Volume 2 > Half-Volume 4

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Europe had scarcely seen even in the worst days of
the Roman empire. In the course of his travels he
had picked up a certain physician, Struensee, whom
he ennobled and appointed to the first place in the
government; and so implicitly did he put trust in
his favourite, that every measure, whether of court
or kingdom, was wholly regulated by the parvenu
Count Struensee. It is easy to imagine with what
feelings both nobles and people regarded his eleva-
tion; but as if their united dislike had been insuffi-
cient for the ruin of the luckless stranger, Christian
himself aggravated their hatred of the man of his
choice by the incredible fooleries in which it was
his pleasure to indulge. Among these, one of his
royal pastimes was to go down on all fours, and play
the part of a horse!�and not content to top his part
by gambolling and neighing, he must needs also
complete the resemblance by receiving a due portion
of the kicks and cuffs too often bestowed upon the
nobler animal which he aspired to imitate. Count
Brandt, the friend of Struensee, who was compelled
to play the part of the surly groom on this occasion,
by being threatened with the punishment of a traitor
if he disobeyed, was afterwards beheaded for his
compliance. Such was the husband of Matilda!
But this was not the utmost of her calamity; for an
ambitious and unprincipled queen-mother was also
dominant in the court of Copenhagen; one who had
studiously perverted poor Christian both in mind
and body from infancy, that she might pave the way
for the succession of her son, Prince Frederick, and
was now bent upon the ruin of Matilda, as one by
whom her aims were likely to be defeated. It was
by this Ate that the court was set against the young
and beautiful queen, and her husband, who really
loved her, withdrawn from her society; and when
Matilda, thus forsaken, was obliged in self-defence
to form a coalition with the powerful minister, it
was foully insinuated that their meetings were for
the purpose of adulterous intercourse. She was thus
traduced, that she might be the more easily and
effectually destroyed. Even the high talents which
Struensee undoubtedly possessed, and his superior
accomplishments and manners, were quoted to con-
firm the accusation. To seize the queen and minister
was now the aim of their enemies; but although
several schemes were laid for the purpose, they were
always defeated by accident. At length a masked ball
was given one night at the palace; and amidst the rest
and security that usually follow a revel, the conspi-
rators entered the king's bed-chamber, and by fright-
ening him with the report of a conspiracy against his
life, obtained from him an order for the instant arrest
of the queen, Count Struensee, and their followers.
Struensee and Brandt were seized in their beds, and
hurried off to the citadel of Copenhagen; Matilda,
in her night-dress, was apprehended in her own bed-
chamber, and after an agonizing struggle to gain
access to the king, which was prevented by the
guards with their crossed muskets, was incarcerated
in the fortress of Cronenburg. On the following
morning the streets of Copenhagen rang with huzzas
of mob loyalty, and in the evening they were lighted
with an illumination. The people were taught that
the queen was not only an adulteress, but had at-
tempted to poison her husband; and while the
churches were filled with thanksgiving for the pre-
servation of such a valuable sovereign, it was easy
for the senate, without waiting the ceremony of trial,
to declare her guilty of both charges.
It was now the season for Colonel Keith to despise
etiquette, and dare the utmost. Hitherto he had
seen and lamented the situation of his sovereign's
sister; but the jealousy with which the proceedings
of the court were guarded had prevented his inter-
ference, and the astounding explosion had taken him,
as it did every one else but the queen-mother and
her agents, at unawares. Alone, amidst an excited
and infuriated capital, he forced his way into the
council where the fate of the queen was at issue, and
denounced war against Denmark if a single hair of
her head was touched. The British fleet was to be
immediately summoned to Copenhagen, and the
bombardment of the capital commenced. It was an
act worthy of the proudest days of Rome, when her
ambassador drew a line upon the sand, and com-
manded the king of Egypt not to cross it until he
had decided whether he would have peace or war.
After having delivered this stern declaration before
the council, upon whom it fell like a thunderbolt,
Keith despatched a messenger to his own court with
an account of the proceedings, and a request for
further orders, and till these should arrive he locked
up himself and his household, and remained for four
weeks in a state of quarantine, or rather of siege and
defiance. At the end of that time the expected
packet arrived, and on eagerly opening it the insignia
of the order of the Bath fell at his feet. It had been
inclosed by the king's own hands, to mark his sense
of Sir Robert's heroic conduct, and was accompanied
with a command to invest himself forthwith, and ap-
pear at the Danish court. It was thus seen that the
ambassador's menace was no idle threat, but would
be made good, if need were, by a British armament.
Brandt and his patron Struensee were indeed tried
as traitors, and executed with revolting cruelty, having
first their right hands cut off, and afterwards their
heads. But against Matilda they dared not proceed
to the extremities they intended. After being con-
fined two months in a fortress, she was sent to the
castle of Zell, in Hanover, where she died before
her day, the broken-hearted victim of infamous accu-
sations.
After this tragic event Sir Robert was weary of
Copenhagen. During nearly a twelvemonth that he
had resided there he had never experienced anything
like kindness, and this reserve would soon, in all
likelihood, have been changed into downright rude-
ness. For was Danish pride likely to forget how he
had braved it at its height ? Fortunately he was not
subjected to the experiment; for in November, 1772,
he was appointed to hold at Vienna the situation of
British ambassador, the same office which his father
had held nearly twenty years before at the court of
Maria Theresa. Vienna appears to have been more
to Sir Robert's taste than Copenhagen, but it was
only because it was the least of two evils, for, in
other respects, the Austrian capital appears to have
been a huge compound of frivolity and dulness.
The following is his sketch of it:�"The ephemeral
fly, which is born in the morning to die at night,
might hold up the conversation of one-half of our
most brilliant aides. The play, the dance, your
horse, my coach, a pretty embroidery, or a well-
fancied lining, these are the favourite topics; upon
every one of which I am a numskull of the first water.
I never play at cards; ergo, I am not only a stupid
fellow, but a useless one." Cards, indeed, he held
in utter detestation, and could not be persuaded to
touch them, either in jest or earnest; and yet the
Viennese were such a gambling, card-playing people,
that a diplomatist could have little chance among
them unless he countenanced them in their folly. Sir
Robert, in this case, hit upon the following compro-
mise, on the ingenuity of which he valued himself
not a little: "A lady who is generally remarkably
lucky at cards, but who had lately a bad run of about
a week, complained t'other day loudly of her misfor-