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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 *** |