, who made no secret of her own sympathies, +and whose portrait quite appropriately found +a place in the Stewart family museum at Caillot, +says that her aunt did not obey this wish, no such +letters have been found, with a single exception. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_394'>394</span>In this letter, dated March 21st, 1708, after mentioning +that the ‘Prince of Wales’ was at Dunkirk +(whence he afterwards started on his brief expedition +to Scotland), the Electress Sophia indulges in +the reflexion: ‘Who knows whether God will not +elevate him who suffers so innocently?’ But +though, in matters concerning the line from which +she was descended, as well as with regard to her own +immediate family, Sophia’s nature was very far +from being untouched by sentiment, she never +allowed herself to be subdued by it. In her tenderness +of feeling towards the House of Stewart she set an +example followed by the Hanoverian dynasty when +in possession of the British throne—from George I +downwards, of whose kindliness of feeling towards +the exiled House instances might easily be cited.<a id='r169'></a><a href='#f169' class='c008'><sup>[169]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c001'>Thus, in this period Sophia returned to Queen +Anne coolness for coolness, and though at times she +might almost have seemed to herself indifferent to +her prospects and those of her posterity, while at +other times she thought of herself as ‘a candidate +for Sion’ rather than as the heiress to a throne, she +was content to avoid any false step, and to leave +unjeopardised a future which she could not control. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_395'>395</span>As late as September, 1708, in mentioning the visit of +Lord Hereford and two Whig M.P.s, she writes that +she found them very warm for the Succession, and +that she supposed they would always continue of the +same mind, so long as it paid them; at present it did +not seem to pay <em>her</em>, for she was not treated as its +Princess of Wales. But, in the course of this year, +the Whigs were fully established in power; and, +when the death, in the autumn, of Prince George of +Denmark, together with the subsequent refusal of +Queen Anne to remarry, had removed the last +possibility of issue from the reigning sovereign, the +Hanoverian prospects of course grew brighter. The +House stood well at this season in the eyes of Europe +and of England. George Lewis’ envoy at Ratisbon +in this very year at last gained admittance into the +Electoral College; and in the previous year (1707) +the Elector had assumed the command of the army +of the Lower Rhine, though his unswerving loyalty +to the cause of the Grand Alliance had met with an +incomplete response of confidence on the part of its +military leaders. Courtiers and others cultivating +a consciousness of coming events began to recognise +the necessity of turning their faces towards the rising +sun. Mrs. Charles Howard, for instance, had the +honour of being (with her husband) presented to the +Electress Dowager, and of receiving particular notice, +both from her and from the Electoral Princess—as +one of whose bed-chamber women she was in later +<span class='pageno' id='Page_396'>396</span>days to play so conspicuous a part at the British +Court. But Queen Anne persisted in the attitude +which she had assumed, and in the autumn of this +year frankly told Lord Haversham that she could +not tolerate the notion of the presence in this country +of any successor, even were it to last no longer than +a week.</p> + +<p class='c001'>When the approach of the great ministerial crisis +of 1710 first announced itself by the dismissal of +Sunderland, the Elector was moved to perhaps the +most distinct expression of political opinion in British +affairs to which he committed himself at any time +before his accession to the throne. In a spirited remonstrance +addressed by him to the Queen, he gave +words to the hope that she would enter into no +further changes in the present Ministry and Parliament. +The Electress in the meantime remained +mistress of herself; and George Lewis followed her +example, when the crisis reached its height, and the +wheel of fortune once more brought the Tories uppermost. +Neither Sophia nor her confidential counsellor +Leibniz looked with fear or even with disfavour upon +the transactions which seemed to have put a new face +on the entire scheme of British State policy. The +leading spirit of the new combination was Robert +Harley, who possessed many valuable political +qualities, but who was above all a born intriguer. +The moderation of his conduct was set off by his +personal merits, among which, in a brilliant literary +<span class='pageno' id='Page_397'>397</span>age, his genuine love of literature was by no means +the least important.<a id='r170'></a><a href='#f170' class='c008'><sup>[170]</sup></a> Leibniz, whose own political +influence at Hanover had of late visibly declined, was +much gratified by the marked civility shown to him +by one of his London correspondents, Dr. Hutton, a +follower of Harley.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Queen Anne herself lost no time in communicating +to the House of Hanover her own view of the +political changes which opened the concluding period +of her reign. In the autumn of 1710, Earl Rivers +(by whose appointment to the constableship of the +Tower these changes had been heralded) made his +appearance at Hanover. His personal reputation +was far from immaculate; but he had been a +successful general. At the time of his arrival at +Hanover, Sunderland’s dismissal had been succeeded +by no further ministerial changes. That Queen +Anne should not have resented the protest against +this step transmitted by the Elector through Bothmer +at the Hague, indicates her hesitancy in the +process. But, when a further series of ministerial +changes had been accomplished in England, Rivers, +who had made himself very acceptable at Hanover +even to the Elector, began to develop the ulterior +purpose of his mission. Unmistakably, it was +intended to facilitate the overthrow of Marlborough, +without which these changes would remain +<span class='pageno' id='Page_398'>398</span>incomplete, by putting the Elector in his place as +commander-in-chief in the war, which, as Rivers +assured him, the new British Government intended to +carry on with undiminished vigour. The ambassador +was instructed to state that the Queen could +no longer suffer the insolence of those whom she +had raised to the highest pitch of power and +authority. But, before Rivers reached the Electoral +Court, Marlborough had already conveyed to +George Lewis assurances of his fidelity to the +Hanoverian Succession; and the House of Hanover +was thus confirmed in the attitude of caution +which it maintained in this very trying turn of +affairs. There was no reason why Elector and +Electress should remain deaf to the blandishments +of the well-affected and reasonable Tories, whose +theory of the Succession harmonised with Sophia’s +own. But, at the same time, it would have been +not less unwise to court the goodwill of the Queen +and her new ministers by cutting communications +with Marlborough and the Whigs, than it would +have been to yield to the Whig proposal, communicated +through Robethon, to base the claims of the +House of Hanover on the principles of the Revolution +of 1688. Leibniz was able to demonstrate the +perfect consistency of the course pursued by the +House he served; and the firmness and prudence +with which the Elector resisted perhaps the single +temptation which, in the whole course of these +<span class='pageno' id='Page_399'>399</span>transactions, he personally found it hard to withstand—the +offer of the supreme command in the +war—deserves a fuller recognition than has usually +been accorded to it.</p> + +<p class='c021'>The final period in the history of the Hanoverian +Succession—though even during this period the +question had, as will be seen, still to pass through +a series of stages before it was solved—began with +the transformation of the British Ministry into a +Tory Government, and the overthrow of the Marlborough +influence, which, with that of Godolphin, had +so long cast its spell over Queen Anne. During the +last month or two of 1710,<a id='r171'></a><a href='#f171' class='c008'><sup>[171]</sup></a> Schütz having died in +the previous August, Bothmer was performing the +duties of envoy extraordinary in London, where he +remained till the following March. The Electress +was extremely desirous that he should, unlike +Schütz and Kreyenberg, refrain from showing any +inclination towards either of the political parties; +here in Hanover, she assured him in January, 1711, +‘we do not know the meaning of the terms Whig +and Tory, and decline to distinguish individuals +under those names’; and she applauds him for +having already, as she hears, managed to create a +far more agreeable impression than that made by +his predecessor. But this attempt on the part of +the Electress to hold the balance between the two +<span class='pageno' id='Page_400'>400</span>parties, and to make Bothmer do the same, could +not be of long endurance. On April 17th, 1711, the +Emperor Joseph I died; there could be no reasonable +doubt as to the succession of his brother, the +titular King Charles III of Spain, to the Imperial +throne; and an irresistible impulse was given to the +desire for peace, with which the new British Ministry +was known to be in sympathy.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Henceforth, until the Peace had been actually +concluded, the question of its conclusion dominated +all others, and that of the Succession among the +rest. It might suit the purposes of the Whigs, who +were opposed to the Peace, to represent the desire +of bringing it about as put forward with a view +to covering Jacobite designs with regard to the +Succession; as a matter of fact, the Tory leaders, +though they might amuse Berwick—or others who +were as ignorant of England as he was—with proposals +about bringing over the Pretender to reside in +England on his half-sister’s invitation, were very +careful not to allow any premature Jacobite outbreak +to interrupt the peace negotiations. When, in +October, 1711, Bothmer returned to London as +envoy extraordinary, the situation had, for better or +for worse, cleared up; and it would have been impossible +for the most skilful of diplomatists, with +the strongest wish to carry out the conciliatory +intentions cherished by the good Electress, to +avoid an early collision with the Queen’s ministers, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_401'>401</span>and, in consequence, to place in his own way an +insuperable obstacle against securing her own goodwill. +For the Elector was, heart and soul, in favour +of the continuance of the war; and the immediate +purpose of Bothmer’s present mission was to overthrow +the peace policy to which the Queen’s +ministers had made up their minds. He brought +with him an elaborate memorandum from the Elector, +dated November 28th, 1711, against the conclusion +of peace with France; and in January, 1712, this +memorandum was supported by a letter from the +Elector asking for a hearing for his envoy. These +documents were presented to the Queen on February +14th. As a matter of course, they were ascribed by +the ministerialists to Whig influence, and represented +as implying an attempt to bring about the +continuance of Marlborough in the command. +There was no warrant for either <a id='corr401.18'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='asumption'>assumption</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_401.18'><ins class='correction' title='asumption'>assumption</ins></a></span>; and it +may be added that the Electress instructed Bothmer +to express to Ormonde, as a tried friend of hers, the +particular gratification with which she had heard of +his appointment.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Violent altercations in Parliament ensued; and +Bothmer clearly perceived that any attempt to +renew at present the proposal of inviting over the +Electress and the Electoral Prince, if not the +Elector himself, could have no other effect than that +of uniting with the Jacobite wing of the Tory +party the followers of Harley, with whom it was a +<span class='pageno' id='Page_402'>402</span>cardinal principle to ‘use the Queen with all duty +and respect imaginable.’ On the representations +of Bothmer, Somers, Sunderland, and Godolphin +agreed not to move in the matter without the +Elector’s assent; and this was sure not to be given, +until an invitation should have been approved +by Queen and Parliament. Thus a blunder was +avoided which must have proved more disastrous +to the prospects of the House of Hanover than that +actually committed three years later.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Both in 1710 and 1711 the air was full of more +or less unsubstantial schemes for bringing about, +at what already seemed the eleventh hour, the +succession of the Pretender; and rumours were +rife as to the gradual transformation of the Ministry +into a Jacobite Cabal. Though Leibniz was no +doubt right in saying that the question of inviting +to England, or (as the Electress so consistently +repeated) of granting an income to, one or more +members of the Electoral family, was the touchstone +of the real intentions of the British Government, +and though this may, as he asserts, have also +been the opinion of the Elector, yet there was no +question at Hanover of claiming any such concession. +In April, 1711, the Electress declared herself wholly +uncertain of what would happen even in the event +of Queen Anne’s death—for ‘what Parliament does +one day, it undoes the next.’ Thus, when, in the +autumn of the same year, Lord Rivers made his +<span class='pageno' id='Page_403'>403</span>second appearance at Hanover, the letter which he +brought with him from Queen Anne, and his assurances +of her care for the interests of the Electoral +family, were received by Sophia with proper expressions +of gratitude, whatever she might privately say +as to the expense which this mission entailed upon +the Hanoverian Court, with little prospect of return. +There was, indeed, some talk of the Elector being +offered the chief command in Flanders after Marlborough’s +dismissal in December, 1711; but nothing +came of the suggestion, and in January, 1712, +the Electress is found expressing her satisfaction +at the appointment of Ormonde, who had always +been so friendly to her. But as to the main object +of his mission Rivers completely failed; for George +Lewis firmly declined to give his approval to the +British overtures of peace to France, at the risk of +deeply annoying the Queen and her ministers by thus +falling in with the wishes of the Whigs. He took his +stand on the principles of the Grand Alliance, from +which he had never swerved; while his mother +judiciously held the balance by refusing to accept +the insinuations of her correspondent at the Hague, +Lord Strafford, against the inclinations of her House +and Bothmer towards the Whigs, and appealing with +much dignity to her conviction that, beyond the +devices of Whigs and Tories, the Protestant Succession +could depend on the support of the nation. +Meanwhile, the two parties were alike striving to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_404'>404</span>apprise the Hanoverian Court of the direction in +which to look for its friends. The anxiety of the +Whigs to identify their party with the Electoral +House is at the same time proved by the motion +of the Duke of Devonshire to give precedence to +the Duke of Cambridge over other Peers.<a id='r172'></a><a href='#f172' class='c008'><sup>[172]</sup></a> The +Ministry overtrumped this modest effort by a Bill +giving precedence to the entire Electoral family, +which was passed in two days (January, 1712), +and which the minister’s kinsman, Thomas Harley, +was in July specially sent over to present to the +Electress. She took the announcement of this new +visit very coolly, regretting the expense to which +she was put by it, and observing that, if the British +throne were for sale, France on behalf of its client +could afford the purchase better than the House of +Hanover, which had no intention of imitating +the prodigality of Augustus II of Poland.<a id='r173'></a><a href='#f173' class='c008'><sup>[173]</sup></a> Her +instinct was correct, for Thomas Harley had instructions +which, while pretending to put the +blame on Bothmer, seriously reflected on the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_405'>405</span>Elector’s opposition to the peace policy pursued +by the British Government. In the course of the +negotiations carried on at Paris in August, 1712, +between Torcy and Bolingbroke, the latter on one +occasion even went so far as to hint at the despatch +of a British fleet into the Baltic, with a view not +only to controlling the northern troubles, but also to +frustrating possible designs on the part of the Dutch +<em>and of Hanover</em>.<a id='r174'></a><a href='#f174' class='c008'><sup>[174]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c001'>Meanwhile the Court of Hanover, while maintaining +unchanged its attitude towards the general +question of war or peace, had immediate interests of +its own to watch besides such as might be involved +in the question of the English Succession. The +recognition of the Hanoverian Electorship, for instance, +was demanded from France, <span lang="fr"><i>pari passu</i></span> +with that of the Prussian Kingship. Early in the +year, in the negotiations already in progress, +Bothmer, whom Oxford and Bolingbroke persisted +in treating as antagonistic to their Government,<a id='r175'></a><a href='#f175' class='c008'><sup>[175]</sup></a> +returned to his post at the Hague. In +December, 1712, Baron Thomas von Grote, who +belonged to a family of high distinction in the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_406'>406</span>Hanoverian service, arrived in London, nominally +with the special charge of returning thanks for the +Act of Precedence. His instructions, drawn up by +Robethon in the name of the Electress Sophia, +illustrate the penultimate stage in the final period +of the transactions concerning the Succession. He +was to be polite to all, and not to consider himself +debarred from taking counsel with the old friends +of the House—in other words, with Marlborough +and the Whig leaders—so long as this was done +privately and secretly; and he was to avoid giving +umbrage to the Queen’s ministers, and above all to +the Queen herself. The Elector furnished him with +a special commendatory letter to Oxford. He was +to make friends with the clergy, and to reassure +them by pointing out that the ecclesiastical system +of the German Lutherans was to all intents and +purposes an episcopal one. The everlasting delicate +question as to the summoning of the Electress or +another member of the Electoral family to England +he was to treat as if this event might any +day come to pass; and, at the same time, he +was to press for a proposal to Parliament on the +subject of an establishment—say at Somerset +House. The Elector, while of opinion that such +a proposal would furnish the best means of testing +the sincerity of the Queen’s and her advisers’ intentions, +declined to influence Parliamentary opinion +by means of any expenditure of his own, though it +<span class='pageno' id='Page_407'>407</span>would seem that he had previously not objected +to Bothmer’s attempting to gain over some noble +Lords against the Peace by similar inducements. +But, though he still abstained from any intervention +in British home affairs, his own instructions to +Grote were less carefully balanced than those of the +Electress, and left no doubt as to its being the +leading Whigs on whom he reckoned as the true +friends of the House of Hanover.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Both at Hanover and elsewhere, however, eager +friends of the dynasty advocated a more expeditious +procedure. In September, 1712, the indefatigable +Leibniz submitted a scheme, concocted by busy +brains in London, for including the demand for +establishing the Electress in England among the +conditions of the Peace of Utrecht. But, though +both in her correspondence, and in conversation +with Thomas Harley, she had given considerable +attention to the scheme, she ultimately declared +it impracticable. The unsatisfactory action of +the English ministers in the matter of the Dutch +guarantee of the Hanoverian Succession had once +more rendered her diffident; she was, she said, so +old that there was no reality in all her talk; were +she younger, she added with a touch of her old +spirit, the sovereignty of England should not pass +by her.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The Peace of Utrecht, when actually concluded +in the spring of 1713, was in many respects +<span class='pageno' id='Page_408'>408</span>unsatisfactory to the Elector; and as an Estate of +the Empire, he must have been well content to +withhold his signature from it. But it contained a +very explicit recognition of the Hanoverian Succession +by France and the other signatory Powers; +so that, in this respect at all events, Bothmer’s +exertions had been entirely successful. Yet the +tone prevailing at court and in ministerial circles +in London very imperfectly agreed with this result; +and in Hanover there was a growing disbelief in the +sincerity of the sentiments entertained in these +quarters. Grote found himself coolly received, and +his attempts to obtain assurances baffled. Various +suggestions offered by him were ignored; and in +a lengthy despatch which he sent home in February +(a few weeks before his death) he drew the darkest +picture of the political situation which had as yet +reached Hanover. He considered that, in spite of +the generalities in which Oxford shrouded himself, +he had gradually gone over to the Jacobites in order +to please the Queen, while Bolingbroke he regarded +as an open Jacobite on his own account. He +thought that, as to the Pretender, there was reason +for fearing the worst; he had heard that the Queen +had expressed a wish to see her half-brother in +England after the conclusion of the Peace, while +the question of inviting over a member of the Electoral +family had been indefinitely postponed. Part +of this report sufficiently tallies with the information +<span class='pageno' id='Page_409'>409</span>with which about this time the Pretender was +being constantly supplied by his illegitimate half-brother, +the Duke of Berwick. Though sanguine +as to methods of action, Berwick never minimised +the chances of the Hanoverian Succession; the first +thing requisite, he wrote to James in November, +1712, was to checkmate Hanover; the rest could +then be easily accomplished without mentioning the +name of the legitimate claimant. Both Oxford and +Bolingbroke, Berwick wrote in May, 1713, were +heartily resolved to go forward; in July, he reported +them to be rather less ardent; but these were mere +fluctuations. From all this it is tolerably clear +that Oxford, in trying to deceive others, deceived +himself. Much of his political life had consisted +in a successful endeavour to face both ways without +laying himself open to the charge of double-dealing. +He now persuaded himself that he was throwing +dust in the eyes of the Elector and Electress and the +friends of the Hanoverian Succession, while at the +same time drawing as near to the Jacobite projects +as safety permitted. He was, above all things, a +Parliamentary statesman, and nothing but the +decision of Parliament would determine his ultimate +choice of sides; but, as the majority was at present +constituted, while the great achievement of the +Peace assured the advance of Tory ascendancy, and +the Queen seemed less and less inclined to reconcile +herself to the Succession of the House of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_410'>410</span>Hanover, he looked to the triumph of the Jacobite +cause as the event towards which his course would +be most safely shaped. With Bolingbroke, the case +was wholly different. Oxford was prepared to be in +the end guided by the Parliamentary majority; +Bolingbroke was prepared to educate it up to that +end—only he used a more sportsmanlike phraseology. +For himself, he made no secret whatever of his likes +and dislikes; kept up a constant intercourse with +Jacobites and Frenchmen; and at times, as Grote +complained, did him the honour of treating him +‘<span lang="fr"><i>de coquin ou de fou</i></span>.’<a id='r176'></a><a href='#f176' class='c008'><sup>[176]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c001'>Meanwhile, the Queen and the Lord Treasurer +continued their <span lang="fr"><i>banales</i></span> expressions of friendship and +goodwill at Hanover, where, on March 17th, 1713, +the useful Thomas Harley presented a letter from +the Queen, declaring her intention of treating the +interests of the House of Hanover as her own. But +neither this letter, nor the amicable phrases with +which in April she opened Parliament after its +adjournment, evoked any warm response at Hanover. +Sophia, indeed, wrote to Strafford at the +Hague, begging him to thank the Queen, and adding +that, as she had no expectation of ever ascending +the throne herself, she hoped that Her Majesty +would entertain no aversion to her on that score. +But, as she told Bothmer, she only paid back +Strafford in the coin she received from England—words, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_411'>411</span>not deeds; and, on the whole, Leibniz’s +epigram not unaptly summed up the situation—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c022'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span lang="la"><span lang="la"><i>‘Hannoverana domus magnâ me gaudet amicâ,’</i></span></span></div> + <div class='line in4'><span lang="la"><span lang="la"><i>Anna refert; tacita est Hannoverana domus.</i></span></span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c023'>An attempt had been indeed made, or suggested, to +utilise the Queen’s friendly expressions for a bold +venture on the part of the House of Hanover; but +it had been still-born. After Grote’s death in +March, Kreyenberg had carried on the affairs of +the Hanoverian Legation in London; and reports +were also from time to time sent to Hanover by the +Dutch resident in London, L’Hermitage. In one +of these (dated May 9th, 1713)<a id='r177'></a><a href='#f177' class='c008'><sup>[177]</sup></a> the very important +proposal was made that the Electoral Prince should +come over to England on his own account, inasmuch +as the Queen would never send for him. The notion +found the utmost favour with the Whig leaders, +who knew how much depended on the issue of the +approaching election, and who hoped that it might +be influenced by so bold a step on the part of the +Hanoverian family. But Bernstorff, who was in +favour of the scheme and without whose persuasion +there was no prospect at all of the Elector approving +it, was ill at the time; and, when he recovered, the +Elector was found to be entirely under the influence +of advice against action. An attempt to bring about +the repeal of the Union with Scotland was defeated, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_412'>412</span>without the question of the Hanoverian Succession +playing more than a subsidiary part in the dispute.</p> + +<p class='c001'>When, in the following July, Parliament, after +approving a number of the Treaties which formed +the Peace of Utrecht,<a id='r178'></a><a href='#f178' class='c008'><sup>[178]</sup></a> was prorogued, on the eve of a +General Election, the Queen’s Speech significantly +omitted the usual announcement of her readiness +to support the Protestant Succession. While the +versatile intellect of Leibniz was still devising new +schemes for bringing about the desired result, +the Elector adhered more closely than ever to his +original policy. In August, 1713, Baron von Schütz +the younger (George William Helwig Sinold), +the son of the former envoy of the Court of +St. James and the grandson of the Celle Chancellor, +arrived in London as envoy. The choice +of this agent was at the time unfavourably criticised +by some of the Whigs, who thought that a politician +of greater experience should have been selected. +Sophia would not commit herself to Bothmer on the +question whether Schütz would be better liked +than her correspondent had been in England; ‘at +all events,’ she said, ‘nobody will be attracted by +his appearance’ (<span lang="fr"><i>il ne payera pas de mine</i></span>). We +shall have to enquire immediately whether, in the +great diplomatic catastrophe which befell him, the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_413'>413</span>younger Schütz was himself deserving of blame. +He was instructed by the Elector in the sense of +an absolute abstinence from interference in British +affairs. Even as to the question of inviting a +member of the Electoral family to England he was +to take up a distinctly negative position; but, at +the same time, he was to treat as indispensable +measures the removal of the Pretender from Lorraine +and a provision for the Electress as Heiress +Presumptive of Great Britain. The envoy’s reports +were far from encouraging, and his information as +to the views and intentions of the Queen and her +advisers again agrees with that transmitted by +Berwick to the Pretender.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The tide of danger was unmistakably rising. +Parliament was dissolved in August, 1713; and a +proposal was on foot to bring to bear upon Queen +Anne at the opening of the new Parliament the +direct personal influence of the presence of her half-brother +in England. In the attitude of Oxford +and Bolingbroke no hopeful alteration occurred. +In defiance of the manifest irritation of the Queen, +the Elector coldly declared himself unsatisfied with +the guarantees which he had so far received, and +declined to sanction any expenditure on pamphlets +or newspapers, or on more direct means of influencing +elections or gaining over necessitous Peers. Yet, +to the amusement of Sophia, whose sense of humour +never deserted her, Hanover and Herrenhausen +<span class='pageno' id='Page_414'>414</span>continued to attract not a few Englishmen desirous +of being found in this vicinity at the critical +moment. They were, however, she thought, reckoning +without their host in hoping to strew palms +before her on her entrance into London; she +feared that she could not contrive to live as long +as Queen Anne, so as to prove to them her gratitude. +And yet, when in the last days of the year Queen +Anne herself fell ill, and the agitation in England +was raised to an unprecedented pitch, it seemed as +if, notwithstanding what Sophia described as her +‘incurable malady of having passed her eighty-fourth +year,’ her repeated prediction that she would +never herself mount the British throne would after +all be falsified. In November she had herself been +ill, suffering so seriously from an affection (erysipelas) +to which she was subject, that fears were entertained +for her life. But she soon recovered sufficiently +to write to the Duchess of Orleans, and with her +usual spirit she insisted on following the Elector +to the Göhrde.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The situation was now coming to be one of a +very high tension. On the one hand, Strafford, +who never ceased from trying to persuade the +Electress that the Tories were her friends, and that +there was not a Jacobite left in the party, assured +her that what he had observed during the Queen’s +illness had convinced him of the strength of popular +opinion in England in favour of the Protestant +<span class='pageno' id='Page_415'>415</span>Succession. And Steinghens, the Elector Palatine’s +minister in London, who was on a footing of intimacy +with Oxford, declared to his correspondent, General +von der Schulenburg, that had Queen Anne died +during her illness the Princess Sophia would have +been proclaimed on the same day. Assurances of +devotion poured in from every side; in February, +Secretary Bromley laid himself at the Electress’ +feet; and Archbishop Dawes entreated attention +to his own humble endeavours and to the faithfulness +and zeal of the whole body of the clergy. On +the other hand, the demeanour and utterances of +those in power were not growing more propitious as +the new year came in. Cautious as Oxford was in +his utterances, perhaps the most striking of all the +self-revelations reported of him at this critical time +was that which, in December, 1713, he made to the +Abbé Gaultier, according to the statement of the +latter to De Torcy: ‘So long as I live, England +shall not be governed by a German.’ Except +through Gaultier, however, Oxford was inaccessible +on the subject, and though, in January, 1714, he +was said to have sent a private messenger to the +Pretender, in the following month Berwick heard +that the Lord Treasurer’s intentions were still quite +unknown, and suggested to James to make sure of +the Queen and Bolingbroke by writing to them +himself. Berwick’s scheme of the Pretender coming +over to England in secret, so as to enable the Queen +<span class='pageno' id='Page_416'>416</span>to declare in his favour at the opening of Parliament, +was quite visionary; for Louis XIV was not +inclined to make any move in his support, except by +placing two men-of-war at Havre at his disposal; +and the Tory leaders were wholly intent upon +removing, in the first instance, the insuperable +obstacle to any chance of the Pretender’s success +by inducing him to come over—to the Church of +England. As for Bolingbroke, who must have +known that such a solution was not to be looked +for, he seems to have been willing to depend on the +double chance of something unexpected happening +at the critical moment, and of the Hanoverian +successor proving unable to maintain herself—or +himself—on the throne even after mounting it. +Thus, as the crisis drew nearer and nearer, the Tory +leaders were becoming less and less prepared to +meet it.<a id='r179'></a><a href='#f179' class='c008'><sup>[179]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c001'>And so it came to pass that, when, in February, +1714, the new Parliament met, with a Tory majority +in the Commons outnumbering their opponents by +at least two to one, the Queen’s Speech could hardly +have been more ambiguous in tone than it actually +proved. She, like her ministers, had no wish for the +House of Hanover, and saw no present chance for the +Stewarts. While, therefore, discrediting all reports +<span class='pageno' id='Page_417'>417</span>implying that the Protestant Succession, as settled +in the House of Hanover, was in danger, the Speech +also referred to the attempts ‘to weaken the Queen’s +authority or to render the possession of the Crown +uneasy to her’—obviously alluding to the design of +bringing over a member of the Electoral family. +While Bolingbroke may have been prepared to make +use of this design so as to bring about a complete +rupture between the Queen and the House of +Hanover, Oxford could not but directly oppose a +step which would have forced the hands of the +Government, and removed the ultimate use of the +situation out of his own wary hands. Yet nothing +could have been more distinctly double-faced than +his action in the early months of 1714. He dangled +before Schütz the offer of a revision of the Regency +Bill of 1705, which was to enable the court of +Hanover to name the whole body of Regents, but +which also might have furnished an opportunity for +giving the <span lang="la"><i>quietus</i></span> to the entire Bill. Not long +afterwards, in March, he expressed his intention to +bring in a Bill declaring the introduction of foreign +troops into England an act of high treason. But +‘under which King,’ or under what Government, +could the foreign troops whose arrival was thus to +be prevented have been levied?<a id='r180'></a><a href='#f180' class='c008'><sup>[180]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_418'>418</span>Though the calculated untrustworthiness of +Oxford, and the reckless speculativeness of Bolingbroke, +had by this time become as much of an open +secret as had the consuming desire of the Secretary +of State to supplant the Lord Treasurer, there was +even now no disposition on the part of the court of +Hanover to commit itself by any rash act. There +had never been any real divergence of policy between +the Electress and her son, the Elector, though +his consistency of conduct had perhaps been the +more formally complete, and we cannot follow him, +as we can the Electress, in his private comments +on the angular points which from time to time presented +themselves in the situation. Now, they were +more than ever at one in their determination to +abstain from precipitate action. Robethon’s memorandum +of <cite>Reasons for not sending the Electoral +Prince to England</cite> (January, 1714), whether or not +the Elector’s dislike of his son had anything to do +with the conclusions reached, reiterated the old +objection of the Electress to a course which would +appear to be dictated by a desire to gratify the +Whigs by offending the Tories, instead of uniting +the moderate men of both parties in support of the +Succession. Sophia had, by this time, come to +have so little faith in either of the English political +parties that, as she told Strafford, she disliked the +very names of Whig and Tory; and, as an octogenarian, +she was inevitably indisposed to run any +<span class='pageno' id='Page_419'>419</span>great personal risk or court any serious personal +change. She gave Schulenburg to understand that +she would never consent to proceed to England +without the Elector. Yet neither she nor her +son, who might be depended upon not to start +for England a day too soon, affected indifference +towards the Succession; and even on the question +of sending the Electoral Prince to England, there +were signs that, in deference to Bothmer’s advice, +this course might after all be adopted, so soon as +the Emperor should have concluded his peace with +France.<a id='r181'></a><a href='#f181' class='c008'><sup>[181]</sup></a> It is no doubt in this connexion that, in +the very last letter to Leibniz preserved from the +hand of the Electress Sophia—which bears the date +of May 20th, 1714 (N.S.)—she refers to a step +which, as we shall see, she had just taken, and +which Queen Anne had chosen to regard as a +provocation offered to herself.</p> + +<p class='c001'>We must go back for a moment to the previous +month of April, in which the relations between +Queen Anne and the House of Hanover seemed +to have become rather easier. Had she and her +advisers—Oxford in particular—gained some special +insight into the fundamental weakness of the +Jacobite position? Though the secret was open +enough, one is almost inclined to some conclusion of +the kind, in view of a communication from Berwick +<span class='pageno' id='Page_420'>420</span>to James, dated April 11th, which describes the +situation so lucidly that it seems worth while to +extract from it the following passage (substituting +real names for the transparent pseudonyms):—</p> + +<div class='quote'> + +<p class='c001'>I discours’d de Torcy about the King [James]’s +resolution to be taken in case Queen Anne should +break. I find he knows not what to advise; and in +truth it is to be wish’d one could have some newse of +Ormonde [now Commander-in-chief], and see what +disposition the Parliament will be in, before one comes +to a positive determination. The point is very nice; +on one side it would look odd in the world that King +James should see the Elector of Hannover quietly gett +Queen Anne’s throne without making the least opposition; +on the other side to beginn an expedition there +must be money, provision of arms, and all many other +things which I fear the King [James] wants, besides +that there can be no hopes of success unless one can +gett some officers of the army. A great many of the +Scotch will oppose the business and ’tis much feared +the Highlanders will have but very small means for so +great an undertaking. The Elector has actually the +law for him; the United Provinces are engaged to +support him; the Kings of France and Spain have +promis’d not to meddle in it; and I find the English +[i.e. the English friends of the King] so very slow and +cautious that ‘tis much to be doubted their giving +any helping hand.</p> + +</div> + +<p class='c001'>Not long afterwards, Berwick had no better +advice to give his royal kinsman, than that he +should keep his own counsel as to the point on which +he had made up his mind, and not allow his friends +in England to think the desired consummation (his +<span class='pageno' id='Page_421'>421</span>adoption of the Protestant faith) an event altogether +out of the question. When the signs of the times +seemed so unpromising to those who watched them +with the most direct and personal interest, and +when, as to the problem on which chances mainly +turned, they could only advise a policy of temporising +and dissimulation, Oxford may well have been +more desirous than ever to safeguard his own +future by seeking to maintain a good understanding +with the other side. In this month of April, he is +accordingly found tendering assurances not only +of his own devotion, but also of Lady Masham’s, to +the Hanoverian Succession, and declaring his conviction +that the Queen was for it; though, as +towards her, he again guarded himself by deprecating +the establishment of a second Court in England. +About the same time, his kinsman Thomas Harley +again arrived at Hanover, with a letter from the +Queen to the Electress, blandly enquiring whether +there was anything which in her judgment would +further secure the Succession of her House. Should +she have no suggestion of further guarantees to +offer, this would be taken as implying that the +existing guarantees were regarded as sufficient. +At the same time, the House of Hanover was warned +against giving any encouragement, directly or +indirectly, to a faction which was working for its +own advantage only. Harley brought no message +from the Queen inviting any member of the House +<span class='pageno' id='Page_422'>422</span>to England; and the above-mentioned enquiry, +as Bolingbroke’s comments on it to Strafford implied, +suggested a defiance rather than an invitation. +He was specifically instructed to offer her on the +part of the Queen an annuity (<span lang="fr"><i>pension</i></span>) for herself; +but this the Electress, with her usual quickness +of insight, declined. The revenue desired by her +was, she said, one that should be granted to her in +due form as Heiress Presumptive by Queen and +Parliament, in accordance with the precedent +of the allowance made to Queen Anne herself, +when Princess of Denmark in the preceding reign. +Either before or after the Electress sent this reply—on +May 7th—both she and the Elector attached +their signatures to a formal answer to the enquiry +brought by Thomas Harley. In this important +memorandum they reiterated the view which had +been expressed in Schütz’s instructions, that the +Succession could not be held to be really assured +unless an end were put to the danger of invasion +by the Pretender by his being made to leave his +present residence in Lorraine, and that it was desirable +to secure a revenue to the Electress by Act +of Parliament. They further declared it to be +desirable that a member of the House of Hanover +should be established in England, in order to watch +over the important interests at issue. There can +be no doubt but that the Electoral Prince was the +member of the family whom the memorandum had +<span class='pageno' id='Page_423'>423</span>in view. The document was signed and sealed by +both the Elector and the Electress; and a covering +letter from the former to the Queen thanked her in +the most conciliatory tone for her continued care for +the Protestant Succession. This memorandum, +for which the Elector was directly responsible in +conjunction with his mother, takes the bottom out +of the supposition that he was at this time ready, +if he could do so with honour, to relinquish his +claims.</p> + +<p class='c001'>But before the memorandum was actually +transmitted, a cold blast had suddenly blown +athwart the relations between the House of Hanover +and Queen Anne. In the ordinary course of things +the Electoral Prince, as Duke of Cambridge, would +have, like any other English Peer, received his +writ of summons to attend the Queen in Parliament. +Aware, however, of her sensitiveness on the subject +of the presence of a member of the Hanoverian +family in England, the Lord Chancellor (Lord +Harcourt) had thought proper to delay indefinitely +the issue of the writ. The demand for it had +originally been suggested to Schütz by the Earl +of Nottingham, who, though a High Church Tory, +had long broken with the court; and, though an +attempt to obtain the writ from the Lord Chancellor +made at the instigation of the Whig Lord Cowper +had failed, Schütz had naturally felt uneasy at its +issue being delayed. When, in a letter to him, the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_424'>424</span>Electress Sophia had given vent to her astonishment +at the fact that the patent of the Duke of +Cambridge had not been in due course followed by +a writ, and had expressed her opinion that the +Lord Chancellor would not object to Schütz’s +‘<em>asking for it and the reason</em>’ (of the delay), he had +interpreted this expression of opinion as a command. +The Whig leaders, including the Duke of Somerset, +to whom Schütz had shown the Electress’ +‘order,’ had, according to his own account, been +delighted with it, and had approved of his proposal +to take action upon it. In the Electress’ +letter to Leibniz of May 20th, already mentioned, +she explicitly states, not, as Schütz puts it, that she +had ‘ordered the writ,’ but that she had directed +him to enquire from the Lord Chancellor whether +the Electoral Prince ought not to receive it—which +is not quite the same thing. But her letter to +Schütz, on which the whole matter turns, cannot +be said to be ambiguous, or to allow of any interpretation +but that put upon it by him.<a id='r182'></a><a href='#f182' class='c008'><sup>[182]</sup></a> Even if +it be the case that the memoranda of Hoffmann, the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_425'>425</span>Imperial resident at the Court of St. James’, imply +that, so far as he knew, there was no intention at +Hanover of actually demanding the writ till the +meeting of the next Parliament, this would not +make it necessary to place a forced interpretation +upon the Electress’ letter, with which in any case +the Elector had no concern, and which can hardly +have referred to the next Parliament, when the +present was little more than two months old. The +Hanoverian court had been pressed both by Marlborough +and by Prince Eugene (who never believed +in a policy of masterly inaction) to do what it could +to obtain a summons for the Electoral Prince, and +the Electress is known to have had this matter at +heart, while the Elector’s feelings towards his son +made him from first to last averse to carrying it into +execution.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Schütz, who, it must be remembered, was +accredited from the Electress as well as from the +Elector, had acted in accordance with his instructions; +but he can hardly be acquitted of precipitancy, +and of an excessive readiness to listen to +the opinion of the Whig leaders before assuring +himself of the approval of the Elector. In any case, +the die had now been cast. Harcourt had replied +that the writ was quite ready, but that it was not +customary for Peers to demand their writ except +when on the spot; he would, however, mention +the subject to the Queen. The Cabinet, summoned +<span class='pageno' id='Page_426'>426</span>to deal with the envoy’s demand, decided that +the writ could not be refused, though, according +to Gaultier’s information, Bolingbroke had supported +the Queen’s opinion in favour of refusing it. +On April 17th, it was handed to Schütz by the Lord +Chancellor, or in accordance with his orders. Being +requested to state by whom he had been directed to +demand the writ, Schütz seems to have mentioned +the name of the Electress; but this is not attested +by evidence at first hand. Schütz was speedily +informed by Oxford that he would do well not to +show himself at Court, and was afterwards formally +prohibited from appearing there; but, as a matter +of course, there was no question whatever of breaking +off diplomatic relations, these being carried on for the +time by Kreyenberg. Presently—on April 22nd—the +envoy took his departure. On his arrival at +Hanover, the Elector made a point of declining to +receive Schütz; censured him for having obeyed +any orders but the Elector’s; and told Thomas +Harley, who, before taking his departure from +Hanover, waited on him, with his whole <span lang="la"><i>posse</i></span> of +Englishmen, that Schütz had never been instructed +to demand the writ, and that he (the Elector) had +never intended to send his son to England without +the knowledge of the Queen. This formula may +perhaps be reconcilable with the information given +by Robethon to Lord Polwarth,<a id='r183'></a><a href='#f183' class='c008'><sup>[183]</sup></a> according to which +<span class='pageno' id='Page_427'>427</span>the Elector, though he knew nothing about the +demand for the writ, would have sent the Electoral +Prince to England in the end, had it not been for +the Queen’s letter to be mentioned immediately, +which ‘changed the entire system.’ There seems +to have been a good deal of feeling at Hanover—a +feeling shared both by the Whig leaders in England +and by Bothmer at the Hague—that, the writ +having been now secured, the Electoral Prince should +be sent over. But this the Elector refused to do; +and the success with which he had thus kept out +of the whole of this transaction—the single wrong +move made on the Hanoverian side in the whole +course of the game—must be placed to the credit +of his judgment, whatever course he may have +intended to take at a later date. But how far both +he and the Electress were from being intimidated +by the displeasure of the Queen, is shown by the +fact that at Thomas Harley’s farewell audience +the Elector placed in his hands the outspoken +memorandum signed by the Electress and himself +on May 7th. As for Sophia, the tone of her letter to +Leibniz containing a narrative of the entire transaction +is perfectly cool; and in it she as usual +expresses the belief that, in spite of her recent +illness, Queen Anne will outlive her Heiress Presumptive, +and cites the proverb, ‘<span lang="de"><i>krakende Wagens +<span class='pageno' id='Page_428'>428</span>gân lang</i></span>.’<a id='r184'></a><a href='#f184' class='c008'><sup>[184]</sup></a> Her reply to Strafford’s letter entreating +her to signify her disapproval of Schütz’s action +is unfortunately lost, though its purport was said +to have been the same as that of the Elector’s +parting declaration to Thomas Harley. The situation +seemed far less terrific at Hanover than +it did in London, where the Queen’s wrath was +visibly ablaze, so that the House of Commons +deferred voting payment of the arrears due to the +Hanoverian troops, and where it was believed that +if the Electoral Prince were after all sent over an +invitation to the Pretender would follow. Moreover +(though this is a matter into which it is impossible +to enter here), the opposite views taken +by Oxford and Bolingbroke as to the final issue +of the writ undoubtedly helped materially to hasten +the fleeting triumph of the younger over the older +minister.</p> + +<p class='c001'>From what has been said it will appear how +greatly the facts of the case are exaggerated and +distorted in the tradition attributing the death of +the Electress Sophia, which took place at Herrenhausen +on June 8th, 1714, to the agitation caused by +the letter addressed to her by Queen Anne in connexion +with the affair of the writ, and accompanied +by two letters from the Queen on the same subject +<span class='pageno' id='Page_429'>429</span>to the Elector and the Electoral Prince. Undeniably, +the Queen’s letter to the Electress Sophia, though +taking a less severe form of reprimand than the companion +missive to the Electoral Prince, was both +offensive and insolent; for Queen Anne, who (with +the exception of the Prayer-book Order) had taken +no step towards admitting the Electress and her +descendants into the royal family, could not lay +claim to any formal authority over them. That +this view was widely taken of the letters may be +gathered from the fact that Boyer (Swift’s ‘Whig +dog’), who had been taken into custody on a warrant +from Bolingbroke for publishing them, was, +a few months after the accession of George I, +discharged—so that their publication was evidently +regarded as having proved serviceable towards that +result. Nor was the effect of the letters likely to be +mitigated by the honeyed protestations of Oxford, +whose system of procedure the letters almost hopelessly +traversed, in a communication to the Elector +accompanying them. The sharp wit of the Electoral +Princess Caroline suspected that it was not +he, but Bolingbroke, who was their draughtsman; +and there can be little or no doubt as to the correctness +of this surmise. It cannot but have been shared +by the old Electress, and must have contributed +to make her stand firm against a blow contrived +by an all but avowed adversary of the lawful claims +of herself and her House.</p> + +<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_430'>430</span>Yet there can be no doubt that at the time the +death of the Electress Sophia was very generally connected +with, if not directly attributed to, the advent +of the Queen’s letters. The very straightforward +account transmitted to Marlborough by Molyneux, +who had been sent to Hanover by the Duke to +counteract the effects of Thomas Harley’s mission, +shows the Electress to have been much agitated on +the evening of the day (Wednesday, June 6th) on +which, about noon, the letters had been delivered to +her at Herrenhausen. On the following day, though +Molyneux was told she was not well, she ordered him +to send copies of the letters to Marlborough;<a id='r185'></a><a href='#f185' class='c008'><sup>[185]</sup></a> on +Friday, June 8th, she seemed well, but was still occupied +with the subject and ordering fresh copies of the +letters; she dined with the Elector, and in the evening +was, according to her habit, walking in the +gardens, when rain suddenly fell. As she quickened +her speed in order to find a shelter, she dropped +down and rapidly passed away. The letters of the +Countess of Bückeburg<a id='r186'></a><a href='#f186' class='c008'><sup>[186]</sup></a> to the Electress’ niece and +constant companion during the last fifteen years, the +Raugravine Louisa, corroborates this account, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_431'>431</span>adds one or two significant touches. On the Wednesday +the Electress said to the writer of the letter: +‘This affair will certainly make me ill—I shall never +get over it’ (<span lang="fr"><i>j’y succombrai</i></span>). ‘But,’ she added, ‘I +shall have this gracious letter printed, so that all +the world may see that it will not have been by +my fault, if my children lose the three Kingdoms.’ +And, on the Friday, though to all appearance in +her usual strength, she continued to talk of English +affairs with the Electoral Princess. And, since the +Electoral Princess Caroline herself informed Leibniz, +on June 7th, that the Electress and the Electoral +Prince intended to send the Queen’s letters to +England, it may be concluded that this high-spirited +but rather venturesome design still further +excited the old lady. Although the outer world +had continued to believe her to be as full of +vigour as ever, she had of late begun to take +some thought of her health—a notable sign, inasmuch +as ordinarily she set no high value on medical +advice, being of opinion that no doctor can predict +anything with certainty except that a person +who died in February will not be ill in March. Probably, +she was aware of the tendency to apoplexy +which, already thirteen years earlier, her faithful +friend Leibniz had observed in her. On the whole, +the natural conclusion appears to be that the agitation +produced in her by the Queen’s letters, together +with her own resolution not to sit still +<span class='pageno' id='Page_432'>432</span>under the affront, contributed to the collapse +of a frame enfeebled by advanced old age, but +that this trouble was the occasion rather than the +cause of her decease. For her epitaph seems to +tell the truth when, in perfect agreement with the +Countess of Bückeburg’s statement that ‘never +was there seen a death more gentle or more +happy,’ it describes the Electress’ death as having +been not less peaceful than sudden. Her character +lies almost open to us in her private letters, and, as +she told Leibniz in April, 1713, she had made it a +principle to keep her mind tranquil, and not to +allow it to be affected by either public or private +troubles. As to her death, she had written to him +a little later, it would no doubt be a finer affair if, +in accordance with his wishes, her remains were +interred at Westminster; ‘but the truth is that +my mind, which hitherto has managed to rule my +body, at present suggests no such sad thoughts to +me, and that the talk about the Succession annoys +me.’ Read in the way in which so many of her +letters ought to be read, as half-ironical, the +words just quoted attest the self-control and self-possession +that were on the whole the most +noteworthy features in the character of this remarkable +woman. But neither this passage, nor +anything else that remains from her hand, contradicts +the belief which is derived from a review +of her entire career, that from first to last she +<span class='pageno' id='Page_433'>433</span>proved herself equal to the responsibilities of her +life, and that, had she been actually called to the +throne, she would have been not less ready than +worthy to reign as a Queen.</p> + +<p class='c001'>We possess a minute official account of the proceedings +after the Electress Sophia’s death—of the +sealing-up of her personal effects by the Elector’s +orders; of the embalming of the corpse, the night-watch +over it, and its transportation on the evening +of the following day to Hanover.<a id='r187'></a><a href='#f187' class='c008'><sup>[187]</sup></a> Unfortunately, +the list of those who paid her the last honours at +Herrenhausen does not include the names of the +ladies and ‘<span lang="fr"><i>cavaliers</i></span>’ who had been in personal +attendance upon her.<a id='r188'></a><a href='#f188' class='c008'><sup>[188]</sup></a> Her remains were deposited +in the chapel of the royal palace—the old church +of the Minorites—at Hanover, with proper care +and decorum, but, as is formally stated, ‘without +ceremony,’ i.e. without any religious service. A +record likewise exists of the Court-mourning +ordered, and the black draping of the chapel +and of the apartments of the late Electress and +the members of the Electoral family at Herrenhausen. +To make the formal announcement +of his mother’s death and of his own assumption +of her claims to the British Succession, the +Elector George Lewis once more sent Bothmer to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_434'>434</span>London, the real object of the choice being of course +the intention that this most capable diplomatist +should, while keeping on good terms with the +Queen’s ministers, concert further action with the +Whig leaders. On June 15th, the Elector signed +certain powers for the event of the Queen’s death, +which would have given to his envoy an authority +superior to that of the Lords Justices; but, as theirs +rested on an Act of Parliament, the special authority +entrusted to Bothmer was really as futile as that +which had in similar terms been previously conferred +on the elder Schütz, Grote, and the younger +Schütz in turn. Bothmer’s reports show that Bolingbroke +was believed to be acting in the interest of +the Pretender; and of the truth of this charge, after +he had succeeded in ousting Oxford from office, +the latter, who had himself continued to be suspected +of Jacobitism, personally assured the Elector’s +envoy. On the part of Queen Anne, the Earl of +Clarendon, a Tory Peer of high connexion, but of +marked incapacity,<a id='r189'></a><a href='#f189' class='c008'><sup>[189]</sup></a> arrived at Hanover on July 7th +to express to the Elector the Queen’s sympathy +with his loss. Clarendon, who had been entrusted +with an extraordinary mission to Hanover before +the occurrence of the Electress’ death, also brought +with him an answer to the Electoral memorandum +<span class='pageno' id='Page_435'>435</span>of May 7th, drafted by Bolingbroke, which declined +all the demands made in the memorandum. Clarendon +was charged with some polite explanations; +but the Elector had no intention of trusting either +to these or to the chapter of accidents. With an +alertness rarely shown by him before his mother’s +death in regard to matters connected with the +Succession, he promptly caused a fresh instrument +of Regency comprising his own nominations of +Lords Justices to be prepared: and from this +revised list Marlborough was omitted—either because +he was not in England, or in consequence +of a knowledge on the part of the Elector of the +double game which even now the Duke was +playing. At Hanover things seemed to be taking +their usual course; but the visit paid to the +Elector early in August by his nephew, the new +King Frederick William I of Prussia, was not +without its significance. For George Lewis was +already taking thought of the safety of his +Electorate in the event of his being called to +England, and welcomed the assurances of support +received by him from the King of Prussia and +other German Princes. They could not know, +but they might well suspect, the secret offers of +assistance which Louis XIV had made to Queen +Anne through Bolingbroke, and which the latter +had contingently accepted. It was a few days +<span class='pageno' id='Page_436'>436</span>after the termination of the King of Prussia’s visit +that the news arrived in Hanover of the death of +Queen Anne on August 1st.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The events which had crowded on one another +between the death of the Electress Sophia and that +of Queen Anne belong, not to Sophia’s biography, +but to that of the sovereign whose Heir Presumptive +was now Sophia’s son. That this heir was a ruling +foreign prince, whom no immediate descent or +early associations connected with the House of +Stewart, and whose own dealings (apart from +his mother’s) with English politicians had been +to all intents and purposes entirely with Whigs, +could not but intensify the aversion from the +Hanoverian Succession entertained not only by +the Jacobites but also, though in a less degree, +by those of the Tories whose political sentiments +were in nearest touch with theirs. The bonds +of party union had just been drawn closer among +the Tories at large by the Schism Act, and the +Church had been more decisively than before +rallied to the Government. But even so, Oxford +was still unable to make up his mind to risk everything +by inviting or allowing the Pretender to +appear on English ground. Hence, not quite a +fortnight after the Electress Sophia’s death, the +proclamation against the Pretender was issued, and, +a fortnight later (July 9th), Parliament was prorogued +to an early date in August.</p> + +<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_437'>437</span>During the interval, it was manifest, the Queen +must make up her mind between her two chief +counsellors, of whom one still thought it possible +to tack and tack about, while the other was still +hoping for a wind so strong and straight that he +might drift before it into the desired port. The +Queen decided for Bolingbroke, and, on July 27th, +Oxford was dismissed from office. Bolingbroke’s +moment had come, but he was unequal to its call. +Instead of bringing the Pretender to England, he +thought that even now there remained time for +him to weld the Tory party still more closely together, +by means of his Church policy above all, +and to form a Jacobite Ministry that would be in +readiness at the critical moment, while in any case +the Whigs must be prevented from bringing over +the Elector or the Electoral Prince in the interval. +Bolingbroke and those in his confidence were very +hopeful in this their brief day of authority; but +the Whigs were more than hopeful—they were +prepared.<a id='r190'></a><a href='#f190' class='c008'><sup>[190]</sup></a> The organisation set on foot by their +leaders overspread the country, and the very symbol +or token of action was agreed upon, while Marlborough +was waiting at Ostend to resume the command +of the army. And, throughout the great +body of the middle classes in England—among the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_438'>438</span>Nonconformists in particular—a ready expectancy +awaited the accomplishment of the Protestant +Succession.</p> + +<p class='c001'>At last, and with a most extraordinary rapidity +in the sequence of its events, the end came. The +malady to which Queen Anne was to succumb +announced itself on July 27th. By July 30th the +anxiety had become so grave that, at a meeting of +the Cabinet and of a few Privy Councillors not +forming part of it, presided over by Shrewsbury, +orders were issued to close the ports, to hold twenty +men-of-war in readiness, and to make the Lord +Mayor responsible for the safety of the City of +London. On the following day, the control of affairs +finally passed out of Bolingbroke’s hands, when, +after a meeting of the whole Privy Council, at +which Bothmer and Kreyenberg were present, the +Queen, in accordance with the Council’s recommendation, +placed the Lord Treasurer’s staff in Shrewsbury’s +hands. A courier was sent to Strafford at the +Hague, to remind the authorities there of the guarantee +to which they were bound by treaty; and the +British troops were recalled from the Netherlands. +Early in the morning of August 1st, the Queen +lay dead. Everything was in readiness. Kreyenberg +made his appearance with a box containing +the commission of the Lords Justices; and of the +eighteen names included in it thirteen were found +to be those of Whigs. During the morning, Peers, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_439'>439</span>Privy Councillors, and Members of the House of +Commons flocked in to append their signatures to +the proclamation notifying the death of Queen +Anne and the accession of King George. It was +read by the heralds at Charing Cross and Temple +Bar, and within the City; and a few days later +the King was again proclaimed there, as well as at +Edinburgh and Dublin. The Houses of Parliament, +which had assembled for formal business on +the day of the Queen’s death, four days later voted +loyal addresses to her successor.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Bothmer, who had controlled the entire process +of these transactions,<a id='r191'></a><a href='#f191' class='c008'><sup>[191]</sup></a> had promptly despatched his +secretary, Goedeke, to carry to King George the +great news of his accession. He arrived at Hanover +on the morning of August 6th, just a day after +Secretary Craggs, who brought, with other missives, +a letter addressed to the Elector on the day before the +Queen’s death, and informing him that everything +was in readiness for his immediate journey to England +so soon as that death should actually have +taken place. On August 8th, the Earl of Dorset—a +young Whig Lord, described, in his later days, +by a severe critic as ‘a perfect English courtier’—arrived +from England with his suite, to make the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_440'>440</span>official announcement on behalf of the Lords +Justices. Doubt has been thrown on the statement +that Goedeke, having reached Hanover, +communicated the news to Clarendon, who had +returned from dining with the Elector and Baroness +von Kielmannsegg at her villa, Fantaisie, and who +at once bore the tidings to George I at Herrenhausen. +In any case, the formal announcement to the new +King was made by Dorset on August 9th, when he +was received by George in the flower-garden of the +Orangery at Herrenhausen. Inasmuch as, on that +very day, the Earl of Berkeley assumed the command +of the imposing naval squadron which, a +little more than a week afterwards, anchored off +the Dutch coast, there was no reason why the new +King should delay his departure. Whether, however, +because of his confidence in the circumspection +of his English friends, or because of his attachment +to his Electorate, George I was in no hurry. To be +in no hurry may be accounted one of the minor +virtues in a monarch. He left Herrenhausen on the +morning of August 31st, bidding farewell to his +and his mother’s favourite place of sojourn in words +which, if the court chronicler is to be trusted, betray +more of sentiment than he was in the habit of +expressing, but at the same time show him to have +had no intention of breaking with the traditions +of the past. ‘Farewell, dear place, where I have +spent so many enjoyable and tranquil hours. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_441'>441</span>I leave you, but not for ever; <em>for I hope to see +you again from time to time</em>.’</p> + +<p class='c001'>In the same spirit, George I’s departure was left +unmarked by any solemnity or ceremonial whatever. +He was accompanied on his journey by his son, +with whom the death of the old Electress seems to +have furnished him with an opportunity of placing +himself for the time on seemlier terms. The +Princess (Caroline of Ansbach) followed rather later, +with her children.<a id='r192'></a><a href='#f192' class='c008'><sup>[192]</sup></a> The King’s favourite brother, +Prince Ernest Augustus, remained behind in Hanover, +chiefly, no doubt, in order that he might fill the +Elector’s place at the Privy Council there, and also +for the purpose of taking care of his expectations +at Osnabrück, which were realised a year later, +when he succeeded to the bishopric formerly held by +his father, his elder brother, Maximilian William, +being, as a convert to Rome, left out in the cold. +Six months later, the Bishop<a id='r193'></a><a href='#f193' class='c008'><sup>[193]</sup></a> was created Duke of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_442'>442</span>York. At the Hague, the royal party was joined +by Baroness von Kielmannsegg; Melusina von der +Schulenburg followed in due course. With the +King were his prime minister, Bernstorff, and +Baron von Schlitz-Görz, who was to succeed Bernstorff +in the same capacity at Hanover, besides +three Privy Councillors, of whom Robethon was +one, and a small Chancery staff. The chief officers +of the Hanoverian Court, and a fairly ample +household, including ‘Mr. Mehmet and Mr. Mustapha,’ +live remembrances of the King’s Turkish +campaigns, raised the royal retinue to the moderate +total of something less than one hundred +persons.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Bolingbroke afterwards asserted that King +George, though he had quitted Hanover in the +apparent resolution of leaving the Tory Government +in England unmolested, had during his stay +in Holland, in consequence of earnest importunities +on the part of the Allies, and particularly of Heinsius +and some of the Whigs, come to a contrary +decision. How far this assertion, and the belief +that the impeachment of the Tory leaders was due +more particularly to the inspiration of Bothmer, +are correct, the present is not an occasion for +enquiring; but enough has been said in the course +<span class='pageno' id='Page_443'>443</span>of this narrative to indicate that George I was +not easily led, or easily turned.</p> + +<p class='c001'>On September 16th, 1714, the new King of Great +Britain sailed from Oranie Polder; on the 18th he +landed at Greenwich; and two days later he held +his entry into London. His Coronation took place +at Westminster Abbey on October 18th. Few men +who have laid claim to so dazzling and so elusive +a prize as that which fell to his lot have maintained +their claim with so calm a resolve and so consistent +a self-restraint. Whether or not circumstances—such +as an armed landing on the English coast by the +Pretender, or merely his personal appearance on +English soil—might have led to a counter-attempt +on the part of the Heir Presumptive to assert his +claim to the throne in person, who shall say? And +who will lay it down whether in putting his right +to the test, even at the risk of civil war, he would +have done wrong? Such a step he had not been +called upon to take; and his course of conduct had +remained consistent throughout. Although he had +little personal inclination for the change which his +accession to the British throne involved, this +should not detract from the tribute due to his +conduct before that accession. As his claim descended +to him from his mother, so he had inherited +from her some, though not all, of the qualities which, +in her, well became the Heiress of Great Britain. +True to the friends of his House, and without fear +<span class='pageno' id='Page_444'>444</span>of its enemies, he professed no feeling which he did +not entertain, and shrank from no duty that was +imposed upon him.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The princely sense of honour to which the +Electress Sophia and her son were true in accepting +the great responsibility to which they were called +by the Act of Settlement was beyond a doubt their +primary motive in meeting it. But, at the same +time, they were alike fully conscious of the significance +of the cause embodied in the Protestant +Succession; nor was the triumph of that cause, +to which Sophia looked forward with hardly a +thought of self, merely or mainly the fulfilment of +a great dynastic ambition.</p> + +<hr class='c020'> +<div class='footnote' id='f129'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r129'>129</a>. Sophia’s love of walking seems to have been inherited by +her eldest son. Marshal Schulenburg, when on a visit to his +sister, the Duchess of Kendal, at Kensington, in 1727, describes +his life there as fatiguing, inasmuch as he had to promenade with +the King in the gardens every evening for three or four hours.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f130'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r130'>130</a>. See A. Haupt, <i>u.s.</i></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f131'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r131'>131</a>. She expresses extreme delight with the changes effected +by Count Rochus Quirini zu Lynar, who directed the building +operations of the Hanoverian Court, in the hunting-box +of the Göhrde.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f132'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r132'>132</a>. A copy of a portrait of her nephew, Raugrave Maurice, is +attributed to her.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f133'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r133'>133</a>. The coverings of the chairs in the presence-chamber at +Hanover, as well as those of the altar in the palace chapel there, +were embroidered by her hands. She also embroidered a chair-cover +for Baroness Kielmannsegg—an attention bearing out the +statement as to the relations between that lady and the Electoral +family given above. King Frederick I of Prussia mentions +his mother-in-law’s beautiful cabinet of china at Herrenhausen.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f134'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r134'>134</a>. He seems to have frequented her society up to a late date. +In 1696 the Duchess of Orleans expresses her pleasure that her +aunt should have his philosophy to amuse her—though, for her +part, she ‘does not see how one can understand anything of +which one knows nothing.’ The younger Helmont’s doctrine +of metempsychosis was not in the long run satisfactory to +Sophia, who had once said that it might account for her unlucky +son Maximilian’s resemblance to the ‘seven old Dukes of +Brunswick,’ who called all their servants ‘thou’ and occupied +themselves with making nets and drinking warm beer.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f135'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r135'>135</a>. See H. Forst, <i>u.s.</i>, p. 378.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f136'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r136'>136</a>. Of course, she had to read the <cite>Mesopotamian Shepherdess</cite> +of the interminable Duke Anthony Ulric; but she compendiously +set it down as a burlesque on the Bible.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f137'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r137'>137</a>. In <cite>The Freeholder</cite>, No. 30, April 2nd, 1716, Addison quotes, +<span lang="fr"><i>à propos</i></span> of offensive French criticisms of the English and other +nations, a passage from <cite>Chevreana</cite>, the amusing anthology +of Urban Chevreau mentioned on another page, in which the +very sensible proposition that ‘one ought not to judge well or ill +of a nation from a particular person, nor of a particular person +from his nation,’ is illustrated by the assertion that there are +Germans, as there are Frenchmen, who have no wit, and Germans +who are better skilled in Greek or Hebrew than either Scaliger +or the Cardinal du Perron—‘there is not in all France a person +of more wit than the present Duchess of Hanover, nor more +thoroughly knowing in philosophy than was the late Princess +Elizabeth of Bohemia.’ ‘Prejudiced’ witnesses are not always +in the wrong.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f138'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r138'>138</a>. It seems right to observe that, though the tone of refinement +characteristic of the Hanoverian Court was largely due to the +Electress Sophia, the Elector George Lewis was by no means +insensible to her example. Toland speaks of the liberty of conversation, +‘that nobody who deserves it will abuse,’ allowed +at the Elector’s table. And (which is a more entirely trustworthy +statement, and one which Toland would hardly have made +had there really been no contrast observable on this score +with contemporary English habits) he adds that the vice of +drinking, for which the German nation is so much branded, is +so far from reigning at the Hanoverian court, that he never +knew greater sobriety than is to be found there.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f139'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r139'>139</a>. I have already touched on her grief at her son Prince +Christian’s death by drowning in 1703; but the passage in +which she refers to it in a letter to the elder Schütz should be +read as giving proof not only of her maternal affection, but of +the deep religious feeling at the bottom of her heart. (See <span lang="de"><cite>Briefe +an Hannoversche Diplomaten</cite></span> (1905), p. 175.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f140'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r140'>140</a>. Among such passages can hardly be excluded her finding +fault with the Apostles, none of whom had been at the pains of +eliciting from Lazarus his experiences after death. Had anyone +brought him to court, her own natural inquisitiveness would +certainly have prompted her to ask him so obvious a question.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f141'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r141'>141</a>. It has been seen earlier in this volume how she declined to +be edified by the peculiarities of Labadie and Labadism, and how +sceptical she had proved as to some new method of ‘healing’ +imported from Holland at the time of her husband’s final illness. +Both she and Leibniz, however, showed some interest in the +vagaries of Rosemunde von Assing, a young lady whose pretensions +caused a good deal of trouble at Lüneburg, and whom +Molanus and the orthodox clergy proposed to clap into prison. +Leibniz thought the case worth attention, though its phenomena +might be ascribed to natural causes.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f142'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r142'>142</a>. ‘They say,’ she writes in 1711, ‘that the Bishops are busily +preaching Passive Obedience, although they had much better +hold their tongues and not interfere in matters of State.’ Thus, +notwithstanding her Stewart blood and her own protestations of +impartiality, she had something of the Whig in her, after all.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f143'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r143'>143</a>. ‘In all countries of the world,’ she wrote in 1703, ‘religion +serves the ends of morality. It is only in England that religion, +I am sorry to say, serves to create cabals.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f144'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r144'>144</a>. Perhaps it may be well not to enquire too closely as to +their behaviour when they got there. Sometimes, we are told, +the Electress fell asleep; occasionally, she wrote letters to her +brother, taking care, however, not to disturb her husband when +engaged in reading a play, which he did audibly.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f145'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r145'>145</a>. Owing, however, to the different forms of faith professed +by Court and people in Prussia, the tolerance practised at +Berlin was even ampler than that prevailing at Hanover; and +the subsequent marriage-treaty between the Prussian Crown +Prince Frederick William and Sophia Dorothea the younger, +the only daughter of the Elector George Lewis of Hanover, +provided for her being allowed to adhere to the Lutheran form +of faith.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f146'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r146'>146</a>. Gerhard Wolter Molanus, who held the Abbacy of the +secularised Cistercian foundation of Loccum, situate in the +forest solitude near Rehburg and the celebrated Steinhuder +Lake, plays a considerable part in Sophia’s correspondence. He +exercised a great influence in the direction of toleration and +irenic ideals, more, however, by his hierarchical position and +personality than by his writings. The motto of his life, ‘<span lang="la"><i>Beati +pacifici</i></span>,’ admirably accorded with Cistercian principles. He +lived to an advanced age—so advanced, that his mental powers +at last collapsed, and the good old man is said to have fancied +himself a barley-corn. At the small watering-place of Rehburg, +the Hanoverian Court held a <span lang="it"><i>villeggiatura</i></span>—or rather a sojourn +under tents—as early as 1691.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f147'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r147'>147</a>. The scheme tempted him, not only as likely to approve +itself to the Emperor and the Catholic Electors, but also as one +which would practically have secured the see of Osnabrück in +perpetuity to his House. It illustrates the popular ignorance +in England concerning the House of Hanover, that, if Toland is +to be trusted, a report was current that this House ‘was so +indifferent in point of religion, as generally to breed up one +of their sons a Papist, in order to qualify him for Bishop of +Osnabrug.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f148'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r148'>148</a>. To these persecutions she repeatedly returns. In 1709, +we find her expressing the opinion that the ‘poor’ French +‘galley-slaves’ should not be forgotten in the peace negotiations +then on foot.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f149'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r149'>149</a>. Besides these, Count Ernest Augustus von Platen came over +on two ceremonial occasions. (See the <cite>List of Diplomatic +Representatives and Agents, England and North Germany, 1687-1727</cite>, +contributed by J. F. Chance to <cite>Notes on the Diplomatic +Relations of England and Germany</cite>; ed. C. H. Firth. Oxford, +1907.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f150'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r150'>150</a>. See E. Pfleiderer, <span lang="de"><cite>Leibniz als Patriot, Staatsmann, und +Bildungsträger</cite></span> (Leipzig, 1870), and, of course, Kuno Fischer’s +great work.—Perhaps the most signal instance of the way in +which in the political thought of Leibniz past and future came +into contact (he says himself: ‘<span lang="fr"><i>le présent est chargé du passé et +gros de l’avenir</i></span>’) is, as Ernst Curtius says (<span lang="de"><cite>Alterthum und +Gegenwart</cite></span>, pp. 219 <i>sqq.</i>), his famous Egyptian plan, of which +an account was published in a pamphlet in London, <span lang="fr"><i>à propos</i></span> of +the French invasion of 1803, and as to which see Guhrauer’s +<cite>Life</cite>, and K. G. Blumenthal, <span lang="de"><cite>Leibnizens Ægyptischer Plan</cite></span> +(Leipzig, 1869).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f151'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r151'>151</a>. Nothing need be said here of his minor literary efforts, +such as his tributes in verse to the Electress Sophia.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f152'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r152'>152</a>. In 1688, Leibniz prepared the counter-manifesto to Louis +XIV’s declaration of war in that year.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f153'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r153'>153</a>. See L. Keller, <span lang="de"><cite>Leibniz u. die Deutschen Sozietäten des 17 +Jahrh.</cite></span>, in Jahrgang x. of <span lang="de"><cite>Vorträge u. Aufsätze a. d. Comenius-Gesellschaft</cite></span> +(Berlin).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f154'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r154'>154</a>. After Queen Sophia Charlotte’s death there was less love +lost than ever between the King, her husband, and the Elector, +her brother. In 1711, the Electress Sophia, speaking of a +melancholy journey of her son-in-law’s, observes that it was a +Divine punishment on him that he should hate the Elector +without any reason whatever.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f155'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r155'>155</a>. In a letter from the Electress to Bothmer (<span lang="de"><cite>Briefe an Hannoversche +Diplomaten</cite></span>, p. 319) she mentions some money of +hers in England; but the passage seems to refer to a private +investment.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f156'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r156'>156</a>. This letter is translated from one of the unpublished +letters to the Earl of Portland mentioned in the Preface.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f157'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r157'>157</a>. She also renewed the assent given by William III to the +measures of force adopted at this time by the Elector of Hanover +and the Duke of Celle against the Dukes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f158'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r158'>158</a>. In September, Sophia writes that Lord Stamford has been +good enough to transmit to her a dozen copies of the Prayer-book, +with her name inserted in it; but that there are not a +dozen persons in Hanover able to join her in using them.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f159'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r159'>159</a>. This, too, was the impression of Queen Sophia Charlotte +at Berlin. (See her letter to Bothmer, May 27th, <a id='corr371.159.2'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='1902'>1702</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_371.159.2'><ins class='correction' title='1902'>1702</ins></a></span>, in <span lang="de"><cite>Briefe +an Hannoversche Diplomaten</cite></span>, p. 10.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f160'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r160'>160</a>. In June, 1702, Sophia had written that Scottish affairs +seemed in a troublesome state, but that she could hardly doubt +that the Queen would be prudent enough to leave the Scotch +their <span lang="la"><i>extempore</i></span> prayers ... and that there would be no attempt +to impose upon them bishops and ‘common prayer,’ by which +means Charles I had spoilt everything.—For an elucidation of +the religious condition of Scotland as affecting the question of +the Hanoverian Succession, see Mr. Rait’s paper in Appendix C.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f161'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r161'>161</a>. The Duke, we learn <span lang="la"><i>inter alia</i></span>, played a game at cards with the +Electress and ‘Madame Bellmont.’ This Lady Bellmont or +Bellamont, whom Leibniz in vain begged the Electress not to +admit into her intimacy, was no other than Frances Bard, who +claimed to be the widow of Prince Rupert, and whose relations +with him had certainly been of the most intimate kind. She +justified Leibniz by misusing her position at Hanover to engage +in Jacobite intrigue, thereby giving much trouble to Cresset +and to Edmund Poley, who succeeded him as envoy extraordinary +in 1703; and it is just conceivable that she may have in some +measure influenced the Electress in favour of the Pretender and his +cause. She died in 1708.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f162'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r162'>162</a>. He was accredited to London after the death of Schütz +in August, 1710, and remained certainly till March, 1711. He +reappeared there in October, and remained till January, 1711. +He came back in June or July, 1714. (Chance, <i>u.s.</i>)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f163'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r163'>163</a>. On Rochester’s sudden death, in 1711, Sophia expresses +her deep regret for him as her friend—‘he had plenty of <span lang="fr"><i>esprit</i></span>, +and was in no way a republican.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f164'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r164'>164</a>. She told Schütz (January 1st, 1706) that she thought the +naturalisation unnecessary, as it had been held to be in the case +of King William III and in those of her late brothers, but that +she was quite prepared to act as the Queen and Parliament +wished. She would have preferred the name ‘Brunswick-Lüneburg’ +to be substituted for ‘Hanover,’ and the style +‘<span lang="la"><cite>Sérénissime</cite></span>’ in lieu of ‘Excellent.’ The former of these +criticisms, at all events, was perfectly just.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f165'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r165'>165</a>. I have modified some expressions in my first edition, after +comparing the account of F. Salomon, <span lang="de"><cite>Die letzten Regierungsjahre +der Königin Anna</cite></span>, pp. 276-7; but I cannot come to the conclusion +that the attitude of the Electress as between the parties +was even at this time incorrect.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f166'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r166'>166</a>. This visit synchronised very nearly with the coming of age +of the Pretender (June), who seized the opportunity to assure +Pope Clement XI that ‘no temptation of this world, and no +desire to reign, should ever make him wander from the right +path of the Catholic faith.’ The anecdote must go for what +it is worth, which was said to have been related by Halifax to +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and her husband: how, at his +first formal audience with the Electress, she ran across the +room in order to place herself in front of a portrait of the Pretender, +and thus screen it from the ambassador’s eyes.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f167'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r167'>167</a>. It was said that, when, after the death of Sophia, it fell +to the Elector, her son, to substitute his nominations of additional +Lords Justices for hers, and the original document was +accordingly produced in London, the cover enclosing it was +found to have been broken open. It was further reported that, +after much wrangling with her ministers, Queen Anne cut the +discussion short by taking upon herself the blame of having +opened the cover.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f168'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r168'>168</a>. Brigadier-General Emmanuel Scroope Howe was English +resident at Hanover from 1705 till his death in 1709. He was, +as mentioned on a previous page, the husband of Ruperta, +Prince Rupert’s daughter by Margaret Howes. Ruperta seems +herself to have helped to embroil matters by writing some highly +indiscreet letters to England, in which she dwelt on the apathy +of the House of Hanover towards the Succession.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f169'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r169'>169</a>. The same feeling notably descended to George III, who +granted an ‘apanage’ to the Cardinal of York in his last years; +to George IV, who as Prince Regent provided a solemn sepulture +for the remains of James II, and erected a monument to the last +of his descendants; and, as is well known, to the last and most +illustrious sovereign of the Hanoverian dynasty.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f170'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r170'>170</a>. The latest tribute to it is the conjecture crediting him with +the original authorship of <cite>Robinson Crusoe</cite>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f171'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r171'>171</a>. The Electress wishes him a happy voyage on October 29th.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f172'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r172'>172</a>. He had been created a Knight of the Garter in 1706, but +not installed till December, 1710, Lord Halifax acting as his +proxy.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f173'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r173'>173</a>. <span lang="fr"><i>À propos</i></span> of the mention of this sovereign it may be noted +that about this time Queen Anne thought fit to impose upon the +Electress the task (specially disagreeable because she specially +disliked him) of dissuading King Augustus from forcing his +son and namesake to follow him into the Church of Rome. +Augustus II actually promised Queen Anne to send his son to +England; but in the meantime the latter had been received +into the Catholic Church at Bologna.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f174'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r174'>174</a>. O. Weber, <span lang="de"><cite>Der Friede von Utrecht</cite></span>, p. 313.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f175'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r175'>175</a>. Bolingbroke hated Bothmer, and described him as, ‘notwithstanding +that air of coldness and caution which he wore, +the most inveterate party man that I ever saw, and the +most capable of giving <span lang="fr"><i>tête baissée</i></span> into the most extravagant +measures that faction could propose.’ (Cf. Salomon, p. 239, +and note.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f176'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r176'>176</a>. Salomon, <i>u.s.</i>, p. 223, from the Hanover Archives.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f177'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r177'>177</a>. Printed in Macpherson, Vol. ii. pp. 792-3. See on this +transaction Salomon, <i>u.s.</i>, pp. 225 <i>sqq.</i></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f178'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r178'>178</a>. By composing the <span lang="de"><cite>Te Deum und Jubilate</cite></span> for the celebration +of the Peace at St. Paul’s on July 7th, Handel gave great offence +to the Hanoverian Court; nor was he readmitted to favour +till some little time after the accession of George I.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f179'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r179'>179</a>. These conclusions seem irresistible in view of the documents, +especially the despatches of Ibberville, collected by Grimblot and +reviewed by Salomon, <i>u.s.</i>, pp. 235-64.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f180'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r180'>180</a>. Salomon, <i>u.s.</i>, p. 272. Klopp, vol. xiv. p. 540, gives a +summary of the discussion of Oxford’s announcement from the +Lords’ Debates.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f181'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r181'>181</a>. Bothmer to Robethon, January 2nd, 1714. (Cited by +Salomon, <i>u.s.</i>, p. 232, from the Stowe MSS. in Brit. Mus.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f182'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r182'>182</a>. It seems necessary to quote the actual text of this much-vext +letter: ‘<span lang="fr"><i>Je vous prie de dire à Monsieur le chancelier Mylord +Harcourt qu’on est fort étonné ici qu’on n’a pas envoyé un writ +à mon petit-fils le prince électoral pour pouvoir entrer au parlement +comme duc de Cambridge, comme cela lui est dû par la patente que +la reine lui a donnée. Comme il a toujours été de mes amis aussi +bien que son cousin, je crois qu’il ne trouvera pas mauvais que +vous le lui demandiez et la raison.</i></span>’ (<span lang="de"><cite>Briefe der Kurfürstin Sophie +an Hannoversche Diplomaten</cite></span>, p. 213.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f183'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r183'>183</a>. Lord Polwarth, eldest son of the Earl of Marchmont and +member for Berwick-on-Tweed (who afterwards became an +intimate friend of Bolingbroke), had kept up a correspondence +with the court of Hanover since his visit there in 1712.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f184'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r184'>184</a>. I do not know whether anything on the subject is mentioned +in the fifteen letters from Sophia to Lady Colt, said to +range from 1681 to May 15th, 1714, and to have been sold by +auction in 1905.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f185'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r185'>185</a>. It was through these copies that the letters seem afterwards +to have become known.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f186'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r186'>186</a>. This appears to have been the Countess Johanna von der +Lippe-Bückeburg, who, on being divorced from her husband, +was besieged by him in her residence at Stadthagen near Bückeburg, +from which he thought himself entitled to expel her. +She appears to have been a welcome visitor at Herrenhausen, +where she told the story of this siege ‘<span lang="fr"><i>fort joliment</i></span>.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f187'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r187'>187</a>. Malortie, <span lang="de"><cite>Der Hannoversche Hof</cite></span>, &c., pp. 225 <i>sqq.</i></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f188'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r188'>188</a>. The continuous series of the letters addressed by her +youngest son, Duke Ernest Augustus, to his friend J. F. D. von +Wendt, breaks off in November 1713.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f189'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r189'>189</a>. He had, as Lord Cornbury, been Governor of New Jersey +and New York, where he left no honoured name behind him.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f190'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r190'>190</a>. The Whig ‘plot’ to which Mr. Sichel refers in his <cite>Life of +Bolingbroke</cite> p. 351, as revealed by Chesterfield at a later date, +seems to belong to March 1714, when the Queen had (on the +11th) a sudden attack of erysipelas.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f191'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r191'>191</a>. It was Bothmer who advised the destruction of a packet +of letters found in the Queen’s private apartments by the +Lords Justices and himself, and who, during the burning of +them, thought that he recognised the handwriting of the +Pretender.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f192'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r192'>192</a>. So late as a fortnight after Queen Anne’s death, the Duchess +of Orleans mentions a report that the English people were quite +contented to have George I for their King, but on condition +that the Electoral Prince should never be his successor. +Probably, Elizabeth Charlotte’s personal prejudices inclined +her to give credit to this ridiculous rumour; for she is unable +to forego the opportunity of alluding to George Augustus’ +‘ill ancestry.’—O. von Heinemann, <span lang="de"><cite>Geschichte von Braunschweig +und Hannover</cite></span>, vol. iii. p. 228, mentions, without reprobating, the +mendacious ‘Court scandal,’ explaining the quarrel between +father and son by a supposed passion of the former for his +daughter-in-law!</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f193'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r193'>193</a>. His letter describing his early days in his episcopal city +gives a delightful picture of still life. ‘I have allowed myself +the pleasure of taking a walk along the ramparts, in which +all the small boys of the town have accompanied me.’</p> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_445'>445</span> + <h2 class='c006'>APPENDIX A <br> <br>GENEALOGICAL TABLES</h2> +</div> + +<h3 class='c024'><span class='sc'>I. Family of Frederick V, Elector Palatine.</span></h3> + +<div class='shrink'> + +<table class='table1'> +<colgroup> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +</colgroup> + <tr> + <td class='c025' colspan='16'><span class='sc'>Frederick V</span> (1596-1632) m. <span class='sc'>Elizabeth</span> (1596-1632).</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 blb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'>(1)</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'>(2)</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'>(3)</td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'><i>Henry Frederick</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'><i>Charles Lewis</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025' colspan='4'><i>Elizabeth</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(1614-1629).</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(1617-1680),</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025' colspan='4'>(1618-1680),</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='6'>Elector Palatine</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025' colspan='4'>Abbess of Herford</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(1648);</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025' colspan='4'>(1667).</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='6'>m. (1) Charlotte, d. of</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='6'>William Landgrave of</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>Hesse-Cassel;</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='6'>(2) Maria Louisa, d. of</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='6'>Baron Christopher von</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>Degenfeld.</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb' colspan='2'>By (1)</td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 blb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb' colspan='2'>By (2)</td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'><i>Charles</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'><i>Elizabeth Charlotte</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025' colspan='6'>Eight Raugraves and</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>Elector Palatine</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(1652-1721);</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025' colspan='6'>five Raugravines.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(1651-1685).</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>m. Philip Duke of</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>Orleans.</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 blb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(4)</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(5)</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(6)</td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'><i>Rupert</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'><i>Maurice</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'><i>Louisa Hollandina</i></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(1619-1682).</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(1620-1652).</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(1622-1709).</td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>Abbess of Maubuisson</td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(1664).</td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'>(7)</td> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'>(8)</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(9)</td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'><i>Lewis</i></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'><i>Edward</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'><i>Henrietta Maria</i></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'>(August-September</td> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'>(1625-1663);</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(1626-1651);</td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'>1623).</td> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'>m. Anna Gonzaga, d. of</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>m. Sigismund</td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'>Duke Charles of Nevers.</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>Rákóczi,</td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'>s. of Prince</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'>George I</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'>of Transylvania.</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(10)</td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(11)</td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(12)</td> + <td class='c025' colspan='4'>(13)</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'><i>Philip</i></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'><i>Charlotte</i></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'><span class='sc'>Sophia</span></td> + <td class='c025' colspan='4'><i>Gustavus</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(1627-1655).</td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(1628-1631).</td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(1630-1714);</td> + <td class='c025' colspan='4'>(1632-1641).</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='6'>m. Ernest Augustus,</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='6'>afterwards Elector of</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='6'>Hanover.</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> +</table> + +</div> + +<p class='c001'>Cf. Voigtel-Cohn’s <span lang="de"><cite>Stammtafeln zur Gesch. d. deutschen Staaten u. +d. Niederlande</cite></span> (1871), <i>Tafel</i> 51. Feder, pp. 3-4, has gratuitously shortened +the lives of not less than three of the Palatine children.</p> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_446'>446</span> + <h3 class='c024'><span class='sc'>II. Descendants of Duke George of Brunswick-Lüneburg.</span></h3> +</div> + +<div class='shrink'> + +<table class='table1'> +<colgroup> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +<col class='colwidth6'> +</colgroup> + <tr> + <td class='c025' colspan='16'>GEORGE (1582-1641) m. ANNA ELEONORA of Hesse-Darmstadt.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 blb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'><i>Christian</i></td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'><i>John Frederick</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025' colspan='4'><i>Ernest</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'>Lewis_</td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(1625-1679);</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025' colspan='4'>Augustus_</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'>(1622-1665);</td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>m. _Benedicta</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025' colspan='4'>(1629-1698);</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'>m. _Dorothea_ of</td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>Henrietta_ of</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025' colspan='4'>m. Sophia</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'>Holstein-Glucksburg.</td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>the Palatinate.</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025' colspan='4'>of the</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025' colspan='4'>Palatinate.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'><i>George William</i></td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'><i>Sophia Amelia</i></td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'>(1624-1705);</td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'>(1628-1670);</td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'>m. Eleonora</td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'>m. Frederick III</td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'>d’Olbreus.</td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='5'>of Denmark.</td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 blb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='3'><i>Sophia</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='3'><i>Dorothea</i></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'><i>Anna</i></td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'><i>Henrietta</i></td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='3'>m. George</td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'><i>Sophia.</i></td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'><i>Maria</i></td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='3'>Lewis of</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'><i>Josepha.</i></td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='3'>Hanover</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='3'><i>Charlotte</i></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='3'><i>Wilhelmina</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='3'><i>Felicitas;</i></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='3'><i>Amali</i>;</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='3'>m. <i>Rinaldo</i></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='3'>m. Emperor</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='3'>of Modena.</td> + <td class='c014' colspan='3'>Joseph I.</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'><i>Frederick</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl' colspan='4'><i>Sophia</i></td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'><i>Christian</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'><i>Augustus</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl' colspan='4'><i>Charlotte</i></td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'>(1671-1703).</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'>(1661-1691).</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl' colspan='4'>(1668-1705);</td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl' colspan='4'>m. Frederick I</td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl' colspan='4'>of Prussia.</td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'><i>George Lewis</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'><i>Maximilian</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'><i>Charles</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'><i>Ernest</i></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(<i>George I</i>.)</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'><i>William</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'><i>Phillip</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'><i>Augustus</i></td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(1660-1727);</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'>(1666-1726).</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'>(1669-1690).</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>m. Sophia</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>Dorothea of</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'><i>Frederick</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>Celle.</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'><i>William I</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 blb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014 bb'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='2'>of Prussia.</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014 bl'></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'><i>George</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='3'><i>Sophia</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'><i>Augustus</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='3'><i>Dorothea</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(<i>George II</i>)</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='3'>(1687-1757);</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>(1683-1760);</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='3'>m. <i>Frederick</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>m. Caroline of</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='3'><i> William I</i></td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c014' colspan='4'>Ansbach.</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014' colspan='3'>of Prussia.</td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c014'> </td> + <td class='c025'> </td> + </tr> +</table> + +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_447'>447</span> + <h2 class='c006'>APPENDIX B <br> <span class='large'>CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN PRINCESS SOPHIA DOROTHEA AND COUNT KÖNIGSMARCK IN THE ROYAL SECRET ARCHIVES OF STATE AT BERLIN</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c007'>The original French text of the Letters which the +liberal courtesy of the authorities of the Royal Secret +Archives of State at Berlin enables me to reproduce in +this place is here printed as supplied by their copyist. +The packet containing the Letters is inscribed in the +handwriting of Frederick the Great in the words of the +title here prefixed to them. The spelling of the words in +the Letters, the way in which those words are run into +one another, and the sequence of the Letters, have +(except in one instance in which there had been an +evident misplacement of manuscript) been left as they +stand in the transcript. The words ciphered in numbers, +whether in whole or letter by letter, have been deciphered—each +deciphered word, whether proper or +common, being distinguished by italics. The nicknames +(or designations applied to particular persons by the +writers of the letters, in accordance with a mutual +understanding between them) are left as they stand; +their equivalents, so far as known, being mentioned at +the end of this introductory note.</p> + +<p class='c001'>An English translation is appended, in which an +attempt has been made, besides assigning the Letters to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_448'>448</span>their respective writers, to supply dates, where possible, +to those which are undated, and to place them in their +probable chronological sequence. This attempt is based +in the main on a comparison of the Berlin with the +Lund Letters. It could not be carried very far without +establishing beyond all possibility of doubt the fact +that the two series form an organic whole, and that +each of them proves incontestably the genuineness of +the other. A few brief notes have been added, identifying +names of persons or places, where this could be +done.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The original (French) letters are numbered consecutively +(1-34); the English versions are arranged so +far as possible chronologically, and numbered so as to +correspond with the originals (F 1-F 34).</p> + +<p class='c001'>Nothing is actually known as to the way in which +the Berlin Letters, whose number is less than one-tenth +of that of the Letters preserved at Lund, came +into the hands of King Frederick II of Prussia, the +son of Sophia Dorothea’s daughter and namesake +and of her consort King Frederick William I. It is +proved by fragments of the proceedings for a divorce +against the Electoral Princess that letters which had +passed between the lovers had been seized already +in the course of the two months (May and June, 1694) +preceding the disappearance of Königsmarck, and had +thus come to the knowledge of the Electoral Government. +(One of the letters here printed shows how +apprehensive the guilty pair had been of such an +occurrence.)</p> + +<p class='c001'>In Cramer’s <i>Memoirs of Countess Maria Aurora +Königsmarck and the Königsmarck family</i> (1837), a book +which, notwithstanding the addition of a great deal of +second-hand matter, is beyond a doubt largely based +upon original documents, will be found an apparently +<span class='pageno' id='Page_449'>449</span>authentic report of Auditeur Rüdiger (dated July 1, +1695). He states that after Königsmarck’s disappearance +on July 1, 1694, a certain von Metsch (who was +married to the sister of Eleonora von dem Knesebeck, +and had served as intermediary at some stages +of Königsmarck’s secret correspondence with the +Princess) was frequently in the company of Königsmarck’s +secretary, Hildebrandt. In reply to an enquiry +from the latter, Metsch stated that on the Count’s +journey to Dresden he had seen in his possession a packet +of letters tied together with yellow ribbon in a little box, +of which the Count took particular care. This packet, +by Hildebrandt’s advice, Metsch now sent unopened by +the hands of a servant to Celle. If this statement is +correct, there is much probability in the conjecture that +these were some of the letters which found their way +to the sisters of Königsmarck, and ultimately into the +library at Lund.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Two days later, again according to the statement of +Rüdiger, who had it from Hildebrandt, the latter was +ordered by an official personage (Secretary Zacharias) +to open Königsmarck’s apartments for a thorough +examination of them and of all the furniture. In the +course of the examination of the Count’s bedroom +(<em>Cabinet</em>) Rüdiger was called to summon a locksmith +to open the writing-table; but during the actual opening +of it he remained in an ante-room. After this the +rooms were sealed up, and the flow of talk began.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Possibly this was the way in which the Hanoverian +Government obtained possession of the letters which, +in the opinion of Leibniz, brought home conviction +of Sophia Dorothea’s guilt to her parents at Celle; +though after the divorce the Elector Ernest Augustus +refused either to allow the letters to be kept at Celle, +or to have them burnt <em>instanter</em>. In any case, there +<span class='pageno' id='Page_450'>450</span>would thus be no difficulty in accounting for the preservation +of evidence which could afterwards be sent by +the Hanoverian court to that of Berlin, in order to +convince Sophia Dorothea’s daughter, who is said to +have desired the liberation of the ‘Duchess of Ahlden’ +from her imprisonment, of her unhappy mother’s guilt.<a id='r194'></a><a href='#f194' class='c008'><sup>[194]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c001'>I subjoin so much of Count Schulenburg’s key to +designations and numerical ciphers for names, as applies +to the Berlin Letters; it is supplemented in their case +by Dr. Geerds and myself:</p> +<div class='lg-container-l c026'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>100 = Elector (Duke) of Hanover.</div> + <div class='line'>101 = Duke of Celle.</div> + <div class='line'>102 = Electoral (Hereditary) Prince (George Lewis).</div> + <div class='line'>103 = ? Fieldmarshal Podewils.</div> + <div class='line'>112 = Prince Maximilian.</div> + <div class='line'>120 = Königsmarck.</div> + <div class='line'>200 = Electress (Duchess) of Hanover.</div> + <div class='line'>201 = Electoral (Hereditary) Princess (Sophia Dorothea).</div> + <div class='line'>202 = Countess Platen.</div> + <div class='line'>214 = Fräulein von dem Knesebeck.</div> + <div class='line'>227 = Duchess of Celle.</div> + <div class='line'>300 = Hanover.</div> + <div class='line'>301 = Luisburg.</div> + <div class='line'>305 = Celle.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>La Romaine = Electress (Duchess) of Hanover.</div> + <div class='line'>Le Reformeur = Electoral (Hereditary) Prince.</div> + <div class='line'>L’Incommode = Electoral (Hereditary) Prince.</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_451'>451</span>Le Pédagogue = Duchess of Celle.</div> + <div class='line'>Le Grondeur = Duke of Celle.</div> + <div class='line'>La Boule = Electress of Brandenburg (Sophia Charlotte).</div> + <div class='line'>L’Innocent = Prince Ernest Augustus.</div> + <div class='line'>Léonisse = Electoral (Hereditary) Princess (Sophia Dorothea).</div> + <div class='line'>Le Cœur Gauche = Electoral (Hereditary) Princess (Sophia Dorothea).</div> + <div class='line'>La Confidante = Fräulein von dem Knesebeck.</div> + <div class='line'>La Marionette = A sister of Landgrave Ernest Lewis of Hesse-Darmstadt.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c021'>The titles ‘Elector,’ ‘Electoral Prince,’ ‘Electoral +Princess,’ could not have been formally used until after +the date of the Electoral Investiture, December 19, 1692. +(Cf. Königsmarck’s sarcastic letter <i>ap.</i> Wilkins, p. 258.<a id='r195'></a><a href='#f195' class='c008'><sup>[195]</sup></a>) +Before the Investiture the titles were ‘Duke,’ ‘Hereditary +Prince,’ and ‘Hereditary Princess,’ and these +designations have accordingly been adopted in the +original and in the translated letters belonging, or +held assignable, to earlier dates.</p> + +<p class='c001'>Wilkins (p. 218, note) thinks that La Marionette was +‘probably a Princess of Hesse.’ Her brother is said +(by Sophia Dorothea) to be ‘with the army,’ and by +Königsmarck to be ‘near’ Sophia Dorothea, also at +Wiesbaden, and ‘in his own country.’ The only Princess +of Hesse whom these indications would fit would be +one of the three surviving elder sisters of Landgrave +Ernest Lewis of Hesse-Darmstadt, who served under Margrave +Lewis William of Baden. They were Magdalena +Sibylla, Duchess Dowager of Würtemberg, Maria +<span class='pageno' id='Page_452'>452</span>Elizabeth, Duchess of Saxe-Römhild, and Sophia +Maria, Duchess of Saxe-Eisenberg.</p> + +<p class='c001'>The above list leaves unexplained the following +numerical ciphers used in the Berlin Letters: 20, 110, +127, 131, 307, 308, 2000—seven in all, as against sixteen +left unexplained by Dr. Geerds. Resort is now and then +had in these Letters to the extraordinary notion (it can +hardly be called a cipher) of disguising a word in a +crowd of <em>jllj</em>’s or <em>illy</em>’s, thus:</p> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><em>jlljlandjlljgrajllivejlli</em> = landgrave.</div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c001'>The letter-key, with which a large proportion of the +words in the Letters have been deciphered at Berlin, +is as follows:</p> + +<table class='table2'> +<colgroup> +<col class='colwidth4'> +<col class='colwidth2'> +<col class='colwidth2'> +<col class='colwidth46'> +<col class='colwidth4'> +<col class='colwidth2'> +<col class='colwidth2'> +<col class='colwidth34'> +</colgroup> + <tr> + <td class='c027'>22</td> + <td class='c028'> </td> + <td class='c027'>=</td> + <td class='c027'>a</td> + <td class='c027'>41</td> + <td class='c028'>=</td> + <td class='c027'> </td> + <td class='c018'>n</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c027'>24</td> + <td class='c028'> </td> + <td class='c027'>=</td> + <td class='c027'>b</td> + <td class='c027'>42</td> + <td class='c028'>=</td> + <td class='c027'> </td> + <td class='c018'>o</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c027'>25</td> + <td class='c028'> </td> + <td class='c027'>=</td> + <td class='c027'>c</td> + <td class='c027'>45</td> + <td class='c028'>=</td> + <td class='c027'> </td> + <td class='c018'>p</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c027'>27</td> + <td class='c028'> </td> + <td class='c027'>=</td> + <td class='c027'>d</td> + <td class='c027'>46</td> + <td class='c028'>=</td> + <td class='c027'> </td> + <td class='c018'>q</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c027'>29</td> + <td class='c028'> </td> + <td class='c027'>=</td> + <td class='c027'>e</td> + <td class='c027'>47</td> + <td class='c028'>=</td> + <td class='c027'> </td> + <td class='c018'>r</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c027'>30</td> + <td class='c028'> </td> + <td class='c027'>=</td> + <td class='c027'>f</td> + <td class='c027'>50</td> + <td class='c028'>=</td> + <td class='c027'> </td> + <td class='c018'>s</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c027' rowspan='2'> 32<br>37</td> + <td class='c028' rowspan='2'> <span class='xlarge'>}</span>}</td> + <td class='c027' rowspan='2'> =</td> + <td class='c027' rowspan='2'> g</td> + <td class='c027'>51</td> + <td class='c028'>=</td> + <td class='c027'> </td> + <td class='c018'>t</td> + </tr> + <tr> + + + + + <td class='c027' rowspan='2'> 53</td> + <td class='c028' rowspan='2'> =</td> + <td class='c027' rowspan='2'> <span class='xlarge'>{</span></td> + <td class='c018'>u</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c027'>33</td> + <td class='c028'> </td> + <td class='c027'>=</td> + <td class='c027'>h</td> + + + + <td class='c018'>v</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c027'>35</td> + <td class='c028'> </td> + <td class='c027'>=</td> + <td class='c027'>i</td> + <td class='c027' rowspan='2'> 54</td> + <td class='c028' rowspan='2'> =</td> + <td class='c027' rowspan='2'> <span class='xlarge'>{</span></td> + <td class='c018'>v<a id='r196'></a><a href='#f196' class='c008'><sup>[196]</sup></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c027'>31</td> + <td class='c028'> </td> + <td class='c027'>=</td> + <td class='c027'>j<a href='#f196' class='c008'><sup>[196]</sup></a></td> + + + + <td class='c018'>w<a href='#f196' class='c008'><sup>[196]</sup></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c027'>37</td> + <td class='c028'> </td> + <td class='c027'>=</td> + <td class='c027'>l</td> + <td class='c027'>55</td> + <td class='c028'>=</td> + <td class='c027'> </td> + <td class='c018'>x</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c027'>39</td> + <td class='c028'> </td> + <td class='c027'>=</td> + <td class='c027'>m</td> + <td class='c027'>56</td> + <td class='c028'>=</td> + <td class='c027'> </td> + <td class='c018'>y</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c027'> </td> + <td class='c028'> </td> + <td class='c027'> </td> + <td class='c027'> </td> + <td class='c027'>50</td> + <td class='c028'>=</td> + <td class='c027'> </td> + <td class='c018'>z</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_453'>453</span> + <h3 class='c002'>LETTRES D’AMOUR DE LA DUCHESSE<br>D’ALLEN AU CONTE KÖNIGSMARC</h3> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>1</h4> + +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<p class='c001'><span lang="fr"><i>Princesse héréditaire</i></span> a bien jmpatience de sauoir si +<em>Königsmarck</em> est <em>arivé</em> hereusement il sest passé bien des +choses que <em>Princesse héréditaire écrit sur le feuillet qui +est tout blanc</em> ie ne peus me consoler <em>d’avoir si tost perdu +Königsmarck</em> labsence en paroist mille fois plus cruelle +ie suis <em>abatue</em> a ne pouuoir me <em>soutenir l’exes des plaisirs</em> +et la douleur de ne plus uoir ce que j’aime me mette en +cét estat quil est cruel de <em>se separer</em> de uous uous estes le +plus aimable de tous les homme plus on uous uoit plus +on uous descouure de charme que ie suis heureuse d’estre +aimée de vous et que ie connois bien tout mon bonheur +tout ma felicité</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c022'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in10'>la continuation</div> + <div class='line'>dépend de cette tendresse charmante</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c023'>si elle uient a me manquer ie ne ueus plus uiure uous +me tenez lieu de tout et tout le monde ensemble ne +mest rien ie souhaitte que uous soyez aussi content de +moi que ie le suis de uous uous mauez enchantée et ie me +sens plus tendre que jamais sojez de meme et il ne +manquera rien a mon bonheur ie ne uous dirai point +que toutes les actions de ma uie uous marqueront mon +attachement uous deuez en estre persuadé et le tems uous +fera connoistre que ie ne ueus uiure que pour uous +<em>Princesse héréditaire part demain</em>.</p> + +<p class='c001'>J’ay donne ordre a 220 de m’envoier vos lettre par +<em>nienb</em>.</p> +</div> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_454'>454</span> + <h4 class='c030'>2</h4> +</div> +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<div class='c009'><span class='small'><i>Brockhausen.</i> Jeudi 22 Juin.</span></div> + +<p class='c001'><i>Princesse héréditaire ariva hier au soir</i> elle est contente +du <i>Duchesse de Celle</i> ie ne doute point quelle ne fasse +tout ce que lon voudra <i>Duc de Celle</i> est bien plus difficile ie +nai point encore eu de vos nouuelles dont ie suis bien +triste ie me flate pourtant quil ne sest rien passé puis que +ie nai rien apris <i>Duc de Hanovre va lundi a Hanovre</i> cela +sest <i>resolu hier</i> si ie lauois seu plustost <i>ie ne serois pas +partie</i> et iaurois peu uous uoir encore quelque jours ie suis +persuadée quil a attendu Expres et cela me donne un +urai dépit car ie hais plus que la mort tout ce qui ueut +mesloigner de uous jl faut estre bien malheureux pour +passer la uie comme je le fais cependant ie ne voi point +de fin a mes peines iai fait milles reflexions hier seule +dans <i>ma chaise</i> qui mont desesperée ie ne saurois penser +que ie vai estre tout un mois sans vous voir sans une +douleur mortelle toutes <i>les mesures</i> quil <i>me faut garder</i> me +... ie ne saurois me passer de uous ie ne uoudrois uoir +que uous dans le monde cependant ie ne uous uoi point jl +faut a tous momens men separer jl mest impossible de +uiure dauantage dans cette contrainte elle me desespere +ma passion augmente tous les jours ie ne sai ce que uous +mauez fait mais vous mauez enchantée la derniere fois +que ie vous ai ueu et ie ne uous ai jamais aimé auec tant +dardeur que ie le fais jl est seur que uous me ferez tourner +la teste jai fait hier une chanson et cela me fait uoir +que lamour fait des miracles ie ne saurois mempecher +de uous la dire cest sur lair dans mon malheur ...</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c022'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>sans mon ... tout le monde mennuye</div> + <div class='line'>luy seul fait mon bonheur et mes plaisirs</div> + <div class='line'>il est lunique charme de ma uie</div> + <div class='line'>et en luj seul ie borne mes desirs</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c023'>cest mon coeur tout seul qui parle jespere que ie nen +<span class='pageno' id='Page_455'>455</span>demeurerai pas la et quauec le temps ie pourrai uous le +disputer 101 [or 201] va mardi a <i>Celle</i> cest pourquoi ne +mescriuez plus que ie ny sois <i>Duchesse de Celle</i> a promis +<i>au pauve 2000 escus si Prince héréditaire ne revient poit</i> +cela redouble mon amitié <i>Princesse héréditaire</i> a parlé +hier a <i>Luisburg</i> a 110 il en a cherché loccasion cest pour +lexhorter a ne <i>doner aucune prise a ses ennemis</i> et a se +défier sur tout de <i>Comtesse Platen Princesse héréditaire</i> +la fort prié de lauertir de tout ce qui la regarderoit +jl lui a promis ie ne say si tout cela ne regarde point +<i>Königsmarck</i>, ie ne saurois vous parler que de la +douleur ou ie suis destre si loin de uous ne uous consoler +point de mon absence ie uous en conjure et najez +point de joye que ie ne sois auec uous grand dieu quel +charme et quels delices destre toujours auec uous plus on +uous void plus on uous trouue au dessus de tous les +hommes du monde je ne suis occupée que du souuenir +charmant de la derniere fois que ie uous ai ueu jl ne +sortira jamais de ma memoire ha mon cher enfant que +uous estes tendrement aimé et quil mest jnsuportable de +ne uous point voir je vai me mettre au lit jespere que mes +songes uous representeront aussi charmant que uous +lestes si ie ne crojois uous uoir en dormant ie ne uoudrois +point dormir du tout car tant que ie suis esueillée uous +moccupez entierement et ie nai dagreable dans ma uie +que le tems que ie passe a penser a uous bon soir le plus +aymable de tous les hommes uous estes adoré et uous le +serez toute ma uie adieu encore une fois pourquoi ne suis +je <i>pas entre vos bras</i> jen mourrois.</p> + +<p class='c021'>mecredi <i>Princesse héréditaire</i> a esté a table et parla a +110 ensuite a <i>Feltma</i> elle <i>ariva tard Prince Max</i> la +<i>receut</i> et <i>lui dona la main</i> elle lui a parlé fort peu <i>Duc de</i> +Celle vint dans la chambre <i>Prince Max</i> ny entra point +du tout <i>Duchesse de Celle</i> estoit allé <i>au devant dele</i> et +<span class='pageno' id='Page_456'>456</span>reuint tard car elle ne trouua point <i>Princesse héréditaire</i> +on soupa ensuite <i>Princesse héréditaire Duchesse de Celle</i> +et <i>Duc de Celle</i> out esté ensemble tous seuls <i>Duchesse +de Celle</i> mene Princesse électorale <i>chez elle</i> et personne +ny a mis le pied.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>3</h4> + +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<p class='c001'>Que ne soufertong cant jl faux se separrer de vous, +tous les tourmens du monde, ne pove pas tans faire +soufrir, mais je me remais de mon schagrein, puisque +vous voules que je ne dois poins avoir de la jalousie, je +vous avoue qui laÿ difisile, dan avoir poin cant on aÿt +elonjé, de l’objaÿ que lon adore, mais mon anje vous +m’aves tans promis de garder unne bonne condouite que +je me fie à vous, et je vous pos assurer que dans se +moment je suis san jalousie, mais non san schagrein, et +vostre depars me schagrine plus que jamais je ne comprens +pas se que je deviendraÿs a lafein, je say bien que +je ne pos pas toujour aistre à vostre veue, et sepandans, +je san que tros que je ne peus plus me separer de vous, +vojes en quelle étas vos bos sieux mon mis. je vous énvois +la copie de la lestre dong je vous aÿ parlée sait most en +most comme l’orriginal, je vous demande pardong de la +main barbouliose dong je me suis servis, je lay fais copié +par mon page, qui ne saÿ se qui l’ecrist. M. Gor ma fais +un compliment de la par de la Deuschaise d’Essenack elle +ma fais dire que quois que j’avas éviter de luis parler, +elle monstreray qu’elle sonje plus a moÿ que je ne sonje +à Elle, je vous jureraÿ que se compliment ma pas fais +solement plaisir, aux contraire il me fasche quelle me la +fais faire je ne suis poin sortis de ma schambre toust +auxjourduis et je crois que je feraÿ demaime demain; +mande moÿ pour me consoler comme vous vous governes +<span class='pageno' id='Page_457'>457</span>et can vous seraÿ de retour, je mor dannuis et de schagrein +si je ne vous vois pas bientos; adieux mon Emable +coeur, sonjes à vostre fidail amang et ne l’oblie pas parmis +tous saite foule de monde, éncor unnefois adieux</p> +<p class='c031'>jodis à 12 hor apres minuit mon mal de +postrine me continue mais je naÿ point +eus de fiavre.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>4</h4> + +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<p class='c032'><span class='small'>jodis</span></p> + +<p class='c001'>il me fallais vostre lestre pour me soutenir dans le desespoir +aux j’aistois, voila se que saÿ cant on agit auxvertement +et si vous mavié pas parlé de ... je crois que +je nauraÿ peus tenir plus longtemps, je me suis pourtang +gouverné forbien, et j’ay voulus auxparavang savoir, se +que vous me dirie, et je me suis point émporté, sassché +dong que je fus aventhier à Linde, Mad: la Comtes: +aitois fort étonné que je ne jouaÿ avec vous, je luÿ dis +qui fallaist avoir permission, elle disaÿ Mad: Leonis m’à +fais demander á l’Elect: et j la repondus positivement +quelle pouvaÿ bien faire venir ses jouors, hiair avang que +de resevoir la vostre, ji su par oberg qui avois veus M. +Weÿ à Linde que S: Alt: vous l’aves dis a vous maime, +le Preince Ernest august me dist avec ses mos, que M. +l’Elect: vous avois dis, vous vous ennujé Mad: jl faux +faire venir vos jouors, j l’auraÿ depandu de vous, si jl +vous l’avois dis de la sorte, mais Mad: je fus bien soulagé, +can je lus la vostre, aux vous me parlié de sait affaire, +j’aÿ fais ma moralle, qui ais de ne me jamais plus énborté +sur des vapors, mes ma divine, pourié vous poin nous +laisser venir, afein que j’ aÿe la joÿ de vous regarder et +que mes sieux et mon coeur puisse apprendre des vostres +comment je suis avec os, et si vostre passion aÿ telle +comme vous me l’ecrivie la vostre d ihair aÿ scharmont, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_458'>458</span>an suis si tousché que je me san plus enflamée que +j’amais. vous dite que vous ne voje personne, cela aÿ le +plus obligan du monde, mais vous vojes autang plus le +Ref: ses qui me fais craindre que vous vous acoutumeraÿ +pos à pos à ses médiocres carraisses et jl vous émbrasseras +si souven que je more de schagrein dÿ sonjer +solement, pour lamour de vous maime, ne vous ÿ +accoutumes pas, sonje toujours de qu’elle mainere j vous +traite, vous qui merites tous les manieres honeste, obligant +et respectouose, mais je vois le defos daustruis es je ne +vois poin que sait en cela que je suis le plus criminel, vous +m’aves dis vous maime que le Re: en ... en de temps +n’avois pas eus les maniere si disobligante que moÿ, je +more dÿ sonjer, que je suis malhoros de vous aimer si +tendremens et que saite passion si éxtraordinare, me rans +si odieux, ne sonjé plux aux passé je vous en conjure, +adieux, adieux, helas adieux.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>5</h4> + +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<p class='c001'>je suis bien à plaindre, et mon malhor me persecuste +tros pour pouvoir l’endurer plus longtemps, les laistres +d’yair nous donne poin d’esperanse que le Ref: puisse partis, +et san se depar je ne puis ni dois vous voir, qu’elle cruelle +destiné, oh malhor insuportable appres des schoque si +terrible poje éncor respiré, la vie me devien insuportable, +je ne puis, ni ne dois plus aistre aux monde, car qu’i +ferage sans vous voir, j’ay eus auxjourduis dos malhor +dong le dernie me paraist à présang le plus cruel mes le +premié pos devenir le plus terrible, je me suis brulje ave +nostre vieux bon homme, et Gor aussÿ, et comme jl vous +à dis, si je redisaÿ a sos de qui S. Alt: aÿ mal contemps, +jls seraÿs bien étonné, san ma passion je saÿ le partis que +j’aÿ à prandre, mais ma schere comme je vous aÿ promis +de ne rien faire san vostre consentemens, je vos vous en +<span class='pageno' id='Page_459'>459</span>faire pars auxparavang, mon dessein aÿ de luÿ ecrire, et +luÿ dire que j’aistois for fasché que mon devoir mavoit +éngagé dans unne dispute, avec la personne du monde que +j’honore le plus, mais comme j’avois pris garde aux mos +qu’il m’avois dist jÿ aÿ observé qu’il disaÿt (si je redisaÿ +à tous sos de qui nostre maistre aÿ mal contemps, j lian +auraÿ beaucoup de detrompé, je crus que vost: Exce<sup>ḷḷ</sup> ne +le prandras pas mal, si je luy priaÿ d’avoir la bonté de +m’avertis soux main, si j’aÿ assaÿ de malhor à deplair à +Monsg: L’Elector, afein que je puisse prandre mon +partis, car jusques ici, je lay servis que par affection, et +sans aucun intaeraÿ, aÿ si j’avois le malhor d’aistre mis +mal dang son Esprit, jl me serais impossible de le plus +servir) voila a pos praÿ se que je vousdraÿ luÿ mander, +saschong vostre avis, je pos vous assurer que j’aÿ veus +positivement dans son émportement que cela s’adraissait +à moÿ, j’admire ma passianse, et je ne puis pas comprandre +comme j’aÿ fais pour me possedé, car j’avois +forsouvang en beausche de luÿ dire, se que je vos luÿ +ecrire; Le segon malhor aÿ bien plus schagrinang, j’aÿ +veus vos fenaistres auxvertes, le Ref: sortais de vostre +garderobe san vous j voir, quois que j’aÿ parlé assaÿ hos, +passé et repassé, mais rien lon j vojaÿ ame vivante, je crois +comme j laistois tars vous fute deja sche la Romaine je +seraÿ inconsolable, si je n’avois l’ésperanse à vous voir +se soir à 6 hors a quois suje reduis, je conte pour le plus +grans bonhor du monde à vous voir de mille pas, Effectivement +jl me seras dunne grande consolation, si je puis avoir +se plaisir; seluÿ de vous écrire m’ais bien schaire, et ji +ne donneraÿ pas pour un Rauxjomme, je crains que ma +Diabolique destinée, m’en priveras, say seraÿt pour +maschevée, je vous conjure prenes si bien vos messure +que cela ne nous pos manquer, vous saves, j’aispaire par +vous maime que lon ne saurais vivre san cela, helas +pourquios ne suje pas Reden aux Hortanse tandis que +<span class='pageno' id='Page_460'>460</span>vous aites la niporte si vous me haisié, j’auraÿ pourtang +la joÿ de voir selle que j’adore; sai nostre passion +qui nouis éloinje lun de laustre, san mon amour, je seraÿ +partous aux vous aites, mes puis que je vous aime, je suis +en meschang credis l’on me regarde pas, l’on mauxblie, +mais n’importe, q’on me crage aux née je m’en fercheraÿs +pas.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>6</h4> +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<p class='c032'><span class='small'>dimanje:</span></p> + +<p class='c001'>auÿ Mad: je <a id='corr460.10'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='soufriarÿ'>soufriraÿ</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_460.10'><ins class='correction' title='soufriarÿ'>soufriraÿ</ins></a></span> pour vous, puisque vous me +l’ordonnes, mais can serage assay horos de me voir aux +poin aux j’aspire, sait éntre vos bras que je vos dire, mais +can aurage saite satisfaction, je pair tous l’ésperanse, car +de la maniere que cela vas, je m’én pos pas flatté, j’én +pair lespris et si je vous écris, san rime ni raison, ne vous +en prenes pas à moÿ, say, le desespoir aux je me trouve, +si vous ne croje pas je vous prie de regarde ses poils que +j’aÿ fais tire de ma taiste se matein, je ne pos pas vous +assurer qu’elle me song venus saite nuis, mais je pos +vous juré qui lia 8 jours, qui li en avois pas, croje moÿ +que mon desespoir ay grans, et que mon schagrein ait +extraime, je demore pour l’amour de vous, j’hasarde +honor reputation et émbisiong, car puis que je ne vas pas +en campanje, qu’es que lon dira de moÿ, et pourquois +aise que je l’hasarde, saÿ pour ne vous poin voire, je +suis venus a saite éxtremité, qu’il faux que le veinque +aux que je mors, emploÿe dong vos forse auxprais le Gro: +sais qui pos nous sauver uniquement aÿ j’appelle sas +veincre, je vos absolument vostre ordre, se que je dois +faire, demorer à Hanno. de la sorté ait inauÿ, car appres +trois semaine vous iraÿ avec le Gron. que ferage allors +dans un lieux aux vous naite pas, je vous prie d’ÿ faire +reflextion, et appres cela ordonnes, je suis prait à vous +montrer avec mon obeïssansse que ma passion n’écouste +<span class='pageno' id='Page_461'>461</span>poin de raisong. vous vojes à quois vous m’aves reduit, +car je vous sacrifie mon Ambition qui aÿ la solle +schose, que j’usques ici j’avois conservé, vojes aux vas +ma passion, j’ugé dans quelle aitas je me trouve, ne me +rouiné pas de fons en comble, saÿe plus abitios que mois, +et éncourages un amang qui n’én à plus. je vous feray +pitié si vous connaissié bien les schagreins qui m’acable. +je vois bien le vostre aÿ ses qui me tue, car quois que +nous sajons bien énsemble, nous laisong pas que d’avoir +du schagrein, aÿ voila un mal san remaide; la solle consolation +aÿ de jouer avec vous, mes le plaisir de vous regarder +mais poin permis car tantos, la <span class="blackletter">shwarß gesicht</span> +tanstos l’innossang tantos un austre des filjes vien nous +observé, tous cela aÿ pour en mourir, consolé moÿ je +vous en conjure, aux je me desespaire et ma desesparation +pouraÿ m’énporter à me servir des remaide <a id='corr461.16'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='indinge'>indigne</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_461.16'><ins class='correction' title='indinge'>indigne</ins></a></span> d’un +honest homme, vous m’attendes bien, mais mad. cant on +aÿ dans le Labourint comme je suis, jl nia blus d’honnesté +et plus de confianse, j laÿ bong de fenir aux je m’énporteray +davantaje.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>7</h4> +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<div class='c009'>a 1 hor de nuit</div> + +<p class='c001'>Le bon homme aÿ revenus de la conferanse et ma +faÿ ranvojer les Dragons de lordonanse sans ordre, +saÿ pourquois je crois que nous raisterons éncor saite +semainne et comme je vas demain diner sché luÿ je +sauray qu’elque schose, dong je vous feraÿ aussitos pars +énattandang prepare vous a éxecuter se que vous trouveraÿ +ici jointe; <em>l’Électrice</em> a etté a <em>linde</em> faire <em>promener +Comtesse Platen</em>, Le Comte de Stenbock que vous aves +veus ici j lia 7 ans voulais faire la reveranse, comme aussi le +Comte Delagardy, je laÿ mennay la, et je trouvaÿ la bonne +Piesse, <em>eschoie</em>, et le <em>fahr</em> qui <em>coulai</em> de tous costé, <em>elle</em> +fus si decontenansé de voir arrivé tans d’éstrangé, qu’elle +<span class='pageno' id='Page_462'>462</span>fus toust a fais confus, le partis qu’elle pris aitois le +meiljor, car elle se <em>retira</em>, aussitos, pour se remaistre +en <em>ordre</em>, j lia bien de la malisse à <em>l’Électrice</em>, et elle pos pas +se vanier mieux. Sonjes je vous en conjure à <em>venir</em> et +crojaÿ que san vous <em>voir</em>, sait aistre morte, et je m’étonne +comme mong destein m’aist si cruel a me laisser sur vire +tous ses malhors, mais si je ne vous <em>vois bintos</em> j nia +ni guerre ni danger que je n’alje scherscher pour abrejer +mes jours malhoros; je more de honte de naistre pas +mors déjà, comment cela sacordetil de vous aimer eperduement, +sans vous <em>voir</em> ni san vous parler, et vivre +encor, je crois que mon <em>foutus</em> destein, me preserve, +pour me schagriné davantage; vous pouves sol me tiré +de ma desperation, <em>venez vite</em> me consoler, aux je ferais +un cous de desespoir dong je me repantiraÿ de ma vie, +car la vie que je maine m’aist insuportable, je la haÿ +a la mors, j’en suis las, et ne le pos plus suporté; je +vousdraÿ que la foudre ecrasa tous sos qui énpesche +à nous <em>voir</em>, et à joindre nos fos, pardonne à mon +amportement que la tros violante passion me cause, jl +me semble, que si je ne <em>dois</em> voir se que <em>jaime</em>, j laÿ +juste de ne poin voir le jour, je seraÿ capable dans se +moment, a Masacre Paire, Maire, Frere, et soeur, si je +crojais q’os m’émpesche de <em>voir</em> mon <em>anje</em>. Leonis que +ta bosté me couste des tourments, tong scharme des +schagreins, <em>venez</em> me faire <em>auxblier</em>, tous mes mos, tu +le pos, par tais émbrassades, par taÿs caraisses, et jlia +que tois dans le monde capable de cela. je vous <em>attang</em> +auvec la plus grande <em>impatians</em> du <em>monde</em>, et ne souffres +que je dise, que vous aites promte <em>a partir</em>, et <em>mang</em> à +<em>revenir</em> aux L’amour vous <em>appemme</em>, j’auraÿ pourtang +tor si je me plainjaÿ <em>du depart</em>, car j laistois <em>tendre</em> et +seinsaire, mais je vous conjure, donne mois pas l’occasion +de me pleindre, du dernié adieux je tenbrasse mille aÿ +Mille fois. <em>Mlle. de Knesebeck</em> aÿ la meljore personne +<span class='pageno' id='Page_463'>463</span>du monde, je vous prie de lui dire, l’estimme que j’aÿ +pour elle je la salue avec vostre permission.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>8</h4> +<div class='quote'> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>Atlenbourg 13<sup>me</sup></span></div> + +<p class='c001'>Le 12<sup>me</sup> j’aÿ fais se que j’aÿ fais les austres jours, +sait a dire boire manjé, et visité les poste, le 13<sup>me</sup> de +maime; M. le Duck de Zelle aÿ venus nous visiter, +vous vojé que je puis aisement faire mes journos, je crois +qu’il vous schoquerong gaire, car rien n’ay plus innossang, +et sos de Hanno: seraÿ de maime amoin que d’aller +souper avec les fammes ne vous deplust, se que je +m’engage de laisser aussÿ, vous assuran que saÿ la +moindre éprove que je vous donneraÿ, puis que je m’en +passeraÿ fort aisement, san que vous l’ordones. Dieu +volje que je puisse vous monstres par ma condouite, +que tous mes penses, tous mes pas, ne se fong que pour +vous, mais helas vous aves tans d’jnjustice, que vous ne +le voules pas voire, j’aÿ mon malhor, et saÿ se qui me +perdra un jour opres de vous. j’aÿ resu la 3<sup>me</sup> Lestre +daté le 5<sup>me</sup> d’ans, 8 jours appres selle marqué 4, je ne +conprans pas dous vien se delaÿ, mais je say bien, qui +laÿ danjeros qu’elle demore si lon temps en schemein. +je ne suis pas satisfais de vous et la meschante oppinion +que vous aves de moÿ comme si je vous neglijaÿ, me +schoque beaucoup, je sonje nouit aÿ jour qu’a vous, il +me vien poin d’austre pensé dan l’ésprit, et sepandans, +je vous oblie je vous neglige, je souis un inconstang, +aise que je merite ses titres sajes en le juge vous maime. +pouves vous m’accuser de ne vous plus aimer, aitil +passible que s’aÿ Leonis qui le croist et qui me reproche, +grandieux que vous aite plain d’injustice, et que vous +me faite gran tor, je vous aimes à la follie, je vous adore +san égale, ma passion surpasse tous les autres et sepandans +vous douté de tous cela, vostre coeur parle gaire +<span class='pageno' id='Page_464'>464</span>en ma favor, j’aÿ raison de me plaindre de luÿ, saÿ se +coeur Barbare qui dois parlé pour, et saÿ luÿ qui m’accuse, +je laÿ veus tendre pour mois mais pos à pos tous sette +tendresse ait évanouÿ, ne revindratil poin à luÿ maime, +faiste luÿ des reprosches de ma par; Le mien vous assure +unne éternelle attachement, jl vous jure qui vous sera +constang, et pourvos que vous dainje à sonjer à louis tous +les 24 hores unnefois, j laÿ Contemps, meritil vostre +souvenir je crois que sÿ, mais sait à vous d’en juger. Si +j’aÿ jamais le malhor de ne vous plus aimer (qui ait un +chose impossible) vostre souhaÿ me punira par, car je +vous jure, que je ne schergeraÿ plus de fidellite, et quois +que selle d’apresan mais plus schaire que ma vie, j’en +vousdraÿ jamais d’austre, souvene vous se q’un sertain +Espanjol à dis, je ne vos pas m’éncanaliser, j’apelle cela +éncanaliser si je quitaÿ le plus parfait objaÿ de l’univair +pour qu’elque austre, la qu’elle ne poura jamais se comparer +en la ...</p> + +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>9</h4> +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<div class='c009'><span class='small'>vendredis à 8 hor du soir</span></div> + +<p class='c001'>dans se moment je vien de resevoir unne lestre trais +grande et comme je le demande de <em>Princesse électorale</em> +je naÿ pas eus le loisir de la lire, crainte que la poste ne +par, et san vous assurer qu’elle joÿ elle ma faite can je +laÿ resu; Le bon homme vas demain à <em>Engsen</em>, à son retour +je sauraÿ ma destinée, se que je feraÿ dabor savoir a +<em>Princesse électorale</em>; je ne fais que des vos pour ne poin +marscher afein que je puisse émbrasser selle que j’adore, et +pour la quelle je moureraÿ mille aÿ millefois Croje de mois +que je vous adore de la maniere la plus violante du +monde, plust aux siel davoir les aucasion à vous le bein +monstre, je n’obliraÿ pas un moment, pour vous en bien +persuader, quelle satisfaction seraÿ la mienne si par mon +obeissanse je pouraÿ vous monstrer combien je vous +<span class='pageno' id='Page_465'>465</span>aistime, et quelle plaisir je prans à aistre vostre éternelle +Esclave adieux mon incomparable Leonis que je te +Baiseraÿ petiste.</p> + +<div class='c009'>K.</div> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>10</h4> +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<div class='c009'>Samdÿ.</div> + +<p class='c001'>j lait aisé à juger avec qu’elle satisfaction j’aÿ leus +vostre tres-scharmente lestre, jl me la vallaÿ telle pour +me tirer unpos de la profonde reverie aux mes malhors, +et <em>labsense</em> ma plonjé, elle aÿt grande tendre et comme +je la souhaite, n’en écrives poin de plus petiste, cela vous +dois soulager, et je vous jure qu’a mois aussÿ, vous ne +les sauries faire assaÿ amples Vostre passion m’ais si +agreable, que j’aÿ aucun plaisir dans <em>labsanse</em> que de la +voire peinte sur du papié, je conserve vos lestres comme +la schose du monde la plus pressiose puis qu’elle me +consolle de tous mes disgraces; j vojan que vous jure +de maimér, à maistre fidaille, et a me jamais abandonner, +que poje souhaiter plus de vous, vous voje dong que je +suis tous à fais contemps de vous, je vous conjure de +l’aistre aussi de mois et de me poin inputer que vous ne +reseves pas regoulierement tous les poste de mes lestres, +j’aÿ injoré un jour qui aÿ le <em>dimansche</em>, mais comme j’an +suis informé mon éxactitude vous feras connaistre que +j’aÿ pesché fauxte de le savoir mieux, et la neglijance +me vien pas des schagreins que j’aÿ, sait allors que je +sonje le plus a vous car vous me serves de consolation +et le plaisir de penser à vous surpasse tous austres +plaisirs que je connaisse Jdolo mio, can aurage la joÿ +de te tenir íntre mes bras, n’aisse pas pour desesperer +un Catong, que de voir que vous pouves <em>venir</em>, si <em>Prince +Max</em> ne l’anpeschaÿ pas, mais quois que l’anvie de vous +<em>voir</em>, me fist passer ma jalousie et que je vous priai, de +venir combien de temps pourage aistre avec vous, postaitre +que dos jours et appraÿ je vous voiraÿ parmis des jans +<span class='pageno' id='Page_466'>466</span>qui nous haisse, et d’austre qui volle sinsinuer, ne croje +pas mon Ange que ma jalousie, me vien de la movaise +oppinion que j’ay de vous, se seraÿ tros criminelle mais +elle me vien de la violanse de ma passion, ainsi je me +flatte que vous m’excuseraÿ toujours can saite follie me +prans; que ne vous doige poin que vous prené tang de +paine à me guerir de tous mes soupsons vos journos me +console, vostre sermang me fait auxblié tous que j’avois +dans la servelle, ha que ne <em>suige auxprai</em> de <em>vous</em> je me +jaiteraÿ à vos pié, vous remersier de tous le soin que +vous prenes à me randre horos et contemps, je suis +persuadé de vostre bonne intasion, je ne doute pas de +vostre fidailite, et je vois tres bien que si vous gouvernie +la fortunne, tans d’inconvenian n’arriveraÿ pas comme +je pouraÿ <a id='corr466.15'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='postaitsre'>postaistre</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_466.15'><ins class='correction' title='postaitsre'>postaistre</ins></a></span> recevoir ordre de marcher à Lunen: +mande mois si je ne puis passer a <em>Celle</em>, san donner de +lombrage si <em>vous ni aitte pas</em> la bien seanse le demande, +mais apresan je ne saÿ se que je dois faire La reponse +de la Boulle, ayt assaÿ pican et elle merite bien unne +reponse, dans la quelle jl ne faux pas éparnier la <em>musique</em>. +je ne saÿ si je me trompe mais en relisang 11<sup>me</sup> lestre +je ne le trouve pas si tandre ni si sainsaire que la 10<sup>me</sup> +mande mois si je me trompe, la 10<sup>me</sup> aÿ scharmente elle +marque unne veritable passion que vous aves eus en +l’écrivang, pour lamour de mois, saje toujous de la sorte, +et me faite poin apersevoir de la froidor, que je fais pour +le merité, dite le mois, afein que je me puisse excuser. +aise postaistre que vous trouve pas tendre que je vous +prie pas de <em>venir</em>, mais songes se qui m’émpesche de le +faire si vous le voules pourtang je vous en priraÿ mais +je seraÿ postaistre 2 jour ici et puis vostre voisein aura +le schang libre jl vous à aimé, ai maime jl vous a pas +étté indifferang, je le crains toujour quois qui laÿ gaire à +craindre, mais jl soufit qui la étté sur un pié for famillié +avec vous, pour avoir juste raison de craindre son +<span class='pageno' id='Page_467'>467</span>impertinanse, et maime jl seraÿ faschos, de voir un homme +aupraÿ de vous, qui pourait avoir 20 petistrous par aux +jl vous pouraÿ voir, austre que vous ne saurie dire un +most qu’il ne puisse entendre, mais tous ses raisons ne +son pas soufisang, et si j’avois l’ésperanse à demorer je +vous conjureraÿ toujour de <em>venir</em> dans l’ésperanse que +vous trouveraÿ le mojein de vous en defaire, car san +cela je ne pouraÿ vous voire, puisqu’il seraÿ toujour en +gaÿt à Espioner. Puis que je ne puis vous abandonner +saÿ pourquois je refuse tous les avantage qui se presante, +je pretans vous faire voir par la mon attachement et saÿ +la mon unique but pour quois je vous fais voire les +lestres que lon m’écrivois de tous costé, crojé pourtan +caucunne avantage aÿ capable à me faire quiter ici tandis +que vous auraÿ de la bonté pour mois; je connaÿ le +pouvoir d’unne <em>maire</em> que lon aime, et can selle vous +donne loccasion jl fauxtaistre aussi saje pour pouvoir +resister, mon san se remus, can je pense que la vostre seraÿ +capable, pour se vanjer de <em>Prince électoral</em> que vous le <em>fisie +coqus</em> et cant jl me vien dans la taiste, si jamais vous faisié +ses caraisses, à qu’elcaustre qu’a moÿ tous mon sang se +tourne dans mes vaines et je ne puis demorer sur la +plasse, tans que saite pensé me donne de linquiettude, +ah bondieux si je vous vojaÿs émbrasser qu’elqun avec +autang de passion <em>que vous</em> me <em>lavez</em> faite, et <em>monter</em> à +<em>scheval</em> avec la maime énvie, je ne vos jamais voir dieux +si je n’en devein pas fous, tenes en l’écrivang ma main me +tramble aÿ j’aÿ de la painne à poursuivre. schangon +de matiere, les amis don je vous aÿ parlé song Busch et +hammerstain, l’aurié vous bien crus, se sont os qui on mis +<em>Prince électoral</em> tous les histoire de mon jos en taiste, mais +’aÿ écrit aux premié unne lestre, qui luÿ feras bien connaistre +sa foseté je me flatte de reschef puis que <em>Duchesse +de Celle</em> et <em>Duc de Celle</em> se songt accomodé, faite dong +<span class='pageno' id='Page_468'>468</span>de vostre mieuxÿ La <em>gaire</em> ne durera pas si longtemps +que cela <em>rouinerai</em> le <em>paix</em>, saÿ pourquois saite excuse ne +pos longtemps passer pour unne defaite, vojes si vous +tiendraÿ vostre parole, puis que vous me promaité que +vous moureraÿ plusto, que de n’aistre pas <em>unis avec +mois</em>, continue dans ses santiments, et vous me rande +la vie, vous souije assaÿ schaire, que vous serié capable +a tenir se que vous maves promis, si cela aÿ, je vous +jure éncor unnefois par les astres, que rien aux monde +m’éloinjeras de vous, par le lestre <span class='under'><em>ici jointe vous</em></span> +verreraÿ comme de nouvos, lon schersche à me persuader +d’Épouser la Filje de M. Bielke, mais ma réponse à étté, +que je moureraÿ plusto de fein que de le faire et que je +le priaÿ for, de me plus parlé de mariage, car cela nous +pouraÿ bruljer ensemble je me flatte que vous seraÿ +contente de ma resolution; puisque nous vojang si pos +d’apparanse à nous <em>voir</em>, il faux sonjer à des expedian, +<span class='under'><em>vous le trouveraÿ sur se biljaÿt</em></span>, je crois que cela se +pouras, pour vos que je ne parte pas, et que je vous +feraÿ savoir entre ici et se temps la; si vous voules +attendre jusques à ce que <em>Prince Max</em> sannuis, je ne vous +<em>voirai</em> de longtemps, car cant j laÿt avec <em>l’Électrice</em> et sa +maigre divinité, j laÿ comptemps comme un Roÿ, je n’auraÿ +pas crus que se margos m’auraÿ donné tang de schagrein, +comme jl faÿ, je vousdraÿ qui fust aux <em>fong</em> de la <em>hongrie</em>, +jl me donneraÿ plus des mos de coeur comme jl faÿ presantement. +Lon ne sauraÿ plus obligament, parlé comme +vous le faiste sur le schapistre de mourir de fein, mais +croje vous que quois qu’il meseraÿ dunne grande consolation +de vous voir toujour a mon costé, que je vousdraÿ +vous antrenner dans la misaire, non non ne le croje pas, +vous deves vivre horos et comptemps enattandans que +je scherge qu’elque mors gloriose, pour abrejer mes jours +<span class='pageno' id='Page_469'>469</span>malhoros, et mourir <em>lament</em> de <em>Princesse électorale</em>. +j’aispaire que vous auraÿ resu les dos lestres dong je +vous ay parlée, si non mande le mois, vous me feraÿ plus +l’injustice de croire que qu’elque consideration dans le +monde me post detascher de vous, l’avos ici desus vous +feras voir que je moureraÿs avec mon Amour, comment +pouraitong vous quiter, car tans plus que lon vous connais +tan plus que lon vous adore, lon decouvre tous les jours +des nouvelles merites, et vostre passion aÿ sol capable à +me faire plustos tranjer la taiste que de vous abandonner, +pour jamais; j’aÿ de la honte de mon pos d’exactitude, +je vous en demande pardong, saite unne foste que je +vous prie de ne point attribuer à la neglijance mes aux +pos de memoir que j’ay, mais ma divinne Leonis, avoué +à vostre tour que mes lestres son bien plus grande, et +que san vous en avoir avertis, vous les aurié pas fais si +émple, schaqun à son paquaÿ, ainsi je consantiraÿ jamais +que vostre passion aÿ plus grande que la mienne, aÿ je +seraÿ inconsolable si je ne vous en avais pas donner plus +des marques essansielle, car vous pourié croire que la +<em>vanité</em>, puis que vous <em>aite preincess</em>, ferait que je +m’attasche, non je vous jure si vous aitié <em>filie</em> du <em>bouro</em>, +et que vous eusié les merites que vous possedes à +presang, je vous aimeraÿ, avec autang d’ardor, vous +me trouveraÿ gaire delicas, mais je me flatte que vous +trouveraÿ mes santimens tendres; onon des dieux continues, +dans les santiments aux je vous vois, si ma disgrasse +me voulaÿ pouser si loin, que vous eusie de +l’aversion pour mois, je me donneraÿ assurement un +cous de pistolaÿ ...</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>11</h4> +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<p class='c001'>Quo que j’avois pris la resolution de vous ecrir +demain, et de vous repondre émplement sur vois lettre +que j’aÿ reçu à la fois, du 13<sup>me</sup> 14<sup>me</sup> et 15<sup>me</sup> je me vois +<span class='pageno' id='Page_470'>470</span>privé de se plaisir, par la resolution que le Roy à pris, +d’ataquer demain l’armée de Franse, la quelle aÿt à 2 +hors de nous, le lieux se nomme Engein; Dans tout +austre temps sette nouvelle m’auraÿ donné de la joÿ, +mais je vous avoue qu’a lors qui laÿ elle me chagrinne, +je suis aimée de vous l’unique objaÿ que j’aÿ trouvé +dinje d’aimer, je me suis poin trompé dans mon opinion +de croire que vous possedié, toute les Belle calité, que +lon puisse trouver aux monde, mais ma chaire je dois +hasarder la vie, et postaitre vous revoire jamais, à paine +aije sus que vous aitié innossante, et que je vous aÿ +soupsonné en fos, que je vous dois postaitre jamais plus +revoir, j’aÿ hasardé ma vie sant fois, par sottise aux par +geté de coeur, et je me connaÿ assaÿ, que je saÿ que +lamors ma jamais éffrajé, mais ma divinité se que me rans +poultrong aÿ la crainte de ne vous plus revoire, adieux +dong émable jllÿdojllÿrojllÿadieuxjllÿ, que je suis a +plaindre, et je suis pourtang horos, mais je ne pos +profiter de mong bonheur. ne croje pourtang poin que +vous aves un galang poltrong, non ma chaire, puis qu’il +faut aller aux combat, je mÿ comporteraÿ comme j faux, +et si je pos, j’aispaire de mi sinjaler; mais mon coeur +permaitemoÿ, de vous faire unne priaire la quelle aÿ, +que si mon destein me vost assaÿ de mal, d’aistre +éstroppié, d’un bras, aux d’unne jambe, ne m’oblie poin, +et ajé unpos de bonté pour un miserable qui, à fais son +unique plaisir de vous aimer, non ma chaire ne l’oblie +pas, sait un homme qui à eus un veritable attaschemens +pour vous, et qui l’auras tous le reste de sa vie, quoÿ +qu’estropié, mais sieux qui out aité charmé par les +vostres, ne les vairerongs postaire plus, je ne pos penser +en cela, sans verser des larmes, ah que je profite bien +pos, d’aistre aimé de vous, et que vous me causé bien +des tourmens. jl sonne 12 hors; aux closjé de Halle; lon +apporte des balles poudre, et maisches saÿ le prologue +<span class='pageno' id='Page_471'>471</span>pour la saine que nous devons jouer demain, jl faux me +rendre à mon devoir, adieux emable enfang, ah que je suis +à plaindre du cang de Halle le 23<sup>me</sup></p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>12</h4> +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<p class='c001'>mais Maistresse m’aurais émpesché de sonjer à vous, +aux Dieux est il possible, que vous croje cela, et si je +vous avois poin écris de tous (quo que celci est la 4<sup>me</sup> +lettrere) vous devries jamais avoir eus telle penses, ce +postil que vous croje que j’aime quel aut̂re que vous, non +je vous proteste qu’apres vous je n’aimeraÿ jamais plus, +il ne seras pas for difficile de tenir parolle, car appres con +vous à addorer, post on trouver d’aut̂re Famme jolie, +vous vous faite tors, decroire telle schose, et comment +pourie vous faire une comparaison de vous et les autres +et se post il c’apres avoir aimé une Deessé, lon pusse +regarder les Mortels, non énverité je suis de tros bong +gous, et je ne suis poin de ses jang qui voilje s’encanailjser; +je vous addore scharmante brunetté, et je +moureray avec ses sentiment, si vous m’oblije pas, je +vous jure que je vous aimeraÿ toute ma vie je n’atten +plus de vos lettres, parceque, je pretemps d’aistre bientos +aupres de vous, et mon unique occupation allors seras de +vous montre, que je vous aime à la follie, et que rien +m’ay plus schaire que vos grace, adieux, le 3<sup>me</sup>/23.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>13</h4> +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<p class='c001'>Crainte de ne vous pouvoir parler je prens la liberte +à vous montre mong schagring du malheur, qui vous est +arrive Dieux sait que mon coeur me la predit, mais mon +companjon na schamais voulu attendre, quo que je luÿ +en aÿ pries, mais par comble de malheur jl faux que +j’éttande que mon amÿ intime à eus le plaisir avec +son faschos conpanjoin à vous éntretenir, jl me semble +<span class='pageno' id='Page_472'>472</span>que j’ay beaucoup de raisong de me plaindre des Dieuxs, +puisquil sont assay injuste de m’oter tous les mojengs +à vous rendre service et én meme temps le Donne, en +main à sos de qui j’ay le plus à craindre, depuis cet +axcidemps je me suis mis en teste, des étranje schose, +et je suis assay sos de croire que l’axcidemps arrivé, +hier, cet un prognostique de mon malheur, et que cela +sois le meme homme qui me coseras tous ses schagrings +cela feras que je le feraÿ observer de plus pres, à mon +absence et si j’attang la moindre schose, crojé moy en +honesthomme que je vous reverrerai jamais, et que +j’vaÿ plustos scherjé le fong de la Laplende, que de +parraistre devang ses sieux qui mon scharmée. je deteste +mon companjong, car sen cela j’auray éus le plaisir de +vous servir, aux lieux que je vois cette joÿ dans le sains +d’un homme, que j’abhorre, et qui est assay impertinang +de me le venir conter luy meme, m’apprenang dans +l’étas aux vous aviéz étté, vot̂re deshabiljemen, sans +cornette les schevos pandus sur votre inconparable sain, +aux Dieux je ne pos plus écrire de raje.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>14</h4> +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<p class='c001'>En faisang reflextion sur la miserable condiction dans +la quelle je me trouvois lon mapporte la vot̂re pos +attendu de moy, ma joy estois si grande que j’ay oblijé +d’avoir du mal, en me lensang sur la lettre comme si +rien me manques vous avez tous fais ce que je souhaites +à vous voir faire, jl reste dong à moy à vous remercier +de vos bontée, et a vous bien persuader de ma fidellite</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c022'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Jo ti saro fedele,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Ne mai ti tradiro.</div> + <div class='line'>Se ben mi sei crudel,</div> + <div class='line in2'>sempre t’adorero;</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c023'>si vous m’en croje pas, je suis prest à abandonner Mere, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_473'>473</span>Parang, Amy, Biens, et la Patrie, pour vous en mieux +persuader, et il dependera que de vous, si je dois faire +le vojage que vous saves bien, mon malheros étas me +fournit une bonne excuse, je pouray faire le malade bien +longtemps, si vous aite d’acor avec moy je vous prie à +me le mander car je prendray mes messure ladesu, say +la plus grande éprove que je puis vous donner à présan, +acceptele dong, et rende moy par la horos car le bien de +vous voire surpasse de beaucoup à Lembition que jay de +faire ma fortune, je n’an sauraÿ trouver de plus considerable +et seluy de vous posseder may si jaire que je ne fais +plus de reflextion sur tous les autres. Vous avez par +vot̂re lettre tellement purifié mon coeur que le moindre +soupsong de jallosie ni reste pas, l’empressement que +vous me temoinje pour savoir l’état de ma senté, me +persuade assaÿ que vous maime pour contenter à vot̂re +desir je vous diray que je soufre éxtremement sepandang +la douleur de ne vous voir poin surpasse en beaucoup, +selle de la schutte, je pouray me porter mieux en 4 jour, +mais si vous accepté ma proposition, je garderay éncor +10 jour la chambre cela n’émpescheras pas qu’ossitos que +je pouray marscher je pouray vous embrasser aux lieux +connue; pour avoir de vos nouvelles, je crois que le plus +sur mojen, est q’un de mes jangs (sur le quelle je pos me +fier)....</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>15</h4> +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<p class='c001'>Un autre que moy vous metteray sur l’éprove pour +voire, si votre amour vous pouseray si loin que de venir +sche moy, mais moy je vous aime trops pour vous +pouvoir voire dans set hasar, et votre offre me sufit, +cepandan pour ne poin perdre l’occasion de vous voire +(puisque j’aÿ si pos de temps à rester avec vous) je +viendray se soir sche vous, si vous j consente, et jattang +de vous leur du rendevous, si vous trouve bong que je +<span class='pageno' id='Page_474'>474</span>parraisse à la cour je le feray, mais sans cela poin. La +joÿ de vous revoir me fais oublier tous les schagrins que +ma maladie ma attiré, je suis aureste assay contemps de +vous, sepandang je ne pos oublier le pos d’opposition +que vous faitte aux sujet de mon vojage, ajan une bonne +éxcuse pour men dedire, je ne say se que j’an dois juger, +Dieux volje solement que cette absence ne soy funeste +pour moy. Vous m’accusé que je vous aime pas assaÿ, +comment pouve vous aistre si injuste, mais je passeray +se poin sans j repondre saschan bien que vous aitte tros +persuade de ma passion, qui est la plus pure que jamais +à étté, et qui dureras tandis que je viveray, je vous l’ay +contesté souven en prosse, permaite que je le fasse pour +le presang en vers.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c022'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class="blackletter">So lang mein herz noch ohten spüret</span></div> + <div class='line'><span class="blackletter">Wiel ich <em class='gesperrt'>votre non</em> lieben,</span></div> + <div class='line'><span class="blackletter">Solange sich mein blut noch rüret</span></div> + <div class='line'><span class="blackletter">Bleibt sie mir darrein geschriben,</span></div> + <div class='line'><span class="blackletter">Und sol mit meines läbens lauf</span></div> + <div class='line'><span class="blackletter">Bey mir die liebe nicht hören auf.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c023'>a 6 hors mon homme seras devang la schambre de la +bonne bonne amÿ.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>16</h4> +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<div class='c009'><span class='small'>Le 1<sup>mer</sup> de septemb.</span></div> + +<p class='c001'>Pardonnes si le schagrein et le desespoir m’a fais +faire la foste à ne vous point écrire depuis dos jour cant +on aÿ dans l’état aux je souis lon ne saÿ se que lon fais. +je commenseraÿ par vous dire que j’aÿ schangé dos +schifres dans nostre Clée, qui ay, j, se marque 31/ i, se +marque 35, u, se marque 53, v, se marque 53, v, se +marque 54/ je vous d’opserver sesÿ; Appraÿ cela je vous +diraÿ que vous aves marqué dos lestres, 10<sup>me</sup> ainsy que +la 14<sup>me</sup> devraes aistrÿ la 15<sup>me</sup> mais continues solement +<span class='pageno' id='Page_475'>475</span>apresan, car j lia poin d’austre mal, que la segonde, aux +premiere 10<sup>me</sup> auray peus se perdre san que lon eus seus, +solement, que lon en eus perdue unne. J’aÿ éncor à vous +dire, que je vous aÿ écrit dos lestres, adraissé, à 131, +que j’aÿ crus à <em>Celle</em>, jl faux savoir si vous les aves reseus; +3 lestres ont été adraissé, aux <em>maistre de poste de Celle</em> +qui son daté le 20<sup>me</sup> et aÿ la 9<sup>me</sup> lestre, le 26<sup>me</sup> et aÿ la +12<sup>me</sup> lestre elle aÿ de <em>consequense</em> le 30<sup>me</sup> et ay la 14<sup>me</sup> +lestre; j laÿ bong aussÿ de regarder si vous aves la 13<sup>me</sup> +lestre, je vous prie manques pas à me repondre ici desu, +vous pouves tous voir par la souite car je souis bien sure +que j’aÿ ette exacte saite fois ici. Vous seraÿ surpris de +me voire faire des reflextions pareilje, dans l’état aux je +souis, mes ma schere nous avons tant des malhors, qu’il +ne faux pas s’en faire sois maime; j’aÿ resu la vostre +daté le 26<sup>me</sup> mais vous saves quelle accidans m’ayt arrivé, +en prenan unne boutelje pour laustre, je vous laÿ mandé +dans mes presedantes je vois pourtang, dans vos daté +28<sup>me</sup> 29<sup>me</sup> et la 30<sup>me</sup> se que vous m’aves voulus dire +dans la 26<sup>me</sup>, j’ay unne joÿ tres grande de vous savoir, +hor <em>de crainte</em> et je me vos du mal d’aistre cause, de +vostre inquiettude, qui a contribué <em>beaucous a votre mal</em>; +presantements que vous aites <em>hor de crainte</em> j’aispaire +que <em>la fievre vous quitera aussi</em>; Que je vous plain +d’avoir tant soufer, <em>sis hors l’axaÿ</em> je ne comprans pas +comme <em>vous aves asay</em> de <em>forse</em> à <em>m’ecrire</em> éncor, je le +reconnaÿ comme je dois, et je souis persuadé que l’amour +vous, en rang; mes a quelle poin vous souige point +obligé pour se marque de vostre tendraisse, j’amais +j’obliraÿ des telles bonté. Si mes <em>lestres</em> avois assaÿ de +<em>forse</em> à <em>soulajer vos mos</em>; je feraÿs en sorte que vous +<em>en eusie</em>, tous <em>les hores</em>, mes je prans se compliment +pour un aiffaÿ de vostre bonté, sepandans je pos vous +jurer que les vostres me consolle beaucoup, et san les +trois derniés daté 28<sup>me</sup> 29<sup>me</sup> et 30<sup>me</sup> je seraÿ aux tombos +<span class='pageno' id='Page_476'>476</span>à lheur qui laÿ. Se seraÿ la plus grande sottise appraÿ +tous que je pouraÿ faire, car quois que cela seraÿ tendre, +je vous perdraÿ; et vous dite forbien dans unne des +vostre qu’elle desespoir de ne se poin voir pour jamais, +vivons dons énsembles, aimons nous éternellement et +jurong nous de nouvos, unne constance à ne jamais finir, +et qu’aparÿ le trepas si nous avon le sang, que cela dois +durer aussÿ; Pour vivre énsemble prenes tous les soins +imaginable, à vous <em>conserver</em>, sonjes que mon repos en +depans; Si vostre <em>mal continue</em>, j laÿ seure que je +deviendraÿ fous. La fievre rainje beaucoup ici, nous +avons praÿ de 200 malades, de nos troupes mes domestique +le devienne un appraÿ l’austre, j’aÿ etté obligé, +d’anvojer mon valaÿ de chambre à Zelle, les austres sont +à Lunenb: si cela continue, le tous viendra à moÿ aussÿ.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>17</h4> + +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<div class='c009'>Le 3<sup>me</sup></div> + +<p class='c001'>jaÿ pensé tumber en apoplexie can j’aÿ auver vostre +lestre, san voir vostre mains j’aispairaÿ d’attendre <em>que +vous vous porterie mieux</em>, et vous faite tous le contraire, +j’ay crus du comensemens, que <em>saitais fais avec vous</em> ne +croje pas que je souis fasché que cela ne soÿ de vostre +main, bien loin de la, je vous conjure de continuer, de la +sorte car je ne vos absoluments pas, que vous vous <em>fa .. ge</em>. +je vous plein autang q’un ... tendre aÿ passionée, +le pos faire, faut il que le plus parfaist objaÿ de l’univair +soufre <em>si cruellament</em>, Dieuxs pour quois aites vous si +injuste, mes mon coeur, je saÿ pourquois, <em>se malhor +tarrive</em>, pour me randre plus malhoros, le destein te <em>rang +mallade</em>, lon <em>te fais suffrir</em> pour me crucifier, L’on j +reusit car on pos pas, m’envojer un plus grans malhors +vous m’ordonnes de me poin <em>inquietter</em>, jl faudrois vous +gaire aimer, pour ne le pas aistre à la mors; je souis +a tous moments à <em>genous</em> faire <em>des veux</em> pour vostre +<span class='pageno' id='Page_477'>477</span>éntiere <em>retablissements</em>, je me flatte qua la fein on +aura pitié de mois, mes vos son tros devoste, pour ne +pas aistre éxhosé, Dieux volje que <em>cla sois bintos</em> que +vous seray <em>quite ... vos mos</em> et moÿ de mes <em>crain ... s</em> +et de mon <em>inquetude</em> avec qu’elle joÿ vous embrasserage, +can j’auraÿ selouis de vous voir je ne saÿ can +je le pouraÿs, mes mon dessien aÿ de <em>faire en sorte +comme si un acsai de fievre me prenais</em>, je diraÿ os bon +homme, que je vousdraÿ bien allé pour <em>tros jour</em> à 317 +pour éviter que la fievre n’aye poin de prise, sait a dire +prendre des remaides, aux Lieux de demorer à 317 je +<em>prandray la poste</em> et je <em>voleray</em> à <em>Celle</em>, je pourais aistre +<em>dos nuis avec vous</em> quelle joÿ qu’elle satisfaction je +pouraÿs aistre à vos pié les beinger de mes larmes, vous +voiraÿs dans qu’elle éttas pitojable, <em>votre mal ma mis</em>; +Mes je me flatte postaistre envein, car avan que je +pouraÿ <em>juer</em> se <em>role</em> jl faux premierements que le bon +homme se porte mieux ... depans encor de la fortunne +de la 9 ... je n’aÿ rien de bong à Esperer, La rage le +desespoir, le schagrein l’inquiettude la Passions, tous +ses schoses énsemble font un aifaÿ sur moÿ, que je souis +comme ses jans que lon voist à Amsterdam dans le +<span class="blackletter">Dulhaus</span>, Dieux sait qu’elle feins que cela auras; Les +maladie hogmante de jour en jour, mon vieux Lieute C: +et dos Lietenang le song devenus aujourdoÿ, je ne saÿ +comments j’an éschappe, sait un miracle car avec tous les +schagreins, qui m’abastes je le devraÿs avoir; adieux +mon Ange je ne pouis vous Mander davantage, l’expraÿ +qui m’a été envojé, du bon homme par, crojes que vous +aves un amang, qui prang tang de ... r à tous se qui +vous tousche que vous le ... ie faire vous maimes, j laÿ +seinsaire vous adore, et à autang de Respect pour vous +que qui que se soit; je merite toute vostre tendraisse, et +tous les soins oblijan que vous aves pour mois, si je ne +vous donne pas assaÿ d’assuranses, de ma passion, et de +<span class='pageno' id='Page_478'>478</span>ma fidelité, se n’aÿ pas ma fostre, saÿ que j’en aÿ pas +l’occasion; je vous annueraÿ avec mes protestations, car +je le repaiste dans tous mes lestres, je me flatte que vous +aite comme mois je ne les sauraÿ trop attendre et tous +vos lestres fusetelles ramplis daustre chose elles me seray +toujo ... ... reable et plus que comme si j liavois +rien.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>18</h4> +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<p class='c001'>Je suis bien aise, que vous aites unnefois contemps de +moÿ, mais jl me semble que cela vous rejouis poin car +vous me donne toujours des mattiere, à vous faire des +reprojes; et par la vous m’oté la joy d’aistre satisfait de +vous, vous vous plainjé que vostre passion vous trouble +vostre repos, je le vos croire mes saite passion vous tient +pas tang aux coeur, que vous retranjeraÿ les moindre +plaisirs pour cela, non non sait a moÿ a me blaindre, ma +passion me trouble poin solement, mais me desespaire, +Dieux comme je fie les éndrois aux je saÿ que les +divertissemens song, je vousdraÿ bien vous voir à +la Porte de Brusels, aux de Gens sans j maistre le +pie, plustos de faire cela vous m’abandonnerie, et dis +austre galang, vous trouve vostre conduite bonne, moÿ +aussÿ, mais je seraÿ hors deséspoir que la mienne ne fus +pas meljor je suis bien aise que vous ne s’ajé, tombé +malade, jen aurais etté inconsolable, quoÿ que je ne suis +poin contente de vous, vous aves étté contente de ma +lettre, j’en aÿ de la joÿ, vous j aves veus les santimens de +mon coeur, sans faintes; je vous remersie bien, humblement, +que vous me promaistes, de ne poin donner vostre +portraÿ, à la personne connue Pourquoÿ me flatté vous +tang dans vos lettres, can vous sonjes si pos a me tenir +vos promess, vous m’assurés que rien vous seras dificille +et que vous feraÿ tous pour me plaire, saÿ for bien dis +mes for mal tenus; helas vous me dite flattong nous le +<span class='pageno' id='Page_479'>479</span>temps nous poura randre horos, mais saschés que le temps +me rendra le plus malhoros de tous les hommes, je naÿ +poin la hardiesse à vous dire se que je saÿ deja, mais ma +chaire je crois, que lon moblijera a vous quiter, je ne pos +finir saite lettre, de schagrein, tristesse et collaire adieux, +ne me haijsé dumoin pas, car sur mon dieux je ne le +merite en fason du monde.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>19</h4> +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<div class='c009'><span class='small'>14<sup>me</sup>.</span></div> +<p class='c001'>Assurement san la vostre du 12<sup>me</sup> le Bastement de +Coeur que 127 m’avois causé, mauraÿt aschevé, mais +Pour mon bonhor, je laÿ resu dans le temps que mon +coeur allais craiver, et comme j’ÿ vois que sa nouvelle aÿ +traÿ fose, je commense aussi à me remaistre, jl me disaÿ +pour tres assuré, que <em>votre fievre</em> vous aves, <em>repris</em>, +assurement je n’auraÿ peus passer la nouit, avec saite +inquiettude san mourir, et alor que je vous écris, j’aÿ +encor lohs de la Raine d’hongrie sur le née, je crois +pourtang que cela se passera, je me san Pourtang alterré, +et éschofé, si cela se passe pas la nouit je me seinjeraÿ +pour prevenir le mal, qui pouraÿ m’en arriver; M. de +sporque Mourera selon tous les apparance encor aujourdouis, +j’aÿ 3 Captaine, 5 Lieutenans, et 4 Enseinges mal +à lamors, plus de 300, fantasein aÿ Dragons, de nos +troupes sol, son sur les dans, sait un air infecté, les plus +sain j deviene malade, toustefois je me flatte de ne le +poin devenir <em>vous saschang, hor daffaire</em>. Vous auraÿ +veus par ma lestre daté le 12<sup>me</sup> combien je souis contemps +de vous, ne prene pas mal que je vous aÿ prié de +me marquer dos mos par vostre main, je savois que vous +vous portié unpos mieux san cela je ne l’auraÿ pas fais, +mais mon incomparable coeur vous en faite tros, car +vous m’écrives dos foiljes éntieres, se que je vous prie +très instament de ne poin faire plus, ni plustos que vous +<span class='pageno' id='Page_480'>480</span>aites tout à fais bien. Le <em>sieje</em> de <em>Scharleroi</em> feras que +<em>Prince électoral</em> seras pas si tos ici, gran Dieux fais que se +<em>sieje</em> nous <em>delivre</em> des <em>faschos</em>. Lon dis pour sertein que les +affaires s’acomode, mais les ordres que lon donne pour +soinjer les malades, me fong trambler de pur, que nous quiteron +pas sitos se poste; je souis agité du maime desespoir +que vous, de passer ma vie avec des jans pour les quelles +j’aÿ unne aversion et de la passer si pos avec selle que +j’adore, sepandans vous aites plus à plaindre car je pos +forsouvang m’en dispensér, et vous poin, austre les +<em>embrasades</em> que vous aites obligé à essujer, jl me semble +si j’aÿtais obligé a soufrir la maime schose, je ne pouraÿ +m’énpescher de vosmir tous les fois que cela m’ariveraÿt, +ah qu’elle horor de <em>caraisser</em> se que lon hait mortellement, +je crois fortement que le pourgatoire ne donne +poin tans de tourments, que des pareiljes <em>caraisses</em>. si +j laÿ vraÿ que <em>Électeur de Hanovre</em> vas pas a 308, je +pouraÿ bein j venir, mes nous pouvons pas prendre +des mesures avang, que lon sasche, se que deviendra +<em>Prince électoral la Dujais d’Hanovre n’arrivera</em>, que +<em>ver la fein du mois</em> qui <em>vient</em> et allors <em>Prince électoral</em> +sera deja de retour, et les <em>schases</em> finÿ. Dieux volje +solement que nous les comension bientos, et que <em>vous</em> +fusies <em>en etas de vous rendre</em>. Je vous plains que vous +<em>aites</em> tan <em>maigri</em> mes (avec vostre permission) je trouve +redicule, et absourde, la question que vous me faite, si +je n’aimes en vous que vostre bosté je vous le pardonneraj +mes vous aites persuadé, que se n’aÿ pas solement +cela que j’adore, se son vos merites vostre humor, je +vous avoue que de vous voire belle cela aÿ scharmang +pour la veus, mes je vous proteste que fusie +vous laide comme Mad: Kopstein, je vous aimeraÿ pas +un brein de moin; du degous pour vous, ah postong +faire unne question pareile à selle ici, à un amang qui +vous aime tendrement, non non Leonis vous n’aite pas +<span class='pageno' id='Page_481'>481</span>persuadé de ma sainsaire passion, que fostil que je fasse +pour vous en bien conveincre je n’auraÿ du repos, que +j’usques à se que je sache que vous laite toust à fais; +croje vous q’unne passion pareilje à la mienne, saÿ +formée sur unne schose si passaschaire que la bosté, +quois que vous en aje beaucoup, et plus coqunne de +vostre sexe, je vous pos dire que se n’ay pas elles qui +ma mis dans l’estas aux je souis, j laÿ vraÿ que la Bosté +que vous possedé, mas énflame, et sans elles je n’auraÿ +postaire pas étté si huros que je souis, mes se qui ma +randu comme je souis saÿ vostre ésprit, vostre seinserité, +vos maniere de vivre, et a lafein saÿ saite ame si bien +née, et si juste, la quelle prodouit en vous unne dousor +non pareilje, unne jenerosité sans égale, de la Clemanse, +au dela de l’imagination, se son saÿs vertues qui mon +mis dans saite aimable Esclavage dans la qu’elle je me +fois à sait hors, et dans la quelle je pretans mourir aussÿ. +En verité Leonis vous me schagrines beaucoup, avec vos +questions, vous crainjes que je deviendrays invidelle à +la plus grande Boté du siecle, et à la vertue maime, pour +qu’elque gose de <em>preinsaises</em> qui n’aurong poin d’austre +merite que selle de <em>venir de Paris</em> encore unne fois, je vois +que tros que vous n’aite pas éncor bien persuadé de mon +amour, je me flatte qu’a la fein je vous en donneraÿ +tans de marques que vous n’en saurie plus douster. +Pour prendre des messures juste jl faux se parler, nous +avon du temps jusques à <em>la fein</em> du <em>moi</em> qui <em>viens</em> et avang +se temps nous avons point à craindre le <em>retour</em> de <em>Prince +électoral</em> et de <em>la Dujaiÿse</em> vous entames encor des <em>preinsai</em> +crojes vous postaitre que j’aime tans la nouvosté, le +schangementes, et les jans qui vienne de <em>Paris</em> comme +vous, vous vous trompes beaucoup, je porte mes schaines +avec beaucoup de plaisir, et je ne les janjeraÿ pas, pour +le Raujome du grand mogol. La lestre de la Lieutenan +Colonelle ay for sotte mes la personne aÿt assaÿ resonable, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_482'>482</span>elle à randus un for galant homme aux baÿ bas, de grande +Calité, fort amouros, jl sapelle le marquis de Spinosa, +saÿt un des galans de se paÿ la; mais pouis que je vous +aÿ énvojes unne tres sotte lestre, je le recompenseraÿs +par unne qui aÿ forbien écrit; si elle n’aitois écrit d’un +livre, on la doist, admirer particoulierement venan de +saite personne, mes sasche qu’elle se trouve mot en mot +dans un livre, sepandans elle ne laisse pas, que d’aistre +tourné assaÿ aprospos, je vous prie de me la ranvojé, je +vous l’envois parse que jè crois que cela vous divertiras +adieux.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>20</h4> +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<p class='c001'>je vois que le plaisir que je maitait fais à vous émbrasser +s’évanuit entieremens puisque l’incomode à paru +si brusquement, je vous avoue que se visaje m’a bien +deplus can je lay appersu, un cous de foudre m’auray +pas plus pus surprendre, mais jl faux qui lÿ aÿe toujor +des faschos visajes qui empesche, un doux éntretien +comme celuÿ que nous devien croir, selong tous épparance +devray aître, ouÿ j’an nay eus l’idé si remplis de +joÿ, que je naÿ pus dormir toute la nuit, mais helas tout +est vanuis, et il faux que je passe la seconde nuit sans +dormir, et avec du jagrein aux lieux que la premiere me +rejouissay, j laÿ sur qu’a moin que vous n’aje la bonté +de me consoler, je me beinjeray dans mes larmes, consolé +moy dong divine bosté, et soulajes un homme qui se +mor pour vous, et qui est si éntesté de vos merite que +la servelle luy en tourne.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c022'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Pour unné joué merveilje</div> + <div class='line in2'>je brule d’un fos si beaux</div> + <div class='line'>que ma raison ma conseilje</div> + <div class='line in2'>De l’aimer jusques aux tombos</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c023'>Voila ma maxime, et vous me le vairreraÿ éxecuter +éxactement, ma plus grande satexfaction seras de vous +<span class='pageno' id='Page_483'>483</span>montrer, que la mort sol est sollement capable d’éfasser +mon amour. mais pour l’amour de Dieux sonjes à la +divise, rien d’inpure mallume, adieux.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>21</h4> +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<div class='c009'><span class='small'>à 6 heurs.</span></div> + +<p class='c001'>je ne sauraÿ partir dici sans vous remersier, de +l’ambaras aux vous maves tiré, assurement j’aitois +un homme fricassé sans la conversation d’hier aux soir, +je pars aussi contemps, q’un homme qui laisse ce qui +addore, le pos faire, mais se qui me consolle, ces que +je suis bien persuadé de vôtre amitié, et que mon absance +me fais poin de tors, j’ay lame si reposé que je suis tout +autre que je naÿs étté; je vous prie, poin de tait à tet, +avec personne, particulierment avec M. R: je sauraÿ +tout, car j’ay des bons amÿ ici que vous soupsonne poin. +adieux Bella dea, sonjé autang à moy que je sonje à +vous, je vous émbrasse les jenous un million de fois, et +suis eternellement vôtre esclave.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>22</h4> + +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<div class='lg-container-r c034'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='small'>ce 25 aoust</span></div> + <div class='line'><span class='small'>4 septembre</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c001'>Je prens tant de plaisir a vous entretenir que dabord +que jai un moment de liberté je lemploȳe a vous assurer +de ma tendresse je vous aȳ escrit hier mais jl me semble +que ie ne vous aȳ pas assez marqué linquietude ou je +suis sur ce que vous me dites je nen aȳ pas dormi toute +la nuit j aȳ repassé toute mes actions et plus ie mexamine +et moins je deuine ce que vous pouuez auoir contre moi il +est seur que vous deuez estre content de ma conduite ma +passion la regle et cela suffit je vous conjure encore une +fois de me mander tout le plus tost que vous pourrez ce +que ce peut estre jl me sera fort aisé de me justifier +puis que ie naȳ jamais pense qua vous plaire et je vous +feraȳ auec plaisir tous les sermens les plus affreus sur +<span class='pageno' id='Page_484'>484</span>mon jnnocence mais je vous demande jnstamment de +me dire qui sont ceus qui vous disent de semblables +Calomnies jls ont sans doute leurs raisons pour nous +brouiller et selon toutes les aparences ils nen demeureront +pas la soȳez persuadé je vous en conjure que je suis +jncapable de rien faire qui vous déplaise mes manieres +vous lont fait voir jusques icȳ et jen feraȳ encore plus +a lauenir je suis au desespoir de ne pouuoir vous faire +connoistre au tant que ie le voudrois mon attachement +pour vous les occasions me manque et point la volonté +et je ne seraȳ point contente que ie naȳe fait voir a toute +la terre que vous me tenez lieu de grandeurs de plaisirs +et de tous les agremens du monde le seul que je souhaitte +est celuj de posseder vostre coeur je nen demande point +dautre et ce seul bonheur me rendra toujours tous les +autres jndifferens je suis persuadée que si jestois a han. +on me feroit bien des histoires de vous mais je me fie +trop a vous pour croire legerement ce que lon me +pourroit dire faites en de mesme et croȳez fortement +que rien nest capable de me faire changer je suis dans +un chagrin mortel on dit quil sest donné un combat +depuis peu et je ne saȳ encore ce qui en est je tremble +que vous ne vous exposiez sans necessité et quil ne +vous soit arriué quelque accident conseruez vous je +vous en conjure sil vous reste encore quelque tendresse +moȳ que deuiendrois je si japrenois que vous fussiez +blessé ie croȳ que ien mourois.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>23</h4> +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<div class='lg-container-r c034'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='small'>ce 2 septembre</span></div> + <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>12</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c001'>Il estoit si tard quand ie vous aȳ escrit que ie naj +peu repondre a tout ce que uous me dites jaȳ releu +plusieurs fois vostre lettre cest un mélange de tendresse +et dairs railleurs que ie trouue fort plaisant et jl me +parroist quelque mine que uous fassiez que mon uoȳage +<span class='pageno' id='Page_485'>485</span>ne uous plaist point uous auez cependant tous les torts du +monde car selon toutes les aparances ie repartiraj dicȳ +sans auoir ueu une personne raisonable et je le souhaitte +de tout mon coeur. Je ne croȳ pas aller a la foire de +jllifrancjllifortjlli et ie ne dirai pas un mot pour ȳ contribuer +il me semble que cela uous doit persuader que ie ne +cherche pas le monde et que ie suis jncapable de songer +aus plaisirs quand ie ne uous uoȳ point jespere partir +dicȳ en quinze jours le peda. a pris aujourdhui cette +resolution ie men retourne auec elle trouuer le grondeur +et je me rendrai à Han. un peu auant le retour du +Reformeur ie ne saurois encore uous dire rien de positif +pour ce qui regarde le <em>jlligörjlli</em> ie ne croj pourtant pas +ȳ aller car la saison sera trop auancée pour que le +Reformeur en puisse estre et je me flatte pourueu que +rien ne vous retienne ou vous estes que ie pourraȳ vous +voir bientost je jugerai de uostre tendresse par uostre +empressement mais je uous conjure de prendre si bien +uos mesures que ie uous uoje en particulier la premiere +fois. Jl me seroit jmpossible de soustenir uostre ueue en +public et mon transport me trahiroit, on dit que les +françois pourroient nous enleuer aisément cela fait que +ie souhaitte fort de men aller car je naȳmerois point du +tout a estre prise et ie ueus uous conseruer uostre conqueste +je suis charmée de uostre Careme et je uous en +fais tous les remerciemens que uous meritez jen suis +surprise et je ne mȳ attendois point cest en quoi la chose +est plus obligeante jl nȳ a point de sentinelle au monde +que uous deuiez craindre et le prisonnier doit Conter sur +la prison qui sera toujours ouuerte pour luý et fermée +pour toute la terre cest dequoi ie uous réponds et dune +passion qui seruira dexemple ie ueus uous en persuader +malgré que uous en aȳez et que ie ne trouue de bonheur +nÿ de satisfaction qua vous aimer et la Estre aimée uous +me paroissez si peu seur de cette uerité que ien suis +<span class='pageno' id='Page_486'>486</span>sensiblement touchée dites moÿ ce quil faut faire pour +que uous nen puissiez plus douter il nȳ a rien que ie ne +fasse auec joȳe pour vous faire uoir que vous me tenez +lieu de toutes choses et que tous mes desirs et mon +ambition sont bornez a uous plaire sil ne faut que cela +pour vous rendre heureus vous lestes plus que personne +du monde car ie ne ueus viure que pour uous seul et ie +renonce auec plaisir a toute la terre pour nestre jamais +qua uous.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>24</h4> +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<div class='lg-container-r c034'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='small'>ce 13 septembre</span></div> + <div class='line in2'><span class='small'>23</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c001'>au lieu de lextresme plaisir que me donnent toutes +uos lettres celle que Jaý receue ce soir ma percé le cœur +Lon ne peut rien jmaginer de plus offensant que ce que +uous mescriuez ie ne le repeteraȳ point ie croȳ que uous +uous en souuiendrez bien encore et ie donnerois tout au +monde pour pouuoir loublier par quel endroit de ma uie +aȳ je peu meriter lopinion que uous me tesmoignez auoir +de moȳ si ie croyois ȳ auvoir donné Lieu ie uoudrois estre +morte mais plus ie mexamine et plus ie me trouve esloignée +de pareils sentimens et graces a dieu je me sens +le coeur aussi noble que ie le dois auoir ie ne ueus plus +uous rien dire sur ce suiet ie pourrois me facher et ie +hais fort laigreur mais pour repondre aus quatre points +qui uous ȳ tiennent si fort ie suis bien trompée si ie ne +uous aȳ mandé ȳ que jliisparrjllii a esté a L. et si je ne +laȳ point fait cest assurément par oublȳ et par ce +que ie naȳ pas trouué quil ualust la peine que ie me +souuinsse de luj. je puis uous faire tous les sermens +quil uous plaira quil nȳ a aucune raison que celle la et +de plus ie ne luj aÿ pas dit deus mots pour la joye que +uous me reprochez dauoir eue de trouuer jliiguljlljdenjllyleujlii +icȳ ie ne uous ȳ repondrez point car cest une +<span class='pageno' id='Page_487'>487</span>opinion ridicule, et rien au monde n’est si mal jmaginé a +lesgard de la foire ie uous assure que ie naȳ pas dit un +mot pour ȳ aller mais comme ie suis de bonne foȳ ie ueus +bien uous <span class='under'>’auouer</span> et pour +mon nouuel amant uous estes fou de uous jnquieter pour +luj car jl est loin dicȳ et selon toutes les aparences ie ne +le uerraȳ point et ses soeurs nȳ personne du monde +ne me feront jamais faire aucune demarche contre la +tendresse dont jaȳ le coeur si rempli ie uous aȳ déia +mandé que ie suis persuadée quil ne uiendra point a +han. mais si cela arriuoit pourueu que ie sois plus contente +de uous que ie ne la suis ce soir ie brutaliseraȳ +plustost que de soufrir ces uisites ie suis bien sotte de +uous rendre raison sur toutes uos uisions uous qui en auez +peu sur tout ce qui me regarde et qui mauez desesperée +par uos tre belle lettre jl est uraȳ que uous uoulez +ensuitte reparer uostre faute mais cela ne suffit point et +ie ne suis pas contente car ie ueus uostre estime et uous +ne temoignez pas en auoir pour moȳ, la Confidente en a +receu hier une de laimé jlliketjllilerjlli qui lui escrit par +lordre du jlljlandjlljgrajlliuejlli pour faire ses complimens +a Leonisse puis que uous uoulez lappeller ainsi +et pour lassurer quil fera son possible pour la uoir icȳ ou +a la foire ie ne croȳ pourtant pas que cela se puisse par +ce que nous partons demain et lon nȳ sera quun seul jour +ie uous escriraȳ dabor, que ie seraȳ arriuée et ie uous +rendrai un conte sincere et fidelle de tout ie ne uous +diraj rien de tendre pour ce soir car uous ne le meritez +point ie crains bien que ie nauraj pas la mesme force +demain et que ie ne me souuiendrai plus de ma colere +car Jai furieusement du tendre pour uous et quoi que ie +ne uous le dise point ie sens bien que ie uous aime auec +une passion qui neut iamais desgale.</p> +</div> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_488'>488</span> + <h4 class='c029'>25</h4> +</div> + +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> + +<div class='c009'><span class='small'>fra ce 14/24</span></div> + +<p class='c001'>je suis ici depuis deus heures le peda. a esté descendre +chez la p. jllitajllirenjllitejlli ou ie naý ueu que de soste +figures de la nous auons esté a la foire ou ie naý pas ueu +une personne de qualité la Marionette est icȳ et sa belle +soeur ie ne les uerraȳ que demain dont ie suis bien aise +car ie pourraȳ me reposer dont jaȳ grand besoin naȳant +pas fermé loeil toute la nuit un aȳ passé la moitié a uous +escrire et lautre a me chagriner sur ce bel endroit de +uostre lettre, ie nous prie bien fort de ne me plus donner +de pareils suiets dennuý car ie suis fort delicate sur le +chapitre dont il est question hors ce uilain endroit que ie +ne saurois oublier et qui gaste tout uostre lettre est charmante +et rien nest si dous que tout ce que uous me dites. +raccomodez cette affaire si uous uoulez estre bien auec +moȳ car elle me tient fort au coeur le mien est si rempli +de uous que quoi que jaȳe suiet de men plaindre ie ne +saurois mempecher de uous dire que ie me suis faite une +uiolence horrible hier au soir pour ne uous point parler +de ma tendresse jamais on nen a tant eu et jamais lon a +moin merité de reproches que ie le fais uous estes le +plus jnjuste de tous les hommes dauoir la moindre +défiance sur ce qui me regarde je suis trop ueritablement +auous pour que uous aȳez rien a craindre toute mes +actions uous en persuaderont car jl est certain que ma +passion pour uous ua jusqua lexces je uous conjure destre +bien persuadé de cette uerité et quil nȳ a rien au +monde que ie ne fasse pour uous faire uoir que ie suis +plus a uous qua moi mesme iespere que ie ne uerraȳ nȳ +le Land. nȳ personne et ie le souhaitte de tout mon +coeur si uous trouuez quelque chose qui ne nous plaise +point dans ce que ie uous aȳ escrit hier nen accusez que +le dépit ou uous mauez mise. Il a esté jusqua me faire +<span class='pageno' id='Page_489'>489</span>pleurer et tous les charmes de vostre lettre nont peu me +faire pardonner larticle ofensant soȳez en repos sur ma +conduite elle sera diuine ie uous en repons et pour le +Riual.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>26</h4> +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<p class='c001'>au nom de dieu menagez vous ma uie est unie a la +vostre jl me vient mille pensée desesperante dans lesprit +et je suis accablée de douleur jaurois peine a vous parler +dautre chose jaȳ tout loisir de nourrir mon chagrin et je +suis auec une veritable joȳe dans cette solitude Jai oublié +hier a vous rendre graces de ce que vous me dites au +suiet de la boule rien nest si obligeant je consens a cette +condition quelle deuienne ma riuale car je vous auoue +que jaime le triomphe et quil est fort de mon goust adieu +rien nest capable de me faire changer ie suis née pour +vous aimer vous estes ma seule passion je nen aȳ jamais +en auant de vous Connoistre et je mourraȳ en vous +aȳmant plus que lon na jamais aime.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>27</h4> +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<div class='c009'><span class='small'>mecredi 24.</span></div> + +<p class='c001'>Il faut vous rendre conte de ce que jaȳ fait hier jai esté +tout le jour seule il est venu un envoȳé du maistre de ce +lieu faire compliment au peda. il sest si fort embarassé +dans sa harangue que iaȳ eu peine a mempecher den rire +jl en a fait un aussi au coeur gauche et sen est allé +dabord lon sest promené a pied au retour lon a soupé et +je me suis entretenue auec la Confidente cest le seul +plaisir que jaȳe car nous parlons toujours de vous.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>28</h4> + +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<p class='c001'>Quo que je vous aÿ ecrit hier aux soir je ne pos +m’empescher, de vous dire que j’aÿ passé la plus +meschante nuit du monde, j’ay sonjé a vous mais je +vous aÿ veus infidelle, voila le sonje, il me semblais, que +<span class='pageno' id='Page_490'>490</span>je vous avois prie de ne poin voir un sertain grant +homme, et que malgre vos promesse vous lavie fais +entré ché vous pour luÿ dire adieux, j’en fus avertis, ne +pouvan énduré cette infidelité, je feinjis d’avoir une +lettre de Mad: vot̂re maire pour vous donner j’entraÿ +prusquement dans vostre schambre, et je vis le spectacle +le plus affros du monde, ces grans M. vous tenais +émbrassé, et que pis aÿ, vous aitié sol dans vostre +schambre. vous faisie unpos la vasché contre vostre +adonus en luÿ disant qui laitois impertinent, je voulus +aussi me retire mais vous m’apellaté, je fus ravis de cela +parce que cela me donna lieux de vous dire en oreilje +que vous aitié la plus ingrate de tous les dames, et que +ce seraÿ la dernierefois que je vous parleraÿ, en +éffaÿ je fus trouver M. de Pude, pour luÿ prier de +m’envojer en Hongrie, ce qu’il fit. je vous demande +pardong du sonje criminel, mais je me croirais bien plus +criminel si je vous en avertissaÿ poin, ne croje pas que +je l’invante non j lay surmondieux vraÿ, pourlamour de +tous ce qui vous aÿ le plus schaire, aje soin de me +fortifier l’esprit, et tiremoÿ de ma crainte, j’ay por que +ce sonje saÿ qu’elque pressage funeste, et qui ne vos dire +rien de bong. Il seraÿ injuste q’un tendre amour +m’attiras des infidellites, je ne l’éspaire pas car pourquoÿ +voudrievous abandonner un coeur qui vous adore, et qui +vous jure de vous aistre fidelle, si des telles vos vous +pove attascher uniquemens à moÿ, je vous proteste devan +Dieux, que jamais je vous serraÿ infidelle, et que je vous +aimeray toute ma vie avec la maime passion que je fais +astor. Can j’auray l’honnor de vous éntretenir de la +debeausche faite hier vous riraÿ bien, la baronne si aÿ +sinjales et les grande barbe suedoise, on faite le meljor +... du monde, elle a tens aites fro ... os que la +planjer de song tei ... turel, à commensé à paraistre se +qui à fais le plus plaisans spectacle de monde; Elle +<span class='pageno' id='Page_491'>491</span>ma demande pourquoÿ je me divertissaÿ poin je luÿ +respondis que j’aitois venus faire ma cour à M. Bil. et +non pour me divertir, en me quitans elle ma donné le +non de traiter, surquoÿ je louÿ ai repliqué, que je ne +laistas pas encor mais que je le pouraÿ bien devenir. +M. le Duck, a joué à l’homber hier au soir sches Elle, +voila le Diable, je finiraÿ en vous prians de vous preparer +à me tirer de l’inquiettudes aux je suis, et de me croire, +inviolablement attasches à vous et à tous sos qui vous +regarde, je vous émbrasse de tous mon coeur, et je paise +un milion defois vostre portrais, adieux.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>29</h4> + +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<p class='c001'>venes sur un vendredis au soir ici, et attandes que +l’Elector vient ici, si lon oste pas <em>Prince Max</em> vous vous +pouves retourner, et cela vous servira de pretexte aupraÿ +<em>Duc de Celle</em> et <em>Prince électoral</em> mande mois si vous +agrees, ma pense, si vous le pouves faire faite que je +vous vois car franjement je ne puis plus vivre de la sorte, +pour la mour de mois de vous faite que je vous vois +et que je vous embrasse, car san saite satisfaction la +vie may rien.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>30</h4> + +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<p class='c001'>La joÿ de voir le Ref: partÿ a étté interrompu par le +schagrein de vous voir malade, j’aispaire pourtang que +cela ne sera pas grans schose, car san cela je n’en pouraÿ +dormir toute la nouit, j’aispaire a vous émbrasser demain +aux soir, j’attemps le sinjal ordinaire, et le meschang +temps m’enpescheras pas de gouter du plaisir, de vos +scharmantes émbrassades, amoin que vous me l’ordonnié +austrement je me flatte du contraire et j’aispaire que +vostre émpressement reponderas aux mien; si vous ne +sorte pas demain, sisi souffira pour vous assuré que les +momens me durerong des siecles, et que le temps que je +suis éloinjé de vous sont sos que je posse inutilement +<span class='pageno' id='Page_492'>492</span>dans le monde et que je suis prait a venir demain aux +lieux connus, j’áttemps le sinjal et je suis vostre tres-obeissant +valet.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>31</h4> + +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<p class='c001'>Lon ne pos aistre plus contemps de vous que je le suis +vos mamire obligante d’hiair, vostre tres-schere lestre, +enfein tous me scharme, je commense à revivre, et la +journé d’hiaire et unne de sos quil fos que je marque dans +mon livre; pour bien en profiter je vous prie que je vous +vois se soir, j’attendraÿ le sinjal avec bien de l’impatiance +car je mor d’anvie de vous temoinger ma joÿ elle ait +axsaissive, et ne se post exprimer, pour lamour de vous +de moÿ, et de tous se qui vous aÿ schaire, continue <em>de la</em> +sorte, vous pouraÿ allors me persuader que je n’aÿ rien à +craindre, que je seraÿ toujour horos et contemps, voila le +plaisir de l’amour, son la les scharmes d’un attaschement +seinsaire et veritable; L’avos du Grond: me donne encor +beaucoup d’ésperanse tasché de l’attendrir, vous le pouraÿ +si vous voules, mais il faux vous j appliquer, et bien +prendre vostre temps saye avec cela persuadé, que si le +siel me destinne le bonhor de vous posseder, que j’auraÿ +les maniere tous austre, que vous vous les immaginée, et +je vous jure que je le regleraÿ sur les vostre, ajouté fois +a set avos car j laÿ seinsaire et par d’un amme san fosseté, +et san finesse; Comme le temps aÿ bos je me flatte +à vous voir a la volerie, j’aispaire de vous j trouver tendre, +et contemps adieux jusque la, vous me diraÿ bien un petit +mos, du quel je pos voir que vous accorde ma priaire.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>32</h4> +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<div class='c009'><span class='small'>le 2<sup>me</sup></span></div> + +<p class='c001'>Vous me faite mourir can vous faite des complimens, +parseque vous ne me reponde poin sur tous les poin des +miennes je vous aÿ prié de ne poin écrire de tous, et à +me fair solement savoir par <em>Mlle. von dem Knesebeck +<span class='pageno' id='Page_493'>493</span>l’etas de votre santé</em> je le repaite éncor ici, et vous +conjure de ne le poin faire si cela vous donne la +moindre fatigue, jl soufit pourvos que vous me +marques dos mos, affein que je voje saite devinne +écriture la quelle aÿ capable a bannir tous les craintes que +je me forme. La resolution que je dois prendre selong +l’avis de tous mes amis, me mait à l’hasar, que can +<em>joray quité</em>, je feraÿ resonner tous le monde, et postaistre +me feraitong dire par un troisiemme, que <em>lon souhaite</em>, que +<em>je me retire</em>, que deviendrage allors, crojé moy quil fos +penser a toust avan que de prandre unne ferme resolution, +la schose m’aÿ de tros grande consequence; <em>Duc de +Hanovre</em> trouvera mille jans comme <em>Königsmarck</em> mais je +me flate que <em>Princesse héréditaire</em> n’én trouveras jamais +qui sois si fidelle, et que aime avec plus d’ardor que moÿ, +L’exaÿ de ma passion vas à la follie, helas ma très schaire +vous merites bien d’autres que <em>Königsmarck</em>, je souis tres +persuadé que si lon vous devraÿ avoir donné un galang +selong vos merite, je n’auraÿ pas eus le bonhor d’aistre +vostre Esclave, mais si qu’elcun d’unné passion Extraordinaire +d’une constanse sans Egalle auraÿ dus aistre +vostre galang j lay juste que se soÿ mois, car je le +desputeraÿs non pas oh Mortels, mais aux dieux maime, +et je leur defie d’en faire un qui m’égalise; Que les +sermans on daifaÿ cant on aÿ dans l’estas, <em>aux vous aites</em>, +jamais je naÿs etté plus contemps de vous, jamais je vous +aÿ plus crus, qu’a presang, vous m’aimeraÿ dong toujour +jan pos aistre assuré, car vous me iuré que tan que je +vous aimeraÿ, vous feraÿ demaime je vous aimeraÿ touste +ma vie, et vous me jures la maime schose, que poje plus +pretandre, tous mes vos sont éxhausé, je souis l’homme +du monde le plus horos; <em>gerisse</em> vous, et je pos aistre aux +comble de may joÿ, je souis poin contemps, que vous +preferais á m’ecrire, plus qu’a prendre du repos, je vous +conjure sonjes à <em>prendre vostre repos</em>, et pouis à vostre +<span class='pageno' id='Page_494'>494</span><em>amang</em>. Que je vos du mal à vostre coeur, de son mauvaÿ +gous, vous quiter pour venir sché moÿ, jl ne connais pas +la diferance, laisse cela aux mien, jl faux pas schanger en +mal mes en bien. Vostre resit me fait tramblé, et je crains +que <em>la fievre</em> laustre <em>accidans</em> ne vous <em>abate tang</em> que vous +<em>ne saurie vous remaitre si tos</em>. je ne saÿ mon coeur me dis +que vous <em>aite hor de danje</em> je naÿ plus tans d’inquiettude +que j’aÿ eus du comensements, je pran cela pour un traÿ +bon sienge, dumoin je m’én flatte et je souhaite ardaments +que cela soit einsÿ, j’espaire que mes vos sont éxhausé, et +qu’a lor qui laÿ vous vous <em>portes mieux</em>. La resolution +que vous aves prisse, de prandre <em>se que je vous avois +laise</em> aÿ <em>grande</em>, je vous avoue que si je l’avois seus auparavang, +j’an auraÿ tramblé, mais comme toust aÿ bien +allé, je souis enrepos, j lia que le schagrein, <em>daitre caus</em> +que vous <em>soufres bien plus</em> et si vous vous <em>trouvie astor +plus mal</em> je serais inconsolable. je souis obligé d’avouer que +les marques de vostre tendraise surpasse à presan beaucoup +les miennes rien nay si touschang, que se que vous +m’écrives ... de <em>devenir malade</em> je ne trouveraÿ pas +<em>locasiong</em> à vous faire voire combien de tendraisse j’aÿ +pour vous. Atil possible que <em>Duc de Hanovre</em> soit +assaÿ <em>baite de vous avoir refuser la pose</em> je feray plustos, +mourir 20 <em>feltmarescho</em> que de <em>refuser</em> unne fois à +<em>Princesse héréditaire</em> pareilje schose. Quois que <em>Prince +héréditaire</em> ne <em>revienne</em> pas si tos et sur les ordres que lon +avois devulgué con avois envojé, nous somme pourtang +<em>deja dans le mois</em> de <em>septembre et la campanjeay bintos +finnis</em> faite reflextion la desu adieux.</p> +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>33</h4> +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<p class='c001'>se tienne à 8 heure du soir aupres la porte de la grande +salle, aux la Pr: à cutume de jouer, jla poura recevoir +la en toute sureté, puisque personne j passe, Demain +éstang le Dimange.</p> +</div> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_495'>495</span> + <h4 class='c029'>34</h4> +</div> +<div class='c000'></div> +<div class='quote' lang='fr'> +<p class='c001'>j lÿ sera à leur sudite ne doute pas de sa fidellite. +Adieux inconparable Deesse je vous donne le bonsoir, +et souhaite que vous sonjé autang à moy comme je fais +à vous, appres avoir relus éncor une fois votre lettre, je +m’endormiray, avec <a id='note495.6'></a><a href='#n_495.6'><ins class='correction'>l’esperane</ins></a> de songer d’autre schose +que de vous. je vous émbrasse un Million de fois, et +suis votre tres-obeissant ser.</p> +</div> + +<h3 class='c024'>CORRESPONDENCE OF SOPHIA DOROTHEA <br> AND COUNT KÖNIGSMARCK</h3> + +<h4 class='c029'>F 3 <br> [<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> + +<div class='quote'> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>[<i>Spring of 1692.</i>]</span></div> + +<p class='c032'>What sufferings one has to bear when it is necessary +to separate from you! All the torments in the world +cannot cause such suffering! But I recover from my +trouble, since you are of opinion that I ought not to have +any feeling of jealousy. I must avow to you that it is +difficult to feel none when one is far away from the object +one adores. But, my angel, you have made me so many +promises of behaving well that I place confidence in you; +and I can assure you that at the present moment I am +free from jealousy, but not without feeling troubled; +and your departure troubles me more than ever. I +cannot understand what is to become of me in the end; +I well know that I cannot always be in sight of you, and +yet I feel [only] too much that I cannot separate from +<span class='pageno' id='Page_496'>496</span>you. See in what condition your beautiful eyes have +put me. I send you a copy of the letter of which I spoke +to you, word for word like the original; and I ask your +pardon for the scrawling hand of which I have made use; +I had it copied by my page, who does not know what he +writes.</p> + +<p class='c001'>M. Gor brought me a complimentary message from +the Duchess of Eisenach;<a id='r197'></a><a href='#f197' class='c008'><sup>[197]</sup></a> she sent word to me that, +though I had avoided speaking to her, she would show +that she takes more thought of me than I take of her. +I will swear to you that not only did this compliment +give me no pleasure, but, on the contrary, it vexes me +that she ordered it to be delivered to me. I have not +left my room all to-day, and I think that I shall do +the same thing to-morrow. Let me know, by way of +consolation, how you are faring and when you will +return. I shall die with vexation and trouble if I do +not see you soon. Good-bye, my beloved heart; think +of your faithful lover, and do not forget him [?] among +all this crowd of people. Once more, adieu!</p> + +<div class='c009'><i>Thursday, at 12 o’clock after midnight.</i></div> + +<p class='c001'>My pain in the chest continues, but I have had no +fever....</p> + +</div> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_497'>497</span> + <h4 class='c029'>F 6 <br>[<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> +</div> +<div class='quote'> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'><i>Sunday [Spring of 1692].</i></span></div> + +<p class='c032'>Yes, Madam, I will suffer for your sake, as you command +me to do so; but when shall I be fortunate enough to +find myself at the point to which I aspire—I mean in +your arms? But when shall I have this satisfaction? +I lose all hope, for in the way in which things go on, I +cannot flatter myself that it will come about. My mind +gives way over it all, and, if I write to you without +rime or reason, do not find fault with me on that account—it +is [because of] the despair to which I find myself +reduced. If you disbelieve me, I beg you to look at +these [gray] hairs which I had pulled out of my head +this morning: I cannot declare to you that they turned +last night; but I can swear to you that a week ago I had +none. Believe me that my despair is great, and that +my trouble is extreme. I stay on for the love of you; I +risk honour, reputation, and ambition; for, since I do +not join in the campaign, what will they say of me; and +why do I risk this, without seeing you after all? I have +reached this extremity that I must either conquer [?] +or die. Use therefore your force [influence] with the +<span lang="fr"><i>Gro[ndeur]</i></span>; it is he who alone can save us, and I +call this to conquer. I absolutely must have your +commands as to what I am to do. To stay on in this way +at Han[over] is out of the question; for after three +weeks you will go [away] with the <span lang="fr"><i>Gron[deur]</i></span>. What +shall I then do in a place from which you are absent? +I beg you to reflect on that, and after that give your +commands; I am ready to show you by my obedience +that my love does not listen to reason. You see to what +state you have reduced me, for I sacrifice to you my +<span class='pageno' id='Page_498'>498</span>ambition, which is the single thing that up to this +time I had preserved. See to what length my passion +goes; judge in what state I find myself; do not +ruin me utterly—be more ambitious than I am, and +encourage a lover who no longer has any [ambition]! +You would pity me if you quite understood the troubles +that oppress me. I see clearly that it is your trouble +which is killing me; for although we actually are +together we never have anything but trouble; and +this is an ill beyond cure. The only consolation is to +play [cards] with you; but the pleasure of looking at +you is never allowed me; for at one time the <span lang="de"><i>Schwartz +gesicht</i></span> [black face], at another the Innocent One, at +another some one else among the maids [of honour], +comes to watch us. All this is enough to make me +die of it. Console me, I entreat you, or I shall despair; +and my despair may drive me to seek remedies unworthy +of a man of honour. You wait for me, +certainly; but, Madam, when one is in the Labyrinth +as I am, honour and trust come to an end. It is +well to come to a close, or I shall be still more +enraged.</p> + +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>F 1 <br>[<span class='sc'>From Sophia Dorothea to Königsmarck</span>]</h4> +<div class='quote'> + +<div class='lg-container-r c035'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='small'>On the Brockhausen journey.<a id='r198'></a><a href='#f198' class='c008'><sup>[198]</sup></a></span></div> + <div class='line in9'><span class='small'><i>Tuesday [1 June 1692].</i></span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c032'>The Hereditary Princess is very impatient to know +whether Königsmarck has arrived safely. Many things +<span class='pageno' id='Page_499'>499</span>have happened which the Hereditary Princess has +written on a quite clean half-sheet. I cannot console +myself for having lost Königsmarck so soon; this +makes his absence a thousand times harder to bear. +I am worn out to the point of being unable to +keep up any longer. The excess of enjoyment and +the sorrow at seeing no more what I love reduce me +to this condition. How hard it is to take oneself away +from you! You are the most amiable of men. The +more one sees you the more charm one finds in you. +How happy I am to be loved by you, and how well I know +all my happiness! All my bliss depends on the continuance +of this tender affection. If I am deprived of it, +I no longer wish to live. You take the place of everything +else for me, and I care nothing for the whole of the +world besides. I wish that you may be as pleased with +me as I am with you. You have enchanted me, and I +feel fonder of you than ever. Be you the same, and +nothing will be wanting to my happiness. I need not +tell you that all the actions of my life shall declare my +attachment to you; for you must be convinced of this, +and time will show you that I do not wish to live except +for you. The Hereditary Princess leaves to-morrow.</p> + +<p class='c001'>I have instructed 220 to send me your letter by [way +of] Nienb[urg].</p> + +</div> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_500'>500</span> + <h4 class='c029'>F 2 <br>[<span class='sc'>From Sophia Dorothea to Königsmarck</span>]</h4> +</div> + +<div class='quote'> + +<div class='lg-container-r c035'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in13'><span class='small'>Brockhausen,</span></div> + <div class='line'><span class='small'><i>Thursday, June 22nd {1692}</i>.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c032'>The Hereditary Princess arrived yesterday evening. She +is pleased with the Duchess of Celle. I have no doubt +but that she will do everything that one wishes. The +Duke of Celle is far more difficult [to manage]. I have +as yet heard nothing of you, which makes me very sad. +I flatter myself, however, that nothing has happened, +inasmuch as I have heard nothing. The Duke of +Hanover goes on Monday to Hanover. This resolution +was taken yesterday; if I had known it sooner, I should +not have started, and I might have been able to see you +for some days more. I am convinced that he waited +on purpose, and this truly vexes me; for I hate worse +than death whatever seeks to separate me from you. It +is a great unhappiness to have to pass one’s life as I now +pass mine. I cannot, however, see the end of my woes. +Yesterday I had a thousand thoughts in the chaise which +drove me into despair. I could not think of waiting a +whole month before seeing you without mortal grief; +all the measures which I must take ... me. I cannot +do without you; I do not care to see anybody in the world +except you; yet I do not see you; and at every moment +I have to be deprived of [the sight of you]. I can no +longer exist in this constraint, it drives me to despair; +my passion increases day by day; I do not know what +you have done to me, but you bewitched me the last +time that I saw you, and I have never loved you with so +much ardour as I do. It is certain that you will [completely] +turn my head. Yesterday I wrote a song, +and this makes it clear to me that love works miracles. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_501'>501</span>I cannot keep myself from telling you my song; it goes +to the air ‘<span lang="fr"><cite>Dans mon malheur</cite></span>’:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c022'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Without my ... I loathe all company:<a id='r199'></a><a href='#f199' class='c008'><sup>[199]</sup></a></div> + <div class='line'>He is my only bliss, my sole content,</div> + <div class='line'>The one enchantment of this life to me,</div> + <div class='line'>On whom the wishes of my heart are spent.’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c023'>It is my heart and nothing else that speaks; I hope that +I shall go further, and as time goes on I shall be able to +prove it to you. The Duke of Celle [or the Hereditary +Prince]<a href='#f199' class='c008'><sup>[199]</sup></a> goes on Tuesday to Celle; for this reason +do not write to me any more lest I be not there [?]. +The Duchess of Celle has promised 2000 dollars if the +Hereditary Prince does not return; this redoubles my +friendship. The Hereditary Princess spoke yesterday +at Luisburg<a id='r200'></a><a href='#f200' class='c008'><sup>[200]</sup></a> to 110; he sought for an opportunity for +it. It was to exhort him not to give any chance to his +enemies, and above all to be on his guard against +Countess Platen. The Hereditary Princess begged him +particularly to let her know about anything which +concerned her. He promised her to do so. I am not +aware whether all this does not concern Königsmarck. +I cannot speak to you except about the grief which it is to +me to be so far away from you. Do not console yourself +for my absence, I entreat you, and have no enjoyment +when I am not with you. Great God, what a charm and +what a delight to be always with you; the more one sees +you, the more one finds you superior to all men in the +world. I occupy my whole time with the charming remembrance +of the last time when I saw you; it will never quit +my memory. Ah, my dear child, how tenderly you are +loved, and how insupportable it is to me not to see you! +<span class='pageno' id='Page_502'>502</span>I am about to go to bed; I hope that my dreams will +figure you to me as charming as you are. If I did not +think I should see you while asleep, I should not care to +sleep at all; for as soon as I am awake you take up all +my thoughts, and there is nothing that is pleasant to me +in my life but the time which I pass in thinking of you. +Good-night, most amiable of men; you are adored by +me, and so you will be all my life. Good-bye, once more—why +am I not in your arms?—I shall die of this!</p> + +</div> + +<p class='c001'>On Wednesday the Hereditary Princess appeared at +table and spoke to 110, then to the Field-Ma[rshal].<a id='r201'></a><a href='#f201' class='c008'><sup>[201]</sup></a> +She arrived late. Prince Max received her and shook +hands with her; she said very little to him. The +Duke of Celle came into the room; Prince Max did +not come in at all; the Duchess of Celle had gone to +bring her in, and came back late for she did not find the +Hereditary Princess. Supper was afterwards served. +The Hereditary Princess, the Duchess of Celle, and the +Duke of Celle, were together, quite by themselves. +The Duchess of Celle took the Hereditary Princess to +her rooms, and nobody entered them.</p> + +<h4 class='c029'>F 12 <br> <br>[<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea.</span>]</h4> + +<div class='c000'></div> +<p class='rgt'><span class='multiline multir'><span class='under'>The 3<i>rd</i></span><br> 23<i>rd</i><a id='r202'></a><a href='#f202' class='c008'><sup>[202]</sup></a> [1692?]</span></p> +<p class='c032'>My Mistresses are supposed to have prevented me from +thinking of you? God, is it possible that you should +<span class='pageno' id='Page_503'>503</span>believe this; and, even had I not written to you about +everything (though this is letter No. 4) you ought never +to have harboured such a thought. Is it possible that +you should believe that I love anyone but yourself? No, +I protest to you that after you I shall never love again. +It will not be very difficult to keep my promise, for after +one has adored you is it possible to think any other +woman pretty? You wrong yourself by believing such +a thing; and how could you draw a comparison between +yourself and the others; and is it possible that after +having loved a Goddess, one could bestow a look upon +Mortals? No, in truth, I have too good taste for that, and +I am not one of those people who wish to make themselves +common. I adore you, charming brunette, and I +shall die with this feeling. If you do not forget me, I +swear to you that I shall love you all my life. I expect +no more letters from you, because I intend to be soon +in your company, and my sole occupation will then be +to prove to you, that I love you to distraction, and that +nothing is so dear to me as your person. Adieu!</p> + +<h4 class='c029'>F 18 <br> <br> [<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>[<i>July 1692</i>, from the Camp.]</span></div> + +<p class='c032'>I am very well pleased that you are for once satisfied +with me; but it seems to me that this does not delight +you, for you are always supplying me with matter for +reproaching you; and thus you deprive me of the joy +of being satisfied with you. You complain that your +love interferes with your rest; I am willing to believe it, +but this love does not touch your heart so deeply that +you would cut off the slightest pleasures for its <a id='corr503.30'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='sake'>sake.</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_503.30'><ins class='correction' title='sake'>sake.</ins></a></span> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_504'>504</span>No, no; it is for me to complain: my passion not only +troubles me, but brings me to despair. Oh, God! how +I [hate] the places where I know the amusements are +going on; I should much like to see you at the Gate of +Brussels<a id='r203'></a><a href='#f203' class='c008'><sup>[203]</sup></a> or of Ghent[?] without appearing there myself; +rather than do this you would abandon me and ten +other <span lang="fr"><i>galans</i></span>. You find your conduct correct; so do +I; but I should be beyond despair if mine were not +still more so. I am very well pleased that you have not +fallen ill; it would have left me inconsolable. Although +I am not satisfied with you, you were satisfied with +my letter; this fills me with joy; you find there the +unfeigned sentiments of my heart; I thank you very +humbly that you promise me not to give your portrait +to the person we know of. Why do you flatter me so +much in your letters, when you think so little of keeping +your promises to me? You assure me that nothing will +be difficult for you, and that you will do everything to +please me; this is very well said, but very ill kept. +Alas! you say to me, let us trust that time will be able +to make us happy; but know that time will make me +the most unhappy of mankind. I have not the audacity +to say to you what I already know; but, my dear, I +believe that they will force me to leave you. I cannot +finish this letter, what with trouble, sorrow, and anger. +Adieu; do not, at all events, hate me; for, I swear by +my God, I do not deserve it in [any] way on earth.</p> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_505'>505</span> + <h4 class='c029'>F 11 <br> <br>[<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> +</div> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>From the Camp at Hall <i>[August] 2nd-3rd {1692}</i>.<a id='r204'></a><a href='#f204' class='c008'><sup>[204]</sup></a></span></div> + +<p class='c032'>Although I had resolved to write to you to-morrow +and to reply at length to the letters of the 13th<a id='r205'></a><a href='#f205' class='c008'><sup>[205]</sup></a>, 14th and +15th, which I received from you at the same time, I find +myself deprived of this pleasure by the resolution which +the King has taken to attack to-morrow the French +army, which is two hours distance from us; the place +is called Enghien. At any other time this news would +have delighted me; but I confess to you at the present +moment it troubles me. I am loved by you, the only +object that I have found worth loving. I have not +deceived myself in my belief that you possess all the +fine qualities to be found in the world; but, my dear, +I must risk my life, and perhaps never see you again. +Hardly was I made aware that you were innocent, and +that I falsely suspected you, when I am perhaps never to +see you again. I have risked my life a hundred times, by +way of folly or high spirits, and I knew myself sufficiently +to be sure that death never terrified me. But, my +divinity, that which makes me a coward is the fear of not +seeing you again. Adieu then, amiable Doro, adieu; +how much I am to be pitied—and yet I am fortunate, +but I cannot take advantage of my good fortune. Do +not, however, think that you have a coward admirer; +no, my dear, since to battle I must go, I will behave there +as is right, and, if I can, I hope to distinguish myself. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_506'>506</span>But, my heart, permit me to make a request to you, +namely, that, if my fate is so unkind to me as to leave me +crippled by the loss of an arm, or a leg, do not forget me, +and have a little pity for a poor fellow who has let it be +his only pleasure to love you; no, my dear, do not forget +him: he is a man who has been really and truly attached +to you, and will remain so for the remainder of his life, +although a cripple; my eyes which have been charmed +by yours, will perhaps never see them any more. I +cannot think of that, without shedding tears. Ah, how +little advantage I have from being loved by you, and +of how many torments you are the cause to me! It is +striking twelve from the Hall<a id='r206'></a><a href='#f206' class='c008'><sup>[206]</sup></a> clock tower; they are +bringing in cannon-balls, powder, and matches; it is +the prelude to the scene which we have to play to-morrow; +I must betake myself to my duty; adieu, +beloved child! Ah, how I am to be pitied!</p> + +<h4 class='c029'>F 22 <br> <br>[<span class='sc'>From Sophia Dorothea to Königsmarck</span>]</h4> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>[Wiesbaden], <i>August 25th/September 4th {1692}</i>.<a id='r207'></a><a href='#f207' class='c008'><sup>[207]</sup></a></span></div> + +<p class='c032'>I take so much pleasure in conversing with you that, so +soon as I have a moment of liberty, I employ it to assure +you of my affection. I wrote to you yesterday, but it +seems to me that I did not sufficiently insist to you on +the disquiet in which I am about what you tell me. It +prevented me from sleeping all the night. I reviewed +all my actions, and, the more I examine myself, the +less I can guess what you can have against me. It is +<span class='pageno' id='Page_507'>507</span>certain that you ought to be content with my conduct; +it is ruled by my affection, and this is sufficient. I entreat +you once more to let me know as soon as you are able +what it can be. It will be very easy for me to justify +myself, since I have never thought of anything but +pleasing you, and I will with pleasure take all the most +horrid oaths to you as to my innocence; but I urgently +ask of you to inform me who are they that tell you such +calumnies. No doubt they have their reasons for +making a quarrel between us, and according to all +appearances they will not stop there. Be persuaded, I +entreat you, that I am incapable of doing anything that +could displease you. My behaviour has shown you this +up to the present time, and I will do even more in the +same way in the future. I am in despair not to be able +to make you perceive as much as I should like to do my +affection for you. The opportunities are wanting to me, +but not the will; and I shall not be happy until I have +made the whole earth see that for me you take the place +of the grandeurs and pleasures of the world and of all its +charms. The only one which I desire is that of possessing +your heart; I demand no other, and this one happiness +will always make me indifferent to all others. I am +convinced that if I were at Han[over], I should be told +plenty of stories against you; but I trust you too much +to listen easily to what I might be told. Do you act in +the same way, and believe firmly that nothing is capable of +making me change! I am in mortal trouble. They say +that an engagement was fought a short time since, and +I do not yet know the rights of it. I tremble lest you +should expose yourself without need, and that some +accident should have befallen you. Take care of yourself, +I entreat you, if there remains in you any affection +[for] me. What would become of me if I were to learn +that you were wounded? I think I should die of it.</p> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_508'>508</span> + <h4 class='c036'>F 32 <br> <br> [<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> +</div> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'><i>[September] 2nd {1692}</i>.</span></div> + +<p class='c032'>You make me [wish to] die when you pay me compliments. +Since you do not reply to me on all the points +of my letters, I have begged you not to write at all, +and simply to let me know through Fräulein von dem +Knesebeck the state of your health. I repeat it again +here, and entreat you not to do it if it causes you the +slightest fatigue. It is sufficient that you should write +me two words, so that I may see that divine handwriting +which is able to banish all the fears that I imagine to +myself. The resolution which I must take, according to +the opinion of all my friends, exposes me to the risk that, +when I shall have taken my leave, I shall set all the +world arguing about it; and perhaps I might be told +through a third party that it is desired that I should +retire. What will then become of me? Believe me that +it is necessary to think of everything before taking a +fixed resolution. The matter is of too great importance +to me. The Duke of Hanover will find a thousand +people like Königsmarck, but I trust that the Hereditary +Princess will never find anyone who is so faithful and +who loves her with more ardour than myself. My +passion is so beyond bounds as to rise to madness. +Alas! my dearest, you deserve [lovers] far better than +Königsmarck. I am quite convinced that if they had +given you an admirer according to your deserts, I should +not have had the honour of being your Slave; but if some +one with an extraordinary affection and an unequalled +constancy was to have been your admirer, it is right +and just that this should be myself; for I would dispute +the place not with Mortals, but with the Gods themselves, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_509'>509</span>and I defy them to create anyone to equal me. What +an effect vows have when one is in the condition in +which you are; never have I been more satisfied with +you, never did I believe you more implicitly, than at +present. You will, then, always love me, I may rest +assured of it, for you swear to me that, so long as I shall +love you, you will do the same. I shall love you all my +life, and you vow the same thing to me; what more can +I desire?—all my wishes are fulfilled, I am the happiest +man in the world; recover your health, and I can be at +the height of my bliss. I am not pleased to find that you +prefer writing to me to taking your rest; I entreat you, +think first of taking your rest, and then of your lover. +How angry I am with your heart for its bad taste, to +leave you in order to come to me; it does not know the +difference; leave that to mine, one ought not to change +for the worse, but for the better. Your account makes +me tremble, and I fear lest the fever [and] the other +accident tire you out so much that you will not be able +to recover as quickly [as you ought]. I do not know, +my heart tells me you are out of danger; I am no longer +so much disquieted as I was at the beginning. I take that +for a very good sign; at least I hope it is, and I ardently +wish that it may be so; I hope that my prayers are +granted, and that at the present moment you are better. +The resolution that you have taken, to take what I had +left you, is great; I avow to you that, if I had known it +beforehand, it would have made me tremble; but, since +everything has gone off well, I am at rest; and there is +only the trouble of being the cause of so much more +suffering on your part, and, if you found yourself still +worse, I should be inconsolable. I am obliged to confess +that the marks of your affection greatly surpass +mine at present; nothing could be so touching as what +you write to me ... of falling ill. I shall not find an +<span class='pageno' id='Page_510'>510</span>opportunity of enabling you to see how great an affection +I have for you. Is it possible that the Duke of Hanover +is stupid enough to have refused you the appointment? +I would rather put twenty field-marshals to death than +once refuse such a favour to the Hereditary Princess. +Although the Hereditary Prince does not return so soon +and in response to the orders which it was made known +had been sent, we are in any case already in the month of +September, and the campaign will soon be at an end. +Reflect on that! Adieu!</p> + +<h4 class='c029'>F 23 <br> <br>[<span class='sc'>From Sophia Dorothea to Königsmarck</span>]</h4> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>[Wiesbaden], <i>September 2nd/12th {1692}</i>.</span></div> + +<p class='c032'>It was so late when I wrote to you that I could not reply +to all that you told me. I reread your letter several +times; it is a mixture of love and raillery which I find +very pleasing; and it seems to me, whatever countenance +you may assume, that my journey does not find favour +with you. Yet you are altogether as wrong as possible; +for, according to all appearances, I shall go away again +from this place without having seen any reasonable +person, and I desire it with all my heart. I do not think +of going to Frankfort fair, and I shall not say a word +to help to bring this about. It seems to me that this +ought to convince you that I am not in quest of society, +and that I am incapable of thinking of pleasures when +I do not see you. I hope to leave this place in a fortnight. +The Peda[gogue] has to-day taken this resolution. +I return with her to join the <span lang="fr"><i>Grondeur</i></span>; and I +shall proceed to Han[over] a little before the return of +the Reformer. I cannot yet tell you anything positive +about what concerns the Göhrde;<a id='r208'></a><a href='#f208' class='c008'><sup>[208]</sup></a> I do not, however, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_511'>511</span>think that I shall go there, for the season is too advanced +for the Reformer to be able to be there, and I hope that, +provided that nothing keeps you where you are,<a id='r209'></a><a href='#f209' class='c008'><sup>[209]</sup></a> I shall +soon be able to see you. I shall judge of your affection +by your eagerness, but I entreat you to take your +measures so well that I may see you in private on the +first occasion. It would be impossible for me to bear +seeing you in public, and my transport [of delight] +would betray me. They say that the French could +easily carry us off. This makes me wish very much to +get away, for I should not at all like to be taken prisoner, +and I wish to keep your conquest safe for you. I am +delighted with your [present?],<a id='r210'></a><a href='#f210' class='c008'><sup>[210]</sup></a> and I offer you all the +thanks for it which you deserve. It took me by surprise +and I did not expect it at all, which makes the thing all +the more obliging. There is no sentinel in the world +that you ought to fear, and the prisoner may reckon on +the prison which will always be open to him and closed +to all the rest of the world. As to this you may depend +on me, and as to a love which will serve as a model; I wish +to convince you of it, although you have some of it, +and that I find no happiness or satisfaction except in +loving you and in being loved. You seem to me so little +certain of this truth that I am sensibly affected by it. +Tell me what should be done so that you should be +unable to doubt it any more; there is nothing that I +<span class='pageno' id='Page_512'>512</span>would not joyfully do in order to make you see that +for me you take the place of everything else, and that +all my desires and my ambition are confined to pleasing +you. If nothing but this is needed to render you happy, +you are more so than any person in the world, for I do +not desire to live but for you alone, and I renounce with +pleasure the whole world, in order never to belong to +anyone but yourself.</p> + +<h4 class='c029'>F 24 <br> <br>[<span class='sc'>From Sophia Dorothea to Königsmarck</span>]</h4> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>[Wiesbaden], <i>September 13th/23rd {1692}</i>.</span></div> + +<p class='c032'>Instead of the extreme pleasure which all your letters +afford to me, that which I received this evening has +pierced my heart. One could not think of anything that +could hurt one more than what you write to me. I +shall not repeat it; I believe that you will remember it +still very well, and I would give everything in the world +to be able to forget it. By what passage of my life can +I have deserved the opinion which you show you have +of me? If I thought to have given cause for it, I +should wish to be dead; but, the more I examine myself, +the more I find myself far removed from such sentiments, +and, thanks be to God, I feel my heart as noble as it +ought to be. I wish to say nothing further to you on +this subject; I might lose my temper, and I very much +hate harshness. But, to reply to the four points on +which you continue to harp. I am very much deceived +if I did not tell you that Sparr has been at L.,<a id='r211'></a><a href='#f211' class='c008'><sup>[211]</sup></a> and, if +I did not do so, it was certainly because I forgot to do +<span class='pageno' id='Page_513'>513</span>so and because I did not think that he was worth the +trouble of my remembering him. I can swear to you +all the oaths you please that there is no reason besides +this; moreover, I did not say two words to him [about] +the joy which you reproach me for having felt at finding +Guldenleu<a id='r212'></a><a href='#f212' class='c008'><sup>[212]</sup></a> here. I shall not reply to you on the subject, +for it is a ridiculous notion, and nothing in the world +could be so ill-imagined with regard to the Fair. I +assure you that I did not say a word in order to go there; +but as I am quite sincere I am prepared to <em>confess to you +that I was not vexed about it</em>; and, as to my new lover, +you are mad to disquiet yourself about him; for he is +far away from here, and according to all appearances +I shall not see him; and [neither] his sisters nor anybody +in the world will ever make me take any step against the +affection which so fills my heart. I have already told you +that I am convinced that he is not coming to Han[over]; +but, if this should happen, provided that I am better +pleased with you than I am this evening, I shall treat +[him] with absolute rudeness rather than allow his visits. +I am very foolish to give a reasonable explanation in reply +to all your fancies—[to] you who are so far from reasonable +as to anything that concerns me, and who have driven me +to despair by your fine letter. It is true that you mean +afterwards to repair your fault; but this is not sufficient, +and I am not well pleased, for I desire your esteem, +and you do not show that you have any for me. The +<span lang="fr"><i>Confidante</i></span> yesterday received [a letter] from the beloved +Ketler,<a id='r213'></a><a href='#f213' class='c008'><sup>[213]</sup></a> who writes to her by order of the Landgrave<a id='r214'></a><a href='#f214' class='c008'><sup>[214]</sup></a> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_514'>514</span>to offer his compliments to Leonisse, since you wish to +call her by that name, and to assure her that he will do +what is in his power to see her here or at the Fair. I do +not, however, think that this is possible, because we take +our departure to-morrow, and one will only be there for +a single day. I shall not write to you till I shall have +arrived, and I shall give you a sincere and faithful account +of all. I shall say nothing affectionate to you this +evening, for you do not deserve it; I am afraid that I +shall not have the same strength of mind to-morrow, +and that I shall have forgotten my anger, for I am +furiously fond of you, and, although I do not tell you +about it, I nevertheless feel that I love you with a +passion of which there never was the like.</p> + +<h4 class='c029'>F 25 <br> <br>[<span class='sc'>From Sophia Dorothea to Königsmarck</span>]</h4> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>Fra[nkfort], <i>14th/24th [September 1692]</i>.</span></div> + +<p class='c032'>I have been here during the last two hours. The +Peda[gogue] alighted at the house of the P[rincess] of +Tarente,<a id='r215'></a><a href='#f215' class='c008'><sup>[215]</sup></a> where I saw nothing but silly faces. From +there we went to the Fair, where I saw nobody of quality. +The Marionette is here, and her sister-in-law. I shall not +see them till to-morrow, with which I am well pleased, +for I shall be able to take a rest, of which I have great +<span class='pageno' id='Page_515'>515</span>need, not having closed an eye all the night. I spent +half of it in writing to you, and the other in worrying +myself about the fine passage in your letter. I beg you +very particularly not to give me any further such subjects +of annoyance, for I am very touchy on the subject in +question. Except that wicked passage which I cannot +forget and which spoils all, your letter is charming, and +nothing is more delightful than all that you say to me. +Put this matter to rights, if you wish to be on good terms +with me, for it goes very near to my heart. Mine is so +full of you that, although I have reason to complain of +you, I cannot bring myself not to mention to you that +yesterday evening I had to make a terribly violent effort +in order to keep silence to you about my affection. +Never did one feel so much of it, and never did one less +deserve reproaches than in my case. You are the +most unjust of mankind to have the slightest mistrust +as to what concerns me. I am too veritably yours that +you should have anything to fear. All my actions +should convince you of it, for it is certain that my passion +for you exceeds all bounds. I entreat you to be fully +convinced of this truth, and that there is nothing in the +world which I would not do to make you see that I am +more yours than my own. I hope that I shall not see +either the Land[grave] or anybody, and I wish it with +my whole heart. If you find anything which does not +please you in what I wrote to you yesterday, lay all the +blame on the vexation which you caused to me. It was +enough to make me cry, and all the charms of your +letter could not induce me to forgive the offending +passage. Rest tranquil as to my behaviour. It +shall be divine, I promise you for myself and for the +Rival.</p> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_516'>516</span> + <h4 class='c029'>F 26 <br> <br>[<span class='sc'>From Sophia Dorothea to Königsmarck</span>]</h4> +</div> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>[Ebsdorf,<a id='r216'></a><a href='#f216' class='c008'><sup>[216]</sup></a> <i>September 1692</i>.]<a id='r217'></a><a href='#f217' class='c008'><sup>[217]</sup></a></span></div> + +<p class='c032'>In the name of God, take care of yourself! My life is +united to yours. A thousand desperate thoughts come +into my mind, and I am crushed with grief; I should +find it difficult to speak to you of anything else. I have +plenty of leisure for nursing my trouble, and it is with +a real joy that I find myself in this solitude. I forgot +yesterday to return you my thanks for what you tell me +about <span lang="fr"><i>la Boule</i></span>. Nothing could be so polite; I consent, +on this condition, that she becomes my rival, for I +confess to you that I love a triumph, and that it is very +much to my taste. Adieu, nothing is capable of making +me change. I was born for loving you; you are my sole +passion; I never had one before I knew you, and I shall +die loving you more than anyone has ever loved.</p> + +<h4 class='c029'>F 27 <br> <br>[<span class='sc'>From Sophia Dorothea to Königsmarck</span>]</h4> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>[Ebsdorf,] <i>Wednesday, the 24th [September 1692]</i>.</span></div> + +<p class='c032'>I ought to give you an account of my doings of yesterday. +I was alone all day. Then arrived some one sent from +the master of this place to pay his respects to the +Peda[gogue]. He got into such difficulties in his speech +that I could scarcely stop myself from laughing at it. +He also made a speech to the <span lang="fr"><i>Cœur Gauche</i></span>, and then +took his departure. Then there was a promenade on +foot, and on our return there was supper, and I had +a conversation with the <span lang="fr"><i>Confidante</i></span>. This is the only +pleasure I have, for we always talk about you.</p> +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_517'>517</span> + <h4 class='c029'>F 28<br> <br>[<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> +</div> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>[Hanover, <i>November 1692</i>.]</span></div> + +<p class='c037'>Although I wrote to you yesterday evening, I cannot +stop myself from telling you that I have spent the worst +night in the world; I dreamt of you, but I beheld you +faithless to me. I dreamt as follows: It seemed to me +that I had requested you not to see a certain great man, +and that, notwithstanding your promise, you had +appointed him to pay you a visit so as to say good-bye +to him. I was informed of it, and, not being able +to endure this faithlessness, I pretended to have a +letter from Madame your mother to hand to you. +I entered your room abruptly, and saw the most +horrible sight in the world: that great gentleman held +you in his arms, and, what is worse, you were alone in +your room. You pretended a little to be annoyed with +your Adonis, telling him that he was impertinent. In my +turn, I wished to withdraw, but you called out to me. +I was delighted with this, because it gave me a chance of +whispering into your ear that you were the most ungrateful +of all ladies, and that this would be the last time that +I should speak to you. In fact, I went to find out M. de +Pude [Podewils] in order to beg him to send me to +Hungary,<a id='r218'></a><a href='#f218' class='c008'><sup>[218]</sup></a> which he did. I beg your pardon for this +criminal dream; but I should think myself very much +more criminal if I did not let you know of it. Do +not think that I am inventing; no, by my God, it is a +true tale. For the love of all that is dearest to you, take +care to restore my peace of mind, and free me from my +<span class='pageno' id='Page_518'>518</span>fear. I am afraid that this dream may be some +melancholy presage, and something that bodes no +good. It would be unjust that a tender affection +should be requited by infidelities; I hope it may +not be so; for why should you wish to desert a +heart that adores you, and that swears to be faithful +to you? If such vows can attach you solely to me, +I protest to you before God, that never will I be +unfaithful to you, and that I will love you all my life +with the same passion that I do [at present]. When I +shall have the honour of amusing you with an account +of yesterday’s debauch, you will laugh a good deal. +The Baroness<a id='r219'></a><a href='#f219' class='c008'><sup>[219]</sup></a> [<i>sic</i>] distinguished herself on the occasion, +and the big Swedish beard[s] made the best effect in the +world; she was so much ... that her natural colour +began to appear beneath, which produced the most +diverting spectacle in the world. She asked me why I +did not amuse myself; I answered that I had come +to pay my court to M. [Bielke]<a id='r220'></a><a href='#f220' class='c008'><sup>[220]</sup></a> and not to amuse +myself. In leaving me she called me a traitor; whereupon +I replied that I was not one yet, but might very +possibly become one. M. le Duc played at ombre yesterday +evening with her. That is the very Devil! I will +conclude by asking you to prepare yourself to rescue +me from the disquietude in which I am, and to believe +me inviolably attached to you and to all those who have +a regard for you. I embrace you from my very heart, +and I kiss your portrait a million times. Farewell!</p> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_519'>519</span> + <h4 class='c029'>F 29<br> <br>[<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> +</div> +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>[Hanover, <i>December 1692</i>.]</span></div> + +<p class='c037'>Come here some Friday evening, and wait till the Elector<a id='r221'></a><a href='#f221' class='c008'><sup>[221]</sup></a> +comes here. If Prince Max cannot be got rid of, you +can go back, and that will serve you as a pretext with +the Duke of Celle and the Electoral Prince. Tell me if +you agree with my notion; if you can do it, arrange so +that I may see you, for, frankly, I cannot go on living in +this way; for the love of me [and] of you arrange for me +to see you and to embrace you, for without this satisfaction +life is worth nothing to me.</p> + +<h4 class='c029'>F 30<br> <br>[<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>[Hanover, <i>December 1692</i>.]</span></div> + +<p class='c037'>The joy of finding the Ref[ormer] departed was broken +by the trouble of finding you ill; I hope, however, that +it will not be of consequence; for otherwise I shall not +be able to sleep all night because of it. I hope to embrace +you to-morrow evening; I await the ordinary signal; +and the bad weather shall not prevent me from tasting +the delight of your charming kisses; unless indeed you +give me other orders. I hope for the contrary, and I +trust that your eagerness will respond to mine. If you +do not go out to-morrow, this will suffice to assure you +that the moments will seem like centuries to me, and +that the times during which I am away from you are +those which I pass to no purpose whatever; and that +I am ready to come to-morrow to the well-known place. +I await the signal and am your very obedient servant.</p> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_520'>520</span> + <h4 class='c029'>F 31<br> <br>[<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> +</div> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>[Hanover, <i>December 1692</i>.]</span></div> + +<p class='c037'>One could not be better pleased with you than I am. +Your obliging ways of yesterday, your very dear letter, +in a word everything, charms me; I begin to revive, +and yesterday is one of those days which I ought to +mark in my book. In order to take full advantage of +it, I beg that I may see you this evening; I shall await +the signal with great impatience, for I die with desire to +prove to you my joy—it is beyond all bounds, and +cannot express itself. For the love of you, of myself, and +of everything that is dear to you, continue in the same +way; you will then be able to persuade me that I have +nothing to fear, that I shall always be happy and +contented—that is the pleasure of love, those are the +charms of an attachment that is sincere and genuine. +The avowal of the <span lang="fr"><i>Grond[eur]</i></span> further gives me much +hope—seek to soften him, you will be able to do it if you +try; but you must take pains about it, and choose +your time well. Be withal convinced that, if Heaven +destines me the joy of having you for my own, my ways +will be quite different from what you have imagined to +yourself, and I swear to you that I shall regulate them +according to yours. Put faith in this avowal, for it is +sincere, and springs from a soul without guile and +without finesse; as the weather is fine, I hope to see you +in the [falconry] [?].<a id='r222'></a><a href='#f222' class='c008'><sup>[222]</sup></a> I hope to find you there loving +and happy. Farewell till then; you will, I feel sure, +say a little word to me, from which I can perceive that +you grant my prayer.</p> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_521'>521</span> + <h4 class='c029'>F 33<br> <br>[<span class='sc'>From Sophia Dorothea to Königsmarck</span>]<a id='r223'></a><a href='#f223' class='c008'><sup>[223]</sup></a></h4> +</div> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>[Hanover, <i>December 1692</i> (?)]</span></div> + +<p class='c037'>Let [him] be at 8 o’clock in the evening near the door +of the great hall, where the Pr[incess] is accustomed to +play cards; he will be able to meet her there in safety, +since nobody passes there, to-morrow being Sunday.</p> + +<h4 class='c029'>F 34 <br> <br>[<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> + +<div class='quote'> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>[Hanover, <i>December 1692</i> (?)]</span></div> + +<p class='c037'>He will be there at the above-mentioned hour; do not +doubt of his fidelity. Adieu, incomparable Goddess; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_522'>522</span>I wish you good evening, and desire that your dreams +may be as full of me as mine are of you. After having +once more reread your letter, I shall go to sleep, with +the hope of dreaming of [nothing] else than you. I +embrace you a Million times, and am your very obedient +<a id='corr522.6'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='ser[vant].[224]'>ser[vant].</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_522.6'><ins class='correction' title='ser[vant].[224]'>ser[vant].</ins></a></span></p> + +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>F 9 <br>[<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> + +<div class='quote'> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'><i>Friday, 8 o’clock at evening. [Summer, 1693.]</i></span></div> + +<p class='c037'>This moment I have received a very long letter, and one +of the kind I like from the Electoral Princess. I have +not had leisure to read it, lest the post should leave, +and without assuring you what joy it gave me when +I received it; <span lang="fr"><i>le bonhomme</i></span> goes to-morrow to Engsen<a id='r224'></a><a href='#f224' class='c008'><sup>[224]</sup></a>; +on his return I shall know my fate, which I shall at once +make known to the Electoral Princess. I am continually +offering up vows that I may not have to set out on the +march, so that I may be able to embrace her whom +I love, and for whom I am ready to die a thousand and +a thousand times. Believe me that I adore you in +the most violent way in the world. Would to Heaven +I might have occasion to prove it to you! I shall not +forget for a moment, in order to convince you of it. +What satisfaction it will be to me if by my obedience I +shall be able to show you how deep a regard I have for +you and what pleasure I take in being your slave for +ever. Adieu, my incomparable Leonisse; how I will +kiss thee, my little one.<a id='r225'></a><a href='#f225' class='c008'><sup>[225]</sup></a>—K.</p> + +</div> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_523'>523</span> + <h4 class='c029'>F7 <br>[<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> +</div> + +<div class='quote'> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'><i>One o’clock in the night. [Summer of 1693.]</i></span></div> + +<p class='c037'>The <span lang="fr"><i>bonhomme</i></span> has returned from his conference, and +made me dismiss the orderlies without commands. This +is what leads me to suppose that we shall still remain +[here] during the present week; and, as I am to dine +with him to-morrow, I shall have some further information, +which I will at once communicate to you. In +the meantime, make ready to carry out what follows. +The Duchess has been to Linde,<a id='r226'></a><a href='#f226' class='c008'><sup>[226]</sup></a> to get rid of Countess +Platen. Count de Stenbock, whom you saw here seven +years ago, wished to pay his respects, and Count de La +Gardie also.<a id='r227'></a><a href='#f227' class='c008'><sup>[227]</sup></a> I took them there, and I found the good +Plesse[?]<a id='r228'></a><a href='#f228' class='c008'><sup>[228]</sup></a> at a stand [?], and the paint running down +everywhere—she was so overcome at seeing such a +number of strangers arrive that she was quite confused. +She chose the wiser part, for she withdrew at once, to put +herself to rights again. There is a good deal of malicious +wit in the Electress, and she could not have revenged herself +better. Think of coming, I entreat you; and believe +that without seeing you is to be dead, and I marvel that +<span class='pageno' id='Page_524'>524</span>my fate should have been so cruel to me as to let me +survive all its misfortunes; but, if I do not see you soon, +there is no war nor danger which I will not seek in order +to shorten my unhappy life. I die with shame at not +being dead already. How does it agree with my loving +you to distraction that I neither see you nor speak to +you, and yet survive! I believe that my confounded +fate preserves me in order to trouble me all the more. +You alone can rescue me from my despair; come quickly +to console me, or I shall commit some desperate act +which I shall regret all my life, for the life I lead is +unbearable; I hate it like death, I am tired out with it +and can no longer bear it; I wish that the lightning +would destroy all those who prevent us from seeing one +another and joining our flames. Pardon the rage which +my too violent passion calls forth in me: it seems to +me that, if I must not see what I love, it is right that +I should not see the light of day. At this moment I +should be capable of sacrificing Father, Mother, Brother, +and Sister, if I thought that they prevented me from +seeing my angel. Leonisse, what torments your beauty +costs me, to what trouble your charms give rise! Come +and make me forget all my woes; thou canst do it, by +thy embraces, by thy caresses; and there is no one in +the world capable of this but thyself. I await you with +the greatest impatience in the world; and do not allow +me to say that you are quick to depart, while ... +to return where love calls [?] you. I should however +be in the wrong, if I complained of our parting, for +it was loving and sincere; but I beseech you, do not +give me reason to complain of a last parting. Farewell! +I kiss you a thousand, thousand times. Mlle. de +Knesebeck is the best person in the world; I beg you +to tell her of my regard for her. I ask, with your +permission, to be remembered to her.</p> + +</div> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_525'>525</span> + <h4 class='c029'>F 10 <br>[<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> +</div> + +<div class='quote'> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>[Hanover], <i>Saturday, [July 1693]</i>.</span></div> + +<p class='c037'>It is easy to suppose with what satisfaction I have read +your very charming letter. This satisfaction was due +to me, in order to take me a little out of the deep reverie +into which my misfortunes and our separation have +plunged me. Your letter is long, loving, and as I desire +it to be; do not write any more short letters; this ought +to relieve you, and I swear to you that for me also you +cannot make them long enough. Your love is so agreeable +to me that I have no pleasure while away from you +but to see that love depicted on paper. I preserve +your letters as the most precious things in the world, +because they console me for all the disgrace I have to +undergo; as I see in them that you swear to love me, +to be faithful to me, and never to abandon me—and what +more can I desire from you? You see, then, that I am +thoroughly well pleased with you; I conjure you to be +the same with me, and not to impute it to me that you +do not receive my letters regularly by every post. I did +not know one day which was Sunday; but, since I am +now informed of it, my exactness will show you that +I sinned because I knew no better; and my negligence +was due to the trouble which is upon me. It is then +that I think most of you, for you serve as a consolation +to me, and the pleasure of thinking of you surpasses all +others that I know. <span lang="it"><i>Idolo mio</i></span>, when shall I have the joy +of holding thee in my arms? Is it not enough to make +a Cato despair, to see that you can come if Prince Max +did not prevent it<a id='r229'></a><a href='#f229' class='c008'><sup>[229]</sup></a>; but, although the wish to see you +<span class='pageno' id='Page_526'>526</span>took away my jealousy and I begged you to come, how +long shall I be able to be with you, perhaps only two +days, and then I shall see you among people who hate +us, and others who wish to insinuate themselves. Do +not believe, my Angel, that my jealousy springs from +any bad opinion I have of you: this would be too criminal—it +springs from the violence of my love; so I flatter +myself that you will always make excuses for me when +this madness takes hold of me. What do I not owe you +for taking so much pains to ease me of all my suspicions! +Your diaries console me; your vow makes me forget all +that I had in my brain. Ah! why am I not by your +side! I would throw myself at your feet, to thank you +for all the care you take to render me happy and contented. +I am convinced of your good intentions; I +have no doubt of your fidelity; and I see very well that +if you ruled fate, so many worries would not occur. As +I may perhaps receive orders to march to Lunen +[Lüneburg?], tell me if I may not go to Celle, without +giving umbrage. If you are not there, politeness +demands it; but at present I do not know what I ought +to do. The answer of the Electress of Brandenburg<a id='r230'></a><a href='#f230' class='c008'><sup>[230]</sup></a> is +amusing enough, and well deserves an answer, in which +the music ought not to be spared. I do not know whether +I am mistaken, but, on rereading letter No. 11, I do not +find it so sincere as No. 10; tell me if I am mistaken; +No. 10 is charming—it shows the real passion which you +felt in writing it. For the love of me, be always like that, +and do not let me perceive any coldness. What have +<span class='pageno' id='Page_527'>527</span>I done to deserve it; tell me, so that I may exculpate +myself. Is it perhaps that you do not think it loving +that I do not ask you to come? But remember what +it is that prevents me from doing so. If, however, you +desire it, I will beg you to come; but I shall be perhaps +two days here; and then your neighbour will have a free +field. He has loved you, and, indeed, he has not been +indifferent to you. I am always afraid of him, though +there is hardly anything to be afraid of in him; but it is +sufficient that he has been on a very familiar footing with +you, for me to have good reason for fearing his impertinence, +and it would even be annoying to see a man +about you who might find twenty little holes through +which he might see you, besides that you would not +be able to say a single word without his hearing it. +But all these reasons are not enough; and, if I had +hopes of staying, I would nevertheless entreat you to +come, in the hope that you would find out a way +to get rid of him; for, apart from this, I shall not +be able to see you, since he will always be looking +out for spying [upon you]. Inasmuch as I cannot +give you up, I for this reason refuse all the advantages +which present themselves; I intend to make you +see from this how attached I am to you, and this is +my sole reason why I make you look at the letters +which were written to me on all sides. Believe, all the +same, that no advantage is capable of making me leave +this place so long as you will be kind to me. I know the +power of a mother whom one loves, and when she gives +you an opportunity, you ought to be prudent enough to +resist it. My blood curdles, when I think that your +[mother] would be capable, in order to take vengeance on +the Electoral Prince, of letting you make a <span lang="fr"><i>cocu</i></span> of him; +and when this comes into my head, if you ever thus +caressed anyone but myself, all my blood flows back in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_528'>528</span>my veins, and I cannot rest still, so long as this thought +keeps me unquiet. Ah! good God! if I saw you kiss +anyone with the same passion with which you have +kissed me, and ride on horseback with the same pleasure—may +I never see God if it would not drive me mad! +Why, in writing it my hand trembles, and I find it +difficult to go on. Let us change the subject. The +friends of whom I spoke to you, Bussche and Hammerstein<a id='r231'></a><a href='#f231' class='c008'><sup>[231]</sup></a>, +could you have believed it, it is they who have +put into the head of the Electoral Prince all the stories +about my [game]. But I have written a letter to the first, +which will make him see his falseness very clearly. I am +in hopes, moreover, since the Duchess of Celle and the +Duke of Celle have come to an agreement; therefore do +your best. The war will not last so long as to ruin the +country<a id='r232'></a><a href='#f232' class='c008'><sup>[232]</sup></a>; that is why this [excuse] cannot long be +accounted a defeat. See if you will keep your promise; +for you promised me that you would die sooner than +not be united to me; continue in this way of thinking, +and you will restore my life to me. Am I dear enough +to you for you to keep the promise you made to me? +If this is so, I swear to you once more by the stars, that +nothing in the world shall separate me from you. By +the letter <em>enclosed</em> you will see how they are once +more trying to persuade me to Marry the Daughter +of M. Bielke<a id='r233'></a><a href='#f233' class='c008'><sup>[233]</sup></a>; but my answer was, that I would +<span class='pageno' id='Page_529'>529</span>rather die of hunger than do it; and that I begged +him particularly not to speak to me any more of marriage, +for this might cause a quarrel between us. I flatter +myself that you will be pleased with my resolution. +Since we have so little chance of seeing each other, we +must think of expedients. <em>You will find it in this note</em>; +I think that it can be managed, provided I do not go +away and that I let you know between the present time +and that. If you wish to wait till Prince Max is tired, +I shall not see you for a long time; for when he is with +the Electress and his thin divinity<a id='r234'></a><a href='#f234' class='c008'><sup>[234]</sup></a>, he is as happy as a +King. I should not have thought that this magpie would +have caused me so much sorrow as he does; I wish he +were in the heart of Hungary, he would no longer cause +me so much heart-ache as he does at present. One could +not speak more kindly than you do on the subject of +dying of hunger; but do you believe that, although it +would be a great consolation to me to see you always +at my side, I should like to drag you down into misery? +No, no, do not believe it! You must live happy and +contented, while I seek some glorious death, to put an +end to my unfortunate life and die the lover of the +Electoral Princess. I hope that you have received the +two letters about which I spoke to you; if not, tell me; +you will no longer do me the injustice of believing that +any consideration in the world could detach me from +you; my protestation on this subject will make you see +that I shall die with my Love. How could one forsake +you, for the more one knows you the more one adores +you; one discovers every day new merits [in you]; and +your love alone is capable of making me prefer to have +my head cut off rather than abandon you for ever. +I am ashamed of my want of exactness; I beg your +pardon for it; it is a fault which I entreat you not to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_530'>530</span>attribute to my negligence but to my shortness of +memory. But, my divine Leonisse, acknowledge in +your turn that my letters are much the longest; and +that, had I not told you of it, you would not have made +[yours] so large. So each has his due; hence I shall +never concede that your love is greater than mine, and +I should be inconsolable if I had not given you more +substantial proofs of it; for you might believe that +vanity, since you are a princess, is the cause of my +attachment. No; I swear to you that if you were the +hangman’s daughter, and if you possessed the attractions +which are actually yours, I should love you with as +much ardour. You will think me not very polite; but +I flatter myself that you will find my feelings tender +and true; in the name of the Gods, continue in the +sentiments in which I find you now! If any disgrace +were to drive me so far that you conceived a dislike for +me, I should certainly send a pistol-shot through my +brain....</p> + +</div> + +<h4 class='c030'>F 16 <br> [<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> + +<div class='quote'> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'><i>September 1st</i> [1693, from the Camp].</span></div> + +<p class='c038'>Pardon me, if sorrow and despair has made me commit +the fault of not writing to you for two days. When one +is in the state in which I am, one does not know what +one is doing. I will begin by telling you that I have +changed two ciphers in our key, namely, j means 31, i +means 35, u means 53, v means 54. I [beg] you to note +this. Next, I must tell you that you have marked two +letters No. 10, so that No. 14 ought to be No. 15. But +just continue for the present, for there is no other harm +done, [except] that the second or first No. 10 might have +been lost without one’s having known at all that one had +been lost. I must further tell you that I wrote to you +<span class='pageno' id='Page_531'>531</span>two letters addressed to 131, whom I supposed to be at +Celle; you must let me know whether you have received +them. Three letters were addressed to the postmaster +at Celle, which are dated the 20th, and [this] is letter +No. 9; the 26th, and [this] is letter No. 12—this one is +of consequence; the 30th, and [this] is letter No. 14. +It would also be well to see whether you have letter +No. 13. I beg you to reply to me without fail as +to this. You can see everything by the way in which +they follow on one another; for I am quite sure that +I have been exact on this occasion. You will be surprised +to find me making such reflexions, in the condition +in which I am; but, my dear, we have had so +many misfortunes, that one must not create any more +for oneself. I received yours dated the 26th; but you +know what accident happened to me in mistaking one +bottle for another. I told you about it in my preceding +letters; I see, however, in yours dated the 28th, 29th +and 30th what you meant to say to me in [that dated] +the 26th. It is a great joy to me to know you free from +fear, and I am angry with myself for having been the +cause of your disquiet, which has contributed greatly to +your illness.<a id='r235'></a><a href='#f235' class='c008'><sup>[235]</sup></a> At present, now that you are free from +fear, I hope that the fever will leave you also. How I +pity you for having suffered so much—[a] six hours of +fever. I do not understand how you have strength +enough still to write to me. I am as grateful as I ought +to be; and I am convinced that it is love which gives +you strength; but to what extent am I not obliged by +this mark of your affection? Never shall I forget such +favours. If my letters had force enough to comfort +you in your sufferings, I would arrange for you to have +one every hour; but I take this compliment to be an +effect of your kindness. However, I can swear to you +<span class='pageno' id='Page_532'>532</span>that your letters are a great consolation to me, and +without the three last of them, dated 28th, 29th and +30th, I should be in my grave at this very moment. It +would after all be the greatest folly I could commit, for, +though it would be a sign of affection, I should lose you; +and, [as] you say very well in one of yours, what despair +never to see each other again for ever! Let us then live +on, together, love each other everlastingly, and swear +to each other afresh a constancy which shall never end; +and that [after?] death, if we have sense enough, this +may likewise endure. In order that we may live +together, take all imaginable pains to preserve yourself; +remember that my quiet of mind depends on it: if your +illness continues, I am quite sure that I shall go mad. +The fever prevails a great deal here; we have nearly +200 on the sick-list among our troops; my servants fall +sick one after the other. I have been obliged to send +my valet de chambre to Celle; the others are at +Lüneb[urg]; if this continues, my turn [?] will come too.</p> + +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>F 17 <br>[<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> + +<div class='quote'> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'><i>The 3rd</i> [<i>September 1693</i>, from the Camp].</span></div> + +<p class='c039'>I thought I should have an apoplectic fit when I opened +your letter, without seeing your handwriting. I hoped +to hear that you were better, and you are doing quite +the contrary. I believed at the beginning that it was all +over with you. Do not suppose that I am annoyed +that it is not in your handwriting—far from that, +I entreat you to continue in the same way, for I am +absolutely against your fatiguing yourself. I pity you +as much as an affectionate and tender ... can do so—must +the most perfect object in the universe suffer so +cruelly? Ye gods, why are you so unjust? But, my +<span class='pageno' id='Page_533'>533</span>heart, I know why this misfortune comes to you<a id='r236'></a><a href='#f236' class='c008'><sup>[236]</sup></a>—it is to +render me more unhappy that destiny causes you to fall +ill; you are made to suffer in order that I may be crucified. +And the design succeeds, for no one could send me a +greater misfortune. You order me not to disquiet +myself—it would be necessary not to love you, in order +not to be at the point of death. Every moment I am +on my knees to offer up prayer for your complete +recovery; I flatter myself that in the end I shall find +pity—my prayers are too devout not to find acceptance. +May God grant that you may speedily be relieved of your +sufferings and I of my fears and of my anxiety! With +what joy shall I embrace you, when I shall have that of +seeing you. I do not know when this will be possible to +me; but my design is to make pretence of an access of +fever happening to me; I shall say to the <span lang="fr"><i>bonhomme</i></span> that I +should like to go for three days to 317, to avoid the fever +taking hold of me, that is to say, to take some remedies. +Instead of staying at 317, I shall take the post and fly +to Celle. I should be able to be two nights with you—what +joy, what satisfaction! I should be able to be at +your feet, to bathe them with my tears: you would see +into how pitiable a state your illness had driven me. +But perhaps I am indulging these hopes in vain; for +before I can play this part it is in the first instance +necessary that the <span lang="fr"><i>bonhomme</i></span> should be in better health +... depends further on the future of the 9 [?] ... I +have nothing good to Hope for; rage, despair, trouble, +disquietude, Love—all these things together have such +an effect on me that I am like those people one sees at +Amsterdam in the madhouse. God knows what the end +of all this will be. The sickness spreads from day to day; +my old Lieutenant-C[olonel] and two Lieutenants have +<span class='pageno' id='Page_534'>534</span>fallen [ill] to-day; I do not know how I shall escape it; +it is a miracle, for with all the troubles that oppress me +I ought to catch it. Farewell, my Angel, I can tell you +no more. The express that was sent to me by the <span lang="fr"><i>bonhomme</i></span> +by [?] thought that you have a lover, who takes +so much [interest] in everything that concerns you that +you ... do yourself [?]; he is sincere [and] adores you, +and has as much Respect for you as anyone in the +world; I deserve all your affection and all the kind +interest you take in me. If I do not give you assurances +enough of my love and fidelity, it is not my fault—it is +that I have no opportunity for doing so; I should weary +you with my protestations, for I repeat them in all my +letters. I fancy that you are like myself. I cannot +wait for them too long, and all your letters, were they +filled with anything else, would be to me always agreeable +and more so than if there were nothing in them.</p> + +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>F 8<br> [<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> + +<div class='quote'> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>Atlenburg, <i>the 13th [of September, 1693]</i>.<a id='r237'></a><a href='#f237' class='c008'><sup>[237]</sup></a></span></div> + +<p class='c038'>On the twelfth I did what I do on all other days: that is +to say, drink, eat, and go the rounds; the same on the +thirteenth. The Duke of Celle came to call on us. +You see that I can keep my diaries without difficulty; +I do not think they will annoy you at all, for nothing could +be more innocent, and those from Hanover will be of +the same sort, at least if my going to sup with ladies +does not displease you. But I promise to leave this +alone also, assuring you that it is the very slightest proof +I can offer you, inasmuch as I shall be pleased to do +<span class='pageno' id='Page_535'>535</span>without it, even if you send no orders to stop it. Would +to God I could show you by my conduct, that all my +thoughts, all my acts are only done for you; but, alas! +you are so unjust that you refuse to perceive this. I hate +my bad fortune, and it is this which one day will ruin +me with you. I have received the letter No. 3 dated the +5th, within eight days after that marked 4; I cannot +understand whence arises this delay; but I well know +that it is dangerous that the letter should be so long +on its way. I am not satisfied with you, and the unkind +opinion you have of me as if I neglected you hurts me +very much; I think only of you night and day; no other +thought enters my mind; and yet, I am [supposed to] +forget you, to neglect you. I am inconstant—do I really +deserve these designations; be you the judge yourself! +Can you accuse me of no longer loving you? Is it +possible that it is Leonisse who believes this and +reproaches me with it! Great God! how full of +injustice you are, and how great a wrong you do me! +I love you to madness; I adore you beyond compare; +my love surpasses all others—and yet you have doubts +of all this; your heart does not speak in my favour. +I have reason for complaining of it—that barbarous +heart, which ought to plead for me, instead of being my +accuser. I have known it kind to me; but little by +little all that affection has vanished. Will not your +heart recover itself? reproach it on my part; my heart +promises an eternal attachment, it swears constancy to +you, and, provided that you deign to think of it once in +every twenty-four hours, it is content. Does it deserve +to be remembered by you? I think it does, but it is for +you to judge the case. If I am ever unfortunate enough +to love you no longer (which is an impossibility), your +wish will be no punishment to me [??], for I swear to +you that I shall never seek any other faithful attachment, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_536'>536</span>and, though the present one is dearer to me than my life, +I should never wish for another. Remember what a +certain Spaniard said: ‘I do not wish to make myself +common’—I call it to make myself common if I were +to quit the most perfect object of the universe for some +other, who could never compare herself as to ....</p> + +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>F 19<br> <br>[<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> + +<div class='quote'> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'><i>The 14th</i> [<i>of September, 1693.</i> From the Camp].</span></div> + +<p class='c038'>Most assuredly, without yours of the 12th the Beating +of my Heart, of which 127 had been the cause, would +have made an end of me, but, most fortunately for me, +I received it at the time when my heart was about to +burst; and, as I see from it that the news is quite false, +I also begin to recover myself. He told me, as quite +certain, that your fever had seized you again. Assuredly +I should not, with this disquiet, have been able to pass +the night alive; and now while I am writing to you +I still have the Queen of Hungary Water<a id='r238'></a><a href='#f238' class='c008'><sup>[238]</sup></a> on my nose. +I think, however, that this will pass away; but I feel +very much upset and exhausted; if this does not go +away in the night, I shall bleed myself to prevent any +evil consequences that might overtake me. M. de +Sporck<a id='r239'></a><a href='#f239' class='c008'><sup>[239]</sup></a> will, according to all appearances, die before +<span class='pageno' id='Page_537'>537</span>the day is over; I have 3 Captains, 5 Lieutenants and +4 Ensigns sick to death, more than 300 foot-soldiers and +dragoons, of our troops only, are quite down; it is an +infected air, the healthiest sicken in it; all the same, I +hope not to fall sick, knowing you to be out of the wood. +You will have seen from my letter dated the 12th how +well satisfied I am with you; do not be offended that I +begged you to [write] me two words with your own hand; +I knew that you were a little better; otherwise I should +not have done it; but, my best beloved heart, you have +done too much, for you have written me two entire +pages; I beg you very particularly not to do this any +more, nor until you are quite well again. The siege +of Charleroi<a id='r240'></a><a href='#f240' class='c008'><sup>[240]</sup></a> will prevent the Electoral Prince from being +here so soon; great God, may this siege deliver us from +troublesome people! It is said for certain that things +are settling down; but the orders that are given for +taking care of the sick make me tremble with fear that +we shall not so soon quit this post. I am agitated by +the same despair as you are, to have to pass my life with +people for whom I feel an aversion, and to be allowed +to pass so little time with her whom I adore. However, +you are more to be pitied, for I can very often get free of +it, and you not, besides the embraces which you are +obliged to undergo. It seems to me that, if I had to +suffer the same sort of thing, I could not prevent myself +from being sick every time it should happen to me. Ah, +how horrible to caress what one hates mortally; I +firmly believe that purgatory does not inflict so many +torments as do caresses of that sort. If it is true that +the Elector of Hanover is not going to 308, I might well +come there; but we cannot take our measures before +<span class='pageno' id='Page_538'>538</span>it is known what will become of the Electoral Prince. +The Duchess of Hanover<a id='r241'></a><a href='#f241' class='c008'><sup>[241]</sup></a> will not arrive till towards the +end of next month; and then the Electoral Prince will +have returned, and the hunting will be over. May God +only grant that we begin it soon, and that you are able +to put in an appearance. I pity you for having grown +so thin; but (with your permission) I find the question +which you put to me ridiculous and absurd. If I loved +nothing in you but your beauty I would forgive it you; +but you are convinced that it is not only this which I +adore—it is your merits, your [sweet] temper.<a id='r242'></a><a href='#f242' class='c008'><sup>[242]</sup></a> I confess +to you that to see you beautiful charms the eyes; +but I protest to you that, were you ugly like Madame +Kopstein,<a id='r243'></a><a href='#f243' class='c008'><sup>[243]</sup></a> I should not love you a whit the less. Tired of +you? Ah, is it possible to ask such a question as this of +a lover who loves you dearly! No, no, Leonisse, you are +not convinced of my sincere affection. What must I do +to bring the conviction of it home to you? I shall never +be at rest, till I know that you are quite convinced of it. +Do you believe that an affection like mine arose out of +anything so transitory as beauty? Although you have +much of it, and more than any one else of your sex, I +can tell you that it is not your beauty which has put me +into the condition in which I am. It is true that the +beauty which you possess set me on fire, and that without +it I should perhaps not have been as happy as I am; +but that which has made me as I am is your <span lang="fr"><i>esprit</i></span>, your +sincerity, your way of living, and, finally, it is your soul, +so high-bred and so well-balanced, which produces in you +<span class='pageno' id='Page_539'>539</span>a sweetness beyond compare, an unequalled generosity, +with clemency beyond all imagination. It is these +virtues which have placed me in the dear slavery in +which I find myself at this moment, and in which I also +mean to die. In truth, Leonisse, you trouble me greatly +with your questions; you fear that I shall become +unfaithful to the greatest Beauty of the age, and to +virtue itself, for some unfledged princesses<a id='r244'></a><a href='#f244' class='c008'><sup>[244]</sup></a> without any +other merit but that of having been to Paris. Once more, +I see only too well that you are not well convinced of my +love; I hope that in the end I shall give you so many +signs of it that you will no longer be able to doubt it. +To take the proper steps it is necessary that we should +speak to each other; we have time up to the end of the +coming month [?], and before this time we need not fear +the return of the Electoral Prince, and of the Duchess. +You still attack [me about] princesses [?]. Do you +perhaps think that I am so fond as you are yourself of +novelty, of change, and of people who come from Paris? +You are quite mistaken: I wear my chains with very great +pleasure, and would not change them for the Kingdom of +the Great Mogul. The letter of the Lieutenant-Colonel +is very silly, but the person is reasonable enough; she +has inspired a strong affection in a very brave man, of +high rank, in the Low Countries, whose name is the +Marquis of Spinosa.<a id='r245'></a><a href='#f245' class='c008'><sup>[245]</sup></a> He is one of the fine gentlemen +[<span lang="fr"><i>galans</i></span>] of that country. But since I have sent you a +very silly letter, I shall make up for it by one that is very +well written; if it were not written out of a book, we +<span class='pageno' id='Page_540'>540</span>ought to admire it particularly as coming from this +person; but let me tell you that she found it word for +word in a book. However, it must be allowed that it +is phrased very suitably. I beg you to send it back to +me; I send it you because I think it will amuse you. +Adieu.</p> + +</div> + +<h4 class='c030'>F 4 <br> <br>[<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> + +<div class='quote'> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'><i>Thursday {1693}</i>.</span></div> + +<p class='c038'>I needed your letter to sustain me in the despair +which had fallen upon me. This is what comes of acting +openly, and if you had not spoken to me of ... +I believe that I could not have held out a day longer. +However, I controlled myself excellently; and I wished in +the first instance to know what you would say to me; so +I did not give way to my anger. Let me tell you then +that I was the day before yesterday at Linde.<a id='r246'></a><a href='#f246' class='c008'><sup>[246]</sup></a> Mme. +la Comtesse was greatly astonished that I did not play +with you. I said to her that this required permission; +she said, Mme. Léonisse made the Elector ask me; and +he replied positively that she might summon her players. +Yesterday, before receiving your letter, I was told by +Oberg who had seen M. Weyhe at Linde, that his +Highness had said it to yourself.<a id='r247'></a><a href='#f247' class='c008'><sup>[247]</sup></a> Prince Ernest +<span class='pageno' id='Page_541'>541</span>Augustus said to me in these words, that the Elector +had said to you, ‘You are bored, Madam; you ought to +summon your players.’ It would have depended on +yourself, if he had spoken to you in this way. But, +Madam, I was greatly relieved when I read your letter, +in which you write to me about this matter. I have +drawn my moral, which is never begin to fly into a passion +about vapours. But, my divine creature, could you not +[contrive to] let [me] come, in order that I might have the +joy of gazing upon you, and that my eyes and my heart +might learn from yours how I stand with them, and +whether your love is such as you wrote to me. Your +letter of yesterday is charming; it touched me so that +I feel more on fire than ever. You write that you see +nobody; nothing could be more obliging; but you see the +Reformer all the more; which makes me fear that you +will accustom yourself little by little to his mediocre +caresses, and he will kiss you so often that I die with +trouble only to think of it. For the love of yourself, +do not accustom yourself to it; always remember the +way in which he treats you—you who deserve all proper, +obliging and respectful ways. But I see the defects of +another man, and I do not see that it is in this that I am +the most criminal. You have told me yourself that the +Re[former] ... [at times?] was not so unpleasant in +his ways as myself. I die to think of it. How unfortunate +I am to love you so tenderly, and that this excessive +passion makes me so odious. Think no more of the past, +I beseech you. Adieu, adieu, alas, adieu!</p> + +</div> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_542'>542</span> + <h4 class='c029'>F 5<br> <br>[<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> +</div> + +<div class='quote'> + +<div class='c033'>[1693.]</div> + +<p class='c038'>I am much to be pitied, and my ill-fortune persecutes +me too much for me to be able to bear it any longer. +Yesterday’s letters give us no hope that the Ref[ormer] +may take his departure; and until he has gone I cannot +and ought not to see you. What a cruel destiny! oh, +insupportable misfortune! Can I still breathe after +such heavy blows; life becomes insupportable to me; I +cannot, nor ought I to, remain any longer in the world, +for what can I do in it without seeing you! I have +to-day had two unfortunate experiences, of which at +present the second seems to me the most cruel, but the +first may prove the most terrible. I have fallen out with +our old <span lang="fr"><i>bonhomme</i></span>, and with Gor too; and, as he told +you, if I were to repeat it to those with whom his +Highness is displeased, they would be much astonished. +Apart from my passion [for you], I know what course +I have to take; but, my dear, as I have promised +you to do nothing without your consent, I wish to let +you know about it beforehand. My intention is to +write to him, and to say to him that I was very much +annoyed that duty had involved me in a dispute with +the person in the world whom I honour most; but, as +I had carefully taken note of the words he addressed +to me, I had observed at the time that he said [that] +if I repeated [it] to all those whom our master holds in +contempt, there would be many who would be undeceived; +I thought that your Excellency would not be +offended, if I asked you to be good enough to inform me +privately, whether I am unfortunate enough to have displeased +Monseigneur the Elector—in order that I might +<span class='pageno' id='Page_543'>543</span>shape my course accordingly. For hitherto I had +served him from affection only, and without any interested +motive; and, if I was unfortunate enough to have +incurred his disfavour, it would be impossible for me to +serve him any longer.<a id='r248'></a><a href='#f248' class='c008'><sup>[248]</sup></a> This was, in substance, what +I wished to say to him, being aware of your opinion. +I can assure you that I positively perceived that his rage +directed itself against me. I am surprised at my own +patience, and I cannot understand how I managed to +control myself, for I had it very often on the tip of my +tongue to say to him what I intend to write to him. +The second misfortune troubles me a great deal more. +I saw your windows open; the Ref[ormer] came out +of your dressing-room; without [my] seeing you there, +though I raised my voice tolerably high, and passed and +repassed; but there was nothing—one could not see a living +soul there. I suppose that, as it was late, you were already +in the room of the <span lang="fr"><i>Romaine</i></span>. I should be inconsolable, if I +had not the hope of seeing you this evening at 6 o’clock. +To what am I reduced! I count it the greatest good +fortune in the world to see you a thousand feet off. In +good truth, it will be a great consolation to me if I can +have this pleasure. That of writing to you is very dear +to me, and I would not give it up for a Kingdom. I fear +that my Diabolical destiny will deprive me of it; this +would be my finishing stroke. I conjure you, take your +measures so well that we may not miss this joy. You +know, I hope, through your own self that one would +not be able to live without this. Alas! why am I not +Reden or Hortense<a id='r249'></a><a href='#f249' class='c008'><sup>[249]</sup></a>; so long as you are there, it matters +<span class='pageno' id='Page_544'>544</span>not if you were to hate me. I shall, however, have the +joy of seeing her whom I adore; it is our love which takes +the one far away from the other; without my love, +I should be wherever you are; but because I love you +I am in bad repute, I am disregarded, I am forgotten. +But never mind; let them spit in my face, I will not +take offence at it.</p> + +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>F 13<br> <br>[<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> + +<div class='quote'> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>[Hanover, <i>latter part of 1693</i>].<a id='r250'></a><a href='#f250' class='c008'><sup>[250]</sup></a></span></div> + +<p class='c038'>In fear of not being able to speak to you, I take the +liberty of expressing to you my concern at the misfortune +which has happened to you. God knows that +my heart forewarned me of it; but my companion was +never willing to wait, although I begged him to do so; +but, by way of climax to my ill luck, I have to wait +till my intimate friend has had the pleasure with his +troublesome companion of an interview with you; +it seems to me that I have great reason to complain of +the Gods, as they are unjust enough to deprive me of +all means of being serviceable to you, while at the same +time they furnish such means to those from whom I have +most to fear. Since this accident strange things have +come into my head, and I am foolish enough to believe +that the accident which happened yesterday is a prognostic +of my ill luck, and that this is the same man who +will be the cause of all these troubles to me. The result +<span class='pageno' id='Page_545'>545</span>will be that I shall have him watched as closely as +possible while I am away, and, if I hear the slightest +thing, believe me as a man of honour that I will never see +you again, and that I would rather seek out the innermost +parts of Lapland than appear before those eyes +which [once] enchanted me. I detest my companion, +for without this I should have had the pleasure of +serving you, instead of my seeing this joy in the breast +of a man whom I abhor, and who is impertinent enough +to come and tell me of it himself, informing me of +the condition in which you were, your <span lang="fr"><i>déshabillement</i></span>, +without a cap, your hair loose over your incomparable +bosom. O God, I am too furious to write any more.</p> + +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>F 14<br> <br>[<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> + +<div class='quote'> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>[Hanover, <i>latter part of 1693</i>.]</span></div> + +<p class='c038'>While I was reflecting on the miserable state in +which I found myself they brought me your letter, which +I had little expected. My joy was so great that I forgot +my sufferings, throwing myself on the letter as if nothing +were wanting to me. You have done everything that +I wished to see you do; it therefore only remains for +me to thank you for your kindness, and to give you +every assurance of my fidelity:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c040'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span lang="it"><i>Io ti saro fedele,</i></span></div> + <div class='line in2'><span lang="it"><i>Ne mai ti tradiro.</i></span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="it"><i>Se ben mi sei crudel,</i></span></div> + <div class='line in2'><span lang="it"><i>Sempre t’adorero.</i></span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c041'>If you do not believe me, I am ready to abandon Mother, +Kinsfolk, Friends, Possessions and Country, the better +to convince you of it; and it will only depend on you +<span class='pageno' id='Page_546'>546</span>whether I shall take the journey of which you are well +aware. My unhappy condition furnishes me with a good +excuse; I shall be able to pretend illness for a long time. +If you agree with me, I beg you to let me know; for I will +take my measures accordingly; it is the greatest proof +[of my affection] which I can offer you at present; so +pray accept it, and thus make me happy; for the satisfaction +of seeing you far surpasses the ambition which +I have of making my fortune. I could not find any +greater [good fortune], and that of possessing you is so +dear to me that I do not any longer meditate on any of +the others. By your letter you have so purified my +heart that there no longer remains in it the slightest +suspicion of jealousy; the eagerness which you show to +know the state of my health sufficiently convinces me that +you love me. To meet your wish, I will tell you that I +suffer extremely; yet the pain of not seeing you greatly +exceeds that of my fall. I expect to be better in four +days; but if you accept my proposition, I shall keep my +room for ten days longer. This will not prevent me, +so soon as I shall be able to walk, from being able to +embrace you in the well-known locality; to have news +of you, I believe that the safest way is for one of my +people (in whom I am able to place confidence)....</p> + +</div> + +<h4 class='c029'>F 15 <br> <br>[<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> + +<div class='quote'> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>[Hanover, <i>latter part of 1693</i>.]</span></div> + +<p class='c038'>Anyone but myself would put you to the proof, to +see whether your love will carry you so far as to come to +me; but, as for me, I love you too much to be able to +expose you to this risk, and your offer is sufficient for +me. However, in order not to lose the occasion of seeing +<span class='pageno' id='Page_547'>547</span>you (since I have so little time for remaining with you) +I will come to you this evening, if you consent; and I +shall wait to hear from you the hour of the <span lang="fr"><i>rendez-vous</i></span>. +If you think it well that I should appear at court, I will +do so, but not otherwise. The joy of seeing you again +makes me forget all the trouble that my illness has +brought upon me; for the rest, I am well enough pleased +with you; I cannot, however, forget how little opposition +you have to offer on the subject of my journey, +having a good excuse for dissuading me from it; I do not +know at what judgment to arrive on the subject.<a id='r251'></a><a href='#f251' class='c008'><sup>[251]</sup></a> Only, +may God grant that this absence may not prove of +deadly import to me! You accuse me of not loving you +enough; how can you be so unjust, but I will pass over +this point without reply, knowing well that you are too +fully convinced of my love, which is the purest that ever +existed, and which will last so long as I live. I have +often protested this to you in prose; permit me on the +present occasion to do it in verse:</p> + +<div class='quote'> + +<p class='c038'>While breath within my heart remains, + Beloved is <span lang="fr"><i>votre nom</i></span> by me; +So long as blood runs in my veins, + It shall retain the mark of thee; +And with the current of my days, +Love shall remain with me always.</p> + +</div> + +<p class='c037'>At 6 o’clock my man shall be in front of the room of the +<span lang="fr"><i>bonne, bonne amie</i></span>.<a id='r252'></a><a href='#f252' class='c008'><sup>[252]</sup></a></p> + +</div> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_548'>548</span> + <h4 class='c029'>F 20<br> <br>[<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> +</div> + +<div class='quote'> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>[Hanover, <i>latter part of 1693</i>.]<a id='r253'></a><a href='#f253' class='c008'><sup>[253]</sup></a></span></div> + +<p class='c038'>I perceive the pleasure that I had taken in embracing +you vanishes entirely since the Troublesome One has +appeared so suddenly. I confess to you that this countenance +displeased me very much so soon as I perceived it; +a thunderclap could not have surprised me more. But +it is fated that there should always be disagreeable +faces to prevent a tender meeting like that which all +appearances allowed us to think ours was to be. Yes, +my idea of it was so full of joy that I could not sleep all +the night; but alas! all is vanished, and I have to pass +a second night without sleeping, and with grief instead +of the joy with which the first filled me; it is certain +that, unless you are so kind as to console me, I shall bathe +in my tears. Console me then, divine beauty, and +comfort a man who is dying for you, and who is so set +upon your charms that his head turns:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c040'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>For a toy [?] of charming beauty</div> + <div class='line in2'>Such flame me doth consume,</div> + <div class='line'>That to love her is reason and duty,</div> + <div class='line in2'>Till I am laid in my tomb.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c041'>Such is my maxim, and you shall see me carry it out +exactly; my greatest satisfaction shall be to prove to +you that only death is alone capable of extinguishing +my love. But, for the love of God, think of the motto, +‘Nothing impure inflames me’;<a id='r254'></a><a href='#f254' class='c008'><sup>[254]</sup></a> adieu!</p> + +</div> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_549'>549</span> + <h4 class='c029'>F 21 <br> <br>[<span class='sc'>From Königsmarck to Sophia Dorothea</span>]</h4> +</div> + +<div class='quote'> + +<div class='c033'><span class='small'>[Hanover, <i>latter part of 1693</i>] <i>6 o’clock</i>.</span></div> + +<p class='c038'>I cannot go away from here without thanking you for +having rescued me from such a difficulty. Surely I was +a lost man without yesterday evening’s conversation. +I go away as happy as a man can do who leaves behind +what he adores; but what consoles me is that I am +well assured of your friendship, and that my absence +does me no harm; my soul is so at ease that I am quite +a different man from what I was before. I beg of you, +no <span lang="fr"><i>tête-à-têtes</i></span>—not with anybody, in particular with M. +R.<a id='r255'></a><a href='#f255' class='c008'><sup>[255]</sup></a> I shall know everything, for I have good friends +here whom you do not in the least suspect. Adieu, +<span lang="fr"><i>Bella dea</i></span>, think of me as much as I think of you. I kiss +your knees a thousand times, and am eternally your +slave.</p> + +</div> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_550'>550</span> + <h3 class='c002'>APPENDIX C<br> NOTE ON THE RELIGIOUS SITUATION IN SCOTLAND, AS IT AFFECTED THE HANOVERIAN SUCCESSION</h3> +</div> + +<p class='c042'>The Church of Scotland was, in the main, well +affected to the Union and the consequences which it +entailed as regards the Succession. But the friends of +the House of Hanover had to guard against two distinct +sources of weakness within the Establishment itself.</p> + +<p class='c038'>(I) Episcopacy in Scotland had never been more +than a compromise, even in the districts where it had not +been violently opposed. The best instance of this is +Aberdeenshire, where protests against the government +of Charles II are late in date and are confined to verbal +expressions of sympathy with the persecuted Presbyterians. +But the <i>Records of the Exercise</i> [Presbytery] +<i>of Alford</i> (New Spalding Club, 1897), dealing with the +period 1662-1688, show clearly enough that the episcopal +function was ordination, and that the government and, +in many respects, the public worship of the Church was +Presbyterian. The effect of this was that, at the Revolution, +Episcopal clergymen were permitted to remain in +their parishes on condition of their taking the oath to +William and Mary, although they were forbidden to take +part in Presbyteries, Synods, or Assemblies. The tendency +was for such men to conform to Presbytery, but +they formed a distinct ‘left wing.’ They were most +numerous in the north-east, and they were well represented +in the Universities. Both the Universities of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_551'>551</span>Aberdeen, for example, were Jacobite in sympathy. +The result was that many ministers shared in, and +urged their people to join, the ’15. They were deposed +in 1716, and the Universities were ‘purged’ by the +Commission of 1717.</p> + +<p class='c038'>(2) A section of the more robust Presbyterians in +the Church sympathised with their brethren who had +declined to accept the Revolution Settlement, and their +feeling was accentuated by a gross breach of faith on +the part of the British Parliament—the passing of the +Patronage Act of 1712, which disturbed the Church for +more than a century and a half. So strong was this +tendency that, as late as 1745, the Provincial Synod of +Moray considered it necessary to inform George II that +‘with pleasure we reflect that very few of the people who +hold communion with us have joined those enemies of +your Majesty’s crown and government.’ (Allardyce, +<cite>Jacobite Papers</cite>.)</p> + +<p class='c038'>Episcopalian Jacobitism within the Church practically +disappears in 1716, and the clergy, as represented +in ecclesiastical and academic records, were devotedly +loyal to George I and II, from that date.</p> + +<p class='c038'>Outside the Church we have a body who were not +Dissenters in the English sense, for they approved of +the constitution of the Church, but objected to the +establishment of Episcopacy in England, and the toleration +of Dissenters in Scotland. They were the men who +had suffered most in the ‘killing time,’ and their only +associations with the functions of government were +connected with Grierson of Lagg and Bloody Mackenzie. +They considered it possible that James Stewart might be +turned from the error of his ways, and take the Covenant +as Charles II had done. Their attitude, in fact, was +precisely similar to that of their predecessors, who had +crowned Charles II after fighting against Charles I. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_552'>552</span>They declined to acknowledge the Revolution Settlement +and the Union. They spoke of Queen Anne as ‘that +wicked Jezabel the pretended Queen,’ and ‘the late +woman.’ But even when they had little hope of the +Pretender’s conversion, they protested against ‘the +Prince of Hanover, who hath been bred and brought up +in the Luthren religion, which is not only different from +but even in many things <a id='note552.8'></a><a href='#n_552.8'><ins class='correction'>contrar</ins></a> unto that purity in +doctrine, reformation, and religion we in these nations +had attained unto.’ (<cite>Protestation against the Union.</cite>)</p> + +<p class='c038'>The Episcopalians, the largest section of Protestant +Dissenters, were, almost without exception, High Tories. +They had suffered for refusing the oath to William and +Mary, and had undergone some trifling inconveniences +as the defeated and unpopular party. The rising of +1715 was, therefore, very largely supported by Episcopalians, +who found themselves ranged along with extreme +Presbyterians and Roman Catholics. The religious +aspect of the ’15 and the ’45 has never been satisfactorily +examined. Mr. Blaikie said, not long since, that +the ‘45 was much more Presbyterian than is commonly +imagined. I hope he will work out the subject.</p> + +<div class='c009'><span class='sc'>R. S. Rait.</span></div> + +<hr class='c020'> +<div class='footnote' id='f194'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r194'>194</a>. In the above, which it will be observed hardly passes out +of the region of conjecture, I have followed the argument +of Dr. G. R. Geerds, comparing Cramer as to the basis of +fact.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f195'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r195'>195</a>. The edition of <cite>The Love of an Uncrowned Queen</cite> edited by +me is the revised edition of 1903. Dr. Robert Geerds’ article, as +already stated, appeared in the <span lang="de"><cite>Beitrag zur Allgemeinen Zeitung</cite></span> +for Friday, April 7th, 1902.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f196'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r196'>196</a>. See letter F 16 below.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f197'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r197'>197</a>. Amalia, Duchess of Saxe-Eisenach, a born Princess of +Nassau-Dietz. Cf. as to her visit to Celle in March 1692, Colt +<i>ap.</i> Wilkins, p. 163.—Königsmarck mentions a “M. de Goritz” as +a brother-officer in the Flemish campaign, ib. pp. 216, 232; he +appears to be identical with Count Frederick von Schlitz-Goertz, +who afterwards became Marshal of the Court and President +of the Chamber, and, after accompanying George I to England, +died as Prime Minister at Hanover. See Vehse, <span lang="de"><cite>Gesch. d. Höfe d. +Hauses Braunschweig</cite></span>, Part I. pp. 116, 187, and Part II. p. 10.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f198'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r198'>198</a>. <i>Voyage de Brockhausen</i> may mean ‘during the journey from’ +or ‘to Brockhausen.’ This and the following letters appear to +belong to the dates here assigned to them; but it is possible that +they belong to June 1693. The Princess left Hanover for Brockhausen +on June 21, 1692, see Wilkins, p. 180; as to her movements +to and from that place in June 1693, see ib. pp. 256-76. After a +careful consideration of dates, as well as of the general contents of +the letters, I have come to the conclusion that the 1692 date is +the more probable. Brockhausen, or Bruchhausen, was a country-seat +of the Duke of Celle, situate, like the town of Nienburg, +mentioned at the end of this letter, in the division of the old +countship of Hoya, which had from the middle of the sixteenth +century onwards belonged to the Celle branch of the House of +Brunswick-Lüneburg. Brockhausen is about 18 miles N.W. of +Celle.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f199'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r199'>199</a>. Cipher uncertain.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f200'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r200'>200</a>. A country-seat, not very far from Brockhausen, belonging to +the Duke of Hanover, where his Court seems to have been in +the earlier as well as in the later part of this summer. Cf. Colt, +<i>ap.</i> Wilkins, p. 215, <i>note</i>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f201'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r201'>201</a>. Field-Marshal Henry von Podewils (1615-96) commanded +the Hanoverian troops in the campaign of 1688, and also in the +demonstration of 1693.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f202'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r202'>202</a>. The above dating is incomprehensible; ‘the 3rd’ may +possibly be a slip of the pen for ‘the 13th.’ There is nothing in +the letter to give any satisfactory clue to the time of writing.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f203'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r203'>203</a>. In July 1692 Königsmarck appears to have paid a visit +from the Camp to Brussels, see the Princess’s letter <i>ap.</i> Wilkins, +p. 197. (Of the old gates of Brussels the Porte de Hal now alone +remains.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f204'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r204'>204</a>. This letter is dated ‘the 23rd,’ but August 3rd, O.S., was the +date of the battle of Steenkirk, on the eve of which this letter seems +to have been written. I have adopted a very ingenious conjecture, +which I can hardly describe as warranted by the transcript, but +which may nevertheless be correct.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f205'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r205'>205</a>. See the Princess’s letter of July 13th <i>ap.</i> Wilkins, pp. 193-6.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f206'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r206'>206</a>. A small town between Brussels and Enghien. Compare +Wilkins, pp. 208 sqq.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f207'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r207'>207</a>. Cf. Wilkins, pp. 233 sqq.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f208'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r208'>208</a>. George Lewis’ favourite hunting-box near Lüneburg, in the +eastern corner of the principality. There is a picture of it at +Herrenhausen, with a meeting of the hunt in face of the <span lang="fr"><i>château</i></span>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f209'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r209'>209</a>. In camp in Flanders.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f210'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r210'>210</a>. The significance of the word <span lang="fr"><i>carême</i></span> in this passage is obscure. +Its ordinary meaning ‘lent, fasting’ gives no sense. Dr. Braunholtz +informs me that the word may also mean ‘a collection of +lent-sermons’; but, as he observes, this was not a very likely +gift in the circumstances. And a ‘lenten gift’ of any kind seems +out of season in September.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f211'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r211'>211</a>. I cannot offer any conjecture as to the identity of Sparr. +He may have been a descendant of the celebrated Brandenburg +Field-Marshal von Sparr. ‘L.’ may of course be Luisburg.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f212'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r212'>212</a>. ‘Guldenleu,’ if that be the true reading of the MS. (Wilkins, +p. 229, spells the name ‘Guldenlon’), might conceivably mean +Ulric Christian Gyldenlöve, the natural brother of Charles XII.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f213'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r213'>213</a>. The Kettelers of Harkotten were Hanoverian Barons. (The +famous Bishop of Mainz was a scion of this family.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f214'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r214'>214</a>. The Landgrave is no doubt Landgrave Charles of Hesse-Cassel, +of whom the Duchess of Orleans speaks as her cousin. +His mother, the Landgravine Hedwig Sophia, was a daughter of +the Elector George William of Brandenburg and his wife Elizabeth +Charlotte, sister of the Elector Palatine Frederick V.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f215'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r215'>215</a>. Princess Emily of Hesse-Cassel, sister of Landgrave William +VI, married Henry Charles, Prince of Tarente, and died in 1693. +As to the ‘Marionette’, see the Introduction to this Appendix.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f216'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r216'>216</a>. Ebsdorf, a hunting-box of the Duke of Hanover, about fifteen +miles from Lüneburg.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f217'> +<p class='c001'><a href='#r217'>217</a>. Cf. Wilkins, p. 233.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f218'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r218'>218</a>. The Imperial campaigns in Hungary were still in progress, +and, by the <span lang="de"><cite>Kurtractat</cite></span> of 1692, Ernest Augustus and his brother +were under the obligation of keeping up a military force there till +the end of the war.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f219'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r219'>219</a>. The ‘Baroness’—unidentifiable—not the ‘Countess’; though +Countess Platen was famed as an expert in the art of painting, +and was even said to have invented a mysterious pigment called +‘white rouge.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f220'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r220'>220</a>. The letters ‘Bil’ in the original no doubt stand for ‘Bielke.’ +See note to F 10, below. ‘M. le Duc’ is clearly the Duke of +Celle.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f221'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r221'>221</a>. Of Hanover (on the point of becoming such).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f222'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r222'>222</a>. I cannot be sure about the ‘falconry.’ The list of the +Elector’s household in 1696, ap. Malortie, <span lang="de"><cite>Der Hannoversche +Hof unter d. Kürfürsten Ernst August</cite></span>, &c., p. 40, includes one +‘bird-catcher,’ and one ‘ortolan-catcher.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f223'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r223'>223</a>. What is here printed as two letters (F 33 and F 34) runs on +without break in the Berlin manuscript. It is, however, difficult +to believe that the earlier portion is not distinct from the latter, +and that the former was not written by ‘<span lang="fr"><i>la Confidante</i></span>,’ and the +latter by Königsmarck; and I have therefore, though with diffidence, +ventured on the arrangement in the text. It must not +be supposed that these two letters refer to the assignation which +led to the catastrophe of the amour between Sophia Dorothea +and Königsmarck. The day of Königsmarck’s disappearance +was, no doubt, a Sunday, and the place in which, according +to tradition, he was struck down dead was by the door of the +<span lang="de"><i>Rittersaal</i></span>, in the <span lang="de"><i>Leineschloss</i></span> at Hanover. But apart from the +fact that, according to Rüdiger’s statement (Cramer, vol. i. p. 69), +Königsmarck did not leave his lodgings till between 9 and 10 p.m., +the body of the letters in the Lund and in the Berlin collection +appear to belong to an earlier date than that at which Königsmarck +quitted the Hanoverian service (probably about the spring of 1694): +and it can hardly be supposed that these two specially incriminating +letters were left by the Secretary Hildebrandt to be seized, and that +they found their way to Berlin with a series of which they formed no +integral part. The Princess, it may be added, was in the habit of +playing cards in the Grand Hall as early as 1691 (cf. Wilkins, +p. 145).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f224'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r224'>224</a>. Near Celle.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f225'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r225'>225</a>. <span lang="fr"><i>Ma petite.</i></span> For Königsmarck’s use of the same term of +endearment, cf. Wilkins, p. 162.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f226'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r226'>226</a>. See note to F 4 below.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f227'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r227'>227</a>. Count Magnus Stenbock, afterwards renowned as a Swedish +general under Charles XII, and sympathetically remembered for +his tragic death, entered the Dutch service as a volunteer in 1690. +The Count de La Gardie mentioned here may be Pontus Frederick +who died in 1693. Stenbock was connected by descent with the de +La Gardies; a Countess Stenbock, born de La Gardie, was with +Aurora von Königsmarck immediately after her brother’s death. +The two Counts are mentioned as likely to come to Celle in July +1693, <i>ap.</i> Wilkins, p. 288.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f228'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r228'>228</a>. ‘The good Plesse’ must have been the lady of General Pless, +formerly in the Danish service, like many other members of his +family, which was of ancient Brunswick descent.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f229'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r229'>229</a>. Prince Maximilian, who excited Königsmarck’s jealousy so +strongly, was staying at Brockhausen in June 1692 after his +catastrophe at Hanover (cf. Wilkins, p. 136), Königsmarck being +at Hanover. In June 1693 Maximilian was lodged at Luisburg, +in rooms next to the Princess (cf. Wilkins, p. 259). In July +1693 he was at Herrenhausen (ib. p. 286). The letter, with its +references to the contiguity of Prince Maximilian’s rooms, and to +the Duchess of Celle’s encouragement of him, seems to belong to +the later date.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f230'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r230'>230</a>. Sophia Charlotte.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f231'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r231'>231</a>. Probably Christian William von dem Bussche, who became +Adjutant-General of the Elector George Lewis, and died as a general +in 1711. George Christopher von Hammerstein was Adjutant-General +to the Hereditary (Electoral) Prince.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f232'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r232'>232</a>. The war, begun in 1688 by the French invasion of the +Palatinate, lasted till the conclusion of the Peace of Ryswyk in +1697.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f233'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r233'>233</a>. Count Niels Bielke, the well-known Swedish politician (afterwards +governor of Swedish Pomerania), seems already at this time +as Swedish envoy to have furthered the French interest, with which +he remained identified. See Colt <i>ap.</i> Wilkins, p. 176.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f234'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r234'>234</a>. Can this have been Melusina von der Schulenburg?</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f235'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r235'>235</a>. Cf. Wilkins, pp. 313 sqq.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f236'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r236'>236</a>. The familiar second person singular is employed in this and +the next two lines.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f237'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r237'>237</a>. Atlenburg (mis-spelt ‘Altenburg’ <i>ap.</i> Wilkins, p. 314) must +be Artlenburg, in the part of the duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg on +the left bank of the Elbe.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f238'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r238'>238</a>. This old-fashioned toilet-water has hardly gone quite out of +use. Its name is said to have been derived from the fact that the +original formula of the compound (of which the chief ingredient is +rosemary) was presented by a hermit to a queen of Hungary. +In his rapturous letter <i>ap.</i> Wilkins, p. 155, Königsmarck begs +Sophia Dorothea to have <span lang="fr"><i>de l’eau de la reine d’Hongrie</i></span> in +readiness.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f239'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r239'>239</a>. A member of the ancient family von Spörcken, which possessed +numerous estates in Lüneburg, and from which sprang +Field-Marshal von Spörcken. He was born in 1698, and his +mother was a sister of Field-Marshal von der Schulenburg.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f240'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r240'>240</a>. The siege of Charleroi by Vauban began on September 15, +1693, and ended with the capture of the place on October 11.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f241'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r241'>241</a>. <i>Sic</i> in text (‘<span lang="fr"><i>la Dujais d’Hanovre</i></span>’ and, lower down, ‘<span lang="fr"><i>la +Dujaiÿse</i></span>,’ Königsmarck’s spelling), though the date of the letter +admits of no doubt.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f242'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r242'>242</a>. The remainder of this letter was misplaced in the Berlin +copy.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f243'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r243'>243</a>. Probably the wife of Court-Marshal von Koppenstein.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f244'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r244'>244</a>. <span lang="fr"><i>Gosses de princesses</i></span> in the original. I owe the following +reference to Dr. Braunholtz: <span lang="fr"><i>Dans le jargon des voyous, une</i></span> +gosse, <em>une</em> gosseline, <span lang="fr"><i>c’est une fillette de quinze à seize ans</i></span>.... +(L. Rigaud, <span lang="fr"><cite>Dictionnaire d’argot moderne</cite></span>, n.e., 1888).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f245'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r245'>245</a>. I am unable to identify this nobleman. The spelling Espinosa +seems the more common.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f246'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r246'>246</a>. Linde or Linden, an estate in the immediate <a id='corr540.1.1'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='vincity'>vicinity</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_540.1.1'><ins class='correction' title='vincity'>vicinity</ins></a></span> of +Hanover, purchased in 1688 by Count Platen, who built in its +fine gardens a <span lang="fr"><i>château</i></span>, frequently mentioned as ‘<span lang="fr"><i>la cour de +Linden</i></span>.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f247'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r247'>247</a>. The Obergs were an ancient noble family, whose estates lay +in the bishopric of Hildesheim and elsewhere. A Privy-Councillor +von Oberg is mentioned <i>ap.</i> Malortie, <i>u. s.</i> pp. 193, 194. +Christian Lewis von Oberg, a general of much distinction in the +Hanoverian service, was not born till 1689. The Obergs were +afterwards raised to the rank of Counts.—The von der Weyhe +mentioned in the text was probably the same who afterwards +became a General, and married the widowed Frau von dem +Bussche, Countess Platen’s sister.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f248'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r248'>248</a>. The meaning of this passage is hopelessly obscured in the +original by the wild use of brackets, and by a reckless interchange +between <span lang="la"><i>oratio obliqua</i></span> and <span lang="la"><i>directa</i></span>, and the second and third +persons.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f249'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r249'>249</a>. Von Reden was Chamberlain to the Electress Sophia. +‘Hortense’ is the Abbé Hortensio Mauro, mentioned in Chapter +III. In her letters, the Electress often refers to him as ‘Ortence.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f250'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r250'>250</a>. This and the following two letters might belong to the +spring of 1692; but I think that they may with more probability +be assigned to the latter part of 1693.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f251'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r251'>251</a>. The reference seems to be to his intention to quit the +Hanoverian service.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f252'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r252'>252</a>. Fräulein von dem Knesebeck.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f253'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r253'>253</a>. This and the following letter ought possibly to be dated in +the spring of 1692; but I think the date assigned the more +probable one.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f254'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r254'>254</a>. The seal on some of Königsmarck’s letters in the Lund +Correspondence represents a flaming heart on an altar, the sun +shining down upon it, with the circumscription, <span lang="fr"><i>Rien d’impure +m’allume</i></span>. Wilkins, p. 123.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f255'> +<p class='c038'><a href='#r255'>255</a>. I cannot guess at ‘M. R.’ Prince Maximilian’s second name +was William.</p> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_553'>553</span> + <h2 class='c006'>INDEX</h2> +</div> + +<ul class='index c043'> + <li class='c044'>Act for the further Security of the Protestant Succession, <a href='#Page_370'>370</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Act of Precedence, <a href='#Page_404'>404</a>, <a href='#Page_406'>406</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Act of Security (1704), <a href='#Page_372'>372-3</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Act of Settlement (1701), <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, 225 <i><a href='#f96'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_321'>321-2</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Act of Union (1707), <a href='#Page_373'>373</a>, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Addison, <a href='#Page_388'>388-9</a>; + <ul> + <li>cited, 335 <i><a href='#f137'>note</a></i></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Adolphus John, Prince, <a href='#Page_108'>108-9</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Alexander VII, Pope, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Amalia, Landgravine of Hesse-Cassel, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Amalia, Raugravine (niece of Sophia), <a href='#Page_102'>102</a>, <a href='#Page_371'>371</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Amalia von Solms, Princess of Orange, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Anna Eleonora, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Anna Maria, Duchess of Savoy, <a href='#Page_225'>225</a> <i>and <a href='#f96'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a>, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Anne, Queen (wife of James I), <a href='#Page_13'>13</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Anne, Queen of England, suggested marriage of, with George Lewis, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>; + <ul> + <li>Bill of Rights (1689) as affecting, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a>;</li> + <li>birth of her son the Duke of Gloucester, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a>;</li> + <li>political intrigue (1700), <a href='#Page_312'>312</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards Sophia and relations with her, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a>, <a href='#Page_366'>366</a> <i>and notes</i>—9, <a href='#Page_386'>386-7</a>, <a href='#Page_390'>390-1</a>, <a href='#Page_394'>394</a>, <a href='#Page_396'>396</a>, <a href='#Page_403'>403</a>, 404 <i><a href='#f173'>note</a></i> <a href='#f173'>173</a>, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a>, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards Hanoverian Succession, <a href='#Page_366'>366</a>, <a href='#Page_368'>368-9</a>, <a href='#Page_391'>391</a>, <a href='#Page_396'>396</a>, <a href='#Page_409'>409</a>, <a href='#Page_412'>412-13</a>;</li> + <li>towards her half-brother James, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a>, <a href='#Page_372'>372</a>, <a href='#Page_392'>392-3</a>, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a>;</li> + <li>proposed visit of Sophia to England opposed by, <a href='#Page_370'>370</a>, <a href='#Page_386'>386</a>;</li> + <li>death of her husband, <a href='#Page_395'>395</a>;</li> + <li>ministerial crisis (1710), <a href='#Page_396'>396-8</a>;</li> + <li>relations with Augustus II, King of Poland, 404 <i>note</i> <a href='#f173'>173</a>;</li> + <li>illness (1713), <a href='#Page_414'>414</a>, <a href='#Page_415'>415</a>;</li> + <li>speech at opening of Parliament (Feb. 1714), <a href='#Page_416'>416-17</a>;</li> + <li>attack of erysipelas (Mar. 1714), 437 <i><a href='#f190'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>letter to Sophia (Apr. 1714), <a href='#Page_421'>421-2</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards affair of delayed Parliamentary writ for Electoral Prince, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a>, <a href='#Page_426'>426</a>;</li> + <li>letters to Hanover on the subject, <a href='#Page_428'>428-31</a>;</li> + <li>dismisses Oxford, <a href='#Page_437'>437</a>;</li> + <li>last illness, <a href='#Page_437'>437</a>;</li> + <li>appoints Shrewsbury Lord Treasurer, <a href='#Page_438'>438</a>;</li> + <li>death, <a href='#Page_436'>436</a>, <a href='#Page_438'>438</a>;</li> + <li>political incapacity, <a href='#Page_368'>368-9</a>, <a href='#Page_387'>387</a>;</li> + <li>Toryism, <a href='#Page_368'>368</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>, 293 <i><a href='#f118'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_305'>305</a>, <a href='#Page_307'>307-8</a>, <a href='#Page_344'>344</a>, <a href='#Page_347'>347</a>, <a href='#Page_365'>365</a>, 389 <i><a href='#f167'>note</a></i></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Anne of Gonzaga (Princess Palatine), marriage and career of, <a href='#Page_66'>66-8</a>; + <ul> + <li>schemes of, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Antony Ulric, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, ambition and career of, <a href='#Page_146'>146-7</a>; + <ul> + <li>conversion to Roman Catholicism, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a>;</li> + <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_554'>554</span>marriage scheme for his son, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>;</li> + <li>romance by, regarding Sophia Dorothea, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a> <i>and <a href='#f82'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_239'>239</a> <i>and <a href='#f100'>note</a></i>, 283 <i><a href='#f136'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>opposition regarding Hanoverian Electorate, <a href='#Page_235'>235-8</a>;</li> + <li><i>Mesopotamian Shepherdess</i> by, 333 <i><a href='#f136'>note</a></i>; mentioned, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Arcy, Marquis de, <a href='#Page_193'>193</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Arundel, Lord, 71 <i><a href='#f36'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Assing, Rosemunde von, 343 <i><a href='#f141'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Attainder and Abjuration Acts (1702), <a href='#Page_364'>364-5</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Augustus II, King of Poland, <a href='#Page_404'>404</a> <i>and note</i> <a href='#f173'>173</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Augustus the Strong. <i>See</i> Frederick Augustus, Elector of Saxony</li> + <li class='c044'>Augustus Frederick, Prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Austria, Bavarian treaty with (1628), <a href='#Page_48'>48</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Aveiro, Duke of, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a></li> +</ul> +<ul class='index c035'> + <li class='c044'>Bahr, von, <a href='#Page_282'>282</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Balati, Abbé, 164 <i><a href='#f69'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Bannier, Colonel, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Barclay, Robert, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Bard. <i>See</i> Bellmont</li> + <li class='c044'>Bayle, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Behmen, Jacob, <a href='#Page_343'>343</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Bellmont (Bellamont), Lady (Francesca Bard), <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>, 375 <i><a href='#f78'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Benedicta Henrietta (niece of Sophia), <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Berkeley, Earl of, <a href='#Page_440'>440</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Berner, E., cited, 188 <i><a href='#f78'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Bernhard of Weimar, Duke, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Bernstorff, Baron Andreas Gottlieb von, relations of, with de Robethon, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a>; + <ul> + <li>accompanies George Lewis to</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>England, <a href='#Page_442'>442</a>; + <ul> + <li>estimate of, <a href='#Page_376'>376-7</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a>, <a href='#Page_351'>351-2</a>, <a href='#Page_411'>411</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Berwick, Duke of, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a>, <a href='#Page_400'>400</a>, <a href='#Page_409'>409</a>, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a>; + <ul> + <li>communication from, to Prince James quoted, <a href='#Page_420'>420</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Bill of Rights (1689), <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_216'>216-20</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Blanche, Electress Palatine, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Blanche, Queen, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Bohemia: + <ul> + <li>Frederick V elected king of, <a href='#Page_31'>31</a>; + <ul> + <li>deposed, <a href='#Page_36'>36-7</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Heirship to, question as to, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a> <i>and note</i> <a href='#f8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_29'>29-31</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Böhme, Jacob, 34 <i><a href='#f16'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Bolingbroke, —, attitude of, towards Bothmer, <a href='#Page_405'>405</a> <i>and note</i> <a href='#f175'>175</a>; + <ul> + <li>policy of, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a>;</li> + <li>rivalry with Oxford, <a href='#Page_418'>418</a>, <a href='#Page_428'>428</a>, <a href='#Page_434'>434</a>;</li> + <li>misses his opportunity, <a href='#Page_437'>437-8</a>;</li> + <li>cited, <a href='#Page_442'>442</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a>, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a>, <a href='#Page_415'>415</a>, <a href='#Page_416'>416</a>, <a href='#Page_422'>422</a>, <a href='#Page_426'>426</a>, <a href='#Page_429'>429</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Boncour, de, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Borkowski cited, 313 <i><a href='#f124'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Bossuet, <a href='#Page_348'>348</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Bothmer, Hans Caspar von, Hanoverian envoy extraordinary in London, <a href='#Page_399'>399</a>, <a href='#Page_400'>400-2</a>; + <ul> + <li>mission to England on Sophia’s death, <a href='#Page_433'>433-4</a>;</li> + <li>activities on Queen Anne’s death, <a href='#Page_439'>439</a> <i>and <a href='#f191'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>estimate of, <a href='#Page_378'>378-9</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_313'>313</a>, <a href='#Page_351'>351</a>, 362 <i><a href='#f155'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_397'>397</a>, <a href='#Page_404'>404</a>, <a href='#Page_412'>412</a>, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a>, <a href='#Page_427'>427</a>, <a href='#Page_438'>438</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Boufleurs, Marshal, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Bouillon, Duke of, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Boyer, <a href='#Page_429'>429</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Brandenburg: + <ul> + <li>Hanover, alliance with, <a href='#Page_235'>235-6</a>, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a></li> + <li>Prussian kingdom, absorption into, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Brauns, Baron, <a href='#Page_381'>381</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Brinon, Mme. de, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>, 177 <i><a href='#f72'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_336'>336</a>; + <ul> + <li>efforts of, to convert Sophia to Roman Catholicism, <a href='#Page_348'>348-9</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'><span class='pageno' id='Page_555'>555</span>Brisson, Mme. de, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Bromley, Secretary, <a href='#Page_415'>415</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Brunswick, origin of Duchy of, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Buckingham, Duke of (1629), <a href='#Page_46'>46</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Buckingham, — (1705), <a href='#Page_387'>387</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Bülow, Minister von, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Bunbury, Selina, cited, 12 <i><a href='#f3'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, action of, on Bill of Rights, <a href='#Page_218'>218</a>; + <ul> + <li>Sophia’s correspondence with, <a href='#Page_342'>342</a>;</li> + <li>her estimate of book by, <a href='#Page_334'>334</a>;</li> + <li>cited, <a href='#Page_214'>214-15</a>, <a href='#Page_323'>323-4</a>, <a href='#Page_386'>386-7</a>;</li> + <li>quoted, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Bussche, Frau von dem. <i>See</i> Weyhe, Mme. von</li> + <li class='c044'>Bussche, Major-General von dem, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a></li> +</ul> +<ul class='index c035'> + <li class='c044'>Calixtus (theologian), <a href='#Page_153'>153</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Camerarius, Ludwig, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Carleton, Sir D. (Viscount Dorchester), <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Carlisle, Earl of, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Caroline Matilda (daughter of George III), 280 <i>note</i> <a href='#f112'>112</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Caroline of Ansbach. <i>See</i> Wilhelmina Caroline</li> + <li class='c044'>Carray (? Carr), Lady, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Cartignano, Count of, <a href='#Page_15'>15-16</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Catharine d’Orléans, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Celle, Duchess of. <i>See</i> Eleonora</li> + <li class='c044'>Celle, Duke of. <i>See</i> George William</li> + <li class='c044'>Chapman, Rev. Alexander, 25 <i><a href='#f12'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Charbonnier, <a href='#Page_328'>328</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Charles, Duke of Lorraine, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Charles, Elector Palatine (nephew of Sophia), <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a> <i>and note</i>, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Charles, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Charles I, King of England, foreign policy of, <a href='#Page_46'>46-7</a>; + <ul> + <li>internal policy, 372 <i><a href='#f160'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>acknowledges Charles Lewis as Elector Palatine, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>;</li> + <li>efforts for Palatine House, 71 <i><a href='#f36'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>execution of, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Charles II, King of England, rumour of projected marriage of, with Sophía, <a href='#Page_82'>82-5</a>; + <ul> + <li>relations with Sophía at the Hague, <a href='#Page_84'>84-5</a>;</li> + <li>with his aunt Elizabeth, <a href='#Page_137'>137-8</a> <i>and note</i> <a href='#f59'>59</a>;</li> + <li>with Sophia during his reign, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a>, 137 <i>note</i> <a href='#f59'>59</a>, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>, 183 <i><a href='#f77'>note</a></i></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Charles II, King of Spain, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#Page_317'>317</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Charles III, King of Spain, <a href='#Page_400'>400</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Charles VI, Emperor, <a href='#Page_348'>348</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Charles X Gustavus, King of Sweden, <a href='#Page_108'>108</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Charles Emmanuel, Duke of Savoy, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Charles Lewis, Elector Palatine (brother of Sophia), birth of, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>; + <ul> + <li>Sophia’s relations with, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>;</li> + <li>visit to England (1635), <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>;</li> + <li>armed attempt on the Palatinate, <a href='#Page_59'>59-60</a>;</li> + <li>imprisoned by Richelieu, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>;</li> + <li>renews attempt for the Palatinate, <a href='#Page_60'>60-1</a>;</li> + <li>suggestion of assuming British Crown, <a href='#Page_61'>61-2</a> <i>notes</i>;</li> + <li>residence in England, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>;</li> + <li>relations with his brother Philip, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>;</li> + <li>position under Peace of Westphalia, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>;</li> + <li>efforts for his subjects, <a href='#Page_88'>88-9</a> <i>and <a href='#f42'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>relations with his mother, <a href='#Page_93'>93-4</a>, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>, <a href='#Page_140'>140-1</a>;</li> + <li>quarrel with Rupert, <a href='#Page_94'>94-6</a> <i>and <a href='#f44'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>marriage (1650), <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>;</li> + <li>domestic difficulties, <a href='#Page_96'>96-102</a>;</li> + <li>relations with Ferdinand III, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a>;</li> + <li>Sophia’s wedding (1658), <a href='#Page_114'>114</a>;</li> + <li>marriage of his daughter (1671), <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>;</li> + <li>characteristics of, <a href='#Page_56'>56-9</a>;</li> + <li>love of his country, learning and liberal-mindedness of, <a href='#Page_90'>90-2</a>;</li> + <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_556'>556</span>cited, <a href='#Page_333'>333</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, 52 <i><a href='#f26'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>, <a href='#Page_133'>133</a>, 137 <i>note</i> <a href='#f59'>59</a>, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Charles Lewis, Raugrave (nephew of Sophia), <a href='#Page_249'>249</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Charles Maurice (nephew of Sophia), <a href='#Page_102'>102</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Charles Philip, Prince (son of Sophia), <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a>, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Charlotte Elizabeth, Electress Palatine (sister-in-law of Sophia), conjugal difficulties and troubles of, <a href='#Page_96'>96-102</a>, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>; + <ul> + <li>characteristics of, <a href='#Page_98'>98</a>, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards Sophia, <a href='#Page_108'>108</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Charlotte Felicitas, Duchess of Modena (grandniece of Sophia), <a href='#Page_167'>167</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Charlotte Sophia, Princess of Courland, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a> <i>and <a href='#f48'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Chéruel, M., cited, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Chevreau, Urban, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a> <i>and <a href='#f71'>note</a></i>; + <ul> + <li>cited, <a href='#Page_336'>336</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Christian, Count of Anhalt, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#Page_29'>29-30</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Christian, Duke of Brunswick, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a> <i>and note</i> <a href='#f22'>22</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Christian, Prince (son of Sophia), birth of, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>; + <ul> + <li>at French Court (1687-9), <a href='#Page_206'>206</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards George Lewis’ accession, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_202'>202-3</a>, 339 <i>note</i> <a href='#f139'>139</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Christian of Halberstadt, <a href='#Page_45'>45-7</a>, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Christian IV, King of Denmark, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Christian V, King of Denmark, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>, <a href='#Page_236'>236</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Christian Lewis, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, <a href='#Page_150'>150-1</a>, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Christina, Queen of Sweden, 50 <i><a href='#f24'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>, 77 <i><a href='#f38'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>, <a href='#Page_335'>335</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Clarendon, Earl of (Lord Cornbury), <a href='#Page_434'>434</a> <i>and <a href='#f20'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_440'>440</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Clarendon, Lord Chancellor, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a>; + <ul> + <li>quoted, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Clement XI, Pope, <a href='#Page_322'>322-3</a>, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a>, 388 <i><a href='#f166'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Clifford, H., cited, 41 <i><a href='#f20'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Cocceius, Prof. Johannes, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Collins, Anthony, <a href='#Page_342'>342</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Colt, Lady, Sophia’s correspondence with, 221 <i>note</i> <a href='#f92'>92</a>, 428 <i><a href='#f184'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Colt, Sir William Dutton, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a> <i>and notes</i>, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>; + <ul> + <li>despatches of, cited, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Combe Abbey, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a> <i>and <a href='#f3'>note</a></i>–14</li> + <li class='c044'>Conway, Lord, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Conway, Sir Edward, <a href='#Page_35'>35-6</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Cowper, Lord, <a href='#Page_423'>423</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Craggs, Secretary, <a href='#Page_439'>439</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Craven, Earl of, armed attack by, on the Palatinate, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>; + <ul> + <li>imprisonment and ransom, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a>;</li> + <li>devotion to Elizabeth of Bohemia, <a href='#Page_77'>77-8</a>, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>;</li> + <li>correspondence with Sophia, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a>;</li> + <li>mission to Hanover after passing of Bill of Rights, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, 77 <i>note</i> <a href='#f39'>39</a>, 81 <i><a href='#f40'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>, 117 <i><a href='#f52'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_140'>140</a>, <a href='#Page_365'>365</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Cresset, James, envoy at Lüneburg Courts, <a href='#Page_222'>222-3</a>; + <ul> + <li>marriage of, 222 <i><a href='#f94'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>cited, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a>, 280 <i>note</i> <a href='#f113'>113</a>, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a>, 288 <i><a href='#f117'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>, <a href='#Page_367'>367</a>, <a href='#Page_370'>370-1</a>, <a href='#Page_375'>375</a></li> + </ul> + </li> +</ul> +<ul class='index c035'> + <li class='c044'>Danckelmann, Eberhard von, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a>, <a href='#Page_296'>296-7</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Dartmouth, Lord, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Dawes, Archbishop, <a href='#Page_415'>415</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Degenfeld, Louisa von, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>, <a href='#Page_98'>98-102</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Della Rota, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Denmark: + <ul> + <li>Danish War (1625-6), <a href='#Page_47'>47</a></li> + <li>Jealousy of, towards Sweden, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a></li> + <li>Lauenburg Succession question, <a href='#Page_224'>224-5</a>, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'><span class='pageno' id='Page_557'>557</span>Descartes, correspondence of, with Elizabeth (sister of Sophia), <a href='#Page_72'>72-3</a> <i>and <a href='#f37'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_83'>83-4</a>; + <ul> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Devonshire, Duke of, <a href='#Page_404'>404</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Digby, John, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Doebner, Dr. R., cited, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Dohna, Achatius von, <a href='#Page_31'>31</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Dohna, Alexander von, 313 <i><a href='#f124'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Doncaster, Lord (Earl of Carlisle), <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Donne, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Dormer, Jane, 41 <i><a href='#f20'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Dorothea, Electress of Brandenburg, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Dorset, Earl of, <a href='#Page_439'>439-40</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Dover, Lord, cited, 188 <i><a href='#f78'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Dudley (son of Prince Rupert), <a href='#Page_103'>103</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Dutton, Sir W. D., cited, <a href='#Page_253'>253-4</a></li> +</ul> +<ul class='index c035'> + <li class='c044'>Edward (brother of Sophia), conversion of, to Roman Catholicism, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>; + <ul> + <li>at Heidelberg, 69 <i><a href='#f35'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>;</li> + <li>career of, <a href='#Page_66'>66-9</a> <i>and <a href='#f35'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>Charles Lewis’ allowance to, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a>;</li> + <li>relations with Louisa Hollandina, <a href='#Page_126'>126-7</a>;</li> + <li>Elizabeth’s bequest to, 141 <i>note</i> <a href='#f63'>63</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Eleonora d’Olbreuze (Mme. de Harburg, Countess of Wilhelmsburg), Duchess of Celle, connexion of, with George William, Duke of Celle, <a href='#Page_168'>168-71</a>, <a href='#Page_180'>180-1</a>, <a href='#Page_184'>184-6</a>, <a href='#Page_193'>193</a>; + <ul> + <li>styled Mme. de Harburg, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a>;</li> + <li>jealousy against, 182 <i>note</i> <a href='#f76'>76</a>;</li> + <li>created Countess of Wilhelmsburg, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a>;</li> + <li>honoured by Empress Eleonora, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>;</li> + <li>marriage with Duke of Celle, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a>;</li> + <li>subsequent honours, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards her daughter, <a href='#Page_240'>240</a>, <a href='#Page_282'>282</a>;</li> + <li>Sophia’s attitude towards, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a>, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a>, <a href='#Page_240'>240</a>, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a>, <a href='#Page_337'>337</a>;</li> + <li>urges William III to decided course anent Hanoverian Succession, <a href='#Page_308'>308-9</a>;</li> + <li>relations with Sophia on the subject, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_282'>282</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>, <a href='#Page_377'>377</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia (mother of Sophia): + <ul> + <li>Career, chronological sequence of: + <ul> + <li>Childhood at Combe Abbey, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>;</li> + <li>Roman Catholic plot regarding, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>;</li> + <li>youth, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a>;</li> + <li>marriage, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>;</li> + <li>life at Heidelberg, <a href='#Page_24'>24-9</a>;</li> + <li>birth of two sons and eldest daughter, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards Bohemian Kingship question, <a href='#Page_32'>32-3</a>;</li> + <li>at Prague, <a href='#Page_34'>34-7</a>;</li> + <li>birth of third son, Rupert, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a>;</li> + <li>flight from Prague, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a>;</li> + <li>in Silesia, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a>;</li> + <li>in Brandenburg, <a href='#Page_38'>38-9</a>;</li> + <li>birth of fifth child, Maurice, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>;</li> + <li>at Berlin, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>;</li> + <li>at Wolfenbüttel, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>;</li> + <li>in the Netherlands, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>;</li> + <li>exile of, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a>, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>;</li> + <li>loss of infant son Lewis (1624), <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>;</li> + <li>of eldest son (1629), <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>;</li> + <li>of infant daughter Charlotte (1630), <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards Swedish Royal Family, 50 <i><a href='#f24'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>towards Charles I of England (1644), 62 <i>note</i> <a href='#f30'>30</a>;</li> + <li>on departure of Louisa Hollandina (1658), <a href='#Page_126'>126-7</a>;</li> + <li>visit to England (1661), <a href='#Page_137'>137-9</a>;</li> + <li>death, <a href='#Page_140'>140</a>, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Characteristics of: + <ul> + <li>Beauty, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a></li> + <li>Frivolity, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a></li> + <li>High spirit, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a></li> + <li>Self-consciousness, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a></li> + <li>Soldier-sympathy, power of attracting, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a></li> + <li>Vigour of mind and body, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Children, her own, attitude towards, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a>, 65 <i>note</i> <a href='#f33'>33</a>, 68 <i><a href='#f35'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80-1</a>; + <ul> + <li>their attitude towards her, <a href='#Page_56'>56-7</a>, 141 <i><a href='#f63'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_558'>558</span>attitude towards children in general, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Debts of, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>, <a href='#Page_93'>93-4</a>, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a></li> + <li>Family of, fate of, <a href='#Page_8'>8-9</a></li> + <li>Letters of, quoted, 50 <i><a href='#f24'>note</a></i>, 52 <i><a href='#f26'>note</a></i></li> + <li>Portrait of, in C.C.C., Cambs., 25 <i><a href='#f12'>note</a></i></li> + <li>Pursuits and interests of, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a>, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a>, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a>, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a></li> + <li>Titles of: Queen of Bohemia, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a> <i>and <a href='#f26'>note</a></i>; + <ul> + <li>Queen of Hearts, 41 <i><a href='#f20'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>the King’s only sister, 52 <i><a href='#f26'>note</a></i></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Will of, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>, 141 <i>note</i> <a href='#f63'>63</a></li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>, 336 <i><a href='#f137'>note</a></i></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Elizabeth, Princess (sister of Sophia), birth of, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>; + <ul> + <li>childhood, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>;</li> + <li>career, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#Page_70'>70-1</a>;</li> + <li>relations with her mother, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80-1</a>;</li> + <li>affected by King Charles’ execution, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>;</li> + <li>visits to Heidelberg, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>;</li> + <li>with Electress Charlotte, <a href='#Page_116'>116-17</a>;</li> + <li>at Cassel, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>;</li> + <li>Abbess of Herford, <a href='#Page_118'>118-25</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>;</li> + <li>inscription on tomb of, 125 <i><a href='#f55'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>characteristics of, <a href='#Page_70'>70-3</a>;</li> + <li>match-making propensities of, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>;</li> + <li>mentioned, 141 <i>note</i> <a href='#f63'>63</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Elizabeth Charlotte (aunt of Sophia), <a href='#Page_39'>39</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Elizabeth Charlotte, Duchess of Orleans (niece of Sophia), birth of, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>; + <ul> + <li>with her aunt (1656-63), <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a>;</li> + <li>nature of upbringing of, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a>;</li> + <li>visit to her grandmother, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a>, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>;</li> + <li>trip to Holland with her aunt, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>;</li> + <li>recalled to Heidelberg (1663), <a href='#Page_173'>173-4</a>;</li> + <li>conversion of, to Roman Catholicism, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>, <a href='#Page_174'>174-7</a>;</li> + <li>marriage, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>, <a href='#Page_174'>174-7</a>;</li> + <li>subsequent career of, <a href='#Page_178'>178-9</a>;</li> + <li>on Maximilian William, 204 <i>note</i> <a href='#f88'>88</a>;</li> + <li>on Ernest Augustus, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>, 206 <i><a href='#f89'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>good offices for Christian and Ernest Augustus, <a href='#Page_205'>205-6</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards Sophia Dorothea, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>;</li> + <li>Königsmarck affair, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a>;</li> + <li>on George Augustus’ succession prospects, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a> <i>and <a href='#f89'>note</a></i>, 441 <i>note</i> <a href='#f192'>192</a>;</li> + <li>characteristics of, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>;</li> + <li>lifelong attitude towards Sophia, 151 <i><a href='#f64'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>, <a href='#Page_377'>377</a>;</li> + <li>Stewart sympathies of, <a href='#Page_393'>393</a>;</li> + <li>cited, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a>, <a href='#Page_108'>108</a>, <a href='#Page_132'>132-5</a>, 159 <i><a href='#f67'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_333'>333</a>, <a href='#Page_393'>393</a>;</li> + <li>quoted, 151 <i><a href='#f64'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a>, 332 <i>note</i> <a href='#f134'>134</a>, <a href='#Page_336'>336</a>;</li> + <li>Sophia’s correspondence with, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>, <a href='#Page_414'>414</a>;</li> + <li>nature and value of her own correspondence, <a href='#Page_179'>179-80</a>;</li> + <li>correspondence cited and quoted, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>, 188 <i><a href='#f78'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_191'>191</a>, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a>, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>, 244 <i><a href='#f100'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a>, <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>, 240 <i><a href='#f100'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>, <a href='#Page_283'>283</a>, <a href='#Page_337'>337</a>, <a href='#Page_339'>339-40</a>, <a href='#Page_380'>380</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Elizabeth Louisa, Countess Palatine, Abbess of Herford, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (husband of Sophia): + <ul> + <li>Career, chronological sequence of: + <ul> + <li>First visit to Heidelberg, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a>;</li> + <li>early acquaintance with Sophia, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a>;</li> + <li>second visit to Heidelberg, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a>;</li> + <li>George William’s arrangement in favour of, <a href='#Page_112'>112-13</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154-5</a>, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>;</li> + <li>marriage with Sophia, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a>;</li> + <li>intimacy with George William, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a>;</li> + <li>jealousy of him, <a href='#Page_157'>157-8</a>;</li> + <li>Bishop of Osnabrück, <a href='#Page_158'>158-9</a>;</li> + <li>assists the United Provinces, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>;</li> + <li>operations against Sweden, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>;</li> + <li>conjugal infidelities of, <a href='#Page_190'>190-1</a> <i>and <a href='#f81'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_559'>559</span>victory at Conz, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards Sophia Dorothea, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>, <a href='#Page_253'>253-4</a>;</li> + <li>at the defence of Frankfort (1689), <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>;</li> + <li>proposal of, regarding conversion to Church of Rome, <a href='#Page_232'>232</a>, <a href='#Page_348'>348</a>;</li> + <li>Swedish treaty (1691), <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>;</li> + <li>attainment of Electorate (1692), <a href='#Page_222'>222-3</a>, <a href='#Page_228'>228-34</a>;</li> + <li>investiture, <a href='#Page_234'>234-5</a>;</li> + <li>last journey to Italy (1684), <a href='#Page_247'>247-8</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards the British Revolution, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>;</li> + <li>adherence to Grand Alliance (1692), <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>;</li> + <li>ill-health (1694), <a href='#Page_245'>245-6</a>;</li> + <li>action in Königsmarck affair, <a href='#Page_274'>274-5</a>;</li> + <li>Lauenburg claims (1694), <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>;</li> + <li>last illness, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>, <a href='#Page_286'>286-7</a>;</li> + <li>death, <a href='#Page_212'>212-13</a>, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>, <a href='#Page_238'>238</a>, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a>, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a>, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Dynastic policy of, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a>, <a href='#Page_193'>193-4</a></li> + <li>Energy of, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a></li> + <li>Extravagance of, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a>, <a href='#Page_330'>330</a></li> + <li>Estimate of, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a></li> + <li>Political attitude towards his wife, <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>, <a href='#Page_340'>340</a></li> + <li>mentioned, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Ernest Augustus, Prince (son of Sophia), birth of, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>; + <ul> + <li>devotion to his eldest brother, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>;</li> + <li>at French Court (1687-9), <a href='#Page_206'>206</a>;</li> + <li>remains in Hanover (1714), <a href='#Page_441'>441</a>;</li> + <li>succeeds to Bishopric of Osnabrück, <a href='#Page_441'>441</a> <i>and note</i> <a href='#f193'>193</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>;</li> + <li>estimate of, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Ernest Lewis, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, 240 <i><a href='#f100'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Estrées, Angélique d’, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Eugene, Prince, <a href='#Page_425'>425</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Evelyn quoted, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>; + <ul> + <li>cited, 261 <i><a href='#f107'>note</a></i></li> + </ul> + </li> +</ul> +<ul class='index c035'> + <li class='c044'>Falaiseau, <a href='#Page_351'>351</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Feder cited, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Ferdinand, Archduke of Styria, <a href='#Page_30'>30-31</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Ferdinand II, Emperor, 107 <i><a href='#f49'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Ferdinand III, Emperor, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans, <a href='#Page_107'>107-8</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Ferrar, Nicolas, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Fischer, Prof. Kuno, cited, <a href='#Page_331'>331</a>; + <ul> + <li>quoted, <a href='#Page_340'>340</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Foley, Paul, <a href='#Page_218'>218</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Fraiser, Sir Peter, <a href='#Page_380'>380</a></li> + <li class='c044'>France: + <ul> + <li>Grand Alliance against. <i>See</i> Grand Alliance</li> + <li>Hanoverian Succession recognised by, <a href='#Page_405'>405</a>, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a></li> + <li>Huguenot persecutions in, 177 <i><a href='#f72'>note</a></i></li> + <li>Palatinate’s troubles from (Orleans War), <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a></li> + <li>Partition Treaty (First) with England (1698), <a href='#Page_307'>307</a></li> + <li>Partition Treaty (Second) with England, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a>, <a href='#Page_317'>317-18</a></li> + <li>Peace with, proposal of (1711), <a href='#Page_400'>400-1</a>, <a href='#Page_403'>403</a>, <a href='#Page_407'>407</a>; + <ul> + <li>accomplished, <a href='#Page_409'>409</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Savoy’s adhesion to (1696), <a href='#Page_302'>302</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Frederick, Prince of Wales (great-grandson of Sophia), <a href='#Page_359'>359-60</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg. <i>See</i> <a href='#FREDERICK_I'>Frederick I</a>, King of Prussia</li> + <li class='c044'>Frederick I, Elector Palatine, 181 <i><a href='#f74'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Frederick II, Elector Palatine, 16 <i><a href='#f4'>note</a></i>, 21 <i>note</i> <a href='#f9'>9</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Frederick III, Elector Palatine, 16 <i><a href='#f4'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Frederick IV, Elector Palatine, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Frederick V, Elector Palatine and King of Bohemia (father of Sophia), visit of, to England (1612), <a href='#Page_21'>21</a> <i>and note</i> <a href='#f8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a>; + <ul> + <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_560'>560</span>marriage, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>;</li> + <li>difficulties as to court precedence, <a href='#Page_27'>27-8</a>;</li> + <li>approves league with Savoy, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>;</li> + <li>elected King of Bohemia, <a href='#Page_31'>31</a>;</li> + <li>deposed, <a href='#Page_36'>36-7</a>;</li> + <li>under ban of the Empire, <a href='#Page_38'>38</a>, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>;</li> + <li>secret visit to Palatinate (1627), <a href='#Page_48'>48</a>;</li> + <li>meets Gustavus Adolphus (1632), <a href='#Page_49'>49</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>;</li> + <li>characteristics of, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a>;</li> + <li>devotion to his wife, <a href='#Page_52'>52-3</a>;</li> + <li>estimate of, by Wotton, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'><a id='FREDERICK_I'></a>Frederick I, King of Prussia (Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg), marriage of, to Sophia Charlotte, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a>, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a>; + <ul> + <li>succeeds his father as Elector, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>;</li> + <li>concerts measures against Louis XIV, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>;</li> + <li>efforts regarding Hanoverian Electorate, <a href='#Page_234'>234-5</a>, <a href='#Page_238'>238</a>;</li> + <li>leagues of alliance with Ernest Augustus, <a href='#Page_235'>235-6</a>;</li> + <li>at Cleves (1696), <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>;</li> + <li>intrigue with Countess von Wartenberg, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>, <a href='#Page_357'>357</a>;</li> + <li>coronation (1701), <a href='#Page_289'>289</a>, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>;</li> + <li>relations with George Lewis, 358 <i><a href='#f154'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_302'>302</a>, 330 <i>note</i> <a href='#f133'>133</a>, <a href='#Page_341'>341</a>, <a href='#Page_343'>343</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Frederick Augustus (Augustus the Strong), Elector of Saxony, King of Poland, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>, <a href='#Page_272'>272</a>, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a>, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Frederick Augustus, Prince (son of Sophia), birth of, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>; + <ul> + <li>jealousy of his elder brother, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a>, <a href='#Page_221'>221-2</a>, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>;</li> + <li>estimate of, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Frederick Henry, Prince (brother of Sophia), birth of, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>; + <ul> + <li>marriages projected for, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, 21 <i>note</i> <a href='#f8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>, <a href='#Page_55'>55</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Frederick Ulric, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Frederick William (the Great), Elector of Brandenburg, sentiments of, towards Sophia’s sister Elizabeth, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>; + <ul> + <li>efforts regarding <i>Wildfangsstreit</i>, 89 <i><a href='#f42'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>marriage with Dowager Duchess Dorothea, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards Hanoverian Court, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a>;</li> + <li>favours William of Orange, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>;</li> + <li>on creation of ninth Electorate, <a href='#Page_229'>229-30</a>;</li> + <li>opposes Duke John Frederick, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Frederick William I, King of Prussia (grandson of Sophia), birth of, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>; + <ul> + <li>childhood, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>;</li> + <li>William III’s attitude towards (1700), <a href='#Page_312'>312-14</a>, <a href='#Page_317'>317</a>;</li> + <li>education, 313 <i><a href='#f124'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>marriage with granddaughter of Sophia, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a>, 346 <i>note</i> <a href='#f145'>145</a>;</li> + <li>relations with George Lewis, <a href='#Page_435'>435</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Fuchs, Paul von, <a href='#Page_199'>199</a>, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>; + <ul> + <li>cited, <a href='#Page_338'>338</a></li> + </ul> + </li> +</ul> +<ul class='index c035'> + <li class='c044'>Gabor, Bethlen, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Gargan (secretary to Sophia) cited, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Garnett, Dr. Richard, cited, 251 <i><a href='#f105'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Gaultier, Abbé, cited, <a href='#Page_415'>415</a>, <a href='#Page_426'>426</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Geerds, Dr. Robert, cited, 259 <i><a href='#f106'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Gentz, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a></li> + <li class='c044'>George I, King of England. <i>See</i> <a href='#GEORGELEWIS'>George Lewis</a></li> + <li class='c044'>George II, King of England. <i>See</i> <a href='#GEORGEAUGUSTUS'>George Augustus</a></li> + <li class='c044'>George III, King of England, correspondence with Copenhagen destroyed by order of, 280 <i>note</i> <a href='#f112'>112</a>; + <ul> + <li>letters of Sophia destroyed by order of, <a href='#Page_393'>393</a>;</li> + <li>kindliness of, to Stewart family, 394 <i><a href='#f169'>note</a></i></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>George IV, King of England, 394 <i><a href='#f169'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>George, Duke of Lüneburg, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a></li> + <li class='c044'><span class='pageno' id='Page_561'>561</span>George, Prince of Denmark, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>, <a href='#Page_337'>337</a>; + <ul> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_395'>395</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'><a id='GEORGEAUGUSTUS'></a>George Augustus, King George II of England (grandson of Sophia), birth of, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a>, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>; + <ul> + <li>his father’s attitude towards, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a>, <a href='#Page_441'>441</a>;</li> + <li>at Göhrde, <a href='#Page_307'>307</a>;</li> + <li>Queen Anne’s opposition to his visiting England, <a href='#Page_370'>370</a>;</li> + <li>marriage of, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a>;</li> + <li>relations with his wife, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a>;</li> + <li>receives the Garter, <a href='#Page_388'>388</a>, 404 <i>note</i> <a href='#f172'>172</a>;</li> + <li>created Duke of Cambridge, <a href='#Page_388'>388</a>;</li> + <li>precedence for, <a href='#Page_404'>404</a>;</li> + <li>suggestion of sending, over to England (1713), <a href='#Page_418'>418</a>, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a>, <a href='#Page_422'>422-3</a>;</li> + <li>delay in transmission of Parliamentary writ for, <a href='#Page_423'>423-7</a>;</li> + <li>Queen Anne’s letter to, <a href='#Page_429'>429</a>, <a href='#Page_431'>431</a>;</li> + <li>rumoured suggestion of passing over, in the English Succession, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a> <i>and <a href='#f89'>note</a></i>, 441 <i>note</i> <a href='#f192'>192</a>;</li> + <li>characteristics of, <a href='#Page_362'>362</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards his mother, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a> <i>and <a href='#f116'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>domestic language of, as British sovereign, <a href='#Page_55'>55</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>George Frederick of Waldeck, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a></li> + <li class='c044'><a id='GEORGELEWIS'></a>George Lewis, King George I of England (son of Sophia): + <ul> + <li>Career, chronological sequence of: + <ul> + <li>Birth, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>;</li> + <li>victory at Conz (1675), <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>;</li> + <li>visit to England (1680-1), <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>;</li> + <li>proposed match with Sophia Dorothea, 190 <i>note</i> <a href='#f79'>79</a>, <a href='#Page_191'>191-4</a>;</li> + <li>the marriage, <a href='#Page_194'>194-5</a>, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>, <a href='#Page_239'>239-41</a>;</li> + <li>military exploits, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a>;</li> + <li>at the defence of Frankfort, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>;</li> + <li>estrangement from his wife, <a href='#Page_246'>246</a>, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>, <a href='#Page_252'>252-4</a>;</li> + <li>campaigning against Turks, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>;</li> + <li>recreating at Florence and Naples, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>;</li> + <li>infidelity to his wife, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>;</li> + <li>relations with Melusina von der Schulenburg (Duchess of Kendal), <a href='#Page_251'>251</a> <i>and <a href='#f105'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>the Königsmarck affair, <a href='#Page_282'>282-4</a>;</li> + <li>divorce, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a>;</li> + <li>succeeds his father as Elector, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a>;</li> + <li>repulses Antony Ulric’s attack on Hanover, <a href='#Page_238'>238</a>;</li> + <li>meets William III at Göhrde (1698), <a href='#Page_307'>307</a>;</li> + <li>receives the Garter, <a href='#Page_325'>325</a>;</li> + <li>strong position of (1705), <a href='#Page_376'>376</a>;</li> + <li>relations with Frederick I of Prussia, 358 <i><a href='#f154'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>expresses his views on residence in England, <a href='#Page_391'>391</a>;</li> + <li>commands army of the Lower Rhine (1707), <a href='#Page_395'>395</a>;</li> + <li>envoy of, admitted to Electoral College (1708), <a href='#Page_238'>238</a>, <a href='#Page_395'>395</a>;</li> + <li>on dismissal of Sunderland, <a href='#Page_396'>396-7</a>;</li> + <li>refuses to oust Marlborough in supreme command, <a href='#Page_398'>398-9</a>;</li> + <li>against proposed peace with France, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>, <a href='#Page_403'>403</a>, <a href='#Page_407'>407</a>;</li> + <li>instructions to von Schütz the younger, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a>;</li> + <li>reply to Queen Anne’s letter (May, 1714), <a href='#Page_422'>422-3</a>, <a href='#Page_427'>427</a>;</li> + <li>affair of the delayed writ, <a href='#Page_426'>426-7</a>;</li> + <li>death of his mother, <a href='#Page_433'>433-4</a>;</li> + <li>has fresh instrument of Regency prepared, <a href='#Page_435'>435</a>;</li> + <li>in friendly relations with German princes, <a href='#Page_435'>435</a>;</li> + <li>accession of, as King George I of England, <a href='#Page_439'>439</a>;</li> + <li>proclamation as king, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>;</li> + <li>leaves Hanover, <a href='#Page_440'>440</a>;</li> + <li>sails for England, <a href='#Page_442'>442</a>;</li> + <li>coronation, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a>;</li> + <li>death, <a href='#Page_206'>206-7</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Characteristics of: + <ul> + <li>Courage and military capacity, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a></li> + <li>Cynicism, 283 <i><a href='#f115'>note</a></i></li> + <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_562'>562</span>Firmness and impassivity, <a href='#Page_355'>355</a>, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a></li> + <li>Loyalty, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a></li> + <li>Reserve, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a></li> + <li>Self-restraint, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a></li> + <li>Sincerity, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a>, <a href='#Page_444'>444</a></li> + <li>Stolidity, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a>, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Court of, as Elector, tone of, 339 <i>note</i> <a href='#f138'>138</a></li> + <li>Domestic language of, as British sovereign, <a href='#Page_55'>55</a></li> + <li>Herrenhausen gardens arranged to suit taste of, <a href='#Page_328'>328</a></li> + <li>Relations with: + <ul> + <li>Anne, Queen, <a href='#Page_368'>368</a>, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a></li> + <li>Ernest Augustus (his youngest brother), <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a></li> + <li>Marlborough, Duke of, <a href='#Page_375'>375-6</a>, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a>, <a href='#Page_398'>398</a></li> + <li>Sophia (his mother), <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a> <i>and <a href='#f102'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>, <a href='#Page_340'>340</a>, <a href='#Page_355'>355</a></li> + <li>Sophia Charlotte (his sister), <a href='#Page_297'>297</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Succession question, attitude towards, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a>, <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>, <a href='#Page_323'>323</a>; + <ul> + <li>(1705), <a href='#Page_379'>379-80</a>;</li> + <li>(1713-14), <a href='#Page_412'>412-13</a>, <a href='#Page_418'>418-19</a>, <a href='#Page_423'>423</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a>, 194 <i><a href='#f83'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>, 366 <i>note</i> <a href='#f157'>157</a>, 389 <i><a href='#f167'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_393'>393</a>, <a href='#Page_402'>402</a>, 441 <i>note</i> <a href='#f192'>192</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>George William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (later of Celle), visit of, to Heidelberg (1656), <a href='#Page_109'>109-10</a>; + <ul> + <li>suitor for Sophia, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a>;</li> + <li>breaks off his engagement, <a href='#Page_111'>111</a>;</li> + <li>renunciation in favour of his younger brother, <a href='#Page_112'>112-13</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154-5</a>, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>;</li> + <li>his brother’s jealousy, <a href='#Page_157'>157-8</a>;</li> + <li>difficulties made by John Frederick as to succession, <a href='#Page_162'>162-3</a>;</li> + <li>assists the United Provinces, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>;</li> + <li>operations against Sweden, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>;</li> + <li>connexion with Eleonora d’Olbreuze, <a href='#Page_168'>168-71</a>, <a href='#Page_180'>180-1</a>, <a href='#Page_185'>185-6</a>;</li> + <li>marriage with her, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a>;</li> + <li>court of, 182 <i>note</i> <a href='#f75'>75</a>;</li> + <li>favours William of Orange, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>;</li> + <li>the Königsmarck affair, <a href='#Page_275'>275-6</a>, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a> <i>and note</i> <a href='#f113'>113</a>, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a>;</li> + <li>conference with William III at Göhrde, <a href='#Page_307'>307</a>;</li> + <li>meeting with William III at the Loo (1700), <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a>;</li> + <li>later interview with him (1701), <a href='#Page_362'>362</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_376'>376</a>;</li> + <li>estimate of, <a href='#Page_151'>151-3</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>, <a href='#Page_305'>305</a>, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a>, <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>, 366 <i>note</i> <a href='#f157'>157</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>George William, Elector of Brandenburg, <a href='#Page_38'>38</a>, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Giusti, Tommaso, <a href='#Page_329'>329</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Gloucester, Duke of (son of Princess Anne), birth of, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a>; + <ul> + <li>delicacy of, <a href='#Page_308'>308-9</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Godolphin, Earl of, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a>, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a>, <a href='#Page_382'>382</a>, <a href='#Page_399'>399</a>, <a href='#Page_402'>402</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Goedeke, <a href='#Page_439'>439-40</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Göhrde, the, <a href='#Page_307'>307</a> <i>and <a href='#f123'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Gondomar, Count, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Gourville, de, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a>; + <ul> + <li>cited, <a href='#Page_337'>337</a>, <a href='#Page_345'>345</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Grana, Dossa, <a href='#Page_329'>329</a></li> + <li class='c044'><a id='GRANDALLIANCE'></a>Grand Alliance: + <ul> + <li>Conclusion of, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a></li> + <li>Hanoverian adhesion to, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a></li> + <li>Savoy’s adhesion to (1695), <a href='#Page_302'>302</a>; + <ul> + <li>abandonment of (1696), <a href='#Page_225'>225</a>, <a href='#Page_302'>302</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Saxony’s adhesion to, solicited, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a> <i>and note</i> <a href='#f93'>93</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Green, Mrs. Everett, work of, cited, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a>, 265 <i><a href='#f109'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Grote, Count Otto von, <a href='#Page_233'>233-6</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Grote, Baron Thomas von, mission of, to London (1712), <a href='#Page_405'>405-6</a>, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a>; + <ul> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_411'>411</a>;</li> + <li>cited, <a href='#Page_335'>335</a>;</li> + <li>mentioned, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Guelfs, German branch of, <a href='#Page_143'>143-5</a>; + <ul> + <li>Leibniz’ History of, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'><span class='pageno' id='Page_563'>563</span>Gustavus (brother of Sophia), <a href='#Page_53'>53-4</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, landing of, in Pomerania, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a>; + <ul> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>;</li> + <li>mentioned, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Gustavus II Adolphus, King of Sweden, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Gwynne, Sir Roland, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a>, <a href='#Page_390'>390</a></li> +</ul> +<ul class='index c035'> + <li class='c044'>Halberstadt, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a> <i>and note</i> <a href='#f21'>21</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Halifax, Lord (Charles Montagu), <a href='#Page_388'>388</a> and <a href='#f166'>note</a>–9, <a href='#Page_391'>391</a>, <a id='corr563.14'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='401'>404</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_563.14'><ins class='correction' title='401'>404</ins></a></span> <i>note</i> <a href='#f172'>172</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Hamilton, Duke of, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Hammerstein, George Christopher von, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a>, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Handel, 412 <i><a href='#f178'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Hanmer, Sir Thomas, <a href='#Page_386'>386</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Hanover, House of: + <ul> + <li>Alliance of, with Brandenburg and Saxony, <a href='#Page_232'>232-3</a></li> + <li>Electorate conferred on, <a href='#Page_222'>222-3</a>, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>; + <ul> + <li>investiture, <a href='#Page_234'>234-5</a>;</li> + <li>introduction of envoy to Electoral College, <a href='#Page_236'>236-9</a>, <a href='#Page_395'>395</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Rise of, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a></li> + <li>Strong position of (1705), <a href='#Page_376'>376</a></li> + <li>Succession of, to British Crown: + <ul> + <li>Significance of, to Britons, <a href='#Page_3'>3-4</a></li> + <li>Settlement of. <i>See</i> Act of Settlement</li> + </ul> + </li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Hanover, Leine Palace at, 247 <i><a href='#f104'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Harburg, Mme. de. <i>See</i> Eleonora, Duchess of Celle</li> + <li class='c044'>Harcourt, Lord, <a href='#Page_423'>423-5</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Harding, Rev. Dick, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Hardwicke, Lord, <a href='#Page_315'>315</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Harington, Lord and Lady, <a href='#Page_12'>12-13</a>, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a>, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Harley, Robert. <i>See</i> Oxford</li> + <li class='c044'>Harley, Thomas, missions of, to Hanover, <a href='#Page_404'>404</a>, <a href='#Page_407'>407</a>, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a>, <a href='#Page_421'>421-2</a>, <a href='#Page_426'>426</a>, <a href='#Page_427'>427</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Harling, Frau von, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a>, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Harrington, James, 81 <i><a href='#f40'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Hartlip, S., quoted, 117 <i><a href='#f52'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Haversham, Lord, <a href='#Page_383'>383</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Hedwig, Princess of Denmark, 107 <i><a href='#f49'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Hedwig Sophia, Landgravine of Hesse-Cassel, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Hedwig Sophia, Landgravine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Hedwig Sophia, Princess, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Heidelberg Castle, <a href='#Page_17'>17-18</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Heidelberg Catechism, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Heidelberg University, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Heiland, Hiskias Eleazar, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Helmont, Francis Mercurius von, <a href='#Page_332'>332</a> <i>and note</i> <a href='#f134'>134</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans (daughter of Charles I), <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>, <a href='#Page_225'>225</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Henrietta Maria, Princess (sister of Sophia), characteristics and career of, <a href='#Page_74'>74-5</a>; + <ul> + <li>marriage of, 52 <i><a href='#f26'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Henrietta Maria, Queen, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Henry, Count of Nassau. <i>See</i> Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange</li> + <li class='c044'>Henry, Duke of Bouillon, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Henry, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Henry, Prince (son of Charles I), <a href='#Page_7'>7-8</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Henry, Prince of Wales (son of James I), <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Henry of Dannenberg, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a> <i><a href='#f74'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Henry the Lion, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Henry Casimir of Nassau-Dietz, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Henry Frederick, Prince (brother of Sophia), <a href='#Page_26'>26</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Herbert, Colonel, quoted, <a href='#Page_218'>218</a></li> + <li class='c044'><span class='pageno' id='Page_564'>564</span>Herbert of Cherbury, Lord, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Hereford, Lord, <a href='#Page_395'>395</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Herford, <a href='#Page_118'>118-19</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Herrenhausen, <a href='#Page_327'>327-9</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Hervey, Lord, cited, 284 <i><a href='#f116'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Hoffmann, memoranda of, cited, <a href='#Page_424'>424-5</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Holstenius, <a href='#Page_153'>153-4</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Hompesch, General, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Hoorn, Anna Maria van, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Howard, Mrs. Charles, <a href='#Page_395'>395</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Howe, Brigadier-General Emmanuel Scroope, 141 <i>note</i> <a href='#f63'>63</a>, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a> <i>and note</i> <a href='#f168'>168</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Hughes, Margaret, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>, 392 <i>note</i> <a href='#f168'>168</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Hutton, Dr., <a href='#Page_397'>397</a></li> +</ul> +<ul class='index c035'> + <li class='c044'>Ibberville, despatches of, cited, 416 <i><a href='#f179'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Ilten, Jobst von, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a>, <a href='#Page_313'>313</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Innocent X, Pope, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Innocent XI, Pope, 198 <i><a href='#f84'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Innocent XII, Pope, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a></li> +</ul> +<ul class='index c035'> + <li class='c044'>Jambonneau, M. de, 69 <i><a href='#f35'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>James I, King of England (grandfather of Sophia), European ambitions of, <a href='#Page_14'>14-16</a>; + <ul> + <li>family pride of, <a href='#Page_26'>26-7</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards Bohemian Kingship question, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>, <a href='#Page_36'>36</a>;</li> + <li>negotiations with Mansfeld and Halberstadt, <a href='#Page_45'>45-6</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>James II, King of England (cousin of Sophia), accession of, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>; + <ul> + <li>relations with Sophia, <a href='#Page_210'>210-11</a>, <a href='#Page_317'>317</a>;</li> + <li>abdication of, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>;</li> + <li>hopes of regaining his kingdom, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>;</li> + <li>refuses aid towards securing Polish throne, 303 <i><a href='#f121'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>Pope Clement XI’s letter to, <a href='#Page_323'>323</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_139'>139</a>, 394 <i><a href='#f169'>note</a></i></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>James, Prince of Wales (son of James II), birth of, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a>; + <ul> + <li>calumnious doubts regarding, <a href='#Page_211'>211-12</a>;</li> + <li>recognised by Louis XIV as king, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a>;</li> + <li>Anne’s attitude towards, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a>, <a href='#Page_372'>372</a>, <a href='#Page_392'>392-3</a>, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a>;</li> + <li>letter to Pope Clement XI on coming of age, 388 <i><a href='#f166'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>expedition to Scotland, <a href='#Page_394'>394</a>;</li> + <li>rumours as to succession of, <a href='#Page_402'>402</a>;</li> + <li>Berwick’s communication to (1712), <a href='#Page_409'>409</a>;</li> + <li>Hanoverian protest against residence of, in Lorraine, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a>, <a href='#Page_422'>422</a>;</li> + <li>scheme for bringing over to England and Anglicanism (1713-14), <a href='#Page_413'>413</a>, <a href='#Page_415'>415-16</a>;</li> + <li>Berwick’s communication to (1714), quoted, <a href='#Page_420'>420</a>;</li> + <li>proclamation against (July, 1714), <a href='#Page_436'>436</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a>, <a href='#Page_315'>315-16</a>, <a href='#Page_381'>381</a>, <a href='#Page_400'>400</a>, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>James, B. B., cited, 121 <i><a href='#f53'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Jeffreys, Lord, <a href='#Page_365'>365</a></li> + <li class='c044'>John Casimir, Administrator, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a></li> + <li class='c044'>John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, disposition of his father regarding, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>; + <ul> + <li>conversion of, to Roman Catholicism (1651), <a href='#Page_153'>153-4</a>;</li> + <li>quarrel regarding Succession, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a>, <a href='#Page_162'>162-3</a>;</li> + <li>French sympathies and tastes of, <a href='#Page_111'>111</a>, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a>;</li> + <li>Herrenhausen Palace begun by (1665), <a href='#Page_327'>327</a>;</li> + <li>Leibniz engaged by, as librarian, <a href='#Page_164'>164-5</a>, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a>;</li> + <li>Electorate desired by, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a>;</li> + <li>career of, at Hanover, <a href='#Page_164'>164-5</a>, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>;</li> + <li>marriage of, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#Page_193'>193</a>;</li> + <li>estimate of, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a>, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>John George IV, Elector of Saxony, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>, <a href='#Page_358'>358</a></li> + <li class='c044'>John Sobiesky, King of Poland, 303 <i><a href='#f121'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'><span class='pageno' id='Page_565'>565</span>Joseph I, Emperor (King of the Romans), 198 <i><a href='#f84'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>, <a href='#Page_400'>400</a></li> +</ul> +<ul class='index c035'> + <li class='c044'>Kendal, Duchess of (Melusina der Schulenburg), 246 <i><a href='#f103'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_251'>251-2</a>, <a href='#Page_442'>442</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Keppel (Earl of Albemarle), <a href='#Page_302'>302</a>, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a></li> + <li class='c044'><a id='KIELMANNSEGG'></a>Kielmannsegg, Baron von, <a href='#Page_250'>250-1</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Kielmannsegg, Baroness von, 330 <i>note</i> <a href='#f133'>133</a>, <a href='#Page_440'>440</a>, <a href='#Page_442'>442</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Killigrew, Tom, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a> <i>and <a href='#f38'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>King, Major-General (Lord Eythin), <a href='#Page_60'>60</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Klopp, cited, 417 <i><a href='#f180'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Knesebeck, Eleonora von dem, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>, 239 <i><a href='#f100'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a>, <a href='#Page_272'>272</a>, <a href='#Page_273'>273</a>, <a href='#Page_277'>277</a>, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Köcher, Prof. Adolf, cited, 240 <i><a href='#f100'>note</a></i>, 259 <i><a href='#f106'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Königsmarck, Count von, 259 <i><a href='#f106'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Königsmarck, Aurora von, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>, <a href='#Page_255'>255-6</a>, <a href='#Page_261'>261-2</a>, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Königsmarck, Count Charles John von, <a href='#Page_260'>260-1</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Königsmarck, Count Philip Christopher von, <a href='#Page_254'>254-81</a>, App. B</li> + <li class='c044'>Kreyenberg, von, <a href='#Page_399'>399</a>, <a href='#Page_411'>411</a>, <a href='#Page_426'>426</a>, <a href='#Page_438'>438</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Kufstein, Count, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a></li> +</ul> +<ul class='index c035'> + <li class='c044'>La Manoelinière, Susan de, 191 <i><a href='#f81'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Labadie and Labadists, <a href='#Page_119'>119-21</a>, 343 <i><a href='#f141'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Lassaye, Marquis de, <a href='#Page_248'>248-9</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Lauderdale, Duke of, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Lauenburg Duchy claim, <a href='#Page_225'>225</a>, <a href='#Page_232'>232</a>, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a></li> + <li class='c044'>L’Hermitage, <a href='#Page_411'>411</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Leibniz, position of, as librarian at Hanover, <a href='#Page_164'>164-5</a>, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a>; + <ul> + <li>expresses views on Electoral position, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a>;</li> + <li>varied activities at Hanover, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a>;</li> + <li>President of the Berlin Society of Sciences (1700), <a href='#Page_298'>298</a>;</li> + <li><i>Théodicée</i> (1710), <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>, <a href='#Page_354'>354-5</a>;</li> + <li>political influence on the decline, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>, <a href='#Page_397'>397</a>;</li> + <li>epigram on Queen Anne, <a href='#Page_411'>411</a>;</li> + <li>Abbess Elizabeth’s correspondence with, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>;</li> + <li>Sophia’s friendship with, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>, <a href='#Page_327'>327</a>, <a href='#Page_331'>331</a>, <a href='#Page_350'>350</a>, <a href='#Page_351'>351</a>, <a href='#Page_354'>354-6</a>;</li> + <li>her correspondence with him cited, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a>, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>, <a href='#Page_344'>344</a>, <a href='#Page_347'>347</a>, <a href='#Page_381'>381</a>, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a>, <a href='#Page_424'>424</a>, <a href='#Page_427'>427</a>, <a href='#Page_432'>432</a>;</li> + <li>Sophia Charlotte the pupil of, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>; + <ul> + <li>her friendship with, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>, <a href='#Page_297'>297-8</a> <i>and <a href='#f120'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Caroline of Ansbach’s friendship with, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a>, <a href='#Page_358'>358</a>;</li> + <li>views and activities on the English Succession question, <a href='#Page_305'>305</a>, <a href='#Page_308'>308</a>, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a>, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>, <a href='#Page_319'>319-20</a>, <a href='#Page_323'>323</a>, <a href='#Page_350'>350-2</a>, <a href='#Page_374'>374-5</a>, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a>, <a href='#Page_412'>412</a>;</li> + <li>philosophy of, <a href='#Page_334'>334</a>;</li> + <li>estimate of, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>;</li> + <li>cited, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a>, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a>, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a>, <a href='#Page_389'>389</a>;</li> + <li>quoted, <a href='#Page_341'>341</a>, <a href='#Page_343'>343</a>, <a href='#Page_344'>344</a>, <a href='#Page_345'>345-6</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a>, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a>, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>, 343 <i><a href='#f141'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_364'>364</a>, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a>, <a href='#Page_396'>396</a>, <a href='#Page_398'>398</a>, <a href='#Page_402'>402</a>, <a href='#Page_407'>407</a>, <a href='#Page_431'>431</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Leopold, Emperor, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a>, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a>, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a></li> + <li class='c044'>L’Epinay, Colonel de, <a href='#Page_78'>78-80</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Lewenhaupt, Count Axel, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Lewenhaupt, Countess, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Lewis Philip (son of Louisa Juliana), <a href='#Page_39'>39</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Lexington, Lord, <a href='#Page_224'>224-5</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Limbach, President von, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>, <a href='#Page_238'>238-9</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Lippe-Bückeburg, Countess Johanna von der, <a href='#Page_430'>430</a> <i>and note:</i> <a href='#f186'>186</a>, <a href='#Page_432'>432</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Lodensteyners, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Longueville, Mme. de, cited, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Lösenius, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Loretto, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Louis II, Elector Palatine, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Louis XIV, King of France, courtesy of, towards Sophia, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#Page_291'>291-2</a>; + <ul> + <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_566'>566</span>Orleans War, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards suggested re-marriage of William III, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a>;</li> + <li>offers James II aid towards securing Polish throne, 303 <i><a href='#f121'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>Peace of Ryswyk and relations with William III, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a>;</li> + <li>First Partition Treaty (1698), <a href='#Page_307'>307</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards Act of Settlement, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a>;</li> + <li>recognises James Prince of Wales as King, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a>;</li> + <li>lukewarm in his support, <a href='#Page_416'>416</a>;</li> + <li>secret offers of assistance to Queen Anne, <a href='#Page_435'>435</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>, 188 <i><a href='#f78'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Louis Philip (uncle of Sophia), regent of Palatinate, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Louisa, Raugravine (niece of Sophia), Sophia’s correspondence with, cited, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a>, <a href='#Page_305'>305</a>, <a href='#Page_317'>317</a>, <a href='#Page_367'>367</a>; + <ul> + <li>companionship with Sophia, <a href='#Page_430'>430</a>;</li> + <li>position of, at Hanover, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Louisa Charlotte, Duchess of Courland (cousin of Sophia), <a href='#Page_38'>38</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Louisa Dorothea, Electoral Princess of Brandenburg (granddaughter of Sophia), <a href='#Page_302'>302</a>, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Louisa Henrietta, Electress, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Louisa Hollandina, characteristics and career of, <a href='#Page_73'>73-4</a>, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>; + <ul> + <li>Montrose’s project of marriage with, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>;</li> + <li>conversion of, to Roman Catholicism (1658), <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>, <a href='#Page_126'>126-7</a>;</li> + <li>in France, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>, <a href='#Page_129'>129-31</a>;</li> + <li>Abbess of Maubuisson, <a href='#Page_131'>131-5</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a>;</li> + <li>mentioned, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Louisa Juliana, Electress (grandmother of Sophia), retirement of, from Heidelberg, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>; + <ul> + <li>on Bohemian Kingship question, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>;</li> + <li>Frederick’s children entrusted to, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>;</li> + <li>religious fervour of, <a href='#Page_19'>19-20</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, 20 <i><a href='#f6'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Lowther, Sir John, <a href='#Page_218'>218</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Lucia, Countess of Bedford, 12 <i><a href='#f3'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Lüneburg, House of, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a> (<i>see also names of Dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg</i>)</li> + <li class='c044'>Luttrell cited, <a href='#Page_325'>325</a></li> +</ul> +<ul class='index c035'> + <li class='c044'>Macaulay cited, 217 <i><a href='#f91'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Maccioni, Valerio, Bishop of Morocco, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a> <i>and <a href='#f69'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Macclesfield, Earl of (1701), <a href='#Page_324'>324</a> <i>and <a href='#f127'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Macpherson cited, 411 <i><a href='#f177'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Maintenon, Mme. de, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a>, <a href='#Page_337'>337</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Malebranche, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Mansfeld, <a href='#Page_41'>41-2</a>, <a href='#Page_45'>45-7</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Maria Anne (niece of Sophia), <a href='#Page_128'>128</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Maria Eleonora, Queen-Dowager of Sweden, 50 <i><a href='#f24'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Maria Eleonora (wife of Regent Louis Philip), <a href='#Page_50'>50</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Maria-Elizabeth, Duchess of Holstein-Gottorp, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Maria Elizabeth, Princess, of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, <a href='#Page_126'>126-7</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Marie of Gonzaga, Queen of Poland, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Marlborough, Duke of, in favour with Queen Anne, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a>, <a href='#Page_382'>382</a>; + <ul> + <li>relations with Elector George Lewis, <a href='#Page_375'>375-6</a>, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a>, <a href='#Page_398'>398</a>;</li> + <li>visits to Hanover (1704 and 1705), <a href='#Page_375'>375</a>, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a>;</li> + <li>on the Gwynne letter, <a href='#Page_390'>390-1</a>;</li> + <li>overthrow of, <a href='#Page_397'>397-9</a>;</li> + <li>copies of Anne’s letters sent from Hanover to, <a href='#Page_430'>430</a> <i>and note</i> <a href='#f185'>185</a>;</li> + <li>double dealing of, <a href='#Page_435'>435</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_283'>283</a>, <a href='#Page_425'>425</a>, <a href='#Page_437'>437</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Mary of Orange, Queen of England, marriage of, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a>; + <ul> + <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_567'>567</span>attitude towards her father, <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>;</li> + <li>relations with Sophia, <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>;</li> + <li>Bill of Rights as affecting, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a>, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Mary Beatrice, Queen (wife of James II), <a href='#Page_213'>213</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Matilda (wife of Henry the Lion), <a href='#Page_143'>143</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Matthias, Emperor, <a href='#Page_30'>30</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Maubuisson, Abbey of, <a href='#Page_127'>127-9</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Maurice, Prince (brother of Sophia), birth of, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>; + <ul> + <li>in the British Civil War, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>, <a href='#Page_63'>63-4</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>;</li> + <li>characteristics of, <a href='#Page_65'>65-6</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Maurice, Raugrave, 330 <i>note</i> <a href='#f132'>132</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Maurice of Orange (Nassau), Stadholder, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Mauro, Abbate Hortensio, 164 <i><a href='#f69'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria, <a href='#Page_30'>30</a>, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>, <a href='#Page_36'>36</a>, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Maximilian Emmanuel, Elector of Bavaria, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Maximilian William, Prince (son of Sophia), birth of, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>; + <ul> + <li>early piety of, 204 <i>note</i> <a href='#f87'>87</a>;</li> + <li>protest and revolt against principle of primogeniture, <a href='#Page_202'>202-3</a>, <a href='#Page_252'>252-3</a>;</li> + <li>arrest of, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a>;</li> + <li>release and subsequent career, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a>;</li> + <li>conversion of, to Roman Catholicism, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards George Lewis’ accession, <a href='#Page_288'>288-9</a>;</li> + <li>estimate of, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>, 332 <i>note</i> <a href='#f134'>134</a>, <a href='#Page_340'>340</a>, <a href='#Page_341'>341</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Mazarin, Cardinal, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Melville, Lewis, cited, 246 <i><a href='#f103'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Metternich, von, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Meysenbug, Clara Elizabeth von. <i>See</i> Platen, Baroness von</li> + <li class='c044'>Meysenbug, Marie von. <i>See</i> Weyhe</li> + <li class='c044'>Meysenbug family, 190 <i>note</i> <a href='#f80'>80</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Mohun, Lord, <a href='#Page_324'>324</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Molanus, Abbot Gerhard Wolter, career and estimate of, <a href='#Page_346'>346</a> <i>and note</i> <a href='#f146'>146</a>; + <ul> + <li>quoted, <a href='#Page_334'>334-5</a>;</li> + <li>mentioned, 343 <i><a href='#f141'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Moltke, von (Master of the Hunt at Hanover), <a href='#Page_203'>203-4</a>, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Molyneux cited, <a href='#Page_430'>430</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Montrose, Marquess of, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a></li> + <li class='c044'>More, Dr. Henry, 117 <i><a href='#f52'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Morton, Albertus, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a></li> +</ul> +<ul class='index c035'> + <li class='c044'>Naturalisation Act (1705), <a href='#Page_385'>385-6</a>, <a href='#Page_388'>388</a>, <a href='#Page_390'>390</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Netherlands, United Provinces of the: + <ul> + <li>Bishop of Münster’s attack on (1655-6), <a href='#Page_167'>167</a></li> + <li>Brunswick-Lüneburg, treaty with, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a></li> + <li>Elizabeth of Bohemia’s exile in, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a>, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></li> + <li>English Succession, agreement as to, <a href='#Page_388'>388</a>, <a href='#Page_438'>438</a></li> + <li>French invasion of (1672), <a href='#Page_183'>183</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Nicholas, Secretary, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Nördlingen, battle of, <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Nottingham, Earl of, <a href='#Page_423'>423</a></li> +</ul> +<ul class='index c035'> + <li class='c044'>Olbreuze, Mlle. d’. <i>See</i> Eleonora, Duchess of Celle</li> + <li class='c044'>Orleans, Duchess of. <i>See</i> Elizabeth Charlotte</li> + <li class='c044'>Orleans, Duke of (brother of Louis XIV), <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Orleans, Duke of (son of Elizabeth Charlotte), <a href='#Page_177'>177-8</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Orleans War (1688-90), <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Ormonde, <a href='#Page_383'>383</a>, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>, <a href='#Page_403'>403</a>, <a href='#Page_420'>420</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Osnabrück, <i>See</i> of: + <ul> + <li>English rumour as to, 348 <i><a href='#f147'>note</a></i></li> + <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_568'>568</span>Ernest Augustus (husband of Sophia), Bishop of, <a href='#Page_157'>157-8</a></li> + <li>Ernest Augustus (son of Sophia), Bishop of, <a href='#Page_441'>441</a> <i>and note</i> <a href='#f193'>193</a></li> + <li>Lüneburg right regarding, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#Page_192'>192-3</a></li> + <li>Secular principality, proposed conversion into, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Otto the Child, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Oxford, Earl of (Robert Harley), attitude of, towards Bothmer, <a href='#Page_405'>405</a>; + <ul> + <li>pronouncement of, against Hanoverian Succession, <a href='#Page_415'>415</a>;</li> + <li>double-dealing of, <a href='#Page_417'>417</a>;</li> + <li>rivalry with Bolingbroke, <a href='#Page_418'>418</a>, <a href='#Page_428'>428</a>, <a href='#Page_434'>434</a>;</li> + <li>professes devotion to House of Hanover, <a href='#Page_421'>421</a>, <a href='#Page_429'>429</a>;</li> + <li>vacillation of, <a href='#Page_436'>436</a>;</li> + <li>dismissed from office, <a href='#Page_437'>437</a>;</li> + <li>policy of, <a href='#Page_401'>401-2</a>;</li> + <li>estimate of, <a href='#Page_396'>396-7</a>, <a href='#Page_409'>409</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_370'>370</a>, <a href='#Page_382'>382</a>, <a href='#Page_406'>406</a>, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a>, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Oxsordre, Mme. d’, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a></li> +</ul> +<ul class='index c035'> + <li class='c044'>Paczkowski, Dr., 259 <i><a href='#f106'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Palatinate: + <ul> + <li>Condition of (1627-32), <a href='#Page_48'>48-9</a>; + <ul> + <li>(1633-4), <a href='#Page_50'>50-1</a>;</li> + <li>(1635-44), <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>;</li> + <li>(1650), <a href='#Page_88'>88-9</a>;</li> + <li>(1674-80), <a href='#Page_89'>89-90</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Orleans War (1688-90), <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a></li> + <li><i>Wildfangsstreit</i>, 89 <i><a href='#f42'>note</a></i></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Palatine House, history of, and position in seventeenth century, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a> and note-17</li> + <li class='c044'>Palmblad, Professor, 265 <i><a href='#f109'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Penn, William, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>; + <ul> + <li>quoted, <a href='#Page_123'>123-4</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Pepys quoted, <a href='#Page_139'>139</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Peter the Great, Tsar, <a href='#Page_191'>191</a>, <a href='#Page_335'>335</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Peterborough, Earl of, <a href='#Page_391'>391</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Philip, King of Spain (grandson of Louis XIV), <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Philip, Prince (brother of Sophia), career of, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>; + <ul> + <li>quarrel with de l’Epinay, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>;</li> + <li>mentioned, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Platen, Count Ernest Augustus von, jealous of Colt, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>; + <ul> + <li>Hanoverian plenipotentiary at Augsburg, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>;</li> + <li>cited, <a href='#Page_313'>313</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>, <a href='#Page_367'>367</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Platen, Countess von (Clara Elizabeth von Meysenbug), mistress of Elector Ernest Augustus, <a href='#Page_190'>190-1</a>, <a href='#Page_246'>246</a>; + <ul> + <li>opera-house built for, 199 <i><a href='#f85'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>Königsmarck affair, <a href='#Page_268'>268-70</a>, <a href='#Page_272'>272</a>, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a>, <a href='#Page_280'>280-1</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, 246 <i><a href='#f103'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Platen, Sophia Charlotte von. <i>See</i> <a href='#KIELMANNSEGG'>Kielmannsegg</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Pless, Frau von, <a href='#Page_28'>28-9</a>, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Podewils, Marshal von, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Poley, Edmund, 375 <i><a href='#f161'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Polwarth, Lord, <a href='#Page_426'>426</a> <i>and <a href='#f183'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Portland, Earl of, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a>, <a href='#Page_365'>365</a> <i>and <a href='#f156'>note</a></i></li> +</ul> +<ul class='index c035'> + <li class='c044'>Quakers, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a> <i>and <a href='#f54'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Quarles, Francis, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Queensberry, Duke of, <a href='#Page_373'>373</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Quirini zu Lynar, Count Rochus, <a href='#Page_328'>328</a>, 329 <i>note</i> <a href='#f131'>131</a></li> +</ul> +<ul class='index c035'> + <li class='c044'>Rait, R. S., on religious condition of Scotland, App. C</li> + <li class='c044'>Rammingen, Pawel von, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Rantzau, Count Christopher von, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Ranuccio II, Duke of Parma, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Regency Act (1706), <a href='#Page_387'>387-8</a>; + <ul> + <li>Oxford’s proposed revision of, <a href='#Page_417'>417</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Rheenen property, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a> <i>and <a href='#f27'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a> <i>and <a href='#f44'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'><span class='pageno' id='Page_569'>569</span>Richelieu, Cardinal, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Rivers, Earl, <a href='#Page_397'>397-8</a>, <a href='#Page_402'>402-3</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Robethon, Jean de, <a href='#Page_351'>351-2</a>, <a href='#Page_398'>398</a>, <a href='#Page_406'>406</a>, <a href='#Page_442'>442</a>; + <ul> + <li>estimate of, <a href='#Page_377'>377-8</a>;</li> + <li>cited, <a href='#Page_418'>418</a>, <a href='#Page_426'>426-7</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Rochester, Earl of, <a href='#Page_382'>382</a> <i>and <a href='#f163'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_386'>386</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Roe, Sir Thomas, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>; + <ul> + <li>services of, to Queen of Bohemia, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>;</li> + <li>cited, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a>, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Roxburghe, Earl of, <a href='#Page_373'>373</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Rudolf Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Rudolfine, Mme., <a href='#Page_147'>147</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Rupert, Prince (brother of the Electress), birth of, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a>; + <ul> + <li>visit to England (1635), <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>;</li> + <li>captured at Vlotho, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a>;</li> + <li>in the British Civil War, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>, <a href='#Page_63'>63-4</a>;</li> + <li>buccaneering exploits, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>;</li> + <li>quarrel with Charles Lewis, <a href='#Page_94'>94-6</a> <i>and <a href='#f44'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>visits to Heidelberg, <a href='#Page_99'>99-100</a>, <a href='#Page_104'>104-5</a>;</li> + <li>connexion with Francesca Bard, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>, 375 <i><a href='#f161'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>position in England, <a href='#Page_139'>139-40</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#Page_140'>140</a>;</li> + <li>characteristics of, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Rupert III, Elector Palatine, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Rupert ‘England’ (son of Elector Palatine Louis II), <a href='#Page_17'>17</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Ruperta (niece of Sophia), <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>, 141 <i>note</i> <a href='#f62'>62</a>, 392 <i>note</i> <a href='#f168'>168</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Rusdorf, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a></li> +</ul> +<ul class='index c035'> + <li class='c044'>Saint-Simon cited, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Salomon, Dr., cited, 387 <i><a href='#f165'>note</a></i>, 405 <i>note</i> <a href='#f175'>175</a>, 410 <i><a href='#f176'>note</a></i>, 411 <i><a href='#f177'>note</a></i>, 416 <i><a href='#f178'>note</a></i>, 417 <i><a href='#f180'>note</a></i>, 419 <i><a href='#f181'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Sandys, Dr., <a href='#Page_325'>325</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Sartorio, <a href='#Page_327'>327</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Saxony, compact of, with Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Say and Sele, Lord, <a href='#Page_324'>324</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Schism Act, <a href='#Page_436'>436</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Schlitz-Görz, Baron von, <a href='#Page_442'>442</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Schönberg (Schombergh), Hans Meinhard von, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Schulenburg, General von der, <a href='#Page_415'>415</a>, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Schulenburg, Melusina von der. <i>See</i> Kendal, Duchess of</li> + <li class='c044'>Schurmann, Anna Maria von, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Schütz, Baron von (son of Celle Chancellor), Hanoverian resident in London, <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>, <a href='#Page_366'>366</a>; + <ul> + <li>correspondence with Sophia, 183 <i><a href='#f77'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>quoted, 293 <i><a href='#f118'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_347'>347</a>;</li> + <li>cited, 319 <i><a href='#f125'>note</a></i>, 339 <i>note</i> <a href='#f125'>125</a>, <a href='#Page_383'>383</a>, 385 <i><a href='#f164'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_399'>399</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Schütz, Baron George William Helwig Sinold von (grandson of Celle Chancellor), <a href='#Page_412'>412</a>, <a href='#Page_423'>423-6</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Schütz, Baron Lewis Justus von, distinguished services of, to Duke of Celle, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#Page_185'>185-6</a>; + <ul> + <li>estimate of, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>, <a href='#Page_376'>376-7</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Scotland: + <ul> + <li>Act of Security (1704), <a href='#Page_372'>372-3</a></li> + <li>Act of Union (1707), <a href='#Page_373'>373</a>, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a></li> + <li>Anti-English feeling in, as affecting Hanoverian Succession question, <a href='#Page_372'>372-3</a>, App. C</li> + <li>Assistance from, to the Palatinate, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>, 51 <i><a href='#f25'>note</a></i></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Scultetus, Abraham, <a href='#Page_24'>24-5</a>, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Selz, Baron von, 137 <i>note</i> <a href='#f59'>59</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Seymour, Edward, <a href='#Page_364'>364</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Shrewsbury, —, <a href='#Page_438'>438</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Sichel cited, 437 <i><a href='#f190'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Siegen, Ludwig von, 64 <i><a href='#f31'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Sigismund, Prince of Transylvania, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Sintzendorf, Countess von, 240 <i><a href='#f100'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Smith, L. Pearsall, cited, 36 <i><a href='#f17'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Solms. <i>See</i> Amalia von Solms</li> + <li class='c044'>Somers, <a href='#Page_402'>402</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Somerset, Duke of, <a href='#Page_424'>424</a></li> + <li class='c044'><span class='pageno' id='Page_570'>570</span>Sophia, Electress of Hanover (earlier Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg): + <ul> + <li>Appearance of, <a href='#Page_75'>75-6</a></li> + <li>Career, chronological sequence of: + <ul> + <li>Birth, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a>, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>;</li> + <li>childhood at Leyden, <a href='#Page_54'>54-5</a>;</li> + <li>at the Hague, <a href='#Page_55'>55</a>, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>, <a href='#Page_69'>69-70</a>, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>;</li> + <li>upbringing and education, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>, <a href='#Page_331'>331</a>;</li> + <li>services to her eldest sister, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>;</li> + <li>rumour of projected marriage with Prince Charles of England, <a href='#Page_82'>82-5</a>;</li> + <li>starts for Heidelberg, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>;</li> + <li>life with her brother Charles Lewis, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a>, <a href='#Page_96'>96-8</a>, <a href='#Page_103'>103-7</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards him, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>;</li> + <li>matrimonial prospects, <a href='#Page_106'>106-12</a>;</li> + <li>attack of small-pox, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a>;</li> + <li>accepts Duke Ernest Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a>;</li> + <li>marriage, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a>;</li> + <li>companionship of ‘Liselotte,’ 99, <a href='#Page_172'>172-3</a>;</li> + <li>at Hanover, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a>;</li> + <li>difficulties with George William, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>;</li> + <li>visit to her mother at the Hague (1659), <a href='#Page_136'>136</a>, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>;</li> + <li>birth of George Lewis, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>;</li> + <li>of Frederick Augustus, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>;</li> + <li>last meeting with her mother (1661), <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>;</li> + <li>visit to Italy (1664), <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>;</li> + <li>John Frederick’s <i>coup</i>, <a href='#Page_162'>162-3</a>;</li> + <li>friendly relations with Roman Catholic dignitaries, 164 <i><a href='#f69'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>at Osnabrück and Iburg, <a href='#Page_158'>158-9</a>, <a href='#Page_167'>167-8</a>;</li> + <li>affair of Mlle. Eleonora d’Olbreuze, <a href='#Page_168'>168-70</a>;</li> + <li>Celle Succession question, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#Page_185'>185-7</a>;</li> + <li>infidelities of her husband, <a href='#Page_190'>190-1</a> <i>and <a href='#f79'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>visit to Herford, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>;</li> + <li>interest in British affairs, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a>;</li> + <li>visit to Maubuisson (1679), <a href='#Page_135'>135</a>, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>;</li> + <li>visit to her niece Elizabeth Charlotte, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards proposed match between George Lewis and Sophia Dorothea, 190 <i>note</i> <a href='#f79'>79</a>, <a href='#Page_191'>191-2</a>;</li> + <li>towards Countess of Wilhelmsburg (Eleonora d’Olbreuze), <a href='#Page_192'>192-4</a>;</li> + <li>visit to French Court with her daughter (1679), <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>, <a href='#Page_291'>291-2</a>;</li> + <li>visit to Queen of Denmark (1680), <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>;</li> + <li>last visit to Herford, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>;</li> + <li>death of her eldest sister and of her eldest brother (1680), <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>;</li> + <li>life at Hanover, <a href='#Page_197'>197-200</a>;</li> + <li>marriage of her eldest son (1682), <a href='#Page_194'>194-5</a>, <a href='#Page_240'>240</a>;</li> + <li>marriage of her daughter (1684), <a href='#Page_207'>207-8</a>;</li> + <li>on William III’s accession, <a href='#Page_215'>215-16</a>;</li> + <li>activity regarding the English Succession question (1689), <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>, <a href='#Page_218'>218</a>;</li> + <li>Bill of Rights (1689), <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>, <a href='#Page_218'>218-20</a>;</li> + <li>death of her son Charles Philip, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a>;</li> + <li>investiture of her husband with Electorate (1692), <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>;</li> + <li>Königsmarck affair, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a>, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a>, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a> <i>and <a href='#f113'>note</a></i> 2, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>;</li> + <li>visit to Wiesbaden (1694), <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>;</li> + <li>visit to the Loo (1696), <a href='#Page_301'>301</a>, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>;</li> + <li>illness and death of her husband, <a href='#Page_286'>286-8</a>;</li> + <li>accession of George Lewis, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards Sophia Dorothea at Ahlden, <a href='#Page_277'>277</a>, <a href='#Page_284'>284-5</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards the English Succession question (1698), <a href='#Page_309'>309-11</a>, <a href='#Page_314'>314-17</a>, <a href='#Page_319'>319-20</a>, <a href='#Page_323'>323</a>;</li> + <li>relations with Duchess of Celle on the subject, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a>;</li> + <li>alleged ‘Jacobite letter,’ 315-16;</li> + <li>visit to Aix-la-Chapelle (1700), <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>;</li> + <li>conference with William III at the Loo (1700), <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a>;</li> + <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_571'>571</span>meeting with William III at the Hague, <a href='#Page_317'>317</a>;</li> + <li>Act of Settlement (1701), <a href='#Page_321'>321-2</a>;</li> + <li>receives copy of Act of Settlement, <a href='#Page_324'>324-6</a>;</li> + <li>relations with Queen Anne at latter’s accession, <a href='#Page_366'>366</a> <i>and <a href='#f157'>note</a></i> 2-9, <a href='#Page_371'>371</a>;</li> + <li>proposed visit to England opposed by Queen Anne, <a href='#Page_370'>370</a>;</li> + <li>continued activities regarding the Succession question (1703), <a href='#Page_374'>374</a>;</li> + <li>death of her son Christian (1703), <a href='#Page_202'>202-3</a>, 339 <i>note</i> <a href='#f139'>139</a>;</li> + <li>Scottish Act of Security (1703-4), <a href='#Page_372'>372-3</a>;</li> + <li>death of her daughter (1705), <a href='#Page_356'>356-8</a>;</li> + <li>Tory attempt to bring her to England, <a href='#Page_380'>380</a>, <a href='#Page_382'>382-3</a>, <a href='#Page_386'>386-7</a>;</li> + <li>naturalisation as English subject, <a href='#Page_385'>385</a> <i>and <a href='#f164'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>embassy of Lord Halifax with Naturalisation and Regency Acts (1706), <a href='#Page_388'>388-91</a>;</li> + <li>Act of Union (1707), <a href='#Page_373'>373-4</a>;</li> + <li>ministerial crisis in England (1710), <a href='#Page_396'>396</a>, <a href='#Page_398'>398</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards the Succession question (1711), <a href='#Page_402'>402</a>;</li> + <li>visit of Thomas Harley (1712), <a href='#Page_404'>404</a>, <a href='#Page_407'>407</a>;</li> + <li>severe illness (Nov. 1713), <a href='#Page_414'>414</a>;</li> + <li>Anne’s letter to (Apr. 1714), <a href='#Page_421'>421-2</a>;</li> + <li>instructions to von Schütz regarding Parliamentary writ for Electoral Prince, <a href='#Page_423'>423-7</a>;</li> + <li>reply to Anne’s letter, <a href='#Page_422'>422-3</a>, <a href='#Page_427'>427</a>;</li> + <li>Anne’s letter on the writ affair, <a href='#Page_428'>428-31</a>;</li> + <li>death, <a href='#Page_428'>428</a>, <a href='#Page_430'>430-2</a>;</li> + <li>obsequies, <a href='#Page_433'>433</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Characteristics of: + <ul> + <li>Alertness of mind, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a>, <a href='#Page_341'>341</a></li> + <li>Artistic capacity, <a href='#Page_329'>329-30</a></li> + <li>Coarseness, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a></li> + <li>Critical insight and true vision, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>, <a href='#Page_333'>333</a></li> + <li>Curiosity, intellectual, <a href='#Page_331'>331</a></li> + <li>Cynicism, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#Page_336'>336</a></li> + <li>Dignity, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a></li> + <li>Discretion and prudence, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a>, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a></li> + <li>Enthusiasm, dislike of, <a href='#Page_342'>342</a></li> + <li><i>Finesse</i>, intellectual, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a></li> + <li>Frankness and straightforwardness, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a>, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a>, <a href='#Page_336'>336</a></li> + <li>Freedom of spirit, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a></li> + <li>Geniality and affability, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>, <a href='#Page_338'>338</a></li> + <li>High spirit, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a> Hospitality, <a href='#Page_338'>338</a></li> + <li>Humour, sense of, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>, <a href='#Page_335'>335</a>, <a href='#Page_338'>338</a>, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a></li> + <li>Kindliness of heart, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a></li> + <li>Maternal affection, <a href='#Page_171'>171-2</a>, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a></li> + <li>Open-mindedness, <a href='#Page_338'>338</a> Reasonableness, <a href='#Page_341'>341</a></li> + <li>Religious feeling, 339 <i>note</i> <a href='#f139'>139</a>, <a href='#Page_345'>345</a>; + <ul> + <li>opinions, <a href='#Page_343'>343-8</a>, <a href='#Page_350'>350</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards Church of Rome, <a href='#Page_348'>348-9</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Self-control, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a></li> + <li>Sincerity, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a>, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a> Tact, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>, <a href='#Page_338'>338</a></li> + <li>Vivacity, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a></li> + <li>Walking, fondness for, <a href='#Page_328'>328-9</a>, <a href='#Page_360'>360</a></li> + <li>Wit, <a href='#Page_335'>335-6</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Coffin of, inscription on, <a href='#Page_1'>1</a></li> + <li>Correspondence of: + <ul> + <li>Cited, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a>, 372 <i><a href='#f160'>note</a></i></li> + <li>Estimate of, <a href='#Page_336'>336</a></li> + <li>Quoted, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>, 321 <i><a href='#f126'>note</a></i></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Correspondence of, with: + <ul> + <li>Balati, Abbé, cited, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a></li> + <li>Bothmer, von, cited, 362 <i><a href='#f155'>note</a></i></li> + <li>Brinon, Mme. de, quoted, <a href='#Page_350'>350</a></li> + <li>Burnet cited, <a href='#Page_323'>323-4</a>, <a href='#Page_342'>342</a>, <a href='#Page_386'>386</a></li> + <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_572'>572</span>Canterbury, Archbishop of, cited, <a href='#Page_386'>386</a></li> + <li>Charles Lewis cited, 20 <i><a href='#f6'>note</a></i></li> + <li>Colt, Lady, 221 <a href='#f93'><i>note</i> 2</a>, 428 <i><a href='#f184'>note</a></i></li> + <li>Court of St. Germains, destruction of, <a href='#Page_393'>393</a></li> + <li>Craven, Earl of, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a></li> + <li>Elizabeth Charlotte, Duchess of Orleans, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>, <a href='#Page_179'>179-80</a>, <a href='#Page_414'>414</a>; + <ul> + <li>cited, 303 <i><a href='#f121'>note</a></i></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>George William, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a></li> + <li>James II, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a></li> + <li>Leibniz cited, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a>, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>, <a href='#Page_344'>344</a>, <a href='#Page_347'>347</a>, <a href='#Page_381'>381</a>, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a>, <a href='#Page_424'>424</a>, <a href='#Page_427'>427</a>, <a href='#Page_432'>432</a></li> + <li>Louisa, Raugravine, cited, <a href='#Page_305'>305</a>, <a href='#Page_317'>317</a></li> + <li>Maccioni, 164 <i><a href='#f69'>note</a></i></li> + <li>Portland, Earl of, quoted, 365 <i><a href='#f156'>note</a></i></li> + <li>Schütz, von (the elder), 183 <i><a href='#f77'>note</a></i>; + <ul> + <li>quoted, 293 <i><a href='#f118'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_374'>374</a>;</li> + <li>cited, 319 <i><a href='#f125'>note</a></i>, 339 <i>note</i> <a href='#f139'>139</a>, <a href='#Page_383'>383</a>, 385 <i><a href='#f164'>note</a></i></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Schütz, von (the younger), <a href='#Page_423'>423-4</a> <i>and <a href='#f182'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_425'>425</a></li> + <li>Sophia Charlotte, destruction of, <a href='#Page_357'>357</a></li> + <li>Strafford cited, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a></li> + <li>William III cited, <a href='#Page_220'>220</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Estimate of, by Sir W. D. Colt, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a></li> + <li>Health of, <a href='#Page_360'>360</a></li> + <li>Income for, proposal as to, <a href='#Page_362'>362</a>, <a href='#Page_366'>366</a>, <a href='#Page_368'>368</a>, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a>, <a href='#Page_422'>422</a></li> + <li>Literary tastes of, <a href='#Page_332'>332-5</a></li> + <li><i>Memoirs</i> of: + <ul> + <li>Circumstances of compilation of, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a></li> + <li>Cited, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a>, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a>, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a>, <a href='#Page_169'>169</a>, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Political influence of, <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>, <a href='#Page_340'>340-1</a></li> + <li>Relations with: + <ul> + <li>Anne, Queen, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a>, <a href='#Page_366'>366</a> <i>and <a href='#f157'>note</a></i>–9, <a href='#Page_371'>371</a>, <a href='#Page_386'>386–7</a>, <a href='#Page_390'>390-1</a>, <a href='#Page_394'>394</a>, <a href='#Page_396'>396</a>, <a href='#Page_403'>403</a>, 404 <i><a href='#f173'>note</a></i> 2, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a></li> + <li>Caroline of Ansbach, <a href='#Page_348'>348</a>, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a>, <a href='#Page_377'>377</a></li> + <li>Charles II, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a></li> + <li>Charles Lewis, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a></li> + <li>Eleonora of Celle, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a>, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a>, <a href='#Page_240'>240</a>, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a>, <a href='#Page_337'>337</a></li> + <li>Elizabeth of Bohemia (her mother), <a href='#Page_56'>56-7</a>, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a>, 141 <i><a href='#f63'>note</a></i></li> + <li>Ernest Augustus (her husband), <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>, <a href='#Page_340'>340</a></li> + <li>George Lewis, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a> <i>and <a href='#f102'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>, <a href='#Page_340'>340</a>, <a href='#Page_355'>355</a></li> + <li>James II, <a href='#Page_210'>210-13</a>, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a></li> + <li>Leibniz, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>, <a href='#Page_327'>327</a>, <a href='#Page_331'>331</a>, <a href='#Page_350'>350</a>, <a href='#Page_351'>351</a>, <a href='#Page_354'>354-6</a></li> + <li>Marlborough, <a href='#Page_375'>375</a>, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a></li> + <li>Mary of Orange, <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a></li> + <li>Nephews and nieces, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a>, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a>, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>, <a href='#Page_339'>339</a></li> + <li>Sophia Charlotte, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>, <a href='#Page_356'>356-7</a></li> + <li>Sophia Dorothea, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a>, <a href='#Page_240'>240</a>, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>, <a href='#Page_284'>284-5</a></li> + <li>von Bernstorff, <a href='#Page_377'>377</a></li> + <li>William of Orange, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>, <a href='#Page_215'>215-16</a>, <a href='#Page_219'>219-22</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Succession question, attitude towards, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>, <a href='#Page_218'>218</a>, <a href='#Page_309'>309-11</a>, <a href='#Page_314'>314-17</a>, <a href='#Page_319'>319-20</a>, <a href='#Page_323'>323</a>, <a href='#Page_374'>374</a>, <a href='#Page_402'>402</a>, <a href='#Page_418'>418-19</a>; + <ul> + <li>views regarding right of succession, <a href='#Page_389'>389</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Tories, attitude towards, and relations with, <a href='#Page_383'>383</a>, <a href='#Page_387'>387</a> <i>and <a href='#f165'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_399'>399</a>, <a href='#Page_403'>403</a>, <a href='#Page_418'>418</a></li> + <li>Whigs, attitude towards, and relations with, <a href='#Page_380'>380-1</a>, <a href='#Page_387'>387</a> <i>and <a href='#f165'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_395'>395</a>, <a href='#Page_399'>399</a>, <a href='#Page_403'>403</a>, <a href='#Page_418'>418</a></li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>, <a href='#Page_226'>226</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Sophia, Princess (daughter of James I), <a href='#Page_11'>11-12</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Sophia of Nassau-Dietz cited, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a></li> + <li class='c044'><span class='pageno' id='Page_573'>573</span>Sophia Amalia, Queen of Denmark, <a href='#Page_149'>149-50</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Sophia Charlotte, Electress of Brandenburg, later Queen of Prussia (daughter of Sophia), birth of, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>; + <ul> + <li>childhood, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>;</li> + <li>education, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a>;</li> + <li>visit to French Court (1679), <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>, <a href='#Page_291'>291-2</a>;</li> + <li>marriage (1684), <a href='#Page_38'>38</a>, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a>, <a href='#Page_207'>207-8</a>, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a>;</li> + <li>sympathy with Maximilian, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a>;</li> + <li>birth of eldest son, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>;</li> + <li>life and interests at Berlin and Brandenburg, <a href='#Page_294'>294-5</a>;</li> + <li>at Lützenburg, <a href='#Page_295'>295-6</a>;</li> + <li>family troubles, <a href='#Page_298'>298-9</a>;</li> + <li>consulted by Sophia Dorothea (1692), <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>;</li> + <li>visit to the Loo (1696), <a href='#Page_301'>301</a>, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>;</li> + <li>visit to Aix-la-Chapelle, Brussels, and Holland (1700), <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>;</li> + <li>conference at the Loo, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a>;</li> + <li>meeting with William III at the Hague, <a href='#Page_317'>317</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_356'>356-8</a>;</li> + <li>characteristics of, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#Page_290'>290-1</a>, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>;</li> + <li>indifference to politics, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>, <a href='#Page_293'>293-4</a>;</li> + <li>religious views, <a href='#Page_346'>346</a>;</li> + <li>her support of Leibniz, <a href='#Page_355'>355</a>;</li> + <li>relations with her mother, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>, <a href='#Page_356'>356-7</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>, 313 <i><a href='#f124'>note</a></i>, 371 <i><a href='#f159'>note</a></i></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Sophia Dorothea, Electoral Princess, later Duchess of Ahlden (daughter-in-law of Sophia), birth of, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>; + <ul> + <li>upbringing, <a href='#Page_243'>243-4</a>;</li> + <li>wealth, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>;</li> + <li>suggested naturalisation in France, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a> <i>and <a href='#f76'>note</a></i> 2;</li> + <li>question of legitimation and marriage, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>;</li> + <li>suitors, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>;</li> + <li>proposed match with George Lewis, 190 <a href='#f79'><i>note</i> 1</a>, <a href='#Page_191'>191-4</a>;</li> + <li>the marriage, <a href='#Page_194'>194-5</a>, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>, <a href='#Page_239'>239-41</a>;</li> + <li>estrangement from her husband, <a href='#Page_246'>246</a>, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>, <a href='#Page_252'>252-4</a>;</li> + <li>Court life, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>;</li> + <li>in Rome, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>;</li> + <li>alleged intrigue with de Lassaye, <a href='#Page_248'>248-9</a>;</li> + <li>relations with Königsmarck, <a href='#Page_254'>254-9</a>, <a href='#Page_262'>262-78</a>, App. B;</li> + <li>repairs to her parents at Brockhausen, <a href='#Page_273'>273</a>;</li> + <li>at Ahlden, <a href='#Page_275'>275-6</a>;</li> + <li>divorce, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a>;</li> + <li>von Bernstorff’s attitude in the affair, <a href='#Page_377'>377</a>;</li> + <li>subsequent life, <a href='#Page_281'>281-2</a>;</li> + <li>death, <a href='#Page_283'>283-4</a>;</li> + <li>estimate of, <a href='#Page_240'>240</a>;</li> + <li>romance by Antony Ulric regarding, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a> <i>and <a href='#f82'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_239'>239</a> <i>and <a href='#f100'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_283'>283</a>;</li> + <li>mentioned, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Sophia Dorothea, Queen of Prussia (granddaughter of Sophia), birth of, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a>, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>; + <ul> + <li>marriage, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a>, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a>;</li> + <li>marriage-treaty, 346 <a href='#f145'><i>note</i> 2</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards her mother, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a>;</li> + <li>at Göhrde, <a href='#Page_307'>307</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Southwell, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Spain: + <ul> + <li>Charles I’s peace with (1630), <a href='#Page_48'>48</a></li> + <li>James I’s negotiations with, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a></li> + <li>Succession question, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a>, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Spanheim, Ezechiel, <a href='#Page_333'>333</a>; + <ul> + <li>cited, 20 <i><a href='#f6'>note</a></i>, 190 <a href='#f79'><i>note</i> 1</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Spinola, <a href='#Page_36'>36</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Spinoza, 176 <a href='#f71'><i>note</i> 1</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Spittler cited, 113 <i><a href='#f50'>note</a></i>; + <ul> + <li>quoted, <a href='#Page_331'>331</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Stamford, Lord, 366 <a href='#f158'><i>note</i> 2</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Steffani, Agostino, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a> <i>and <a href='#f84'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Steinghens, <a href='#Page_415'>415</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Stepney, George, <a href='#Page_225'>225</a>, <a href='#Page_319'>319-20</a>, <a href='#Page_371'>371</a>; + <ul> + <li>cited, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a>;</li> + <li>his letter to Sophia (1700), <a href='#Page_314'>314-15</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Stewart, House of: + <ul> + <li>Depression of, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a></li> + <li>Hanoverian sympathy with, <a href='#Page_210'>210-13</a>, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>, <a href='#Page_393'>393-4</a> <i>and <a href='#f169'>note</a></i></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'><span class='pageno' id='Page_574'>574</span>Strafford, Earl of, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a>, <a href='#Page_403'>403</a>, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a>, <a href='#Page_414'>414</a>, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a>, <a href='#Page_422'>422</a>, <a href='#Page_438'>438</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Sturmer, H. H., cited, 169 <i><a href='#f70'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Suireau, Marie (Mère des Anges), <a href='#Page_129'>129</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Sunderland, Earl of, <a href='#Page_396'>396-7</a>, <a href='#Page_402'>402</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Sutton, Anne, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Sweden: + <ul> + <li>Danish jealousy of, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a></li> + <li>Ernest Augustus’ operations against (1666), <a href='#Page_168'>168</a></li> + <li>Imperial war against (1675), <a href='#Page_184'>184</a></li> + </ul> + </li> +</ul> +<ul class='index c035'> + <li class='c044'>Tallard, Count, <a href='#Page_307'>307</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Taranto, Princess of, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Tavernier, <a href='#Page_199'>199</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Thynne, Thomas, murder of, <a href='#Page_260'>260-1</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Tilly, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Toland, Sophia Charlotte’s + <ul> + <li>attitude towards, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>;</li> + <li>visit to Hanover (1701), <a href='#Page_324'>324</a>;</li> + <li>Sophia’s attitude towards, <a href='#Page_342'>342</a>, <a href='#Page_367'>367-8</a>, <a href='#Page_380'>380-1</a>;</li> + <li>her repartee to, <a href='#Page_336'>336</a>;</li> + <li>cited, <a href='#Page_325'>325</a>, <a href='#Page_329'>329</a>, 339 <a href='#f138'><i>note</i> 1</a>, 348 <i><a href='#f147'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_362'>362</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Torcy, de, <a href='#Page_405'>405</a>, <a href='#Page_415'>415</a>, <a href='#Page_420'>420</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Treaties: + <ul> + <li>Austro-Bavarian (1628), <a href='#Page_48'>48</a></li> + <li>Brandenburg and Hanover, between, <a href='#Page_235'>235-6</a>, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a></li> + <li>Britain and France, between. <i>See subheading</i> <a href='#PARTITIONTREATY'>Partition Treaty</a></li> + <li>Britain and Netherlands, between (1654), <a href='#Page_93'>93</a></li> + <li>Britain and Netherlands, between, as to Hanoverian Succession, <a href='#Page_388'>388</a>, <a href='#Page_438'>438</a></li> + <li>Brunswick-Lüneburg and Britain, between, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a></li> + <li>Brunswick-Lüneburg and Netherlands, between (1692), <a href='#Page_223'>223</a></li> + <li>Brunswick-Lüneburg and Sweden, between (1691), <a href='#Page_263'>263</a></li> + <li>Electoral compact (1692), <a href='#Page_233'>233</a></li> + <li>Grand Alliance. <i>See that <a href='#GRANDALLIANCE'>title</a></i></li> + <li>Nürnberg settlement, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a></li> + <li><a id='PARTITIONTREATY'></a>Partition Treaty between England and France—First (1698), <a href='#Page_307'>307</a>; + <ul> + <li>Second, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a>, <a href='#Page_317'>317-18</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Prague, Peace of (1634), <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a></li> + <li>Ryswyk, Peace of (1697), <a href='#Page_306'>306</a></li> + <li>Utrecht, Peace of (1713), <a href='#Page_407'>407-8</a>, <a href='#Page_412'>412</a></li> + <li>Westphalia, Peace of (1648), <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a>, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Trumbull, Sir William, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Tunbridge, Lord, <a href='#Page_324'>324</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Turenne, Marshal, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Tweeddale, Marquis of, <a href='#Page_373'>373</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Tyndall, Humphrey, Dean of Ely, 21 <a href='#f7'><i>note</i> 1</a></li> +</ul> +<ul class='index c035'> + <li class='c044'>Vane, Sir Harry, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Velasco, Don Alonso de, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Vere, Sir Horace, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy, <a href='#Page_225'>225</a>, <a href='#Page_301'>301-2</a>, 321 <i>and <a href='#f126'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Villiers, Lady Mary, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a></li> +</ul> +<ul class='index c035'> + <li class='c044'>Wallenstein, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Waller, Sir William, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Walpole, Horace, cited, <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>, <a href='#Page_280'>280-1</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Walpole, Sir Robert, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Ward, Nathaniel, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Wartenberg, Cardinal Francis William von, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Wartenberg, Countess von, <a href='#Page_299'>299-300</a>, <a href='#Page_357'>357</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Wartenberg, Kolbe von, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Weber, O., cited, 405 <a href='#f174'><i>note</i> 1</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Weston, Sir Richard, <a href='#Page_35'>35-6</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Weyhe, General von, <a href='#Page_246'>246</a></li> + <li class='c044'><span class='pageno' id='Page_575'>575</span>Weyhe, Mme. von (Marie von Meysenbug, Frau von dem Bussche), <a href='#Page_242'>242</a>, 246 <i>and note:f103#</i>, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Wharton, Lord, <a href='#Page_385'>385</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Wilhelmina (great-granddaughter of Sophia), <a href='#Page_298'>298-9</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Wilhelmina Caroline of Ansbach, Queen (wife of George II), childhood of, <a href='#Page_358'>358</a>; + <ul> + <li>marriage, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a>;</li> + <li>influence with her husband, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>;</li> + <li>birth of eldest son, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a>;</li> + <li>relations with Sophia, <a href='#Page_348'>348</a>, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a>, <a href='#Page_377'>377</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_280'>280-1</a>, <a href='#Page_355'>355</a>, <a href='#Page_395'>395</a>, <a href='#Page_429'>429</a>, <a href='#Page_431'>431</a>, <a href='#Page_441'>441</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>Wilhelmsburg, Countess of. <i>See</i> Eleonora</li> + <li class='c044'>Wilkins, W. H., cited, 246 <i><a href='#f103'>note</a></i>, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a>, 258 <i><a href='#f106'>note</a></i>, 265 <i><a href='#f109'>note</a></i>, 280 <i>note</i> <a href='#f112'>112</a></li> + <li class='c044'>William II, Prince of Orange, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a></li> + <li class='c044'>William III, Prince of Orange (King William III of England), marriage of, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a>; + <ul> + <li>visit to Hanover (1680), <a href='#Page_209'>209-10</a>;</li> + <li>on James II’s accession, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>;</li> + <li>relations with Sophia, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>, <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>, <a href='#Page_215'>215-16</a>, <a href='#Page_219'>219-22</a>;</li> + <li>expedition to England, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#Page_214'>214-15</a>;</li> + <li>Bill of Rights (1689) as affecting, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a>;</li> + <li>correspondence with Sophia on Bill of Rights, <a href='#Page_219'>219-20</a>;</li> + <li>appealed to regarding Lauenburg claims, <a href='#Page_237'>237-8</a>;</li> + <li>Succession policy, <a href='#Page_225'>225-6</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards the Savoy Succession, <a href='#Page_225'>225</a>, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a>;</li> + <li>death of his wife, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a>;</li> + <li>suggestions as to re-marriage, <a href='#Page_301'>301-4</a>, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a>;</li> + <li>the Assassination Plot (1696), <a href='#Page_302'>302</a>;</li> + <li>ill-health, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>;</li> + <li>visit to Cleves, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a> <i>and <a href='#f122'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>attitude towards admission of Elector of Hanover to Electoral College, <a href='#Page_305'>305</a>;</li> + <li>secret negotiation with France, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a>;</li> + <li>First Partition Treaty with France (1698), <a href='#Page_307'>307</a>;</li> + <li>conference at Göhrde with George William of Celle (1698), <a href='#Page_307'>307</a>;</li> + <li>interview with Duchess of Celle regarding English Succession question, <a href='#Page_308'>308-9</a>;</li> + <li>relations with Sophia on the question, <a href='#Page_309'>309-10</a>, <a href='#Page_314'>314</a>, <a href='#Page_317'>317</a>;</li> + <li>attitude towards Electoral Prince of Brandenburg (1700), <a href='#Page_312'>312-14</a>, <a href='#Page_317'>317</a>;</li> + <li>at the Hague with the two Electresses, <a href='#Page_317'>317</a>;</li> + <li>relations with his Parliament, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a>;</li> + <li>meeting with Duke George William and Prince George Augustus at the Loo (1701), <a href='#Page_362'>362</a>;</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_365'>365</a>;</li> + <li>title of, to British Crown, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a>, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a>, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>, 190 <a href='#f79'><i>note</i> 1</a>, <a href='#Page_193'>193</a>, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>, <a href='#Page_344'>344</a>, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a>, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a>, 385 <i><a href='#f164'>note</a></i></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c044'>William V, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Wimbledon, Lord, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Winchelsea, Lord, <a href='#Page_337'>337</a>, <a href='#Page_367'>367</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Withypol (Wittepole), Lady, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a></li> + <li class='c044'>Wladislaw IV, King of Poland, <a href='#Page_70'>70-1</a> <i>and <a href='#f36'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Woods, Mrs., cited, 262 <i><a href='#f108'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Worthington, Dr., 117 <i><a href='#f52'>note</a></i></li> + <li class='c044'>Wotton, Sir Henry, visit of, to Heidelberg Court, <a href='#Page_26'>26-8</a> <i>and <a href='#f13'>note</a></i>; + <ul> + <li>mission to Vienna, <a href='#Page_35'>35-6</a>;</li> + <li>devotion to Queen of Bohemia, <a href='#Page_43'>43-4</a>;</li> + <li>cited, 52 <i><a href='#f26'>note</a></i>;</li> + <li>mentioned, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a></li> + </ul> + </li> +</ul> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c034'> + <div>THE END</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c045'> + <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_576'>576</span><span class='small'>PRINTED BY</span></div> + <div><span class='small'>SPOTTISWOODE AND CO. LTD., COLCHESTER</span></div> + <div><span class='small'>LONDON AND ETON</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c000'> +</div> +<p class='c038'><a id='endnote'></a></p> +<div class='tnotes'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c034'> + <div><span class='large'>Transcriber’s Note</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c038'>Appendix B contains a series of letters in French. The editor comments +(p. #447): “The spelling of the words in the Letters, the way in which those words +are run into one another...have ... been left as they stand in the +transcript.” With that approach, with three exceptions +(obvious transpositions of letters), no corrections have been made.</p> + +<p class='c038'>Likewise, there are frequent quotations from contemporary sources, +and any deviations from our standard spellings are left untouched, but +noted here: +mesages (<a id='n_44.23'></a><a href='#note44.23'>44.23</a>), +l’esperane <a id='n_495.6'></a><a href='#note495.6'>495.6</a>, +contrar (<a id='n_552.8'></a><a href='#note552.8'>552.8</a>).</p> + +<p class='c038'>At <a id='c_10.11'></a><a href='#corr10.11'>10.11</a>, there is an error. the Electress Sophia died in 1714 not 1712, +two months before Britain’s Queen Anne died and Sophia’s son George +became George I of England.</p> + +<p class='c038'>In the Index, references to a note on a given page, may include the original note +number (e.g., ‘323 <i>note</i> 1’) should there be more than one. In +those cases the original number is changed to the resequenced number.</p> + +<p class='c038'>The Index entry on p. <a href='#Page_101'>101</a> for Charles (Elector Palatine does not exist. +. +Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and +are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original. +or, if in a note, to the page, note and line within the note.</p> + +<table class='table3'> +<colgroup> +<col class='colwidth12'> +<col class='colwidth69'> +<col class='colwidth18'> +</colgroup> + <tr> + <td class='c015'><a id='c_2.26'></a><a href='#corr2.26'>2.26</a></td> + <td class='c015'>of militant Protestan[t]ism</td> + <td class='c018'>Inserted.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c015'><a id='c_71.15'></a><a href='#corr71.15'>71.15</a></td> + <td class='c015'>the hand of [his/her] elder sister</td> + <td class='c018'>Replaced.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c015'><a id='c_140.15'></a><a href='#corr140.15'>140.15</a></td> + <td class='c015'>the Round Tow[n/er] at Windsor Castle</td> + <td class='c018'>Replaced.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c015'><a id='c_188.4'></a><a href='#corr188.4'>188.4</a></td> + <td class='c015'>in her <i>[ç/c]i-devant</i> lover</td> + <td class='c018'>Replaced.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c015'><a id='c_319.19'></a><a href='#corr319.19'>319.19</a></td> + <td class='c015'>at the Court of St. James.[’]</td> + <td class='c018'>Removed,</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c015'><a id='c_371.159.2'></a><a href='#corr371.159.2'>371.159.2</a></td> + <td class='c015'>May 27th, 1[9/7]02</td> + <td class='c018'>Replaced.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c015'><a id='c_401.18'></a><a href='#corr401.18'>401.18</a></td> + <td class='c015'>no warrant for either as[s]umption;</td> + <td class='c018'>Inserted.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c015'><a id='c_460.10'></a><a href='#corr460.10'>460.10</a></td> + <td class='c015'>je soufri[ar/ra]ÿ pour vous</td> + <td class='c018'>Transposed.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c015'><a id='c_461.16'></a><a href='#corr461.16'>461.16</a></td> + <td class='c015'>des remaide indi[ng/gn]e d’un honest homme</td> + <td class='c018'>Transposed.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c015'><a id='c_466.15'></a><a href='#corr466.15'>466.15</a></td> + <td class='c015'>comme je pouraÿ postai[ts/st]re recevoir</td> + <td class='c018'>Transposed.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c015'><a id='c_503.30'></a><a href='#corr503.30'>503.30</a></td> + <td class='c015'>for its sake[.]</td> + <td class='c018'>Added,</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c015'><a id='c_522.6'></a><a href='#corr522.6'>522.6</a></td> + <td class='c015'>obedient servant’ser[vant].<a href='#f1' class='c008'><sup>[1]</sup></a></td> + <td class='c018'>Removed, spurious.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c015'><a id='c_540.1.1'></a><a href='#corr540.1.1'>540.1.1</a></td> + <td class='c015'>in the immediate vi[nc/cin]ity</td> + <td class='c018'>Replaced.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c015'><a id='c_563.14'></a><a href='#corr563.14'>563.14</a></td> + <td class='c015'>40[1/4] <i>note</i></td> + <td class='c018'>Replaced.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77237 ***</div> + </body> + <!-- created with ppgen.py 3.57e on 2025-11-15 14:18:48 GMT --> +</html> diff --git a/77237-h/images/cover.jpg b/77237-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..88ea35a --- /dev/null +++ b/77237-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c72794 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..75acfde --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for eBook #77237 +(https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77237) |
