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 Library 
 
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 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924088049949 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
LOH'SOH' 
 
 iPJtlW.TED ■BY SEtEUDTISWOPPE JLlfD CO. 
 
 NEW-STRBBT SQUABE 
 
r 
 
 — - -'7 "^y/ 
 
 Lojidim James HogJ 8c Sons, 1861 
 
THE 
 
 EOIANOE OF DIPLOMACY: 
 
 OP 
 
 QUEEN CAEOLINA MATILDA OF DENMARK, 
 
 SISTER TO KING GEORGE THE IHIED. 
 
 itemoir, mi a Stlettion from tl^i €antspnitnct 
 (@£SaBl attb' #Hmaiar) 
 
 SIR ROBERT MURRAY OITH, K.B. 
 
 EITTOY EXTBAOBDINAET AWD MINISTBE PLENIPOTElfTIAKT AT THE 
 COUBTS 07 DBBSDEIT, COPEXHAGEIT, AND TIEmTA. 
 
 BY MRS. GILLESPIE SMYTH. 
 
 WITH FOBTBAIIS ENGRAVES ON STEEL. 
 
 Hf TWO TOLITMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: JAMES HOGG AND SONS. 
 
 HSCCCIXI.. 
 

Dedication to the First Edition. 
 
 THE COUNTESS DOWAGER OF HARDWICKE, 
 
 ONn OP THB »SW BtTflVITOBS OP 
 
 THB WOETHIEB COMMKMOHATBD IN THE rOHiOWING PAGES; 
 
 EEQABDED THBOL'GH LIFE WITH PABENTAL PBBDILECTIOlf DT THEIB STTBJECT, 
 
 AND WIXH FILIAL VENEBATION' BT THBIB ESITOB; 
 
 THET ABB, WITH BWHANCED GBATITUDE POE THE KIND PEBMISBIOK 
 
 APP£CIIOirATEI.T IKSCBIBES. 
 
vu 
 
 PREFACE TO THE flEST EDITION. 
 
 The motives which have givefl hirth to the fol- 
 lowing publication, are such, as it is believed may 
 enlist the sympathies, if not challenge the appro- 
 bation, of the reader. There are, in the annals 
 of every family,, any of whose members have 
 filled conspicuous stations in the public service 
 — 'Some privileged epochs round which its own 
 memories have been fondly taught to congregate, 
 and which it would fain rescue from oblivion in 
 those of others. Such, during the long diplo- 
 matic career of Sir Eobert Murray Keith, was 
 the episode of the revolution in Denmark in 
 1772; and his spirited rescue, as representative 
 of Gfreat Britain, of a " daughter of England," 
 and the sister of his sovereign, from a fate the 
 least disastrous probable issue of which was im- 
 prisonment for life in a northern fortress. 
 
 The omission — ^probably from prudential mo- 
 tives — of this most critical and important inter- 
 position, in a foreign work of fiction, recently 
 translated, and introduced to the British public 
 
 A 4 
 
viii PBEFACB TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 under the attractive title of the " Queen of Den- 
 mark,"* (an omission which the present editor may 
 be pardoned for ranking with that of the ." part 
 of Hamlet," from another Danish tragedy) natu- 
 rally led to a search into those family archives 
 where reposed the familiar letters and official 
 correspondence penned during the events them- 
 selves, and so honourable alike to the character, 
 the feelings, and the fame of him by whom they 
 were written and received.f 
 
 To weave these valuable and hitherto inedited 
 documents into a slight record of the charms, the 
 sorrows, and the injuries of the British Princess, 
 to whom (in his own striking words) it was a 
 " proud commencement for the Envoy's chivalry 
 to convey, through the vaulted entrance of Ham- 
 let's castlef , the welcome tidings of fraternal affec- 
 
 » The Danish title of the work is " Old EeooUeetions ; " that 
 of the German translation, " Christiaa the Seventh and his 
 Court." As a novel, it possesses eonsiderahle interest. 
 
 t On a search being instituted (by the kind permission of the 
 Earl of Haidwicke) in those rich repositories of historical and 
 political materials, to which his great ancestor, and that, able 
 negotiator. Sir Joseph Yorke, (afterwards Lord Dover,) so 
 largely contributed, and to irhioh the despatches of Sir E. M. 
 Keith were, by his surviving relatives, appropriately added — 
 though the strictly ofSeial details of the Danish affair were 
 found to haVe been (naturally enough, from the peculiar delicacy 
 of their subject) withdrawn ; yet enough remained to lend ample 
 testimony to the wrongs of the princess, and the energy of her 
 diplomatic defender. 
 
 t That of Cronenbourg, near Elsinore, a noble gothic fortress, 
 the supposed site of Shakspeare's drama, and where a " deeper 
 
PEEFACE TO THE tIEST EDITION. ix 
 
 tion and liberty restored,"' — was felt to b© alike a 
 duty and a pleasure. To this, tke following sheets 
 would have been exclusively limited, had not the 
 reputation of Sir R. M. Keith for political saga- 
 city, on the one hand, and wit and bonhommie on 
 the other, suggested, on high literary authorities, 
 the propriety of a more extensive selection from 
 his twenty years' correspondence, while a resident 
 at other foreign courts, than had been originally 
 designed. 
 
 This enlarged plan, resulting in a copious 
 mMange of the grave and the gay, unique perhaps 
 in diplomatic life, and probably, on that account, 
 more likely to find acceptance ^th the general 
 reader, has seemed to justify, if not to render 
 necessary, a more detailed account of the writer's 
 family than would have served to introduce the 
 letters from Denmark; as well as a review of 
 the circumstances by which his character was 
 fashioned, and its rare combination of soldier 
 frankness, and courtier-like refinement, of poli- 
 tical acumen, and domestic playfulness, developed 
 and matured. 
 
 To the merely political reader, some apology 
 may .appear necessary for the paucity of what the 
 sated Envoy so often turns from with disgust, as 
 
 tragedy " (to quote a, distinguished Danisli ■writer) " must 
 awalcen the sympathies of Englishmen, since Carolina Matilda was 
 confined there, the Tictim of a foul and murderous court intrigue." 
 
I PKEFACE TO THE FIEST EDITION. 
 
 the- " tools of hia trade" viz., diplomiatic details, 
 during tie" long yeai-s interveniag between 1772 
 and 1789. But' besides' the obsoleteness at tbfe 
 day, a-nd- comparative unimportance in European 
 policy, of the events occurring at Vienna during 
 that long lull preceding an unexampled tempest, 
 they have been ainply detailed,, with copious refe- 
 •rences almost at every page to the valuable dis- 
 patches of Sir E. M. Keith, by Archdeacon Coxe; . 
 so that to take up the political thread where he 
 left it, previously to the singular and hitherto' in- 
 edited negotiations at the Congress of Sistovo in 
 1791, has been not only the Editor's most eKgible, 
 but sole possible course. 
 
XI 
 
 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 Since the publicatibn (in 1849) of the " Memoirs 
 and Correspondence of Sir Eoberti Murray Keith," 
 during his nearly thirty years' sojourn as AmhSa- 
 sador at the Courts of Copenhagen and Vienna, it 
 has been suggested by private friendsy as well as 
 competent literary authorities, that by elimina- 
 tii% from the two bulky volumes' their now, per- 
 haps, somewhat obsolete official details,' their 
 biographical portion, embracing an a,uthentic and 
 interesting memoir of the unfortunate Queen 
 Carolina' Matilda of Denmark, as well as the 
 ha-pTpymilcmgeof " wit' and wisdom'' by which the 
 familiar correspondence is characterised, might be 
 rendered available to a larger class of general 
 readers than a work of higher pretensions, and' of 
 a presumed diplomatic character, can usually 
 command ; though, in its latter aspect, it had the 
 good fortune to meet with a most favourable 
 reception^ and to be placed on the tables of our 
 chief European Embassies as a model for incipient 
 negoeiators, and a proof that skill in diplomacy 
 
xii PEEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 does not necessarily imply dissimulation, and that, 
 in public as well as private transactions, " honesty 
 is," after all, " the truest policy." 
 
 That such was during the British Envoy's long 
 sojourn at the Court of Vienna, its characteristic 
 feature, may be best inferred from the remark 
 made at his own table, before a large assembly, 
 by that astute Prime Minister, Prince Kaunitz. 
 On some assertiop of Sir Eobert Murray Keith's 
 having excited in a person present a momentary 
 incredulity, the Premier (of whom it has been 
 alleged that he considered language as given to 
 men to conceal their thoughts, and who, when 
 Sir Eobert complained to him that his secret 
 scribes not only stole his despatches, but wfere 
 barefaced enough to send him their own copies 
 instead, unblushingly shrugged his shoulders and 
 called th^m " bungling blockheads"}, thus ad- 
 dressed the sceptic : — " Were you not. Sir, a 
 stranger in Vienna, you would know that when 
 Keith assprts nobody presumes to doubt !" » 
 
 How much of this straightforward frankness was 
 due to the greater portion of the Envoy's life 
 having been passed not in courts but in camps, 
 may be matter for conjecture. Diplomacy was 
 not then, as has since been the case, a distinct 
 profession, through whose subordinate grades At- 
 taches ripen into Charges d'affaires, and Secreta- 
 ries of Legation expa,nd into Envoys Extraordinary 
 
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. XUl 
 
 and Plenipos. The same compendious requisites of 
 individual energy and recognised fitness, wliicli, in 
 ■ Sir E. M. Keith's earlier career, transformed, under 
 the discriminating influence of the great Lord 
 Chatham, the dishanded captain in a foreign ser- 
 vice, into the successful commander of the nohle 
 corps distinguished as " Keith's Highlanders" in 
 the Seven Years' War, sufficed, when that war was 
 over and its Colonel's " occupation," as such, 
 was " gone" — ^to convert him, under the same 
 enlightened patronage, into the representative of 
 British honour and majesty at the Court of 
 Saxony, for which his late sSjour in Germany, 
 and perfect acquaintance with its language and 
 that of France peculiarly qualified him; and 
 next, at the far more important, but less con- 
 genial post of Minister to Denmark. 
 
 It was not often, even in days when the annals 
 of our own and foreign courts furnished materials 
 for Eomance, not likely again to occur, that she 
 and her duller sister Diplomacy entered into an 
 alliance so intimate and singular, as that which 
 linked together the history of the joint subjects 
 of the following memoir — one of the most beauti- 
 ful and imfortunate of British princesses — and 
 the gallant chivalrous Minister by whose interpo- 
 sition the fate designed for her by her enemies 
 was happily averted, and the Grordian knot of 
 their well-nigh fatal intrigues far more promptly 
 
XIV PREFACE TO THE SECOHB EDITION. 
 
 and efficiently cjit ,}}j an uncompromising sol- 
 dier's swo^'d, than it <!ould h.aye been, in those 
 days of tardy communication especially, by offi- 
 qial remonstrances. 
 
 The days of soldiers of fprtune, and extempore 
 ambjassadors, and incarcerated .princesses, are 
 probably for eyer ^.t an end. But it may be 
 amusiag, as yrell as instructive, to the grand.- 
 chUdren.of tho^e. among whom they. respectively 
 flourished, to learn how such things, were 
 managed a .pentury or more .ago. 
 
XV 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OP 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 COBBESPONDENCE EEOM ST. PETEBSBUBGH, mge 
 VIENNA, «fc 
 
 MEMOIB OP CABOLINA MATEEDA, QUEEN OF 
 
 DENMABK 14 
 
 EAMTLIAB COBBESPONDENCE WITH VABIOUS 
 DISTINGUISHED PEBSONS .... 38 
 
 INDEX TO THE LBTTEES. 
 
 BASBINQTON, I.OBD, TO ItlB. KEITH .... 36, 48 
 
 BBAS8HAW, MR., TO SIB B. M. KEITH 398, 40S, 407, 415,416, 
 
 419, 422, 424, 427, 432 
 
 CAmFBELIr, LOBD PBEDEBICK, TO SIB B. U. KEITH . . 428 
 CABOLINA lUATILDA, QUEEN OF DENSIABE, HEHOIBS OF. 148 382 
 
 LINES ■WEITTHN BY, AT SEA . . 325 
 
 TO HEE SISTEB 349 
 
XVI 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 CZAETOEISKI, PEINCE, TO ME. KEITH .... 39 
 
 rEEDOTAUD OF BEUNSWICK, PEINCE, LINES ON . . 80 
 
 FEEDEEICIC, EINQ OF PEUSSIA, TO ME. £EITH (fATHEE OF 
 
 sm E. M. Keith) 
 
 KAXINITZ, COUNT DE, TO ME. KEITH 
 KEITH, ADMIEAI,, TO HIS SISTEE 
 KEITH, MISS ANNE, TO Sm E. M. KEITH 
 TO LOED SUFFOLK 
 
 KEITH, ME., TO THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE 
 ' COUNT DE KAUNITZ 
 
 EAEL OP BUTE . 
 
 ii EAEL OF HOLDEENESSE 
 
 KING OF PEUSSIA 
 
 22, 22, 25 
 9 
 106 
 73 
 S8 
 
 1 
 
 16, 19 
 
 14 
 
 24 
 
 — ; ME. GEENTILLE . . . . . .27 
 
 KEITH, SIE E. M., TO HIS SISTEE, MISS AGNES KEITH 57, 76, 78 
 
 . MISS ANNE KEITH 102, 111, 116, 128, 274, 312 
 
 332, 389, 402, 466 
 
 StB ALEXANDEE DICK ... 63 
 
 HIS FATHEE 81, 87, 108, 120, 136, 223, 225, 
 
 232, 236, 237, 268, 307, 308 
 
 HENET DEUMMOHD, ESO. . . 115, 133 
 
 _ LADY DALETMPLE .... 95 
 
 THE EAEL OF SUFFOLK . . . 328 
 
 MB. BEADSHAW . 385, 394, 399, 413, 419, 
 
 437, 442, 444, 445, 447, 461, 
 
 463, 465, 468, 464, 469, 473, 
 
 476, 477, 484 
 
 LICHTENSTEIN, PEINOESS, TO ME. KEITH .... 45 
 
 MUNICH, FIELD-MAESHAL, TO ME. KEITH .... 42 
 
 O'CAEEOLL, -WILLIAM, ESQ., TO H. DEUMMOND, ESQ. . . 99 
 
 PITT, ME., TO ME. KEITH ggv 
 
CONTENTS. xvii 
 
 PAGE 
 QTJEENSBEBEY, THE DtJKE OP, TO SIB ALEXANDER DIOK, 
 
 BAET / ' . .61 
 
 SUFFOI/E, 1XE EAEL OF, TO HISS ANNE XEITU . 62 
 
 B. KEITH, ESQ. . . 266 
 
 — • sm B. M. KEITH 310, 327, 493 
 
 WOOD, MB., TO ME. KEITH ♦ ... 69 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
XIX 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 IN VOLUME I. 
 
 POETBAIT OF CAEOLINA MATILDA, QUEEN 
 
 OF DENMARK Frontispiece. 
 
 {From the Original at Windsor.) 
 
 PORTEAIT OF MKS. ANNE MUEEAY KEITH, the 
 " Sister Anne " of th%. Letters, and the original of the 
 Mrs. Bethiine Baliol, in Sir Walter Scott's " Chronicles 
 of the Canongate " Page 52 
 
 {From a Miniature by Mr. Mee, in the possession of the Editor.) 
 
 m VOLUME n. 
 
 POETEAIT OF SIR EGBERT MTJEEAY KEITH, 
 
 K.B. ........ Frontispiece. 
 
 POETEAIT OF MARIA-THEEESA, EMPEESS 
 
 OF AFSTEIA Page 122 
 
 [This Portrait is taken &om a, valuable Miniature, in the 
 Editor's possession, which Maria-Theresa expressly sat for, and 
 presented to Sir Eobert Murray Keith's father (Amhassador to 
 the Courts of Vienna and St. Petersburg), at a time when, on 
 account of a rupture with England, she could not offiaiaUy grant 
 him the usual audience of leave, and customary snuff-box 
 picture. The Miniature represents her in advanced life, and in 
 the widow's dress, which she never laid aside, however unbecom- 
 ing and peculiar.] 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 MEMOIE AKD COEKESPONDENCE 
 
 SIE EOBEET MTJREAT KEITH, KB. 
 
 " The Keiths, of Craig, in Kincardineshire," says 
 that accurate antiquary and genealogist. Sir Wal- 
 ter Scott (whose well-known friendship for a 
 member of the family led him, in one of the 
 later editions of his novels, to give this sketch of 
 its history), " descended from John Keith, fourth 
 son of William, second Earl Marischal, who got 
 irom his father, about the year 1480, the lands of 
 Craig, and part of Grarvock, in that county. 
 
 " Colonel Keith, of Craig, the seventh in dj3- 
 scent from John*, had, by his wife Agnes, daugh- 
 ter of Sir Eobert Murray, of Murray's Hall, one 
 son, Eobert Keith, ambassador to the Courts of 
 Vienna and Petersburgh, who died in Edinburgh 
 
 * And twentj-tliird in the direct male line from their common 
 ancestor. 
 
 VOL. I. B 
 
2 THE EOMAKCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 in 1774. He married Margaret, second daughter 
 of Sir William Cunningham, of Caprington, by 
 Janet, only child and heiress of Sir James Dick, 
 of Prestonfield* ; and among other children of 
 the marriage were the late well-known diplo- 
 matist. Sir Eobert Murray Keith, K,B., a general 
 in the. army, and twenty years the representative 
 of Great Britain at the Court of Vienna; Sir 
 Basil Keith, who. died in 1777, governor of the 
 Island of Jamaica ; and my late excellent friend, 
 Mrs. Anne Murray Keith, whose interesting cha- 
 racter, in its leading points, I may now confess, 
 the lady termed Mrs. Bethune Baliolf was de- 
 signed to shadow out, and whose death, occurring 
 in 1818, had saddened a wide circle much attached 
 to her, as well for her genuine virtue and amiable 
 qualities of disposition as for the extent of infor- 
 liiation which she. possessed, and the delightful 
 manner in which she used to communicate it." 
 
 If ever these endowments, and the kmdred 
 qualities of unbending integrity and uprightness 
 in public, and private life, were hereditary, their 
 possession by the brothers and sister .$, thus 
 
 * Both 'baionetoies are now worthily represented by Sir 
 ■VKUiato Keith 'Dick Cunnyagham, of Prestonfield, near Edin- 
 tergh. 
 t In the novel of the " Chronicles of the Canongate." 
 t At a future and more appropriate period, along with an 
 interesting acknowledgment of his Kterary obligations to one 
 whom he affectionately designates " a late dear friend of 
 mine," will be given the beautiful letter, written immediately 
 aftOT lier decease, in which her character is more fuUy delineated 
 by one so qualified for the task. 
 
THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 3 
 
 wortliily Kjommemorated, may be traced to the 
 precept and example of a father who seems to 
 have merited and enjoyed, in no ordinary degree, 
 the affectionate esteem of the generation among 
 whom he lived. 
 
 His distinguished cousin and contemporary. 
 Earl Marischal, the friend of the great Frederick 
 of Prussia, and brother to the celebrated Marshal 
 Keith, thus characterises him in a billet addressed 
 to Sir Eobert Murray Keith : — 
 
 " Potzdam, Dec. 26th, 1768. 
 " I am obliged to you for letting me know of 
 your nomination to the Court of Dresden ; for it 
 gives me great pleasure, from the particular cout 
 cem I take in what regards you, my friendship 
 for your father, and the memory of your grand- 
 father, who had few equals. You are a good 
 race — I wish you would continue it.'' 
 
 If Sir Eobert Murray Keith was far from being 
 the first soldier of his ancient race, neither was 
 'he its first diplomatist. The influential posts of 
 Minister at the Courts of Vienna and Petersburgh 
 had been, Tvith the same disregard for special 
 training, filled for ten or twelve years previously 
 by his accomplished father ; whom the exigencies 
 of a family of eleven children and a small estate 
 had induced to accompany his friend, the great 
 .Earl of Stair, when commander of the allied 
 armies in Flanders, as secretary to the forces ; the 
 duties of which important office he ably fulfilled, 
 while with rare disinterestedness he declined 
 
 B 2 
 
4 THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 availing himself of the boundless opportunities it 
 afforded of acquiring wealth.* 
 
 This union of ability and integrity found its 
 more appropriate reward in Mr. Keith's appoint- 
 ment as Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, — 
 a first step in diplomacy quickly followed, on the 
 signing of preliminaries, to which it was thought 
 he had successfully contributed, by his nomi- 
 nation to the embassy at Vienna; with which 
 mission to the court of one of the most powerful 
 as well as accomplished of her sex, the Empress- 
 Queen Maria Theresa, commenced that connec- 
 tion with female sovereigns for which the urban- 
 ity of the father and chivalrous gallantry of the 
 son seem specially to have fitted both. 
 
 This " envied post," characterised, in a letter of 
 congratulation from an eminent statesman to Mr. 
 Keith, as " certainly one of the most brilliant," 
 partook perhaps even more of the nature of a 
 " fiery ordeal" ascribed to it by a brother diplo- 
 matist; for it was at a moment of peculiar 
 irritation and dissatisfaction with England, on the 
 part of "the politically haughty and inflexible, 
 though personally amiable. Empress, that Mr! 
 Keith entered on his extremely delicate mission. 
 
 » The offer, couched in flattering terms, and with little 
 doubt apparently of its ready acceptance, of sharing with him 
 (even without the use of his name) the contract for supplying 
 the allied armies then entering Germany, is still extant, in 
 the writing of its liberal proposer, Sir Abraham Hume. A sHp 
 of paper affixed to it simply notes (for the sole information of 
 his own famUy) that it was declined by Mr. Keith, as unsuitable 
 to the position he occupied in the public service, 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 5 
 
 " The ill-humour of the Court of Vienna," says 
 Mr, Goxe, in his History of the House of Austria 
 (the fifth volume of which is chiefly based on the 
 official despatches of Mr. Keith, and his son and 
 successor. Sir E. M. Keith), " had been apparent 
 during the whole progress of the negotiations, so 
 much so that when the British envoy requested 
 her concurrence, the high-spirited princess inter- 
 rupted him, and exclaimed with great emotion, 'I 
 already know too much of that business, and will 
 leave that part of your commission to be settled 
 between you and my ministers;' and on Mr. 
 Keith requesting an audience to offer his con- 
 gratulations on the return of a peace, with which, 
 though it terminated a long and bloody war, at 
 whose commencement her very existence had 
 been (and perhaps, but for the assistance of 
 Great Britain, seriously) menaced, and whose close 
 left her in possession of nearly the whole of her 
 inheritance, she was so far from being satisfied, 
 that her minister was directed to observe that 
 compliments of condolence were more proper 
 than those of congratulation, and insinuated that 
 the British envoy would oblige his mistress by 
 sparing her a conversation which would be highly 
 disagreeable to her, and no less unpleasing to 
 him." 
 
 There cannot perhaps be a more conclusive 
 proof of the mild, conciliatory character for 
 which Mr. Keith was so eminently distinguished, 
 as well as of its^ prompt effect in disarming hosti- 
 lity of so decided a description, than is contained 
 
 B 3 
 
6 THE EOMANCB OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 in the following letter from the British Minister 
 to the then premier, the Duke of Newcastle, — too 
 graphic a picture of the happier intercourse which 
 for nine long years subsisted between the writer 
 and the illustrious persons engaged, not to be 
 given almost entire, especially as it is not one of 
 those quoted by Archdeacon Coxe. 
 
 " It is with great satisfaction that I can now 
 acquaint your Grrace that the information I 
 transmitted by the messenger of the good dis- 
 position of this Court was well founded ; for last 
 night, at the drawing-room, at Schonbriin, the 
 Empress-Queen accosted me in the most gracious 
 manner. Her Majesty said, though the place 
 was public, and the company very numerous, 
 she could not let slip the occasion of telling me 
 that she was perfectly well satisfied with the sub- 
 stance of the despatches I had lately received; 
 that she was very sensible of these last marks 
 of his Majesty's friendship. . . . She said 
 she had always had, and ever should have, the 
 greatest disposition to live in the most perfect 
 harmony and concert with his Majesty; and she 
 added, smiling,, that she hoped things were now 
 in such a situation between us, that she should 
 not need to fear any more bemg scolded. 
 
 "I answered that what her Majesty had now 
 said made me very happy, as it put it in my 
 power to send the King my master the news in 
 the world that would be most pleasing to him ; 
 and I said (smiling as her Majesty "had done) 
 that on our side we had never had any inclina- 
 
THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 7 
 
 tion to scold ; and that for the future there would 
 be no more occasion for anything of the kind; 
 and that nothing could contribute more to keep 
 up this good understanding than to forget any 
 little disputes which might have happened. That 
 for my part I had always considered them only as 
 ' Lovers' Quarrels,^ which commonly ended in a 
 thorough reconciliation ; and that, upon this occa- 
 sion, the event had justified my opinion. 
 
 " The Empress then said, in the same strain, 
 that she was willing to look upon them in that 
 light ; that she had ever wished, above all things, 
 to live well with his Majesty, whom she con- 
 sidered as her oldest and best friend; and 
 that she expected the King would have equal 
 consideration for her, as she was sure that she 
 deserved his confidence as much at least as any 
 of his Tiew friends. I replied that though I 
 covild not help remarking that the insinuation 
 her Majesty had dropped about * new friends ' 
 was a little unjust, yet I owned it gave me 
 pleasure, as I thought jealousy a mark of love. 
 The Empress answered that she could not deny 
 being a little jealous, and that it proceeded from 
 the inclination she had always had to love us. 
 'Mais,' dit-elle, 'je suis dame, et eomme telle 
 je veux qu'on me fosse les ava/nces.' 
 
 " After I had left the Empress the Emperor did 
 me the honour to desire I would go with him into 
 the garden ; and when we were there his Majesty 
 began the conversation in the most amiable man- 
 ner in the world. He said I might assure the 
 
 B 4 
 
8 THE EOMANCB OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 Kiag my master that, however defective they 
 might be now and then in forms, they were 
 'hormites gens an fond,^ and that we should 
 always find them so ; that they were very sensible 
 of his Majesty's friendship on all occasions, and 
 should never fail on their side in making suitable 
 returns," '&c. 
 
 In spite of a revulsion of feeling on the part 
 of Maria Theresa, so creditable to the conciliatory 
 powers of Mr. Keith, fresh subjects of aigreur and 
 misunderstanding continually arose. Yet it is 
 an additional proof of the homage ultimately ren- 
 ' dered by one lofty and upright mind to similar 
 qualities in another, that Maria Theresa, not- 
 withstanding Mr. Keith's residence at her court 
 was frequently embittered by the necessity of 
 communicating, in terms "softened by the na- 
 tural courtesy and urbanity of the ambassador," 
 arrogant and peremptory despatches S^om the 
 British Court, entertained a peculiar and dis- 
 tinguished regard for the person of the English 
 minister; which she testified on all occasions, 
 during his nine years of sojourn, and of which, 
 -on his departure (though it took place under the 
 painful circumstances of a rupture with his court) 
 substantial tokens have descended to posterity, in 
 the shape of a portrait, for which she personally 
 and specially sat, and of splendid dresses, em- 
 broidered under her own directions by the nuns 
 of the convent she patronised, as presents to the 
 ambassador's three daughters. 
 :. When the avowed coalition between Austria 
 
THE EOMANCB OF DIPLOMACY. 9 
 
 and France led to the recall from London of the 
 Austrian minister, and as a necessary consequence 
 the departure from Vienna of the British resident 
 there, his expressed regrets, when applying for his 
 passports to his personal friend, though political 
 opponent. Prince Kaunitz, that circumstances pre- 
 cluded his having a personal interview with the 
 Empress, drew forth the following courteous 
 reply ; — 
 
 "You will herewith receive the passports you 
 have requested. I have the satisfaction to be 
 able to assure you at the same time that her 
 Majesty renders to the manner in which you have 
 acquitted yourself of your duties during the 
 entire duration of your ministry at this Coiirt, 
 all the justice which is due to it; and that she 
 will ever recall the remembrance of it with plea- 
 sure. I have the orders to make this known to 
 you, and I fulfil them with all the pleasure which 
 I shall at all times experience, in having the 
 opportunity of proving to you the sincere consi- 
 deration with which I have the honour to be, 
 
 " KiTJNITZ." 
 
 It is pleasing to think that these courtly ex- 
 pressions were not, either in the sovereign or her 
 distinguished minister, mere words of idle com- 
 pliment. Ten years after, when Sir E. M. Keith 
 paid a visit to Vienna, on his way to CopenJiagen, 
 the Empress-Queen and her whole family testified 
 the liveliest interest in all that regarded hia 
 " worthy father ;" and Prince Kaunitz, albeit little 
 
10 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 wont to sliow courtesy to any one, called for a 
 bumper to the health of his "worthy and amiahle 
 friend, Old Keith." 
 
 However undesirable might be, in comparison 
 of the state of things above described, the distant 
 and then semi-barbarous Court of Petersburgh, 
 the immediate transfer thither of the services of 
 Mr. Keith affords a proof that they were suffi-. 
 ciently appreciated by the government at home- 
 to be put in instant requisition. His public 
 transactions in that remote sphere would be too 
 far removed by time and distance to be generally 
 interesting, had they not become, by circum- 
 stances, involved in the fate of some of the 
 greatest as well as most unfortunate of its sove- 
 reigns. He arrived at Petersburgh in March 
 1758, and his very first despatch notifies the arrest 
 and disgrace of the great Chancellor Bestucheff» 
 and other officers of the court. Matters were not 
 for some days in train for him to obtain even his 
 audience of the ■ Empress. When he did so, 
 the contrast between the stiff ceremonial of the, 
 northern court, the previous discourse "he was 
 ■desired to prepare," and the answer, by proxy, 
 returned to it according to usage by the sove- 
 reign, must have formed a painful contrast to 
 his many amicable conversations, and even occa- 
 sional "political quarrels" (as she afterwards 
 playfully styled them to his son), with the accom- 
 plished Maria Theresa. " I made m,y bows and 
 retired," he says, " without a word having passed 
 
THE EOMANCE 01' DIPLOMACY. 11 
 
 on either side, which I am informed is the eti- 
 quette of this court." 
 
 Two months after, matters in this respect were 
 so far improved that Mr. Keith writes: "On 
 Sunday evening there was an appartement at 
 court, when the Empress * appeared for the first 
 time since I have been at Petersburgh ; and her 
 Majesty, after having talked to the Grand Duke 
 and Duchess, was pleased to come up to me, and 
 entertained me for some time in a very gracious 
 manner. Her Majesty appeared in perfect health, 
 and there was no mark left of the fluxion in the 
 eye which had so long prevented her from appear- 
 ing in public. She stood a good while by the 
 Grand Duchess's chair, who was at play, and had 
 a good deal of chat with her, in a cheerful and 
 cordial way." 
 
 This renewed cordiality, so gladly remarked by 
 the British envoy, towards the afterwards cele- 
 brated Catherine the Second, as well as the whole 
 of his correspondence, shows him, so far from 
 being inimical to her — as was insinuated, and by 
 herself partly believed — to have been, with the 
 chivalry of his nation (while not unaware of her 
 indiscretions), disposed not merely to compas- 
 sionate but to assist her. Of her previous situa- 
 tion he thus writes : — 
 
 " As to the poor Grand Duchess, she has been 
 
 * Of this Empress (EKzatetli) Coxe says that she displayed 
 a motley mixture of the weakness, devotion, and voluptuousness 
 which had heen the grand characteristics of her life. 
 
,12 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 all along in great distress. Ill "with the Empress, 
 and still worse with the Grand Duke, she received 
 the other day a very sensible mortification, one of 
 her favourite bedchamber women having been 
 taken from her and put tinder arrest. This, I 
 hear, occasioned an interview between the Empress 
 and the Duchess, about four days ago, in whichj 
 after some sharp reproofs on one side, and expos- 
 tulations on the other, her imperial highness fell 
 at the Empress's -feet, and told her that since she 
 had been so unfortunate as to incur her displea- 
 sure, and had thereby drawn upon herself so 
 many mortifications as, joined to family quarrels j 
 made her life a burden to her, she had but one 
 favour to ask, viz. that her Majesty would allow 
 her to retire out of Eussia, and pass the rest of 
 her life with her mother; assuring her at the 
 same time that if her Majesty should think it 
 for the interest of the empire that the Grrand 
 Duke should take another wife, neither she nor 
 any of her family would make the smallest objec- 
 tion to it. The Empress, they say, was greatly 
 affected with this discourse, and talked with much 
 more softness than before to the Grand Duchess. 
 It is hoped that a reconciliation may have been 
 the consequence of that meetiug, and certaiuly 
 the generality of people wish it very sincerely, 
 the Grand Duchess having many friends among 
 those of the first rank." 
 
 It might be an amusing speculation to imagine 
 what would have been the probable consequences 
 to all parties, had the somewhat rash offer, die- 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 13 
 
 tated by wounded pride and domestic misery, 
 been accepted! As it was, within four years 
 from the date of the interview, not only was the 
 reigning Empress, then in full health and vigour, 
 consigned to the grave, but the Grand Duke, 
 afterwards Peter the Third, dethroned within a 
 year of his accession by his then submissive con- 
 sort, whose usurpation of the throne had found its 
 example and prototype in that of the very moni- 
 tress by whom the " sharp reproofs" above men- 
 tioned were administered. 
 
 Meantime the British minister, notwithstanding 
 the gracious footing on which he now stood with 
 the Empress, and the friendly intimacy to which 
 he was admitted by her Grreat Chaiicellor Woron- 
 zow, who, he says, "invited him to dine en fa- 
 miUe" — a rare event in Eussia — became disgusted 
 with his hyperborean residence, and with the 
 small opportunities it had hitherto afforded (from 
 the decided leanings of the court towards France) 
 of turning his diligence and zeal to account in the 
 service of his country. He therefore, for the se- 
 cond time, solicited his recall, in a touching letter 
 still extant, of which the concluding paragraph 
 bears a manly testimony, corroborated by all who 
 knew him, of the disinterestedness as well as de- 
 votion of his political career. 
 
 " I have one reason which inakes me hope for 
 success in my request to retire, viz, that it is the 
 first favour I ever asked for myself; for I can 
 venture to say — and I appeal for the truth of it to 
 all my secretaries of state — that, in the course of 
 
14 THE KOMAUCE OF DIPLOMACt. 
 
 twenty years that I have served the crown, I 
 never desired increase of honours or appointments ; 
 I never asked for any employment, or refused 
 any, When it was thought I could be of use to the 
 service of my royal master." 
 
 The request was, perhaps happily, again re- 
 fused, or at least evaded, as the accession of the 
 new and promising young sovereign, over whom 
 the British minister for a time exercised a bene- 
 ficial influence, opened a field for his political 
 talents in the prevention of a war with Prussia 
 (which "msignifiecmt province," many may learn 
 with surprise, Eussia at that time meditated ecm- 
 quering andretavmng' for hersdf!); Mr. Keith's 
 interposition in preventing which, secured for him 
 the present friendship and lasting gratitude of the 
 then oppressed and almost prostrate Frederick 
 the Great, from whom several highly flattering 
 notes, still extant, attest his high estimate of 
 the services rendered him by the British ambas^ 
 
 Some extracts ^rom the correspondence of the 
 latter, at this period, throw , an interesting light 
 both on the extent of the influence thus acknow- 
 ledged, and the state of semi-barbarism above 
 alluded to, into which Eussia had been hitherto 
 plunged. 
 
 ME. KEITH TO THE EAEL OP HOLDEENESSE. 
 
 " January Sth, 1761. 
 " In my letter of the 5th, I informed your lord- 
 ship of the death of the late Empress, and of the 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACX. 15 
 
 accession of the present Emperor to the throne.* 
 I am now to acquaint you that the same efvening 
 that the Empress died. Baron Le Fort, great 
 master of the ceremonies, came to iny house (as 
 he did to those of the other foreign ministers), to 
 let us know that the next morning the Emperor 
 and Empress would receive our compliments in 
 the gallery at court, sans cir&monie. I went to 
 court accordingly, and their Majesties, appearing 
 together, received us most graciously ; and we had 
 afterwards the honour of dining with them at a 
 table of an hundred covers, where everybody (not 
 excepting the Emperor and Empress) drew for 
 their 'places. But what I principally write this 
 for is to apprise your lordship that the Emperor 
 (who has always honoured me with his good 
 graces) came up to me in the circle, and told me, in 
 my ear, that he * hoped I would he pleased-with 
 him,'' as the night before he had despatched couriers 
 to the several bodies of his army, with orders not 
 to advance farther into the Prussian territory, and 
 to abstain from all hostility. 
 
 " The courier being on the point of setting out, 
 I have only time to add my compliments of con- 
 gratulation to your lordship on this happy turn of 
 affairs ; by means of which I hope the King of 
 Prussia will get happily out of the war, and his 
 Majesty be able to put an end to his particular 
 quarrel with France in a way glorious to himself, 
 and advantageous to his people." 
 
 * The unfortunate Peter the Third, the hiashand of Catherine 
 the Second. 
 
16 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 ME. KEITH TO THE EABL OF BUTE. 
 
 " Mr LOED, " January Xlfh. 
 
 " Things go on here in the same favourable 
 course aa they did when I had the honour of writ- 
 ing to your lordship; and the Emperor makes 
 no secret of his intentions of bringing about a 
 peace upon just and reasonable terms. Before 
 the Adjutant-Greneralj Godowitz, set out on his 
 mission to the King of Prussia, the Emperor was 
 pleased to send that gentleman to me, in order 
 to know if I had any particular commands for him. 
 It happened that when he called I was just gone 
 from home, to stand godfather at the christening 
 of a child of one of our merchants ; and my servants 
 having directed him into the room where all the 
 company was met, he told me, before them, that 
 he was come with a message to me from the Em- 
 peror ; upon which I took him into another room, 
 and he having delivered his message, I replied 
 that I had nothing to add to what I had said in a 
 letter to Sir A. Mitchell*, but that I could assure 
 him he would find that minister ready to serve 
 him in every shape. At taking leave, I did not 
 fail to charge him with my humble thanks to the 
 Emperor for this mark of grace and confidence. 
 
 "Your lordship may easily imagine that the 
 company was a little surprised at this extraordi- 
 nary visit, and, as there were thirty men and 
 women present, the thing could not fail of being 
 soon dispersed all over the town, and consequently 
 
 * British ambassador at Berlin, 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 17 
 
 to give occasion to much discourse and to various 
 speculations. I cannot say that I approved of all 
 the particulars of Monsieur Grodowitz's instruc- 
 tions ; but I am persuaded that in the main they 
 are such as we could -wish them. With respect to 
 the interior of the empire, it was impossible for 
 his Majesty to conduct himself more wisely, or 
 with more dignity, than he has done hitherto in 
 every step of his government ; the favours he has 
 bestowed have been, in general, upon very worthy 
 subjects, and in the most gracious manner, and^ 
 the few that have lost their places have fallen 
 in the gentlest manner. Old Count Lestock was 
 sent for from his exile the very evening of the ac- 
 cession. Count Horst, after his release, has had 
 the honour of dining with the Emperor, and had 
 a sword sent him with this message, ' That it was 
 Prussian, and that he had worn it several times.'" 
 
 But, frequent and strange as were the muta- 
 tions of favour and fortune under the despotic 
 sovereigns of Eussia, few, if any, could have 
 equalled ia strangeness and interest a scene de- 
 scribed by Mr. Keith, in a subsequent letter, of a 
 joint reception at court, after their mutual return 
 from a twenty years' exile, of two distihguished 
 political enemies, each of whom had far exceeded 
 the allotted age of man. 
 
 The career of Count Miinich is one of the 
 romances of real history. Generalissimo, under 
 the Empress Anne, of the Eussian army, he 
 fought along with the celebrated Marshal Keith, 
 
 VOL. I. c 
 
18 TEE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACT. 
 
 then in the service of Eussia, several memorable 
 campaigns against the -Turks. Prime Minister 
 under the Grand Duchess Anne, he had attained 
 to such unlimited power and glory that his un- 
 grateful benefactress is said to have hinted, that 
 being at the summit of both he could never choose 
 a better time to die. On the accession of Eliza- 
 beth he was sent to inhabit the dwelling in 
 Siberia of which his own pencil had given a 
 sketch for his predecessor, the favourite Biron, 
 -Duke of Courland. Eecalled by Peter the Third, 
 he again attained the summit of favour, though, 
 on account of his great age, not replaced at the 
 head of public affairs. These particulars- will lend 
 zest to the meeting, as described by Mr. Keith. 
 
 " The Duke of Courland, Biron, with his 
 duchess, arrived here on Tuesday night from 
 their exile. I went yesterday in the afternoon 
 to pay my respects to that prince, and to Field- 
 Marshal Miinich, who arrived the night before 
 in perfect good health, and with all his faculties 
 entire, though after an exile, or rather prison, of 
 above twenty years, during which he was allowed 
 to converse with no mortal but his own lady and 
 the few servants he had. 
 
 "Marshal Miinich was presented to the Em- 
 peror on Sunday, and in the evening the Duke of 
 Courland and he appeared together in the circle, 
 with their blue ribands, and were both treated by 
 their Majesties with great marks of distinction. 
 It was really an affecting scene to see those two 
 illustrious persons, after having survived so long 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 19 
 
 a course of misfortunes, appear again, at their 
 age, at a court where they had formerly made so 
 great a figure, and to see them — that being 
 their first interview — converse together with great 
 civility, and without any ti-ace of that jealousy 
 and animosity which had drawn all their unhap- 
 piness upon them. The Duke of Courland's sons 
 are both made major-generals, and Count Mii- 
 nich is declared _^rsi field-marshal; Prince George 
 of Holstein* having, in a very handsome manner, 
 quitted the pas to him. The Emperor, to com- 
 pliment him, gave, for the parole that evening, 
 ' Vive le premier Feldt-Marichal de Rvssie ! ' 
 The duke is in the seventy-second year of his age, 
 and Count Miinich in the seventy-ninth of his." 
 
 One or two further extracts will give curious 
 glimpses into the state of matters during the 
 halcyon early period of the new Emperor's brief 
 reign. 
 
 ME. KEITH TO THE EAEL OF BUTE. 
 
 " January, 1762. 
 "\ did not intend to give your lordship any 
 trouble by this post, but the Emperor having 
 done me the unexpected honour of a visit this 
 afternoon, I could not help apprising your lord- 
 ship of it ; and I have the pleasure, at the same 
 time, of acquainting you that his Imperial Ma- 
 
 * This iPrince was jfimsel^ siortly after, the first prisoner 
 taken on the aeeession of the Empress Catherine, imder whom, 
 the reader may be glad to learn, the venerable Count Miinich 
 enjoyed several years of favour, and lived to write at the end 
 of them a lively letter to Mr. Keith. 
 C 2 
 
20 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 jesty expressed in the strongest terms his friend- 
 ship for our royal master ; but I defer the par- 
 ticulars till I write by Collins, who is to set out 
 (by concert with the emperor) on Saturday. His 
 I. M. fixed upon that day, as he was pleased to 
 invite himself to supper at my house fox Friday 
 evening, and that perhaps he ndSght think of 
 some new orders to give me on that occasion. 
 
 " But here I must not omit apprising your 
 lordship of a most noble action of the Emperor's, 
 who, having gone, for the first time, in great state 
 to the senate on Thursday last, did there declare 
 the nobility cmd gentry of Russia to be free! 
 and in every respect on the same footing with 
 the nobility of the other kingdoms of Europe, 
 with liberty to enter or not into the service of 
 any foreign state. Your lordship can easUy 
 imagine' the astonishment and pleasure with 
 which the nobility received this royal boon, and 
 the inward satisfaction with which they must 
 iave felt themselves, from slaves, at once become 
 freemen, and really gentlemen." 
 
 "Janimry 29th. 
 - " The King goes on doing good to all ranks of 
 his subjects, and conferring the greatest benefits 
 upon his people. His last act of abolishing the 
 private chancery, or Inquisition of State, is looked 
 upon as the greatest blessing that could have 
 happened to the nation; that abominable tri- 
 bunal being in all respects as bad, and in some 
 worse, than the Spanish Inquisition. 
 
THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 21 
 
 "P.S. I cannot yet pretend to give your lord- 
 ship a true view of the interior of this new court. 
 In the mean time it does not appear that the 
 Empress is hitherto much consulted on business." * 
 
 "March iZrd. 
 
 " I had the honour of his Imperial Majesty's 
 company yesterday at dinner at my house, he 
 having been pleased to invite himself upon hear- 
 ing that the two princes of Holstein and some 
 others of the great people had made a party to eat 
 soup with me. 
 
 " The company at dinner consisted of near 
 forty persons, ladies and gentlemen, and in the 
 middle of the first service his Imperial Majesty 
 drank tha King of Prussia's health, as chief of 
 the Order of the Black Eagle, in a Bocal which 
 went round the company under a discharge of 
 fifty pieces of cannon. Towards the end of din- 
 ner the Emperor stood up with a BocaL in his 
 hand, and, addressing himself to me, said he was 
 going to propose the best health in the world to 
 me, viz. a general and happy peace ; which was 
 drunk by all the company, I believe, with real 
 satisfaction ; and as the toast had been addressed 
 to me, I rose, and, going behind the Emperor's 
 chair, with the glass in my hand, which I drank 
 off, I returned my humble thanks for the health ' 
 and for the honour his Imperial Majesty had 
 done me in addressing it to me." 
 
 * A significant Mnt, as coiineoted with the revolution which 
 followed, and which placed him on the throne. 
 C 3 
 
22 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 THE KING OF PBTJSSU TO ME. KEITH.* 
 
 "Sreslau, Feb. 18th, 1762' 
 "SlE, 
 
 " Feelingly alive as I am to the proofs of 
 affection and attachment which you have hitherto 
 shown me, I have resolved no longer to delay ex- 
 pressing m.y gratitude. I beg you to be persuaded 
 that I shall ever give you credit for them, and 
 that I shall seize with pleasure all the opportuni- 
 ties which may present themselves to give you 
 convincing proofs of my esteem. In the mean 
 time you will obUge me by delivering the enclosed 
 to my colonel. Baron de Groltz, who will arrive 
 erelong at the court where you are. And I 
 humbly pray Grod to have you in his holy keep^ 
 ing- " Fkedekick." 
 
 THE king of PEtrSSIA TO MB. KEITH. 
 
 " Breslm, March iith, 1762. 
 «SlE, 
 
 " The sentiments of affection and attach- 
 ment of which your letter of the 15th contains the 
 renewed expression are infinitely agreeable to me^ 
 I know thevr value, and shall not fail to proportion 
 my gratitude. It were to be wished that all the 
 ministers of Great Britain were animated with 
 the same zeal for my interests, and that they felt, 
 
 * Translated from tie French originals in the possession of 
 the- Earl of Hardwicke. 
 
THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 23 
 
 like yourself, their intimate connection with those 
 of their master, and that they cannot be neglected 
 without prejudice at the same time to those of 
 his Britannic Majesty. It appears to me, how- 
 ever, that the affairs of Portugal have unhap- 
 pily done injury to those of Germany, in the 
 heads of some of the ministry; and I suspect they 
 will discover but too late the illusion they have 
 created to themselves on that head. As for your- 
 self, Sir, I have a better opinion of your enlight- 
 ened mind, and have every reason to flatter 
 myself that you will never suffer yourself to be 
 influenced on this subject; and that, feeling all 
 the inconsistency of such principles, you will 
 continue, as in past times, to have my interests 
 at heart, and to assist with your good counsels 
 the Baron de Groltz in the important commission 
 with which I have charged him at the court where 
 you reside. 
 
 " I am delighted that you are pleased with his 
 conduct ; and I trust he will do all in his power 
 to deserve your friendship, which I beg of you to 
 continue towards him, and to be persuaded that 
 I shall eagerly embrace every occasion that may 
 present itself, to requite the obligation, and to 
 prove to you the reality of my esteem for a 
 minister w/io is so worthy of it as yowrself. 
 
 " Fredekick." 
 
 c 4 
 
24 THE EOMAKCE OP DIPLOMACT. 
 
 MR. KEITH TO THE KING OF PRUSSU, IN KEPLT.* 
 " Fetersbwrgh, April 28th, 1762. 
 
 « Sib, 
 
 "I take the liberty of laying myself 
 at the feet of your Majesty, with my very sin- 
 cere congratulations on the conclusion of peace 
 between your Majesty and your august friend 
 the Emperor of Eussia, and I hope this 
 grand event will enable your Majesty to resist 
 with advantage all your enemies, and serve 
 at the same time as the first step towards that 
 general tranquillity of which Europe stands so 
 much in need. I avail myself also of this oppor- 
 tunity to return my thanks to your Majesty for 
 the last letter you were good enough to write 
 to me ; which did me the highest honour by the 
 tokens of benignity with which it was filled, and 
 to which I should not have failed to make an 
 earlier reply, had I not feared to become trouble- 
 some by unnecessarily multiplying my letters. 
 
 "With regard to what your Majesty is pleased 
 to remark in yours about Portugal, your Majesty 
 is too well informed of our relation with that 
 countjy, and the advantages we derive from its 
 
 • It mil be seen from tUs letter, that while supporting with 
 his interest, at that time paramount with the young Emperor 
 of Eussia, the yiews of peace of the Prussian monarch, Mr. Keith 
 was above purchasing a continuance of his favour by any com- 
 promise of the honour of England, and was quite prepared to 
 vindicate her policy even against so redoubtable as well as 
 courteous an antagonist. 
 
THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 25 
 
 commercej to . be surprised to see us strain every 
 nerve to maintain its independence. I am per- 
 suaded^ however, that this will not prevent our 
 court from fulfilling its engagements with all 
 its allies, and especially with your Majesty, 
 whose heroic virtues are objects of veneration to 
 the entire nation. Monsieur de Groltz has had 
 an opportunity of showing what he is; and his 
 first attempt gives promise that he will one day 
 become a very useful servant to your Majesty. 
 
 " I beg to return my acknowledgments for all 
 your Majesty's favours, and am, with the most pro- 
 found respect, 
 
 "Your Majesty's very obedient and 
 very devoted servant, 
 
 «E. Keith." 
 
 THE KINa OF PEUSSIA TO MK KEITH. 
 
 " Brealau, May 9th, 1762. 
 
 "Monsieur l'Envotb de Keith, 
 
 "Your letter of the 9th of the month 
 gave me real pleasure, and I am the more obliged 
 to you for the congratulations you address to me 
 on the conclusion of my peace with the Emperor 
 of Eussia, that I can only attribute the success of 
 this negociation to the zeal with which you ex- 
 erted yowrself to make it succeed. It is a work 
 due to yomr efforts alone ; and I shall cherish for 
 it a gratitude proportioned to the important ser- 
 vice which on this occasion you have rendered me. 
 
26 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 "The reflections you make on the obligation 
 your Court feels itself under to support Portugal 
 appear to me very just, and I shall never be the 
 man to condemn a power which fulfils its engage- 
 Tnents, You are no doubt aware that the British 
 Ministry are at this moment taking steps for 
 renewiag negociations with the Court of Versailles. 
 I doubt if the affair will assume any shape ; and I 
 greatly apprehend the French are merely seeking 
 to amuser le tapis."* 
 
 The auspicious beginnings of a reign from 
 which so much good was anticipated, were, alas ! 
 soon overclouded by the abandonment of the 
 young monarch to a reckless course of dissipation, 
 and the dominion of low associates, by whom his 
 naturally good qualities were perverted, and the 
 popularity he had justly acquired "by favours 
 conferred during the earlier portion of his sway,'' 
 so impaired as to pave the way for the revolution 
 which followed, and which Mr. Keith, in the de- 
 spatch announcing it, says he greatly appre- 
 hended, though he did not expect it would 
 happen so soon. The particulars of that singular 
 usurpation, apparently as little premeditated at 
 the moment on the one side as anticipated on 
 the other, have long been matter of history ; but 
 
 ■i, " hrtmbngging you." The irony which runs 
 through this epistle will appear more piquant when it is re- 
 membered, that the 'despatch, -virtually breaking off relations 
 between Great Britain and Prussia, bore nearli/ the same date 
 as the above. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 27 
 
 some extracts from the actual official announce- 
 ment of it may be interesting. 
 
 ME. KEITH TO ME. aEENTILLE. 
 
 " St. PeUrsbv/rff, July IZth, 1762. 
 «SlE, 
 
 " Last Friday morning (the day that by 
 the emperor's orders I was to meet him at Peter- 
 hofif), about nine o'clock, one of my servants came 
 running into my bedchamber, with affrighted 
 countenance, and told me that there was a great 
 uproar at the other end of the town; that the 
 guards, having mutinied, were assembled, and 
 talked of no less than dethroning the emperor. 
 He could tell me no other circumstances, nor 
 could give me an answer to the only question I 
 ashed, viz. whether the empress was in town; 
 but about a quarter of an haur afterwards one of 
 the gentlemen of our factory came in and in- 
 formed me that the empress was in town ; that 
 she had been declared by the guards and the 
 other troops of the garrison their empress and 
 sovereign, and that she was actually at the Ka- 
 sansky church to hear mass, and the Te Deum 
 sung on the occasion. He added the circum- 
 stance of Prince George of Holstein being made 
 prisoner as he was attempting to get out of town. 
 This account was soon confirmed from all quar- 
 ters, and we understood that all the great people 
 in town were taking the oath of fidelity to the 
 empress, as the military corps had already done. 
 
28 THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 " This surprising revolution was brought about 
 and completed in less than two howrs, without 
 one drop of blood being spilt, or any act of vio- 
 lence committed ; and all the parts of the city at 
 any distance from the palace, especially the street 
 where I and the greatest part of his Majesty's 
 subjects reside, was as quiet as if nothing had 
 
 happened About eight o'clock the 
 
 same eveniag the empress, on horseback, marched 
 out of the town at the head of 9, 10, or 12,000 
 men, with a great train of artillery, on the road 
 to Peterhoff, in order to attack the emperor, 
 whether there or at Oranienbaum ; and the next 
 day, in the afternoon, we received intelligence 
 of his Imperial Majesty having, without striking 
 a stroke^ surrender his person, and resided his 
 crown. 
 
 " The few authentic circumstances of this great 
 event which I have been able to pick up, are, 
 that this affair had been long contriving, but 
 was hastened in the execution by one of the 
 conspirators having been arrested the day before 
 upon some iadignant words he let drop. This 
 alarmed the others, who, for fear of a total dis- 
 covery, resolved to go to work immediately; and, 
 in consequence, sent some of their number to 
 Peterhoff in the night to apprise the empress, and 
 to represent the necessity of her repairing to town 
 without loss of time. It was, I thinks one Or- 
 low, formerly an officer in the artillery, who was 
 charged with this commission, and who, having 
 got admission about foUr in the morning to her 
 
THE EOMASCE OF DIPLOMACY. 29 
 
 Imperial Majesty's bedchamber, informed her of 
 her danger. Accordingly, as soon as she could get 
 dressed, the empress slipped out of the palace, — 
 some say by the back door, others by a window, 
 - — without one single servant of either sex ; and 
 after several little accidents, such as horses tiring, 
 &c., arrived in town about sis. o'clock, and went 
 herself to the Caserne of the Ismaeloffsky guards, 
 whom she found imder arms with their colonel, 
 the Hetman Easomowsky, at their head ready to 
 receive her. As for the emperor, he had not the 
 least suspicion or information of the affair till 
 between eleven and twelve in the forenoon, when, 
 being on the road from Oranienbaum to Peter- 
 hoff, he was met by a servant of Leon Narishkin, 
 who acquainted him with the situation of affairs 
 in town. 
 
 " From that moment there was nothing but con- 
 fusion and despair among the emperor's small 
 court, and no resolution of any kind was taken 
 till very late in the evening^ when his Imperial 
 Majesty with all his. train, ladies and gentlemen, 
 went on board of a galley that rode before Peter- 
 hoff, and rowed over to Cronstadt, in hopes of 
 being received there ; but Teligon, a commissioner 
 of the Admiralty, and Mardison, a vice-admiral, 
 who were sent down in the morning from Peters- 
 burgh, had got the start of him ; and when the 
 emperor approached the harbour, he was not only 
 refused admittance, but threatened to be fired 
 upon. The confusion and despair, as you may 
 imagine, were now greatly increased, and the 
 
30 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 galley retmned vsdth the emperor to Oranienbaum 
 with very sraall attendance. 
 
 " On the inoming- of Saturday, on hearing that 
 the empress was drawing near with so great a 
 force, the emperor sent Prince Gralitzin and 
 General Ismaeloff to her Majesty with proposals ; 
 and after some time Ismaeloff returned with a 
 paper, newly drawn up, containing a resignation 
 of the crown, which the emperor signed, and 
 then got into a coach with that officer, and took 
 the road to Peterhoff; but whither he was carried, 
 or where he is now, I am absolutely ignorant. It 
 is reported that in the above paper there was a 
 clause declaring that the emperor should have 
 liberty to retire into Holstein if he thought 
 proper. 
 
 " Thus ended this extraordinary and important 
 transaction, and her Imperial Majesty, after 
 passing the night at a country house of Prince 
 Kurakin's, returned to towU on Sunday morning : 
 and having heard in passing, mass at the Admiralty 
 Church, went straight to the summer palace, where 
 she and her son, the Grand Duke, have taken up 
 their residence, and where people of all degrees 
 were admitted to kiss hands. 
 
 " With regard to the motive of this sudden revo- 
 lution, it is plain that the resumption of the 
 Chm-ch lands, and the neglect of the clergy, were 
 the principal ; and that next to them, the severe 
 discipline which the emperor endeavoured to in- 
 troduce among the troops, particularly the guards, 
 who had been accustomed to great idleness and 
 
THE EOMAHCE OP DIPLOMACY. 31 
 
 leisure ; and the discontent was heightened by the 
 resolution his Imperial Majesty had taken of car- 
 rying a great part of the corps to Germany — a 
 measure disagreeable to the whole nation, who 
 lamented greatly their being driven into new ex- 
 penses and new dangers for the Ducky of Holstei/n, 
 which they considered as a trifling object, and 
 entirely indifferent to Eussia, — just after the em- 
 peror had sacrificed the conquests made by the 
 Eiissian army, and which were of importance to 
 Eussia, to his friendship for the king of Prussia. 
 Several other small circumstances, greatly ex- 
 aggerated, and artfully represented and improved, 
 contributed greatly to the fall of the unhappy 
 prince, who had many excellent quaKties, and 
 never did a violent or cruel action during the 
 course of his short reign ; but who, from aversion 
 to business, and the unhappy choice of f(a,vourites, 
 who encouraged him in it, let everything fall into 
 confusion ; and from a false notion of having fixed 
 the affections of the nation by favours conferred 
 in the beginning of his reign, fell into an indolence 
 and secm'ity which proved fatal to him. I cannot 
 help adding that not only myself, but several per- 
 sons of sense and discernment, thought that we 
 could perceive a considerable difference in the 
 prince fi-om what he was for some months after 
 he mounted the throne ; and that the perpetual 
 hurry in which he lived, and the flattery of the 
 vile people about him, had in some degree affected 
 his understanding. 
 
 " To conclude : I must acknowledge that I did 
 
32 THE EOMANOE OF DIPIOMACr. 
 
 not apprehend this revolution would have hap- 
 pened so soon, but I always thought if he left his 
 dominions it would prove fatal to him ; and for 
 that reason I used every possible means to divert 
 him from his intended journey, as well by insinu- 
 ations to himself, as by representing the danger of 
 that measure to those who had a title to offer him 
 advice. 
 
 **Last night, about ten o'clock, I received a. 
 message, desiring me to be at Court this morning 
 at eleven ; and having gone accordingly, I found 
 all the foreign ministers there, and we were sooq 
 afterwards introduced to her Majesty's presence, 
 and had the honour to kiss her hand ; in doing 
 which I took occasion to make her the proper 
 compliment in his Majesty's name, which was 
 kindly received a,nd returned in very handsome 
 terms, and, upon the whole, my reception was 
 very good. Those who made the greatest figure 
 were the. Hetman and the Orlow, who has been 
 before mentioned, who wore the riband of St. 
 Alexander, and the key of chamberlain." 
 
 {Sepa/rate-^sent by th& same msssengsr.) 
 
 " You may easily suppose the concern this sudden 
 revolution has given me, more particularly as I 
 am not without apprehension (besides the grati- 
 tude I owed the unfortunate emperor for all the 
 marks of his grace and condescension) that it may 
 very much affect the general system of affairs, and 
 those of the king of Prussia in particular ; but 
 of this I can only guess at present. However, I 
 
THK EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT, 33 
 
 shall make it my endeavour to get the best light 
 I can of the dispositions of this Court, and trans- 
 mit them to you. 
 
 " What I am going to add is principally with 
 regard to myself. You, Sir, and the rest of his 
 Majesty's servants will have plainly seen, from 
 
 what passed with relation to ]\Ir. W , that I 
 
 am not so happy as to be in the empress's favour : 
 this obliges me, as a faithful servant to the king, 
 to declare to you that I think his Majesty's affairs 
 would suffer by passing through my hands ; and 
 therefore it is my earnest desire to have my recall 
 sent to me as soon as possible, and another minis- 
 ter sent in my place : for I should think myself 
 very unhappy if any part of the king's busiaess 
 should miscarry from any defect in my person, 
 either real, or in the opinion of the new sovereign 
 of this country." 
 
 " Jidy 5th. 
 
 " I am more and more coniirmed in my opinion 
 that his Majesty's service requires another minis- 
 ter at this court than myself. I must therefore 
 renew my request for a recall ; and it will be a 
 particular grace if the king will allow me to set 
 out, so as to make my journey home before the 
 bad season comes on." 
 
 It would appear from the above, as well as 
 from previous correspondence, that the favour, 
 always employed for the most legitimate ends, 
 and the deference shown in his earlier measures 
 (well would it have been for the young emperor 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
34 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 had it been universal !) to the counsels of Mr. 
 Keith, had, naturally perhaps, created some jea- 
 lousy in the mind of his amhitious' partner, the 
 future Catherine the Second. And, though (as 
 documents still existing prove) an unworthy ia- 
 trigue on the part of a junior scion of the diplo- 
 matic body to fasten on Mr. Keith the imputation 
 of conduct towards her, while yet Grand Duchess, 
 equally foreign to his head and heart, signally 
 failed, yeit, on her accession, advantage seems to 
 have been taken of it, and of Mr. Keith's resigna- 
 tion, to revive a punctilio (dispensed with when 
 Peter the Third mounted the throne, at his eoo- 
 press request) requiring that an ambassador-ex- 
 traordinary, in the person of a nobleman of high 
 rank, should proceed to Petersburgh as the bearer 
 of his sovereign's congratulations on that event. 
 To this arrangement Mr. Keith, whose indignant 
 repudiation of the charge of disrespect towards 
 Catherine, while still an oppressed wife and in- 
 jured princess, forms a striking episode in a life 
 of which mildness and urbanity were the distin- 
 tinguishing characteristics*, very willingly as- 
 sented. Nor is it to be supposed that one, to 
 whom the brief career of her unfortunate husband 
 
 * It led, though at the period of his highest influence and 
 consideration at the court of Petersburgh, to his instant resignar 
 tion of the emhassy, and when prevailed on from home to 
 retain it, he thus notices in a postscript the unworthy cause. 
 " The disagreement between Mr. and myself proceeded en- 
 tirely from his insolent behaviour, and our reconciliation was 
 owing to the most absolute, I might add the lowest, submission 
 on his part, as his letter to me (still extant) wUl testify." 
 
THE EOMAHCE OF DIPLOMACY. 35 
 
 had been an object of pitying and almost parental 
 interest, could have derived much satisfaction from 
 an elevation to power founded not merely on the 
 deposition, but the subsequent murder of a young 
 prince, whose original tendencies were amiable, 
 and the dawnings of whose reign gave promise of 
 great qualities, unhappily stifled and obscured by 
 the excesses of intemperance, and influence of 
 improper associates. 
 
 The very clinging of the unhappy young man, 
 even while surrounded by these, and in spite of 
 the envoy's faithful remonstrances, to the Mentor 
 whose counsels he disregarded. (for he had made a 
 point of Mr. Keith's spending at Oranienbaum the 
 very week during which his arrest took place), 
 showed that respect for virtue and gratitude for 
 kindness had still a hold on his mind. To the 
 existence of corresponding feelings in the British 
 minister's breast, we have the testimony of Prin- 
 cess Dashkoff, little likely, from her prominent 
 share in the event which placed Catherine on the 
 throne, to be partial to any one who had treated 
 her with indignity. > " The only foreign minister," 
 writes she in her memoirs, " at all in the empe- 
 ror's favour, except the Prussian, was the Eng- 
 lish ambassador, Mr. Keith. Prince Dashkoff 
 and I lived on terms of the greatest intimacy 
 with this most respectable old gentleman, who 
 treated me with as much tenderness as if I had 
 been his daughter (as indeed he used to call 
 me). At one of our little parties at home, when 
 there was no one present but Prince Galitzin, I 
 
 D 2 
 
3^ THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 remember his saying, when speaking of the em- 
 peror (with many expressions of regret), that as 
 he had begun his reign with a determination of 
 gaining, his people's love, he would certainly end 
 jt by gaining nothing but their contempt" 
 
 Whatever might be the ministerial objects 
 which led to the substitution above alluded to of 
 a nobleman of high rank and ample fortune 
 in the room of an humble, though faithful and 
 long-tried servant of the crown, nothing could 
 be more courteous or flattering than the expres- 
 sions on the occasion of the then Secretary of 
 State to Mr. Keith. 
 
 - Lord Barrrington thus conveys, through the 
 channel of the new ambassador, his sentiments 
 ■Rewards his predecessor : — 
 
 " Cavendish Square, Av^ust 12th, 1762. 
 
 *' Peae Sik, 
 
 " I have taken the liberty to trouble Lord 
 Buckingham with this letter, containing real as- 
 surances of the most affectionate esteem and regard 
 for you. The conduct you have invariably held 
 through life entitles you to claim them from every 
 man who has good sentiments in his own mind, 
 or values them in the minds of others, I must 
 at the same time express my satisfaction at your 
 return home; when Eussia takes one valuable 
 friend from me, she restores me another. I hope 
 you will remain here long after Lord Buckingham 
 shall return, and enjoy at home the rewards your 
 Jong and faithful services abroad deserve, I 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 37 
 
 ought to have added the ability with which you 
 have served your king and country*; but that is 
 too well known to suffer loss from any omission of 
 mine. I beg you will believe me to be at all 
 times, and on all occasions, with the most perfect 
 esteem, dear, Sir, 
 
 " Your most faithful and obedient servant, 
 
 " Baeeington." 
 
 Among the most distinguished of the friends 
 for life, whom his, in other respects, uncongenial 
 exile enabled Mr. Keith to secure, were the princes 
 of the Polish House of Czartoriski, whose patriot- 
 ism has always assigned to them the loftiest place 
 in the annals of their oppressed and unhappy 
 country, while their amiable qualities in private 
 life rendered them equally objects of esteem and 
 regard to the persons of all nations who shared 
 their splendid hospitality. 
 
 "The two brothers Czartoriski," writes Lord 
 Malmesbury, in 1767, " have public dinners and 
 suppers every day for as many as please to come ; 
 and these two houses are the great resort of stran- 
 gers. Each house may be looked upon as a town, 
 as there are in it all sorts of artificers, and a great 
 seigneur need never send out of his own walls for 
 anything. Prince Czartoriski's personal attendants 
 and servants amount to 375. The number in his 
 country-house is infinitely greater, besides his 
 troops, which consist of 3000 or 4000 men, 
 
 " Prince Czartoriski, Great Chancellor of Lithu^' 
 p8 
 
38 THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 ania, and eldest uncle to the king, was destined 
 by the empress to be crushed ; and she had, by 
 her ambassador, signified to him that if he did 
 not lay down his charge, and return a ses terres, 
 he should be tried, condemned, and executed. 
 His answer was, - Je n'ai pas repu mon emploi de 
 sa Majeste Imperiale, ainsi elle me pardonnera si 
 je ne veux en rien m'en defaire a sa requete.' His 
 fate was determined and foreseen, for the next 
 meeting of the Diet; and in the interim that 
 venerable man," continues Lord Malmesbury, who 
 dined with him frequently, " did the honours of his 
 long table with the utmost calmness to strangers, 
 inquiring of them, with the greatest ease and good 
 humour, about the manners of their respective 
 countries. This, which at any time would have 
 been striking in a man near fourscore, was pecu- 
 liarly so in one at the time under sentence of 
 death. The king's greater humanity saved him ; 
 for the Czarina had opposed him strongly; yet 
 Poniatowski, to his credit be it spoken*, exerted 
 himself so warmly, and made such a point of get- 
 ting his pardon, that the empress granted it." 
 
 It was at an earlier period, while Peter the 
 Third still held his short-lived sway, and while 
 the influence over him for good, possessed by Mr. 
 Keith, found appropriate exercise in the assign- 
 ment of honours, where honour was so justly due, 
 that the following letters were written ; and it is 
 
 * This alludes to Lis personal unpopularity -with Poniatowski, 
 of which proofs wiU appeal in the coirespoudence. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 39 
 
 pleasing to be assured that the expressions of 
 esteem and affection with which they teem were 
 not mere words of course, or the overflowings of 
 momentary gratitude for benefits received, but 
 borne out by persevering attachment on the part 
 of the writers, not only towards him to whom 
 they were addressed, but his son. Sir Eobert Mur- 
 ray Keith. The tenor of the first, from Prince 
 Augustus, the then head of that illustrious family, 
 bears testimony to the influence of Mr. Keith at 
 the court of Petersburgh. 
 
 " Fulawy, Jvme ind, 1762. 
 
 «SlB, 
 
 " I am at a loss to find terms to express to 
 you aU the extent of my gratitude ; Jput I flatter 
 myself you cannot doubt of my exweme sensi- 
 bility to the friendship and the goodness with 
 which you have interested yourself on the subject 
 of the Cordon Bleu of Eussia, in favour of my 
 son. It was delivered to him yesterday by the 
 Eussian Envoy. 
 
 " An universal suffrage has long assured to you 
 the public esteem. You have given me reason to 
 owe to you, in addition, and for Ufe, the truest 
 attachment and gratitude. 
 
 " Permit me to enclose a letter for his Imperial 
 Majesty, entreating you to present it at a proper 
 opportunity. It contains my thanks to this great 
 
 * Translated from the original in French. 
 D 4 
 
40 ITHE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACti 
 
 Prince, who, by the first steps of his reign, has 
 rendered himself an object of devoted admiration.* 
 I should enter into details, did I not know you t<J 
 be sufficiently informed on the state of our Court. 
 The ills of our country are too well known ; time 
 alone can bring them any remedy. As for our 
 jrivate interests, certain persons continue to make 
 it their business to render myself and my family 
 odious to the king. Favours commonly granted 
 to others to us are uniformly refused. I desire 
 permission to resign to my children the starosties 
 which I possess, and to my son the regiment of 
 guards which I command. All my solicitations to 
 the above effect have hitherto proved in vain. 
 Our crime is that of being good patriots f in the 
 eyes of persons to whom the welfare of their 
 country is matter of indifference. My sole confi- 
 dence now ig in your support. Endeavour, I be- 
 seech you, to obtain from his Imperial Majesty a 
 
 * It miist be recollected tliat this wag -written during that 
 early period of the young Emperor's reign -sfliioli gave rise to 
 similar sentaments throughout Europe. 
 
 t The patriotism of the family of Czartoriald, synonymous 
 through life -with its illustrious name, cannot, perhaps, he more 
 fuUy estimated than by stating a fact which came under the 
 Editor's personal knowledge. After the last and bloodiest of the 
 revolutions in that unhappy country (their part in which was 
 merely the moderate and inevitable one forced on them by their 
 proud position), the inheritors of all the splendours formerly 
 described, and actual possessors, at the commencement of the 
 inBuireetion, of the vast revenues of the family — ^were negotiat- 
 ing for the lease of a humble cottage in Wales, their total 
 expenditure in which was to be necessarily limited to ^260 per 
 annum. 
 
THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 4t 
 
 positive order to his minister at Warsaw, to en- 
 force at our Court what I am soliciting. All the 
 difficulties would then, I have no doubt, be in- 
 stantly removed. I remain, with the highest con- 
 sideration, 
 
 " Your Excellency's, most humbly, 
 
 " Augustus Czaetokiski." 
 
 That the son was not behind the parent in 
 warmth of feeling and expression, this playful 
 polyglot epistle proves, as well as that English 
 was then successfully cultivated in Poland. The 
 amiable and wellrknown Prince Adam thus 
 writes : — 
 
 "A Varsome, 12me Mai, 1762. 
 "MoNSIEUEj, 
 
 "Par le plaisir quevous trouvez a obligor 
 vos amis, vous devez imaginer celui que I'on res- 
 sent a devoir a ceux qu'on aime. J'ai repu la lettre 
 dontvous m'avez honore; and I wish I could per- 
 suade you of my gratitude, as much as I am 
 convinced myself of the warmth of your friend- 
 ship. I am only sorry that, by all probahility, I 
 am destined to be an useless, though very warm, 
 friend to you. Je n'aurais pas fini de long temps, 
 si je voulais vous dire la reconnaissance dont mon 
 coeur est rempli pour vous. , Votre amitie m'a 
 suivi partout ; et je me croirais bien heureux, si 
 quelque occasion me pr&entait le moyen de vous 
 prouver, que personne ne vous aime et vous ho- 
 
42 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 nore plus sincdrement que celui qui a I'hoimeur 
 d'etre, Mojisieur, 
 
 " De votre Excellence, le tr^s humble, 
 
 et trds obeissant serviteur, 
 "Le Prince Adam Czaetokiski. 
 
 " Je voudrais pouvoir trouver pour vous de ces 
 expressions dont parle Milton — 
 
 " Where more is meant than meets the ear." 
 
 Nor was it alone while enjoying, in the posses- 
 sion of official situation, the power of conferring 
 obligations, that these tributes of afifection smoothed 
 for Mr. Keith the often painful path of duty. 
 Long after his retirement from the service of his 
 coimtry, similar testimonies of unimpaired regard, 
 from the great and good, came to cheer for him 
 the evening of life. From these may be selected, 
 for its octogenarian rarity, as well as intrinsic in- 
 terest, one from the venerable Marshal Miinnich, 
 whose counsels guided, under three successive 
 reigns, the helm of affairs in his native country, 
 and who, at 82, was not only still competent to 
 an active charge of public affairs, but to the task, 
 enjoined on him by his talented royal mistress,' 
 Catherine, of writing for posterity the memoirs of 
 his time. 
 
 FIELD-MAESHAl MtJNNICH TO MR. KEITH. 
 I " Fetersburgh, Aiwust \^th, 1764. 
 
 « Sir, 
 
 "It is long since I received a letter which 
 did me more honour or gave me more pleasvire. 
 
THE EOMANOE OF DIPLOMACY. 43 
 
 than that with which you were pleased to favoiir 
 me on the 18th of June last. I learned from it 
 with satisfaction the re-establishment of your pre- 
 cious health, and the pleasing circumstances which 
 attend you in your honourable retreat. I con- 
 gratulate you upon them from the bottom of my 
 heart, and add my best wishes for their satisfac- 
 tory continuance; in which I always take the 
 interest of a sincere friend. 
 
 " The king could not more suitably exercise 
 his liberality than in granting you a pension of 
 1000 J. per annum, in requital of your zeal and 
 services. But you will allow me to say, that me- 
 thinks his Majesty would have done better still, 
 by retaining you in the ministry, and making use 
 of your knowledge, abilities, and merits, than by 
 consenting to your retirement. Great Britain 
 must needs abound with able ministers, to be 
 enabled to dispense with persons so enlightened, 
 and so fully experienced in negotiations. I do 
 not> however, esteem you the less happy. It 
 must always be a happiness to enjoy, in OTie's own 
 country, unbroken repose in the bosom of one's 
 family, the rather that you have the satisfaction 
 of witnessing the brilliant figure made by your 
 sons; one of them, the Colonel*, making a tour 
 in France, and experiencing there a distinguished 
 reception ; the younger, a Post-Captainf , returned 
 to visit his parents, whom he knew but by repu- 
 
 * Afterwards Sir Eotert Mnrray Keith, K.B., Enyoy Extra- 
 ordinary at Vienna, 
 t Afterwards Admiral Sir Basil Keith, Grovemor of Jamaica; 
 
44 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 -tation. May it please Grod to multiply, through 
 this worthy offspriag, your illustrious descend- 
 ants, to the remotest posterity ! At the age of 
 eighty-two, I am, thank Grod, perfectly well ! 
 having just been makiag a tour, in the suite of 
 her Majesty, to the ports of the Baltic confided 
 to my care. I am writing, by order of my most 
 gracious Sovereign, certain memoirs ; but I do 
 not get on very rapidly, from the infinity of busi- 
 ness connected with the works Tmder my charge': 
 besides, being a man of war, I can boast but little 
 of the qualifijcations for an author capable of sa- 
 tisfying the curious reader. I drink to your 
 health very often, with my son, now President 
 of the Board of Trade, who begs to assure' you of 
 his respects. Madame la Marechale (as well as all 
 belonging to me) is to you most respectfully de- 
 voted ; and, as for myself, I shall cease only with 
 the latest of my days, to be, with the most indis- 
 soluble attachment, 
 
 " Your very humble and very obedient 
 servant, &c. 
 '' Lb Comte de Munnich." 
 
 To be thug remembered, and by such a man, 
 even after a two years' separation, was abundantly 
 flattering; but, as in the instance now to be 
 quoted, to have his memory cherished in Vienna, 
 and that by one of its brightest ornaments, after 
 fifteen years of absence, must have been still 
 more so ; and the sentiments are so gratifyingly 
 expressed, both as regards Mr, Keith and his son 
 
THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 45 
 
 and successor, by the amiable Princess Lichten- 
 stein, that out of innumerable similar tributes to 
 worth, of which all record might perish but for 
 this timely publication, it has been selected as 
 the concluding one. 
 
 PEINCESS LICHTENSTEIN TO ME. KEITH.* 
 
 " Vienna, October 27th, 1773. 
 "Permit me, Sirj to renew an old acquaint- 
 ance, of which I have never lost sight ; and of 
 which, in spite of absence, my family and myself 
 will always retain the recollection, I have even 
 the presumption to believe that you do so like- 
 wise ; and that you have not forgotten a city, and 
 still less friepds, who are so truly attached to you, 
 All I can assure you of, without the slightest 
 flattery, is, that your memory is there cherished 
 and respected. I call to witness your son, who 
 has every possible claim to be deemed worthy of 
 belonging to such a father. He follows admir- 
 ably in your footsteps, and makes himself equally 
 esteemed and beloved. I have the extreme satis- 
 faction of conversing with him sometimes about 
 you; imagine what good we both say of you! 
 He has had the kindness fully to detail to me the 
 mode of life you lead; which appears to me 
 highly suited to your character, f Were it not 
 
 * Translated from the original in French. 
 
 t Mr. Keith resided for the first ten years after his return to 
 Scotland in a Tilla near Edinburgh, called " the Hermitage," where 
 he indulged — (in imitation of his amiable and patriotic brother- 
 in-law, Sir Alexander Dick) — in the pleasures of gardening. The 
 finest, if not first, melons raised in his natiye country, are said 
 
46 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 for interrupting the tranquillity of this peaceful 
 existence, and risking your health, I should be 
 tempted to wish you might execute the projected 
 idea of returning once more to visit us. But for 
 the above double reason, I dare not desire it. 
 One must love one's friends for their own sake, 
 and not for selfish considerations. 
 
 " You have lately lost here a truly respectable 
 one, who held you dear until death. I speak of 
 my worthy' uncle. Prince Wenzel. From your 
 reciprocal friendship, methinks you will value, 
 and receive with pleasure, a medal which has 
 been recently struck, by order of a sovereign who 
 knows how to render justice to distinguished 
 merits, which, among other instances, she has 
 proved by the inscription — a very touching one. 
 My whole family — my husband especially -p- 
 charge me with a thousand tender compliments. 
 Accept from myself the assurances of esteem, 
 of friendship, and the most distinguished senti- 
 ments of 
 
 " La Pkincesse de Lichtenstein." 
 
 It was indeed a course of life as enviable as its 
 evening could possibly afford, to which the Prin^ 
 cess so gracefully and feelingly alludes; and 
 which, at the close of a long and laborious course 
 
 to have been sent home by him from the southern provinces of 
 Eussia. That the finer fruits were even at that period success- 
 fully cultivated in Scotland, appears from a letter of Sir A. Dick, 
 vrho vmtes in September, 1762, " We have, this year, a more 
 than comvum 'profusion of perfectly ripe apricots, peaches, plums, 
 and^«." 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 47 
 
 in the public service, Mr. Keith was privileged 
 to enjoy. " Love, honour, troops of friends,'" 
 were literally, not figuratively, his; and that in 
 a dignified retreat in his beloved native country ; 
 in the bosom of a most affectionate and dutiful 
 family, cheered by the society of the most dis- 
 tinguished men in Scotland*, while occasional 
 visits to England (all of them connected with 
 honourable events in the history of his sons) 
 brought with them pleasing proofs that neither 
 by his sovereign, nor by the friends whom, in 
 public and private life, he had made for himself, 
 were his merits forgotten, or his worth unappre- 
 ciated.! It was on one of these occasions that 
 Marshal Conway, writing to his friend Sir Eobert 
 Murray Keith, thus expressed himself: — " I had 
 the pleasure of seeing your father before my 
 
 * A circle, then including its two eminent historians, Eotert- 
 son and Hume, with whom Mr. Keith and his famUy lived in 
 equal intimacy. 
 
 t" Highly flattering autograph letters from the great Eail of 
 Chatham, stating, on various occasions, the joint merits of father 
 and sons, as grounds for the promotion of the latter, wiU find 
 place elsewhere. It may not be inappropriate here to insert a 
 note, written, on one of the visits above alluded to, by Mr; 
 Pitt :— 
 
 " Mr. Pitt presents his compliments to Mr. Keith, and is ex- 
 tremely sensible of the obliging mark of his remembrance and 
 friendship which the honour of his note conveys to him. He 
 begs Mr. Keith and his sons will be assured' that Mr. Pitt wiU 
 always be happy and proud to have had any share in doing jus- 
 tice to distingvashed merit, and that he esteems himself much 
 honoured by so flattering a mention of. his good wishes. Mr. 
 Keith win be so good as tof accept many sincere ones for his, 
 health and happiness. 
 
 "Hayes, Sunday, Jvmy ^fh, 1765." 
 
48 THE KOMANCB OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 departure ; and can give you that of sajring he 
 seems to me to grow younger. I know I flattei? 
 such a son as you, in telling that news of such a, 
 father." 
 
 As a proof, ten years later, and within a few 
 weeks of the close of Mr. Keith's life, of the con- 
 tinued good will of the sovereign he had faith- 
 fully served, as well as of his immediate principal 
 in office, a letter from Lord Barrington, for its un- 
 ministerial warmth, may claim insertion. 
 
 " Be assured, my dear and ever-valued friend, 
 that neither you nor Mr. James Lindsay have 
 been either forgotten or neglected; though till 
 this day I have not been able to send you that 
 good news for which we were both impatient. 
 Your nephew is ensign in the 14th regiment, re-> 
 turning to England from North America; and 
 commanded by Lieut.-G-eneral Keppel, and under* 
 him by Col. Dalrymple, brother to the Earl of 
 Stair. I do not think he could have been placed 
 more advantageously; and that must be some 
 consolation to his friends for the delay. The 
 king had great pleasure in giving a commission 
 to a relation of your's ; and if his Majesty had 
 personally known you as long and intimately as 
 his Secretary-at-War, he could not have spoken 
 more justly or more kindly on your subject. 
 
 "I flatter. myself that you enjoy your usual 
 good health ; which, added to an excellent mind 
 and temper, the recollectioi of a life well spent, 
 the full possession of universal esteem and re- 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY* 49 
 
 sped, and the satisfarftion of having worthy and 
 accomplished children, honourably established, 
 must give you all the happiness of which human 
 nature, towards the evening of Hfe, is capable.. 
 That you may long enjoy these blessings is the 
 earnest wish of, 
 
 " Dear Sir, your most faithful 
 
 " And most obedient servant, 
 
 " Baeeington." 
 
 Will it be thought indiscreet — in commemo- 
 rating one whose public career has made him, in 
 life and death, in some sort public property — to 
 lift aside for a moment the veil of obscurity from 
 that domestic circle, which, cheered by his vigor- 
 ous mind and sunny disposition, to ^he utmost 
 verge of human existence, was, alas ! ere long to 
 be bereaved by his unlooked-for removal ? Four 
 variously gifted, but all of them imcommon 
 women (in an age especially when female culti^ 
 vation was far from having attained its present 
 standard), surrounded the "old hermit" at his 
 fireside; transferred (happily as it would, seem for 
 the purposes of prompt and unceasing medical 
 aid) not long before, from the vUla named the 
 Hermitage, to the house in the New Town of 
 Edinburgh, whose erection had been long an 
 object of pride and interest to his absent son. 
 
 A venerable aunt, step-sister only to the owner, 
 but early thrown upon his kindness, and endeared 
 by the very half century, at least, of filial tender- 
 ness lavished on the still lively nonagenarian — ■ 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 
50 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 stood foremost on the lis£ ; and judging by the 
 playful remembrances of her absent nephews, 
 must have formed a delightful, as well as amiable* 
 addition to the circle. The special care of this 
 relic of former generations, as well as every other 
 work of charity and benevolence, devolved on Mr. 
 Keith's eldest daughter, whose name in the family, 
 and far beyond it, of " St. Agnes," nqt only appro- 
 priately designated her character as it respected 
 others, but, alas ! by anticipation, the saintly re- 
 signation with which she long supported, and then 
 sunk under, the most painful of human maladies. 
 Of this noble specimen of womanhood, whom it 
 was never the privilege of the writer to behold, 
 the following reminiscences, kindly volunteered by 
 one well qualified to judge, may give a faint idea, 
 
 " Her countenance," says this surviving witness, 
 " was open and animated ; expressive, in a high 
 degree, of candour and benevolence. It was im- 
 possible to hear her conversation without at once 
 perceiving a cultivated mind and great energy of 
 thought. She had a flow of elegant language, 
 which left no impression of provincial dialect, but 
 such as would have commanded attention in any 
 society or any age. It was impossible to leave her 
 presence without the. most enthusiastic emotions 
 of gratitude ; and her conversation was peculiarly 
 adapted to kindle in a youthful mind the warmest 
 
 * Sir Eobert, it will be shortly seen, speaks of her as one 
 " who has felt much grief, but never raised a painful sigh in the 
 breast of a fellow-mortal." 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 51 
 
 sentiments of benevolence and virtue. Her dress 
 was plain, and in the fashion of former times. 
 Her manner was courteous and dignified ; so that 
 you at once imagined her to belong to some su- 
 perior order of beings, far above the trammels of 
 fashion, or the ordinary routine of local society. 
 The writer of this, at the close of more than half 
 a century, looks back with unabated feelings on 
 the impressions he received in his interview with 
 this excellent person." If such was the effect 
 produced, and on a stranger, by one interview, 
 how charming must have been the influence in 
 domestic life of the being thus feelingly described ! 
 Nor was the " sister Jannie" of the following 
 letters less amply endowed by Nature with the 
 talent for which the family had showed itself re- 
 markable; though cast in a somewhat sterner 
 mould, and early withdrawn from the world at 
 large, and ultimately even from the social circle, 
 by an accident*, which, though prevented from 
 proving fatal by the courageous energy of a gal- 
 lant soldier, embittered, nevertheless, the remain- 
 ing existence of the talented recluse. It was, 
 however, no unprofitable seclusion to herself or 
 others. From her chamber of siiffering emanated 
 many acts of beneficence ; and its inmate has left 
 
 * The clothes of this excellent -woman haying caught fire, it 
 was the happiness of a comrade of her 'brother's in Germany 
 (the Eoby Hepburn, often fondly mentioned by him, afterwards 
 colonel of the EnnisldUen Dragoons) by wrapping her in the 
 hearth-rug, to prolong her valuable life; though by the severe 
 injury to her limbs, she was deprived of their use, and of the 
 enjoyments of society. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 a noble and undying monument in the bequest of 
 tbe greater portion of her means to an endowment 
 for 'Incurables, less fortunately circumstanced than 
 herself. 
 
 Of the " sister Anne," the youngest of the fa- 
 mily, the object of fond predilection to her father 
 and brother, more will be said hereafter ; and in 
 the words of one more competent to do justice to 
 her rpje character.* What has been quoted already 
 from the same pen, may for the present serve to 
 prove, that she united, in a singular degree, the 
 characteristics of a gifted family — her father's 
 lofty dignity of mind, the benevolait urbanity of 
 one sister, and the talent and quickness of another ; 
 with the wit and playfulness which tempered izL 
 her (as in himself) the unbending rectitude and 
 high feeling of her brother. Meantime, in illustra- 
 tion of the valuable miniature by Mr. Mee, conr 
 stituting the sole memorial of this gifted individual, 
 a faithful description (with which it will be found 
 to correspond) as quoted by Lord Lindsay from 
 the editor's novel of " Probationj" dedicated to a 
 delineation of her character, may be given here. 
 *fl looked I am sure with more than civil earnest- 
 ness in her face, and with more than ordinarv ad- 
 miration at the beautiful curls of the finest ivory 
 
 * Willi the letter tefore alluded to, from Sir Walter Scott 
 (written on her lamented death, and which it would be antici- 
 pating by nearly half a century to introduce here) it is proposed 
 to wind up this fond refiord of a family, of whom it may perhaps 
 without vanity be said, ".that all the sons were brave, and all 
 the daughters virtuous." 
 

 
 Aif 
 
 y // ''1/ / 
 
 ,■7 
 
 t^ondoji.Jaoic'S fbsg X:6one,.I861 , 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 53 
 
 (not silver) white, which were ranged in an order 
 younger locks might have studied with advantage, 
 round her commanding brow ; under a cap whose 
 mingled taste and' simplicity rendered it the 
 meetest covering ever ancient lady's head was 
 crowned withal. 
 
 "The upper part of the face beneath it, the 
 lofty brow, and a nose which must in youth have 
 been rather too strong for feminine beauty — spoke 
 an intellect of no common order, and certainly 
 inspired, when vice or folly came athwart her path, 
 a good deal of uncomfortable awe. But the large 
 blue eye, the most iutelligent I ever remember 
 seeing, of so peculiarly light a shade — and a mouth 
 around which smiles of good humour and genuine 
 enjoyment usually mantled — softened the mascu- 
 line conformation of the other features ; and joined 
 to the pale though not sickly hue of the once deli- 
 cately fair skin — gave altogether an aspect at once 
 feminine and interesting to Mrs. Sidney Hume, 
 (alias Anne Murray Keith.)" 
 
 The following letter will be the best record of 
 the. feelings which gave it birth : — 
 
 MISS ANNE KEITH TO SIR E. M. KEITH.* 
 
 " Edinbv/rgh, September 21st, 1774. 
 
 "Mt dearest Brother, 
 
 " I can find no form of words that will, in 
 any degree, soften or prepare you for the dismal 
 
 * This letter, and a few succeeding ones wMeh (to bring to a 
 termination the career of the venerable statesman to whom the 
 preceding pages have been dedicated) are here given, in antici- 
 E 3 
 
54 THE EOMASCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 tidings I must impart. Oui" father ! our excellent, 
 our amiable father! is no more. He died this 
 morning at two o'clock. Such were the circum- 
 stances of his distemper, that it became our ardent 
 prayer that he should not survive. His illness 
 lasted but eleven days. On Saturday se'nnight we 
 were called to him, at two in the morning. He 
 was in a most dreadful asthma, which W — thought 
 would have cut him off before the physicians could 
 reach the house. He did everything for him in a 
 moment, and in a few hours heat had begun to 
 return. He was perfectly in his senses, but could 
 hardly articulate a word ; he attempted the word 
 ' dying,' and seemed perfectly resigned, though 
 in violent pain. When at last we could make out 
 an expression, he bade God bless us! By little 
 and little I could make out his meanings, and 
 found he thought his illness paxalytic, which 
 indeed it was. Every remedy that friendship or 
 skill could suggest was applied, and succeeded 
 wonderfully. By next morning he spoke amaz- 
 ingly well, and was in good spirits. He said that 
 his head was clear, and he was willing to compound 
 for the loss of a limb ; the left leg was entirely 
 numbed. I never saw him more distinct, or more 
 cheerful, than he was all the week. He bade us 
 write to you on Monday. I said I expected he was 
 to be so much better by Friday, that I would 
 delay it till then. ' That will do,' said he* ; ' re- 
 
 pation of their date in the general narrative, was -written -when 
 Sir R. M. Keith had replaced its subject at Vienna. 
 
 * There is something touohingly characteristic in the desire 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 55 
 
 member to tell him that I suspect Ernest Harrach 
 thinks him colder than usual ; not that he says 
 anything, but I think it is implied in his last,' (I 
 will transcribe the paragraph afterwards.) When 
 Friday came, he was so well and cheerful, that I 
 was very willing to wiite to you, but he bade me 
 let it alone till Monday, and he would make out 
 his first scheme of writing a page in my letter. 
 What a Monday it was ! 
 
 " The gleam of sunshiae lasted till Saturday 
 night. That evening he had a conversation with 
 Nancy, enumeratiug all the good things of his 
 life — his worthy parents — his genteel education 
 
 — his angel of a wife — his comfort in his children 
 
 — their honomrable and easy situation — his own 
 consciousness of good-will to all men — and the 
 return of good-will he had met with ; all these 
 he dwelt upon with pleasure. ' When I take all 
 together,' said he, ' I am very tranquil with my 
 poor leg lying like a log beside me.' He conti- 
 nued in this blessed disposition till midnight, 
 when I left him in a sweet soft slumber. The 
 nurse and John tell us that he had two of these 
 sweet sleeps before two o'clock on Sunday morn- 
 ing, when he awoke at once — raving ! He could 
 not make any articulate sound ; but we saw the 
 complaint was in his head, by his constantly put- 
 tingnup his hand. I imagined that in the first 
 moment of the attack he had known that his head 
 
 (at such a moment) of the veteran " peme-maker," to save an 
 
 old Vienna friend from a possible (though unfounded) feeling of 
 
 neglect on the part of one incapable of deserving the imputation. 
 
 E 4 
 
56 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 was struck : a thing he dreaded ten times worse 
 than the worst of deaths. The people of skill, 
 however, assure us that if he did know it at all, 
 it could have been only for a moment. All that 
 occurred between this and his death was a mix- 
 ture of torpor and restlessness ; ■ a state from 
 which I saw him relieved with much satisfaction. 
 I do not know that I can ever have so severe a 
 trial as the dread of his recovery, which hung 
 over me for part of Monday, and I dwell on it 
 that it may have the same effect with you as it 
 has had with us all ; it has conviaced us that we 
 might have suffered more upon his account than 
 death makes us feel. Even poor aunt Barbara 
 was glad to resign him. 
 
 " I look upon Sunday morning as the time his 
 mind died, and again, I thank God that the poor 
 shattered body followed. His sick nurse, his 
 servants, everybody and everything pleased him 
 "while he was himself; and he died calm, and 
 without ofie struggle. When I kissed his cold 
 lips I said to myself, ' Sweet are the slumbers 
 of the just ! ' He recovered the very same placid 
 countenance I had left him with on Saturday 
 night. 
 
 " My uncle is with us, and ordering everythiag 
 with becoming decency. When I look round the 
 house, the feeling is very bitter, to thinl^how 
 soon it has lost its master ! at the same time, it 
 has been a blessed house on this occasion, as we 
 had every assistance for him .in a moment. The 
 recovery from the first attack was entirely owiag 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 57 
 
 to the prompt remedies applied ; had we lost even , 
 minutes, we must have regretted it for ever. Our 
 door 'has been crowded with friends, every hour of 
 the day ; no cold formal messages : people came 
 themselves, and questioned the servants minutely. 
 Had he been first minister, there could not have 
 been more soUcitude, and the heart was in all ! 
 
 " Farewell, my dear brother — my friend, my 
 father now ! Little did I think I was so soon' to 
 claim your protection in that light ! God bless 
 and comfort you, prays your 
 
 "A.K." 
 
 sik eobeet mukkat keith to miss agnes keith. 
 
 " Mt deak Nancy, 
 
 " I must have the comfort of writing a 
 few lines to each of my sisters : not to exhort 
 them to suppress their grief for the greatest of all 
 losses, but to beseech them to rely with confidence 
 upon every sort of alleviation which* the most 
 genuine friendship and affection in a brother can 
 procure them through the longest period of life. 
 Our family is strong indeed in those principles 
 which parental virtue, and the fairest lessons of 
 disinterested candour inspire and cherish. The 
 little fortune we have, we have in common ; and 
 I am thankful that, in saying so, I shall "be war- 
 ranted by those feelings to which you have been 
 witnesses since my infancy. There is not a child 
 of that father and mother whom we have lost, 
 who would not gladly share the last shilling with 
 
58 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 the others. You all know what I think, and 
 what I wish; act for yourselves. You are sure 
 of my approbation ; but with one single compact 
 — that we never separate — that our father's 
 house hold us all for ever ! You, my dear Nancy, 
 will cheerfully dedicate your attention to the 
 support and consolation of our father's sister: 
 I could envy you the means of makiug her old 
 age comfortable. She has felt much grief, who 
 never raised a painful sigh in the breast of a 
 fellow-creature ! Embrace her in my name, and 
 tell her I will never lose sight of that example her 
 brother set before me. Adieu, my dear Nancy ; 
 let each of you tell me what you would have me 
 to do, and I am sure I shall ^be happy in showing 
 you how affectionately I am your friend and 
 brother, 
 
 «E. M. K." 
 
 miss anne keith to loed surfolk.* 
 
 "My Loed, 
 
 " Since the first moment of recollection 
 after the shock of my father's death, which hap- 
 pened on Wednesday morning, I have had a desire 
 to write to your Lordship on the-subject. I am 
 now convinced that it has been false delicacy 
 which 'has withheld me hitherto. There lies 
 before me a letter from my brother Sir Eobert, 
 dated the 3rd of September, with everything iii 
 
 * The then official principal, and deeply attached personal 
 friend of Sir E. M. Keith. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 59 
 
 it that could have pleased and entertained his 
 father.* The whole is summed up with a com- 
 plaint of my brother Sir Basil's silence ; ' but,' 
 says he, 'my good Lord Suffolk tells me he is 
 perfectly recovered.' This further proof that 
 your Lordship enters into all that concerns your 
 friend's family removes every doubt. I ought 
 never to have had any, when I recollect the way 
 in which my father spoke of your Lordship's 
 kindnesses: civilities, he said, was too cold a word. ■ 
 All these kindnesses I can assure your Lordship 
 were repaid by the warmth of his gratitude, both 
 on his son's accoimt^ and for that share of your 
 personal friendship he himself enjoyed. 
 
 " On the 10th of the month my father was struck 
 with palsy in a most violent and dangerous degree. 
 Every help was instantly procured, and he reco- 
 vered almost miraculously. His intellects were 
 quite untouched; and though he wished to be 
 released from the struggle between an excellent 
 constitution and the most painful helplessness, he 
 patiently submitted to the thoughts of living, 
 when there was an appearance of recovery ; happy 
 that his mind was quite clean When he found 
 one side quite gone, instead of repining, he made 
 an enumeration to us of all the blessings and 
 comforts of his life, and then thanked Grod his 
 mind was easy and tranquiL In the catalogue of 
 his good things, the uncommon good fortune of 
 his sons was not forgotten. He dwelt with plea- 
 
 * It gave an account of his visit from Marshal Conway, and 
 their joint expedition into Hungary. 
 
60 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 sure and exultation on the favour of their sove- 
 reign, and the attachment of their friends and 
 patrons; and hoped it was not partiality made 
 him believe they would continue worthy of such 
 a master and such friends. This calm and cheer- 
 ful resignation continued till Sunday morning, 
 when a second more dreadful shock entirely de 
 stroyed that high and worthy mind which had, 
 for seventy-seven years, carried him with applause 
 and heartfelt comfort through all the vicissitudes 
 of life. We thank God that he did not survive 
 after the fatal blow. We see him lamented by 
 all who knew him ; we dwell on the idea of his 
 being beyond the reach of pain or care ; we have 
 no regret left on his account ; and we are endea- 
 vouring to conquer our feelings for ourselves in 
 the loss of a most affectionate parent, and most 
 amiable and instructive companion. We have 
 done everything in our power to soften the blow 
 to his sons, and to reconcile them to their irre- 
 parable loss. 
 
 "And now that. I have indulged, myself by 
 writing to your Lordship,,! remain satisfied that 
 I have omitted nothing that appears to me due 
 to the memory of nay blessed father, or the 
 friendship which subsists between my brother 
 and me. 
 
 " I am^ my Lord, with sincere respect, 
 " Yours, &c. 
 
 "Anne Keith." 
 
THE EOMASCE OF DIPLOMACT. 61 
 
 THE DUKE OF QrEENSBEEKT* TO SIR ALEXAHDEE DICK, 
 BAET. 
 
 " Ambresbwg, October 5th, 1774.' 
 "SlE, 
 
 "I most heartily lament the loss of my 
 worthy friend Mr. Keith, who was the oldest 
 acquaintance I had in the world, and one for 
 whom I had the greatest esteem, and most affec- 
 tionate regard. Our acquaintance began in our 
 early days, when we were both young travellers 
 abroad; and we lived in mutual uninterrupted 
 friendship from that time to the hour of his 
 death. The particulars attending that fatal hour, 
 which you have acquainted me with, deeply 
 aifected me. But the reflection of his having 
 died as he had lived, equally meritoriously, gave 
 me a degree of melancholy satisfaction; and I 
 hope it will be of some consolation to his family, 
 whose welfare and prosperity I most heartily 
 wish, not only in regard to my departed friend, 
 but in respect to their own personal merit, which 
 gave him great comfort while he lived, and will 
 do honour to his memory. My wife most sin- 
 
 * The predecessor of the last eccentric Duke, and a, most 
 amiable man. What is said here, of the life-long friendships 
 then formed by young men travelling for improvement, leads to 
 a regret that it is no longer the iavariable practice for the heirs 
 of good families to make, under suitable guidance, the once in- 
 dispensable Grand Tow. If occasionally perverted by a few 
 Tnauvais sujets, the five hundred young Englishmen who, during 
 twenty years, did credit to the patronage of Sir B. M. Keith, at 
 Vienna, and subsequent honour to themselves and their country, 
 show the former to have been exceptions. 
 
62 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 cerely condoles with me upon this melancholy 
 occasion, and joins her aifectionate compliments 
 with mine to the afflicted family. 
 
 " I am with great regard. Sir, 
 
 " Your most obedient servant, 
 
 " QUEENSBEERT," 
 
 TO MISS ANNE KEITH. 
 "Hampton Cowt, October 10th, 1774. 
 
 " Madam, 
 
 " If I had not been extremely indisposed 
 with the gout when I received the honour of your 
 letter, I certainly should not have failed imme- 
 diately returning my best thanks and acknowledg- 
 ments for so flattering an instance of attention 
 towards me. Permit me to employ the very first 
 moments of my recovery, in assuring you of the 
 sincere part I take in whatever concerns Sir 
 Eobert Keith's family. Few people seemed to 
 enjoy more serenity and happiness at the close 
 
 * Of that sensibility and delicacy of feeUng, so often referred 
 to in Sir R Keith's correspondence, as characterising the -writer 
 of the above, and which must have endeared him inexpressibly 
 to his intimate fciends, a touching relic accidentally met the 
 Editor's eye, in the valuable autograph collection of Wm. 
 Hunter BaiUie, Esq., son to the late eminent physician of that 
 name. A letter from the Earl to the celebrated Dr. Hunter, on 
 the death of the Countess, whom all the sMU and tenderness of 
 that great physician had failed to save, is perhaps unrivalled in 
 conveying, at an agonizing moment, the mingled sentiments of 
 christian resignation, conjugal grief, and a gratitude, of which 
 even the loss of a beloved object had only rendered the expres- 
 sions more delicately fervent. 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 63 
 
 of life than your father; and none deserved it 
 more. He lived to see his sons greatly provided 
 for ; to see the representative of his family rise by 
 his own merit to very distinguished honours and 
 situation ; to see him high in the esteem and con- 
 fidence of his royal master, and dear to all his 
 friends and acquaintance ; respected abroad and at 
 home. Everything seemed to conspire to smoothe 
 the evening of Mr. Keith's life, and Providence 
 would not let him linger in disease, or protract a 
 miserable existence. 
 
 " I presume. Madam, to offer my best compli- 
 ments to your sisters, and am, with great respect, 
 " Your most obedient and most obliged 
 " Humble servant, 
 
 " Suffolk." 
 
 sir k. mtjkkat keith to sik alexander dick.* 
 
 " Vienna, Jan. 19ih, 1775. 
 " The gratitude which I have owed to you, my 
 dear uncle, from my earliest infancy, for number- 
 less proofs of kindness and affection, is now 
 redoubled by the parental care and tenderness 
 which you have shown to my sisters in the dis- 
 
 * Of this most amiable and patriotic man, a diplomatic fiiend 
 of Sip E. M. Keith, who visited Scotland, says, " I was made 
 particularly happy by the acquaintance of your amiable and ac- 
 complished sister; and was equally gratified and astonished 
 with the viridis etjuqunda seneotus of the Tenerable Sir Alexan- 
 der Dick. I have been so struck by the peculiar excellence 
 which so strongly marks the whole race with which you are 
 connected, that I cannot help exclaiming, ' Bara avis in terris.' " 
 
64 THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 tressful situation which has been the natural con- 
 sequence of our late irreparable loss. They and I 
 have inherited from your beloved sister, and from 
 your deceased friend, our worthy father, such 
 sentiments and feelings as will, I flatter myself, 
 do no dishonour to their memories ; nor leave any 
 room to doubt that those excellent lessons which 
 have been taught us by such parents, have made 
 that deep impression which they so ardently 
 wished in the minds of their children, and 
 marked out to each of them an invariable line 
 of principle and conduct. We are rich in what 
 we think the treasures of this world, the good 
 opinion of the public, and the warmest affections 
 of private friendship. Of these riches we are 
 both greedy and tenacious ; and to our wants and 
 wishes for every other species of wealth* your 
 angel of a sister did happily set the narrowest 
 bounds, with the first and strongest impressions of 
 reason and example. My sisters have refused the 
 small addition I was desirous to make to that 
 income which they hold from the bounty of our 
 
 * Volumes, perhaps, could not more graphically convey the 
 sentiment, as reflected from the mind of Mr. Keith to those of 
 his family, than a little anecdote, for which the Editor is in- 
 debted to the venerable lady whose name has shed its friendly 
 sanction over these pages : — One of Mr. Keith's daughters, 
 while recounting to him an instance of unbecoming parsimony 
 in a great personage, added a regret that those most richly 
 endowed with the gifts of fortune were not always possessed of 
 the generous and liberal heart which ought to accompany them. 
 " Child ! " exclaimed Mr. Keith, (or rather " Lassie," for thp 
 veteran diplomatist, when excited, was apt to relapse into the 
 dialect of his youth,) " would ye give them that too ? " 
 
■ THE EOMANCB OF DIPLOMACT. 65 
 
 beneficent sovereign. They did so from motives 
 which I cannot help approving; but they have not 
 taught me — nor did they wish to have me sup- 
 pose — ^^that my purse (whatever it may contain) 
 was less theirs because at this moment they saw 
 no necessity for putting their hands in it. Our 
 father's children will always be in the right in 
 matters of money, because we know what is its 
 true value, and think it well bestowed whenever it 
 can purchase one pleasing recollection, or a grain 
 of self-esteem. 
 
 " My most ardent wish at present, is to see my 
 sisters in possession of that sacred sum which my 
 fether so properly bequeathed to them. I hate 
 the word ' Independence,' and they shall never use 
 it with my consent ; but I shall think myself in- 
 finitely obliged to any friend of my father's who 
 can so help them to clear up their affairs by the 
 sale of the house and furniture (the books and 
 pictures only excepted), that they may have their 
 little pittance in their own hands, with the full 
 power of bestowing it hereafter on that man, 
 woman, or child who shall in the course of years 
 have brought home to each of their hearts the 
 greatest number of grateful sensations. I will be 
 that heir, if I can, because I will employ every 
 honest means to stand foremost in their affections ; 
 and yet I both acknowledge, and am proiid of, my 
 brother's right to the fairest rivalship in so good 
 a cause. He shall bring nephews and nieces to 
 ns all, and I will entail upon them my romantic 
 notions, with that fund of contentment which 
 
 VOL, I. P 
 
66 THE BOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT, 
 
 Providence has given me, in addition to the 
 wealth of all my three sisters. * 
 
 "As to myself, I grow every day somewhat 
 older, and much poorer ; my station and my for- 
 tune bear no proportion; but this to me is no 
 subject of repining, for my brother and sisters are 
 well provided for, and I am at the height of 
 my ambition; I am confident that in spending 
 my last shilling I am doing what is right ; and I 
 am honest enough never to make away with one 
 farthing which belongs to another. 
 
 "But, to return to the interesting subject of 
 your kind letter. In one of my last to my sisters, 
 I have desired that a small but elegant monu- 
 ment of marble may be set up near the grave of 
 the best of fathers. I am very desirous to see a 
 drawing by Mr. Gumming, and a modest, yet 
 manly inscription, penned by Dr. Eobertson, Mr. 
 Hume, Dr. Blair, or any one of my father's learned 
 friends, I beg that a short estimate of the ex- 
 pense may be sent along with it to me, and my 
 answer shall suffer no delay. 
 
 "It gives me real pleasure to find that Lady 
 Dick has set so high a value upon that token of 
 grateful remembrance which my sisters delivered 
 to her in my name. It could not be better be- 
 stowed than upon a woman whose many good 
 qualities render you and your family so essentially" 
 happy. I beg of you to deliver my most afiec- 
 
 • The worthy use made, of it by two of them (for the yovmgei; 
 added to her immediate elder's henefioent bec[ueBt) has been 
 already noticed. 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 67 
 
 tionate compliments to them, and to Lady Dal- 
 rymple and hersi You know those friends in 
 your neighbourhood who have an undoubted right 
 to my sincere attachment, and you will do me a 
 service in giving them the strongest assurances of 
 its duration. Adieu, my dear uncle. 
 
 " I ever am most affectionately yours, 
 
 " E. M. Keith." 
 
 It was beneath the roof, and from the example 
 of the father thus mourned and commemorated, 
 that his two sons imbibed the principles of kindred 
 honour and integrity which through life so emi- 
 nently distinguished them. And to the respect 
 inspired by their parent's character they no doubt 
 owed, in part at least, that singular good fortune, 
 which ultimately triumphed over the usual diffi-* 
 culties attendant on the path of youthful adven- 
 turers in the fields of fame. 
 
 That this was the case, is evident from the tenor 
 of the following private letter^ in his own hand- 
 writing, from Mr. Pitt (afterwards Lord Chatham) 
 to Mr. Keith. And while the promise contained 
 in it in favour of the elder brother was ere long 
 gratifyingly fulfilled, the interest of that great 
 minister placed the younger (the beau idial of a 
 frank gallant British saUor) in the path of that 
 further promotion and employment which paved 
 the way for his ultimate appointment (as a reward 
 for his brother's distinguished services) to the 
 government of Jamaica; an office which he dis- 
 
 S 2 
 
68 THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACT. 
 
 •cluarged with general esteem and approbation for 
 several years, at the end of which, on his lamented 
 decease, in 1777, a monument was erected to him 
 by the House of Assembly.* 
 
 MK. PITT TO ME. KEITH, f 
 
 " St. James' s-square, December 28th, 1758. 
 
 [Privaie.1 
 «SlE, 
 
 " I cannot let the despatch from the office 
 ■go away without accompanying it with a line 
 to assure you of my sincere Tegard, and of the 
 pleasure I should take in being of any use to 
 Major Keith, on any proper occasion that shall 
 present itself. You will have learned from Captain 
 Keith himself the step his merit has given him in 
 the navy, and I think myself much obliged to 
 Lord Anson for doing, at my request, that piece 
 of justice so readily. Continue, Sir, to do me the 
 honour to believe me always at your service, and 
 be assured of the real sentiments of esteem and 
 consideration with which I remain, 
 
 " Dear Sir, your most obedient 
 
 " and very humble servant, 
 
 "W. Pitt." 
 
 * The work entitled " Batson's PoKtical Eegister,'' after enu- 
 merating his services in the navy &om his entrance into it till 
 the year 1769, adds, " In 1772, he received the honour of knight- 
 hood, as proxy for his brother. Sir Eohert Murray Keith, then 
 Ambassador at the Court of Vienna. In the ensuing year he 
 was raised to the very honourable and consequential trust of 
 Governor of the Island of Jamaica." 
 
 t Then Ambassador at the Court of Vienna. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 69 
 
 That these were not mere words of ministerial 
 courtesy, (albeit mi wonted, even as such, from a 
 dictator of proverbial haughtiness,) his creation, in 
 the course of the following year, of a separate 
 command for the military brother, and the ap- 
 pointment of the other to a40-gun frigate, will be 
 sufficient to prove. But though these might 
 speak for themselves, it is difficult to resist the 
 honourable testimony borne by the Premieres con- 
 fidential secretary (when the time for this realisa- 
 tion arrived) to the share which the individual 
 worth of his proUgSs seems to have borne in the 
 fulfilment of more than the most sanguine hopes 
 of either. 
 
 ME. WOOD TO ME. KEITH. 
 
 " Whitehall, My nth, 1760. 
 
 "Deae Sie, 
 
 " According to all rules of civility I should 
 have answered your obliging letter ; but though I 
 have delayed that, and omitted letting you know 
 that both your sons had obtained what they 
 wanted, yet the business being done (and done by 
 Mr. Pitt alone), I was easy about the rest, and I 
 know you'll forgive me. There is no doubt you 
 would soon hear this from others, who might per- 
 haps claim a merit in being your friends upon 
 this occasion; but it is right that you should 
 know that Mr. Pitt did the business, both with 
 Lord Anson and Lord Barrington; and it will not 
 be amiss that I should tell you, .that whatever 
 partiality Mr. Pitt may have towards you, he 
 p 3 
 
70 THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 would not have interfered, did he not know your ■ 
 sons deserved his attention. They really do — and 
 while they continue to go on so, they ■will be re- 
 membered.* Mr. Pitt directs me to make his 
 compliments to you. May you and your sons 
 long have a perfect enjoyment of each other ! I 
 beg you will excuse this hasty letter, and believe 
 me, with the greatest truth and regard, 
 " Dear Sir, your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 "EoBEKT Wood." 
 
 ^ To the elder of these two sons, the ostensible 
 subject of the present sketch. Sir Eobert Murray 
 Keith, it may be thought high time to revert. 
 And it may serve incidentally to prove how reve- 
 rential was the regard cherished in the family, 
 for the name which its head so honourably bore, 
 that the patronymic of " Eobert " was successively 
 bestowed on three sons ; two of whom, dying in 
 infancy, it was, in defiance of the superstitious 
 feelings to which such a circumstance might have 
 given rise, perseveringly conferred on a third, who 
 survived, it is hoped, not to disgrace it. 
 
 He was born on the 20th September, 1730. 
 From the important avocations of his father 
 abroad, the early formation of his character must 
 have devolved, in a great measure, on the 
 
 * A promise again fulfilled by the appointment of Sir Basil to 
 a command on the West India Station, from the year 1766 to 
 the end of 1769 ; when (in a letter to his sister) the warm- 
 hearted tar owns he laepi at parting with his- officers, spite of the 
 fine things said to him by the First Lord of th,e Admiralty. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 71 
 
 " angel " of a mother whom, at the age of eleven, 
 it was his misfortune to lose * ; and while to this 
 may probably be traced the tenderness and deli- 
 cacy of feeling which distinguished her son's cha- 
 racter — ^its manlier features, and strong soldier 
 bias, as well as that unsophisticated relish for 
 fun and frolic, which neither age nor etiquette 
 could quench, may have taken their rise from 
 that epitome of the world, in its mixture of ranks, 
 its struggles, and competitions, nay, even its 
 not altogether bloodless conflictst — the High 
 School of Edinburgh, as graphically described by 
 Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 At what precise time this " radical" seminary — 
 (amid whose collisions, and despite whose equal- 
 
 • Her brother, Sir John Cxmninghame, in announcmg her 
 death, (the result of a protracted lahour of three days,) says, 
 "Death was no terror to her — she bore his approach like a 
 heroine, and carried the smile of an angel on her countenance 
 till the moment she expired. So died the ■woman of the most 
 virtues and fewest faults I ever knew." Her bereaved husband 
 thus expresses himself: " I think no man ever lost more in one 
 person ; the most amiable of wives, the most faithful of friends, 
 the best of mothers. Indeed I never knew her equal in all the 
 relations of Ufe." 
 
 t These last, indeed, long known under the significant title 
 of bickers, in which large stones played a well-nigh fatal part — 
 were so incompatible with the stiff and expensive childish cos- 
 tume of the period, that the nobility and gentry of Scotland, 
 (then, according to Sir Kobert's surviving sister, a parcel of 
 " happy beggars" — placed by their sense of their own position 
 above the paltry distinctions of wealth) — by an agreement among 
 themselves resolved to clothe their belligerent scions in a sheet 
 armour styled ticking, since reserved for the more peaceful pur- 
 poses of slumber. 
 
 E 4 
 
72 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 ity, the distinctions of society seem nevertheless to 
 have resumed their allotted place) — was exchanged 
 for a higher and wider sphere of education, can- 
 not now be ascertained. A letter, however, still 
 extant, dated September 1746, shows that the 
 youth had ere then been removed to an academy 
 in London, the detail of his pursuits at which 
 proves that he was already designed for the army. 
 " My present studies," he writes to Ws maternal 
 uncle. Sir Alexander Dick, " are riding the great 
 horse, fencing, French, fortification, music, and 
 drawing ; " some of the articles in the enumera- 
 tion showing that elegant accomplishments were 
 then deemed an essential part of a military edu- 
 cation. That his classical studies (though here 
 omitted) had not been neglected, his frequent 
 playful quotations testify; as well as his being 
 able, in the evening of life, to call to his aid 
 Latin, as a colloquial language, in parts of Europe 
 where it formed the only medium of intercourse. 
 His facility indeed in the acquirement of lan- 
 guages was such, that not only did French (which 
 he wrote and spoke like a native) serve him as a 
 passport to the enjoyment of, as well as admission 
 into the best foreign society, but with Dutch, 
 Grerman, and Italian he was perfectly conversant ; 
 and possessed besides a knowledge of several 
 other dialects, (comprising what on one occasion 
 he playfully called his " ten tongues,") with not 
 one of which, however, could he make himself 
 intelligible ih remote districts of Hungary., It 
 may serve as an encouragement to youths, (or 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 73 
 
 rather to the relatives of such,) who show disin- 
 clination in early years for letter-writing, to have 
 it under the hand of one of the most excellent 
 and indefatigahle of correspondents in after-life, 
 that, at sixteen, he was hoth a " had scribe^'' — 
 (though even then the assertion is belied by the 
 bold character of the penmanship which, fifty 
 years later, combined facility and ease with cop- 
 per-plate-like accuracy— and " exceedvngly lazy," 
 How soon the latter disqualification was ex- 
 changed for diligence as a letter-writer, we know 
 not ; but sundry " copies of verses," as they were 
 then styled, in which the writer's playfulness 
 sought vent, during the monotony of some years' 
 service among the fens of Holland, in one of 
 the then popular regiments, (composed chiefly of 
 his countrymen,) known by the name of the 
 " Scotch Dutch," have found their way into the 
 collections of the day. They are of too local 
 and juvenile a cast to justify their rescue from 
 oblivion. One alone, a parody written on the 
 supposed disastrous event, (viz. the reduction of the 
 corps,) to whose fortunate occurrence, perhaps, the 
 whole subsequent career of the disbanded " cap- 
 tain " might be legitimately traced, may be given, 
 simply to show with what lightriess of heart the 
 first misfortune — and a serious one it then 
 seemed — of the poor soldier's life was met and 
 commemorated. To be reduced at two-and-twenty, 
 and deprived of his commission in one service, 
 without any very definite prospect of employment 
 in another, would have damped the spirits per- 
 
74 THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACT. 
 
 haps of any one but a Keith. The effusion is 
 entitled — 
 
 A PAT?,ATHBASE ON COLUl's COMPLAINT; WRITTEN AT BEEGEN- 
 OP-ZOOM, MAECH 1752, ON THE EEDUCXION THAT THEN HAPi 
 PENED. 
 
 By the side of the slow-rmrning Zoom 
 
 A poor pension'd Captain was laid, 
 And while he hewail'd his sad doqpi 
 
 A knapsack supported his head. 
 
 The Lieutenants who heard him complain. 
 
 With a sigh to his sighs did reply ; 
 And the Ensigns, who shared in his pain. 
 
 Stood moumfiilly murmuring by. 
 
 Alas ! what a fool have I heen 
 
 (Then sadly complaining he said) 
 To have changed my old yeUow for green — 
 
 'Twere better by far I had staid.* 
 
 But I was ambitious and young, 
 And the name of a " Captain" seem'd great, 
 
 Nor did I repent it was done 
 Tin now, when I find 'tis too late. 
 
 How foolish was I to beUeve 
 That reduction would do me no wrong ; 
 
 Or that I should have a reprieve. 
 Because I had flugel'd t so long! 
 
 Poor I, who till now was so gay. 
 Must soon from that station remove ; 
 
 Go, clothed like a ploughman, in grey. 
 Or live in a cottage on love. 
 
 * Alluding to a change for promotion from an older to a junior 
 battalion. 
 
 t The leader in the exercises of a company, or squad, is 
 styled, in military phrase, a " flugel man." 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 75 
 
 What ttougli I have skill to complain, 
 
 Though the Muses my temples have crown'd ; 
 
 ■Wlat though, when they hear my soft strain. 
 The Subs sit aU weeping around? 
 
 Ah, Captain ! thy hopes are in vain ! 
 
 Thy sash and thy gorget resign ; 
 Thy spontoon thou must yield to a swain 
 
 Whose regiment is older than thine. 
 
 All ye, my companions so dear, 
 
 Who share in those hardships of mine, 
 Whatever you suffer forbear,' 
 
 Forbear at your fate to repine ; 
 
 Our masters have sent us to range, 
 
 The wants of the state to supply ; 
 'Twas theirs to complete the great change, 
 
 'Tis ours to be pension'd — and die ! 
 
 How long it was before the commission in the 
 English service, alluded to in the following letter, 
 was obtained, is unknown. But much of the wri- 
 ter's subsequent distinction, and of the fitness of 
 the reduced captain of the Scotch Dutch, for a se- 
 parate command under one of the first generals in 
 the age, may be traceable to the employment of 
 the interval in a sedulous cultivation of military 
 science, in one of those Grerman schools of the art 
 of war, where its knowledge was to be purchased 
 by a course of privations and hardships, of which 
 the soldiers of our day have little idea. A family 
 tradition has preserved, that during the rigours 
 of winter, in the garrison, where the future 
 Colonel of " Keith's Highlanders " was serving 
 
76 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 his painful though voluntary apprenticeship, the 
 scarcity of fuel, and necessity for mounting guard 
 over the scanty supply of firewood, his shivering 
 comrades were in the habit of pilfering from each 
 other, induced, in the young Scotchman, a habit 
 of somnambulism, which was first detected in 
 consequencie of the unaccountably hacked condi- 
 tion of his sword, with which he in his sleep 
 belaboured imaginary robbers. 
 
 His situation is thus described in a letter to 
 his eldest sister, dated from London, in March 
 1758. 
 
 " My deae Jannie, 
 
 " Since I received yours, I have been in 
 a sort of hurry, funning after those who I knew 
 were my father's friends, and might be of use to 
 me. They have received me kindly, and several 
 of those in power have assured me, that his 
 Majesty intended to advance me, in consideration 
 of my father's services, which have given entire 
 satisfaction. 
 
 " I should be sorry to begin by complaining of 
 my present situation, though it is by no means 
 advantageous; as I find myself the youngest 
 supernumerary captain of a new battalion, with-, 
 out a company ; which, after having been eleven 
 years a captain, and a month a major, is no very 
 flattering prospect. If there were any hopes of 
 my father's succeeding in his present negotiation, 
 we should certainly feel the good effects of it ; if 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 77 
 
 he does not, it will not be his fault, and we must 
 take patience. 
 
 " It is very natural for you to be curious about 
 everything that concerns him *; only in answer to 
 your questions on the subject, I scarce know how 
 to begin. His outward appearance is as much 
 that of a genteel, imaffected man of the world as 
 it is possible. His conversation is gay and unre- 
 strained ; which, added to the known probity of 
 his character, has gained him an universal esteem. 
 His modesty with regard to himself and his family 
 has perhaps been a hurt to him, yet it is not the 
 least amiable of his qualities, and gives him an 
 air of gentlemanly iudependence, which no in- 
 triguing favour-begging courtier ever attained to. 
 In short, he is the creature of nobody"; and what- 
 ever he has got, has been by merit, and attention 
 to business. If ever he thinks fit to ask an essen- 
 tial favour, I believe he will find it no hard matter 
 to obtain it, at least as long as his Majesty lives ; 
 how he stands with the Prince I know not. I 
 shall only add that he walks as much as ever; 
 and, thank Grod ! his constitution is not the least • 
 broken ; though I cannot help being imeasy at the 
 abominable climate he is gone to.f 
 
 " Yours, affectionately, 
 
 "K. M. Keith." 
 
 * Mr. Keitli had teen for several years a stranger to his 
 family, probatly from the, period of his appointment to Vienna, 
 in 17i8. It is prohable that during his son's late sojourn in 
 Germany, his father and he had met. 
 
 t Mr. Keith had recently heen transferred (in consequence of 
 the rupture with Austria) to the Embassy at Petersburgh. 
 
78 THE EOMAMCB OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 The prognostic above hazarded was not long in 
 being realised. In the month of December of the 
 same year, we find Captain Keith, after an active 
 campaign under the celebrated Prince Ferdinand 
 of Brunswick, filling important though temporary- 
 situations in the allied armies. The letter is such 
 a playful one ; its milcmge oi doggrel rhyme, and 
 more serious verse, so pharacteristic, that at the 
 risk of the imputation of trifling on the threshold 
 of graver matters, we cannot resist it. It runs 
 thus : — 
 
 "Munster, Dec. Sth, 1758. 
 
 " Dear Jannie, 
 
 " Having sheathed the sword for a space, 
 and finding myself somewhat idle, I have resolved, 
 for my own amusement and your instruction, to 
 give Pegasus the bridle ; and though there is no- 
 thing that inspires very lively ideas in this dull 
 town of Munster, yet you know a man has many 
 resources, who is at once a poet and a punster; 
 for lyric, satiric, and soft panegyric, ode, opera, 
 and sonnet, the buskin or bonnet, though each has 
 a style that's unlike to the other, yet all are com- 
 bined" in the style, of your brother. So, when to 
 cheer the low and drooping soul, a skilful hand 
 prepares the genial bowl, in just proportion rum. 
 and water pours, with sugar sweetens, and with 
 lemon sours ; though tastes so different seem to 
 be at odds, yet joined in punch make nectar for 
 the gods ! Behold how this description borrows 
 strength from apt similitude." 
 
THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 79 
 
 "Dec. 15th. 
 
 " Thus far had my muse proceeded, ■with un- 
 common success and agility, when a stupid, thick- 
 skulled enemy to genius interrupted my career ; 
 nor has it heen in my power to resume till now, 
 for the following reasons. 
 
 " My last letter informed you that we expected 
 impatiently the arrival of a courier from England. 
 He arrived three days ago, and brought me the 
 unwelcome tidings that my honest general was 
 appointed to command the British troops here at 
 Munster, during the absence of Lord Greorge 
 Sackville, who is gone over about business. As 
 both my duty and inclination engage me to him, 
 I was obliged to lay aside all thoughts of seeing 
 Caledonia this winter, which had been my fa- 
 vourite scheme. However, that I might not re- 
 main without occupation, I am honoured with the 
 double employment, of adjutant-general, and se- 
 cretary to the commander-in-chief; that is to say, 
 till those gentlemen return ; for my good fortune 
 will never allow me to be in eifect one or other. 
 In order to show the great folks that I was proof 
 against disappointment, and that the prospect of 
 so much business did not depress, but rather ani- 
 mate my genius, I presented them next day with 
 the following verses, the subject of which is an 
 inexhaustible fund of panegyric : — 
 
80 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 LIKES ON PBDfOE EEEDINAiro OF BETOfSTVIOK. 
 
 No more shall Fiction lend her aid to Truth, 
 And fabled heroes teach aspiring youth ; 
 In Ferdinand's example they shall find 
 Lessons that mend the heart, and form the mind. 
 Behold hiin, glorious in the conquer'd field ; 
 George's avenger and his country's shield ; 
 Humanity and Justice by his side. 
 And the loud voice of Liberty his guide : 
 Then mark that soul which sparHes in his eye, 
 And learn for her to conquer or to die. 
 But when again the winter storms descend, 
 And the rude -blasts the active war suspend, 
 See him, in social life, by all beloved. 
 And truly blest — in being self-approved. 
 Free with a few, and easy in the crowd, 
 Too great, too wise, too worthy to be proud ; 
 The joys his bosom feels, and virtues give. 
 Teach with what pleasure honest men may live." 
 
 Again it appeared as if (born under a lucky 
 star) the seemingly adverse circumstances of 
 Major Keith's career were destined, like succes- 
 sive waves, to float him on the " tide that leads 
 to fortune." The disappointment above men- 
 tioned, in his projects of spending the winter at 
 home, not only afforded him an opportunity of 
 gaining experience and manifesting merit in the 
 various military employments enumerated in his 
 letter, but secured to him the inestimable advan-? 
 tage of the life-long friendship of Marshal Con- 
 way : the " honest general " (and well might he 
 be thus honourably commemorated), to whom 
 duty and inclination equally prompted a kindred 
 spirit to adhere. "With him, and his amiable wife 
 Lady Aylesbury, even the "dull town of Mun- 
 ster " must have acquired charms ; nor was Major 
 
THE KOMAUCB OF DIPLOMACY. 81 
 
 Keith likely to repine at a detention which domes- 
 ticated him in such society. 
 
 But stranger still, the disgrace and ruin which 
 (well or ill deserved) fell, after the battle of Min- 
 den, on another commander, with whom his for- 
 tunes seem to have become at that period con- 
 nected, were so far from involving in them (as at 
 a period of ^such factious virulence might easily 
 have happened), the innocent subordinate, selected 
 for a very invidious and hazardous office — that 
 this very imdesirable selection actually placed the 
 young soldier in circumstances to claim in person 
 the unforgotten promise of the Prime Minister of 
 England. That he did not do so in vain, the fol- 
 lowing letter will show. 
 
 MAJOR EEITH TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 "London, August 21st, 1759. i 
 
 « Deae Father, 
 
 *'Soon after I wrote to you from the battle- 
 field of Tonnenhausen, the unhappy censure passed 
 upon Lord G. Sackville, which has doubtless 
 reached your ears, and which I hope was un- 
 merited as well as unexpected, obliged his lord- 
 ship to desire to be recalled from the command 
 in Germany. I shall not enter at present into 
 the merits of an affair, the greatest part of which 
 I was not witness to, as I happened to be dif- 
 ferently employed at the time. However, I was 
 chosen to be the bearer of his resignation, which I 
 accordingly delivered, and it was accepted. 
 
 " I am, I hope, incapable of abandordng a man 
 VOL. I. G , 
 
82 THE KOMiNOE OF BIPLOMACTi 
 
 because he is the victim of populax clamour ; but 
 after having discharged my duty to him, and 
 knowing that I could be no longer upon the staff, 
 or on actual service, I thought myself bound to 
 wait upon your friends, and declare my resolution 
 of serving in any place and without any terms. 
 I received the kindest, and perhaps the most 
 ineffectual assurances from those to whom I was 
 admitted; but some days after, I got access to 
 Mr. Pitt, who inquired into my situation with a 
 generous and friendly concern. He said he 
 wished your family well, and would serve me 
 whenever it was in his power. Soon after it 
 was determined, though not without some oppo- 
 sition, to form a little corps of Highlanders and 
 send them to Grermany. Three hundred supernu- 
 meraries of Lord J. Murray's corps were ready at 
 Newcastle. Mr. Pitt removed all obstacles, and 
 gave me the sole command of them. This corps 
 is to be augmented to five companies and to 
 belong entirely to me, with the rank of Major- 
 Commandant. I kissed hands to-day; am to em- 
 bark the three first companies, as soon as pos- 
 sible, for Embden. They are to be in Highland 
 dress, and be called the Highland Volunteers. 
 
 "The happiness I felt in so distinguished a 
 mark of favour, was increased by the manner in 
 which it was bestowed upon me. Mr. Wood has 
 a^ted throughout with wai-mth and affection ; and 
 he this day told me he thought it fair to acquaint 
 you, that you have a right to call upon .your 
 other friends upon a proper occasion, as no per- 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 83 
 
 son can pretend to the smallest share in this, 
 except Mr. Pitt. 
 
 " I will not say what I can do, but I have an 
 excellent opportunity, and am unworthy of favour 
 if I cannot improve it. My command is entirely 
 separate, and only under Prince Ferdinand and 
 Lord Grranby. I shall probably be with the army 
 in Grermany before I can hear from you, therefore 
 please direct for me there. Basil was so good as 
 to come from Deal to see me. He is a noble- 
 spirited gentlemanly young man as ever I saw. 
 Mr. Pitt will, I am sure, continue his good offices 
 to my brother, whose character he is pleased to 
 approve of. I need not say he deserves your 
 thanks. 
 
 " I am, dear Father, 
 
 ''Your dutifal son, 
 
 «K. M. K." 
 
 Having given, in his own simple and manly 
 narrative, the account of an appointment, so , 
 gratifying in its mode and nature to every feel- 
 ing of the gallant soldier, it is to other sources we 
 must look for his exploits, and those of the 
 countrymen whom he led into the field. 
 
 " It was," says General Stewart of G-arth, in his 
 admirable Hastory of the Highland Eegiments, in 
 which he has embodied the substance of all the 
 voluminous despatches and records of the time, 
 " from among these Highlanders of the old school 
 that two regiments, commanded by Major Eobert 
 Murray Keith and Major J. Campbell, of Dimoon, 
 o 2 
 
84 THE BOMAMCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 were formed. Major Keith had served in the 
 Scots Brigade in Holland, and after the death of 
 his illustrious .relative Field-Marshal Keith, at 
 the battle of Hoch-Kirken in 1758, had returned 
 to England, when he was appointed to command 
 three newly-raised companies of Highlanders, 
 consisting of 105 men each. With this small 
 corps he joined the allied army in Germany 
 under Prince Ferdinand, in August 1759. 
 
 " The opinion early formed of this corps may 
 be estimated from the circumstance of their hav- 
 ing been ordered to attack the enemy the third 
 day after they arrived in the camp of the allies. 
 In what manner this duty was executed, may be 
 learned from the following statement : — 
 
 " ' The Highlanders imder Major Keith, sup- 
 ported by the hussars of Luchner, who com- 
 manded the whole detachment, attacked the 
 village of Eyback, sword in hand, where Baron 
 Fremont's regiment of dragoons were posted, and 
 routed them with great slaixghter. The greater 
 part of the regiment was killed and many pri- 
 soners taken, together with 200 horses and all 
 their baggage. The Highlanders distinguished 
 themselves greatly by their intrepidity, which was 
 the more remarkable, as they were no other than raw 
 recruits just arrived from their own country,, and 
 altogether unacquainted with regular discipline. 
 
 " ' By the advice of Prince Ferdinand, founded 
 on a favourable opinion of the conduct of this 
 little corps, orders were given to augment it to 
 eight hundred men, with officers in proportion. 
 
THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACT. 85 
 
 and at the same time to raise another regiment in 
 the Highlands, both of which were to be placed 
 under the command of his Eoyal Highness. When 
 the men had marched down from the Highlands, 
 Keith's regiment was embodied at Perth, and 
 Campbell's at Stirling. They were embarked for 
 Crermany, and joined the allied army under 
 Prince Ferdinand, in 1760.* Though they had 
 but little time for discipline, and none for ex- 
 perience, they were placed in the grenadier 
 brigade — a distinguished honour for so young 
 a corps.' 
 
 "The campaign having opened on the 29th 
 July, 1760, the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick 
 marched from the camp at Kelle with a body of 
 troops, including the two battalions of English 
 Grenadiers and two of Highlanders; and on the 
 30th, in a smart action, defeated the enemy with 
 considerable loss. The Prince, in writing to 
 Greorge the Second an account of the battle, after 
 stating the loss of the enemy at 1500 men, and 
 more than an equal number of prisoners, adds — 
 * ours, which was moderate, fell chiefly on Max- 
 well's brave battalion of English Grenadiers, and 
 the two regiments of Scots Highlanders, wTvich 
 did wonders.^ " 
 
 On a subsequent occasion — that of a night- 
 attack on a fortress — he says : " The Scots High- 
 
 * It was to this consummation of Major (now Colonel) Keith's 
 hopes, and not to the first appointment, that Mr. Wood referred, 
 when he said to Mr. Keith, his son had (through Mr. Pitt again) 
 got all thai he wanted. 
 
 o3 
 
86' THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 landers mounted the breaches, sword in hand,: 
 supported by the chasseurs. The service was 
 complete, and the troops displayed equal courage, 
 soldier-like conduct, and activity." Another ac- 
 count says : '* The brigade formed of Grrenadiera 
 and Highlanders distinguished themselves re- 
 markably on this occasion." 
 
 The brigade having been ordered, on the 5th 
 of October, 1760, to join the Hereditary Prince, 
 arrived on the 14th at a very critical moment, 
 when the allied army, having been attacked by 
 Marshal de Castries, were compelled to retire. 
 The Prince having been joined by the above, and 
 other troops, determined to attack the marshal in 
 his turn. The action was well sustained from 
 five till nine in the morning, when the Prince 
 gave the signal for retreat. The Highlanders,, 
 it is said by various contemporary authorities, 
 were the "first to attack, and the last to retreat, 
 and kept their ground in the face of every disad- 
 vantage, even after the troops on their right and 
 left had retired. The Highlanders were so exas- 
 perated by the loss they sustained, that it was 
 with difficulty they could be withdrawn, till an 
 aide de camp was sent from the Prince to say, 
 that longer persistence would be an useless waste 
 of human life." 
 
 "In the battle of Fellinghausen, in July 1761, 
 the conduct of the Highlanders (who had now ac- 
 quired the character of veteran soldiers) was again 
 honoured by a flattering mark of approbation by 
 
THE KOMANCB OF DIPLOMACY. 87 
 
 the commander-in-chief. 'His Serene Highness 
 Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick has been graciously 
 pleased to signify his entire approbation of their 
 conduct on the 15th and 16th of July. The 
 soldier-like perseverance of the Highland regi- 
 ments in resisting and repulsing the repeated at- 
 tacks of the chosen troops of France, has deservedly 
 gained them the highest honour. The intrepidity 
 of the little band of Highlanders merits the high- 
 est praise.' He adds — ' The humanity and gene- 
 rosity with ■which the soldiers treated the great 
 flock of prisoners they took, does them as much 
 honour as their subduing the enemy.' " 
 
 To these contemporary testimonies, collected 
 with honest pride in the reputation of his country- 
 men by Greneral Stewart, it is gratifying to be able 
 to subjoin the letter written almost from the field 
 of battle — where, indeed, the chosen troops of 
 France, under their most distinguished comman- 
 ders, had sustained a memorable defeat — by the 
 commandant of the brave little band who had so 
 materially contributed to the victory. 
 
 COLONEL KEITH TO MB. KEITH. 
 
 " Camp, at KircUeruikern, July 19th, 1761. 
 
 «Mt dear Father, 
 
 " The last week has been a very busy one, 
 and the half-naked gentry have not been idle. 
 On the 12th instant, the enemy attacked the posts 
 in front of our army, and my battalion, being at 
 hand, was employed in repulsing them. This we 
 
 G 4 
 
88 THE EOMANCE OF DIPIOMACY. 
 
 had the happiness to effect, but it cost my Utile 
 family one captain killed, one captain and two 
 subalterns wounded; and in all, between forty 
 and fifty privates. On the 15,th, the French made 
 dispositions for a general engagement; Marshal 
 Broglio being to attack Lord Granby's corps, 
 which is Tipon the left of the army, while Prince 
 Soubize attacked the Hereditary Prince upon the 
 right, and the Prince de Conde the centre. On 
 the evening of the 15th, Broglio, with a large 
 corps endeavoured to turn our left, but was re- 
 pulsed in several attacks with great loss. The.two 
 battalions of Highlanders were there, and suffered 
 considerably. My poor major, Campbell, was 
 killed dead, and one subaltern; and I had one 
 captain and one subaltern wounded. 
 
 *'The next day, 16th, Broglio began to engage 
 our left about four in the morning; but after 
 many fruitless attempt's (the detail of which I 
 shall not pretend to give) he was forced to retire 
 in the greatest confusion. Six pairs of colourSj 
 nine pieces of cannon, and above 1500 prisoners 
 were taken in the pursuit. Th« loss of the French 
 in all may amount to 5000 ; that of the allies I 
 am not certain of, but I should imagine it does 
 not exceed 1200. 
 
 " All our generals are unhurt, and all your ac- 
 quaintance safe. Duke Ferdinand was pleased to 
 honour the brigade I belong to with his particular . 
 thanks for their behaviour, and as a further mark 
 of his approbation of the Highlanders, he deigned 
 to embrace your son in presence of all the general 
 
THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 89 
 
 officers, whicL. favour he accompanied with the 
 most flattering expressions of regard for the brave 
 little bodies. 
 
 " While the action lasted on the left, M. de 
 SoTibize manoeuvred his whole body in front of the 
 Hereditary Prince ; but never came to a close 
 engagement. Perhaps his attack depended on the 
 success of those upon the left; however, he retired 
 at the same time with Mons. de Broglio, and 
 without sufifering any considerable loss. They 
 have made a retrograde march, and we are at pre- 
 sent quiet. 
 
 " I am every day more obliged to Lord Granby's 
 goodness. He desires to be remembered to, you, 
 as do Grenerals Waldegrave, Townshend, and 
 Douglas, and Eoby Hepburn. Excuse, the inco- 
 herence of the above narrative. You will soon 
 have a more distinct account of the action ; which 
 takes its name from the village of FelHaghausen, 
 in which I now am. 
 
 "Dear Father, 
 " Your dutiful and affectionate son, 
 
 «E.M. K." 
 
 On the news of this victory, eclipsed as it has 
 since been by actions of gigantic magnitude and im- 
 portance, public thanksgivings were ordered in the 
 churches of London. And Walpole thus writes : — 
 " We have been pretty well accustomed to victories 
 of late, and yet the last is as. much as we know 
 how to bear decently. It seals all our other con- 
 quests. The King may be crowned at. Aix-la- 
 
90 THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 Chapelle, like Charlemagne, if he pleases. Of -all 
 our glories, uone ever gave me such joy as this 
 last. Mr. Conway is with Prince Ferdinand, and 
 safe; indeed everybody you know, is. We lost 
 but one officer of rank, Lieutenant-Colonel Keith* ; 
 and two wounded ; a Lieutenant-Colonel Marlay, 
 and Captain Harry Townshend. No particulars 
 are yet, come." 
 
 In June 1762, these corps formed part of the 
 troops under Prince Ferdinand, in the successful 
 attack on the French ai-my, under the command 
 of Marshals D'Estrees and Soubize, at Grraiben- 
 stein. The victory was in itself so complete, and 
 attained with so little loss, that it appeared rather 
 the result of a surprise than a regular engagement. 
 The loss of the enemy, in killed, wounded, and 
 prisoners, amounted to upwards of 4000 men, in- 
 cluding 200 officers f ; while that of the allies did 
 not exceed 700 men. "The British Guards, 
 Grenadiers, and Highlanders, under the command 
 of the Marquis of Granby, behaved with a bravery 
 
 * Happily a mistakes, occasioned by the precipitation with 
 which the account was despatched. It was (as has been seen by 
 Colonel Keith's letter) his major, Campbell, who was unfortu- 
 nately killed. 
 
 t This peculiarity seems not confined to the engagement last 
 mentioned. Afber the former (that ofFeUinghausen) a letter from 
 the armies contained the following " tragedy " (as it too truly 
 styles it), from the mouth of a French officer. " Of the two 
 lieutenant-generals killed (Kougi himself told me) the Due de 
 Ha-vie, his father-in-law, was one, and his nude another; two 
 brothers, lieutenant-colonels, killed by the same shot — ^himself, 
 ami Ms whole regiment, prtsonere." 
 
THE EOMANOE OF DIPLOMACT. 91 
 
 not to be paralleled; especially our Grenadiers 
 and Highlanders. .They behaved nobly, and took 
 as many prisoners as they had men, 
 
 " After every engagement some mark of favour 
 was conferred on the two corps. But while Prince 
 Ferdinand was preparing to lay siege to Zegen- 
 chayn, a conclusion was put to all further hos- 
 tilities by the signature of the preliminaries of 
 peace. This took place on the 15th of November, 
 1762, and thus ended three campaigns, highly 
 honourable to the courage and character of the 
 British army; which, as it was uniformly placed 
 in the post of danger, obtained a high degree of 
 celebrity. Of this reputation the little band of 
 Highlanders earned their full share. Having 
 been placed in the same brigade with the Grrena- 
 diers, and opposed to the iUte of the enemy's 
 troops, over which they were uniformly victorious, 
 their military character was accordingly well esta- 
 blished." 
 
 After this, the two regiments were ordered 
 home; and, on their march through Holland, 
 were received in various towns with acclamations ; 
 the women presenting laurel leaves to the soldiers, 
 and even the children attempting to imitate their 
 garb and broadswords. Some said that these 
 demonstrations arose from the respect with which 
 they and their broadswords had inspired the com- 
 mon enemy; while others attributed the kind 
 feeling to the friendship and intimacy which had 
 subsisted between the Dutch, and the soldiers of 
 
92 THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 the Scottish brigade, so long estahlished in Hol- 
 land. Whatever may be the cause, the reception 
 was equally honourable to both parties. 
 
 The regiments, on landing at Tilbury Fort, 
 were marched to Scotland. Though hospitably 
 received in aU the towns through which they 
 passed, their reception at Derby was the most 
 remarkable. No payment' was taken from them 
 for quarters, and subscriptions were raised to give 
 gratuities to the men. For this cordial reception, 
 here, as in Holland, different reasons were as- 
 signed. While some asserted that the whole was 
 done as a testimony of respect for military gal- 
 lantry, and the services they had performed for 
 their country; some alleged that it originated in 
 other and more peculiar motives. The High- 
 landers, it was alleged, were supposed to be Jaco- 
 bites, as many in the north-western provinces 
 then still were, — and the people remembered with 
 gratitude, that the rebels had conducted them- 
 selves with unexampled propriety at Derby ; and 
 had respected the persons and property of the 
 inhabitants. Nor was it forgotten, that, though 
 in open insurrection, and in situations where the 
 greatest turbulence and licentiousness were to be 
 expected, nothing of the kind had occurred ; and 
 that no ill-usage or insult had been offered by 
 those men, who (as a gentleman of Derby, writing 
 at the time to a friend, remai'ked) " said grace 
 with great seeming devotion, before and after 
 meals — -like any Ghristicm ! " 
 
 If such was the light in which they were re- 
 
THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 93 
 
 gaxded by their fellow-countrymen in Britain, it 
 may prove, not less amusing to quote a curious 
 article from the " Vienna Gazette ;" giving some 
 idea of the feelings excited by the sight of the 
 Scottish mountaineers, in their native garb, and 
 the opinions entertained of them, among our Ger- 
 man allies. It runs thus : — 
 
 "The Scotch Highlanders are a people' totally 
 dififerent in their dress, manners and temper, 
 from the other inhabitants of Britain. They are 
 caught from the mountains when young, and 
 still run with a surprising degree of swiftness. 
 As they are strangers to fear, they make very 
 good soldiers, when disciplined. The men are 
 of low stature, and most of them old, or very 
 young. 
 
 "They discover an extraordinary submission 
 and love for their officers, who are all young and 
 handsome. From the goodness of their disposi- 
 tions in everything, for the boors are much better 
 treated by these savages than by the polished 
 French and English*, (which, by-the-by, shows 
 the rectitude of human nature before it is vitiated 
 by example and prejudice,) it is to be hoped their 
 King's laudable, though late, endeavours to civilise 
 cmd instruct them in the prvnciples of Christi- 
 a/nity^, will meet with success ! The French 
 
 * The conduct of the Highlaaders, hoth in quarters and in 
 the field, in 1816, as well as the opinion expressed of them by 
 another great Captain of France, proves their national character 
 to have little changed. 
 
 t " No trait in the character of these supposed pagans was 
 
94 THE EOMAJSrCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 held them at first in great contempt, but they 
 have met with them so often of late, and seen 
 them in the front of so many battles, that they 
 firmly believe there are twelve battalions of them 
 in the army, instead of two. Monsieur Broglio 
 himself has lately said, that he once wished he 
 were a man of six feet high, but that now he is 
 reconciled to his size, since he has seen the won- 
 ders performed by the little mountaineers. He 
 might well say so !" 
 
 On the reduction (which it is scarce possible to 
 avoid regretting,) in July, 1763, of the brave band 
 over which he had so long presided, and which 
 we have seen he touchingly styles, "his little 
 family," the feelings of Colonel Keith must have 
 been akin to those of his gallant brother, when a 
 tear dimmed his eye on parting from his ship's 
 company. He must, like Othello, have felt his 
 "occupation gone;" and though little of the 
 " pomp and circumstance " of war had attended 
 the arduous struggles in which he had been en- 
 gaged, there was abundance of glory and of 
 excitement to make "piping times of peace" 
 distasteful and monotonous. How this monotony 
 was beguiled, we have no data to ascertain ; ex- 
 cept that 1765 saw him ia London, and conse- 
 
 more noticed in the army, than the respect paid by them to their 
 chaplain, Mr. Macaulay; and the influence he possessed over 
 their minds and actions. Many of the men, when they got into 
 any little scrape, were more anxious to conceal it from the chap- 
 lain, than fcom the commanding-officer." 
 
THE BOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 95 
 
 quently returned from the visit to Paris, where, 
 in 1764, his father's illustrious correspondent. 
 Marshal Miinnich, represents him (equally to the 
 honour of his quondam antagonists and his own) 
 as experiencing a brillicmt reception. 
 
 The father and son had here the gratification 
 of meeting ; and a letter from the latter to his 
 favourite aunt. Lady Dalrymple, even while chiefly 
 occupied with details of mutual friends, and 
 pleasing accounts of the joint hospitalities they 
 were sharing from public and private connexions, 
 shows such an early and thorough appreciation 
 of the hollowness, as well as dulness, of the 
 courtly circles in which it was hereafter to be 
 his lot to mingle, that it may account for the 
 scanty share allotted to them in his familiar cor- 
 respondence. 
 
 "London, March 5th, 1765. 
 
 "Deab Attnt, 
 
 "I return you a thousand thanks for 
 your kind letter, and for the excellent anecdote of 
 your cowrtly friend. I have a whole budget for 
 you of the same sort ; and we shall compare notes 
 at meeting with the greater satisfaction, that I 
 can assure you we agree entirely in our thoughts 
 upon that subject. I have of late had a nearer 
 
 * Widow of Sir Eobert Dalrymple, and mother to tie Dowager 
 Countess of Balearres ; and twin-sister to the mother of Sir K. 
 Muiray Keith. 
 
96 THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACT. 
 
 view of those unfortunate people than ever ; and 
 at the same time that I think many of them 
 deserve contempt, I cannot help feeling some pity 
 for them. They are so completely miserable, so 
 unable to taste present enjoyments, and so ar- 
 dently anxious after distant objects; so cordial 
 in their hatred to one another, and so fatally 
 deprived of all hope of friendship; that one 
 should imagine their example -would deter others 
 from imitating them. But I grow sententious, 
 and am consequently in danger of relapsing into 
 dulness. When I have the pleasure of seeing 
 you, which I hope may be soon, I hope to con- 
 vince you that though I have had _ one severe fit 
 of that distemper, it has not yet become habitual, 
 or changed my constitution in the least. I assure 
 you I am to all intents and purposes the old man 
 you have ever known me ; though, I own some of 
 my best qualities are in danger of lying dormant, 
 while I remain here. I hate wisdom and impor- 
 tance ; everybody here affects one or other ; but I 
 hope to be able soon to give a loose to my own 
 natural insignificance. Meantime, dear Madam, 
 I am in every mood, and for every possible reason, 
 most sincerely and affectionately yours, 
 
 «E. M. K." 
 
 In a letter of the same date to his sister, he 
 thus playfully alludes to his own and his brother's 
 uncertain prospects : — 
 
 " You will perhaps be inquisitive to know 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 97 
 
 what are the prospects of certain young gentle- 
 men, who came here in search of employment ?, 
 Why, truly, these heroes are as yet totally in the 
 dark as to that matter : however, time will show 
 all, and 'tis at least a comfort to have tried to 
 do what was right." 
 
 The "pleasure and pride" expressed by Mr. 
 Pitt (in a note dated 9th June of this year) in 
 having a " sha/re in doing justice to distinguished 
 merit " — must have referred to the procuring of 
 rank in the British regular army for Colonel 
 Keith ; as in a letter bearing the date of 1769, he 
 is styled "late Commandant of the 87th Foot;" 
 a regiment probably involved in a subsequent re- 
 duction, as the epithet of "late" is soon after 
 applied to it, as well as to its commander. 
 
 It is probable that this second loss of occupa- 
 tion, in the military line, the avowed patronage 
 of the great minister above quoted, as well as his 
 own knowledge of the affairs of Germany, and 
 acquaintance with its language and that of France, 
 may have conspired to turn the thoughts of the 
 son of so able a diplomatist towards his father's 
 profession ; and to point him out to that father's 
 many surviving political friends, as a worthy 
 successor to the paternal vocation. Be this as it 
 may, his appointment as Envoy to the Court of 
 Saxony took place in 1769; and the regrets ex- 
 pressed by the elite of the society of England, at 
 the loss of his company, show that the interval 
 had not been unprofitably spent, in cultivating 
 
 vol. I. H 
 
98 THE BOMAHCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 the unalienable good-will and affection of a large 
 circle of friends. 
 
 The coterie in which Sir Robert (then Colonel 
 Keith), during his sojourn in England, chiefly 
 mingled, was a band of gentlemen, who, under the 
 rather equivocal, but then fashionable title of the 
 " Gcmg," are constantly alluded to in the follow- 
 ing correspondence, in which some of its mem- 
 bers will be found bearing a principal part. 
 'Though styled a Club, it differed from those both 
 of its own day and ours, in its very small number 
 (limited to twelve), and its being a mere volun- 
 tary association, cemented by private friendship, 
 and congeniality of disposition. 
 
 It consisted originally of Lord Frederick Camp- 
 bell (brother to the Duke of Argyle, and Lord 
 Eegisferar of Scotland), Mr. Bradshaw (Treasurer 
 of the Navy, and afterwards one of the Lords of 
 the Admiralty), Mr. Eigby (Paymaster of the 
 Forces), Mr. Chamier (Under-Secretary of State), 
 General Grosvenor (father of the venerable field- 
 marshal of that name *), Mr. Cox (the well-known 
 army agent), Mr. Harley, M.P., Mr. Bagot, and Sir 
 Eobert Murray Keith, with the several gentlemen 
 
 " To whose kindness the Editor is indebted for the elegant 
 engraved ticket by which its members were summoned to a 
 monthly dinner : — ^A figure seated, embracing in one hand the 
 symbol of fraternity, the fasces, and displaying in the other the 
 mystic number, 12, surroijnded by the goblet and other emblems 
 of conviviality, chastened by that sobering memento, a skull. The 
 device is surmounted by the. words, " The Gang," and beneath 
 is the following motto, 
 
 " Frui Paratis." 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 99 
 
 at the head of the house of Druinmond ; who 
 seem to have united, iu a very enviable degree, 
 undisputed pre-eminence in the financial world, 
 high family connexions, and great political influ- 
 ence, with much enjoyment of rural pursuits, at 
 their various country seats, in England and Scot- 
 land. The footing upon which this band of 
 brothers lived, as well as the thirst for English 
 news, and home intelligence, which continued 
 unabated in Sir Eobert Keith during his twenty 
 yeai's' expatriation (the hey, indeed, perhaps, to 
 that twenty years' correspondence), may be found 
 in the following Jew d'esprit, still extant in the 
 handwriting of his no doubt astonished secretary ; 
 and duly despatched to England, in a moment 
 of indignation at the silence of his friends, shortly 
 after his arrival in Saxony. 
 
 TO H. DEUMMOND, ESQ. 
 
 "Dresden, 1769. 
 « SlE, 
 
 " I am sorry to acquit myself of a very 
 mournful duty, in acquainting you that his Ex- 
 cellency, Eobert Murray Keith, his Majesty's 
 Envoy Extraordinary at this Court, late Com- 
 mandant of the 87th Eegiment of foot. Lord of 
 the Manors of Murrayshall, Deans, Boghouse, &c., 
 bade adieu to this transitory state, on the night 
 of Wednesday last, immediately after the arrival 
 of the English post, which contained nothing but 
 a London Chronicle. 
 
 B 2 
 
100 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 " I had been alarmed, during these two months 
 past, at the dejection of spirits which had often 
 seized his Excellency; and particularly on post 
 nights. I often heard him mutter some strange 
 names. Such as Bessy*, Tatty f. Ferry f, &c. &c., 
 and on many occasions he even went so far as to 
 wish them all at Old Nick (that was his Excel- 
 lency's expression) together with a score of Drum- 
 monds, Campbells, and Mairs. 
 
 " On the above-mentioned evening, he called me 
 to his bed-side, and spoke to me in these terms : — 
 ' Mr. O'Carroll, how many friends do you think 
 you have in the world?' 'Sir,' said I, 'besides 
 your Excellency, whose friendship does me honour, 
 I am happy enough to believe I have three or 
 four fast friends.' 
 
 " ' You are a blockhead, Mr. O'Carroll,' (said 
 the Envoy with great warmth), 'for believing 
 . any such thing. There is no such being existing 
 as a true friend. I thought I had a dozen, male 
 and female ; but now I am convinced there is not 
 one of them all would give a Soho ticket for my 
 soxil and body. Tuck me up, Master O'Carroll ; 
 bury me at your leisure, and let me give you this 
 last bit of advice. Treat mankind like wolves 
 and tigers; eat and drink, and be merry, if you 
 can ; and be sure you break the ten command- 
 ments every day of your life ! ' 
 
 " These were the last words that great minister 
 
 * Lady Eliza Drummond, wife of H. Drummond, Esq. 
 t Mrs. Drummond, wife to Robert Drummond, Esq. 
 t Lady Frederick Campbell, -widow of Earl Ferrers. 
 
THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 101 
 
 pronounced, and in repeating them, I am pene- 
 trated with the sense of the irreparable loss his 
 family and coimtry have sustained in him. My 
 affliction is hardly to be expressed. It is, how- 
 ever, the only excuse I can allege for the trouble 
 you now receive from. Sir, 
 " Your most obedient and most humble servant, 
 
 « Wm. O'Caeeoll." 
 
 « P. S.— His Excellency has bequeathed 10,000?. 
 to the society called the " Gang" the interest of 
 which sum is to be laid out in teaching the mem- 
 bers of the said society, together with their wives 
 and children, to read and write." 
 
 Some time previously to the date of this cha- 
 racteristic effusion, from the pen of one to whom 
 (aa his correspondence through life will prove) 
 public news regarding the country he loved, and 
 tidings of those dear to him there, were the 
 "Elixir vitae," — "food and raiment," worth a 
 " Jew's eye," and a " king's ransom," Sir E. M. 
 Keith had arrived at his destination. A trip to 
 Paris, where, as we have seen, he had on a pre- 
 vious occasion won golden opinions from the then 
 acknowledged arbiters of taste, had preceded 
 his entrance on his new functions ; for the light 
 and courtly duties of which he was as specially 
 fitted by his natural urbanity and genteel accom- 
 plishments, as he was for the more arduous ones 
 which succeeded them, by his business-talents, 
 
 B 3 
 
102 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 integrity, patriotifiin, and thorongh knowledge of 
 mankind. 
 
 How completely amid the g^ne and etiquette 
 of the former, he was "the old man" he styles 
 himself in his letter to his aunt, unchilled by 
 ceremonial, uninfected by " dnlness," will be 
 seen by extracts from a few famUiar letters of 
 this period which have been preserved. The 
 little relish he felt for the stately accompani- 
 ments of his new vocation, and his retaining, 
 amid them all, his home tastes and social predi- 
 lections (a preference which accompanied him to 
 the close of his diplomatic career), must have so 
 endeared him to his English friends, that no man 
 in Europe, it has been said by competent autho- 
 rities, discharged these repugnant functions, either 
 with a better grace, or more apparent and un- 
 varying cheerfulness. 
 
 COLONEL KEITH TO HIS SISTEE. 
 
 "Dresden, October 22nd, 1769. 
 
 " Deae Anne, 
 
 " I never received your letter from Bris- 
 tol, nor the account of your adventure at the 
 White Bear ia Piccadilly.* Permit me to doubt 
 a little of the great philosophy you pretend to 
 have possessed, in being hurried through the 
 great capital in the manner Sancho Panza was 
 through the air upon the wooden horse. Maiden 
 
 * By some ludicrous mistake, Misa Anne Keitb had teen 
 conveyed to that JiWeiaji hosteliy.j 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 103 
 
 Misses have more curiosity; but, at the same 
 time, I do justice to the goodness of your heart, 
 which made you forget self, amidst the afijiction 
 of your friends. What an elegant society is now 
 to be found at the Hermitage*, of no .less than 
 four ladies, all of whom have seen London and 
 its wonders ! What the deuce is the matter with 
 your magistrates, proprietors, &c., that they don't 
 set about repairing your bridge f immediately? 
 The leaders of your metropolis have a rooted 
 aversion to elegance and ornament. There is not 
 a Keith among you all, who is half so anxious 
 about the New Town as I am ; though it is more 
 than probable I shall never be proprietor of a 
 single stone within its extent. I wish you would 
 build half as fast or as well as we do here ; where 
 near a thousand of the best houses were burnt 
 down during the Prussian siege. I have a daily 
 pleasure in seeing houses, churches, and squares, 
 rising out of their ruins, and yet, when our town 
 is finished, it won't be above twice as large as your 
 infant city. But it is light, straight, white, tidy, 
 and every single house has more ornament than 
 a whole parish with you. It is the fault of the 
 young women amongst you, that don't keep the 
 men in better order ; for as long as they are per- 
 mitted to be slovens in their clothes and linen, 
 it is impossible they should acquire the taste for 
 
 * The villa near Edinburgh, inhahited, on his retirement from 
 office, by Mr. Keith. 
 
 t The bridge called the North Bridge, uniting the New and 
 Old Town, on its first erection, had given way. 
 H 4 
 
104 THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 elegant houses. I am soon to exchange my habita- 
 tion, in which I have but seven-and-twenty rooms, 
 for one where I can have more elbow-room for 
 self and suite. 
 
 "Now I'm about it, I'll give you a little sketch 
 of my way of living. Morning, eight o'clock : — 
 Dish of coffee, half a basin of tea, billets doux, 
 embroiderers, toymen, and tailors. Ten: — Busi- 
 ness of Europe, — with a little music now and 
 then, pour igayer les affaires. Twelve: — De- 
 voirs, at one or other of the Courts (for we have 
 three or four). From thence, to fine ladies, toi- 
 lettes, and tender things. Two : — Dine in public, 
 — three courses and a dessert ; venture upon half a 
 glass of pwre wi/ne, to exhilarate the spirits, with- 
 out hurting the complexion. Fowr: — Eendez- 
 vous, sly visits, declarations, Sclaircissemervts, &c. 
 &c. Six : — Politics, philosophy, and whist. Se- 
 ven : — ^Opera, appartement, or private party. A 
 world of business ; jealousies, fears, poutings, &c. 
 After settling all these jarring interests, play a 
 single rubber at whist, en attendant le souper. 
 Ten : — Pick the wing of a partridge, propos ga- 
 lans, scandal, and petites cha/nsons. Crown the 
 feast with a bumper of Burgundy from the fairest 
 hand ; and at twelve, steal away mysteriously, — 
 home to bed 1 
 
 " There 's a pretty lutestring kind of a life for 
 you ! and all (as you perceive) plainly within the 
 verge of the ten commandments. And yet, would 
 you believe it? I am such a vulgar dog at bottom, 
 as to have dull, plodding matrimony ever running 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 105 
 
 in my head. Eeason me out of this folly, if you 
 can ; otherwise you must take the labouring oar 
 in finding out the phoenix I have so long been 
 in search of. I must and win be maiTied, that's 
 poz! — and I will have a British dame, that's 
 
 pozer ! would make a noble Dresden 
 
 wife, and do honour to the embassy: but I suspect 
 the little jade would turn the tables upon his 
 Excellency, and that her four-and-twenty hours 
 would be still busier than the above journal. No ! 
 I must have a sober, staid, sensible helpmate ; 
 five-and-twenty, at least. I laugh at beauty, and 
 despise riches ; but I positively insist upon roman- 
 tic delicacy and the finest of feelings. My friend 
 Lady Die will assist you in your search after this 
 paragon. I am proud of her ladyship's partiality 
 for me, and would have given the world to have 
 known it at a proper season. Assure her, how- 
 ever, that I am not quite so great a puppy as I 
 appear to be. So much for nonsense. In sober 
 sadness, my great grievance in this world is Basil 
 and his ragged fortunes.* Do plot, project, plan 
 among you, and point out to me wherever I can 
 put any iron in the fire to advantage. I have the 
 comfort to think that Basil is persuaded of my 
 warm affection for him ; and it must be hard 
 indeed, if, among so many good heads, we cannot 
 push one honest fellow happily through the world ! 
 "Yours ever, «E. M. Keith." 
 
 * Admiral (afterwards Sir Basil Eeitli), at this time unem- 
 ployed ; but whose " ragged fortunes " it was his hrother's 
 happy lot to raise by his own distinguished services. 
 
106 THE EOMANCH OF DIPLOMACY* 
 
 It may heighten the good-natured reader's in- 
 terest in the gallant sailor (so often and fondly 
 mentioned in his brother's correspondence), to 
 give one of the very few characteristic epistles 
 preserved from his pen, written at this precise 
 period of anxiety and loss of employment, and to 
 some, perhaps, of despondence and distress. The 
 writer had just returned from a West Indian sta- 
 tion, where he had for some years commanded ; 
 and where the liberal and generous conduct, 
 which probably caused his present embarrass- 
 ment, had endeared him to the island* over which 
 it was his future lot to preside. , 
 
 ADMIKAIi KEITH TO HIS SISTEE. 
 
 " Parliament-street (not the White Bear), 
 Oct. Utk, 1769. 
 
 " I received, my dear sister, both your letters, 
 and you would have heard of me ere now, but 
 that I may well liken myself to the attorney in 
 Tom Jones. In short, what with the Admiralty 
 office. Navy ditto. Victualling ditto. Ordnance 
 ditto, &c. &c. &c. &c., I have been so hurried, 
 that I have hardly had eating time ; and all this 
 not to get money, but to prevent mulcts, stop- 
 pages, &c. 
 
 "Be persuaded I shall lose no time in this 
 ' dirty metropolis,' as your ladyship calls it (pray, 
 do you write your adventures at the White Bear 
 in Piccadilly ?). You wanted to see London ; you 
 
 * Jamaica, of wHch he became governor. 
 
THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 107 
 
 have, and spent your time in the best of com- 
 pany. Your observations on the manners of these 
 polite people must be highly entertaining! I 
 have neither money nor inclination to stay among 
 them. 
 
 " You cannot think how happy I am that father, 
 aunts, sisters, the very cats at the Hermitage, are 
 in perfect health and stomach. You must be my. 
 ambassadress (for I cannot enter into particulars) 
 with all manner of kind things, in my name, to 
 all my good friends. Kiss my bonny cousins, — 
 men, women, and children, — all that desire it at 
 my hands. I am in very good looks at present, 
 so let them take care of their hearts. A little fat 
 or so, but no matter, this face of mine improves 
 in the wearing ; so if it 'is given me to see four- 
 score, I shall be a perfect beauty, a very comely 
 old gentleman. 
 
 " Have you any ' sonsy lass with siller ' that 
 would take me, eh? — As my poverty increases, 
 my pride keeps pace with it, so that I shall not 
 sell myself cheap. Tell the chits that. Seriously 
 speaking, I don't know any man that has more 
 matrimonial qualities than your tres humble ser- 
 viteur. Publish my intentions of honouring with 
 my hand some female properly qualified for that 
 happiness. 
 
 "Meantime, I'm a poor half-pay, unshipped 
 man. The Premier at the Admiralty has said 
 plenty of fine things to a certain lad you know; 
 but the banker won't take that coin. I could 
 weep at parting with my officers, not a bit at 
 
108 THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACT. 
 
 being paid off. The Drummonds are the best of 
 all possible friends; Lady Eliza the sweetest of 
 women. Upon my soul it is not to be conceived 
 the pure and disinterested friendship of that 
 house ! 
 
 " The Hermitage has ever my warmest love and 
 affection. Adieu, dear spinster, and be assured 
 that, whether on whole or half-pay, I am, 
 
 " Your ever affectionate brother, 
 
 "Basil Keith." 
 
 COLONEL KEITH TO HIS FATHEK. 
 
 "Dresden, Dec. ZOth, 1769. 
 
 "Dear Father, 
 
 " I rejoice to hear that your visit to the 
 Duke of Athol's was attended with so many agree- 
 able circumstances, and that you are safelyreturned 
 to your hermits, and now keeping your holidays 
 amongst your many friends, with cheerfulness and 
 comfort. Long be it so, my dear sir, for all our 
 sakes ! On Christmas day I was engaged to dine 
 with the Elector, but in the evening we drank 
 yours and Lady Dai's health in my small society, 
 and Frank did the honours of the pies and punch 
 to his fellow-servants, in a very jovial and hand- 
 some manner. We are now preparing to plague 
 one another without mercy for three or four days, 
 with visits of ceremony and stiff compliments. I 
 am sure every man of sense should be disgusted 
 with the new year for its nonsensical beginning. 
 •But there is no getting the better of custom ; and 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 109 
 
 this etiquette is part of the Magna Charta of all 
 German Courts. The Electress Dowager begins to 
 appear in public again, and her daughter-in-law 
 is declared enceinte, to the great joy of the 
 whole country. This will produce fine doings 
 in the end of the carnival, as we expect the 
 Electress Palatiae to assist at the lying-in, and 
 perhaps her husband, the Elector, after that cere- 
 mony is over. It is not improbable that the 
 Elector of Treves (who married his nephew), may 
 choose also to christen his first child, and the 
 young Electress's brother, the Duke of Deuxponts, 
 will make one at the feast. You may easily ima- 
 gine how much our capital will gain in being thus 
 Electrified, ! Now to my own matters. We had 
 a very wet summer, and no company in town. I 
 have philosophised a good deal, and jaunted about 
 now and then in the neighbourhood. I am almost 
 the only person who loves walking in a country 
 where every step would raise the admiration of a 
 landscape-painter. People are surprised that a 
 man in my situation should trudge about conti- 
 nually (without even a servant), especially as I 
 am, without vanity, so elegantly provided in car- 
 riages.' Your friend at the Hague has really done 
 wonders in the chariot way ; but so far from in- 
 dulging in laziness in consequence, my long walks 
 are become one of the standing jokes of the 
 Court, and I have proposed to set up a penny 
 post, and to be myself the carrier of all the 
 letters. 
 "Our French players have been discharged, from, 
 
110 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 a very laudable principle of economy ; though I 
 am myself a loser by that retrenchment of ex- 
 pense. Our Italian comic Opera corps rehearsed 
 this evening for the first time ; and I think them 
 much above the common run. A propos — I have 
 a very extraordinary jsommission to give you, 
 which I am afraid you will hardly be able to exe- 
 cute without the help of honest Jock E or 
 
 some such Highland oracle. The Elector has 
 more than once expressed a curiosity to see me in 
 the dress of my quondam corps. I intend to sur- 
 prise him with it at one of his reviews, in spring. 
 But to be completely in order, I want a handsome 
 bonnet, a pair or two Of the finest knit hose, and a 
 plaid of my colours, sewed and plaited on a waist 
 belt. If to this you are so good as to add a hand- 
 some shoulder-belt and buckle, and the hilt of an 
 Andrew Ferrara, I shall be enabled to show my 
 nakedness to the best advantage. 
 
 "I have, within this month, had an inundation 
 of English, who have nearly eaten me out of 
 house and home. The nine-and-twentieth left 
 me a week ago, and I have only one or two more 
 to expect. I am equally convinced with you, 
 that I am sowing in a thankless soil ; but I owe it 
 to the King, and to myself, to bring these gentle- 
 men forward, and to make their stay here as 
 agreeable as I can. I have not yet had the ho- 
 nour of presenting a single female of his Ma,jesty's 
 subjects ; but my philosophy is more than proof 
 against that disappointment. Lord Baltimore, 
 with his ladies, will probably take up his resi- 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. IH 
 
 dence for the winter. The Duke of Devonshire, 
 with Mr. Fitzherbertj. &c., passed ten days here. 
 I endeavoured, by the greatest attention to the 
 Duke, to show my gratitude to Greneral Conway. 
 He is of a very cold disposition ; but may turn 
 out a very valuable man. I was glad to see that 
 he was pleased with his reception here. They are 
 most of them gone on to Berlin. A gentleman of 
 that Court, from, whym you ga've me copies of 
 three letters*, has more than once expressed a de- 
 sire to see me there, which I had some time since 
 intended to communicate to my superiors; but 
 my request for a month's leave I suppressed from 
 the growing troubles in Poland. The invitation 
 was communicated through Lord Marischal, who, 
 on my letter, showed the greatest civilities to Mr. 
 Solicitor Dunning, and Colonel Barre ; and they 
 owed to him their introduction to the monarch, 
 which had been otherwise refused. His Lordship 
 sent me, by Mr. Dunning, a cornelian, with his 
 own little thin face upon it; I seal this letter 
 
 with it. 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 «E. M. K." 
 
 COLONEL KEITH TO HIS SISTEK. 
 
 "Dresden, Decemier ITth, 1769. 
 " I certainly am a good-natured fat gentleman, 
 and the forlorn state of an old bachelor has not 
 
 * The King of Prussia. The letters hav^ been already given. 
 
112 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 yet soured my blood, else I would not accept of 
 the flimsy excuse you make for not answering my 
 letter sooner. What in the name of wonder can 
 a withered Miss have to do half so important as 
 to acknowledge the honour done her by a person 
 in the ministry ? If you are preparing a petition 
 from Prestonpans * to overturn us, I have nothing 
 to say; I only hope that you will find to yourself 
 a husband amongst the heads of that ancient cor- 
 poration. The illustrious liae of the house of 
 Clapperton, for example, might, with great pro- 
 priety, light the candle of Hymen ; and the alli- 
 ance of such a high sounding name would add 
 great lustre to the mission with which I am ho- 
 noured. I can get you made a countess for less 
 money than would buy you a gown ; and if you 
 have sense enough to do your part of the busiuess, 
 you shall be Countess of Clapperton by return of 
 post. If you neglect this opening, you are an- 
 arrant blockhead, and I give you up. 
 
 " I must now talk to you of the internal state 
 of my family, which is indeed in a turmoil and 
 combustion, not at all unlike that of a half 
 petitioning borough, though from very different 
 causes. I have in the house twelve men, andl 
 three women only. Now the twelve gentlemen 
 are all, more or less, inamorati of the three ladies, 
 and have (or think they have) individually reason 
 to be jeajous. In the meantime, there are such 
 
 * A little -village, not very distant from Lady Daliymple's. 
 (hiE aunt's) residence. 
 
THE KOMANCB OF DIPLOMACY. 113 
 
 bickerings and peltings, that the house is as hot 
 as the fiery furnace. M. Barterman, formerly 
 blacksmith, and now butler, has been so active in 
 dealing out devoirs to the feinales, and fistycuffs 
 to the males, that he is soon to make his parting' 
 bow, and the best of his way to Britain. A propos 
 of servants, I must tell you an anecdote of Frank, 
 which is not much to his honour. He met with 
 a brother nigger in London who had changed ser- 
 vices and countries, with all the' light-headedness 
 of his countrymen. He is now in Denmark, and 
 /Wrote to Squire Francis, with a fine project of 
 lace, and fur, and turban, in Copenhagen. Frank 
 first wavered, and then yielded. He begged my 
 permission to visit the north, which I was in no 
 humour to refuse. He accordingly laid off my 
 sumptuous livery, and rigged himself out for the 
 journey. I gave him an honourable discharge, 
 and he howled a farewell. Next day, an Irish 
 priest called Macnally (a great friend of Eobert 
 More's * at Vienna) came to tell me that his elo- 
 quence had awakened the spirit of repentance and 
 regeneration in the black soul of Francis. To be 
 short, he wept a recantation, signed an engage- 
 ment for three years to come, and received, with 
 his pardon, the handsomest yellow robe in all 
 Saxony. He had set his heart on a Persian robe, 
 and fur lining ; and being a very good servant, I 
 could not deny him the satisfaction. Sir Thomas 
 Wyffin, freeholder of the city of Bedford f, is by 
 
 * Mr. Keith's valet de chambre, -wrhile on that embassy. 
 t Colonel Keith's valet de ohambre. 
 VOL. I. I 
 
114 THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 much the prettiest man, and the most intimate 
 friend I have. ' Wenus the God of Love, and 
 Cubid his mother^ are making him look melancholy 
 and gentlemanlike at present ; but we shall soon 
 .hope to get him into flesh and spirits again. But 
 I have another genius, of quite a different stamp, 
 and this is Ms history. 
 
 " Fifteen years ago, I met at Breda, or Bergen- 
 op-Zoom, a mongrel Scots wine-merchant, of the 
 name of Forbes. He kept a handsome public- 
 house, and was in a fair way of making a fortune, 
 by feeding Dutch subalterns. By some unlucky 
 accident, he became bankrupt, and, in process of 
 time, a lace merchant. He sold his laces to 
 Dutch subalterns, and fortune again frowned upon 
 him. He came to me in London, some years ago, 
 without health or means. I had him set to rights 
 in an hospital, and launched him once more into 
 the world, with good shoes, and a few guineas. 
 I heard no more of my friend Forbes, till I 
 arrived within an hundred yards of the gate of 
 Dresden; when behold, the honest man stopped 
 my coach, and shaking me by the hand, told 
 me he was tired of struggling with fortune, and 
 that he had walked from HoUand to give him- 
 self over to me for life! His speech admitted 
 of no reply; and here he _is, with a handsome 
 suit of blue clothes, and a good wig; and a 
 more decent bailie-looking man never walked the 
 Cross of Edinburgh. He has the run of the 
 house, and a ducat a month; and swears he 
 never saw happier days. I have filled my paper 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 115 
 
 ■with all this nonsense, but for want of better 
 materials. 
 
 " Yours most affectionately, 
 
 "E. M. K." 
 
 COL. KEITH TO HAKKY DEUMMOND, ESQ. 
 
 "Dresden, January %rd, Vlld. 
 "Mr DEAK Haekt, ^ 
 
 " I wish from my heart that there were no 
 
 such thing existing as a new year ! The devil's 
 
 in the people, I believe! I have been wished 
 
 more joy within these three days, than can ever 
 
 belong to the whole human race; and have 
 
 tenderly embraced seven hundred people, men 
 
 and women, whose faces I hardly know. 'Tis the 
 
 worst farce that ever was played by human folly; 
 
 and I love you and yours too well, at all times 
 
 and seasons, to plague you with a long rigmarole, 
 
 because, forsooth, there are two figures changed 
 
 in the date of my letter ! I am upon the very 
 
 point of setting out for Berlin /or a fortnight, to 
 
 see Sir Andrew Mitchell*, and Lord Marischal, 
 
 who have long pressed me to' make this journey. 
 
 There are objects enough of curiosity in that great 
 
 capital; but for my sins, there are no less than 
 
 seven different Courts there, at all of which poor 
 
 Keith must be presented, and take leave, in the 
 
 space of ten days ! It is a wise saying that one 
 
 half of the world does not know how the other 
 
 lives; and while you are getting money at the 
 
 * The British minister, his father's Mend and correspondent. 
 I 2 
 
116 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 Gang, you little guess what I sufifer in being' 
 bound 'prentice to Sir Clement Cotterell. 
 
 "I suppose about this time all you Drum- 
 monds, Campbells, and wives and brats, are 
 gathered together and stuffing your insides with 
 chine and turkey. Oh if I could come among 
 you, only for four-and-twenty hours, I think I 
 could do a deal of business. I must whisper in 
 your ear that I am the delight of all the Saxon 
 dear creatures ; and if I did not wax a little corpu- 
 lent, I should- be the prettiest fellow in the Holy 
 Eoman Empire." j 
 
 COLONEL KEITH TO HIS SISTER. 
 
 " Dresden, Febrimry 25th, 1770. 
 
 "Deae Anne, 
 
 " My late journey to Berlin* was the only 
 occasion of my delaying so long to answer Basil's 
 letters: he has ere now got my full sheet, and 
 I know he will do justice to my friendship and 
 affection tfor him. You would give two of your 
 teeth for a minute account -of all I saw and heard 
 and did at Berlin ; but ministers should never un- 
 bosom themselves to Misses, and so you must rest 
 oontented. The man who hangs at the side of 
 your parlour-fire fj is younger, handsomer, and 
 livelier by far, than I had figured to myself. 
 His conversation is keen and interesting, and his 
 
 * The Tisit alluded to, to Earl Marischal, at the desire of the 
 TTing of Prussia. 
 
 t The Great Frederick, whose correspondence with Mr. Keith 
 haa been given. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 117 
 
 looks agreeable, when he is in a good humour. 
 He said many kind things about the old Hermit, 
 and made it public to the whole town that he 
 owed an essential obligation to that gentleman. 
 Since my return here. Lord Marischal* has con- 
 veyed to me an invitation from him to make a 
 second visit; but that must depend on circum- 
 stances, and cannot take place at least for some 
 time. 
 
 "His houses, shows, and streets are magnifi- 
 cent; but the new country-house f is a perfect 
 finique. From the entrance to the garrets no- 
 thing is to be seen but gold and silver stuffs, 
 inlaid floors, marquetterie, porphyry, and rock- 
 crystal! Without, triumphal arches and colon- 
 nades, that beggar all description — at least such 
 description as my time will permit me to bestow 
 upon you at present. If we had a winter to pass 
 together at Kilspindie, or some such castle, I 
 have chat for you that would beguile the time 
 most pleasantly. If Aunt Dalf will repair an 
 apartment at TantalIon§, I will retirerwith her 
 there, and narrate without ceasing. 
 
 " My stay of three days with Lord Marischal 
 was productive of no very material consequences ; 
 yet I had good reason to believe that I enjoyed 
 
 * Earl Marischal, the friend of Frederick, and brother to the 
 great Marshal Keith. 
 
 t The palace of Potzdam. 
 
 J Lady DaJrymple, widow of Sir E. Dalrymple, of North 
 Berwick, twin sister to the writer's mother. 
 
 § An ancient fortress overhanging the Frith of Forth, near 
 the Bass Bock, both the property of the Dalrymple family. 
 I 3 
 
118 THE KOMANCE "OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 both his good opinion and his confidence. He is 
 the most innocent of Grod's creatures; and his 
 heart is much warmer than his head. The place 
 of his abode is the very temple of dulness, and 
 his female companion is perfectly calculated to be 
 the priestess of it. He finds, notwithstanding, an 
 hundred little occupations, which fill up the four- 
 and-twenty hours, in a manner to him not un- 
 pleasing; and I really am persuaded he has a 
 conscience that would gild the inside of a dun- 
 geon. The history of the feats performed by the 
 bare-legged warriors* in the late war, accom- 
 panied by a ■pibrochj in his outer room, have an 
 effect upon the old Don that would delight you. 
 If there is a perfect '\Miig upon principle to be 
 met with, he is the man — and from conviction 
 so. I am charged with all manner of kind things 
 from him to the Hermitage. 
 
 " I rejoice that Mary B has got a lover 
 
 worthy of her. Tell her from me, that if she 
 gets over (head and ears herself, it will make her 
 a better woman, and a tenderer friend, to the end 
 of her life. Experto crede Roberto. There's 
 Latin for you ! The last . letter I had from 
 
 Lady seemed to prognosticate marriage for 
 
 Ernestine and others of the family; but I am 
 become a sceptic on that head, and' believe 
 nothing till hands are tied. Say something to 
 me on that article, and pray avoid mystery, which 
 is no where in its place, except in Holy Writ. 
 
 * The Highland Eegiments (already mentioned) in' Gennany. 
 t A march on the bagpipes. 
 
THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 119 
 
 Tlie princes of the Empire shall know nothing of 
 ■what passes in Fife, unless what you choose to 
 have made public. 
 
 "My family is torn to pieces by the contending 
 devils of matrimony and jealousy. The last I 
 have already expatiated on ; and it would puzzle 
 the wise Solomon himself to settle that contro- 
 versy. But my bankrupt Forbes, though aged, 
 diseased, and a sot, has found out a Saxon Statira, 
 who wUl marry him,, in spite of common sense, 
 aud your brother. Nothing but some very ugly 
 story to patch up, could make this nymph of six- 
 and-twenty take this step, the consequence of 
 which will be that I shall be a bankrupt out of 
 pocket. Frank behaves like an angel since he 
 got his fine coat and feathers j he eats in my 
 house, and, like all the rest of them, he eats the 
 bread of idleness. I have a running footman 
 who has not yet the honour of your acquaintance, 
 but as I have a notion that he may soon run away 
 from me, I shall say little concerning him. I 
 have a housekeeper, who is the very pattern of 
 prudence and purity, as I hear, for I never saw 
 the lady but once, at a distance, during the five 
 months she has been under my roof. N.B. She 
 has no lover that I know of. 
 - "If we did not eat most unmerciftdly our town 
 would be very agreeable. The mother of the 
 Sovereign is the most sociable and easy lady of 
 her rank in Christendom. We shall have routs, 
 riots, and fandangos for six or seven weeks of the 
 carnival. I dare not hint to you what a pretty 
 
 I 4 
 
120 THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 part I play in all this, but to be sure 'le Mmistri 
 d'Angleterre est un homme charmant! ' 
 
 " Yours ever, 
 
 «E. M. K." 
 
 COLONEL EEITH TO MK. KEITH. 
 
 "Dresdeif, March ISih, 1770. 
 
 " Dear Father, 
 
 " I have, for these three weeks past, been 
 tormented with all the plagues of Egypt, in the 
 shape of catarrh, megrim, ear^^che, and tooth- 
 ache. I have fought a stout battle, and attacked 
 them with every weapon, from rhubarb up to 
 bark and a blister. My victory is not yet com- 
 plete, but I hope in a few days to be essentially 
 master of the field. The end of the carnival was 
 the occasion of the mischief; for we danced inces- 
 santly, and had hourly opportunities of catching 
 pold. I have been in the hands of a Dr. Bailies, 
 who claims acquaintance with Sir Alexander 
 Dick, from whom he expects a friendly interposi- 
 tion with Sir John Pringle, to procure him a 
 recommendation to Dr. Van Swieten, at Vienna, 
 where he intended to practise inoculation, but 
 has been refused leave. The doctor is, I believe, 
 very able in his profession; and as he took his 
 first degrees in Edinburgh, and is well known to 
 my uncle, I shall be glad if he assists him with 
 Sir John. So much for medicine and its pro- 
 fessors. 
 
 " Prudence does not permit me to be as explicit 
 as I could wish with regard to your correspon- 
 
THE EOMAHCE OF DIPLOMACY. 121 
 
 dent*, to whom I paid a visit lately. He was at 
 great pains, even before my introduction, to de- 
 clare publicly how much he thought himself 
 obliged to you ; and the reception I met was 
 looked upon by those who knew him best, as- 
 more than commonly gracious. There was a 
 moment and a message, which seemed to prog- 
 nosticate a mark of favour and remembrance ; 
 arid Sir Andrewf was strongly of that opinion ; 
 however, as I expected, it came in the end to 
 nothing. I believe I told you, that Lord Marischal 
 has coiiveyed to me, since my return, a very 
 gracious invitation to a second visit, which may 
 possibly take place in the end of autumn. He 
 mentioned you again upon this occasion, in. very 
 distinguished terms ; and I know that he said very 
 obliging things of your son, to a great lady here, 
 with whom he keeps up a familiar correspondence. 
 All this is perfectly in his style, but however 
 honourable, I am weaned from t^e hope of its 
 being any way advantageous to my fortune. 
 
 "Lord Marischal came to meet me at Sir 
 Andrew's, where we passed five days together. My 
 visit to his country residence was of three, days ; 
 and I had reason to be convinced that it gave the 
 old Don great pleasure. He talked to me with 
 the greatest openness and confidence of all the 
 material incidents of his life ; and hinted often 
 that the honour of the clan was now to be sup- 
 
 * Fredarick the Great, King of Prussia, 
 t The minister before mentionecl, who resided .forty years in 
 Berlin. 
 
1*22 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT- 
 
 ported by our family, for' all of whom he had the' 
 greatest esteem.* 
 
 "His taste, his ideas, and his mamier of living, 
 are a mixture of Aberdeenshire and the kingdom 
 of Valencia; and as he seeks to make no new 
 friends, he seems to retain a strong, though silent, 
 attachment for his old ones. As to his political 
 principles, I believe him the most sincere of all 
 converts, t I told you of the present of the 
 family seals, most of them trifling baubles ; and a 
 small manuscript|, containing some curious anec- 
 dotes relating to himself and the people he had 
 unfortunately been engaged with. He never men- 
 tioned his private affairs, nor his intentions in 
 futurity ; but I have reason to believe that when 
 
 * One brief but empiatie testiinony, xmder the venerablei 
 cMef s hand, to this effect, has been already giyen. Another, 
 equally pithy, written some years later, in characters bespeak- 
 ing increased infirmity, runs thus : — 
 
 "LoED Maeisohal to Sir E. Keith, on his Fatheb's 
 
 DEATH. 
 
 " Potzdam, 15th Oct. 1774. 
 " I am very sorry, good Sir, for your late loss. Ihare known 
 three generations of your family, and three Buccessive of so 
 worthy men I ^now nowhere to befoimd. I hope, Sir Basil shall 
 soon give a fourth. -I continue without pain, but very weak ; if 
 I hold out this winter, it will be much. 
 
 " Ever faithfully yours, 
 
 "M." 
 t It is affirmed (says Adolphus) that Keith, Earl Marisehal 
 who not long before had been in Spain, and who, at the iater- 
 cession of the King of Prussia, had been restored to his property 
 in Scotland, communicated; in gratitude, the intelligence of the 
 lemaikable treaty, called the " Family Compact," to Mr. Pitt; 
 } This MS. has, unfortunately, not been recovered. 
 
THE EOMANCB OF DIPLOMACY. 123 
 
 his stupid companion has had her share — and that 
 a considerable one — the remainder will be very 
 properly disposed of to the Elphinstones, I cor- 
 respond very regularly with him, and he has even 
 given me hopes of his passing a few days with me 
 here in summer. I thank you for the lights you 
 give me with regard to the other journey*, which 
 I have very much at heart ; but the state of public 
 affairs will probably not allow me to think of it 
 for some time. I should be wanting to you and 
 to myself, if I did not bestow all possible attention 
 on the business I am entrusted with ; and it has 
 hitherto been amply repaid by the repeated ap- 
 probation of my superiors. 
 
 " Since I began this, I have had a most inimi- 
 table letter from- Lord Marischal. I had men- 
 tioned Dr. Bailies to him, and begged he would 
 send me a state of his case and infirmities, that 
 the doctor might prescribe for him. This is a 
 part of his answer : — ' I thank you for your advice 
 of consulting the English doctor, to repair my old 
 carcase. I have lately done so by my old coach, 
 and it is now almost as good as new. Please 
 therefore to tell the doctor, that from him I expect 
 a good repair, and shall state the case. First, he 
 must know that the machine is the worse for wear, 
 being near eighty years old. The reparation I 
 propose he shall begin with is : one pair of new 
 eyes, one pair of new ears, some improvement on^ 
 the memory. When this is done, we shall ask 
 
 * A visit, afterwards most happily accomplished, to his father's 
 old friends at Vienna. 
 
124 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACt. 
 
 new legs, and some change in the stomach. For 
 the present, this first reparation will be suflScient ; 
 and we must not trouble the doctor too much at 
 once.' You see by this, how easy his Lordship's 
 infirmities sit upon him ; and it is really so as he 
 says. Your friend Sir Andrew is, I am afraid, less 
 gay ; but I have not heard from him these three 
 months. I have been impatient, for several weeks, 
 to know the decision of the Spanish story; but 
 am still as much in the dark as ever. The ad- 
 miral is a very warm friend, but a sad correspon- 
 dent ; and I have heard from him only once since 
 he arrived in the capital. I forgive him if his 
 activity is properly employed to ensure success. 
 No assistance on my part, or that of my friends, 
 shall be wanting. Adieu, dear sir ! Health and 
 happiness attend you and the Hermits. 
 
 "E. M. K." 
 
 George Keith, ninth Earl Marischal, and brother 
 to the celebrated Marshal Keith, attainted for the 
 part he took in theEebellion of 1715, and obliged 
 to leave his native country, had for many years 
 resided at Berlin, honoured with the intimate 
 friendship and confidence of the Great Frederick. 
 It may be interesting to those who have read of 
 his amiable qualities, and cheerful playfulness 
 under the infirmities of age, to contrast, or rather, 
 connect the picture, with a description of him at 
 an earlier and a very different period; drawn by the 
 piquant pen of his contemporary and quondam 
 flame, the Marechale de Crequi, who survived him 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 125 
 
 many years, and died at near a hundred, subse- 
 quently to the French Eevolution. 
 
 " Milord Marechal," says the lively narratress 
 (writing for the amusement of her grandchildren, 
 with the vivacity for which in earlier life she had 
 been so universally admired), " why should I not 
 speak to you of Milord Marechal ? since every one 
 who tells you of the affection with which he 
 inspired me, will also be obliged to allow that we 
 conducted ourselves with perfect propriety towards 
 each other. 
 
 "Milord Marechal (I shall never be able to 
 write that name without emotion !) was, when I 
 first saw him at my uncle's, a handsome Scotch- 
 man, twenty-four years of age, intelligent, sen- 
 sible, and grave. He came from England, on a 
 mission from the English Jacobites to the refu- 
 gees ; and he had political audiences at the Hotel 
 de Breteuil, where he used to meet his uncles, the 
 ^ Dukes of Perth and Melfort. 
 
 " If you wish to have an idea of his personal 
 appearance, you must look at that charming por- 
 trait of the handsome Caylus, the favourite of 
 Henry the Third, which you inherited from the 
 Constable de Lesdiguidres ; to whom, be it added, 
 it was presented by the queen, having been for- 
 gotten by the king in his oratory. 
 
 " The young lord fell in love with your grand- 
 mother, then a young girl, and not devoid (accord- 
 ing to some people), of attractions. We began by 
 looking at one another ; first with curiosity, then 
 with interest, and at last with emotion. Next we 
 
126 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 used to listen to the conversation of each other, 
 without being ahle to answer a word, and then 
 neither could speak at all, in the presence of the 
 other, owing to our voices at first trembling, and 
 then failing us altogether. So, to make a long 
 story short, he one 'day said to me a propos to 
 nothmg, ' If I dared to fall in love with you would 
 you ever forgive me ? ' 
 
 " ■ I should be enchanted,' said I ; and we re- 
 lapsed into our usual formal silence ; bestowing as 
 many looks as we could upon each other, and our 
 eyes beaming with silent happiness. In this man- 
 ner did we spend six weeks or two months. My 
 aunt permitted him to give me some lessons in 
 Spanish, not English, for, in fact, at that time, no 
 one thought of learning English, or any other 
 northern language. Milord George spoke Spanish 
 and Italian quite as well as French ; that is to say, 
 perfectly. 
 
 " He came once, and sat upoU' a bench behind^ 
 mine (for a young lady in my days never was in- 
 stalled in a chair with a back, much less an arm- 
 chair). He related to me, with great glee, the 
 adventures of some Dutch heiress who had eloped 
 with an English Orangeman, and whose parents 
 had put in the London papers that if she would 
 not return, at least to' send back the key of the 
 tea-caddy which she had carried away. This set 
 me off laughing, and my cousin Emilie, who was 
 always present at our lessons, and apt to fancy 
 we were making game of "her, uttered some 
 remarks. This decided the young lord to make 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLQMAOT. 127 
 
 a proposal of marriage for me ; which was 
 immediately submitted to my father, my grand- 
 father, and my aunt de Breteuil — the coward ! 
 who shrieked at the idea, because the Marechal 
 of Scotland must be a Protestant. 
 
 " I had never thought of that ! The discovery 
 burst upon me so suddenly, and so grievously, 
 that I cannot, even now, dwell upon it without 
 shuddering, and without having a bitter recollec- 
 tion of what I suffered. We ascertained, how^ 
 ever, that he was a Calvinist, and he said so him- 
 self; and. Heaven is my witness that, from that 
 moment, I did not hesitate. I refused the hand 
 of Milord Marechal, and two days afterwards he 
 set out to return to his own country; from 
 whence he wrote to say that grief and despair 
 would lead him to acts that might bring him to 
 the scaffold. There, my child, is the history of 
 the only predilection I ever had in my life for any 
 one except Monsieur de Crequi ; to whom I was 
 honest enough to talk of it without reserve. 
 
 " When we met again, after the lapse of many 
 years, we made a discovery which equally sur- 
 prised and affected us both. There is a world of 
 difference between the love which had endured 
 throughout a lifetime, and that which has burned 
 fiercely in our youth, and there paused. In the 
 latter case, time has not laid bare defects, nor 
 taught the bitter lessoh of miitual failings; a 
 delusion has subsisted on both sides which expe- 
 rience has not destroyed ; and delighting in the 
 idea of each other's perfections, that thought has 
 
128 THE EOMAJJCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 seemed to smile on both with unspeakable sweet- 
 ness, till, when we meet, in a grey old age, feelings 
 so tender, so pure, so solemn, arise, that they can 
 be compared to no other sentiments or impressions 
 of which bur nature is capable. 
 
 "The visit of the Marechal of Scotland took 
 place in the presence of Madame de Nevers ; and 
 it moved her to the depths of her soul. You 
 were then born, my dear grandson! and the 
 Marechal was seventy years of age. 'Listen,' 
 said he, ' listen to the only French verses I ever 
 composed, and perhaps the only reproaches that 
 ever were addressed to you : — 
 
 " ' TJn trait, lancA par caprice, 
 M'atteignit dans mon piiutems : 
 J'en poite la cicatrice 
 Encore, sous mes cheveux Wanes. 
 Craiguez les maux qu'amour cause, 
 Et plaignez un insens6 
 Qflii n'a point cueiHi la rose, 
 Et que rapine a iDlessi.' " 
 
 COLONEL KEITH TO HIS SISTER. 
 
 "Dresden, Feb. ihth, 1770. 
 
 " Dear Anne, 
 
 " I do not see any human possibility of 
 filling this huge sheet even with all the nonsense 
 that a Keith can collect; but it shows a good 
 intention to write by the square acre, and so here 
 goes — the Lord knows what. I always knew the 
 Duchess of Grordon to be one of the most be- 
 witching creatures alive, and if she struck the 
 Keiths dumb, she may brag of it to her dying 
 
THE ROMANCE Ol' BIPLOMACY. 129 
 
 day. I am a little puzzled at a chronological 
 error in your account of the joyful dinner at 
 Lady Dumfries's ; since I have the Caledonian 
 Mercury's authority for supposing, that, on that 
 very day, her Grace was busy in bringing into the 
 world a son and heir ! If she performed that feat 
 at table, and continued to entertain you all the 
 while, I have nothing more to say ; and truly, if 
 any lady in Europe is capable of introducing this 
 new fashion, I firmly believe it to be her Grace. 
 Lay me at her feet and leave me there. I think 
 Lord William's adventure has ended unroman- 
 tically. 
 
 (I J. propos of adventures. In a company of 
 dear creatures, to-day, we had a French news- 
 paper, containing a most dismal story of a young 
 gentleman, who, after a variety of beautiful ob- 
 stacles, and formidable rivals, had at last obtained 
 the hand and heart of his Dulcinea. On the 
 wedding-day, a joyful company dined, danced, and 
 supped; and the loving couple, having retired 
 about midnight, the guests determined to dance 
 till breakfast next morning. So said, so done ; 
 and at nine o'clock the dancers went in a body 
 towards the door of the nuptial chamber, to hail 
 the happy pair. Upon approaching, lamentable 
 cries were heard ; the door was burst open, and 
 the young and lovely bride was found bathing 
 with tears the dead body of her bridegroom, who 
 must have expired some hours before, as he was 
 already cold. The most pathetic grief ensued; 
 the lady was torn from the chamber in all thq 
 
 VOL. I. % 
 
130 THE EOMAMCB OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 agonies of despair, and unable to give any account 
 of the disaster. . A fever and frenzy followed next 
 day, and she died within eight-and-forty hours, 
 without ever recovering her senses. Buried to- 
 gether, as you may believe. The story is well and 
 affectingly told in the newspaper: it is said to 
 have happened recently, and the scene is laid in 
 Edinburgh ! Now, Miss, my dear creatures insist, 
 that I shall (through your means), dive to the 
 bottom of this mystery, and report accordingly. 
 So much for that. N.B. — No marks of violence 
 on the dead husband. Foul play from a rival 
 suspected by the newswriter. T swear that there 
 never was a man or maid, poisoTied in Caledonia. 
 I foresee your answer. 'Tis all a fiction !* 
 
 " After a tragedy comes a farce ; I'll tell you a 
 story. You must know, that we have more pages 
 here than any court in Christendom ; all pickles ! 
 One of these little gentry, during the last fair, 
 stood for a considerable time at a booth where 
 toys were sold by an ill-natured old woman. His 
 looks spoke desire, his cloth forbade credit; and 
 the beldame told him peevishly not to take up the 
 room of one who might become a buyer. The 
 page observed that the lady had, upon a shelf in 
 her booth, a pitcher filled with cream, and, as all 
 pages have packthread in their pockets, he slily 
 fixed one end of his clue to the handle of the 
 
 * The most natural solution whicli at this distance of time 
 can occur is, that the French editor had got hold of, and reyived, 
 a distorted version of the " Bride of Lammermoor," aetnalljf 
 communicated to Sir Walter Scott hy the writer's sister. 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 131 
 
 pitcher and retired grumbling, to a private corner 
 at some distance. There he sat -perdue, with his 
 packthread in his hand, watching the moment 
 when he could tumble down the pitcher upon the 
 old woman's head. 
 
 " At the instant, the Oouvernev/r des Pages, a 
 graTe sententious, leaden man, came that way, 
 and seeing little pickle in the corner, he wisely 
 smelt a rat. 'What are you doing, you little 
 dog?' 'Nothing.' 'I suspect you have been 
 pilfering; show me your hands.' Behold the 
 packthread, which the governor immediately 
 seized. Supposing some stolen goods at the end, 
 he pulled, and puUed ; the nimble page took to 
 his heels ; down came the pitcher ; out screamed 
 the beldame, and she and twenty of her neigh- 
 bours fell with tongue and nail upon old gravity ; 
 who, being caught in the very fact, was scratched 
 and hooted out of the fair, without the possibility 
 of making a defence. If you knew the proud old 
 fool of a governor, you would kiss the little page 
 for his cunning ! 
 
 " My patience is worn to the stumps^ and I am 
 more than half inclined to be peevish. Imagine 
 to yourself that, in this critical moment, there are 
 no less than five mails due from England ! I 
 am teased to death with all the idle and contradic- 
 tory news which the under-strappers in politics 
 invent, and retail us every day ; and my only de- 
 fence is pleading ignoramus. To a man of my 
 impatience and importance, this is a situation 
 which would lead one half of my countrymen to 
 
 E 3 
 
132 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 a halter; but I am too poor a man to take so 
 noble a revenge of myself for the obstinacy of an 
 easterly wind. 
 
 "As to public festivities, we have them of all 
 colours. Four masquerades, and two court balls 
 per week. Dinners and suppers by scores, and 
 little operas, &c. I wax old or lazy, for I own 
 that it is a sort of relief to me to think that 
 Sunday next ends the carnival. You shall have a 
 longer and better letter during Lent. This thing 
 of shreds and patches, you are to look upon only 
 as a ram-race, of nonsense, as I can fairly say I 
 never looked either behiad or before jne, since I 
 gtarted. I performed this sheet in about half an 
 hour, which is no bad travelling in such roads. 
 
 My kind regards to Mrs. W , and her ancl&ni, 
 
 who shall -be promoted. Love, to Lady Die, and 
 her husband ; the Abbey-hill, the Castle-hill, and 
 the Cross ; with Crawfords, Chalmers, Berrys, and 
 Browns. Tell Dolly Dundas that I was so much 
 in love with her one day, that I kissed the door of 
 her house, in returning home from dinner. This 
 declaration comes rather late, but no help for it ! 
 The Hermits know my love and duty ; and if they 
 don't think this a pretty piece of prose, I have 
 lost my labour, which, indeed, was only that of 
 the fingers. I will not turn over, that's flat ! 
 " Yours ever, 
 
 «' R. M. K," 
 
THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACTi 133 
 
 SIR E. M. KEITH TO H. DRtJMMOND, ESQ. 
 
 "Dresden, AprU 7th, 1771. 
 
 " Mt dear Harry, 
 
 " In writiiig to one of the Gcmg, 1 write 
 to them all ; and I have the strongest proofs of 
 the activity with which they espouse the interest 
 of an absent friend. The Lord-Eegistrar has told 
 me what your feelings were upon my removal * ; 
 and a letter I wrote to him the moment I was 
 made acquainted with it, will have shown you the 
 impression it made upon me. The sum total of 
 the matter is, my dear Hapry, that the King may 
 command my services to the utmost verge of the 
 globe ; but I can never suppose that so gracious a 
 master, or any of his confidential servants, can, in 
 return for services which they are pleased to ap- 
 prove, lessen all the comforts of my life, and at 
 the same time add greatly to my expense, without 
 increasing my income. This is a plain matter of 
 fact, which needs only to be understood to be re- 
 dressed ; and I have almost a certainty, that if the 
 Duke of Gloucester is pleased to grant me his 
 protection, my claim can meet with no opposition. 
 The House will be glad to do a friendly thing by 
 me, and then all will undoubtedly go well. You 
 cannot imagine now much I am obliged to Mr. 
 Conway's friendship upon this occasion ; and I am 
 sure that his representation will add weight to the 
 
 * To the more honouraUe, but, at that time, peeuliaily delicate 
 mission at the Court of Denmark ; which, (Uke other circum- 
 staaees at the time unwelcome,) ultimately raised to fame and 
 fortune the unwilling Envoy. 
 
 E. 3 
 
134 THE EOMAKCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 request I have made for additional rank and emo- 
 lument. You know I am not interested ; but in 
 the change of my housekeeping, and the necessity 
 of buying a service of plate, I must be attentive to 
 my affairs, in order to be just. I have been ten 
 times tempted to ask leave to go home for a 
 month or two; but the fear of being thought 
 negligent in the King's affairs, and still more the 
 cruel temper of the times, prevent me, I would 
 not add to the efmharras of the King's servants ; 
 I would not be the carrier of a complaint, or wear 
 a face of discontent at present, no, not for an em- 
 pire ! The . King's service shall be carried on to 
 the best of my abilities, and a time may come 
 when I may be thought to deserve a reward. 
 
 " My dear Harry, there is one comfortable feel- 
 ing, which not even the cold climate of Denmark 
 can damp ; and that is the grateful sense of fa- 
 vours bestowed by men whom I love and esteem 
 above all others. The satisfaction which arises 
 from this reflection, is not only agreeable, but 
 necessary, to a man who is pr6bably to pass a 
 great part of his life in honourable banishment. 
 I am very willing to exert my utmost powers for 
 the King's service in Denmark ; but it is not to 
 be expected that I should wish to make a long 
 stay in that most comfortless country. 
 
 "Poor Basil! I must prevail upon the King of 
 Denmark, to make him governor of one of his 
 thousand islands ! * Keep the honest fellow in 
 
 * A curious prediction for one who, by going to Benmarls, 
 made him governor of Jamaica. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 135 
 
 good spirits, and tell him that I shall write to 
 him in a post or two. Adieu, my dear Harry. 
 Love to sweet Bess, and her brats, and all the 
 clan. I am yours from the bottom of my heart. 
 
 " E. M. Keith." 
 
 The regret with which the writer of the above 
 letter exchanged the ease, freedom, and social 
 advantages of a small, but pleasant Court, for 
 the anticipated stiffness and hot unforeseen diffi- 
 culties, of one where disunion, faction, and feuds 
 more formidable still, were known to prevail — 
 are very evident. He bade adieu reluctantly to 
 the Elector and his mother (already mentioned 
 as the " most sociable and easy lady of her rank 
 in Europe "), the former of whom, shortly after, 
 testified his esteem for the minister by a mag- 
 nificent present of china, the first service he had 
 ever given; while the latter,, in addition to a gift 
 (woii-ministerial, for she never gave such) of a 
 snuff-box with her picture, continued during his 
 stay in Denmark his " weekly correspondent, on 
 as easy a footing," says he, " as my sister Anne." 
 
 Colonel Keith gladly availed himself of the few 
 weeks which elapsed between his quitting Saxony 
 and entering on his functions in Denmark, to 
 accomplish the visit to Vienna, to pay his respects 
 to the Imperial family, and become acquainted 
 with his father's numerous friends there, to which 
 he had been urged by Mr. Keith ; and which, as 
 we have seen, a sense of public duty had alone 
 prevented his requesting permission for sooner. 
 S4 
 
136 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACTi 
 
 If anything could have consoled the reluctant 
 Envoy for his Hyperborean destination, or paved 
 the way, unconsciously, for his future domestical 
 tion in the very capital which now so kindly 
 opened its arms to his "father's son," it would 
 have been the reception described iu the follow- 
 ing letter : — 
 
 COLONEL KEITH TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 "Dresden, May 3rd, 1771j 
 
 " Deae Father, 
 
 " I sit down, in the first moment of my 
 leisure, to give you the most satisfactory account 
 in my power of every material occurrence of my 
 agreeable journey to Vienna. The annexed jour- 
 nal will let you see the dates, and I mean to talk 
 to you of your friends, each in their turn. 
 
 " From the very distinguished reception I met 
 with from the Empress and Emperor *, I may be 
 permitted to place these illustrious persons at 
 the head of my list. Her Imperial Majesty men- 
 tioned, with great pleasure, your good services to 
 the king, your attachment for her, and the probity 
 and zeal which distinguished your mission. She 
 said (laughing), that she had more than once had 
 political quarrels with you, but that she always 
 attributed your warmth to the best motives ; and 
 that a difference of opinion had never altered her 
 esteem. She took Lord Stormontf to witness 
 
 * Maria Theresa and her son, Joseph II. 
 t Then her Majesty's minister at Vienna. 
 
THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 137 
 
 that she had tepeatedly inquired of him after 
 your situation and health. That she had given 
 commissions formerly to Seilern, and lately to 
 Belgioioso, to let you know how much she in- 
 terested herself in your welfare. She asked me 
 particularly after your children — your manner 
 of life, and settlement. I told" her Majesty that 
 I had long hoped to have been presented to her 
 by you ; but that a late indisposition, and my 
 change of mission, had prevented what I was 
 sure would have afforded you the greatest plea- 
 sure. The Empress expressed herself obliged to 
 you for your intention, and ordered me to say 
 everything to you in her name which could con- 
 vince you of her invariable esteem. She found 
 a resemblance between you /and me, and was 
 struck with the similitude of our voices. I was 
 surprised, I own, at the change in her Majesty's 
 figure and features from all her pictures ; and 
 sorry to see that her health was far from being 
 good, as she looked pursy and short-breathed, 
 and has, I am told, swelliags in her limbs, as 
 well as one arm. The Emperor* said he remem- 
 bered you perfectly ; your person, your conduct, 
 and the general approbation they met with ; was 
 already informed of your style of life, and was 
 pleased that your retreat was so agreeable ; men- 
 tioned with great clearness and judgment the 
 Court of Dresden, and that I am now accredited 
 to a great many truths, but represented with 
 
 * Thft son of Maria Theresa) Joseph the Second, 
 
138 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 all the good-nature possible. He commanded 
 me to assure you of his good wishes, and ended 
 by saying that as he could not foresee a journey 
 so far into the north, as my future residence, he 
 must expect to see me again in his dominions, 
 as he wished to see your son more than once* 
 I saw the Emperor in town every day during my 
 stay; and cannot say enough of his easy and 
 condescending manner. Dietrichstein and Kosen- 
 berg behaved as you could have expected ; espe-- 
 cially the first, who gave me several letters for 
 Denmark, and amused the Emperor by offering 
 to accompany me thither. 
 
 "The Archdukes Ferdinand and Maximilian, 
 with the eldest Archduchess, and Elizabeth, were 
 together at my being presented. They were all 
 very gracious, but particularly the eldest Arch- 
 duchess, who claimed aloud the privilege of 
 being amongst your best friends. I told her 
 Eoyal Highness that I had always known you 
 grateful for her singular goodness to you. The 
 audiences were shortened by the dining hour ; as 
 those of their Imperial Majesties had been longer 
 than usual. So much for the Court. 
 
 "Prince Kaunitz's reception of me was ex- 
 tremely civil. After many questions about my 
 journey, and destination, he ended the conversa- 
 tion by saying that you had always honoured him 
 
 * This flattering expression, so unexpectedly realised by Sir 
 B. M. Keith presenting his credentials as British Minister to 
 Vienna -within little more than a year, was then proved to have 
 teen perfectly sincere. . 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY.. 139 
 
 with your friendship ; that he felt that sentiment 
 was contiaued on his part, and should be happy 
 if it were hereditary on mine ; bid me see him 
 often and judge of his sincerity. The second 
 time I saw him he was indisposed, peevish, and 
 spoke little : but the day we dined together at 
 Stormont's he filled out a bumper, and made all 
 the company drink to his worthy and amiable 
 friend. Old Keith, to which he added many other 
 handsome things. When I took leave, he said, 
 *I beg you to remember me with affection to 
 your father, and hope yOu will look upon Vienna 
 as a place to which (with emphasis) you will 
 ohuays he most welcome." * I must not omit 
 that the Empress, and afterwards Kaunitz, 
 took opportunities of expressing in my hearing, 
 their high esteem for Lord Stormont, which in- 
 deed cannot be better founded. 
 
 " Prince Colloredo received me perfectly, and 
 regretted that as he and his family were to set out 
 for Baden next day, he could not have an oppor- 
 tunity of making his house agreeable to the son 
 of a man whom he esteemed and loved. He in- 
 vited me to Baden, where I had not time to go. 
 Every person in the Colloredo family took an 
 interest in me, and Baron Hageji, whom I met 
 there, was cordiality itself. , 
 
 " I must tell you a little anecdote which gave 
 me real pleasure, and took prodigiously at 
 
 * This also, it will be seen, found full realisation, in a degree 
 of courtesy and deference towards the writer, very unusual in 
 that haughty minister. 
 
I4d THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 Vienna. The second day of my being there, I 
 was strolling about the streets, and stopped, with 
 a spy-glass in my hand, at the front of the Col- 
 loredo, and Chancery buildings. While I looked 
 up at the statues, an old servant (porter to Prince 
 CoUoredo), knew me at once, and, stepping for- 
 ward, with the kindest familiarity, and slapping 
 me on the shoulder, said in German — Precisely 
 what your dear papa used to do twenty years 
 ago ! Nothing could be more benevolent- than 
 the look with which he accompanied this, and I 
 own I was struck with it. I mentioned the 
 agreeable sensation it had given me, in the 
 company where I passed the evening, and next 
 day I found the porter and I had been in the 
 mouths of ,all Vienna. It is, in my opinion, no 
 bad sign of the people of a great capital, who 
 expressed themselves pleased with so simple an 
 incident as this ! Nothing could be kinder than 
 the whole Harrach family*, and indeed they vied 
 with each other, to the last moment, in every mark 
 of attention. Ferdinand and Madame live splen- 
 didly at their garden; and Ernest with his 
 family most comfortably. Count Firmian de- 
 serves a separate sheet for his own share. In my 
 life I never saw a man of so winning an address, 
 from the plain unaffected character which his 
 first look promises. His friendship for you is 
 
 * It will be rememliered, that a slight, though -unfounded, 
 Buspioion of a lack of reciprocal kindness of expression, on his 
 eon's part, towards this family, employed his father's thoughts 
 in his last illness. 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 141 
 
 of the most genuine kind, and his expression of 
 it most persuasive. He made me promise to see 
 him at Milan, and insisted upon my assuring you 
 that he never could forget the obligation he had 
 to your salutary advice. I was glad to see the 
 high opinion, both of the Court and public, for 
 Count Firmian: and I heartily wish that the 
 Archduke Ferdinand may do justice to his merit, 
 and contribute to the ease and happiness of his 
 life. Baron Hag§n, with whom I saw the Count 
 almost every day, seemed equally your friend; 
 and recapitulated with pleasure the many happy 
 days you had passed together. The Princess 
 Esterhazy, and your German Lubomirska, were 
 more than civil to me, each in their different 
 way. Polite and kind inquiries, on the one hand, 
 and the most vulgar warm-heartedness on the 
 other : but both meaning the same thing. Priace 
 Francis Lichtensteia, and his lady, sent to me, 
 from the first, to bespeak a day. I had a noble 
 dinner at their house, where all the persons I 
 knew intimately were invited. I have mentioned 
 in my journal Madame D'Uhlefeld *, than whom I 
 never saw a more respectable woman. Her daugh- 
 ters, Madame de Thuri^, and Wallenstein, live 
 entirely in Lord Stormont's coterie, and are 
 certairJy among the most agreeable women in 
 Vienna." 
 
 * Widow of a former Chancellor of the Empire, the predeces- 
 sor of Prince Kaunitz. 
 
 f This lady became, with an equally amiable Madame de 
 Pergen, the chosen friend of Sir M. Keith, round whom all Lord 
 Stormont's coterie immediately congregated. 
 
142 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 A second trip to Berlin had, as we have seen, 
 formed a favourite project of Colonel Keith's; 
 and the same opportunity was seized to accom- 
 plish it, both his venerable kinsman, and the 
 monarch who had suggested the visit, being in 
 a state of health which seemed to prognosticate 
 that it would be a final one. Its results are thus 
 given, in a letter to Mr. Keith : — 
 
 "My good Lord Marischal seemed mightily 
 glad to see me at Potzdam. He is grown twice 
 as thin and tottering as when you saw him ; but 
 says, with great good humour, that he feels all 
 the springs of the machine wearing out with an 
 equal pace, and that he hopes, when it falls to 
 pieces, it will be without much pain or prepara- 
 tion. He seemed much pleased with the Elphin- 
 stones, to whom he has lately given the little 
 ready money he had : and told me he had given 
 Mr. Keith a good purchase of Dunottar, as a 
 reward for the attachment of his family. Your 
 correspondent* sent his coach for me, and said, in 
 an hour's Ute-a-Ute conversation, more flattering 
 and well-turned things than would fill a quire of 
 paper. His questions were so particular and 
 minute, that it would have surprised you. My 
 answer to his inquiry 'Si vous 6tiez sur vos 
 Ter¥es ? ' diverted him much. I told him, * Que 
 jpowr des Terres, vous in^eh poss^diez pas la 
 grandeur de sa chambre ; et que cependa/nt il y 
 avait tr^s peu de gens plus heureux que vous, et 
 
 * Frederick the Great. 
 
THE EOMANCB OF DIPLOMACY. 143 
 
 v6tre famiile.^ I cotild see that poverty had 
 never presented itself in so fair an aspect to him 
 as at that moment. He repeated several times 
 his wish to have had Murray's Hall * attached (by 
 order of his superiors) to his person, and added, 
 that if the people concerned had given him time, 
 he would have made his wishes known to them. 
 He hoped another opportunity would offer, and 
 said he should never lose sight of the obligations 
 he owed to a certain clan. He recapitulated 
 several , of these good services, beginning with 
 those of the late Marshal Keith, and finishing 
 with those which came nearer home to me. In 
 short, all was more than civil; and a time may 
 come when some advantage may arise from a 
 partiality to the Tweeddale laird, which is the 
 natural consequence. The same language is 
 uniformly held by him in public, as I have 
 ample proofs, and on a variety of occasions. 
 Your correspondent's heir-at-lawf and his lady, 
 made use of almost the same expressions, with 
 the head of the family, in mentioning you and 
 yours. I dare hardly flatter myself with Jhe 
 hope of seeing Lord Marischal again, though I 
 wish it much, from the real affection I bear 
 him. 
 
 * Colonel Keith himself, thus named, more Seotticii &om his 
 estate. 
 
 t The Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia. Somewhat 
 of the flattering confidence in Sir E. M. Keith, nianifested by 
 the former when sovereign (during the memorable Congress of 
 Sistovo), may have had this hereditary source. 
 
144 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 "The day after my return to Dresden, the 
 Electress Dowager set out for Aix-la-Chapelle, 
 Her goodness to me had been uniform, and, as a 
 last proof of it, she gave me a very handsome 
 snuff-box of Saxon stones with her picture. This 
 is no common favour, for since her widowhood 
 she makes no presents to ministers. I told you 
 that the Elector had ordered me a magnificent 
 service of china (the first he has given), but I 
 could not then mention the very honomrable 
 testimony he conveys to the king in some ex- 
 pressions in his letter, which of course gives 
 me much satisfaction. The manner in which 
 this first attempt in my present walk has been 
 received, gives me encouragement for the future. 
 The intimacy which I had contracted with several 
 very amiable people at Dresden, makes me feel a 
 great deal in parting from them: but Saxony 
 is so centrical, that I may flatter myself with 
 revisiting it more than once, 
 
 "Lord Marischal has agreed to my erecting 
 a decent gravestone to the memory of his late 
 brother*, and in the place where he fell. They 
 sent me two inscriptions, but they were long and 
 languid. I have engaged Baron Hagen and his 
 friend old Metastasip to touch me up something 
 manly and energetic, and in the course of this 
 summer, my tribute of veneration for the memory 
 
 * Inscription on' the monument at Hochkirohen, erected ty 
 • his relation Sir E. Murray Keith, to the. memory of Marshal 
 Keith:— 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 145 
 
 of a brave and honest man -will be recorded on 
 monumental marble.* I need not tell you that 
 upon that marble there will be no more men- 
 tion of me than of the man m the moon." 
 
 One more extract from Colonel Keith's Journal, 
 containing his first impressions of Copenhagen, 
 will serve to pave the way for the more detailed 
 account of Queen Carolina Matilda, and of other 
 persons and occurrences in that most important 
 scene of his diplomatic labours, which originally 
 formed the sole object of the present publication ; 
 but which it is hoped may derive enhanced in- 
 terest from ^e previous insight acquired by the 
 
 Jacobo Keith 
 
 GDlielmi Comitia MaresceUi Hered. 
 
 Eegni Seotise, 
 
 Et Marise Dmmmond, Filio, 
 
 Frederioi Borussorum Regis 
 
 SuBuno Exercitus Prsefecto, 
 
 Viro 
 
 Antiijuis moribus et militatd virtute claro, 
 
 Qui 
 
 Dum in prseKo non proeul hinc 
 
 Incliuatmn suorum aciem 
 
 Marte, manu, voce, et exemplo 
 
 Eestituebat 
 
 Pugnans ut Heroas deeet 
 
 Occubuit 
 Anno 1758. Mense Oct. 1. 
 
 * A noble montunent at Berlin was afterwards erected by the 
 King of Prussia. 
 
 VOL. I. L 
 
146 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 reader into the character and feelings of its 
 hero. 
 
 " Copenhagen," writes Colonel Keith to his 
 father, " is by far a finer city than I had figured 
 to myself, or had a right to expect, from the other 
 Danish towns I had seen upon the road. The 
 streets are broad, the openings and squares 
 spacious, and the palace, as well as several of the 
 public buildings, magnificent. The street in 
 which my house stands, leads to the new square, 
 which is composed of palaces, built uniformly, 
 and embellished by the famous equestrian statue 
 of the late king ; which is, in all pMbability, the 
 finest in Europe. It is perfectly finished, but not 
 yet uncovered ; and you will hardly believe that the 
 statue, and its ornaments alone, could have cost 
 one hundred and twenty thousand pounds, which 
 I am aissured is true. I have hired Mr. Grun^ 
 ning's house, and the impossibility of finding 
 a furnished one here made it absolutely necessary 
 for me to purchase his furniture, for which I paid 
 him, two days ago, five hundred and twelve 
 pounds ! From this one ruinous article, you 
 may judge of the rest; and of the fair claim I 
 had to additional emolument, upon being nomi- 
 nated to this commission, which it neveT entered 
 into my brain to solicit. Climate, comfort, 
 society, all against me — the ruin of my fortune 
 into the bargain would be too hard. 
 
 "My first audiences are over, and now my 
 business must be to deserve the public and 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 147 
 
 private esteem ; and then I shall be prepared 
 for whatever circumstances occur. One of great 
 moment, and for which we are daily looking, 
 is the queen's confinement, which has already 
 passed its allotted period."* 
 
 * Of her second child, a daughter, Princess of Holstein 
 Augustenhurg, and mother to the late Queen of Denmark. 
 
 I. S 
 
148 THE EOMAHCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 MEMOIR OF 
 CAEOLIM MATILDA, QUEEN OF DENMAEK * 
 
 INTEODUCTION. 
 
 It is seldom that the three-act drama of human 
 life, with its morning of bright hopes, its busy 
 checkered noon, and evening of faded joys, and 
 deepening clouds, is played out, and with a tragic 
 consummation, ere the chief actor in it has 
 numbered four-and-twenty years. But such has 
 been (perhaps to "point a moral," if not to 
 " adorn a tale ") the not unfrequent fate of female 
 royalty. And if, at that early period, the grave 
 opened literally its sheltering arms to the subject 
 of the following memoir, the gates of a neigh- 
 bouring fortress had closed, scarcely less effec- 
 tually, at the same age, on her injured great 
 grandmother, Sophia Dorothea, consort of 
 George I. 
 
 Nor did an earlier occupant of one of the British 
 thrones, our own Mary Stuart, bid a less final 
 
 • Sister of King George III., and -wife of Cliristian VII. of 
 Denmark, 
 
THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 149 
 
 « faxewell," not only to " all her greatness," but to 
 every joy of life and freedom, when crossing the 
 threshold of her first English prison, than when, 
 twenty years later, the pall descended on her 
 headless corpse ia the hall of Fotheringay ! 
 
 The parallel does not end here. AH three 
 were endowed (fatally, perhaps, for them as sove- 
 reigns) with the perilous gift of beauty, and with . 
 talents only calculated to deepen the feeling of 
 .contempt for brutal partners whose indifference, 
 cruelty, and indignities, palliate, though they 
 may fail to justify, the alienation which was their 
 natural consequence. Over the guilt, too, or 
 innocence of these three lovely princesses, there 
 hangs (though with widely varying intensity of 
 shade) a cloud of impenetrable mystery ; nor will 
 posterity probably ever precisely agree as to the 
 degree in which their avofpi and unquestionable 
 imprudences hovered upon, or crossed the barrier 
 which separates levity from vice. The overt acts 
 of Mary, alas! though the cheerfulness of her long 
 prison hours and fortitude in death shield her (in 
 every female bosom at least) from the charge of 
 murder, were such as to leave a stain on her 
 feminine purity; while the uniform serenity of 
 Sophia Dorothea's still longer seclusion, and her 
 refusal to quit it, to share with her unamiable 
 consort the throne of England, are eminently 
 favourable to the supposition of her freedom from 
 guilt. 
 
 From so protracted an ordeal '^eath came, 
 perhaps kindly, to release the subject of the 
 
 L 3 
 
150 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 following memoir. But if the blameless, nay, 
 exemplary tenor of her few brief years of retire- 
 ment in her brother's dominions, the utmost 
 calmness and firmness in the prospect of dissolu- 
 tion, uniform protestations of innocence, amid 
 the consolations of religion, and the inexpressible 
 grief of a sorrowing household (whose disin- 
 terested panegyrics, when their subject was, alas ! 
 no more, mingled with the tears of a population 
 by whom she was adored), can warrant a favour- 
 able conclusion, she, who could thus depart with- 
 out a sigh or a regret, and that, too, when the 
 fairest prospects of restoration to more than her 
 former share of power and dignity were actually 
 within her grasp, may surely be deemed more 
 "sinned against than sinning," and though un- 
 questionably imprudent unburdened with actual 
 crime. (iPr 
 
 The unhappy Princess, whose wrongs and mis- 
 fortunes will form the subject of the following 
 pages, was the posthumous child of His Eoyal 
 Highness Frederick, Prince of Wales, (eldest son 
 of Greorge II.) and sister to King George HI. 
 She was born July 22, 1751, four months and 
 eight days after the death of' her father, and 
 christened Carolina Matilda. Had the nativity 
 of this royal infant been cast, no astrologer, how- 
 ever fertile in evil omens, would have foretold 
 that she was to be hurled, from the pinnacle of 
 worldly grandeur, into a sea of troubles ; and to 
 
THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 151 
 
 become in the bloom of youth the sport of mis- 
 fortune, and the victim of unrelenting hatred. 
 
 From her tenderest years, this amiable Princess 
 displayed the most endearing vivacity, and a 
 sweetness of temper, which secured to her the 
 affection of her attendants. And, as she ap- 
 proached a maturer period, her heart and mind 
 became susceptible of the most generous senti- 
 ments, and of a cultivation which fitted her to 
 shine in the loftiest sphere, with reputation, and 
 dignity. Her education reflects the greatest credit 
 on her able surviving parent. She was well read 
 in modern history, conversant with geography; 
 spoke with correctness, eloquence, and fluency, 
 both French and German, and understood Latin. 
 Her diction in English was pure, and her elocu- 
 tion graceful. She could with facility repeat the 
 finest passages from our dramatic poets, and often 
 rehearsed, with great judgment and propriety, 
 whole scenes from Shakspere's most admired 
 plays. 
 
 Nor was the casket unworthy of the gem within 
 Of her person, various contemporary descriptions 
 agreeing in their main features, though varying 
 slightly with years and circumstances, have been 
 handed down to us. The English writer, to whom 
 we are indebted for the above catalogue of her 
 accomplishments, speaking of her as she quitted 
 her native shores, thus expresses himself: — "Her 
 person was above the middle size, and though 
 well shaped, rather inclined to what the French 
 call embonpoint Her face was a regular oval, 
 
 L 4 
 
152 HHE EOMAUCB OP DIPLOMACT. 
 
 and her eyebrows, arched with symmetry, added 
 sweetness and expression to her beautiful eyes. 
 Her lips and teeth exhibited the lively colours of 
 coral, and the whiteness of alabaster. She had a 
 good complexion, though not so fair as some of 
 the royal family, and her hair was of a light 
 chestnut. Her voice was sweet and melodious, 
 and her aspect rather gracious than majestic; 
 but she had in her tout ensemble a most pre- 
 possessing physiognomy." * 
 
 Such, at sixteen, was Carolina Matilda of Eng- 
 land. Subsequent portraits of her while the 
 ornament of the Court of Denmark, and at a 
 later and sadder period, when still lending grace 
 -and dignity to exile at Zell, will occur in the 
 course of these memoirs. 
 
 It is delightful to find that in all the three so 
 widely differing spheres, benevolence formed her 
 prevailing attribute. Her girlish privy-purse, 
 while in England, had been liberally opened to 
 indigent families at Kew. In a Danish work, 
 published many years after her decease, she is 
 represented, on the authority of one long about 
 her person, as herself visiting the poor around 
 her residence at Fredericksbourg ; and during the 
 happy period of her earlier stay in the country, 
 ere involved in the stormy politics of the day, as 
 bearing with her own hands, not only supplies of 
 money to destitute families, but stockings knitted 
 for the children, by herself and her ladies. During 
 her imprisonment at Cronenbourg, she found 
 * Memoirs of an Unfortunate Queen. 
 
THE EOMAKCE OF DIPLOMACT. 153 
 
 leisure, amid her overwhelming calamities, to 
 extend her compassion to some unhappy state 
 prisoners, her companions in captivity, to whom 
 she daily sent two dishes from her scantily fur- 
 nished table, and for whom she weekly saved a 
 sum from her own insufficient allowance ; and 
 during her brief residence of two years and a half 
 at Zell, her unconstrained liberality and benefi- 
 cence, which frequently left her without money 
 for her own personal expenses, so endeared her to 
 the whole population, that they followed, drowned 
 in tears, the funeral of one mourned by them for 
 years as a general benefactress. 
 
 Thus richly endowed by nature, and cultivated 
 by education, was the youthful Princess whom, at 
 sixteen, political considerations were about to con- 
 sign to a sadly uncongenial partner. " Whether," 
 says her biographer, " the picture of the young 
 monarch who had asked her in marriage, had not 
 conveyed to her mind the idea of the man she 
 could prefer, or that she looked upon her destina- 
 tion as an. honourable exile into the frozen regions 
 of the north, it is certain that her future elevation 
 to a throne, which she was fitted to adorn, in- 
 spired her Eoyal Highness with no pleasing sen- 
 sations. On the contrary, it was observed by the 
 ladies of her attendance, after this alliance was de- 
 clared, that she became pensive, reserved and dis- 
 quieted, though always gracious ; without taking 
 upon herself more state, or requiring more ho- 
 mage from the persons admitted into her presence." 
 
 But however much subsequent events, and 
 
154 THE EOMANCB OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 further acquaintance with the moral and mental 
 deficiencies of Christian VII. might lead all con- 
 nected with their victim to deplore this union, 
 it was not on the score of deficiency in personal 
 recommendations, or even of original talent, 
 though of a peculiar and eccentric kind, that 
 ■Carolina Matilda must have entertained mis- 
 givings as to her chances of happiness with her 
 boy-bridegroom. He is thus described from 
 Danish authorities on his first accession to the 
 kingdom, at the age of seventeen : — " The person 
 of the young king, though considerably under the 
 middle height, was finely proportioned, light and 
 compact, but yet possessuig a considerable degree 
 of agility and strength. His complexion remark- 
 ably fair, his features, if not handsome, were 
 regular, his eyes blue, lively and expressive, his 
 hair very light; he had a good forehead and 
 aquiline nose, a handsome mouth, and fine set of 
 teeth. He was elegant rather than magnificent 
 in his dress, courteous in his manners, though 
 warm and irritable in his temper, but his anger, 
 if soon excited, was easily appeased, and he was 
 generous to profusion." 
 
 Such were the person and disposition of 
 Christian VII., till surrounded by his ambitious 
 step-mother by a crowd of voluptuous and gay 
 young courtiers, in whose society his morals were . 
 corrupted, and his constitution undermined ; and 
 betrayed into all manner of pernicious excesses 
 by those whose duty it was to have watched over, 
 admonished, and protected him. 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 155 
 
 There were various circumstances which, in- 
 dependently of the limited number of Protestant 
 royal families affording suitable alliances for a 
 daughter of England, seemed to hold out flatter- 
 ing, though fallacious, auguries respecting the 
 proposals of the young King of Denmark. Him- 
 self the offspring of an English princess — no 
 trifling recommendation in British eyes — he 
 might,. be presumed to inherit, along with the 
 amiable dispositions of his mother, if not the rare 
 talents for government, at least the virtuous and 
 moral qualities which so richly adorned his father, 
 Frederick V., one of the most excellent monarchs 
 whom premature decease, at the age of forty-six, 
 ever snatched from a sorrowing nation. 
 
 When the Prince Eoyal was proclaimed King, 
 amidst the acclamations of "Long live Chris- 
 tian VII.," the people cried out, "May he not 
 only live long, but reign well like his father ! " 
 
 That such would be the case, thus descended, 
 it was not unnatural for his English connections 
 to conclude, or at least to hope, of a youth of 
 seventeen ; who, if he had hitherto certainly 
 manifested no talent, is admitted to have joined 
 to a fatal facility of disposition, a good-nature 
 and graciousness which, during his stay in Eng- 
 land, even after his marriage, and when his cha- 
 racter was better known, served in some degree 
 to redeem his deficiencies in soHd instruction, and 
 devotion to frivolous pursuits. 
 
 But had his natural endowments been greater 
 than they were, there waff much in the young 
 
156 THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 Prince's position to counterbalance Ids paternal 
 advantages. At the age of tiiree years, he had 
 lost (in 1751) Ms mother, Louisa of England*; 
 and on the union, a year after, of his father "with 
 Juliana Maria of Brunswick Wolfenbuttel, that 
 Princess — if cherishing, as is hinted, (even in the 
 lifetime of her husband) the ambitious projects 
 she afterwards carried into effect — had ample 
 opportunities of repressing, rather than fostering, 
 at that tender age, the slender capacities and un- 
 formed principles of the heir to the crown ; 
 who alone stood in the way of its possession 
 by her own son Frederick, his junior by only 
 four years. 
 
 The boundless authority bequeathed, under such 
 peculiar and delicate circumstances; to a princess, 
 whose talents (except for political intrigue) no 
 party has represented as at all distinguished, forms, 
 perhaps, the sole impeachment on the discernment 
 and judgment of Frederick V. " This king," says 
 a contemporary writer, "though one of the wisest 
 monarchs of his time, either blinded by affection, 
 or deluded by the acts of his second queen, gave 
 to this ainbitious stepmother a power which the 
 dictates of sound policy should never have vested 
 in a woman of her aspiring views. She was to 
 direct the councils of the young sovereign, and 
 to keep in her hands the reins of government, 
 till he should have attained the years of maturity. 
 The Dowager Queen, Juliana Maria, even before 
 
 * Daughter of George II., an- amiatle and accomplished 
 princess. 
 
THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 157 
 
 the king had closed his eyes, planned the bold 
 and iniquitous scheme of snatching the sceptre 
 from the feeble hands of Christian VII., whose 
 youth and timidity forwarded the evil designs of 
 this artful princess. She had often, it is said, even 
 during the lifetime of Frederick V., displayed, in 
 his absence, her ill-will towards the Prince Eoyal, 
 he being the sole obstacle to her son Frederick's 
 mounting the throne, to which she was passion- 
 ately desirous of raising him. 
 
 " Whether through fear, or policy, when at the 
 age of seventeen, Christian VII. attained the crown, 
 he paid his mother-in-law, notwithstanding the 
 disdain with which she treated him, all the defer- 
 ence which seemed due to her rank and authority 
 in council. He never testified his firmness, or 
 had the courage to defend his own opinion, on 
 any other occasion than in the choice of Carolina 
 Matilda of England ; whilst the Queen Dowager 
 neither approved of the alliance, nor of the time 
 fixed for the union." Happy would it have been 
 for all concerned, had she succeeded in averting 
 the inauspicious alliance ! 
 
 It was under circumstances thus critical and 
 unpropitious to future happiness that the amiable 
 and ill-fated Carolina Matilda gave her hand, in 
 the sixteenth year of her age, at the Chapel Eoyal, 
 St. James's, on the 1st of October 1766, to Christian 
 Vn. of Denmark. The parting between the 
 Queen of Denmark and her royal mother, the 
 Princess of Wales, was extremely tender; the 
 young queen, on getting into the coach, was ob- 
 
158' THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 served to shed tears, which 'greatly affected the 
 populace assembled in Pall Mall to witness her 
 departure.. 
 
 "Her Majesty was dressed in hloom-colour 
 with white flowers. Wherever she passed, the 
 earnest wishes of the people were for her health, 
 and praying Grod to protect her from the perils of 
 the sea. A gentle melancholy seemed to affect 
 her on account of leaving her family, and the 
 place of her birth; but,, upon the whole, she 
 carried an air-of serenity and majesty which ex- 
 ceedingly moved every one that beheld her. 
 
 " On the 18th the Queen of Denmark arrived 
 at Altona, and it is impossible to express the joy 
 with which she was received. The bridge pre- 
 pared for the royal reception was covered with 
 scarlet cloth, on one side whereof were ranged the 
 ladies, and on the other the men ; and at the end . 
 were two rows of young women, dressed in white, 
 who strewed flowers before her Majesty as she 
 approached. The illuminations on the occasion 
 were inconceivable." 
 
 How irresistibly do these details of the contem- 
 porary chronicler, in the quaint language of the 
 times — the " bloom-coloured " dress, white wreath, 
 and flowers strewed before the virgin bride by 
 the young maidens of her new dominions — suggest 
 to those acquainted with the sad sequel, the idea 
 of an unconscious victim proceeding to her doom J 
 Yet, among those who witnessed this brilliant 
 reception, who would have ventured to predict 
 that within five years, the interposition of her 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 159 
 
 royal brother of England would have been called 
 for, to rescue from popular fury, and the virulence 
 of faction, the princess so enthusiastically hailed ; 
 or imagined that the cannon which pealed their 
 welcome from the forts of her new capital would, 
 within that period, with extorted courtesy, give 
 the signal for her perpetual exile from a kingdom, 
 of which she had been the delight and ornament ? 
 It was not till after the event, that an honest 
 eye-witness thus remarks: "The tears of her 
 Majesty on parting from the dear country in which 
 she drew hef first breath, might have inspired 
 in those who beheld them gloomy forebodings 
 as to the issue of the voyage she was about tq 
 undertake." 
 
 There were circumstances in the birth and edu- 
 cation of the youthful traveller, which, while they 
 enhanced the pangs of separation to all concerned, 
 must have tended to unfit her in a peculiar man- 
 ner to encounter not only avowed or ill-concealed 
 hostility, but even the usual cold ceremonial of a 
 then excessively stiff and formal northern court ; 
 which, from the accounts of her reception by 
 such of its members as had been deputed to meet 
 her on landing, (as ascribed to herself, but more 
 probably derived from some of her suite) as abund- 
 antly freezing. " The gentlemen and ladies sent 
 to compliment me," (says a letter not sufiiciently 
 authenticated to find insertion, but corroborated 
 by many genuine testimonies in the ensuing 
 pages,) "made no addition to my entertainment; 
 besides the reservedness and gravity peculiar to 
 
160 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 their nation, they thought it was a mark of respect 
 and submission, never to presume to answer me 
 but hy monosyllables, and they appeared' in the 
 circle, inanimate, like the wax figures in West- 
 minster Abbey." 
 
 Eepulsive as an etiquette so frigid might have 
 appeared to any princess of sixteen, fresh from the 
 comparatively unconstrained domestic circle with 
 which Greorge the Third and his consort delighted 
 to surround themselves — it was from a hearth 
 more hallowed still — from almost the bosom of 
 a happy private family, that Caroliife, Matilda was 
 transported to the morally and physically frozen 
 regions of the north. Born after the early and 
 sudden demise of a father, whom political cir- 
 cumstances had estranged from the throne, to 
 which he did not live to succeed, how fondly 
 must this posthumous pledge of conjugal affection 
 have been folded to a widowed mother's heart; 
 and how genial must have been the atmosphere in 
 which the natural talents, and acquired accom- 
 plishments of the youngest of a large and happy 
 family, were precociously developed ! 
 
 If the merit of vraisemblance (if not of authen- 
 ticity) belongs to a collection of letters, published 
 in England just after her decease, when numbers 
 could have recognised or disputed the likeness — 
 the liveliness of her disposition, and familiarity of 
 her intercourse with her friends and correspon- 
 dents, equalled the facility of epistolary style 
 for which the royal family of England has ever 
 been distinguished ; while the total absence of all 
 
THE BOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 161 
 
 knowledge even of tlie external world, (implied 
 in her never having been further from London 
 than Windsor, previously to her inauspicious 
 marriage) sent her forth as unprepared to en- 
 counter its stern realities, as some tender exotic, 
 from her favourite summer abode at Kew, would 
 have been to meet the blasts of the climate, to 
 which she was herself transplanted. And to pur- 
 sue the parallel, familiar to all who, like her, take 
 delight in "observing and directing a garden," 
 when, to the chill of a reception, calculated to send 
 back the warm blood of youth in a frozen tide to 
 the heart — succeeded a trying sunshine of pros- 
 perity and power, too much ^in to the brief 
 scorching summer of hyperborean regions -^ who 
 can wonder that the English flower sunk prema- 
 turely withered beneath the noxious vicissitude ? 
 With no stay in an imbecile and profligate 
 husband, to whom she could legitimately cling 
 for support ; estranged by distance from her own 
 fond parent, and destined to find in the nominal 
 one of her consort, a personification of the quali- 
 ties ascribed (often erroneously) to stepmothers, 
 
 '> A little more than kin, and less than kind — " 
 
 could it be matter of surprise that the first prop, 
 however essentially unsafe and unworthy, which 
 held out its fallacious aid to lift from the dust the 
 tempest-beaten, nay trampled, scion of royalty, 
 should be eagerly hailed, and grasped with fatal 
 tenacity, till the same long-gathering storm laid 
 them both prostrate in a night ? , 
 
 VOL. I. M' 
 
162 THE EOMANCB OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 Had even the "craft and dissimulation" as- 
 cribed by some authors to the Queen Dowager, 
 induced her to affect cordiality towards her step- 
 son's wife, now that the knot was indissolubly 
 tied; her previous hostility to the match, and its 
 motives, were no secret, and are thus broadly 
 stated by a contemporary writer : 
 
 "As from the weak and delicate constitution 
 of the young monarch, he might probably have 
 quitted this life without posterity, had his mar- 
 riage been deferred, the secret motive for her 
 opposition was manifest to all. Moreover, she 
 saw in the young Queen a rival in the ascend- 
 ency she had usujped over the mind of the king, 
 and in the power she was resolved to maintain 
 in the council. She could not conceal her resent- 
 ment, when Queeit Matilda first appeared at 
 Copenhagen, and made her entry into the capital, 
 with all the advantages of youth and beauty, 
 amid the unanimous acclamations of a people, 
 delighted with her grace and affability." 
 
 " It was neither," says a Danish writer, in de- 
 scribing this entrie, " the powerful connexions, the 
 high lineage, nor the ample dowry, which this 
 young and interesting princess brought to my 
 country, that commandeduniversal admiration and 
 esteem ; but her youth, her innocence, her beauty, 
 and her modest retwing graceful demeanour, 
 that fascinated all who beheld her. I saw this 
 ill-fated princess when she first set her foot on 
 the soil of Denmark. I did not join in the shouts 
 of the multitude ; but I was charmed with herr 
 
THE UOMANCB OF DIPLOMACY. 163 
 
 appearance. She was received like a divinity, 
 and almost worshipped, at least by those of the 
 male sex. Her animated beauteous features, her 
 fine blue eyes beamed with delight on all around 
 her. That youth must have been a stoic, whose 
 heart, if not devoted to some prior object, would 
 not have been enslaved by this fair foreigner, then 
 little more than fifteen." 
 
 "The conduct of Matilda," pursues the same 
 eye-witness, " on her arrival in Denmark, was such 
 as left no room but for approbation ; possessing 
 somewhat of the hauteur by which her family are 
 distinguished, she certainly did not forget the 
 dignity of her station. While the king, descend- 
 ing from his rank, made companions of his gay 
 young courtiers, Matilda exacted the homage from 
 the ladies of her court to which her exalted station 
 entitled her; and, as was natural at her age, 
 seemed more fond of the show and pageantry of 
 royalty, than desirous of political influence. Not- 
 withstanding the vices of her husband, as he had 
 a large fund of good-nature and generosity, she 
 might have avoided the calamities that too soon 
 overtook her, had it not been for the insinuations 
 of conflicting nobles, emulous for power, and the 
 ceaseless intrigues of Juliana Maria. The acclama- 
 tions which resounded whenever Matilda appeared 
 in public, smote on her heart as the death-knell 
 of her ambitious hopes, of securing the crown of 
 Denmark for Prince Frederick (her own son), 
 then in his thirteenth year. Still, she did not 
 relinquish her darling projects, even when her 
 
 M 2 
 
164 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 hopes were blasted by the tidings that filled aU 
 Denmark with exultation. She had, from the 
 time the queen's pregnancy was announced, 
 secluded herself in a great measure from court. 
 For the two last months she buried herself, as it 
 were, in her palace of Fredensborg, till, to com- 
 plete her dismay, on the 28th January, 1768, the 
 thunder of a thousand pieces of ordnance, from 
 the forts and fleets of Zealand, proclaimed the 
 safe delivery of the young Queen, and the birth 
 of a male child." 
 
 Had the disappointed maternal feelings of the 
 stepmother been limited in their effect to the 
 ' somewhat impolitic omission, in her own chapel, 
 of the customary prayers, on this auspicious occa- 
 sion, and to the lingering hopes founded on the 
 puny sickly frame of the infant heir of Denmark, 
 human nature, perhaps, rather than any special 
 malignity in her own disposition, might have 
 accounted for their existence. But while disposed 
 to reject, as unauthenticated fabrications of party- 
 spirit, many atrocious tales of direct attempts, on 
 the part of Juliana Maria, to remove by poison in 
 infancy, the stepson who came between the 
 throne and her darling child ; it is impossible, on 
 such hosts of concurring testimony, to acquit her 
 of efforts (scarcely less criminal) to blight at a 
 maturer period his bodily and mental health, and 
 to undermine, by separation and misrepresenta- 
 tion, his chances of domestic happiness. 
 
 " It. was now the policy of this artful woman to 
 persuade the credulous king to abandon his wife 
 
THE EOMAIKCE OJF DIPLOMACY. 165 
 
 and his dominions to the mercy of the dangerous 
 cabal which she had already formed, under pre- 
 tence of embellishing his understanding with 
 useful knowledge and instruction by travel and 
 observation, in visiting the principal courts of 
 Europe. She hoped that his absence would 
 entirely extinguish the last sparks of conjugal 
 affection, that no other heirs than the Prince 
 Eoyal should form a bar to her son's succession ; 
 and that the young Queen, thus neglected, would 
 commit some imprudent action, of which the 
 Dowager might wickedly avail herself to censure 
 her conduct and render her virtue suspected. 
 The vivacity, cheerfulness and easy carriage of 
 Matilda, amidst a phlegmatic and reserved nation, 
 formed a happy presage to the success of her 
 enemy's designs ; while, except Count Bernstorff, 
 that great statesman whom Christian VII. had 
 continued at the head of affairs, and who had 
 compelled the Queen Dowager to dread his virtue, 
 which she could not corrupt, there was scarcely 
 one among the lords who were to accompany the 
 king, that was not calculated to pervert by his 
 councils an already debauched prince." 
 
 The debut in England of the giddy boy is said 
 to have been highly characteristic. Being pre- 
 ceded on his arrival in the royal yacht, the Mary, 
 at Dover, by one of his chamberlains, as an 
 avcmt-cowrier to announce the landing of the 
 royal Dane, a train of royal carriages and 
 domestics was sent down to convey the king and 
 » 3 
 
166 THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACT. 
 
 his numerous suite to London*; but such was 
 his impatience to see the famed metropolis of 
 Great Britain, that he declined those sumptuous 
 vehicles and travelled in a post-chaise. 
 
 Having heard that the clergy and corporation 
 of Canterbury and Eochester intended to receive 
 him with all possible pomp, he was thrown 
 almost into a passion, being averse to formalities 
 of every sort, and accustomed to consider the 
 clergy, as a body, with profligate contempt. He 
 said to Count Bernstorff, " The last king of 
 Denmark who entered Canterbury laid that city 
 in ashes and massacred the inhabitants. Would 
 to Grod they had recollected this, and let me pass 
 quietly through their venerable town, where our 
 ancestors committed so many crimes ! " The 
 Count told him, with a smile, that the good- 
 citizens of Canterbury would find less difficulty in 
 forgetting the outrages suffered by their fore- 
 fathers, than in being deprived of the honour of 
 making him a speech and kissing his royal hand. 
 Finding the ceremony inevitable, he entreated 
 the Count to intimate beforehand his antipathy 
 to long speeches. 
 
 In disposition, person, manners, and habits. 
 Christian VII. was the reverse of his cousin and 
 
 * Christian VII. was lodged in those apartments in the 
 Stahle-yard, lately occupied by the Duke of Clarence, and where 
 the King of Prussia was lodged in 1814. "When Count Holke, 
 the extravagant and dissipated companion of the King, first saw 
 their exterior, he exdaimed, " By Heaven, this will never do ; 
 it is not fit to lodge a Christian!" 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 167 
 
 brother-in-law, George in. ; whose regularity and 
 dignified demeanour were objects of ridicule to 
 the wild youth and his dissolute associates ; and 
 instead of his example reclaiming Christian from 
 vicious conduct, the latter laughed at his cousin's 
 domestic habits, as alike void of elegance and 
 spirit. His errors and vices may, however, claim 
 more than ordinary indulgence, from the pains 
 early taken to eradicate the seeds of virtue from 
 his mind. 
 
 As the periodical publications of the day present 
 a faithful detail of the festivities and illumina- 
 tions, balls, concerts, masquerades, military and 
 nautical spectacles, tours by land, and excursions 
 by water, that took place in England in honour 
 of the young king, and nlaxked the popularity 
 which, in right of his alliance with a British 
 princess, he enjoyed on her native soil, it would 
 be superfluous to go into this fatiguing detail. 
 Among the most sumptuous of these entertain- 
 ments, the chronicles of the time enumerate those 
 given by the Princess Amelia, the Princess 
 Dowager of Wales, and the Duke of Northum- 
 berland, and a princely banquet from the city 
 of London, the very dishes at which have been 
 deemed worthy of record ; and the tout ensemnhle 
 of which, with its 2000 wax-lights, brilliant deco- 
 rations, and .yet more brilliant galaxy of British 
 beauties, quite dazzled the mind and senses of the 
 boyish guest. 
 
 The festivities were wound up by a grand ball, 
 given to Christian by their Majesties of England, 
 
 M 4 
 
168 THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 (by whom his-table during his residence was de- 
 frayed, at an expense of 84Z. per day ;) and a far 
 more numerous, if not so select masquerade, 
 given, in return for the civilities he had ex- 
 perienced, hy the Danish monarch, at the Hay- 
 market theatre, to 2500 persons of distinction, 
 the greatest number then known to have been 
 assembled on any similar occasion. 
 
 Of this royal visit, Horace Walpole, the. prince 
 of gossips, thus writes to Greneral Conway. 
 
 "The King of Denmark comes on Thursday, 
 and I go up to-morrow to see him. It has cost 
 three thousand pounds to new furnish an apart- 
 ment for him at St. James's, and they say he will 
 not go thither, supposing it would be a confine- 
 ment, but is to lie at his own Minister Dieden's. 
 Pray let the Danish king see such good specimens 
 as yourself and Lady Aylesbury, of the last age ; 
 though by what I hear, he likes nothing but the 
 very present age. You will, no doubt, both come 
 and look at him ; not that I believe he is a jot 
 better than the apprentices who flirt to Epsom in 
 a Tim Whisky." 
 
 To George Montagu he says : — 
 
 " I came to town to see the Danish king. He 
 is as diminutive as if he came out of a kernel 
 in the fairy tales. He is not ill made, nor weakly 
 made, though so small ; and though his face is 
 pale and delicate, it is not at all ugly. Still he 
 has more royalty than folly in his air, and con- 
 sidering he is not twenty, is' as well as any one 
 expects a king in a puppet-show to be., He 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 169 
 
 arrived on Thursday, supped and slept at St. 
 James's. Yesterday evening he was at the Queen's, 
 and Carlton House, and at night at Lady Hert- 
 ford's assembly. He only takes the title of 
 Altesse (an absurd mezzo termvne) but acts king 
 exceedingly : struts in the circle like a cockspar- 
 row, and does the honours of himself very civilly. 
 
 " There is a favourite, too, who seems a com- 
 plete Jackanapes; a young fellow called Holke, 
 well enough in his figure, and about three-and- 
 twenty, but who will be Uimbled down, long 
 before he is prepared for it. Bernstorff, a Hano- 
 verian, his first minister, is a decent sensible man. 
 I pity him, though I suppose he is envied. From 
 Lady Hertford's, they went to Eanelagh; and 
 to-night go to the Opera. There had like to 
 have been an untoward circumstance. The last 
 new opera in the spring, which was exceedingly 
 pretty, was called I Viaggiatori Ridicoli, and 
 they were on the point of acting it for this Koyal 
 Traveller ! " 
 
 To Lord Stafford, a few days later, Walpole 
 thus gossips on : — 
 
 " A royal visitor, quite fresh, is a real curiosity ; 
 by the reception of him I do not think any more 
 of the breed will come hither. He came from 
 Dover in hackney-chaises, for somehow or other, 
 the Master of the Horse happened to be in 
 Lincolnshire; and the king's coaches having 
 received no orders, were too good subjects to go 
 and fetch a stranger king of their own heade. 
 However, as his Danish Majesty travels to im- 
 
170 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 prove lumself, for the good of his people, he will 
 go back extremely enlightened in the arts of 
 government and morality, by having learned that 
 crowned heads may be reduced to ride in hack- 
 chaises." 
 
 The coldness and tardiness of reception before 
 alluded to, is thus corroborated by Walpole in the 
 same letter : — • 
 
 " By another mistake. King George happened 
 to go to Eichmond, about an hour before King 
 Christian arrived in London. An hour is ex- 
 ceed^ingly long, and the distance to Eichmond 
 still longer ; so with all the dispatch which could 
 possibly be made. King George could not get 
 back to his capital till next day at noon. Then, 
 as the road from his closet at St James's, to the 
 King of Denmark's apartment, on t'other side 
 of the palace, is about thirty miles (which pos- 
 terity, having no conceptions of the prodigious 
 extent and magnificence of St. James's, will never 
 believe) it was half an hour after three before his 
 Danish Majesty's cousin could go and return, to 
 let him know that his good brother and ally "was 
 leaving the palace (in which they both were) to 
 receive him at the Queen's palace, which you 
 know is about a million of snails' paces from 
 St. James's. 
 
 "Notwithstanding these difficulties, and un- 
 avoidable delays, Woden, Thor, Frigga, and all 
 the gods that watch over the kings of the north, 
 d)4 bring these two invincible monarchs to each 
 other's embraces, about half an hour after five 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 171 
 
 the same evening. They passed an hour in pro- 
 jecting a, family compact, that will regulate the 
 destiny of Europe to latest posterity ; and then, 
 the Fates so willing it, the British prince departed 
 for Eichmond, and tjje Danish potentate repaired 
 to the widowed mansion of his royal mother-in- 
 law, where he poured forth the fulness of his 
 heart, in praises of the lovely bride she had 
 bestowed upon him, from whom nothing but the 
 benefit of his subjects could have tofn him." 
 
 After this strain of irony — corroborative, it 
 wiU be perceived, of the hpUow footing of the 
 royal brothers-in-law — and some scandalous 
 anecdotes, only too confirmatory of popular 
 rumours as to the foreign one, the lively narrator 
 thus sums up : — 
 
 " Well then, this great king is a very little one. 
 He has the sublime strut of his grandfather (or a 
 cock-sparrow), and the divine white eyes of all 
 his family on the mother's side. His curiosity 
 seems to have consisted in the original plan of 
 travelliug, for I cannot say he takes notice of 
 anything in particular. The mob adore, and 
 huzza him, and so they did at the first instant. 
 They now begin to know why, for he flings money 
 to them out of the window, and by the end of the 
 week I do not doubt they will want to choose him 
 for Middlesex. His court is extremely well 
 ordered, for they bow as low to him at every 
 word as if his name were Sultan Amurath. You 
 would take his first minister for only the first of 
 his slaves. I hope this example, which they 
 
172 THE EOMASCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 have been good enough to exhibit at the Opera, 
 will civilise us. There is, indeed, a pert young 
 gentleman, who a little discomposes this august 
 ceremonial; his name is Count Holke, his age 
 three-and-twenty, and his |»ost answers to one 
 that we had formerly in England, ages ago, called 
 in our tongue, a high favourite. Minerva, in the 
 shape of Count Bernstofff (or out of all shape in 
 
 the person of the Duchess of ) is to conduct 
 
 Telemachus to York races ; — for can a monarch 
 be perfectly accomplished in the mysteries "of 
 kmg-craft, unless initiated in the arts of jockey- 
 ship?" 
 
 It would have been well, had these amuse- 
 ments, perhaps natural at the age of the boy- 
 king, who was not yet twenty, alone divided his 
 time and heart with "those more ostensible objects 
 of his tour, visits to the universities, and chief 
 towns of the kingdom, (some of the former cha/rac- 
 feristically performed in a "hunting coat and 
 boots," on his way to more congenial scenes at 
 York or Newmarket) ; and all with a breathless 
 rapidity, which forced from even a very courtier- 
 like chronicler the remark that "if His Majesty 
 is not a youth of more than common talent, he 
 must have a very confused idea of what he sees." 
 
 " Grood-nature," says another, "which is the 
 characteristic of the English nation, made them 
 give the most favourable construction to the 
 motives of the King's travels, which were, in fact, 
 the natural consequence of his giddiness and 
 levity. Whatever he seemed desirous to see, and 
 
THE EOMAjSCE OP DIPLOMACY. 173 
 
 all the inquiries -worthy of a monarch who seeks 
 for instruction, and improvement in arts, civili- 
 sation and government, were suggested by Count 
 Bernstorff, Secretary of State, the only man of 
 merit and virtue in his retinue. His own inclina- 
 tions led him to plays, operas, balls, and ex- 
 cursions of pleasure, in which a sovereign nlhy 
 indulge himself occasionally, as a relaxation from 
 the grand objects of useful study and information. 
 He was gracious and accessible, but without dis- 
 cernment, and without dignity. The very citizens 
 of both sexes, who resorted daily to his apart- 
 ments at St. James's, to see him dine in public 
 with his favourites — mistook him more than 
 once for a young girl, dressed in man's clothes, 
 whose conversation and deportment commanded 
 neither respect nor attention. His confidants 
 were of the same stamp. Count Holke, who, like 
 Narcissus, seemed his own admirer, was a foppish 
 shallow courtier, swr le hon ton at the Court of 
 Copenhagen, and highly distinguished by the 
 favour of his master. Molke, his rival in the 
 royal confidence, had less presumption, more 
 dexterity and knowledge of the world than the 
 other, with an equal propensity to pleasure and 
 gallantry. The numerous intrigues into which, 
 even in London, they led their inexperienced 
 master, were of the lowest and most discreditable 
 nature. Nor did the reports of them which 
 Reached Copenhagen tend to diminish the disgust 
 of his queen for her ill-assorted partner. 
 
 " Volumes," it is said, — (probably more 
 
174 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 honoured in their suppression than publication) 
 "might he compiled from the frolics and ex- 
 travagances committed while in England by this 
 dissipated youth and those servile courtiers, whoj 
 to gratify their sovereign, flattered every folly, 
 and sought with lamentable avidity, even in the 
 pdlhs of infamy and vice, the means of making 
 themselves useful or agreeable." One anecdote 
 alone, of a less exceptionable nature, is given by 
 the Danish writer already quoted; and while 
 illustrative of the reckless profusion * which cha- 
 racterised the king during his residence abroad, 
 is only one of many adventures to which his 
 practice of going out incog, gave rise. 
 
 For the better supply of his wants, the king 
 had caused an unlimited credit to be opened' 
 with a very rich, but penurious city merchant, 
 under the assumed name of Mr. Frederickson. 
 Dressed as. private gentlemen, the king and 
 Count Holke went to the merchant's counting- 
 house, and took up four thousand pounds. The 
 merchant, very desirous of knowing more of such 
 good customers, employed a lad to watch them ; 
 but spite of his dexterity, the strangers got off 
 unperceived. 
 
 The clerk who had been employed on this 
 service, happening to pass through the palace at 
 St. James's, and seeing the same strangers enter 
 by a private door, was delighted to be told by 
 the sentry, that they must belong to the suite of 
 
 * He used to carry gold coins in one pocket, and silver in the 
 other, which he gave away by handfuls on every*occasion. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 175 
 
 the King of Denmark, as none others were allowed 
 to pass in that way, and communicated his in- 
 formation to his master, who was charmed at the 
 prospect of thus making a handsome profit on 
 the rencontre ; while his wife, equally bent on 
 obtaining by their means a view of the King of 
 Denmark, or at least of his apartments, strongly 
 suggested the expediency of inviting them, on 
 their next visit, to tea. 
 
 This civility the strangers, whom it not a little 
 amused, had succeeded in evading, when the 
 further necessities of the prodigal monarch 
 brought them a second time to the merchant's 
 counting-house ; when the merchant} leaving 
 Count Holke in conversation with his wife, took 
 the king (the supposed Mr. Frederickson) by the 
 lappel of his coat, and led him to a little (Mstance 
 from his companion; and after some cautious 
 circumlocutions, regarding commercial specula- 
 tions, asked him in direct terms, " if the money 
 was not for the use of Christian the Seventh ? " 
 The king thought at first he was detected, but 
 finding that not to be the case, and that the 
 merchant only wanted to get a share of a good 
 thiQg, he resolved to draw him on, in hopes of 
 amusement, and answered his question in the 
 affirmative. The merchant's eyes sparkled with 
 joy at this confession. "I am told," said he, 
 " that Christian the Seventh is one of the most 
 extravagant and thoughtless young dogs living, 
 and cares no more for money than if it could, be 
 raked out of the kennel. Of course you make 
 
176 THE EOMiNCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 him pay handsomely? Eh, you understand 
 me?" 
 
 It -was with diflSculty the king could refrain 
 from laughter; but, as gravely as he could, he 
 told the man of traffic that he had drawn a 
 correct picture of the king's character. "And 
 pray, sir," said the latter, significantly, " what is 
 the nature of your employment ? " — " My chief 
 employment," replied Christian, " consists in 
 dressing the king, and looking out for amuse- 
 ments." " Just the thing ! " said the merchant ; 
 "then you are the niore likely to have influence." 
 — " No man has more influence with him than 
 I have; of that be assured." "Then of course 
 you make a handsome thing of those advances ? " 
 " Upon my word and honour, I never made a 
 profit on any pecuniary transaction in my life ! " 
 The merchant's face fell, considerably lengthened, 
 as he turned his small eyes obliquely towards the 
 king. After a pause, he began on another tack. 
 " How does the king dispose of these sums ? " — 
 " Gives them away, sometimes in coin or bank- 
 notes; oftener in presents of jewellery or other 
 precious articles." " Heark'ee, sir," said the 
 merchant, deUghted by these confessions ; " would 
 you not wish to make the best of your influence 
 with the king ? " — " Certainly I would." « Then, 
 if you will suff'er me to instruct you, I will teach 
 you how to make fifty per cent, on the capital. 
 Let me buy the jewels and presents.'' Just at 
 that instant one of the king's pages -arrived, 
 and desired the clerk to call his master, who was 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 177 
 
 never less disposed to be interrupted. "Pray, 
 sir," said tte messenger, "is not the King of 
 Denmark in your house ? " — " The King of 
 Denmark ! No, sir, only a Mr. Frederickson." 
 "That is the king — the son of Frederick the 
 Fifth ; the gentleman with him is Count Holke, 
 master of his Majesty's waardiohe; and I am sent 
 by the Princess DowageE of Wales',, and am 
 ordered to deliver this letter into his Majesty's' 
 own hands." 
 
 The confusion of the merchant and his wife at 
 this denouement may safely be left to the imagi- 
 nation. The former disappeared, but the good- 
 natured king, forcing a ring on the fat finger of 
 the. latter, and desiring her to tell her husband^ 
 that Christian would never feel offended at what 
 he had said confidentially to Mr. Frederickson, 
 skipped down stairs, laughing heartily at the 
 adventure, and regretting that it had been so 
 suddenly terminated. 
 
 Had the young king's natural levity permitted^ 
 him to profit by, as well as forgive the warnings 
 he occasionally received during the incognito 
 rambles in which he indulged, one good effect 
 at least might have accrued from the unkingly 
 pastime. It is said, on the same authority on 
 which rests the preceding anecdote, tha,t haying 
 gone one evening, in disguise, to a place of resort, 
 much frequented by Danish and Swedish ship- 
 masters, whose conversation naturally turned on 
 the splendid festivities daily given in honour of 
 Christian Count Holke, who piqued himself 
 
 VOL. I. N 
 
178 THE EOMASCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 on the purity of his Grerman, asked an old 
 skipper what he thought of his king ; and if he 
 were not proud of the honours paid to him by the 
 EngHsh? «I think," said he, drily, "that with 
 such counsellors as Gownt Holhe, if he escapes 
 destruction, it will be by miracle." " Do you know 
 Count Holke, friend," said he, " that you speak 
 of him thus familiarly?" "Only by report," 
 said the Dane, "but everybody in Copenhagen 
 pities the young queen ; attributing the coolness 
 the king showed to her, as he set out on this 
 voyage, to the malice of Count Holke." The 
 confusion of the minion may be conceived; while 
 the king, giving the skipper a handful of ducats, 
 bade him " speak the truth, and shame the, 
 devil." The moment the king spoke in Danish, 
 the old man knew him, and looking at him with 
 love and reverence, said in a low and subdued 
 tone, " Forgive me, , Sire, but I cannot conceal 
 my grief to see you exposed to the temptation of 
 this vast metropolis, under the pilotage of the 
 most dissolute nobleman in Denmark." 
 
 Holke's confusion was not a little increased, by 
 the seeming countenance given by the king (who 
 by no means wanted tact and quickness) to the 
 rudeness of the blunt old Dane ; and it is added, 
 that the incident (as repeated by Christian to 
 Struensee) laid, notwithstanding the caution in 
 commenting on it of the latter, the first step 
 towards the fall of Holke, and the subsequent, 
 though not immediate, rise of his rival. Struensee, 
 it, is said, from this time saw with secret rapture 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 179 
 
 the brilliant patli opening to his view; that 
 rapidly led him to the highest pitch of fortune, 
 only to precipitate him the more suddenly to the 
 depth of debasement and misery. 
 
 To return to the subject of the Danish monarch's 
 profusion. It was such, that although his brother- 
 in-law supported a table, for himself and his 
 suite, at the cost of five hundred dollars per diem, 
 he got rid, in various ways, of five times that 
 sum; drawing on Hamburgh for more than a 
 hundred thousand dollars per month; which 
 enormous drain of specie was sensibly felt on the 
 exchange of Copenhagen; the more so, as the 
 absence of the king and his principal ministers 
 threw a gloom over the metropolis, and injured 
 trade and commerce. From the sketches already 
 given, it will be conceived that Christian VII. 
 rather scattered his treasures than bestowed them ; 
 that acting on the impulse of the moment, he 
 gave without discrimination; and it is too pro- 
 bable that from the audacity of impostors, and 
 modesty of suffering merit, the former class of 
 applicants swallowed the greater part of his 
 largesses. But yet, wherever real misery met his 
 eye, his hand went, as it were, spontaneously, into 
 his pocket ; and if that chanced to be empty, his 
 ring, his watch, or any other valuable about him, 
 was bestowed instead of money. 
 
 He once saw a poor tradesman put into a 
 hackney-coach by two bailiffs, followed by his 
 weeping wife and family, from whom he was 
 about to be torn, and thrown into prison. He, 
 
180 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMAOT, 
 
 ordered Count Molke to follow the coach to the 
 Marshalsea ; he paid the debt and costs, and 
 setting the poor man free from every other 
 demand, gave him five hundred dollars to enable 
 him to begin the world anew; and on several 
 other occasions he distributed considerable sums 
 among the poor debtors confined in the different 
 jails of the metropolis. Though indifferent to 
 the pursuits of science, and by no means a warm 
 patron of literature, or the fine arts, he was not 
 insensible to the dramatic superiority pf the 
 British stage. Grarrick was honoured with an 
 audience, and the king paid homage to his genius 
 by repeating a line from Shakspere as he pre- 
 sented him with a very valuable snuff-box set 
 with brilliants. 
 
 After distributing many other magnificent 
 presents, and taking leave of the king, queen, 
 and royal family, the King of Denmark, on the 
 3rd of October, 17,68, set off for Dover, where he 
 embarked for Calais,, and proceeded to Paris. 
 There he was received with all the Sclat and 
 magnificence in the power of that voluptuous 
 court to bestow on a Prince who had travelled so 
 far to witness its polish and splendour. Here, 
 the treasures of France and Denmark were poured 
 forth in a mingled stream; and fresh reports of 
 her husband's excesses were conveyed from thenc© 
 to his neglected consort. " As, however," she is 
 reported to have said on the occasion, "it was 
 the monarch and not the man whom I received 
 injunctions to marry, the consciousness of having 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 181 
 
 strictly adhered to my duty to his Majesty, 
 and. the respect I owe to myself, form a secret 
 satisfaction of which neither malice nor envy 
 can deprive me." Let us hope that in a yet 
 darker and sadder period of domestic trial, the 
 same conviction formed the groundwork of a 
 serenity, and composure, which did not desert her 
 even on the approach of death ! 
 
 But if even at the moral court of London the 
 conduct of the young king had been such as to 
 give room for scandal, the finishing touch to his 
 already corrupt inclinations was given by the 
 dissolute court atmosphere of France. Paris, the 
 centre of dissipation, frivolity, and gaiety, afforded 
 the king and his attendants but too ready a 
 succession of pleasures suited to their tastes. 
 Ladies of high rank, flattered by the homage of 
 the monarch, while they despised the man, dis- 
 puted the unenviable notoriety of his attentions ; 
 and in the court of Louis XV. immersed in gal- 
 lantry. Christian found a sanction and example 
 for every excess. The two kings often supped 
 together, en partie quarrSe, laying aside, in 
 mutual freedom and convivial mirth, all stateli- 
 ness and majesty. The time fixed for Christian's 
 departure made him lament the fate of royalty; 
 and in taking his leave of the French monarch, 
 he declared Versailles and Paris, under his 
 Majesty's auspices, the favourite abode of Apollo, 
 Venus, and Minerva ! * 
 
 * The title of Apollo (for whicli Baoolras would have heen an 
 appropriate suhstitute), and still more of Min«rva» to figure in 
 U 3 
 
182 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 "The great partiality and manifest influence 
 which the king gave to French connexions 
 during his abode at the court of Versailles, were 
 undoubtedly impolitic ; and disclosed that his 
 affinity with the royal family of England did not 
 coincide -with his inclinations, or with the system 
 he was directed to pursue. Queen Matilda having 
 been informed that his Majesty had bestowed a 
 regiment of Danish cavalry on the son of the 
 Duke of Duras*, said, ' he was a very good French- 
 
 s'uoli society, may well amuse as well as mystify tte reader. 
 That Diana, at least in her capacity of patroness of the chase, 
 might have occupied the place of the goddess of wisdom, 
 appears from the following description of a fete given to the 
 King of Denmark, at the princely domain of the ancestor of 
 the Due D'Enghien : — 
 
 " The entertainment given to the King of Denmark by the 
 Prince of Cond6, at Chantilly, surpassed any other, except that 
 given hy the king, our sovereign. It was on Monday last, the 
 28th instant. It being free to all persons, it is computed that 
 there were at least six thousand present ; there went such a 
 prodigious concourse of the nobility and gentry of both sexes to 
 it, that the Eue St. Denis, which is longer than Holbom, was 
 filled with carriages from end to end, insomuch that there was 
 no passage through it. The entertainment continued three days 
 and three nights, during which there was an opeh house kept 
 for aU comers and goers, without exception. There was, like- 
 wise, a most grand hunt in the forest of Chantilly, by torch- 
 light. " After a wild boar had been chased for a good while, he 
 was killed by a nobleman with a bow and arrow." 
 
 * Of the important nature of the services by which the Duo 
 ■de Duras may have earned this uniqite recompence, we may 
 judge &om the ludicrous anecdote given by Madame de Criquy 
 in her " Souvenirs": — 
 
 " Madame de^Blot, equally famous for her beauty and affec- 
 tation, had a little dog, such a favourite, that in her temporajy 
 .absenqes, she not only expected her dimoiselle de compagnie to 
 
THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACT. 183 
 
 man, but a very bad politician.' This stroke of 
 humour was communicated to him, with many 
 aggravating circumstances, by the emissaries of 
 the Dowager ; and on his return to his dominions, 
 unjustly prejudiced against his consort, instead of 
 testifying his joy and fondness at their first meet- 
 ing, he sought to mortify her by his coolness and 
 indifference. The Queen Dowager, who had gone 
 so far as to insinuate to the king, during his 
 residence in France and England, that the queen 
 had connexions that were too close with some of 
 her favourites, congratulated him on his return, 
 with all exterior marks of exultation, in the name 
 of all his loyal subjects ; wickedly adding, that 
 several of his most faithful nobles had retired to 
 their estates, during his absence, to avoid the 
 
 keep it amused by conversation, hat gravely proposed her read- 
 ing to it a five-act play ! 
 
 " On tMs darKng, a fat Sacristan from Franche Comt^ had 
 inadvertently sc[uatted; and having reason to deem the mis- 
 chief irremediable, ere the faint movements of the animal ap- 
 prised him of its fate, the -wily culprit, by twisting the tail 
 roimd his hand, and expanding to the utmost his huge person, 
 succeeded in gradually transferring, unobserved, to his pocket, 
 the ' canine favourite' (for ' dog' was a word too vulgar to cross 
 its mistress's lips), and getting rid of it the first opportunity. 
 
 " Madame de Blot never knew what had become of her dog ; 
 some told her it had been turned into a sylph, and others that, 
 Hke Hylas, it had been carried off by the nymphs. The wags, 
 however, succeeded in persuading her that the Due de Duras, 
 who had been appointed to do the honours of the capital to his 
 Majesty, had had the dog stolen to find favour in the eyes of 
 the King of Denmark; and she was on the eve of writing to 
 the latter to beg back her dog, or at least recommend him to 
 the royal protection, when those in the secret interposed." 
 N 4 
 
184 THE EOMAHCE OF DIPLOMACTi 
 
 insults of some new men admitted to the young 
 queen's favour. All these false and malicious 
 insinuations alienated the king's affection still 
 more from his amiable consort ; who saw herself 
 surrounded with spies, devoted to the sinister de- 
 signs of an intriguing and perfidious woman." * 
 
 How false and malicious were these accusa- 
 tions, how grossly at variance with truth, as well 
 as with the natural character of one, afterwards 
 goaded by injustice into a line of conduct less 
 prudent and irreproachable, we have happily the 
 testimony of a Danish writer, whose dispassionate 
 tone and general impartiality lend weight to this 
 following pleasing counter-statement. 
 
 " During the absence of her giddy lord," writes 
 this author, " Matilda resided principally at the 
 palace of Fredericksborg in the neghbourhood of 
 Copenhagen, and her conduct was free from re- 
 proach. Though courted and. menaced by con- 
 flicting factions^ she joined with none ; nor showed 
 the least ambition for political power. She 
 appeared to feel a truly maternal affection for 
 her child, and, in spite of remonstrances, had the 
 infant and nurse 'to sleep in her own apartment. 
 She sometimes visited, and was visited by the 
 Queen Dowager, but lived very retired. She was 
 grown in stature, and appeared much more 
 womanly than when she arrived in Denmark. 
 The glow of robust health was on her cheek ; she 
 often nursed her child; and a more interesting 
 object could scarcely be conceived than this 
 * Memoirs of an Unfortunate Queen. 
 
THE BOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 185 
 
 lovely and lively young queen playing with her 
 babe. 
 
 " During this period of retirement, she visited 
 the houses of the farmers and peasants who resided 
 near the palace ; and though she could not con- 
 verse fluently with these poor grateful people, 
 she gained their warm hearts by her condescension 
 in visiting their cottages, smiling graciously on 
 their wives and daughters, and distributing useful 
 presents. Thus innocently Queen Matilda passed 
 her time, during the travels of her wild and 
 dissipated husband." * 
 
 Considerable obscurity, and discrepancies difS- 
 cult to reconcile at this distance of time, seem to 
 hang over the political events which ensued 
 immediately on the king's return ; and previous 
 to the reconciliation with his consort, by which 
 power was, fatally for her peace, transferred to 
 her hands from those of the Dowager Queen. 
 The most sweeping changes, however, took place 
 in the administration, while the ascendency in 
 the royal councils still remained with the latter ; 
 and are thus narrated, though with probably 
 erroneous views of their exact motives, by the 
 imperfectly informed English biographer of the 
 queen : — 
 
 " Ere long. Queen Juliana, whose desire was to 
 govern alone the king's councils, saw with a 
 jealous eye the high favour in which Count Holke 
 was held, and the confidence with which the 
 king honoured the companions of his travels. 
 
 * Danish MS., quoted in "Brown's Northern Courts." 
 
186 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 By means of secret manoeuvres. Counts Holke, 
 Molke, Thott and Eeventlow, and Barons de 
 Schimmelmann and de Bulow, with Monsieur 
 Eosencrantz, were disgraced and banished to their 
 estates ; after being obliged to quit their employ- 
 ments unpensioned, and without the motives of 
 such an unexpected change being made public." 
 
 Other accounts, seemingly worthy of credit, 
 ascribe more naturally to the young queen the 
 desire at heart to free the king from the in- 
 fluence of his travelling associates ; of Count 
 Holke especially, whom she is said to have re- 
 garded, and justly, as her greatest enemy. That . 
 she possessed at this period, however, any autho- 
 rity to achieve a revolution in the royal house- 
 hold, which, unhappily for her, did not include 
 its most influential, though as yet obscure 
 member, there is not the smallest reason to 
 believe. Count Holke had, however, excited 
 universal jealousy and disgust, even among the 
 companions of his favour, by his overweening 
 authority over his weak sovereign; and it does 
 not appear that his exile, and that of others of 
 the junto, excited in the nation either regret or 
 dissatisfaction. 
 
 The unhappy prominence in a story, with whose 
 tragic dSnouement, some seventy years ago, " all 
 Europe rang from side to side " — belongs to the 
 too well-known Count Struensee ; known, at least 
 by name, to many, with whom the details of his 
 unparalleled career, and the misfortunes in which 
 he involved himself and others, are matters of 
 
THE HOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 187 
 
 dim and distant tradition, rather taken for granted 
 than understood. And yet, a page more prolific 
 in striking incidents, more pregnant with salutary 
 warnings, and more linked, by a sad and melan- 
 choly interest, with our own history, can scarcely 
 be found in the records of any country. Never, 
 perhaps, was there an age more requiring than 
 the present, to be reminded, from the experience 
 of the past, that even salutary reforms, when 
 dictated by personal aggrandisement, and urged 
 with indiscreet precipitation, tend only to re- 
 plunge in anarchy the nation whose steady pro- 
 gress towards improvement they retard ; that no 
 degree of talent in statesmen can compensate for 
 the absence of moral or religious principle ; and 
 that the meteor rise of political adventurers, from 
 a Struensee to a Napoleon, however rapid and 
 brilliant, has generally set in darkness. And 
 since the star of the individual first named, was, 
 alas ! not fated to " shoot madly from its sphere " 
 alone, but to draw down from one far more 
 elevated, a being, fitted, but for him, to be its 
 brightest ornament — it may be well for youth 
 and beauty in high places (the highest, thank 
 Heaven! in Britain needs no such warning) to 
 remember, that indiscretion in those thus con- 
 spicuous, is ever visited with the imputation, — if 
 not the penalty of crime; that to brave public 
 opinion, is to draw down its infallible reprobation ; 
 and to violate dignity and decorum, a false step 
 which no wrongs can palliate, and no bright 
 qualities redeem. 
 
188 THE EOMAJ^CE 01' DIPLOMACY. 
 
 Jolin Frederick Struensee, who (as one of his 
 biographers quaintly but truly remarks) had the 
 honour and misfortune of being prime minister of 
 Denmark under Christian VII., was born in a safe 
 obscurity, which, especially in a country hitherto 
 exclusively governed by nobles, seemed to promise 
 him exemption from the perils of greatness. 
 His father, though afterwards advanced to a 
 bishopric in Holstein, was a poor but highly 
 respectable country clergyman, whose early lessons 
 -of piety (through life unfortunately disregarded 
 by his son) were gratefully acknowledged in the 
 hour of death, and by whom that son's elevation, 
 so far from being matter ,to him of pride or 
 exultation, was bitterly deplored. He was born, 
 5th August, 1737, and received his iirst education 
 in the celebrated Orphan House of Dr. Franke at 
 Halle ; the somewhat ascetic strictness of which * 
 he willingly exchanged at the age of fourteen, for 
 the more congenial liberty of the university of 
 the same city. Ambition and love of pleasure, 
 his two ruling passions, henceforth .divided his 
 time and thoughts ; though the former had as yet 
 no higher aim than that of qualifying himself by 
 
 * It may lie usefal to those engage^ in the training of youth, 
 to mention, that Struensee ascribed much of the profligacy of his 
 after-Kfe to the criminality attached by his early instructors, to 
 ■comparative trifles ; by which the distinctions of right and -wrong 
 were obscured in his mind. They told bim that it was a sin to 
 wear powder and ruffles ; and observing these fashions, never- 
 theless, to be generally adopted, he persuaded himself that the 
 moral delinquencies, held up to not much severer reprobation, 
 were equally venial, and as universally practised. 
 
THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 189 
 
 assiduous studies for success in the profession of 
 medicine, which, on leaving the university, he 
 practised with still and reputation at Altona. So 
 nearly had he chalked out for himself a course of 
 life, the very antipodes of the one in which he 
 became fatally celebrated, that infirm health, an 
 insatiable desire of distinction in his art, and 
 above all, the luxurious gratifications held out by 
 an eastern climate, had determined him on a 
 voyage to India; when (drawn in a contrary 
 direction by the same dominant motives,) the 
 pursuit of a love-intrigue carried him to Copen- 
 hagen, where chance recommended him to the 
 notice of the King. 
 
 " From his first entering the country," says a 
 sketch, the fidelity of which, as based on his own 
 conversations, and attested by unimpeachable 
 authority, is deserving of all credit, " he had re- 
 solved to act a distinguished part, and was raised 
 in 1768 to the rank of physician to his Majesty, 
 and in that quality appointed to attend him during 
 his tour in visiting several of the courts of Europe. 
 Being then in the flower of life, possessing an 
 agreeable person and attractive manners, he soon 
 insinuated himself into the good graces of his 
 royal master, and secured that uncommon degree 
 of court-favour which paved the way to all his 
 subsequent preferments. 
 
 " He accompanied the king to England, where, 
 in compliment to the ofl&cial character he held, 
 the University of Oxford conferred on him the 
 honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine. While at 
 
190 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 Paris lie formed an intimacy with Ernevold Brandt, 
 a Dane of good family, who afterwards became 
 the associate of his crimes and his public delin- 
 quencies, and a fellow-sufferer with him on the 
 same block." Count Brandt, whose name has 
 thus become inseparably blended with that of 
 Struensee, was of a more elevated extraction.. His 
 family, though not noble, was very respectable, 
 originally from Holstein, where his ancestors were 
 established. He possessed many qualities calcu- 
 lated to advance their possessor in a court. His 
 manners were polished, his address easy, and his 
 conversation lively, as well as amusing. Through- 
 out his life, no less than in his death, he manifested 
 personal courage ; but in principle and virtue he 
 was totally deficient. 
 
 Among the favourites of Christian VIL, who 
 were the companions of his pleasures, Brandt 
 occupied a distinguished place ; and he was com- 
 monly selected from among the crowd of courtiers 
 to make one of the party at the king's private 
 suppers. Having been appointed a gentleman of 
 the bedchamber, he flattered himself that he 
 should be placed on the list of those whom his 
 Danish Majesty named to accompany him on his 
 intended travels. It was not, therefore, without 
 equal surprise and mortification, that Brandt 
 found his name excluded. He attributed his re- 
 jection to the enmity and insinuations of the 
 young Count Holke, who had supplanted him, as 
 he conceived, in his sovereign's favour. Stung 
 with a preference so injurious to his views, Brandt 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 191 
 
 endeavoured to procure the disgrace of Holke, by 
 means of an anonymous letter addressed to the 
 king, accusing the favourite of disaffection. But 
 the attempt proved ruinous to himself ; the letter 
 having been soon traced to its real author, Brandt 
 received an order to quit Copenhagen within 
 twenty-four hours. He obeyed, and retired to 
 Paris, where he remained in obscurity as well 
 as indigence. When the King ' of Denmark 
 arrived at that city, Brandt found means to repre- 
 sent his poverty, and obtained from his master a 
 present of a hundred lotds d'or. 
 
 Struensee, meanwhile, had accompanied Chris- 
 tian VII. on his travels. He and Brandt meeting 
 at Paris, they formed a sort of compact, by which 
 it was agreed that if Struensee, on his return to 
 Denmark, should attain sufficient credit at court, 
 he would use it to obtain the recall of the other. 
 Durinf the king's stay in France, Struensee had 
 risen to a considerable degree of favour ; and his 
 Majesty, soon after his arrival at Copenhagen, 
 presented him to the queen with his own hand ; 
 recommending him at the same time to her as a 
 man of talents, and as peculiarly skilled in the 
 profession of medicine. He was promoted im- 
 mediately to the place of a privy councillor, and 
 soon became as acceptable to the queen as he had 
 been to her husband. 
 
 Eeasons of a very delicate and peculiar nature 
 facilitated his progress in that princess's good 
 opinion. The king and she having been alienated 
 from each other in consequence of his ezcesses. 
 
192 THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY^ 
 
 and having ceased to live together, Struensee. 
 undertook to reconcile them, and smeceeded in 
 the attempt,^ He received every day, from both, 
 new marks of consideration and regard. Together 
 ■with his friend Brandt, now recalled through his 
 interest from exile, and restored to his former 
 office, he was elevated to the dignity of a count. 
 He now stood forth publicly, the declared and 
 confidential favourite of the king ; aijd within a 
 very short space was constituted first minister, 
 with almost unliniited political power. 
 
 This rapid, and altogether unprecedented ele- 
 vation of a man of obscure birth, and a foreigner*, 
 created, as was to be supposed, feelings of envy 
 and disgust among the courtiers and nobility ; 
 who were indignant at the marked preference 
 shown to a stranger, and an upstart. " It was un- 
 doubtedly," says a contemporary writer (decidedly 
 favourable to the cause of the young queen) " an 
 impolitic step in the king to create Doctor Stru- 
 ensee a Count of Denmark, the highest title of 
 nobility in his kimgdom ; and after having made 
 him the equal to its nobles, to raise him above 
 competition, as his prime minister, with power 
 never delegated before to a Dane. He was re- 
 vered and esteemed as a physician and a scholar ; 
 but when he became the representative of a king, 
 whose person he had surrounded by court syco- 
 phants, all Struensee's abilities were exerted to 
 maintain his important post against the batteries 
 
 * The natives of Holstein were bo regarded by the indigenous 
 
 Danes. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 193 
 
 of female reyenge and perfidy, without attempting 
 to silence hia enemies by those masterly strokes 
 which characterise a statesman, and confound all 
 the little devices of the ambitious, forced to 
 admire what it is their interest to satirise and 
 ridicule." * 
 
 " In the important office,- however, to which he 
 was so unexpectedly raised," writes another dis- 
 passionate narrator, " the Count showed himself 
 to be a man of unquestionable abilities ; and far 
 beyond what might have been augured from his 
 habits and inexperience. His powers of applica- 
 tion were great ; he was rapid and decisive in his 
 resolutions, as well as enlarged and patriotic in 
 his views. Many of his public measures were 
 calpulated to improve, and to aggrandise the state 
 over which he presided ; although others of them 
 were unadvised, ilUberal , and unpopular. Though 
 well-meant, his policy was often ill-judged, and 
 easily misled by insidious adversaries. His im- 
 petuosity sometimes impelled him to rash counsels, 
 and reckless legislation ; braving prejudices, which 
 greater mildness or prudence would have disarmed, 
 and offending interests that might have been easily 
 reconciled. He irritated the military bydisbanding 
 the regiments of guards — a measure which, though 
 professedly founded on economy, weakened his 
 own authority, by throwing the satellites of arbi- 
 trary power into the ranks of his enemies. He 
 excited the just resentment of the nobility by 
 
 * Memoirs of an Unfortunate Queen. 
 VOL. I. 0. 
 
194 THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 the suppression of the Privy Council; and by 
 repealing a very ancient law inflicting capital 
 punishment on adultery, he raised against him 
 the clamorous indignation of the people ; who re- 
 garded this step, and perhaps not without reason, as 
 a mark of his approbation of vice, and an inlet to 
 licentiousness. Some of his improvements, how- 
 ever, were laudable and excellent, and it ought 
 not to be forgotten that he was the first minister 
 of an absolute monarch that abolished the torture. 
 He interested himself to obtain freedom for the 
 enslaved husbandmen, and granted to all religious 
 denominations the free exercise of their worship. 
 He erected a royal hospital for veteran and invalid 
 soldiers, encouraged agriculture, commerce, and 
 manufactures, and exempted from censure all 
 literary productions." 
 
 These measures, however far in advance of his 
 age and country, were unquestionably of a nature 
 to challenge for their author the respect of pos- 
 terity, had his moral character not been "far 
 more exceptionable than his political; and his 
 private licentiousness the secret spring of several 
 legislative! measures, which were not only dis- 
 graceful and odious in themselves, but the fore- 
 runner of that indignation and infamy which at 
 last overwhelmed him, and terminated his event- 
 ful and infatuated career. Profligacy and am- 
 bition were the rocks on which he split. In a 
 court immersed in dissipation and criminal plea- 
 sures of every kind, he stood forth the avowed 
 patrpn, and guilty partaker of every fashionable 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 195 
 
 vice. At masked balls, and other foreign amuse- 
 ments of that sort, then first introduced into the 
 Danish metropolis, he was the gay leader and 
 infatuated promoter of whatever tended to foster 
 or encourage the dark artifices of gallantry and 
 intrigue." * Infatuated indeed ! may we exclaim, 
 who know that it was the opportunity afforded 
 by one of these scenes of novel dissipation, which 
 was successfully embraced to hurl from his " bad 
 eminence " their reckless introducer ! 
 
 " In his disposition," pursues the same writer, 
 " he was generous^ frank, and without hypocrisy ; 
 but deficient in that profound judgment, that 
 unwearied vigilance, and political sagacity which 
 were necessary for maintaining him in his preca- 
 rious elevation. These deficiencies became more 
 and more apparent in proportion as the difficulties 
 of his situation increased. Towards the close of 
 his ministry, when his enemies were become 
 numerous, powerful, and implacable, his strength 
 and presence of mind seemed to have forsaken 
 him, and his conduct in many instances betrayed 
 a strange absence of all foresight or address." 
 
 Perhaps it might have been deemed more 
 strange still — more foreign, to the recognised 
 weakness of human nature, had the possession 
 of unlimited power, and the boundless favour of 
 two sovereigns (united upon no other point), 
 failed to intoxicate, and blind to the precipice on 
 which he stood, a quondam physician of five-and- 
 
 *• Author of the abridged Life of Struensee in the " Lives of 
 Eminent Converts." 
 
 O 2 
 
]96 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 thirty; whom five short years before had seen, 
 editing a newspaper for bread, and meditating, 
 in the hope of some favourable chance in his 
 profession, expatriation across the globe ! To 
 what, save his own merits real or supposed (or a 
 star which defied change), could this minion of 
 fortune ascribe an elevation, beyond his wildest 
 dreams ; crowned, too, as it unhappily was, with 
 the confidential intimacy, and too favourable 
 consideration, of an amiable and accomplished 
 queen ? 
 
 For this intimacy, and this consideration, there 
 were not wanting, at its commencement, natural 
 and abundant reasons. At the -period of the 
 king's return from his travels, the situation of 
 his unfortunate consort, (a beautiful and admired 
 woman be it remembered, little more than nine- 
 teen), is thus described : — 
 
 " The attachment of the king, if ever it 
 deserved the name, thus alienated, partly in con- 
 sequence of his own excesses, and partly from the 
 rival jealousies of court parasites, had subsided 
 from cold formality into cruel disrespect. He 
 did not treat her even with common civility ; and 
 allowed her to be publicly insulted, in her own 
 palace, by the Eussian minister at Copenhagen. 
 His resentment fell on all who were guilty of 
 taking her part; and his favourite cousin, the 
 Prince of Hesse, was disgraced for no other 
 crime." 
 
 " Such was the condition of this neglected and 
 ill-fated queen when Struensee entered on his 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 197 
 
 administration. By his insinuating address he 
 soon gained her confidence, and from pity or gal- 
 lantry, took an interest in her sufferings. His 
 influence over the listless monarch was the means 
 of restoring her to his good graces ; although this 
 desirable reconciliation proved the harbinger of 
 his own ruin, by furnishing his enemies with 
 plausible reasons of attack." 
 
 Whoever dispassionately considers that this 
 reconciliation, however little "desirable" in itself, 
 and fatal, perhaps, in its consequences to both, 
 was entirely due to Struensee ; and elevated for a 
 time the princess whom his chivalry had be- 
 friended, from the most abject state of neglect 
 and contumely, to her legitimate influence with 
 her husband, and a triumph which could not fail 
 to be dear to woman's heart, over her relentless 
 persecutqrs, will not be tempted to wonder, that 
 female gratitude should assume the guise of over- 
 weening partiality; and that, towards the only 
 man, perhaps, at the Court of Denmark, by whom 
 her accomplishments were appreciated, or her 
 character understood. One too, presented to her 
 as a talented adviser, by the very hand of her 
 reconciled husband, who never, whether from in- 
 creasing apathy, or confidence in his wife's virtue, 
 betrayed the smallest jealousy or disapprobation 
 of their intercourse ; with whom she was accuse 
 tomed to hold frequent consultations on the 
 health of her beloved little son; and who ex- 
 celled, unfortunately for the peace and reputation 
 of both, in the lighter exercises ,of riding and 
 o 3 
 
198 THE EOMANCE 01 DIPLOMACY. 
 
 dancing, in which a young creature of twenty, 
 (for she was no more), might be pardoned for 
 indulging. 
 
 But innocent in themselves as were the latter 
 recreations, and natural, nay, praiseworthy, as was 
 the former sentiment, there was much in the 
 modes of enjoying the one, and manifesting the 
 other, which, while it afforded a cruel scope for 
 the insinuations, nay, calumnies, of indignant 
 enemies, gave rise in many a friendly bosom, at 
 the time, and long years after, to regrets that a 
 princess, so highly gifted and essentially amiable, 
 should have suffered the polluted atmosphere she 
 had early and fatally breathed, so far to blunt 
 the inherent delicacy of an Englishwoman, as 
 not only to ride in well-nigh masculine attire, (a 
 fashion not unexampled in some northern coun- 
 tries,) attended by the Count, and to dance with 
 him whole' evenings together*, but to permit him 
 to assume towards her, in public, an ostentation 
 of intimacy, such as, even if proceeding from the 
 recklessness of conscious innocence, was, at least, 
 a violation of dignity and decorum, in which no 
 " wife of Caesar " could with impunity indulge. 
 
 "When Queen Matilda rode out hunting, her 
 attire too much resembled a man's. Her hair 
 was pinned up closer than usual; she wore a 
 dove-coloured beaver hat, with a gold band and 
 
 * The stately and measured dances of the period, however, he 
 it remembered, and not the less dignified and more exciting ones 
 of modern times. " Her Majesty," it is Said by a cotemporaiy, 
 " walked the first minuet at the Court of Denmark." 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 199 
 
 tassels ; a long scarlet coat, a frilled shirt, and a 
 man's cravat, while from beneath the coat was 
 said to peep a more unfeminine appendage still, 
 too much in keeping with the terminating spurs. 
 That she made a noble figure, mounted on a ma- 
 jestic steed, and dashing through the woods after 
 the chase, her cheeks flushed with health and 
 violent exercise, may readily be conceded." 
 
 " Queen Matilda," says another authority, "was 
 a resolute and fearless horsewoman; of this she 
 gave a decided though indiscreet proof within 
 three days of the birth of her daughter, the 
 Princess Louisa, on the 4th of July 1771, when, 
 being out on horseback, the horse plunged and 
 kicked, and backed into a dry ditch, while the 
 Queen, sitting firm and undismayed, flogged and 
 spurred the restive animal till she conquered, and 
 rode home unhurt." 
 
 It was probably to enhance this command over 
 her horse, and to indulge with more convenience 
 and security her passion for hunting, adopted 
 originally to counteract a tendency to embon- 
 poi/nt, that, in an evil hour for her happiness 
 and reputation, Carolina Matilda assumed the 
 unfortunate garb on horseback, which, though 
 common among the farmers' wives and daughters, 
 was hitherto unprecedented in a higher grade, 
 and gave great and general offence. " Indeed," 
 says the same writer, "her unfeminine appear- 
 ance*, thus attired for the chase, did her, perhaps, 
 
 * That it found imitators, howeyer, even among the censors, 
 appeals from a passage in a letter of Colonel Keith. "An 
 
200 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 more injury in public opinion among the elegant 
 and cultivated of her own sex, than her indis- 
 creet preference for the society of the companion 
 of her rides ; a proof that, in an age of artificial 
 delicacy, a supposed want of morals may sooner 
 hope for pardon than a failure in decorum." 
 
 Gladly do we pause before entering on more 
 harrowing details, and as a contrast to the unbe- 
 coming costume above alluded to, to bring before 
 the eyes of the reader — as an almost identical 
 original f has, during a lifetime, familiarised to 
 the writer of these pages the lineaments of their 
 royal subject — ^the following description, from 
 a Danish novel, of the pictures preserved in 
 Denmark of their now endeared and lamented 
 Queen : — 
 
 "Over a marble table hung a portrait in a 
 broad gilt frame. It represented a lady in a dress 
 of bluish satin, embroidered with gold, and edged 
 with lace; the sleeves and puffs over the full 
 bosom being of brownish brocade. Round her 
 neck was a closely strung necklace of pearls, and 
 similar rings were in the ears. The hair was 
 
 abominable HBing habit, with a black sloudied hat, has heen 
 almost universally infrodmced here; ■vrhieh gives every woman 
 the air of an awkward postilion. In all the time I have heen in 
 Denmark,' I never saw the queen out in any other garb.'' 
 
 * Presented by the royal victim, after her exile, to Sir E. M. 
 Keith, the British minister, to whom she owed her rescue. The 
 execution is indiflferent, owing, probably, to the inferiority of the 
 artist. 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 201 
 
 turned up and powdered: it occupied a height 
 and breadth which, agreeably to the fashion of the 
 times, exceeded that of the whole face, and was 
 decorated trith a gold chain, enamels, and jewels, 
 entwined with a border of blonde, which hung 
 down over one ear. The face was oval, the fore- 
 head high and arched ; the nose delicately curved, 
 the mouth pretty large, the lips red and swelling ; 
 th^ eyes large and of a peculiarly light-blue, mild, 
 and at the same time serious, deep, and confiding. 
 I could describe the entire dress, piece by piece, 
 and the features trait by trait ; but in vain should 
 I endeavour to convey an idea of the peculiar ex- 
 pression, the amiable loftiness, or lofty amiable- 
 ness, which beamed from that youthful face, the 
 freshness of whose colour I have never seen 
 surpassed. It needed not to cast your eye upon 
 the purple mantle, bordered with ermine, which 
 hung carelessly over the shoulder, to discover in 
 her a queen ! She could be nothing of inferior 
 rank. This the painter, too, had felt, for the 
 border of the mantle was so narrow as almost 
 to be overlooked. It was as though he meazit to 
 say, ' This woman would be a queen without a 
 throne ! ' 
 
 " A higher title was conferred on his long dead 
 mistress by an old Court Chamberlain, who, look- 
 ing on the picture, said — 'That was an angel ! ' " 
 
 Thus wrote, a number of years ago, and while 
 many (like the Court Chamberlain above alluded 
 to) survived to verify his accuracy, the Danish 
 
202 THE BOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 author of a book, professedly entitled " Old 
 Eecollections;"* which created, at the period 
 of its' appearance, " considerable sensation in 
 Denmark, where," adds the correspondent who 
 thus mentions it, "the Danes still cling with 
 affectionate regard to the memory of the lovely 
 being thus portrayed." 
 
 Who, indeed, can contemplate the picture of 
 softened majesty, and winning grace, which pen 
 and pencil have combined to hand down to us, 
 and not cling to the cheering conviction, that the 
 blots which cast their invidious shade over so fair 
 a specimen of humanity, must owe the chief part 
 of their depth to the rancour of envy, and en- 
 venomed virulence of faction'? And while they 
 have been atoned for by sufferings, more than 
 adequate to their full expiation — their utter want 
 of keeping and harmony with the gentle and re- 
 served character ascribed to Carolina Matilda by 
 some Danish historians, and still more with the 
 qualities which dignified her life, and hallowed 
 her death, at Zell — must ever incline us to view 
 with charitable distrust, that " scandal about 
 Queens," (whether yclept Elizabeth or Matilda) 
 which that chief of gossips. History, is so apt to 
 keep fast hold of, and hand down, when more 
 valuable matter floats unheeded on the stream. 
 
 There was, perhaps, no court in Europe where 
 more respect was shown to foreign ministers, or 
 their convenience more studied than in Denmark. 
 
 * The one translated into Grennan, as " Christian VIL," and 
 in English as the " Qneen of Senmalik." 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 203 
 
 At Hirschliolm*, two days in the week, they 
 diaed at the king's or rather the queen's table. 
 On their return from the drawing-room to their 
 respective apartments, they foimd a ticket on 
 their dressing-table, specifying where they, were 
 to dine ; some at the king's table, others at the 
 Lord Chamberlain's, in the chamber called the 
 Eose. 
 
 The usual number that sat down to dinner at 
 the king's table was twelve ; alternately five 
 ladies and seven gentlemen, seven ladies and five 
 gentlemen. The king cut a wretched figure on 
 these occasions ; not, so the queen, who dressed 
 very superbly, and made a noble and splendid ap- 
 pearance. The king and queen were served on 
 gold plate by noble pages; the marshal of the 
 palace sat at the foot of the table, the chief lady 
 of the household at the head : the company, a 
 lady and gentleman alternately, opposite to the 
 king and queen. 
 
 A table of eighty covers was provided every day 
 in the Eose, for the great officers of state, who 
 were served on silver plate : at this table Struensee, 
 Brandt, with their friends and favourites, male 
 and female, used to dine. 
 
 Of the palace where these costly banquetings 
 were daily carried on, we possess two various 
 descriptions written at the interval of perhaps a 
 dozen years, and so characteristic in their contrast 
 of the vicissitudes in the fate of their royal mis- 
 
 * literally the Isle of Stags, a country palace, some miles 
 from the capital. 
 
204 THE ROMANCE OF DIPIiOMACT. 
 
 tresSj that a part of both may be given here. At 
 the period of the festivities just alluded to, and 
 when " all went merry as a marriage-bell " with 
 the actors in them, the splendours of Hirschholm 
 are thus portrayed : — 
 
 " Each period and taste in building might find 
 its type among the palaces of Denmark'; but the 
 representative of that culminating point of luxury 
 and magnificence, the Si^cle de Louis Quatorze, 
 was to be found at Hirschholm. Adorned exter- 
 nally with all the newest French refinements in 
 gardening and pleasure-grounds, it dazzled the 
 eye within, by the profusion of solid silver, inter- 
 mingled with mother of pearl, and rock crystal ; 
 with which not only pictures and looking-glasses, 
 but even the very pannels of the audience cham- 
 ber were prodigally encircled." Such was it in 
 1772. 
 
 Coxe, writing in 1784, says, " The suite of 
 apartments at Hirschholm is princely, but de- 
 serted and without furniture; not having been 
 inhabited since the exile of Queen Carolina Matilda, 
 who made it her favourite residence. The place 
 is so entirely neglected, that the court-yard is 
 overrun with weeds, and the moat a green-mantled 
 pool." 
 
 A later writer still speaks of the palace itself 
 as having vanished ; and its site being occupied 
 (as if by way of monument to past splendours) by 
 a little unadorned village church. 
 
 "Whilst Struensee was lord of the ascendant, the 
 king was held in a sort of liberal restraint, de- 
 
THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 205 
 
 barred from, the society and intercourse of every 
 one, save those placed about him by the minister.* 
 Yet during all this time he dined in public with 
 the queen, accompanied her in the field sports, to 
 which she became so much addicted, appeared at 
 the French and Italian operas, danced at their 
 balls, and took a share in their card parties ; but 
 little if any attention was paid to what he said, 
 except so far as his wants were concerned ; and 
 all the subaltern attendants and domestic servants 
 had orders never to speak to the king. 
 
 One Sunday, coming from the royal chapel, the 
 king turned the wrong way, and lost himself in the 
 vast passages of his enormous palace : seeing Stru- 
 ensee's valet, he asked him in a mild and melan- 
 choly tone, to show him the way to his apartment. 
 This person, a young, handsome, gay Norwegisvn, 
 and a favourite and humble confidant of his mas- 
 ter, respectfully, but in profound silence, complied 
 with the monarch's request, and led him to his 
 magnificent prison. 
 
 The same despotic restrictions are said to have 
 existed with regard to the infant Crown Prince ; 
 and tales of arbitrary imprisonment for having 
 merely picked him up when he had fallen, were 
 studiously circulated by the enemies of the queen 
 and Struensee. That the latter had become an 
 
 * This restriction, the result, of course, of jealous caution, 
 extended, it -will he seen, to the person of the British miaister ; 
 ■who wishing to convey in a familiar letter the king's character 
 and state of mind, to his sister, applied, (under a feigned name), 
 the expressive Scotch terms of " catwitted " and " cowed " to the 
 unhappy monarch. 
 
206 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 object of aversion to tlie child (no doubt from 
 persons having, in spite of all precautions, taught 
 him to dislike and despise one whoili he persisted 
 in calling not "Count" or "Excellency," but the 
 " nasty Doctor,") rests on the same popular autho- 
 rity : and, if true, would afford sufficient ground 
 for the care taken to isolate him from such com- 
 munications. But a worthier reason may be found 
 in the truly excellent, and at that time rare system 
 of education, which was adopted at the avowed 
 suggestion of Struensee, by the queen ; and acted 
 upon with a firmness which — however misrepre- 
 sented into severity by the malice of cruel foes — 
 must have cost so tender a parent the most com- 
 mendable effort. The moral training — so rare 
 in the case of an heir-apparent, — is thus de- 
 scribed ; and to its early influence may perhaps be 
 ascribed, at least in some degree, the mixture of 
 moderation and self-restraint with the firm asser- 
 tion of his just rights, which distinguished the 
 youthful monarch, at a future, though still boyish 
 period. 
 
 " Under Struensee's directions, the young prince 
 was treated in a very hardy manner. A com- 
 panion was assigned him, a soldier's child, whose 
 name was Edward. This boy too was called a 
 pri/nce; he was dressed in the same plain uniform 
 as the Crown Prince, ate of the same dish with 
 him, and slept on the same mattress. This ex- 
 periment was made with a view to repress, in 
 his earliest years, those exalted notions of self- 
 importance, and aversion to self-control, that 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 207 
 
 had proved so fatal to his unhappy father; and 
 it seems to have answered its intended object, as 
 our present beloved king is universally acknow- 
 ledged as the least haughty or assuming of 
 sovereigns."* 
 
 This pair of little men, the pseudo and born 
 prince, frequently contended for mastery. One 
 day, when they had fought with greater fury than 
 usual, Frederick asked Edward how he dared to 
 raise his hand against his prince ? "A prince," 
 replied the other, — "I am a prince as well as 
 you." "Yes, but I am Crown Prince," rejoined 
 Frederick, and fell upon him agaia, after he had 
 owned himself conquered. Matilda, hearing of 
 this, had the little urchin sent for to her apart- 
 ment, as well as his companion, insisting that he 
 should beg pardon of Edward. Frederick refused 
 to submit to her award, and the queen, provoked 
 by his stubbornness, beat haj&i severely: he was 
 conquered, but not subdued. 
 
 That by these " severities" doubtless little prac- 
 tised in royal nurseries, Matilda alienated the 
 affections of her boy, is utterly disproved by the 
 tender fondness with which, through lifef, he 
 
 * This aeeoiint is taken from a Danisi MS. Since these pages 
 were written, two monarchs, subsequently to the one so justly 
 praised, have ascended the Danish throne. 
 
 t Towards the close of his long reign, chance having thrown 
 the writer of these pages into the company of a Danish savant, 
 travelling at the expense of the king, with whom he was in close 
 correspondence; he exclaimed on hearing the name of "Keith," 
 " I must write of this meeting to my good Mng before I sleep, he 
 vn^'be so happy !" 
 
208 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 clung to her memory. Nor would any mother, 
 in our more enlightened days of maternal disci- 
 pline, shrink from the inferences, founded by 
 ignorance or malice on the circumstance, that 
 when very unruly, it was suflScient to threaten to 
 take him to the Queen. The well-meaning, though 
 ill-judging writer, who repeats this gossip, can- 
 didly subjoins to it — "The probability is, that 
 to the system thus introduced, this prince is in- 
 debted for the strength he afterwards acquired : 
 as previously, he was a weakly puny child ; very 
 cross and humoursome, continually crying ; would 
 not walk, but cried till he was carried, so that at 
 two years old, his attendants, to make him quiet, 
 used to tell him — 'Your mamma shall come to 
 you.'" 
 
 "To obviate these hindrances to the develop- 
 ment of his health and iatellects, Struensee, with 
 the approbation rM. the queen, made a total 
 change in the child's regimen. His food thence- 
 forth was of the most plain and simple descrip- 
 tion, such as bread, rice, fruits, milk, and vege- 
 tables, all cold ; he was bathed in cold'water two 
 or three times each week, till at last he would go 
 of himself to the bath. The boys were very 
 lightly clad, and. last winter had neither shoes, 
 stockings, nor fire in their room. The Crown 
 Prince and his comrade played together; in 
 dressing and eating, they assisted each other, 
 and the apartment being free from anything 
 by which they could injure themselves, if they 
 
THE EOMAUCE OF DIPLOMACY. 209 
 
 fell, there they lay, till they got up by their own 
 exertions, no one showing any concern. 
 
 "After the introduction of this system, the 
 Crown Prince was seldom ill ; he had the small- 
 pox from inoculation slightly, and also the 
 measles. His education was to commence in 
 his sixth year, prior to which, he was left to 
 the effects of his experience, temperate diet 
 and exercise. He had acquired as much know- 
 ledge as could be expected from his tender years, 
 his health was improved, his temper and bad 
 habits corrected ; and the utmost care was taken 
 that his infant mind should not be inflated with 
 vanity by adulation. It redounds to the honour 
 of Struensee, that his enemies actually made 
 this admirable system a capital charge against 
 him, as endangering not only the health, but 
 life of the prince." 
 
 The political features of this ominous period 
 of nominal resumption of authority by the king, 
 and its uncontrolled exercise by the dominant 
 party, are thus characterised by a contemporary 
 Writer : — 
 
 "The young queen endeavoured, during this 
 interval of Christian's assuming the reins of 
 government, to prevent the baneful effects of 
 Juliana's designs, by forming a new Court of 
 creatures, mostly strangers, without fortune, 
 credit or alliances in the state ; intriguing with- 
 out being politicians, assuming in prosperity, 
 and relying too much on a transient power, 
 
 VOL. I. P 
 
210 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 unsupported by family connections, and envied 
 by the late discarded favourites as well as by 
 those who pleaded a noble Danish extraction, 
 for the preference they claimed against those 
 new men, whose talents, inadequate to public 
 administration, gave too much room for their 
 adversaries' complaints and animadversions."* 
 
 By one ambitious individual among these, was 
 the favourite minister's influence viewed with 
 rising, though secret, jealousy and displeasure. 
 And it forms one of the not least ominous fea- 
 tures, in an unparalleled series of events, that 
 Struensee should have been originally placed 
 near the king as a spy on a former, obnoxious 
 minion, by the man, afterwards destined to be the 
 chief agent in his rUin, and that of the un- 
 fortunate Carolina Matilda. 
 
 Count Charles Shack Eantzau, Grovernor of 
 Grluckstadt, a general in the army, a Knight of 
 the Order of' the Elephant, the head of one of the 
 most powerful families under the Danish crown, 
 has, like all- the chief actors in extensive revolu- 
 tions, been characterised by the various parties, 
 with a discrepancy of opinion, which must baffle 
 the efforts of distant posterity to arrive at a just 
 conclusion. But however his motives, and the 
 actions to which they led, may have given rise to 
 even opposite representations, on the main points 
 of his oharaeter all are agreed. Handsome in 
 person, generous to profusion, a brave ofl&cer, 
 
 * Memoirs of an Unfortvmate Queen. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DlPLOMACT. 211 
 
 (though his courage had chiefly displayed itself 
 in the unenviable notoriety of duelling), and an 
 accomplished courtier, he was in morals utterly 
 dissolute; and his political principles — if such 
 they may be called — 'partook so largely of the 
 mingled astuteness and versatility of those as- 
 cribed to the prince of diplomatists, Talleyrand, 
 that a piece (entitled Bertrand et Raton) — in 
 which the treacheries and tergiversations of the 
 latter were satirised under the name of the 
 former dabbler in revolutions, drew all Paris to 
 the theatre, during an unprecedented run of a 
 hundred and sixty successive nights. 
 
 We say " dabblers in revolutions,'' because 
 Count Rantzau had in earlier life gained un- 
 enviable notoriety by his participation in that 
 which placed Catherine of Eussia on the throne ; 
 and it was singular that the same man who, it is 
 said, by betraying the unhappy Peter the Third, 
 assisted her design of getting rid of one imbecile 
 husband, should, by the instrumentality of an- 
 other, accomplish the ruin of a princess far more 
 deserving than she whose ambition he served.* 
 
 Count Eantzau, it is asserted in the accounts 
 most favourable to his original motives and 
 character, had been the intimate friend and 
 chosen confidant of the late King Frederick V. ; 
 
 * In a letter to his father, Sir E, Keith indirectly coirobo 
 rates this, by saying of Count Eantzau, soon after his arrival at 
 Copenhagen, " He claims acquaintance mth you at Petersburg!! ; 
 but this does not shield him from the unmitigated contempt I owe 
 him." 
 
 F 2 
 
212 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY, 
 
 and, aware of the probable machinations of 
 Juliana Maria, had promised her dying husband, 
 on his honour and oath, never to desert his 
 favourite boy. Christian. It is, therefore, allow- 
 able to presume that he might feel, and exercise, 
 a 'disinterested solicitude to fulfil this sacred 
 trust, in his first efforts to rescue from the influ- 
 ence of the minions by whom he was surrounded, 
 his degraded .monarch. That personal ambition, 
 and hopes of future elevation to political power 
 through his means, had their share in his choice 
 of Struensee to be about the king's person, there 
 can, however, be not the shadow of a doubt ; 
 while the bloody termina,tion of a connection, 
 founded on congenial laxity of morals and prin- 
 ciple, connected by interest and dissolved at the 
 bidding of self-aggrandisement, reads an impres- 
 sive ksson to all, who, in " sowing the wind " of 
 mere political combinations for selfish purposes, 
 ,may expect to " reap the whirlwind " of perfidy, 
 desertion, and disgrace. 
 
 " Not long after the wasteful and . impolitic 
 toTir to England, France, &c., the Court went 
 on a journey to Holstein and Sleswick, during 
 which the king and queen paid a visit to Count 
 Eantzau at his principal country residence, Asch- 
 berg.* The mansion was neither very large nor 
 
 * The family of Bantzau was one of the most distinguisliecl 
 in Holstein, not only for the antiq^uity and extent of their pos- 
 sessions, but for the number of warriors and statesmen it pro- 
 duced. The gardens at Asehberg were as much celebrated in 
 that country as those of Stowe in England. In the centre was 
 a conical hiU, perhaps an ancient tumulus, round which a spiral 
 
THE EOMAKCE OF DIPLOMACY. 213 
 
 magnificent. The old edifice was much in the 
 style of gentlemen's houses in England of the 
 seventeenth century ; the new house, as it was 
 called, was connected with the ancient structure, 
 and consisted of a suite of four tolerable rooms 
 on the ground floor, and as many above. This 
 building was allotted to the king and queen, 
 and their principal courtiers, as Brandt, Struen- 
 see, &c." • 
 
 It was the opportunities that this Holstein 
 journey,, and the residence of the Court at his 
 house, afforded to the Count, of observing the 
 conduct of Struensee and the queen, that con- 
 vinced him he had introduced an agent who 
 would soon tower high above himself, and pro- 
 bably kick down the ladder by which he had 
 been raised. His suspicions once awakened, his 
 fears were confirmed to an extent which eradi- 
 cated every feeling of friendship towards Struen- 
 see, and in its place implanted those deadly 
 emotions of jealousy and hatred which, at no 
 very- distant day, led to the destruction of their 
 incautious object. 
 
 During the residence of the Court at the 
 Count's mansion, he one day found means, in 
 
 walk led to the summit. The mount was planted with ash-trees ; 
 and " berg " signifying a mountain, the name of the estate was 
 probably deri-ved from this mount, where there was a fine view 
 over a lake> eight miles in breadth, diversiBled by woody islands 
 and picturesque shores. At a small distance stood a tolerable 
 inn, where the domestics of the king and his nobles were lodged ;, 
 and which in summer was generally' fuU of company from Ham- 
 burgh, &e., who were attracted by the beauties of Aschberg. 
 Z 3 
 
214 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 spite of the vigilance of Brandt and Struensee, 
 to obtain an hour's conversation with the king. 
 Count Eantzau knew his -vveakness too well to 
 commit himself ia any way; all he wished was 
 to ascertain the state of the king's mind, who, 
 pleased with the puerile amusements that were 
 provided, seemed perfectly indifferent to every- 
 thing else. Eantzau gazed on the debilitated 
 being before him, with looks fraught with more 
 meaning than words, and a tear trickled down 
 his furrowed cheek. The king seemed a,ffected; 
 for a moment the former sensibility and vivacity 
 of his character illumined his dimmed eye and 
 pallid cheek. He seized the Count by the hand 
 and said, " You were a true friend to my father, 
 you will never be an enemy to me." " Never, 
 sire ! never will I hesitate to sacrifice my life in 
 your defence ! " Then, falling on one knee, he 
 drew an antique ring from his finger and put it 
 on the king's, saying, in a solemn manner, — " This 
 ring, sire, was given me by your royal father 
 when I returned from Eussia, and when, by for- 
 tunate exertions there, I was the humble means 
 of averting invasion from his kingdom. If ever 
 your Majesty thinks yourself in danger, and you 
 want the assistance of Eantzau, send this ring to 
 me, and I will fly on the wings of affection and 
 loyalty to your aid." 
 
 Eantzau had scarcely wiped the falling tear 
 
 away, ere the king, hearing footsteps approach, 
 
 • fell off at once into his idiotic state, and running 
 
 to. a canine friend of his that was basking in the 
 
THE EOMASCE OF DIPLOMACY. 215 
 
 sun, took him round the neck, hugging him with 
 ardour, and calling him his faithful guard. This 
 uncommon dog was liver-coloured, of prodigious 
 might and size ; his broad chest showed all the 
 strength of the English, mastiff; his form the 
 elegance of the greyhound. Such was the king's 
 favourite dog, called Gourmand, Grourmand had 
 a carriage for his sole use when the king tra- 
 velled, and a lacquey to attend tim. He was 
 served with food from the king's table, and by 
 his royal master's hand. In the midst of royal 
 etiquette, Grourmand alone acted without re- 
 straint, though generally with distinguished de- 
 corum. He would, when he pleased, stretch his 
 finely-rformed limbs on the same rich sofa where 
 his master reclined, and then no one durst ap- 
 proach till he awoke. He was playful, docile, 
 and meorruptibly faithful to his master; the 
 only one of all the king's attendants, of whom 
 so much might be, said with any regard to his- 
 torical truth. The partisans of Queen Juliana, 
 in derision of Struensee's new-born, honours, 
 dubbed this four-legged favourite of their sove- 
 reign, " Monsieur Grourmand, Conferentie Raad " 
 (privy councillor) to the king, and, as if to con- 
 firm his title to the epithet, the faithful animal 
 (who, it was said, had once leaped on and seized 
 an intended assassin) was involved in the fall of 
 Struensee, and a.fter that event removed from 
 the king and returned to the nobleman by whom 
 he had been originally presented. 
 
 The above anecdote, which, without vouching 
 
 F 4 
 
216 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACTi, 
 
 for its authenticity, is, like many similar ones, 
 given on the authority of an anonymous Danish 
 MS. of the period, quoted in a work entitled 
 " Brown's Northern Courts," derives con&mation, 
 in so far as the imbecile monarch's sudden change 
 of demeanour goes, from the observations of a 
 lady of rank who visited the Danish Court in the 
 year 1796, twenty-four years after the events just 
 narrated. She thus writes : — 
 
 "Although incapable of governing when I 
 visited Copenhagen, Christian VII. had frequent 
 lucid intervals, and even held Courts occasionally ; 
 for the Crown Prince, who was then Eegent, paid 
 every attention which filial affection could dictate, 
 to the wants and wishes of his parent. I had the 
 honour of being present at one of these levees, 
 and was much struck by the venerable appearance; 
 of the monarch, as well as the marked homage 
 and respect with which he was treated by the 
 whole Court. The return of his malady evinced 
 itself in a singular manner. While in the midst 
 of the most cheerful conversation, and when, ap- 
 parently, quite collected, he would suddenly run 
 across the apartment, and salute the first person 
 he met with a violent slap on the face ; so that it 
 was necessary for the courtiers and ministers (for 
 he made no distinction of rank or person) to be 
 constantly on their guard." 
 
 To return to the narration of occurrences at 
 Aschberg, and the mute appeal of the poor king 
 to his canine guardian, whence Eantzau drew the 
 inference that he apprehended some impending 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 217 
 
 danger, "it would be difiScult," says the writer 
 before quoted, "to conceive a more distressing 
 spectacle than that presented to" a contemplative 
 miad, in the wreck of this gay young monarch, 
 now become an object of fixed aversion to his 
 wife, and of secret scorn to his own menials. En- 
 feebled as he was in mind and body, he had yet 
 sufficient consciousness to feel at intervals all the 
 misery of his degraded condition; though he 
 wanted resolution of mind to quit those disgrace- 
 ful excesses by which it was produced. 
 
 "During the stay of the Court at Aschberg, 
 Count Eantzau spared no pains or expense to 
 render his abode agreeable to the young queen. 
 Each day had its peculiar festivities and amuse- 
 ments, music, hunting, fishingj sailing on the 
 lake, and rustic sports, which, more than any 
 pastime, pleased the imbecile king.* 
 
 "The queen, fully satisfied with the magnificence 
 and respect with which Count Eantzau had enter- 
 tained her, little dreaming of the share which her 
 attentive host was to have in her approaching fall, 
 gave him a superb snuff-box, richly set with bril- 
 
 * Of tie scale and splendour of these entertainments some 
 idea may be formed from the account of the parting one, wlaich 
 when a disgraced courtier, and about to become a voluntary 
 exile, the Count gave on. the same estate. After conferring on 
 his vassals some really valuable privileges, he " invited them to 
 his castle, and gave them such a substantial feast as the English 
 barons of old are said to have displayed. Tents and marquees 
 •were provided for the accommodation of the tigher classes ; a 
 rustic fair was held, that was crowded with bands of music, 
 players, and venders of all sorts of bagatelles." 
 
218 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 Hants, that had cost,' her husband a thousand 
 guineas in London.* Count Kantzau followed 
 the Court in its progress ; in his mind he antici- 
 pated, more than all, the sad results which flowed 
 from the imprudence of Matilda and Struensee ; 
 but keeping these thoughts to himself, and his 
 countenance open, he eluded the vigilance of 
 Struensee, Brandt, and even the lynx-eyed Ma- 
 dame G- . All the party, Eantzau excepted, 
 
 were young, or in the prime of life ; they were all 
 willing slaves of dissipation ; hence it is no wonder 
 that an old experienced courtier, who felt himself 
 thrown out by the instrument he had chosen to 
 forward his own ambitious views, his discernment 
 sharpene'd by jealousy, and desire of revenge, 
 should be enabled to out-general the giddy, gay, 
 and wanton train who filled the groves with music, 
 love, revelry, and song." 
 
 " A young and amiable woman," says Wraxall, 
 speaking of this unfortunate period, ''who saw 
 herself neglected by a dissolute and imbecile hus- 
 band, while at the same .time she was an object 
 of respect and homage to every other person who 
 approached her, could scarcely be supposed alto- 
 gether to escape the contagion of so tainted an 
 atmosphere ; though, previous to the king's jour- 
 ney, she had so conducted herself, as if not wholly 
 to escape detraction, yet to preserve a great share 
 of general affection and popularity," 
 
 * The costKness of tMa gift to an ordinary courtier jnay 
 counteract any unfavourable inferences whioh might arise torn 
 presents of corresponding valu© to Struensee. 
 
THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 219 
 
 There seems, however, in this temporary for- 
 getfulness of propriety, and torrent of dissipation, 
 something so utterly at variance, both with what 
 is above admitted, and elsewhere recorded, of her 
 previous blameless retirement, and the rational 
 and dignified tenor of the life amid which (as in 
 her native element) the latter days of the still 
 youthful queen serenely glided away, that, in her 
 case, we must seek for its maddening cause in that 
 sudden transition from neglect to devotion — that 
 brief, giddy elevation to the summit of power — 
 which, as owing to, and shared with, the tri- 
 umphant minister, Carolina Matilda perhaps 
 thought she could not sufficiently appreciate and 
 reward. 
 
 Advantage was in the meantime taken of Stru- 
 ensee's glaring immoralities and growing unpo- 
 pularity, to cast a shade of suspicion (wholly 
 unfounded, and soon rejected as groundless by 
 all save, perhaps, its calumnious authors) on the 
 auspicious birth of a little princess, named Louisa 
 Augusta*, the devoted attachment to whom, and 
 affectionate discharge towards her of a mother's 
 tenderest offices, forms a beautiful feature in the 
 character of her unhappy parent-f At the same 
 
 * Whose daughter, when these pages were ■written, was the 
 amiable and beloved Queen-Consort of Denmark. 
 
 f It affords not a less striking proof of the groundlessness of 
 the insinuation itself than of the dissimulation of its authors, 
 that the sponsors on this occasion were the Queen Dowager and 
 her son Prince Frederick; while the unhesitating admission, 
 ever since, (by a people naturally jealous on sUoh matters) of the 
 legitimacy of their beloved princess, seems sufficient refutation 
 of her mother's alleged guilt. 
 
220 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 time, and based on the same want of principle on 
 the part of the minister, reports were circulated, 
 ascribing to his insidious arts, or a still more ne- 
 farious exercise of his medical functions, an in- 
 creased degree of languor and imbecility, into 
 which the young monarch suddenly fell ; to which 
 cause were ascribed the scandalous irregularities 
 which exposed him to the contempt of his subjects, 
 and rendered him passive with respect to the pre- 
 tended excesses of the queen, and the crimes of 
 her creatures. 
 
 These, and similar insinuations, propagated 
 with the utmost activity of malice, made the de- 
 sired' impression on the military and burghers ; 
 and, favoured by the indiscretion of the young 
 queen, and the fatal security of the haughty fa- 
 vourite, sealed the fate of both. 
 
 Juliana's court became the resort of discon- 
 tented nobles, ecclesiastics, and oiBcers, who, 
 adopting implicitly her vindictive projects, pre- 
 judiced the nation against the measures of what 
 they called a German* junto, composed of upstarts 
 suddenly emerged from obscurity, who sacrificed 
 the national honour and interest to the desire of 
 aggrandising themselves by plundering the state, 
 and accumulating to. their indigent families a 
 rapid fortune by the most scandalous exactions. 
 
 That there was good foundation for the latter 
 accusation, the subsequent state trials brought to 
 
 * Chiefly natives of Holstein, thus characterised and regarded, 
 by Danes of insular extraction ; a jealousy revived in the pre- 
 sent day. 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY, 221 
 
 light ; the discontent of the nobles and military 
 has been already accounted for; and the clergy 
 found ample justification of their invectives, in 
 the avowed infidelity, as well as profligacy of the 
 reigning minister.* 
 
 It was while occupied in a constant succession 
 of courtly amusements, that seemed to leave no- 
 thing to apprehend, and while precaution was 
 strangely laid asleep, that Struensee rushed for- 
 ward, as blindly as his most inveterate enemies 
 could desire, on impending destruction. And yet 
 warnings had not been wanting to recall him to a 
 sense of his precarious situation. Even his own 
 thoughtless colleague Brandt, (whom all unite in 
 designating a " shallow courtier, vain, dissolute, 
 and wholly deficient in virtue and principle,") is 
 said to have perceived, and pointed out, the pre- 
 cariousness of their joint situation. And the 
 counsels of a man of widely diifering weight and 
 character, the British minister, might, if timely 
 listened to, have averted his doom. For this we 
 have the authority of an eminent Danish writer. 
 Dr. Host, who, in his valuable work, entitled 
 
 * It is a singular, and, by. -well-constituted minds, wiU he 
 hailed as a double proof of the omnipotence of Christian feeling 
 and Christian truth, that the same eminent Divine who, in the 
 exercise of his official functions as one of the pastors of the 
 capital, had been called upon to uplift his protest against the 
 doctrinal errors and moral delinquencies countenanced by 
 Struensee, devoted weeks of patient and skilful argumentation 
 to his conrersion after his faU, and reaped his reward in perhaps 
 the most satisfactory and complete case of religious conTiotion 
 upon record. 
 
222 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 "John Frederick Struensee and his Ministry," 
 published in 1824, thus expresses himself in 
 speaking of Sir Eobert Murray Keith : — 
 
 " This sensible and worthy man could not but 
 be uneasy as to the influence which the danger 
 that hovered over Struensee might have on the 
 destiny of the queen. He urged the Count to 
 remove from the Court; but the latter, although 
 aware of the danger, could not tear himself away." 
 
 Colonel Keith, who perhaps fortunately for a 
 daughter of England, as well as for his own repu- 
 tation and subsequent advancement, at that criti- 
 cal moment, held the post of Minister of Great 
 Britain at the Court of Denmark, afforded, like 
 his equally talented father, a proof that to achieve 
 success in diplomacy, it is not indispensable to 
 pass through the preliminary steps of office. Had 
 diplomacy been the original bent of this son's dis- 
 position, his father's eminence might have opened 
 to him the most favourable field. But, like most 
 young men of his age and country, we have seen 
 that he early chose the profession of arms ; and 
 after earning distinction in the fields of fame, 
 under the gallant Prince Ferdinand^ in the wars 
 of Germany, it was only the reduction, at their 
 close, of his brave band of Highlanders, which led 
 to his entrance, with even less of preparation 
 than his father had enjoyed, on a long diplomatic 
 career. 
 
 Its commencement at Dresden afforded little to 
 call forth the energies of a powerful mind. Yet it 
 was ,with regret that he exchanged agreeable do- 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 223 
 
 mestication, in a small, but delightful royal circle 
 (whose friendship and correspondence he long en- 
 joyed) for the stormy and critical*, though honour- 
 able, post of Minister to Denmark ; at a period in 
 the annals, both of that kingdom itself and of its 
 unhappy queen, the difficulties of which our pre- 
 vious narration will enable the least reflecting to 
 comprehend. 
 
 The spirit in which it was entered upon, and in 
 which these diflBculties were encountered, will 
 best be gathered from the first of those extracts 
 from the minister's private correspondence, which 
 (penned on the spot, from day to day, during the 
 various stages of a most painful and eventful mis- 
 sion), while they enable the writer of these pages 
 to discharge a sacred duty to the memory of an 
 able negotiator and good man, will, by their 
 graphic truth, and the varying emotions they re- 
 cord, give the liveliest idea of the perilous state 
 of affairs in Denmark, and the position there of 
 an ambassador from Britain. 
 
 Soon after his arrival, in June, 1771 (six months 
 previous to the catastrophe). Colonel Keith thus 
 writes to his father (who survived his son's ap- 
 pointment by three years) : — 
 
 " The firat step tO render my mission useful to 
 the king's service, is to establish my reputatioQ as 
 a man who is above all trick or low intrigue, and 
 who will never interfere when he can do no good. 
 
 » TSot the less so from dissatisfaction prerioiisly esperieneed 
 (says the Editor of MaJmestuiy's Life) with his predece6Sor'& 
 conduct amid its trouMes. 
 
224 THE EOMASCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 I have it sincerely at heart to deserve the public 
 and private esteem, and I have- the strongest en- 
 couragement to go on cheerfully, by the many 
 kind expressions vhich have been made use of, 
 with regard to my mission, by the highest powers 
 at home. They have been repeatedly echoed to 
 me, by Bentinck, Yorke, and from various friendly 
 quarters ; but I own that my pride was unexpect- 
 edly flattered by the very honourable testimony 
 of the Duke d'Auguillon to the French minister 
 here, in instructions designed for himself alone. 
 
 " How far I may be able to fulfil the expecta- 
 tions of friend or foe, I will not pretend to deter- 
 mine ; but certainly, I am less sanguiiie on the 
 subject than the one or the other. Politicians by 
 profession have very little chance here, where they 
 are, at present, admitted to tw share of the busi- 
 ness. The nonsense of etiquette has already 
 thrown a stumbling-block in my way, by a new, 
 (and, I believe, unprecedented) regulation with 
 respect to private audiences* But as I have 
 preserved all possible respect towards this Court, 
 and made my report with fairness and temper to 
 my own, I can be under no uneasiness with re- 
 gard to my share in this innovation and its conse- 
 quences. A shut or an open door (f6r that is the 
 point) is a subject to be canvassed by the higher 
 powers ; my duty is to wait for instructions, and 
 to adhere to them quietly. In the meantime, I 
 
 * Evidently dictated by Count Struensee's apprehensions as 
 to tie result of free access, by the minister of Great Britain, to 
 either the king or qiieen. 
 
THE EOMASCE OP DIPLOMACY. 225 
 
 heartily consign that old harridan Etiquette, with 
 all her trumpery, to the lowest tmderling of all 
 possible devils ! Count Osten* has met me with 
 the greatest personal civilities; he mentions 
 your name always with ' strong professions of re- 
 gard, and repeats with pleasure a variety of little 
 anecdotes which do you honour. His very active 
 parts might perhaps be turned to better advantage 
 than they have hitherto been in this country." 
 
 " I have just received answers from my princi- 
 pal to my first official letters ; and I cannot enough 
 acknowledge the handsome terms in which those 
 answers are conceived. My first business is to 
 deserve the good opinion thus flatteringly ex- 
 pressed from home, and the public and private 
 esteem here, and then I shall be prepared for 
 whatever circumstances may occur. The rage of 
 being busy is the bane of almost all the disciples 
 of Hugo Grrotius; but I hope I am sufficiently 
 guarded against it, by the fear of doing harm, and 
 the very moderate ambition which attends my 
 personal views. But while matters go on smoothly, 
 and with no shadow of partiality to an adversa 
 interest, I shall be very well pleased, and willing 
 to confess myself a benevolent spectator." 
 
 This, his natural character (as all who have 
 read his previous correspondence must admit), 
 circumstances did not permit one so social in dis- 
 position, and upright in principle, long to retain, 
 
 * The Danish minister for foreign affairs, 
 VOL. I. Q * 
 
226 THE KDMEANCE OF DIPLOMACr. 
 
 The first invasion of the "Bonhammie," " a repu- 
 tation for which (he writes) I may say, without 
 vanity,, had preceded me herej" arose from a two 
 months experience of a lack of hafepiiality and 
 warmth on flaie part of the natives, of which 
 mutual distniBt,. and the state of parties ik a 
 kingdom divided hy adverse fa(btia)i!iB, and on the 
 eve of a disastrous convulsion, may have afforded 
 a suhsequent solution. 
 
 "My situation," he writes in August, "is ex- 
 actly the same as when I despatched my first 
 letter. An intercourse of an hour, once a week, 
 with the Court — a formal supper once in a fort- 
 td^ht with the fashionahlie people — make the 
 whole of my public appearances ; and, what may 
 form a sure prognostic of the future society, I can 
 safely assure you,, that in a residence of two 
 months, I have not been admitted to any one 
 visit that I have made to man or woman. Dame 
 or DiptomaU'que. The cheerfulness with wHch I 
 submit to customs which I cannot mend, is a sort 
 of merit which has not passed unnoticed ; and I 
 hope the people look upon me as one who does 
 not pi/ne albnej and yet is ready to mix in any- 
 thing that is sociable. I thank my stars I can live 
 contentedly in the greatest solitude, and. I have 
 the experience of Helvoetsluys Barracks in my 
 favoTxr. But I never can give a greater proof 
 'than at present of the zeal that I owe to our 
 common benefactor. Whatever may be the suc- 
 cess of my endeavours, fortune and comfort are 
 here out. of the question." 
 
THE BOMAKCB OF DIPLOMACT. 227 
 
 In October he thus limtes :-^"I am Sorry to 
 say that the climate, society, and politics of this 
 kingdom are equally uncomfortable. You may 
 depend on my setting down nought in malice, but 
 I will fairly state to you the particuilars of each, 
 and leave you, dear sir, to judge how far my pa- 
 tience is likely to be tried. The little summer I 
 saw, was sultry and languid; Augusty and almos6 
 all September, rotten and fiainy; and the few 
 clear days we have had lately, too chilly to be 
 abroad with pleasure. Five months of a dismal 
 and variable winter are now awaiting us^ with as 
 little defence against the cold, both of body and 
 Spirit, as can well be inmginied. After looking 
 round me with an anxious, yet a benevolent eye, 
 for anything that may be called a society, or even 
 a siagle friend, male or female, I am forced to 
 own to myself that there is not amy hope of suc- 
 ceeding. I do not mean to asperse a whole nation. 
 in which there are undoubtedly mamy worthy 
 people; but such is the shyness of all those I 
 have seen to each other, and still more to men of 
 my cloth, that meeting them now and then, at 
 dinner, or in a public place, forms not a more 
 intimate connection than' that of three or fom: 
 Dutchmen who have crossed in the' same Doitboafc 
 at Eotterdam. 
 
 " An inquiry about what you do, and how you 
 paas your time, when absent from these people, 
 never enters their heads, any more than they ever 
 suffer you to enter within their doors. After 
 ^periencing what is called a ' dieti/Hguisked re- 
 
 «2 
 
228 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 ception^ which ended in two or three formal din- 
 ners to this good hour, I never was admitted to 
 a single visit. The greatest part of the nobility, 
 having lost their employments, are retired from 
 the capital, but by this we are only a few yearly 
 feasts out of pocket; for Le President Ogier (qui 
 faisait la pluie et le beau terns pendant une Am- 
 bassade de quatorze ans), could never, as I am 
 assured, acquire a familiar footing in a Danish 
 family. This is a desperate matter." 
 
 The constitutional and irrepressible gaiete de 
 coeur, the literal heart cheerfulness of the writer, 
 finds vent in a playful portrait gallery (too long 
 and personal for entire insertion) of the male and 
 female members of the society, so called, diplo- 
 matic and private, whose rare festivities he par- 
 took in ; for, from the reckless dissipation of the 
 "wags of the Court," (as he styles, in manly 
 contempt, the profligate clique of the minister,) 
 he as evidently held himself aloof, as they mani- 
 fested their dread of his character and influence, 
 by estranging him from everything like personal, 
 or even official, intercourse with the King. 
 
 As a welcome relief from much of a graver and 
 deeply painful character, as a proof, not altoge- 
 ther superfluous, in our matter-of-fact age, how 
 nearly allied are wit and wisdom, nay, that not 
 incompatible are even politics and playfulness, 
 we cannot resist a few further extracts from those 
 family ipanchemens de coeur, in which, during 
 the earlier and less anxious periods of his sojourn, 
 the ambassador sought indemnification for hi* 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 229 
 
 forced isolation, aifd portrayed its whimsical 
 extent. 
 
 " Kow," says he in another letter dated Oc- 
 tober, "for the Matadores among our females! 
 Madame de Blosset, the French minister's lady, 
 is really good-humoured and agreeable. Eich 
 they ar^, beyond the measure of Frenchmen 
 {cent mille livres par an), but I got my single 
 dinner from them two months ago, and word 
 spake never Inore, no, not even an afternoon's dish 
 of tea ! Madame Haxthausen, the wife of your 
 friend at the head of the Admiralty (who speaks 
 of you with the highest admiration), a fat, fair, 
 unmeaning lass, looks at me once a month, as if 
 she had an inkling to be kind ; but I have had 
 the fatted calf there too, and though I could 
 almost converse with her from my window to 
 hers, I must bring k battering-ram if I mean to 
 force open her door. 
 
 " There is an Admiral Eomeling, who, from a 
 man-of-war education, has a warm side to our 
 country folks ; but he is out of place, and has 
 little fortune, so that I am kept at a distance 
 from a cheerfiil dumpling woman his wife, and a 
 tall, comely, lively lass his daughter, who seems 
 to have a fire and vivacity which are seldom 
 found in this climate. A Monsieur and Madame 
 Juel are just come to town, with a sweet little 
 cherubim of a daughter, just fifteen ; consequently 
 just the very thing which can. be turned to no 
 earthly advantage by a gentleman of my years. 
 These good people curtsied to me very politely 
 q, 3 
 
230 THE EOMASCE 0? DiPLOMApy,' 
 
 at my presentation ; and, as they are renowned 
 for hospitality, I have since had the happiness 
 of seeing the outside of their street door, which 
 is of strong handsome oak, and painted yellow ! 
 
 "We hav^e, however, a Madame de Merci^res 
 (aunt to my little Dresden Juel, as indeed they 
 all are) ; this lady is the thirty yeiaiTs' spouse of 
 an aged lord, and she (as I am told) feeds all 
 mankind at a kind of refectory table once a week. 
 J think I have a chance of being among the 
 strangers whom she taketh in ; for her porter has 
 smiled most graciously when he has received my 
 cards from the running footman. A good omen 
 this, and I make the most of everything ! I have 
 a laughing hoyden of a vi^^a-ms, who deplores 
 my solitary situation, and has womanfully set 
 aside all fear of scandal, by admitting me, during 
 four monthp, to above seventy-five mmutes of 
 giggling conversation, divided into two equal- 
 parts, without the presence of a single soul, ex- 
 cept her h/wshoind a/nd mothw! However, I am 
 determined not to nip this bud of kindness, and 
 if it produces any tolerable fruit, I shall be proud 
 of the productioB, 
 
 " Out week is now going to be parcelled out 
 in plays and operas, and there will be at least a 
 place of rendezvous every evening. Yet are we 
 starched and demure, even in our playhouses, for 
 every human being has his or her place allotted 
 by thp book of Mtiquette, and sticks to it during 
 the whole performance. Those who sit two boxes 
 froflft me might as well be in Norway, for any 
 
IHE BOMAMCB OF DIPtOMACT; 231 
 
 fioanner of commimication I can have -with them. 
 My little Jwd is withiu five seats of being as 
 great a lady as Madame de Blosset; and as I 
 squat next to Madame L'Ambasaacl/nce, I can, 
 at least twice in an evening, see the tip of my 
 cherub's nose. Were she to marry into the third 
 class of grandees, I should see no more of her 
 during my stay in Denmark I It is really ridicu- 
 lous to see how the world is parcelled out here 
 into no less than nine classes, six of whom I must 
 never encounter without horror. Yet my opera- 
 glass tells me that numbers eight and nine beat 
 us all hollow as to flesh and blood. But as 
 Surgeons become Counts and Pri/me Mvnisters 
 in this island, my buxom nines may hereafter be, 
 Court-ladies, for aught I know." * 
 
 But we must return from this digression to the 
 graver and more indignant strain in which Sir E. 
 Keith describes (which he does in a graphic and 
 strongly drawn series of portraits, coincident in 
 their main features with the concise sketch 
 already given) the rise and character of those 
 extraordinary minions of fortune, by whom the 
 destinies of Denmark, and, alas! those of one 
 nearer and dearer to his heart, as a daughter of 
 England, were at that period swayed. He thus 
 introduces to his confidential circle, the parvenu 
 IpreTnier : — 
 
 * AUuding to the original profession and rise of the then om- 
 nipotent Count Struensee, to whom this aftiBion recalls los. Tha 
 unreserved style and nature of these communications, it may he 
 mentioned, arose from their being written for transmission hy a 
 Scotch captain of a vessel then lying wind-bound at Copenhagen. 
 «4 
 
232 , IHE EOMAHCE OP DIPLOMACr. 
 
 " October 6th, 177t' 
 « The Fourth Knight," (of the Order of Ma- 
 tilda, instituted, alas ! to be unhappily disgraced 
 by its chief members,) "the founder and artisan 
 of all this stately fabric, the man who unites iu 
 his single person all the honours, and cdl the 
 powers of two kingdoms, is Count Struensee ; 
 who, from the boldness of his attempt to over- 
 throw not only the ministry, but to expel all the 
 nobility, and change every department in the 
 state, as well as from his complete success in this 
 hazardous undertaking, deserves a better and 
 more expert biographer than I can pretend to 
 be." 
 
 After a succinct sketch of the birth and 
 parentage of the ilfecZico-minister, whose ambition, 
 he. says, was at first supposed, even by the sage 
 Count Bernstorflf (who disdaiaed to crush him, 
 though warned of his determination), " to reach- 
 no higher than to rule (like the physician in the 
 Eehearsal) the healths of both their Majesties," 
 Colonel Keith thus proceeds : — 
 
 " I have reason to believe, how odd soever it 
 may appear, that from his first admittance into 
 the palace, he laid his plan to be Prime Minister. 
 He began by governing all those of his own 
 sphere, and rendering himself necessary to those 
 of a higher. He was first made Lecteur,du Roi, 
 and a sort of Secretawe du Cabmet; then, on the 
 return from England, Maitre des Requites (an 
 office which meant anything or everything), and 
 soon after, he called to his assistance the amiable 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 233 
 
 and striking figures I have just now painted^ viz., 
 Eantzau, Grahler, and Brandt. He dismissed 
 Count Bernstorff, Eosencrantz, Molke, Thott, in 
 short, every minister and great officer of the 
 Crown. He acquired an irresistible ascendency 
 over the Throne ; he made himself Chevalier de 
 Mathilde, and Count of Denmark, and having 
 abolished all ministry and councils, he took to 
 himself the eoadusive title of Ministre du Cabinet, 
 Finances, Army, Navy, colUges et cuisimes ; every 
 branch of power or prerogative rested in him. 
 To consummate all, he procured and published 
 a Eoyal Sign Manual, declaring, that whatever 
 orders were given by Count Struensee, to the 
 heads or subalterns of every board, or department 
 of Grovemment, should be obeyed instantly, im- 
 plicitly, and without appeal. Thus, indeed, did 
 he rule, in fact, the healths and miads of both 
 
 ; but I have said too much upon a subject 
 
 which gives me real pain for a thousand reasons. 
 
 "The politics of this minister are doubtful 
 with regard to foreign nations, but all his pro- 
 fessions are in favour of Eussia. He will, how- 
 ever, admit of no close intercourse, from the fear 
 of being dictated to ; and perhaps he waits to be 
 courted, more than it has hitherto been thought 
 proper to give in to. The foreign ministers being 
 the only persons whom he cannot kick and cuff 
 at pleasure, he has effectually debarred them 
 from the least, access to the throne ; and for that 
 purpose all private audiences are abolished. He 
 never condescends to mention business to any 
 
234 THE EOMANCB OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 member of the corps diplomatique, and Count 
 Osten, througli whom those affairs are traiisaoted, 
 reports to Struensee in -writing, and not to the 
 Sovereign ; and receives his ddctates, though not 
 placidly, nor always without grumbling. The 
 Prime Minister is so jealous of the interference 
 of the corps diplomatique, that if any one of us 
 were to give his opinion that beef and mutton 
 were my proper food for the royal table, I am 
 convinced he would forbid them being served up 
 at it for a twelvemonth- I have told you, dear 
 sir, that I am determined (where no good is in 
 my power) to be cautious of doing harm. I shall 
 therefore be quiet for some time, especially as 
 my mission here was looked upon by the outs as 
 highly important atid critical — but shall I al- 
 ways be a cipher ? No ! And now I will ven- 
 ture to prognosticate a little, in all the confidence 
 of a private conversation with the Hermits.* I 
 long jbo get through this subject, for, much against 
 my will, I have said more ill of mankind in this 
 sheet than in all my life. 
 
 " This ' man mountain ' seems to have wasted 
 his strength, by the hasty strides he made to get 
 at the summit of power. He is dexterous at 
 overturning, but not equally so in building. 
 He has destroyed a host of enemies, without 
 making a single friend. He despises his quondam 
 helpmates, and may probably soon dismiss them. 
 Willing to grasp all the reins, he does not con- 
 
 * So styled throughout Sir E. Keith's familiar letters, from 
 the " Hermitage," the name of his father's country house. 
 
THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 235 
 
 sider tow impossible it is for one man to do all 
 the business. He wants tools^ and will not seek 
 them ; so that the few useful regulations he has 
 made are not carried properly into execution : 
 the business accumulates in every department, 
 and the confusion which arises from this will 
 soon render him as obnoxious to the middling 
 class of people as he is already to the gentlemen. 
 The populace love the King, and are extremely 
 averse to the delegation of his power to a man 
 whose rise is so unbecoming. The little incen- 
 diaries of opposition (no longer restrained by the 
 rigour of the government) print and publish the 
 most scandalous and infa/mous libels, and by 
 name threaten the minister. The popular cla- 
 mour runs high, and the opposition of the nobles, 
 though sluggish and timid, contributes to create 
 a crisis of frenzy in the mob, which may (they 
 think) be justly directed against the position of 
 the minister. In a despotic government, the 
 populace, when pushed beyond the limits of the 
 law, know no bounds ; I therefore sincerely hope 
 and pray that all lawless attempts to kindle a 
 flame among them may meet with the punish- 
 ment they deserve. But if even it shall' unfor- 
 tunately happen, that the lower citizens shall be 
 brought to signalise their resentment against the 
 principal objects of it, Brp/ndt and Struensee, 
 you, dear sir, will not be surprised if a Danish 
 mob should, in its vengeance, be cruel and san- 
 guinary. 
 
 «A few .bundreda of Norwegian sailors, who 
 
236 THE EOMAKCB OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 had some demands of pay, and were unable to 
 feed themselves in this dear capital, went, three 
 weeks ago, in a tumultuary, though deliberate 
 manner, to demand justice at Hirschholm.* Upon 
 the first promise of redress they returned quietly 
 to town ; but it was easy to see what might have 
 been effected by this handful of men, if they 
 had been led to the palace by a less pardonable 
 impulse than that of hunger. The possibility 
 of such an application is now manifest, as well 
 as its impunity; and what is very important to 
 the fortune of Struensee, it is generally believed 
 that his boasted intrepidity forsook him upon 
 the late appearance of the sailors. He now be- 
 comes vulnerable from every quarter, and some 
 who did not dare to look at him, now shake off 
 their deep submission, together with that awe 
 which was so necessary for the support of his 
 unbounded authority. But the rest to-morrow. 
 Adieu." 
 
 « October 20th, 1771. 
 " A succession of different articles of business 
 has prevented my continuing my report of the 
 state of Denmark ; but as things are still nearly 
 on the same footing, I resume my story where I 
 left off. I am confirmed in my belief that Count 
 Struensee was struck with a sense of his danger ; 
 and that some little time ago he would not have 
 been averse to shelter himself from the storm, 
 even by abandoning the summit of power. In a 
 
 * A country palace near Copenliagen. 
 
THE KOMANCE OF BIPLOMACT. 237 
 
 country of more enterprise than this, his oppo- 
 nents would not have let slip so favourable an 
 opportunity ; but as they have given him time, 
 the most they have to hope for the present, is the 
 nomination of a cabinet council of three or four 
 persons. The sailors, who first began the riot, 
 have been sent back by degrees to their different 
 districts in Norway, and upon the coast ; the li- 
 berty of the press is almost entirely abolished by 
 a lat« order, and the mob is overawed by calling 
 in a reinforcement of cavalry, which parades by 
 squadrons, whenever any public occasion .calls the 
 people together. Notwithstanding aU this, the , 
 discontent runs still very high, and perhaps before 
 I close this letter, I may have an opportunity of 
 mentioning to you the different schemes which 
 are in agitation, and the share which my attach- 
 ment to her Danish Majesty (arising from my 
 duty to the King my master) may proidpt me to 
 take in them, I do not think it the part of a 
 foreign minister to dabble too much in ministerial 
 intrigues, but there may be occasions where the 
 interposition of an honest and disinterested person 
 may keep things steady; and prevent new upstarts 
 from adding their wild projects to those which 
 have already reduced this kingdom to so low a 
 pitch." 
 
 " October SOth. 
 
 " There is such a continual fluctuation in the 
 
 politics of this Court, that I have done wisely to 
 
 suspend my predictions till the moment of the 
 
 vessel's departure, as I shall not then be in danger 
 
238 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 of contraidiGting myselfy wMch I must haTO done 
 a dozen times since tke beginaaBig of tMs journal, 
 if I had trusted to the appearances of things. 
 We are pretty quiet at present j the minister has 
 suspended his projected dismissions, a;nd the pub- 
 lic the violence of their clamours. With respect 
 to myself, I am neither admitted to the favour of 
 thie Court nor the intrigues of the opposition. I 
 am in hopes that moderation and impartiality 
 may procure me some weight, which I shaM 'mv&r 
 employ but far some essemticcl purpose} aS nothing 
 but a doMgerous. esdremity could induce me to 
 mis, upon this theatre,- with the present actors, 
 who neither deserve: esteem from their parts or 
 their principles. I have often thought that 
 there was a sort of injudicious fuss made some- 
 where about my mission toi this Goairt, which 
 awakened the attention of different- parties, and 
 made them expect things from me which I had 
 neither the wish nor the ovd&rs to undertake. 
 The Ministers determined &om the first to pre- 
 vent my having any access to the principal persons; 
 and as I very soon found how little influence my 
 opinions or good offices were likely to procure me, 
 I was not sorry to acquiesce in an exclusion which 
 was made general to all my colleagues. 
 
 " I am neither mortified nor fretted by "this 
 treatment : I can wait very patiently till an op- 
 portunity shall offer to exert myself for the 
 advantage of those wry persons who now keep 
 me at svxih a distance. I pay no court to this 
 mushroom Minister,, nor do I affect to thwart 
 
THE EOMAHCE 01" DIPLOMACT. 239 
 
 him ; and I am certain that I have lost nothing 
 in his opinion, by being perhaps the man in Den- 
 mark who is least dazzled by the icldt of his 
 fortune. His haughtiness to every one of the 
 nobility they have ia a great measure deserved 
 by their pitiful obsequionsness; but I have nothing 
 to ask or to fear, and Count Struensee knows that 
 my inaction is only founded upon what I think 
 my duty.. There are some dmwrmtwnces of his 
 situation;, not as a minister, but a mem, which I 
 own stir up my indignation now and then ; but I 
 have an ample revenge in the anxiety, suspicions, 
 and fears, which visibly' and incessantly rack his 
 mind. I heard witibin these few days that the 
 bond of concord between him and his Brother 
 Gaunt BSrandt is near its dissolution. You will 
 judge, from my little sketch of his character, that 
 the fall of this knight, of the new order will be 
 unlamented; and my stay in Denmark mwat be 
 iieary short mdeed if the rest of the brotherhood do 
 not file off in their turns before me. 
 
 "The scenes that pass here are often ridiculous, 
 sometimes wicked, as well as despicable ; but they 
 have at least the merit of sacceeding one another 
 in a rapid succession. I have five hundred good 
 stories for the Hermits whenever I shall have the 
 happiness to see them ; and in the meantime, 
 they may be assured that this Court has not the 
 most distant resemblance to any other under the 
 sun. When I was upon the road to this city, I 
 
 heard of the downMl of a Monsieur de W , 
 
 who had been in high fevQur with the Sovereign, 
 
240 THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 and raised from page, to two or three handsome 
 posts at Court. This young gentleman had fan- 
 cied to himself that he was become a man of 
 importance, and began, to vapour; when Struensee 
 at once dismissed the mighty MarSchal de la Cour, 
 Chambellan, &c. &c., in a very laughable manner, 
 by creating him — very unexpectedly — Lieutenant 
 .of Dragoons, in a regiment in Jutland! and 
 sending him to his garrison, with a small pension. 
 He became probably as awkward a lieutenant, as 
 he had been a courtier ; however, his mihtary. pro- 
 gress is again at a stand, as he was called back to 
 town yesterday (to my great amusement), and 
 will immediately resume his functions as a wag of 
 the Court! 
 
 " There maybe something 'rotten' in the 'state 
 of Denmark,' but there is nothing rusty ; for all 
 manner of things and persons are rubbed up alter- 
 nately. / give ray vote for Lieutenant W 
 
 being a Chevalier de VOrdre at the next promotion. 
 But the fellow is a fool, and hitherto (the Boyal 
 Family excepted) -that dignity has been restricted 
 to hnaves! But this is a venomous style, and so 
 I'll call a new chapter." 
 
 ^ "November 7th, 
 
 f ' A man may smile, and smile, and be a villain ; 
 At least, I'm sure it may he so in Denmark; ' 
 
 says Hamlet, and Hamlet knew his countrymen. 
 The following example will show you, dear sir, 
 what right I have to join in this opinion. Soon 
 after my arrival here, and whilst the strongest 
 
THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 241 
 
 professions of attachment to England and Russia 
 were echoing in my ears, I received a private inti- 
 mation that Marshal St. G-ermain* (the man most 
 deservedly obnoxious to both crowns) was recalled 
 to Copenhagen. My representations produced 
 the avowal of the recall, but at the same time, the 
 most express declaration that the Marshal was not 
 to be employed ; and that the only motive of the 
 Sovereign's invitation was to make the Marshal 
 spend his pension of 14,000 ciowaa in philosophic 
 retireraent m Denmark! The , supposition that 
 the ardent and haughty spirit of St. Grermain could 
 sink at once into insignifieanee, and he become an 
 inactive spectator of the polities of a Court which 
 he had formerly governed, was too gross for belief; 
 but as I found myself unable to exclude him, my 
 next care was to fetter these slippery politicians, 
 by a promise in writing (sent to the Court of Pe- 
 tersburg), that he was not to be replaced in any 
 employment. This, in all probability, suspended 
 Ms journey from Florence hither, Gsten has 
 promised me an explanation, but I defy the most 
 artful gloss to varnish over the want of truth and 
 consistency. A sad trade, indeed, is mine! for 
 with these men must I labour to build up a last- 
 ing edifice, for which, at this moment, I know not 
 where to look for the first stone. Makvfiig bricks 
 without atrofw is a joke to it! I shall call in 
 Count Panin's imperial mandates to my assistance; 
 
 * A former minister high in office in Denmark ; and to justify 
 the sagaeily respecting him of Sir B. M. Keith, an active though 
 not ostensiWe agent in the revolution which followed. 
 
 VOL. I. B 
 
242 THE ROMANCE OP WPLOMACT. 
 
 and if I am ordered to grapple with these gentry, 
 I already feel (thank Grod) the superiority which 
 honesty has over low cunning. I am sure, if I 
 had carte blanche,! could already have dismissed 
 half a dozen of the most worthless fellows alive." 
 There are few who can now read these manly 
 expressions of honest British indignation without 
 regret, that the fetters of diplomatic etiquette 
 placed a bar in the way of the gallant representa^ 
 tive of England, in his evident longings to free, 
 by the removal of an unworthy favourite, from 
 the toils in which she was entangled, the sister of 
 his beloved Sovereign. Had he been able to fore^ 
 see (as no one could, till the event fell like a 
 thunderbolt on Denmark and Europe) that sacri- 
 legious hands would be raised to involve a royal 
 victim in the catastrophe to which he looked for 
 her emancipation — the same prompt and chival-. 
 rous daring which bade him overstep all the 
 limits of precedent and diplomacy, to shield from 
 harm the already "discrowned head" of the lovely 
 sufferer, would have made him incur any degree 
 of personal risk or disavowal in the attempt (pro- 
 bably successful) to avert the meditated injury. 
 But it was reserved for a woman, herself a Queen, 
 to invade, at the instigation of short-sighted am- 
 bition, the sanctity hitherto surrounding the 
 throne; and by directing popular fury against 
 one of her own sex and rank, to teach the sangui- 
 nary lesson which revolutionary frenzy in another 
 kingdom was not slow in carrying out. The 
 blow might have been anticipated and the desti- 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY, 243 
 
 » 
 
 nies of royalty reversed, if (as writes a contempo- 
 rary but anonymous author) the proposal of Count 
 Brandt, provided the Bang's sanction should be 
 obtained, which would not have been difficult, to 
 arrest the Queen Dowager and conduct her to a 
 place of safety, had been accepted by Struensee. 
 But his fatal security not only made him reject 
 this questionable scheme, but left free scope to 
 those of his enemies w'hose plans for his destruc- 
 tion were silently maturing. Various consultations 
 were held by them relative to the measures proper 
 to be pursued, and towards the close of the year 
 1771, they finally determined to proceed to action 
 without farther delay. On the first day of January 
 every year it was customary at Copenhagen for' 
 the populace to assemble near the royal palace, 
 where an ox, roasted whole, was distributed among 
 them. As the Court and Eoyal Family usually 
 assisted at this festivity, Queen Matilda had sig- 
 nified her intention of being present, accom- 
 panied by the King and their ordinary attendants. 
 Such an occasion appeared too favourable to be 
 neglected. The partisans of Juliana Maria, and 
 Prince Frederick, having gained over a sufficient 
 number of the soldiery, came to a resolution of 
 breaking in among the crowd, arresting their op- 
 ponents, and even of putting them to death upon 
 the spot if any resistance were attempted. 
 
 This scheme, however, which so many circum- 
 stances appeared to facilitate, was disconcerted at 
 the very point of execution, by an anonymous 
 warning sent to a nobleman in the Queen's house- 
 
 B 2 
 
244 THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 hold, enjoining him to be absent, if he regarded 
 his safety. This mysterious intimation he com- 
 municated to her Majesty, who, on pretence of 
 indisposition, immediately announced her deter- 
 mination not to be present at the festivity. This 
 resolution of course fruBtrated the design at the 
 time ; but the failure of the project neither 
 inspired the persecuted party with sufficient cau- 
 tion against similar attempts, nor did it relax the 
 activity of their opponents in renewing their 
 machinations, and watching to take advantage of 
 some more favourable crisis. Such an opportu- 
 nity soon presented itself — a masked ball, which 
 was. to be given in, the royal palace on the 16th 
 January, 1772. 
 
 Of various versions of thi& celebrated and tragi- 
 cal event, all coinciding in their principal details, 
 that of Sir Nathaniel Wraxall (ostensibly derived, 
 imniediately after the death of Carolina Matilda 
 in Hanover, from her faithful valet de chambre. 
 Mantel) might on that ground alone deserve selec- 
 tion as the most authentic as well as graphic But 
 the residence of the writer at Vienna, in consi- 
 derable habits of intimacy with Sir E. M. Keith^ 
 lends an additional stamp of probable accuracy 
 to details on which (from allusions in Sir N. W.'s 
 letters) they had evidently conversed,, and whose 
 publicity would prevent that nnost discreet of 
 mimsters from having any scruple in, confirming 
 them. 
 
 " It was resolved," says Sir Nathaniel, " to seisfi 
 on Queen Matilda and the principal persons at- 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 245 
 
 tached to her at the close of the masked ball, 
 which has been already mentioned. Count 
 Eantzau* undertook the delicate commission of 
 persuading the King to sign the order for the 
 purpose, and of putting it afterwards into execu- 
 tion. To KoUer Banner was assigned the impor- 
 tant task of arresting Struensee; and all the 
 inferior arrangements for ensuring success were 
 settled with great dexterity. They were, neverthe- 
 less, on the point of being overturned at the very 
 moment when all was ripe for action. Eantzau, 
 upon whose courage, fidelity, and secrecy, no re-' 
 liance could be placed, determined not only to 
 withdraw his assistance from the party in which 
 he had enlisted, but to reveal the whole con- 
 spiracy to Struensee. On the afternoon of the 
 16th of January, only a few hours before the ball 
 was to begin, he wrote to the minister, desiring to 
 see him at his oWn apartments upon business of 
 
 * Of this worthy, the British minister, not addicted to im- 
 charitable judgments, thus wrote in - prirate letter, long pre- 
 vious to his treachery, and defection from the Struensee party I 
 — " Count Eantzau, at this moment Lieutenant-General, Confi- 
 dential Councillor, Knight of the Queen's Order, &c., would, if 
 he had Uyed within reach of Justice Kelding, have famished 
 matter for an Old Bailey trial, any one year of the last twenty 
 of his Ufe. And yet this man (who professes to despise law and 
 moraUly) has been supported against the remonstrances of the 
 Czarina, who knows that whatever power is placed in his hands, 
 win he barefacedly sold to the Preneh ! He says he is an ac- 
 quaintance of yours at Petersburg ; but this does not save him 
 from the opefi and avowed contempt which I owe him. I am 
 not without hopes of sending this honourable gentleman ome 
 more wgon his travels !" Had this laudable wish been seconded, 
 the Revolution of 1772 might never have taken place. 
 
 B 3 
 
246 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 the utmost importance. Struensee intended t* 
 have gone thither, but being detained by a variety 
 of affairs till it grew late, he went straight to the 
 ball, and thereby lost the fairest opportunity of 
 extricating himself from destruction. 
 
 " Eantzau, thus disappointed in his design of 
 betraying his associates, was not the less resolved 
 to renounce all further participation ia their 
 schemes. He sent a message, therefore, to the 
 Queen Dowager, acquainting her that he should 
 be unable to come to the palace, or to execute the 
 part assigned him in the projected revolution, 
 on account of a violent attack of gout, to which 
 disease he was constitutionally subject. This 
 message, at once embarrassing and unexpected, 
 threw the persons to whom it was addressed into 
 the utmost consternation. But the spirit and de- 
 cision of KoUer Banner soon surmounted Eantzau's 
 pretended indisposition. Haviflg entreated the 
 Queen Juliana Maria not to be alarmed, and con- 
 scious of the motives from which Eantzau had 
 acted, KoUer Banner sent his own sedan-chair to 
 the Coimt's House. It was accompanied by two 
 grenadiers, with their bayonets fixed, who had 
 positive orders to put him into the chair at all 
 events, and to conduct him to the palace without 
 an instant's delay. They were authorised to use 
 force if necessary ; but Eantzau, aware that resist 
 tance was vain, submitted, was carried to court, 
 and performed the service expected of him. 
 KoUer Banner was the animating soul of the 
 enterprise, to whose coolness, presence of mind. 
 
THE KOMANCE 01" DIPLOMAOT. ■ 247 
 
 and intrepidity, its success must be principally 
 attributed. During the whole night, while at the 
 ball, he maintained the utmost serenity of deport- 
 ment, and played at the same game of cards with 
 Monsieur Berger, whom he immediately afterwards 
 arrested. ' 
 
 "The circumstances which took place in the 
 course of the evening excited remark, and ought 
 to have awakened suspicion. The King, Queen, 
 and their attendants, entered the ball-room before 
 ten o'clock ; but Prince Frederick, contrary to his 
 usual custom, and in some measure contrary to 
 the respect due from him towards their majesties, 
 did not arrive till more than an hour later. His 
 countenance was flushed, and his disordered 
 looks betrayed the agitation of his mind. As soon 
 as he came, the Queen, advancing towards him, 
 said, ' Vous venez d'arriver bien tard, mon fr^re. 
 Qu'avez vous ? ' — ' C'est que j'ai eu des affaires, 
 Madame,' replied he. * II me semble,' added she 
 gaily, 'que vous auriez mieux fait de penser a 
 vos plaisirs qu' a vos affaires, pendant une soiree 
 de bal ! ' 
 
 "To this sisterly playfulness, so calculated to 
 shake the firmness of a conspirator, the Prince 
 made little or no reply, and the conversation 
 ended. 
 
 " The other incident was still more calculated 
 to have alarmed Struensee, if he had not over- 
 looked it, or had not omitted the necessary pre- 
 cautions for his safety. As he was conscious of 
 his own unpopularity, and dreaded some commo- 
 b4 
 
248 THE EOMANCB OF DIPLOMAOT. 
 
 tion among tte people, he had surrounded the 
 ball-room with guards, on whose fidelity he knew, 
 or believed he could rely. But the officer who 
 commanded them, having been gained by the op- 
 posite party, changed the soldiers. The alteration 
 was even noticed by some of Struensee's friends ; 
 though it did not impress them with sufficient 
 apprehension to produce any inquiry in conse- 
 quence. 
 
 "Between twelve and one o'clock the King 
 quitted the room, and retired. The Queen, who 
 contimjed there to a later hour, supped with a 
 large party iu her own box, to which Prince 
 Frederick was not invited. After dancing the 
 greater part of the night with Struensee, her 
 Majesty and he withdrew nearly at the same time, 
 about three o'clock. 
 
 " A singular fatality seems to have attended the 
 Queen and her friends. In order to seize upon so 
 numerous a body of men, many of whom it was 
 unquestionable would resist, if they were not 
 taken by surprise, and separately, it was requisite 
 to attack them when imprepared, and alone. The 
 Countess D'Osten had invited a select company of 
 ladies and gentlemen, among whom were Struensee 
 and Brandt, to driuk tea in her apartments, after 
 the conclusion of the ball. If this party had taken 
 place, it would have frustrated the plans of the 
 Queen Dowager and her son. They would probably 
 have esteemed it too dangerous to attack several 
 of the first men in Denmark, collected together in 
 one roomj who were capable of resistance, and 
 
THE EOMANOE OF DIPLOMACY. 249 
 
 might eitlier have escaped, or have defended 
 themselves successfully. In such an attempt, the 
 Eoyal Palace, where the principal among them 
 were lodged, must have been rendered a scene of 
 blood and horror. But one of the ladies who was 
 invited, Madame de Schimmelmann, having a 
 violent headache, excused herself; Madame de 
 Bulow, unwilling to go without her friend, made 
 her excuses likewise; and the Coilntess D'Osten 
 being then the only remaining female of the party, 
 it was abandoned. Every one retired to their 
 separate apartments, and left the chiefs of the 
 enterprise free to commence their operations. 
 
 "The moment for action was now arrived. 
 Eantzau, without loss of time, entering the bed- 
 chamber of the King, awoke him, and acquainted 
 him that there existed a conspiracy against his 
 person and dignity, at the head of which were his 
 wife*, Struensee, and various of their associates. 
 He then besought his Majesty to consult his own 
 security by instantly signing an order for their 
 arrest, which Eantzau tendered to him; using 
 every argument to enforce his solicitation. But 
 Christian, though feeble in mind, and taken by 
 surprise, not only hesitated, but refused to affix 
 his name to the paper. The Queen Dowager and 
 Prince Frederick were therefore called in to his 
 
 * "That there ever existed any political plot between 
 Struensee and the Queen," says a modem Danish authority, 
 " no one seriously thinks. But his fall was determined on, and 
 it necessarily inTolved that of the Queen, the party finding it 
 mdispmsMe to remove from the country every one possessing 
 influence." 
 
250 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 bedside; and by means of expostulations, sup-' 
 ported by exaggerated or false representations of 
 the danger which he (or rather they) incurred 
 from delay, they at last procured his reluctant 
 consent. He signed the order, which was immedi-r 
 ately carried into execution." 
 
 " An enterprise more hazardous," says the 
 native author already quoted (whose details, while 
 coinciding in their main features with those of 
 Mantel, are now given as much fuller and more 
 graphic), " could scarcely be conceived ; and 
 nothing but the consummate prudence and ad- 
 dress of Count Eantzau could have carried it 
 into execution.* The Count had pledged his 
 word to the . King to hasten to his aid in an 
 hour of peril ; but the monarch's intellects were 
 so enfeebled, and he was known to be so com- 
 pletely awed by the thraldom in which he 
 had long been kept, that it was not at all im- 
 probable he should either totally forget, or dis- 
 own what he had done. In case of failure, an 
 ignominious death awaited Eantzau; and even 
 if successful, he was weU aware that it was too 
 probable the sovereignty would be transferred to 
 Juliana, which he was about to wrest from the 
 
 * The anxieties experienced by tie conspirators during the 
 King's indecision, are represented as extreme. Had daylight, or 
 even the ordinary time for the palace to become awake and astir, 
 arrived before it was overcome, the fate designed by them for 
 others, -would have been their own ! As it was, retributive jus- 
 tice was not altogether wanting. Within a year, every one en- 
 gaged in the arrests was either a disgraced fugitive, a state 
 prisoner, or a voluntary exile from Denmark. 
 
THE EOMANCB OP DIPLOMACt. 251 
 
 Unsteady hand of the voluptuous Struensee. He 
 did not risk himself by any personal communi- 
 cation with the troops, till the moment of action 
 had arrived ; though there is no doubt that his 
 character for courage and generosity, the splen- 
 dour of his name and influence over the soldiery, 
 had a far greater effect in producing their adhe- 
 sion, than that of his subordinates, Eichstedt and 
 Koller Banner. 
 
 " The latter had long been a secret agent of 
 Queen Juliana, though at the same time an assi- 
 duous and obsequious frequenter of Struensee's 
 levees, and assistant at his ministerial dinners. 
 He is represented as a middle-aged, saturnine 
 person, of a cold and revengeful character ; and, 
 either from ambition or personal resentment, he 
 eagerly embraced the oflBce of arresting his former 
 patron.* 
 
 " To do this it was necessary to pass through 
 the ante-room where slept a favourite young 
 valet of Struensee's, who, however devotedly at- 
 tached to his master, was too much taken by 
 surprise to have given him (had time permitted) 
 sufficient warning to escape by the private stair- 
 case; though he afterwards showed great pre- 
 sence of mind in secreting, not only the Count's 
 valuable watch and jewels, but some papers by 
 which he and others might have been farther 
 
 # I^ as a German poet, in his fine tragedy of " Struensee," 
 has represented Hm, the avenger of a former ohject of afifeetion 
 seduced and abandoned by Struensee, his stem execution of the 
 ()ffiee is accounted for^ 
 
252 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 compromised. The poor lad (who, it is said> had 
 been haunted in the earlier portion of the night 
 by dreams too prophetic of some evil to his lord) 
 ■was waked from perturbed slumbers by endea- 
 vours to force the lock of his door, and being 
 commanded to open in the King's name, on 
 pain of instant death, had no alternative but 
 to obey. 
 
 " In an instant Colonel KoUer Banner, dressed 
 in full uniform (red turned up with black), with 
 two inferior officers, and Captain Disentis of the 
 Norwegian regiment, stept within; two soldiers 
 held each a cocked pistol to his head, and another 
 pointed a third at his breast ; whilst the Colonel, 
 bearing a wax taper in his hand, anxiously, yet 
 softly exclaimed, ' Have you awoke the Count ? ' 
 * I have not,' replied the trembling page. ' Ee* 
 member,' replied the Colonel, ' you are a state 
 prisoner, and your life pays the forfeit if you 
 have told a falsehood.' The Colonel then tried 
 the door of Struensee's room, and finding it 
 fast, compelled the reluctant valet to surrender 
 the master key, and the door was opened as 
 softly as possible.* 
 
 * This sudden transition from a palace to a dungeon, if it can 
 scarcely he heightened, may perhaps he brought more home to 
 the imagination by the description of the luxurious apartment 
 so shortly to be exchanged for a gloomy vault, and the pallet of 
 the meanest malefactor. " Count Struensee's apartment," says 
 the Danish MS., so often quoted, " was furnished in a style of 
 royal magnificence ; the mirrors were large and of the purest 
 glass ; the most common utensils, of ^ver, or silver gUt. Count 
 Struensee's bedroom was himg with rich figured damask, the 
 
THE KOMANCB OF DIPLOMACT. 253 
 
 " Colonel Baaner was the first who enteredj 
 followed by the three inferior officers, each with 
 a drawn sword in his right, and a wax light in 
 his left hand. The Count slept so soundly, that 
 he did not awake with all this noise or blaze of 
 tapers. He lay with his head on his arm, the 
 book with which he had read himself to sleep, 
 lay on the floor. After a moment's pause, during 
 which KoUer Banner stood gazing sternly on the 
 unconscious culprit, he approached, and, touch- 
 ing Struensee on the shoulder, awoke him to all 
 the horrors of sudden and sure perdition. 
 
 " His consternation may be much easier con- 
 ceived than described. Suddenly he rose half 
 up, and wild with terror, cried — 'What is all 
 this ? In G-od's name, what is all this about ? ' 
 Colonel Banner, in a loud and stem voice, 
 answered — 'You are the King's prisoner! be- 
 hold the royal warrant for your arrest. You must 
 dress yourself without delay and come with me.' 
 * You will allow me to find clothes to dress with,' 
 said. Struensee ; and Banner permitted the valet 
 to go to his master's wardrobe, whence he hastily 
 snatched a light-blue morning frock, which had 
 been made in London, of Manchester velvety and 
 
 furniture of his bed and of the windoTrs was purple velvet, 
 richly trimmed mth deep gold fringe; the canopy was shaped in 
 the form of a royal crown. Struensee was particularly nice in 
 his person and dress, and used the most costly perfumes pro- 
 fusdy. His valet slept in an ante-room through which lay the 
 way to the Count's hedchamber ; the valet's bed furniture was 
 magnificent, being sky-blrfe silk trimmed with silver lace and 
 fimge; it was concealed by a superb screen. 
 
254 THE HOMAKCE OE" DIPLOMACT. 
 
 a waistcoat of the same * ; but such was his cdn- 
 fusion that he could not find any small-clothes, 
 and the Count was forced to put on the pair of 
 a gay colour which had formed part of his mas- 
 querade dress. It was an excessively cold morn- 
 ing, and the Count was permitted to wrap himself 
 in his fur cloak, which having been procured, he 
 was hurried by Banner and the others to the guard- 
 room. The shivering valet, while permitted, at his 
 master's request, to dress himself, contrived to take 
 up the Count's gold English repeater, his ring 
 and brooch, both of diamonds of great value, and 
 a purse lying near the bed, containing about 
 eighty ducats, all of which he trusted he had 
 secured for his master's benefit. In a few mo- 
 ments he was called below ; there he saw the 
 guard-room blazing with tapers, and the two 
 state prisoners, who were kept separate. Struen- 
 see, accompanied by officers with drawn swords 
 and loaded pistols, was put into the first of two 
 coaches which stood at the door, and conveyed 
 to the citadel. Here the prisoners were at first 
 confined n a room belonging to the officers, two 
 of whom, relieved every two hours, were con- 
 stantly inside, and two sentinels outside the door. 
 During their progress to the citadel, Struensee 
 is said to have testified the deepest despondency, 
 while his more energetic comrade Coimt Brandt, 
 whose ineffectual resistance at the time of his 
 
 * It was in these dothes that the untbrtunate Count afterwards 
 appeared (probaWy from necessity) at his execution. 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 255 
 
 arrest, and dauntless conduct on the scaffold, 
 attested his nobler origin, as well as courageous 
 temper, displayed the intrepidity which never 
 forsook him.* 
 
 " On arriving at the citadel, and when Count 
 Struensee was delivered as a state criminal to the 
 commandant, the former said in a mournful voice, 
 ' I suppose this visit is totally unexpected by you.' 
 ' Not at all,' replied the uncourteous commandant, 
 ' I have been, for a long time past, constantly ex- 
 pecting your excellency.' During the first day of 
 his confinement, Struensee seemed stupefied; he 
 did not eat, he drank only a little wine and water; 
 he wept, but not excessively, till he saw his valet 
 enter, whose captivity called a flood of tears to 
 the relief of his master's bosom. The Count, to 
 whom no . one was permitted to speak, was so 
 overcome by the honest grief depicted in the face 
 of the young man, that he took him by the hand, 
 kissed his cheek, and said, 'Poor fellow! I in- 
 tended to have provided for thee ; I delayed it too 
 long, not wishing to lose thy services, and now 
 thou art the companion of my prison! Canst 
 thou forgive me for this?' The young man, 
 affected to a degree of intense sympathy, sobbing 
 and crying like a child, threw himself at his 
 
 * Count Ernest Brandt -was descended from « notle though 
 not titled femily. In person he ■was moderately tall, lightly 
 made, a fine military figure, but considerably marked by the 
 smaU-pox. His eyes, hair, and complexion, were dark, his dis- 
 position gay and Hvely in the extreme ; he dressed -with great 
 elegance, and was tjie idOl of the ladies of Queen Matilda's 
 giddy court. 
 
256 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 master's feet, and embracing his knees, said, ' Oh 
 Grod ! oh Crod ! if I had not opened the door, my 
 beloved master might have escaped ! ' * 
 
 "The officers who were present, could hardly 
 refrain from shedding tears. Availing himself of 
 their not understanding German, the valet told 
 the Count, while resting his head on his knees, 
 that he had secured his gold repeater, diamond 
 pin, and brooch, and also his purse, which he 
 slipped into his hand. He also contrived to 
 communicate the appalling tidings of the arrest 
 of the Queen, and her removal to Cronenburg, 
 and of the incarceration of the Count's brother, 
 and other adherents, and the popular tumults 
 which had ensued ; which, though not' wholly 
 unexpected, deepened Struensee's already over- 
 whelming apprehensions. His characteristic gene- 
 rosity in wishing to provide (from the purse' he 
 had secreted) for his servant's possible necessi- 
 ties, led to a search, on the entrance of the coarse 
 unfeeling commandant, whereby the latter became 
 possessed of the magnificent spoil : not only of 
 the money contained in the purse, but of the 
 valuable gold watch purchased by the Count in 
 England (with all its appendages) for three 
 hundred pounds; a ring valued at a thousand, 
 and a brooch at five hundred, both presents in 
 
 * There seems some uncertainly in this. If the secret stair- 
 case led^ as has heen alleged, to the Queen's apaxtmeutSj he. 
 would have heen infallibly seized there ; if it merely led to a 
 gallery communicating with the rest of the palace, he might 
 hare escaped from thence, but not from the city. 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 257 
 
 former times of splendour and prosperity from 
 the Queen.* The sole relics of past state and 
 grandeur (left, as if in humiliating contrast ■with 
 the horrors of the dungeon they so strangely 
 adorned) were parts of the silver-gilt dressing 
 plate, whose daily use must have reminded the 
 chained criminal of advantages recklessly abused, 
 and madly forfeited. 
 
 " The commandant, addressing the Count, told 
 him that orders were given to allow him four 
 shillings sterling per diemf, and two for his 
 attendant ; and then turning to the valet, he said, 
 ' You have told the Count of the riots and other 
 occurrences, as well as handed him a purse of 
 ducats. Now mark what I say. If during your 
 confinement and attendance you tell the Count 
 anything whatever, even if it rains, you shall be 
 sent to Grluckstadt, condemned to perpetual 
 slavery and chains. As the Count is ignorant of 
 our mother tongue, and you can speak German, 
 you are to use that language, and to speak loud 
 enough to be heard by the sentinels outside ; and 
 care wiU be taken that the officers on guard shall 
 also know German.' " 
 
 It is said, on the same authority, that it was by 
 the influence of Count Eantzau, that the valets of 
 the two Counts were confined in the same prisons 
 
 * It ■wiU be recollected that she had made a present of equal 
 value to Count Bantzau. 
 
 t A sum fiiUy equal to the decent supply of his wants ; and 
 said to be equal in Copenhagen, in 1772, to twenty shillings in 
 London. 
 
 VOL. I. S 
 
258 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 with their masters, and allowed to attend them* 
 He was afraid they would otherwise be condemned 
 to perpetual indignities, if not to private torture ; 
 but as the privilege was withdrawn, after the 
 judicial investigations began, it has been hinted 
 that threats at least of the latter severities were 
 employed to extort confessions from Strueneee. 
 But we must not allow these interesting details 
 respecting less illustrious victims of the con- 
 spiracy (Brandt having, as before mentioned, been 
 meantime arrested, after an obstinate resistance, 
 by Colonel Beringshiold, and General Gahler 
 and his lady, who had that evening formed the 
 King's card party, been placed in arrest) to detain 
 us longer from its most daring and imprecedented 
 feature- 
 
 " The most dangerous and important act of the 
 enterprise still remained to be performed — ihat 
 of arresting Queen Carolina Matilda. After re- 
 tiring from the ball, she continued for some time 
 in her own room, before she went to bed, occupied 
 in nursing her little daughter, who was still at the 
 breast. Struensee's chamber being situated under 
 the Queen's, the noise made iii seizing his person 
 was indistinctly heard by her Majesty. She by 
 no means, however, attributed it to the real cause. 
 On the contrary, imagining that the disturbance 
 was occasioned by the company which, as she 
 knew, was to meet in the apartment of Madame 
 D'Osten, and which party she concluded had been 
 transferred to Struensee's, she ordfiired one of her 
 women to go down and request them to h&. less 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 259 
 
 intemperate in their mirth, as they would others 
 wise prevent her from taking any repose. The 
 woman did not return, the noise ceased, and the 
 Queen having soon retired to rest, fell into a 
 profound sleep. 
 
 " It was about five o'clock in the morning when 
 she was awakened by a Danish female attendant, 
 who always lay in the adjoining room. Holding 
 a' candle in one hand, she held out a paper to the 
 Queen in the other, which, with mai'ks of agita- 
 tion, she requested of her Majesty to peruse. It 
 conijained a request, rather than an order, couched 
 in v^y concise but respectful terms, stating that 
 the 'King of Denmark, for reasons of a private 
 nature, wished her to remove to one of the royal ■ 
 palaces in the country for a few days.' The 
 Queen, in her first surprise, had imagined that 
 the note which she saw in the woman's hand, 
 came fr^m the Baron de Bulow, her Master of 
 the Horse, and that its purport was to inquire 
 whether it was her pleasure to hunt on that day. 
 But no sooner had she cast her eye over the paper 
 and read its contents, with the royal signature 
 annexed, than she instantly comprehended the 
 nature and extent of her misfortune. Conscious 
 that if she could only gain access to the King, she 
 could in a moment overturn the plans of her 
 enemies, she sprung out of bed, and without wait- 
 ing to put on anything except a petticoat and 
 shoes, she rushed into the ante-chamber. There 
 the first object which she met was Count Eantzau, 
 seated quietly in a chair. EecoUectiQg then her 
 
 S2 
 
260 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 dishevelled state, she cried out*, ' Eloignez-vous, 
 Monsieur le Comte, pour I'amour de Dieu, car je 
 ne suis pas presentable ! ' She immediately ran 
 back into her chamber, and hastily threw on some 
 clothes, assisted by her women. On attempting a 
 second time to leave her room, she found that 
 Eantzau had withdrawn himself, but had stationed 
 an officer in the doorway, who opposed her further 
 passage. Eendered almost frantic by this insult, 
 added to her distress, she seized him by the hair, 
 demanding to see Count Struensee or the King. 
 ' Madam,' said he, ' I only do my duty and obey 
 my orders. There is no Count Struensee now, 
 nor can your Majesty see the King.' Having 
 pushed him aside, she advanced to the door of 
 the ante-chamber, where two soldiers had crossed 
 their firelocks in order to stop her progress. The 
 Queen commanded them to let her pass, and 
 added promises of reward if they obeyed. Both 
 the soldiers fell on their knees, and one of them 
 said in Danish, 'It is a sad duty, but we must 
 perform it. Our heads are answerable if we allow 
 your Majesty to pass.' As no man, however, 
 
 * At this period, 1772, Coimt Eantzau was about sixty years 
 of age ; his features were good, his complexion florid, and when 
 young he must have heen very handsome, though he had a 
 slight cast in his eye. He was near six feet high ; his hair had 
 turned grey through age, hut to hide that unyouthfol mark, the 
 old beau used pomatum thickened with hair-powder burnt black. 
 His manners were highly polished ; when he arrested the young 
 Queen, he had on a scarlet surtout lined and trimmed with fur ; 
 a commander-in-chiefs regimental coat beneath, red, .turned up 
 with buff; and under dress of silk. 
 
THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 261 
 
 dared to lay hands upon the Queen, she stepped 
 over the muskets> which were crossed, and ran, 
 half wild, along the corridor to the King's apart- 
 ment. She even forced her way into it by vio- 
 lence ; but her enemies, aware that she might try 
 to gain admittance, and justly apprehensive of 
 her influence over him, had taken the precaution 
 of removing him, betimes, to another part of the 
 palace. 
 
 " Exhausted by the agitation of her mind, and 
 by such exertions of body, the Queen attempted 
 no farther resistance. She returned to her own 
 chamber, where she was aided to dress herself *, 
 and informed that she must instantly quit Copen- 
 hagen. Kantzau had the insolence to say to her, 
 alluding to his gouty feet, ' Vous voyez, Madame, 
 que mes pieds me manquent ; mais mes bras sont 
 libres, et j'en offrirai un a votre Majeste, pour 
 I'aider a monter en voiture.'f She was then put 
 into a coach, which waited for her at the door near 
 the chapel of the palace. Two ladies, a maid 
 
 * It was at this moment that the valet of Struensee is said 
 to have been escorted at his own request to her apartment to re- 
 cover his master's fur peKsse, which had heen wrapped round 
 her on leaving the ball-room ; and it forms not the least strange 
 episode of an unparelleled transaction, that the toilet of a Queen 
 should have been actually proceeding in the apparently unheeded 
 presence of not only this page, but of a room full of soldiers. 
 
 t Without exactly crediting the anecdote which ascribes to 
 the irritated feelings of the Queen and the woman, the deserved 
 reply to this insolence, of a " aoufflet Hen appUqid," it is cer- 
 tain they found more dignified vent in well-founded reproaches, 
 and predictions of a retributive fate which ere long overtook 
 their object.. 
 
 S3 
 
262 THE EOMAHCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 servant, the little princess her daughter, and a 
 major in the Danish service, got into the carriage 
 with her. They took the road to Cronenhurg, a 
 distance of about twenty-four miles, which, as 
 they drove at a great rate, they soon reached, 
 and in which fortress the Queen was confined." 
 
 " There was, immured," writes a contemporary 
 author, " in the gloomy mansions of guilt and 
 horror, a Queen, whose personal charms and 
 mental accomplishments would have melted into 
 compassion the heart of a ruffian. In this inhospi- 
 table fortress she had not even been permitted to 
 have the necessafy clothes to prepare herself 
 against the severity of the weather in this frozen 
 region ; nor was she indulged with more con- 
 veniences in her apartments than those granted 
 to criminals of the lowest station, but treated 
 with the greatest indignity by h«r unfeeling 
 keepers and an insolent soldiery." 
 
 Nor did the wrongs of this unhappy Princess, 
 or the injuries inflicted on her reputation and 
 threatened against her life, end here. " In order 
 to excite the populace against this illustrious and 
 ill-fated victim, wretches had been hired to cry 
 out ' Justice against Matilda !' — ' Vivat Regma, 
 Juliana'' and in the emotions thus excited, the 
 blind multitude went to the greatest excesses, 
 pillaging and destroying above sixty houses, and 
 breaking out into invectives against the unfortu- 
 nate Queen, whom they had been taught, to accuse 
 of adultery and enormous crimes against the 
 State and the King, To lend colour to the latter 
 
THE BOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 263 
 
 insinualions, and by way of appeasing the popular 
 anxiety thus conjured up respecting the imbecile 
 monarch's life, he was paraded, at noon of the day 
 on which the arrests were made, in a coach drawn 
 by eight milk-white horses, attended by Prince 
 Frederick, (significantly styled in the account 
 the hereditary Prince,) through the streets of the 
 capital ; which, in the evening, were brilliantly 
 illuminated, as if in honour of some glorious 
 victory over a foreign enemy, which had saved 
 the country from ruin, amid the acclamations of 
 the multitude. And lest the rage thus fomented 
 should have given place (as it ere long did) to pity 
 for the young victim of premeditated malice and 
 treachery, whose fortitude under this terrible 
 disaster was truly admirable, an order was issued 
 in the name of the Eang for a public thanksgiving 
 in all the churches of the capital, for the protec- 
 tion granted by the Almighty by watching over 
 the safety of the King, the royal family, and the 
 whole kingdom. The Senate (or, rather. Council), 
 composed, be it remembered, almost exclusively 
 of the party who had conspired against the 
 Queen, and to whom her return to power, or 
 even vindication from, criminal charges would 
 have been instantly fatal, declared her, without 
 any form of trial, guilty of adultery, and of being 
 privy to the poison administered to her husband ; 
 and would probably have passed upon her Majesty 
 a most iniquitous sentence, if Mr. Keith, the 
 English minister, had not solemnly protested 
 against all acts of violence with which the person 
 
 84 
 
264 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 of the Queen seemed to be threatened. He 
 bravely vindicated caressed innocence in a man- 
 ner ■worthy of his character'; refuted with much 
 energy her accusers, and concluded with denounc- 
 ing the vengeance of his nation, and the bombard- 
 ment of Copenhagen, if. justice were not done to 
 the sister of his sovereign.* These menaces' sus- 
 pended the immediate effect of a most precipitate 
 and unparalleled judgment." 
 
 Such is the narration as extracted from an 
 author, anonymous certainly, but on that account 
 the more disinterested (his very name and publi-_ 
 cation being matter of curiosity and speculation 
 to the. Queen's most devoted adherents), of that 
 unhappy Princess's critical situation, and the 
 interposition in her behalf of the British, min- 
 ister. That it was not only warranted by the 
 circumstances, but laudable and necessary, the 
 prompt and flattering approbation of his Sove- 
 reign sufficiently testified ; and though modern 
 Denmark, happily exempted during the long 
 peaceful reign of the son of Carolina Matilda, 
 and by the now auspicious union, of two once 
 hostile branches of its Eoyal Family, from the 
 tumults of faction, indignantly repels the idea of 
 her life having been ever actually in danger, 
 certain it is, that at the time a very different 
 opinion prevailed. And when it is considered 
 that the repeal of the act rendering adultery 
 
 * A significant, though less important consequence of them, 
 may be traced in the permission for such ladies of the Queen's 
 household as had not heen dismissed, to rq'oin hep. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 265 
 
 punishable with death, formed, with the mass of 
 the people, the "head and front" of Struensee's 
 offences," — and that to this crime was added the 
 grave imputation of poisoning her husband 
 (brought forward, though, without so much as 
 the shadow of proof on her public trial) — from 
 popular fury at least and the violence of faction, 
 if not from the strict course of justice. Colonel 
 Keith was warranted in apprehending the worst ; 
 and in stepping forward in the bold and novel 
 manner (narrated from his own " Table-Talk " by 
 a noble lady, one of his, few remaining and highly 
 gifted contemporaries)^ to the rescue of the sister 
 of his sovereign.* 
 
 " On hearing," writes this living chronicle of 
 a long told tale, whose personal interest in its 
 hero stamped the circumstances, as related by 
 himself, indelibly on her vigorous memory, "that 
 the Queen was seized, and a Council met to 
 deliberate on her fate, and that her life was con- 
 sidered m dcmger, — Colonel Keith forced his way 
 into the Council, and denounced war against Den- 
 mark, if a hair of her head were touched. This 
 done, he despatched a messenger forthwith to 
 England, and immediately locked himself and his 
 household up till the answer should arrive. The 
 
 * We have tlie atithorify of the accurate Archdeacon Coxe, 
 and that after two separate visits to the conrt of Denmark had 
 given opportunity for the correction of erroneous first impressions, 
 that the Queen, during her long imprisonment, was not only 
 " uncertain of the fate that awaited her, hut had reason to ap- 
 prehend that the party who arrested her, meditated still more 
 violent measv/res." 
 
266 ' THE KOMANOE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 answer did arrive " (from the state of the weather 
 and roads, not for nearly four long weeks of 
 harassing, but, as the following correspondence 
 shows, of self-sustained and iirmly encountered 
 suspense) " in the shape of a huge square packet. 
 It was placed in Colonel Keith's hands, and they 
 trembled, and he shook all over as he cut the 
 strings. The parcel flew open, and the order of 
 the Bath fell at his feet ! The insignia had been 
 inclosed by the King's own hands, with a despatch 
 commanding him to invest himself forthwith, and 
 appear at the Danish court." 
 
 The duplicate of this gracious despatch, ad- 
 dressed by the foreign secretary to a father, whose 
 heart, no doubt, then swelled high (as even now, 
 at the distance of seventy long years, does that of 
 the writer of these pages) on its perusal, is happily 
 extant, and bearing, as it does, a fresh testimony 
 to the brotherly kindness, generosity, and delicacy 
 of feeling of George III., as well as afifording a 
 most favourable specimen of the offieial corre- 
 spondence of a bygone period, it is with peculiar 
 satisfaction subjoined. 
 
 LOKD SUFFOLK, SECKETAEY OF STATE FOE FOKEIGN 
 AFFAIRS, TO E. EEITH, ESQ., HEEMITAGE. 
 
 " St. James's, February/ 2&th, 1772. 
 " SlE, 
 
 " I cannot deny myself the Satisfaction of 
 
 acquainting you with the eminent rherit of your 
 
 son, his Majesty's minister at Copenhagen, and 
 
 the honourable testimony his Majesty has been 
 
THE EOMAUCE OF DIPLOMACY. 267 
 
 pleased to give of tis approbatioiij by conferring 
 on him the order of the Bath. 
 
 " The ability, spirit, and dignity -with which Sir 
 Eobert Keith has conducted himself in a very 
 delicate and difficult position, has induced his 
 Majesty to accompany the honour he bestows 
 with very particular marks of distinction. He 
 has made the nomination at a time when 
 there was no stall vacant. The instrument ex- 
 pressly recites eminent services to have been the 
 inducement. The dispensation with ceremonies 
 is carried farther than usual. His Majesty has 
 directed me to inform Sir E. Keith, that he chose 
 the time previous to the issue of his negotiation, 
 on purpose to distinguish his merit, imdependent 
 of his success; and he has been pleased to signify 
 that the whole is to be considered as his act, and 
 that Sir K. Keith is not to inquire into the ex- 
 penses of the present his Majesty has made. 
 
 "The messenger who sets off for Copenhagen 
 to-night, carries the insignia of the order to him, 
 and his appearance with them at the court where 
 he resides, will be the first notice they will have 
 of this signal grace from his sovereign.* 
 
 " You will allow me to offer my congratulations 
 to you on this occasion, and to' express the share I 
 
 * Walpole (in one particular erroneously it will be seen) 
 writes at the time : — " Mr. Keith's spirit in behalf of the Queen 
 has been rewarded. The red ribbon has been sent him, though 
 there was no vacancy, with orders to put it on directly himself, 
 as there is no sovereign in Denmark to invest him with it." This 
 last reason, though almost implied by the novel mode adopted, 
 is certainly not expressed. / 
 
268 THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 take in the pleasure this event will give to a gen- 
 tleman, for whose public character I have always 
 entertained the highest respect, though I have not 
 the honour of being personally known to you. 
 " I am, Sir, 
 " Your most obedient and most humble servant, 
 
 " Suffolk." 
 
 The extension since given to an order, at that 
 time limited to five-and-twenty knights, and con- 
 fined to the highest grade of diplomatic or other 
 special services, renders us very inadequate judges 
 of the value of the boon thus announced, or of its 
 effect on the mind and feelings of the negotiator, 
 after the anxious suspense which it arrived so op- 
 portunely to relieve. But with this happy termi- 
 nation in view, it will be pleasing, as well as pro- 
 fitable, to accompany the yet unconscious object 
 of royal favour through the long weeks of con- 
 scientious self-scrutiny which, while it would, 
 under any conceivable result, have supported him, 
 must yet have heavily taxed the moral courage of 
 the lonely diplomatist, placed, as he truly says, in 
 a situation of unparalleled and singular respon- 
 sibility. 
 
 SIK E. M. KEITH TO ME. KEITH. 
 
 [Strictly confidential.'] 
 
 " Copenhagen, Feb. 9th, 1772. 
 
 "Deae Fathee, 
 
 " I need not tell you in what anxiety and 
 distress I have passed these last three weeks, nor 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 269 
 
 with what impatience I wait for letters from 
 England. The roads and weather are so bad, that 
 I may still be a week before I receive answers to 
 my first letters. In a most difficult situation I 
 have endeavoured to act with moderation as well 
 as firmness. My position is singular, perhaps 
 unprecedented. I am satisfied in my conscience 
 that I have neglected nothing my reach of judg- 
 ment could suggest to me, and with that comfort- 
 able reflection on my side, I await the decision of 
 my superiors, with the hope of their approbation. 
 An abler man might have done better service; 
 but my superiors will judge candidly, and he who 
 has done his best and despises Fortune, may sleep 
 in quiet. 
 
 " You may be curious to know something of 
 the fate of those men who brought on the late 
 unhappy convulsion. Count Struensee is loaded 
 with irons and (which ia worse) with guilt, in a 
 common prison in the citadel. Without knowing 
 either the particulars of the accusations against 
 .him or the proofs, I believe I may venture to 
 say that he will soon finish his wild career by the 
 hands of the executioner. The treatment of Count 
 Brandt in the prison, and the race he has run, 
 bear so near an affinity to those of Struensee, 
 that it may be presumed his doom will be similar. 
 Never, never was blind ambition and presump- 
 tuous infatuation carried further than by these 
 men, and their fate, though shocking, is by no 
 means surprising. Good night to the Hermits. I 
 am quite jaded with writing, having done nothing 
 
270 THE ROMANCE OF I)IPL6MACT, 
 
 else from morning till night for atove three long 
 weeks, and alone too ! " 
 
 " February 12th. 
 
 " I am now in hourly expectation of a messen- 
 ger, and I have cast about in my mind all the 
 different sorts of orders* he may bring me. Allow 
 me, dear sir, to say to you (and before the de- 
 cision of my superiors arrives), that having in the 
 six-and-twenty days of my present confinement, 
 recapitulated every incident of these eight months 
 past, I would not, if it were in my power, recall 
 one step I have taken, or one word I have either 
 spoken or written. This is bold, but I declare it 
 is the sincerity of my heart, and I am sure that 
 you and the Hermits will believe me. 
 
 "The order of chivalry f I mentioned in my 
 former le};ters has been ahoUshed, and three of 
 the original knights are in the citadel, two of 
 them chained to the floor. Struensee, I hear, is 
 sullen and silent. Brandt, on the contrary, sings 
 from morning to night, and talks perpetually of' 
 the players over whom he had the direction. All 
 this gaiety, real or affected, procures him no pity, 
 nor alters the opinion of the public, who look 
 upon him as one of the most mischievous and 
 cruel fellows that ever existed. Struensee must 
 reflect with horror upon his abuse of unlimited 
 power, and still more upon the irreparable injury 
 he has done to all his benefactors. I could cry 
 
 * Excepting probably the " Order " so gratifyingly conferred, 
 t That of MatUda. 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 271 
 
 like a cliild when I reflect upon that part of the 
 story ! 
 
 " Struensee's brother was formerly a professor 
 of mathematics, settled at Lignitz in Silesia. I 
 am informed that he resisted for near two years, 
 the tempting offers made to him by his brother. 
 At last, however, he joined him here in May last, 
 leaving a wife and three children at Lignitz. 
 He is a man of knowledge in every branch of 
 mathematics, and from what I have seen of him, 
 he is little made for the mad pursuits of ambition. 
 He was a deputy in the Chamber of Finances, and 
 in a few days after the date of the late Eevolution 
 was to have been raised to the post of Ministre 
 des FinaTwes. I do not know how, for his heart 
 has been proof against the solicitations and ex- 
 ample of his worthless brother ; but his accepting 
 much larger sums of money than his services 
 could have merited, makes me suppose that his 
 philosophy had given way. Yet there is a sort 
 of tenderness in everybody not to devote this man 
 to absolute destruction and infamy, till the proof 
 of his guilt is brought out. He teaches the officers 
 geometry and fortification, as I am told, in prison ; 
 which shows at least that he enjoys some saTig- 
 froid. His wife never was at Copenhagen, and 
 her lot at any rate is a hard one. Madame de 
 
 and her husband are sent off without any 
 
 settlement, but with express orders not to return. 
 These husbands and wives, who had little or no 
 connection together in days of prosperity must be 
 very agreeable company to one another in the 
 
272 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 shipwreck of their reputation and fortunes. Such 
 a set of people have indeed put my love of hu- 
 manity to a severe trial ! " 
 
 " February 13th. 
 " My secretary arrived yesterday, and (thank 
 Grod !) the approbation of the first steps of my 
 conduct is as full as my heart could wish. If 
 there are truth and consistency in Denmark, I 
 make no doubt of answering the expectations of 
 my superiors, in bringing this affair to a tolerable 
 issue. But I. cannot be too much on my guard, 
 for, indeed, my notions of right and wrong are 
 widely different from those in this country. 
 Heaven grant me success in my delicate nego- 
 tiation, and then a clear riddance of such a mis- 
 sion ! I wear my very soul to shreds by fretting 
 at the disorder and mischief I see around me. 
 The convulsions in this kingdom are endless, and 
 the moments of interval without pleasure. You 
 
 know M Hail, that nasty, boggy, bare, and 
 
 foggy corner of the world. If I would exchange 
 it against some kingdoms I have seen, with the 
 obligation of governing them, may I be hanged 
 and dissected! I have seen more mirth at a 
 Scottish Dredgy * than ever brightened the fea- 
 tures of the best sort of people I Tiave seen here. 
 There may, «,nd must be many good and valuable 
 people in these dominions (their want of passions 
 and temptations convinces me of it) but the 
 cheerfal, the affectionate, the independent, and 
 
 * Dinner after a funeral. 
 
THE KOMAUCE OF DIPLOMACY. 273 
 
 sociaMe, come not within my ken. Basta, basta, 
 God bless them, I say, and sincerely too ! 
 
 " My secretary had instructions when in London 
 to see my brother, Mr. Conway, the Drummonds, 
 &c., but he was despatched back to me the same 
 day, and saw nobody. I was sorry for this, for I 
 long to know something of public and private 
 occurrences at home. A man in Denmark is truly 
 on a par with the departed." 
 
 " February litk. 
 " I shall despatch a messenger to England to- 
 morrow, by whom this letter goes. I am happy 
 to repeat to you that the goodness and conde- 
 scension of my Sovereign towards me, amply re- 
 pays all my trouble and anxiety. Grod grant that 
 everything may answer the wishes of so humane 
 and worthy a prince ! I have every reason to 
 believe that the return of this messenger will 
 remove in part the inquietude of my superiors, 
 and justify my reliance upon my endeavours. My 
 zeal is mixed with affectionate gratitude, and 
 attachment, and such a sentiment is sure to be 
 active, and ought to be useful. But I must not 
 be too sanguine. My countryman * loves crooked 
 and narrow paths : but I seize fast hold of him, 
 and keep him in the King's highway. The Queen 
 of Denmark enjoys perfect health in Hamlet's 
 castle. I wish the pimishment of her cruellest 
 eTiemies,^ the late minister, and his associates, 
 
 * The title in the cipher for Couiit Ostgn, the Foreign Minister 
 of Denmark. 
 
 TOL. I. T 
 
274 THE EOMANOE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 were over, tliat the heat of party might subside, 
 and her Majesty's situation be altered for the 
 better." 
 
 " February 15th. 
 
 "My perplexities increase by subterfuges and 
 evasions, to which there is no end in this country. 
 The result of this troublesome and afflicting busi- 
 ness is not within my computation with such men 
 as I have to deal with. My part shall be fair, 
 firm, honest, and assiduous. Heaven grant that 
 in a post or two I may be able to give a more 
 pleasing account of my prospects. 
 
 " Adieu, dear father, most affectionately, 
 
 "E. M. K." 
 
 The extracts already given, studiously and con- 
 scientiously silent as they are, even to the most 
 confidential of domestic circles on the details of 
 events too sacred then, and still, for official pub- 
 licity, will suffice to show that the office of endea- 
 vouring to shield from the malice of faction the 
 head of its destined victim, was at least no sine- 
 cure, and one that called as largely on the patience 
 and temper as the firmness and dignity of the 
 negotiator. That its difficulties did not decrease, 
 will be seen by the following correspondence : — 
 
 SIK E. M. KEITH TO HIS SISTEE. 
 " (Confidential to the Hermits only.) 
 
 " Copenhagen, February 26th, 1772. 
 
 " Deae Anne, 
 
 " I never worked at the mines in 
 Mexico; but I question if it is either a harder 
 
THE EOMANCE OF BIPLOMACT, 275 
 
 or a more comfortless life than that I have had 
 for these six weeks. What precious metals I have 
 dug out of my mine I shall be better able to tell 
 you at the end of this letter ; which, like all my 
 last, is written by fits and starts, and may not be 
 finished these ten days. I thank my father and 
 you for your joint packet of 28th January, which 
 has been a great comfort to me in the dearth of 
 letters from England. At this critical time, the 
 abominable Danish climate has choked up the 
 roads and rivers with mountains of snow, so that 
 the Lord knows when the posts may penetrate. I 
 am uneasy for the impatient feelings of those in 
 London, and I leave you to guess at my own 
 anxiety. But I must try to lay aside my dismal 
 tale, for thinking about it has worn me down, 
 mi/nd cmd body." 
 
 " Feb. 2StJi. 
 " Just as I was ; no letters ! but snow over the 
 whole face of nature ! Well ! my purgatory has 
 been in Denmark, and praise heaven ! it cannot 
 last much longer !" 
 
 " March 1st. 
 " Yesterday's post brought me my father's short 
 note of February 7th. The news of the death of 
 the Princess of Wales* afifected me sincerely. 
 You all know how much I thought myself ho- 
 noured by the good opinion of that Princess, who, 
 I am firmly persuaded, possessed as many intrinsic 
 
 * Widow of Frederick Prince of Walee, Fatter of George III. 
 T 2 
 
276 THE EOMANCE OP MPLOMACT. 
 
 good qualities, and as much affability of temper 
 as any lady in Europe. The distresses of our 
 ■worthy Sovereign are indeed manifold; and if 
 ever King deserved the tender affections of his 
 subjects, as well as their obedience, we may say 
 without flattery, that he is that King ! For my 
 own .part, I shall think my Ufe well spent, if all 
 tay efforts can (as I hope they will) alleviate the 
 weight of one of his Majesty's late afflictions. 
 But more of that hereafter." 
 
 There are two remarks irresistibly suggesting 
 themselves on this portion of Sir E. M. Keith's 
 confidential correspondence, which, at the risk of 
 somewhat interrupting its interest, it is impossible 
 to suppress. First, that the panegyric of this 
 honest and upright minister upon the Monarch 
 whom in those essential qualities of character he 
 resembled, was purely disinterested, and not in- 
 fluenced (as it might have been at a later period) 
 by personal gratification, and the sense of distin- 
 guished benefits. No ! while the master, as we 
 have seen, acknowledged merit, independently of 
 success, the servant eulogised his Sovereign, not 
 as a benefactor but as a man ; and had discern- 
 ment to view the then little appreciated George 
 the Third, as impartial posterity has since learned 
 to regard him. 
 
 The other, and less pleasing subject of remark, 
 is the impossibility of not connecting in some 
 degree with the catastr|Ophe of the 15th January, 
 and the arrest of her daughter (tidings of which 
 reached London, "just as the levee was going t9 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 277 
 
 begin," on the 29th), the death, on the 8th of 
 February following, of her amiable and affection- 
 ate mother, the Princess, whose demise one who 
 knew her well so feelingly deplored. Could the 
 knell of a widowed parent, already in declining 
 health, be more fatally or cruelly rung, than 
 by seeing hurled from the summit of power, 
 traduced in reputation, and menaced in life, the 
 posthumous child whose smiles had consoled her 
 under her early bereavement, and whose bridal 
 wreath she had watered with prophetic tears? 
 What mother does not feel as if she too must 
 have died heart-broken under the blow? The 
 particulars of the event are thus affectingly given 
 in the chronicles of the day. 
 
 " The night before her Highness's departm-e, 
 the King observed nothing particular in her, 
 except that she embraced him with greater 
 warmth and affection than usual. He after- 
 wards retired with the physician^ who told him 
 her Highness would not outlive the morning, 
 which determined his Majesty to stay there all 
 night. He did not see his royal mother again, 
 for she remakied very 'quiet all the night, and 
 gave no tokens of death till a few minutes beforp 
 she expired, when she laid her ha/nd upon her 
 heart, and went off without a groan. His Majesty 
 was then informed, and he came and took her by 
 the hand and kissed it, and burst i/nto tears." 
 Speaking of this sad event, Walpole says : " The 
 Princess Dowager died on Saturday morning. 
 She could not be unapprised of her approaching 
 r 3 
 
278 THE KOMAMCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 fate, for she had existed upon cordials alone for 
 ten days — from the time" she had received the 
 fatal news froin Denmark ; and died before she 
 could hear again of her daughter." 
 
 While the feelings of her affectionate relatives 
 in England were thus fatally tried, those of the 
 royal captive, during two months of rigorous 
 confinement in the solitude of the fortress, for 
 which she had so suddenly exchanged the splen- 
 dours of a court, must have heen cruelly put to 
 the proof, and are said to have come nobly forth 
 from the ordeal. In addition to the traits of 
 benevolence and forgetfulness of self, before men- 
 tioned, of her sharing an already limited allow- 
 ance of food and money with her fellow-sufferers, 
 the following touching anecdote has been pre- 
 served. The governor, having requested her 
 Ma,jesty to withdraw her bounty from an officer 
 who had been closely confined for some years in 
 a remote turret, debarred from all human inter- 
 course, on suspicion merely of having been acces- 
 sory to the enlistment of Danish subjects in 
 the service of a foreign power, the Queen made 
 no other answer than the following line from 
 Voltaire : 
 
 " n suffit qu'il soit homme, et qu'il soit malheureux." 
 
 If such were her feelings of compassion and 
 sympathy towards an unknown outcast, how 
 cruelly must they have been lacerated on hear- 
 ing, no doubt with all possible aggravations, the 
 tidings of the rigorous treatment experienced in. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF BIPLOMACT. 279 
 
 prison, and still more the barbarous sentence 
 passed, and shortly afterwards executed on her late 
 m inisters Brandt and Struensee ; men who, with- 
 out ascribing to them the undue favour assumed 
 by their joint enemies, had so lately been her 
 associates, not only in political power, but pri- 
 vileged intimacy, " When," says her bio- 
 grapher, "her Miajesty was informed of the tra- 
 gical circumstances relating to the two noble 
 criminals, she said to Miss Mostyn, her attend- 
 ant maid of honour, ' Unhappy men ! they have 
 paid dearly for their attachment to their King, 
 and zeal for my service ! ' " 
 
 A more selfish and less generous mind might 
 have reversed the exclamation, on reflecting that 
 the forfeiture of a crown had been her penalty 
 for participation in their measures ! 
 
 To these measures, and their consequence to 
 their unhappy originators, we must now revert. 
 " The Struensees and Count Brandt," says a 
 contemporary, '.' exposed to the derision and out- 
 rages of the vilest of mobs, were conducted in 
 unmanly triumph to the tribunal of their merci- 
 less judges. Worn out with fruitless interroga- 
 tions, they were threatened with the terrors of 
 the torture, under which confessions of crimes 
 never committed, might possibly have been 
 elicited." 
 
 Be that as it may, there were humiliating cir- 
 cumstances enough in Count Struensee's situa- 
 tion (enhanced as they must at every moment 
 have been by contrast with his previous unex- 
 
 T 4 
 
280 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 ampled career of luxury and self-gratification) 
 to prostrate a spirit more unyielding and reso- 
 lute than that of this spoiled child of fortune. 
 The second night of his incarceration, the valet, 
 who was lodged in a room below his master, 
 heard about midnight, heavy steps ascending the 
 stairs, and a clank, as if of a heap of chains or 
 fetters, thrown on the floor above his head. This 
 disturbance filled him with terror, for his fears 
 foreboded that these irons were for the Count, 
 and he expected, in fear and trembling, the same 
 treatment. Presently he heard the soimd of 
 hammers, as if riveting on the fetters ! In 
 about half an hour the persons descended, and 
 passed his door, which was some relief; but con- 
 cern for his master, and perturbed dreams of his 
 being beheaded and quartered, kept him in tears 
 and agitation till the morning. 
 
 On proceeding with a heavy heart to the 
 Comit's apartment, the looks of the sentinels, 
 who sorrowfully shook their heads, confirmed his 
 apprehensions. Struensee strove to conceal his 
 disgrace, covering his face with the bedclothes, 
 but when the eyes of the master and man (both 
 sunken with weeping) met, disguise was needless ; 
 and the valet saw with horror and dismay, that 
 his master was chaiaed to a massive iron staple 
 driven into the wall, which passed through a 
 swivel fixed to a thick ring that encircled his 
 right ancle and left wrist, and so short as barely 
 to allow him to sit on the front of the bed, the 
 staple being fixed in the centre of the bedstead. 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 281 
 
 The valet, from excess of grief, could scarcely 
 speak — seizing Struensee's hand, he kissed it 
 with respectful affection, and bathed with his tears 
 the iron ring that encircled his master's wrist. 
 
 Horror-struck as was the unhappy minion of 
 luxury when he iirst became a chained captive — 
 summoning to his aid the philosophy of which, 
 as natural to his temperament, he was wont to 
 make a boast, ere Christian resignation slowly 
 superseded her inefficient substitute, he gra- 
 dually strove to adapt not only his bodily posi- 
 tion to the length of his chain, but his mind to 
 the dreadfal circumstances of his situation. He 
 began to take his meals with somewhat of an 
 appetite"; breakfasted at about niue on coffee and 
 biscuits, at one he diued, took a glass of light 
 wine and a cup of coffee, drank tea * about five 
 or six, took no supper, but drank a glass of port 
 and water. He was always very abstemious as 
 to wines and spirits ; at least after he was placed 
 about the King. Everything furnished by the 
 restaurateurr for his use was carefully examiaed ; 
 even the bread was cut open, and the napkins 
 shaken and held up to the light ; and his meat 
 was cut by his valet, not being permitted to use 
 a knife, lest he should commit suicide. 
 
 So far, his fetters excepted, no unmanly endea- 
 vours seem to have been used by his enemies to 
 deny him a measure of the comforts and decencies 
 
 * The reader must have teen struck hy the frequent mention 
 (derived, no doubt from England) of a refreshment then Kttle 
 known in Europe. 
 
282 THE EOMAlfCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 by which he had been so profusely surrounded ; 
 but after a time, for his more secure confinement, 
 or (more correctly to define its object), for his 
 greater punishment, he was removed from the 
 officers' barracks to a room in the vallum (or 
 ditch) behind the church; a small, low, square 
 apartment, with one small window in the corner, 
 and scarcely fourteen feet square. The walls were 
 bare ; a pallet bedstead, and bed of the meanest 
 kind, a table, a stove, and two chairs for the 
 officers, formed the miserable furniture of this 
 gloomy abode ; but even here^ as if to tantalise 
 memory, the silver appendages before-mentioned 
 were suffered to "flout the dungeon's misery." 
 He was now chained more closely than before, so 
 much so, that it was with difficulty he could sit 
 upright on the side of his bed ; his faithful valet 
 suddenly dismissed, without even the melancholy 
 satisfaction of any leave-taking ; and the Count 
 so inconsolably affected by his loss, as (it is said), 
 to have attempted suicide, by forcing his silver 
 fork down his throat. Yet here it was, in this 
 abject, hopeless, and forlorn condition, that Eeli- 
 gion first came to shed her mild light athwart his 
 prison's gloom, and the still deeper darkness of 
 his benighted mind ; and from hence did the man 
 who had entered a sensualist, a libertine, and a 
 sceptic, emerge, under her salutary teaching, a 
 convert, a penitent, and a Christian ! 
 
 We have already alluded to the thorough relin- 
 quishment of his rooted scepticism, and gradual, 
 but firm adoption of the great truths of Christi- 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 283 
 
 anity, under the judicious guidance of Dr. Miinter, 
 the clergyman appointed by the court to see and 
 converse with him; and whose success derives 
 additional weight from the determined reluctance 
 (probably on that account) of his future convert, 
 to lend other than a constrained attention to his 
 supposed equally formal ministrations. Few in- 
 terviews, indeed, had however taken place, ere the 
 earnest solicitudes of the able pastor found their 
 reward ia the softened feelings and candid admis- 
 sions of his judiciously-treated penitent, during a 
 series of nearly thirty conferences, the detailed 
 record of which, as happily preserved by the emi- 
 nent divine * with whom they were held, is well 
 worthy of perusal. A few of their most striking 
 particulars can alone be given here. The spirit in 
 which they found their object may be best and 
 most shortly described in his own words, ushering 
 in the celebrated confession f of faith, ia which 
 
 * As mucli of the authenticity and consequent usefulness of 
 similar records depends on the character and qualifications of 
 their narrator, the following tribute to Dr. Miinter, by a most 
 competent authority, is subjoined : — 
 
 " That he was a distinguished divine, an accomplished classical 
 scholar, and popular author, as well as one of the most accept- 
 able preachers of his day, is matter of history. But his fame 
 as a writer and a theologian chiefly rests on his well-known 
 publication containing an account of his interviews with the 
 cdebrated Count Struensee. I believe there ia not a language 
 in Europe into which that striking and instructive narrative 
 (worthy of the emphatic eulogy of Johnson on Burnet's conver- 
 sion of Eochester) has not been translated." 
 
 t Of the authenticity of this document Dr. Miinter says " It 
 was written on sheets of paper furnished by the government, 
 and signed by its functionaries as received &om the prisoner ;" 
 
284 THE EOMAHCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 Struensee himself embodied the substance of their 
 conversations : — 
 
 "You desire, my dear friend, that I should 
 leave behind me my thoughts how I was induced 
 to alter my sentiments in regard to religion. You 
 have been a witness of it. You have been my 
 guide, and therefore I am infinitely obliged to 
 you. I satisfy yora: desire with so much the 
 greater pleasure, as it will afford me an opportu- 
 nity of recollecting the train of ideas, and impres- 
 fiions of mind, which have produced my present 
 sentiments, and confirm my present conviction. 
 
 " My unbelief and aversion to religion were 
 founded neither on an accurate inquiry into its 
 truth, nor upon a critical examination of those 
 ■doubts that are generally raised regarding it. 
 They arose, as is usual m suck cases, from a very 
 general and superficial knowledge of religion on 
 one side, and much inclination to disobey its pre- 
 cepts on the other ; together with a readiness to 
 entertain every objection against it." 
 
 Of the calm and gradual manner in which this 
 state of mind (alas ! so common among infidels) 
 was exchanged for sober conviction, Struensee 
 thus spoke towards the close of his life, when the 
 happy change had been fully accomplished. "I 
 .knew that I must expect a clergyman to attend 
 me by order of government ; I therefore resolved 
 to receive him civilly, and to hear him with de- 
 
 and as to its apontaneous nature, "it was entirely drawn up in 
 his instructor's absence, and delivered to hm sheet by sheet, as 
 finished, and carefully preserved by him," 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 285 
 
 cency and composure. I intended to declare to 
 him, at the end of the first visit, that if he were 
 ordered to see me frequently, he should be wel- 
 come ; but I should beg of him not to entertain 
 any hopes of converting me ; for I was too well 
 convinced of my own opinion, and should, there- 
 fore, never enter into any useless disputations. 
 When you came, my dear friend, I immediately 
 perceived that you had no intention to declaim to 
 me in the style of a preacher, or to fill me with 
 fears and terrors, and inflame my imagination. 
 You only desired me, siuce the matter was of so 
 great consequence, to examiae into my own prin- 
 ciples, and the evidence for Christianity. I found 
 this reasonable, I had time to do it, and fancied I 
 should, by this iaquiry, discover that Christianity 
 had no foundation, and conviace myself more 
 strongly of the truth of my principles. 
 
 " We began our conferences with great coolness ; 
 I read the books you gave me, though with diffi- 
 dence, yet with attention. This did not continue 
 long ; and I could not help perceiving I had been 
 mistaken. It can scarcely be believed how much 
 it has cost me to acknowledge my error, with re- 
 gard to myself, as well as with regard to you. It 
 was a great victory over myself, to confess that 
 my former principles were false. But" (and the 
 admission carries peculiar weight from the lips of 
 a convert, assuredly not easily " turned from 
 darkness to light") " my conversion is, by the 
 grace of Grod, thoroughly brought about. I have 
 now examined Christianity with greater exactness 
 
286 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 than I ever did my old system ; and by this ex- 
 amination I am convinced of its truth. I have 
 done so while in health, and with all the reason I 
 am master of. I tried every argument; I have 
 taken my own time, I have not been in haste. I 
 therefore wUl remain firm; neither my former 
 principles nor new doubts shall henceforth stagger 
 me." 
 
 Such were the resolutions of an intellect na- 
 turally strong, and peculiarly acute, as to the 
 results of Christianity, thoroughly investigated, 
 on the mind. Of its influence (more wonderful 
 far) on the proud heart of one, utterly rebellious 
 till then, under the teaching of misfortune, many 
 affecting proofs are scattered over those interest- 
 ing conversations, which, to be fully appreciated, 
 should be read as a whole. It may be a guide to 
 others in dealing with the infidelity which is 
 fostered in the heart by immorality of life, to 
 learn that it was by the pure precepts of the 
 Gospel, and the morality of its blessed Founder 
 — and the misgivings excited by their contrast 
 with his 05vn convenient maxims, and consequent 
 profligacy of conduct — that Struensee was first 
 led to admit their probably heavenly origin, and 
 to give to the external evidences of Christianity 
 his willing, nay, anxious consideration. His 
 natural candour, and an amiableness of dispo- 
 sition which, however obscured by the errors of 
 prosperity, manifested itself in the most affect- 
 ing concern for the sufferings he had been the 
 means of bringing on his ■friends, add peculiar 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 287 
 
 interest to the steps of a "passing from death 
 unto life," whose progress has seldom, if ever, 
 been so minutely, as well as affectionately, de- 
 tailed. And yet the reverend instructor dealt 
 faithfully and conscientiously with his strange 
 pupil, never extenuating (nor, indeed, was the 
 penitent himself inclined to do so) his past fla- 
 grant vices; nor suffering him for a moment to 
 substitute compunction or penitence for the sole 
 ground of Christian hope— redemption through 
 Christ. When he had brought him fully to 
 embrace this, "there ensued," says Dr. Miinter, 
 "a scene which was moving to me beyond de- 
 scription. Never felt I such joy. Never have 
 I been so siu:e of the happiness of having 
 brought back a sinner from his errors! I shall 
 never forget this solemn and joyful hour, and 
 never cease to praise Grod for it." 
 
 One of the first and legitimate fruit* of this 
 apparently most sincere and deep conviction of 
 the importance of religion manifested itself in 
 concern, no longer for the temporal welfare 
 merely, but spiritual .condition of his former 
 friends. "He wished much that those who had 
 been seduced by him from virtue might have 
 the same advantages." He said he had in this 
 respect Coimt Brandt particularly in view, and 
 added, "I hear that he is still very gay, but I 
 imagine it would make a greater impression on 
 his mind if he were told how my sentiments are 
 altered. Though he has not been more virtuous 
 than I have, yet he always had a better opinion 
 
288 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 of religion than I had. Would you be so kind as 
 to go to him, and tell him how you find me, and 
 heg him to be now at last a little more serious ? " 
 " I rather proposed," says Dr. Miinter, " that he 
 should charge the clergyman in attendance on 
 Count Brandt with the message, and asked, 'Are 
 you ready and inclined to do this ? '" " Yes," said 
 he, "bring Dean Hee to me, and I will beg 
 this favour of him in your presence. I am not 
 ashamed to confess what I am so well convinced 
 of. I wish I had an opportunity to tell it to all 
 my former acquaintance. Formerly I would not 
 hearken to Count Brandt, when he sought oppor- 
 tunity to speak to me of religion. I think it 
 therefore doubly a duty to let him know my pre- 
 sent sentiments ; since I have been accessory to 
 his misfortunes. His condition grieves me so 
 much, that I would willingly contribute all in my 
 power towards his reformation." 
 
 On Dean Hee paying him the requested visit, 
 he told him minutely how he had first quitted 
 virtue, and then abandoned religion ; and in what 
 manner he had been recovered from his errors. 
 His affecting solicitude was not lost upon Count 
 Brandt, who, spite of great natural levity of dispo- 
 sition, had never been without a sense of religion; 
 and who sent him in return his free forgiveness 
 for all the evils he had drawn him into. 
 
 Struensee's amiable solicitude for the com-, 
 panion of his prosperity and misfortunes, seems 
 long to have survived all anxiety respecting him- 
 self; and he could never forgive himself for 
 
THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 289 
 
 having "kept Brandt from withdrawing from 
 Copenhagen when he might have done so." 
 
 Another and yet tenderer earthly tie remained 
 to be severed before the penitent could depart in 
 peace. His virtuous and truly Christian parents 
 survived, to add to the anxiety and terror with 
 which they had learned his giddy elevation, the 
 cruel tidings of his ignominious fall. From his 
 father, a most highly respected and eminent 
 divine, who, long previous to his son's favour, had 
 risen by his own merits to the important situation 
 of general superintendent (or bishop) of Schles- 
 wick and Holstein, he had, early in his con- 
 finement, received a heart-rending letter, some 
 extracts of which will show how its perusal 
 (which he was unable to finish), must have 
 racked his then unsubdued heart and accusing 
 conscience. 
 
 " The grief and anxiety of your parents on ac- 
 count of their sons*, I am not able to express. 
 Our eyes swim in tears day and night. Our souls 
 cry for mercy to God without ceasing. There is 
 but one thing which lies heavy upon my soul, and 
 that of your much afiBicted mother. You know' 
 our sentimentB. You knew our intention when 
 we educated you. You remember how often and 
 how seriously we iaculcated this great truth, that 
 ' Grodliness is profitable unto all things.' As often 
 as I had opportunity to speak to you, even when 
 you were a public character, I reminded you of 
 
 * A brother of the Coimt hadheen arrested with him. 
 VOL. I. XT 
 
290 THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 the Omnipresent God, and exhorted you to be 
 careful in preserving a good conscience. Your 
 owa. heart will tell you how far you have lived up 
 to the exhortations of your father. 
 
 " It is already a long while that your parents 
 have been in great anxiety about you.. Since 
 we lead a very retired life,, and you have ceased 
 to write about your circumstances, the prayera 
 and sighs of our straitened hearts have ascended 
 to God in secret ; and in our agony we cried that 
 your soul might not be lost. Three different 
 times, at Halle, Gedern, and Altona, you were 
 looked upon as a dead man, by those who stood 
 about your sick bed. God has saved you, and 
 preserved your life, certainly with that only 
 intent, to prepare you, in this season of grace, 
 for a happy eternity. This is now the chief 
 intention of your gracious Eedeemer in your 
 person. You are his creature, he loves you, 
 you are redeemed by the blood of Jesus. God 
 is a reconciled father; return then to your God,, 
 my son, he will not hide his gracious countenance 
 from you. When you shall feel your sins to be e. 
 heavy burden, your heart will then humiliate 
 itself before God; you will pray for mercy, and 
 you will seriously detest and abhor your trans- 
 gressions. You will then see the great import- 
 ance and necessity of the i^edemption of Christ. 
 You will then take refuge with Him who receives 
 sinners, who was made to be sin for us, who has 
 paid the debt of our sins, and ■ suffered their 
 punishment, that we might have forgiveness. 
 
THE BOMANCB OF DIPLOMACY. 291 
 
 according to tke riches of Ms grace. The blood 
 of Christ still speaks for you. He that is merciful 
 yet stretches forth his hands. Without Jesus 
 there is no salvation — ob that he might be glori- 
 fied in your heart! In him we have happihess 
 whilst we live, whilst we suffer, whilst we die — 
 and after death itself! 
 
 "Your mother gives her love to you. She 
 weeps, she prays with me for our unfortunate 
 children. My son, my son, how deeply do you 
 afflict us! could we but have this comfort, 
 that our sons turned with all their heart unto the 
 Lord; and that we with joy might find them 
 again in eternity before the throne of the Lamb ! 
 Yoiir crimes, which brought you into prisoni, are 
 not sufSciently known to us." But though we 
 love our children, we nevertheless cannot approve 
 their crimes, nor excuse nor palliate them; we 
 can only praise God when he shall show mercy to 
 the repenting sinner. The Lord our God be your 
 physician in your imprisonment, aild heal tho- 
 roughly the wounds of your soul. We, your 
 parents, recommend you 'to the Lord that has 
 mercy on you. Yea, Jesus ! thou great friend •of 
 mankind, who wilt in no wise cast out him that 
 comes unto thee, help parents and children to liffe 
 everlasting ! " 
 
 It would be difficult to refrain from ascribing, 
 at least in part, to the prayers and example of 
 parents thus eminently pious (for a letter from his 
 disconsolate mother breathes sentiments equally 
 reUgious and affecting), the singular and decided 
 
 u3 
 
292 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 change which had taken place, not only in their 
 son's opinions, but in his entire character and 
 feelings ; and which he expressed with touching 
 humility in the following letter, to be delivered 
 after his death. It ran thus : — 
 
 " Your letters have increased my pain, but I 
 have found in them that love which you always 
 expressed for me. The memory of all that sorrow 
 which I have given you by living contrary to your 
 good advice, and the great affliction my imprison- 
 ment and death must cause you, grieve me the 
 more, since, enlightened by the truth, I see 
 clearly the injury I have done. With the most 
 sincere repentance I beg your pardon and for- 
 giveness. I owe my present tranquillity to my 
 belief in the doctrine and redemption of Christ. 
 Your prayers and good example have contributed 
 much towards it. Be assured that your son has 
 found that great good which you believe to be the 
 only true one. Look upon his misfortunes as the 
 means whiqh made him obtain it. AU impressions 
 which my fate could make upon you, will be 
 weakened by this, as it has effaced them with ine. 
 I recommend myself to your farther intercession 
 before God. I pray incessantly to Christ my Ee- 
 deemer, that he may enable you to bear your 
 present calamities. I owe the same to his assist- 
 ance. My love to my brothers and sisters. I am, 
 with all filial respect," &c. 
 
 " Next day," continues the doctor, " I came with 
 Lieutenant-Greneral Hoben, who, at my request, 
 was present at his receiving the Sacrament ; and 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 293 
 
 this man, who received his sentence of death with- 
 out any alteration of mind was, during the whole 
 time of this sacred transaction, as if he were melt- 
 ing into tears. I never observed a tear in his eye 
 as often as we were talking about his misfortunes 
 and death; but on account of the moral misery 
 into which he had thrown himself and others, and 
 the love of Grod, he has wept more than I myself 
 could have believed, had I not seen it." 
 
 Eesigned and even cheerful had Struensee of 
 late become on the subject of his own fate, now 
 rapidly approaching. Dr. Miinter says he had 
 now for weeks past been blessed with unfeigned 
 tranquillity of mind, which appeared to him more 
 striking, the nearer the time of his death advanced. 
 His deportment on receiving his sentence is thus 
 described. " He was speaking of several things 
 which concerned his heart, of his affections to- 
 wards his parents and family (he had shortly 
 before taken a most affecting leave of his brother, 
 whose probable escape from his own fate was a 
 great relief to his mind), when his counsel came 
 into the room to acquaint him with his condem- 
 nation. ' Good Count ! ' said he, ' I bring you bad 
 news.' He then pulled a copy of the sentence out 
 of his pocket. 
 
 " ' I expected,' said the Count, ' nothing else ; 
 let me see it.' He read ; I fixed my eyes upon 
 him with great attention, but I did not observe the 
 least alteration in his countenance. After he had 
 read it, he gave it to me. While I was reading it 
 and trembling, he began to talk with composure 
 
 U3 
 
294 THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 to his counsel, and asked with eagerness respect- 
 ing the fate of Count Brandt. On learning that 
 his sentence was exactly the same, and that his 
 counsel had been unable to procure its mitigation, 
 the Count was more moved at this than at his own 
 fate. When we were alone, I assured him of my 
 sincere compassion, and exhorted him to suffer 
 with the patience and submission of a Christian. 
 
 " 'I assure you,' said he, 'I am very easy about 
 that. Such punishments should make an impres- 
 sion upon others, and therefore they ought to be 
 severe. I had prepared myself for this, and more. 
 I thought I might, perhaps, be broken on the 
 wheel, and was already considering whether I 
 could suffer this sort of death with firmness. If I 
 have deserved it, my infamy would not be re- 
 moved though those disgraceful circumstances 
 were not annexed to it. And upon the whole, 
 what is honour or infamy in this world, to me. 
 My judges had the law before them, and therefore 
 they could not judge otherwise. I confess my 
 crimes are great. Many things I might not have 
 done, had I been sufficiently acquainted with the 
 law. But why did I neglect it ? ' " 
 
 To the sentence itself, we must now revert. 
 Count Struensee was pronounced guilty of having 
 embezzled from the King's coffers near six lors of 
 gold, or 125,000Z. sterling ; of having expedited " 
 many orders from the cabinet without the' King's 
 knowledge ; of an unbecoming familiarity with the 
 Queen; of having secreted several letters which 
 should have been laid before the King ; of having 
 
5HE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 295 
 
 counselled the King to disband his guards ; of 
 forging and falsifying a draft, and of suspicious 
 arrangements in the city. 
 
 Count Brandt was declared guilty of having 
 been privy to Struensee's free intercourse with the 
 Queen, and all his other supposed crimes, without 
 divulging them ; of having laid violent hands upon 
 the King's person, and also of evil designs against 
 his Majesty. 
 
 That these charges were vague and frivolous, 
 and could never, especially in the case of Count 
 Brandt, have been construed into capital crimes, 
 except by a tribunal determined on his destruc-. 
 tion, is sufficiently obvious. But their futility is 
 rendered still more apparent when it is explained 
 that the treasonable attempt on the King's life, 
 which formed the head and front of this unhappy 
 minion's offence, consisted in having engaged, ex- 
 pressly to gratify his royal master's propensity to 
 pugilism, in a wrestling or boxing encounter, in 
 which he had the misfortune slightly, to wound 
 his antagonist ; though the trifling injury was not 
 only freely forgiven at the time, but the culprit 
 continued as before in the enjoyment of the sove- 
 reign's favour. 
 
 These several accusations, however, put together, 
 were considered as amounting to high treason, and 
 punishable by the Danish law with forfeiture, 
 confiscation, and death. The sentence of Struensee 
 ran thus : — 
 
 "John Frederick Struensee has (agreeable to the 
 Danish statute law, book vi. chapter iv. article 1) 
 u4 
 
296 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 for his crimes, forfeited his honour, estate, and 
 life. His coat-of-arms shall be broken by the 
 common executioner. His right hand shall be 
 cut off, and afterwards his head ; his body shall be 
 quartered, and exposed on a wheel ; his head and 
 hand to be placed on a pole, and fixed over the 
 gates." 
 
 A like sentence was passed on Count Ernevoldt 
 Brandt. In consequence of this rigid decree they 
 were executed on the 28th of the same month 
 (April), at eight in the morning, before the east 
 gate of the city of Copenhagen, in the centre of 
 a field, on a scaffold erected for the purpose. 
 
 The deportment of Count Brandt, who suffered 
 first;, was quite in conformity with the accounts 
 already given of his reckless and daring character, 
 and thoughtless behaviour while in prison. " He 
 showed," says a contemporary narrative, "great 
 heroism, and almost unparalleled coolness while 
 his hand was cut off, and went through the rest of 
 his sentence with amazing intrepidity ; making a 
 speech to the bystanders, protesting his innocence, 
 and declaring his accusers suborned and perjured. 
 His head was then exposed various times to the 
 view of the spectators. He was attended by a 
 Lutheran minister, but gave no sign of fear or 
 contrition."* 
 
 Very different, and to the more unthinking 
 
 * It is consolatory to know, on the testimony of that honest 
 ecclesiastic, that, notwithstanding his outward bravado, and the 
 acknowledged levity of his earUer prison hours, Brandt had 
 been brought to a contrite sense of his guHt before God. Yet 
 it is impossible not to view, as in some measure characteristic of 
 
THE EOMAMCE OF DIPLOMACY. 297 
 
 multitude, perhaps less heroic, nay even pusil- 
 lanimous, might have appeared the last moments 
 of Struensee. Having with his usual frankness 
 (even while expressing the calmest and best- 
 grounded reliance on the Divine mercy) acknow- 
 ledged to Dr. Miinter a natural dread of death, 
 which he feared might manifest itself on the 
 scaffold, he was confirmed by the counsels of that 
 excellent adviser in the resolution to affect neither 
 pagan stoicism nor infidel recklessness, but to 
 show himself exactly as he felt ; and meet death, 
 not with the triumphant front of innocence, but 
 the meekness of repentant guilt and the serenity 
 of a pardoned offender. 
 
 Their final conversation, like all those which 
 had preceded it, is well worthy of detailed perusal. 
 Its most striking features only can be given here. 
 
 " I look," said the dying penitent, " upon the 
 reconciliation of man through the death of Christ, 
 as the only means of receiving forgiveness of 
 sins. Everything else which is believed to serve 
 the same purpose is insufficient. Whoever will 
 not adopt and make use of this redemption, 
 declares that he will neither be virtuous nor fear 
 Grod ; for he rejects the strongest motives which 
 Grod could ever propose to mankind to fear him 
 and love virtue. I know what Grod has done for 
 me, and what it has cost Christ to procure my 
 
 the value and solidity of the two conTersions, the government 
 tokens bestowed on the two divines employed ; that to Dr. 
 Hunter teing a snuff-box of roci: crystal, while a similar gift to 
 Dean Hee, was oi porcelain alone. 
 
298 THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY, 
 
 salvation ; and I look upon my deati, and all 
 those awful circumstances that are to attend it, 
 as things which God found necessary for my 
 good." 
 
 With these sentiments, to which the total 
 absence of hypocrisy in his character, as well as 
 the testimony of the most credible of witnesses, 
 and his own still extant and memorable confession, 
 lend the stamp of undoubted genuineness, did 
 this once hardened sceptic and libertine proceed 
 to meet the fate, whose justice he acknowledgedj 
 and whose details can never be so interestingly 
 given as in the words of his faithful and indefati- 
 gable, and now deeply affected spiritual guide. 
 
 " The d,oor of the prison," says Dr. Miinter, 
 "now opened, towards which the Count never, 
 but I very often, had looked with a fearful expecta- 
 tion. An officer came in, and desired me, if I 
 pleased, to step into the coach, and go before the 
 Count to the place of execution. I was much 
 moved. The Count, as if it did not concern him 
 in the least, comforted me by saying, 
 
 " ' Make yourself easy, my dear friend, by con- 
 sidering the happiness I am going to enter into ; 
 and with the consciousness that Grod has made 
 you a means of procuring it for me.' 
 
 " I embraced him, recommending him to the 
 love and mercy of Grod, and hastened to the place 
 of execution. He, being soon afterwards called, 
 got up from his couch, and followed those who 
 were to -conduct him. Coming out of the prison, 
 and getting into the coach, he bowed to those 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 299 
 
 who were standing around. Upon the way to the 
 place of execution, he partly spoke to the ofi&cer 
 who was with him, partly sat in deep meditation. 
 
 " As soon as both the condemned were arrived, 
 in their respective coaches, near the scaffold, and 
 Count Brandt had mounted it first, I got into the 
 coach with Struensee, and ordered the coachman 
 to turn round, to prevent his having a prospect of 
 the scaffold. 
 
 " ' I have seen him* already,' said he. I could 
 not recollect myself so soon, and he, observing 
 my uneasiness, said, with a smiling countenance, 
 ' Pray, do not mind me. I see you suffer. Ee- 
 member that Grod has made you an instrument in 
 my conversion. I can imagine how pleasing it 
 must be to you to be conscious of this. I shall 
 praise God with you in eternity that you have 
 saved my soul.' 
 
 " I was still more affected than before, and said, 
 that I should look upon this transaction of mine 
 as the most remarkable one during my whole life, 
 since God had blessed it with so self-rewarding a 
 success. It was a pleasing thought to me, that we 
 should continue our friendship in a future world. 
 I should have comforted him, but he, in this case, 
 comforted me. He then desired me to remember 
 him to several of his acquaintance, and to tell 
 some of them, that if he, by his conversation and 
 
 * It is pleasing to trace, in this imselfish expression, at a mo- 
 ment when all dissimulation ceases, a touching relic of the deep 
 and paramoimt concern Struensee had experienced for the friends 
 he had involved in ruin. 
 
30(J THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT.' 
 
 actions, had misled them in their notions of virtue 
 and religion, he, as a dying man, acknowledged 
 the injury he had done, begged them to efface 
 those impressions, and to forgive him. 
 
 " On seeing the great number of spectators, I 
 told him that among those thousands were many 
 who would pray to God to have mercy on him. 
 ' I hope so,' said he, ' and the thought pleases 
 me.' He soon after added, ' It is a solemn sight 
 to see so many thousands of people together ; but 
 what are these thousands, when compared with 
 the whole sum of Grod's creatures, and how very 
 little appears one single man in such a com- 
 parison ! Nevertheless, God loves every indivi- 
 dual man so much, that he has procured his salva- 
 tion by sacrificing his own Son. What a love is 
 this !' 
 
 " Though I could not see the scaffold, yet I: 
 guessed, from the motion among the spectators, 
 that it was Struensee's turn to mount it. I endea- 
 voured to prepare him for it by a short prayer, 
 and within a few moments we were called. He 
 passed with decency and humbleness through the 
 spectators, and bowed to some of them. With 
 some difficulty he mounted the stairs. When 
 we came up, I spoke very concisely, and with a 
 low voice, these words of Christ, 'He that 
 believeth ia me, though he were dead, yet shall 
 he live.' It would have been impossible for me 
 to speak much, or aloud,' had I attempted it. 
 
 " I observed here that he showed not the least 
 affectation in his conduct on the scaffold. It was 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 301 
 
 that of one who knew he was to die, on account 
 of his crimes, by the hands of the executioner. 
 He was pale, it was difficult for him to speak, the 
 fear of death was visible in his countenance ; but 
 at the same time submission, calmness, and hope, 
 were expressed in his air and deportment. 
 
 " His sentence was read to him, his coat-of- 
 arms publicly exhibited, and broken to pieces. 
 During the time that his chains were taking off, 
 I put the following questions to him, ' Are you 
 truly sorry for all those actions by which you 
 have offended Grod and man ? ' 
 
 " ' You know my late sentiments on this point, 
 and I assure you they are at this very moment 
 the same.' 
 
 " ' Do you trust in the redemption of Christ as 
 the only ground of your being pardoned before 
 God?' 
 
 " ' I know 710 other means of receiving God's 
 mercy ; and I trust in this alone.' 
 
 " 'Do you leave the world without hatred or 
 malice against any person whatsoever ? ' 
 
 " ' I hope nobody hates me personally, and my 
 sentiments on this head are the same as I told 
 you just before.' 
 
 " I now laid my hand upon his head, saying, 
 ' Then go in peace whither God calls you ! His 
 grace be with you ! " ' 
 
 ♦f He then began to undress, and inquired of 
 the executioners how far he was to uncover him- 
 self, and desired them to assist him. He then 
 hastened towards the block, that was stained, and 
 
302 THE EOMAKCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 still reeking, -with the blood of his friend, laid 
 himself quickly down, and endeavoured to fit his 
 neck and chin properly- into it. When his hand 
 was cut off, his whole body fell into convulsions.* 
 The very moment when the executioner lifted up 
 the axe, I began to pronounce slowly the words^ 
 'Eemember Christ crucified, who died, but is 
 risen again.' Before I had finished these words, 
 both hand and head, severed from the body, lay 
 at my feet!" 
 
 ****** 
 
 It is impossible to follow to the tragical close 
 of his singular career, a man whose name has 
 become inseparably blended with the history of 
 a kingdom, and the destinies of a queen, with-- 
 out echoing the remark of his clerical biogra- 
 pher, that if his political schemes had been 
 crowned with success, posterity might have 
 hailed him as the Solon of Denmark, and his 
 private vices, great and undeniable as they were, 
 might have been forgotten in the fame attendant 
 on successful statesmanship. His sudden fall from 
 power, and ignominious death, on the contrary, 
 while they have led to his being handed down to 
 future generations as a profiigate adventurer, 
 proved to himself (and it is hoped to others also), 
 the happy instruments of a transition equally 
 striking, and far more important, from a hard- 
 
 * On this purely physical affection hare teen founded (on 
 the admission of those least favourable to his memoiy) some 
 accounts representing him as struggling to escape the fatal 
 stroke. 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 303 
 
 ened and reckless infidel, to a penitent and devout 
 Christian. 
 
 The malice of the enemies ^e had so fully and 
 frankly forgiven, found savage gratification in 
 the exposure of the mangled remains of their 
 lately powerful foe. Tall poles long exhibited 
 to a shuddering public the heads of the two un- 
 fortunate Counts, whose quartered limbs were 
 extended on wheels, beneath the ghastly skulls 
 that bleached in the wind above them. 
 
 The trial of the Queen was meantime (with 
 the slowness and secrecy ascribed in some of Sir 
 E. Keith's letters to Danish judicial proceedings, 
 and by which, on this occasion, his anxieties were 
 evidently deeply awakened), going on. " And the 
 Queen Dowager," says the often quoted author of 
 the " Memoirs of an Unfortunate Queen," " hav- 
 ing attained her objects in the removal of all 
 bars to her resumption of former "ascendency, 
 afiected to wish that the tribunal instituted to 
 prosecute the young Queen would declare her 
 innocent; and in order further to impose on the 
 public, advised the King to engage the celebrated 
 advocate Uhhldahl in this important cause, and 
 to absolve him of his oath, that he might plead 
 in her favour, with all the eloquence of which he 
 was master. 
 
 " But the world would not be duped by this 
 artifice. Whoever was acquainted with the prin- 
 ciples and views of the King^s advocate, knew 
 that he was the soul of Juliana Maria's party, 
 and that the secret object of the selection was to 
 
304 THK EOMAKCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 persuade the nation that if the eloquence of so 
 able a defender could not establish her innocence 
 she must needs be ^Uty. 
 
 " Not all the florid declamations, however, and 
 practised rhetoric of this famous pleader, thus 
 indirectly exerted against her, could even fix a 
 suspicion of the crimes invented to cover with 
 infamy the unhappy Queen. All the accusations 
 against her Majesty were destitute even of pro- 
 bability ; and thus the nefarious plan of having 
 the forlorn Matilda degraded and punished with 
 death, and her children declared illegitimate, 
 proving abortive, the Dowager, dreading at the 
 same time the just resentment of the King of 
 Grreat Britain, and of a generous nation, ever 
 ready to succour the oppressed innocence of a 
 princess, bom and educated in her bosom, — was 
 induced to commute her intended sentence to 
 perpetual iinprisonment, at the extremity of the 
 frozen deserts of Jutland." 
 
 Thus wrote, and umchcdleng'ed, at a period, 
 too (that of Caroline Matilda's recent demise), 
 ■ when, if ever, her enemies might have come forward 
 to blacken successfully her already tarnished fame, 
 an unknown champion, more zealous and disin- 
 terested than the wily advocate above alluded to ; 
 and, though we may so far dissent from him as to 
 admit that suspicion had some scope for its exer- 
 cise, in the contempt for appearances unfortu- 
 nately characteristic of the youthful sovereign, 
 yet, as nothing amounting to proof could be 
 elicited, even from perjured and suborned testi- 
 
# 
 
 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 305 
 
 mony the opinion * (entertained and avowed 
 throughout by her misguided consort), of her 
 innocence, must he considered most compatible, 
 not only with charity, but with truth.f 
 
 " The King," adds the above writer, " who was 
 chiefly interested in this iniquitous prosecution, 
 so far from accusing her of infidelity, and other 
 crimes still more atrocious, declared more than 
 once that she was worthy of a husband more dis- 
 posed than himself to do justice to her charms 
 and virtues ; while the generous avowal of his 
 excesses and irregularities justified the indiffer- 
 ence and disgust she had long testified towards 
 him. If she could, during her confinement, have 
 obtained an interview with him, it is not to be 
 doubted that her Majesty would have compelled 
 him to have made her due reparation for the 
 
 * Sarti, the composer, who had been music-master to the Queen, 
 voluntarily informed a lady of rank who met him twenty years 
 subsequently at Vienna, that no pains had been spared to tamper 
 with and induce him to calumniate his royal pupil ; but that, so 
 far from having any such testimony to give as had been sought 
 to be extorted from him, her conduct — which he had ample appor- 
 tunities of being acquainted with — was marked by the most 
 perfect propriety and deconrai ; and he utterly repudiated the 
 idea of her guilt. 
 
 t " The common report," says Adolphus, " was that the arti- 
 cles supposed to be proved were sent to London, and submitted 
 to the examination of the most eminent civilians ; who, though 
 consulted separately, unanimously declared that the evidence, 
 far from amounting to legal conviction, did not sanction a pre- 
 sumption of guilt ; and they added, they did not only refuBe 
 credit to the facts as lawyers, but were obliged to disbelieve 
 them as men." — Adolphus's Eeign of fieorge HZ. vol. i. page 
 524. 
 
 TOL. I. X 
 
306 THE BOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 injuries she had received. The Dowager, how- 
 ever, constantly prevented all intercourse between 
 them, being certain that the Queen would have 
 recovered her liberty, and made her enemies re- 
 pent of their injustice, had she been confronted 
 with the King." * 
 
 Letters, insisting, in the most impassioned terms, 
 on being permitted to defend herself in a personal 
 interview with the deluded monarch, purporting 
 to be addressed both to him and to Sir Kobert 
 Murray Keith, are given in the publication already 
 quoted; but as, however naturally and forcibly 
 expressed, probability is against their having (even 
 if genuine) been permitted to transpire, their in- 
 sertion amid matter unquestionably authentic, is 
 inadmissible. 
 
 Certain it is, however, that the exertions of the 
 latter, either in his own person, or with her illus- 
 trious brother, on her behalf, needed not the 
 stimulus of these pathetic remonstrances ; as his 
 correspondence, shortly to be resumed, after an 
 interval of enforced and diplomatic silence, will 
 sufficiently prove. That these efforts to ameliorate 
 the condition, and effect the liberation of the royal 
 captive, were attended with incredible difi&culties, 
 
 * " The King,'' says the same dispassionate writer already 
 quoted, "was with great difficulty prevailed upon to sanction 
 their measures : a moment's interview would have frustrated all 
 their plans, and rolled hack the stream of ruin upon themselves." 
 —Adoljihvs'sEeign of George III. Walpole (alluding to the pro- 
 posed act of divorce) says, that if obtained, it would probably be 
 an wnique instance of one passed without the consent of either 
 party. 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 307 
 
 and every artifice of chicane, perhaps only enhances 
 the merit of the indomitable champion who ulti- 
 mately triumphed over both. That it was, while 
 yet only partially successful, fully appreciated at 
 home, the following, as well as preceding letters 
 will show.* 
 
 SIR E. M. KEITH TO ME. KEITH. 
 
 " March 6th. 
 " My business affords me such incessant occupa- 
 tion that I can seldom indulge myself in the plea- 
 sure of chatting with you. I am again to dispatch 
 a messenger to Xiondon to-day, who will carry 
 this, and I wish I could add to it the assurance of 
 as happy an issue in my affairs as the justice, mo- 
 deration, and rights of my Sovereign entitle him 
 to expect, and which my most zealous services 
 have endeavoured to procure. I hope and believe 
 that matters are getting into a proper train, but I 
 speak with diffidence in Denmark, and what 
 would admit of no debate in any other country, is 
 here matter of endless chicane and difficulty. I 
 have, indeed, had hard cards to play, but my con- 
 science tells me that I have made the most of 
 
 * That this appreciation was not confined to the highest 
 quarters appears from contemporary pericecal articles in which, 
 under the title of the "heroic minister,'' the chivahy of this 
 suhject is enthusiastically celebrated. A more touching testi- 
 mony of the national sympathy for the royal captive, was given 
 to the editor, hy the gifted surviving daughter of the then Pre- 
 mier of England, whose very nursemaids (in common with those 
 of humhler households) were filled with commiseration and 
 anxiety for Queen Matilda's impending fate. 
 X2 
 
308 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 them, and I firmly trust that my Sovereign and 
 my superiors will be of the same opinion. I am 
 jaded to a degree that is not to be conceived, but 
 my health is otherwise good. If I could shut the 
 clasps of Hugo Grrotius and all his kin for the next 
 six months, I should be at the summit of humaja 
 , felicity," 
 
 SIR E. M. KEITH TO MK. KEITH. 
 
 " Copenhagen, April 25th. 
 
 " Deab Father, 
 
 " You are no doubt surprised at my long 
 silence, which I own proceeds from a veiy extraor- 
 dinary cause, that of having tpo inuch to say. 
 You have seen by the distinguished marks of 
 favour bestowed upOn me, how far, in the estimation 
 of royal beneficence, upright intentions supply the 
 place of successful services. I am indeed over- 
 whelmed with the daily tokens of goodness and 
 condescension, which far exceed my merits or ex- 
 pectatipns. They cannot add to my zeal, but they 
 interest every faculty of my mind, and every feel- 
 ing of my heart in the success of the business en^ 
 trusted to my charge. I am glad to hear from 
 Sister Anne that you intend, as soon as the weather 
 permits, to offer at the feet of our royal benefactor 
 the thanks of your whole family. It is a grateful 
 duty, and in you, dear sir, a becoming one. An 
 old and faithful servant who, from an honourable 
 retirement, the recompense of his labours, returns 
 to the presence of his Sovereign with new acknow-^ 
 
THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 309 
 
 ledgments for favours conferred on his children* 
 will be heard with pleasure by the most humane 
 of princes. Honesty and gratitude are the fair 
 inheritance you have entailed upon your sons, and 
 whatever efforts can be expected from such mo- 
 tives, joined to the warn;iest zeal in the King's 
 service, shall not be wanting." 
 
 They were at length, thanks to another vigor- 
 ous and promptly-answered appeal to the long 
 disregarded feelings of the British nation, crowned 
 with complete success. " The English Minister," 
 says a contemporary writer, " whom the King had 
 created Knight of the Bath, as an honourable re- 
 compense for his zeal, and as a mark of approba- 
 tion for' his conduct, received his letters of recal ; 
 and the menaces of England, which became seri- 
 ous, as appeared by a formidable naval armament, 
 compelled the regency of Denmark to consent to 
 deliver up the young Queen to Sir Eobert Keith, 
 who was appointed to accompany her into the 
 electorate of Hanover, as the castle of Zell had 
 been allotted her by her royal brother, for her 
 residence." 
 
 Sir Eobert Keith having obtained the requested 
 stipulations, and a pension of 5000Z. a-year towards 
 the support of her Majesty's household and dignity, 
 all thoughts of hostility between the two kingdoms 
 subsided. 
 
 That it was no idle threat which the British 
 Minister held out to enforce his just demands, 
 will appear from the subjoined ofiScial document, 
 
 X3 
 
310 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 showing how fully prepared the British govern- 
 ment had been to lend him their active support. 
 
 " St. James's, May \st, Vlll. 
 " SlE, 
 
 "For your own information I inclose a 
 list of the ships which were intended to enforce the 
 demand of the Queen of Denmark's liberty, if it- 
 had been refused. Those from Plymouth would 
 have been sailed, if the countermand had been a 
 few hours later than it was. The others were just 
 ready to proceed to the Downs, and the whole fleet 
 would probably have, by this time, been on their 
 way to Copenhagen, under the command of Sir 
 Charles Hardy. 
 
 " I am, with great truth and regard, 
 " Sir, your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 " Suffolk." 
 
 loed suffolk to sie e. m. keith. 
 
 " 8t. James's, May 1st, 1772. 
 [Dtiplicate.] 
 «SlE, 
 
 "Your despatches by King, the mes- 
 senger, have been already acknowledged; those 
 by Pearson were received on Wednesday afternoon, 
 and I now answer both together. 
 
 "His Majesty's entire approbation of your con- 
 duct continues to the last moment of your mission, 
 and his satisfaction has in no part of it been more 
 complete, than in the manner in which you have 
 stated, m-ged, and obtained the liberty of his 
 sister. The care you have taken to distinguish 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 311 
 
 between a claim of right, and the subjects of 
 negotiation, and to prevent the mixture of stipu- 
 lations with a demand, is perfectly agreeable to 
 your instructions, 
 
 " The national object of procuring the liberty 
 of a daughter of England, confined in Denmark, 
 after her connection with Denmark was dissolved, 
 is now obtained. For this alone an armament 
 was prepared, and therefore, as soon as the acqui- 
 escence of the court of Copenhagen was known, 
 the preparations were suspended, that the mer- 
 cantile and marine interests of this kingdom 
 might be affected no longer than was necessary 
 by the expectation of a war. 
 
 "Instead of a hostile armament, two frigates 
 and a sloop are now ordered to Elsinore. One of 
 them is already in the Downs, the others will 
 repair thither immediately, and as soon as the 
 wind permits, they will proceed to their destina- 
 tion. / I inclose to you an account of them, which 
 you may transmit to Monsieur Ostein minis- 
 terially, referring at the same time to the as- 
 surance of their pacific proceedings. 
 
 " The compliance of the Danish court with his 
 Majesty's demand, however forced, is still a com- 
 pliance. Their continuing, unasked, the style of 
 Queen, and other congessions, and the attainment 
 of the national object, accompanying each other, 
 his Majesty would think it improper to interrupt 
 the natioiial intercourse from any personal or 
 domestic consideration. You will therefore in- 
 form Monsieur Ostein, that his Majesty intend i 
 
312 THE EOMAUCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 to have a Minister at the court of Copenhagen, 
 the explanation you maiy give of this suspension 
 of former directions, and his determination, being 
 left to your own discretion. 
 
 " You will not be that Minister. His Majesty 
 will have occasion for your services in a more eli- 
 gible situation* And as soon as you have dis- 
 charged your dtity to the Queen of Denmark, by 
 attending her to Stade, you ,will return home, 
 either on board of his Majesty's ship which con- 
 veyed you thither, or if the passage by sea is 
 disagreeable to you, by land with the least possible 
 delay." 
 
 The feelings of the negotiator, by whose firm- 
 ness to his purpose and well-timed demonstrations 
 the horrors of war had been averted from two 
 kingdoms, while the object of so many anxieties 
 had been honom-ably achieved, may be best ga- 
 thered from his own words. 
 
 [Strictly Confidential.'] 
 
 " Copenhagen, May ith, \T12. 
 
 "Mt dear Anne, 
 
 " After a long and painful warfare, I 
 hope I may at last look forward with pleasure to 
 the end of my bondage in Denmark. During the 
 last two months, I have, from duty and discretion, 
 suspended all private correspondences, because I 
 would rather hold my tongue than seem mys- 
 
 * Sir B. M. Keith kissed hands 14th August, on his appoint- 
 ment to Vienna. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACy. 313 
 
 terious. What my feelings have been in that 
 period no pen can paint ; what my gratitude is, 
 and ought to be towards the most considerate and 
 benevolent of masters, no tongue can tell. I have 
 not the presumption to think that I have deserved 
 his distinguished favours and approbation, but 
 my conscience tells me (and I listen to it with an 
 honest exultation) that all my faculties have been 
 invariably exerted in his service. 
 
 "A ribbon and a title are pretty playthings, 
 and I am not philosopher enough not to be flat- 
 tered with them ; but it is the time and the man- 
 ner of bestowing them which enhance their value 
 a thousand fold. At a moment when my mind 
 was filled with regret for the past, affliction for 
 the present, and anxious prospects in futurity, to 
 find the uprightness of my intentions rated as 
 highly, and recompensed as amply, as successful 
 services, was equally unexpected and satisfactory. 
 The world says that such marks of favour do 
 infinite credit to the servant. I am sure they set 
 the heart of the beneficent sovereign in the fairest 
 and most amiable light. But I need not expatiate 
 on the chapter of thankfulness. The Hermits 
 understand that matter perfectly, 
 
 " I have not yet received my ultimate orders, 
 but I am nearly certain that they will direct me 
 to embark at Elsinore, in the suite of her Majesty, 
 who is to be conveyed from Cronenbourg to Stade 
 by sea, and from thence to proceed immediately 
 to a hunting seat of the King's in the Duchy of 
 Lunenburgh, called the Gorde, where her Majesty 
 
314 THE EOMANCB OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 is to pass the summer. Her Majesty's winter 
 residence in the King's electoral dominions wUI, 
 in the meantime, be fitted up for her reception. 
 
 "To demand the liberty of a captive Queen, 
 and to escort her to a land of freedom, is truly 
 such a commencement of my chivalry as savours 
 strongly of the romantic ! I am heartily grieved 
 for the occasion which has laid this duty upon 
 your brother; but from what you know of his 
 disposition, you will easily judge of the warmth 
 of his zeal in the execution of a commission so 
 well adapted to his genius. Can you figure to 
 yourself what he must have felt in passing through 
 the vaulted entrance of HamlePs Castle, to carry 
 to an afflicted and injured Princess the welcome 
 proofs of fraternal affection, and liberty restored ?* 
 
 " I have room to hope that my royal master 
 will not be displeased with the conclusion of this 
 critical and delicate affair ; and when I have set 
 her Majesty safely down in the comfortable re- 
 treat which his goodness has assigned her, I shall 
 return as soon as possible to his presence, not to 
 claim new benefits, but to offer my services, wher- 
 ever they can be judged in any degree useful. 
 And if on my arrival in the capital, of the best, of 
 all possible kingdoms, I have the happiness to find 
 my father in good health, and my brother in an 
 
 ' The emotion was reciprocal. " Wlien the English minister 
 at Copenhagen," (Sir Eohert Murray Keith) says Coxe, "brought 
 the order for her enlargement, which he had obtained by his 
 spirited conduct, she was so surprised with the unexpected intel- 
 ligence, that she burst into a flood of tears, embraced him in a 
 transport of joy, and called him her deliverer." 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 315 
 
 honourable station*, that city (large as it is) will 
 contain few happier men than myself. We enthu- 
 siasts have, now and then, such moments as sur- 
 pass all the enjoyments of wiser and graver men; 
 and, to say the truth, we earn them dearly ! 
 
 " May m. 
 
 " I am so prodigiously tired of this town, that 
 I count the hours till my deliverance is completed. 
 In this I am guilty of no ingratitude, since, in 
 the long eleven months I have sojourned in it, I 
 never met with a single glimpse of cordiality or 
 kindness from a native of it. I know that I 
 stand well in this public opinion ; but I cannot 
 find in my heart to be proud of it. Fire and 
 water are not more opposite in their natures than 
 these people and your brother ; yet he, may ho- 
 nestly say, that far from doing harm, or even 
 wishing it, to any one individual, he has rendered 
 the bulk of them essential service. I claim little 
 merit in this; my motives were independent of 
 every national consideration, and there is nothing 
 ,very flattering in the earnest desire I have to quit 
 them for evei:. The Lord knows where I shall 
 pitch my tent next, but I pray that it may be 
 among a nation of waa-m feelings; for cold and 
 callous hearts are to me worse than poison. But 
 enough of these people, against whom I have no 
 rancour, and with whom I have no more intimacy 
 than with the inhabitants of Siam. And now 
 
 * Admiral Sir Basil Keith, shortly afterwards appointed to the 
 gOTernment of Jamaica. 
 
316 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 for affairs nearer home. You will easily guess 
 whait a ruinous trade I drive, furnishing a house, 
 and setting up a family, once a year, and then 
 selling off at an hour's warning, and a quarter 
 price. But my master is as generous as he is 
 humane, and will secure me a competence some- 
 where; and let me tell you, sister Anne, that 
 however scanty may be my worldly means, I have 
 a set of kind comrades and dear creatures, not 
 one of whom I would part with for Lord Olive's 
 Jaghire. In the estimation of comm.on sense 
 and sound reason, I anj literally one of the richest 
 men you know, and my wealth is doubled by the 
 just sense I have of its superior value. Every 
 man should cast up his accounts this way, and we 
 should have less grumbling about certain metals, 
 which we Keiths have the pride to look down 
 upon. 
 
 " May ^th. 
 
 " I am, my dear sister, in the very agony of ex- 
 pectation, seeing that in all probability I may 
 look for my complete clearance in the course of 
 twice twenty-four hours. To get honourably re- 
 leased from such business as I have had in hand, 
 and happily out of Denmark, are matters of the 
 highest moment, and (as the ingenious Mr. John 
 Home says) I stand at present upon the very 
 ' isthmus ' of the critical instant. Yet I have no 
 anxieties about self, and if my worthy sovereign 
 is pleased, I am more than rewarded. And now, 
 dear Anne, I must lay you aside, as the chit-chat 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 317 
 
 companion who leaves the room when men of 
 business enter, 
 
 "May 15th. 
 "Mj frequent journeys to Elsinore, to pay my 
 duty to the Queen, have prevented my continuing 
 this ; but I now take up the pen to acquaint you 
 that my ultimate orders have arrived, and are 
 such as I expected. The most honourable testi- 
 mony of my gracious Sovereign's approbation of 
 my whole conduct accompanies them, and com- 
 pletes my satisfaction. In about eight days we 
 may expect the convoy, and her Majesty will em- 
 bark immediately. The King has had the good- 
 ness to order that the 'Southampton' man-of- 
 war shall convey me from Stade to England, if 
 my health permits my continuing the voyage by 
 sea. Poverty calls loudly for my preferring this 
 conveyance, by which a large sum will be saved, 
 and, for once, I will do my best to listen to her 
 advice. Yet if I am as sick as I have constantly 
 been on board ship, I do not answer for my 
 perseverance. But adieu, Mrs. Anne, I have 
 business with your betters. Apropos — ^put me in 
 mind to give you an account of my travels in 
 Sweden, where I was about a fortnight ago. A 
 kingdom more or less is but a trifle in the pere- 
 grinations of such a knight-errant as I am ; yet it 
 ' may be uncivil to the memory of that romantic 
 hero, Charles XII., to pass his realms over in 
 silence. 
 
318 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 " May 19& 
 
 " I really believe that all my home correspon- 
 dents have taken it into their heads that I de- 
 parted from Denmark by some aerial conveyance, 
 for the deuce a line do I receive but from my 
 worthy superiors, and their epistles (though m-- 
 imitable in their way), are politic^, politics, and 
 of them my mind is already brim full. Oh ! for a 
 sheet of female nonsense to refresh my spirits, 
 and sweeten the labours of a plenipo ! Doctor 
 
 brought me a pretty little restorative of my 
 
 father's handwriting, and the dose, .though small, 
 did me a world of good. If these obstinate 
 easterly winds would relent, I might be looking 
 out for my little armada, and in eight-and-forty 
 hours after I might set out to plough the watery 
 main. ' To plough ! to p — ke ! ay, that's the 
 rub ! ' Yet, to "say the truth, this is a country from 
 whose bourne no traveller departs with sorrow. J, ' 
 at least, shall not be that sorrowful traveller, and 
 if ever I set foot — ^but mum ; I mean harm to 
 nobody ; but I long for St. Paul's ! 
 
 " What an awkward figure shall I make amidst 
 the lively and laughing friends I am preparing to 
 meet with ! The muscles of my physiognomy 
 have (to the best of my knowledge) lost their 
 risible faculty, for when they were last tried in 
 that way is truly past my remembrance. But I'll < 
 take a rnonth's private lessons of Tatty, and leave 
 the rest to Nature. \ This long manifesto of mine 
 begins to grow very ancient, but be of good cheer. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 319 
 
 my dear Anne, the messenger shall mount his 
 steed on Saturday, and carry with tim the last 
 shreds of my negotiation. You have heard that 
 the Swiss die of the maladie du pays. I am no 
 Swiss, but I pine prodigiously, and grow almost as 
 lean as sister Janet. Eemember, I make a bar- 
 gain with you all. Hermits and others. For the 
 first twelve months I will not permit my mind or 
 memory to peep over into the Danish islands in 
 quest of answers to your idle questions. I give 
 you carte blanche as to all my other kingdoms, as 
 •Hungary, Bohemia, Prussia, Sweden, and Electo- 
 rates and Kepublics without end. These are food 
 for the curiosity of one year at least, and I only 
 desire to let the descendants of Hengist and Horsa 
 rest in peace. Adieu. 
 
 "Ma^21st. 
 
 " The last post brought me yours. What you 
 say of being so long in the dark as to everything 
 beyond my bare existence, is very true, but I 
 repeat to you that no part of my duty was more 
 necessary or more painful than the silence I 
 persisted in to all private correspondents. Dis- 
 cretion is not a very common quality, even among 
 ministers, but I am morally certain that the per- 
 sons more immediately concerned in this delicate 
 affair are highly satisfied with that part of my 
 conduct. Their approbation is carried down to 
 the last moment, and in the strongest terms. 
 
320 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 " Bsinore, May 2ith, 1772. 
 
 " Here I Sm, my dear Anne, thank my stars, 
 upon the utmost verge of Denmark. My ships 
 are not yet arrived; but a few days may con- 
 clude the whole affair, and the weather is mild 
 and agreeable. I return to Copenhagen this 
 evening, but only for a day or two, to wind 
 up matters, and give my parting advice to the 
 little secretary, in whose success as a chargi 
 d'affaires I take a particular interest. I know 
 nothing of my own future destination ; but I • 
 must be a gainer by every possible change. I am 
 just returned from her Majesty, who is. Heaven 
 be praised ! in perfect health, notwithstanding the 
 danger she has run of catching the measles from 
 the young princess, whom she never quitted 
 during her illness. A more tender mother than 
 this Queen never was born in this world." 
 
 As the sole alleviation which, during long 
 months of harassing anxiety regarding her own 
 fate and that of others (for it was not till late 
 in April that the trials terminated), the royal 
 captive of Cronenbourg enjoyed, was derived 
 from maternal tenderness towards the infant 
 sharer of her imprisonment, we gladly beguile 
 the dreary interval, by giving, from a living 
 high Danish authority, the following pleasing 
 account of the nursling, to whom a. mother thus 
 circumstanced must have clung with tenfold 
 affection, and to her cares for whom her now 
 
f..- 
 
 IHE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 321 
 
 valueless life had nearly fallen a premature sacri- 
 fice*; glad thus perhaps to have been spared 
 the parting agony which, when torn asunder by 
 relentless man," left in the parent's breast a pang 
 not to be stilled but by the leaden hand of death. 5 
 
 " Eespecting the little Princess Louisa Augusta, 
 who at the age of nine months was torn from the 
 arms of her unhappy mother on her departure 
 from Cronenbqurg, she was brought back to 
 Copenhagen, and educated with her brother, our 
 late king. The most tender affection united 
 these orphans, and when, as Crown Prince, at 
 the age of seventeen, he took his place in the 
 Statsrod, dissolved it, and by that means pro- 
 cured us the long-desired counter-revolution, and 
 became sole regent of the kingdom, his sister 
 took the place by his side. She was enthusiasti- 
 cally beloved by the Danish nation, she was both 
 beautiful and amiable, and we appeared to 
 honour the memory of Carolina Matilda, by 
 transferring the love we had borne her to her 
 beloved daughter, 
 
 " She remained at court some years after her 
 marriage with the Duke of Augustenbourg. After 
 that period she lived in entire seclusion in her 
 family circle, and only died two years ago. She 
 had three children, of whom the youngest is our 
 present beloved Queen, who is an ornament to the 
 throne, and adorned with every womanly virtue. 
 
 * By taking from her the measles during their joint inearoersj- 
 fion. 
 
 VOL, I. I 
 
322 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 She inherits the beauty and amiability of her 
 grandmother, but, happily, not her misfortunes." *J' 
 
 If the negotiator, as we have seen, pined for 
 emancipation from a scene which,«under different 
 auspices, would probably have presented to him a 
 widely differing aspect, the longings for release of 
 the captive Queen are thus described by a con- 
 temporary writer : — . 
 
 " Ever since she had received t^e joyful tidings 
 of her unexpected deliverance, she walked most 
 part of the day on the ramparts of the castle, in 
 order to descry the British pendant. She was at 
 dinner when the reciprocal salute of the English 
 frigate and the castle guns informed her Majesty 
 of Captain MacBride's arrival. This gallant of- 
 ficer met on shore Sir Eobert Keith, who, after 
 a mutual exchange of compliments, introduced 
 the Captain to her Majesty, by whom he was 
 most graciously received, as the man destined 
 to convey her safe' to her royai brother's electoral 
 dominions; far from the reach of the poisonous 
 shafts of her enemies, and that land which had 
 been the dismal scene of her unparalleled mis- 
 fortunes and humiliations. When the Captain 
 had notified his commission, and said that he 
 should await her Majesty's time and pleasure, she 
 exclaimed, in the anguish of her heart, ' Ah, my 
 
 * It ■will afford a pleasing proof of the power of time in 
 soothing political feeling, and healing the most envenomed 
 ■vronnds of party, that the monarch whose throne the grand-, 
 daughter of Carolina Matilda so worthily shared, was himself 
 the grandson of her rival, Juliana Maria. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 323 
 
 dear children ! ' and immediately retired. It was 
 not for an insensible monarch, nor for a throne, 
 on which she seemed to have been seated, merely 
 to be the butt of envy, malice, and perfidy, that 
 her Majesty grieved; the excruciating idea of 
 being parted from her dear children, and the 
 uncertainty of their fate, summoned up all the 
 feelings of a tender mother. She begged to see 
 her son before both were torn for ever from her 
 bosom ; but all her Majesty's entreaties proved ■ 
 unsuccessful. Juliana envied her the comfort of 
 the most wretched — that of a parent sympa- 
 thising in mutual grief and fondness with chil- 
 dren, snatched from her embrace by unnatural 
 authority." 
 
 "A deputation of noblemen having been ap^- 
 pointed," says the same writer, "by the Queeq 
 Dowager to observe the Queen, after her enlarge^ 
 ment till her departure, under a fallacious show 
 of respect for the royal personage, so lately* 
 injured and degraded, — when they were admitted 
 to her presence, and wished her, in his Majesty's 
 name, a happy voyage, she answered, ' The time 
 will come when the King will know that he has 
 been deceived and betrayed; calumny may im- 
 pose for a time on weak and credulous minds, 
 but truth always prevails in the end. All my 
 care and anxiety are now for the royal infants, 
 my children.' " ^^ 
 
 The following more detailed narrative of her 
 emotions in parting with her infant daughter (her 
 darling boy she was not permitted to embrace) 
 t2 
 
324 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 are quite in unison with what Sir E. M. Keith has 
 recorded of this " tenderest of mothers :" — " On 
 the 27th of May two English frigates and a cutter 
 having arrived at Elsinore, the 30th was fixed for 
 the Queen's leaving Denmark. The last moments 
 which this amiable woman spent in the Danish . 
 dominions w.ere distressing in the highest degree. 
 She was now under the necessity of parting from 
 her only comfort, one of the two sole objects of 
 ' her affection, her infant child, and leaving her in 
 the hands of her sworn enemies. She fondly 
 pressed for some minutes the babe to her bosom, 
 and bedewed it with a shower of tears ; she then 
 attempted to tear herself away; but the voice, the 
 smiles, the endearing motions of her infant*, were 
 claims that irresistibly drew her back. At last, 
 she called up all her resolution, took her once 
 more in her arms, with the impetuous ardour of 
 distracted love, imprinted on the lips of the babe 
 the farewell kis^Rnd returning it to the attendant, 
 exclaimed, 'Away, away, I now possess nothing 
 here ! ' 
 
 "Everything being prepared for her Majesty's 
 accommodation on board Captain MacBride's 
 frigate, all her Danish attendants seemed over- 
 whelmed with grief when their kind mistress 
 expressed her satisfaction with their services, and 
 took leave of such as were not to be permitted to 
 attend her. None but Sir Eobert Keith, and 
 
 * Now at the interesting age of nine months, and but recently 
 recovered from a dangerous illness, during which her fond 
 parent never quitted her. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT; 325 
 
 Captain MacBride, accompanied her Majesty on 
 board the vessel ; and when she was ready to sail, 
 the guns of that fortress in which she had been 
 immured were fired, as the last honour paid to 
 the most unfortunate Queen that ever sat on the 
 Danish throne." 
 
 It is added by Archdeacon Coxe, as well as by 
 many othei; authorities, that " she remained upon 
 deck, her eyes immovably fixed on the castle of 
 Cronenbourg, which contained the child that had' 
 been so long her only comfort, until darkness 
 intercepted the view. The vessel having made 
 but little way during the night, at day-break she 
 observed, with fond satisfaction, that the palace 
 was still visible ; and could not be prevailed upon 
 to enter the cabin, as long as she could discover 
 the faintest glimpse of the battlements." J 'l 
 
 The following poem was found (written as if 
 copied in haste, in the hand-writing of an im- 
 perfectly educated person), carefully preserved 
 among the papers of Sir E. M. Keith. No other 
 clue to its possible authenticity can be given. 
 
 WRITTEN AT SEA, BY THE QUEEN OF DENMARK, ' 
 
 DCEmQ HEE PASSAGE TO STADB, 1772. 
 
 At length, from sceptred eaare, and deadly state, 
 From galling censure, and ill-omened hate, 
 From the vain grandeur where I lately shone, 
 From Cronsbonig's prison, and from Denmark's throne, 
 I go! 
 
 Here, fatal greatness ! thy delusion ends ! 
 A humbler lot the closing scene attends. 
 Denmark, farewell ! a long, a last adieu ; 
 Thy lessening prospect now recedes from view ! 
 y3 
 
326 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 No lingering look an ill-starred' eroiivii deplores ; 
 Well pleased I quit thy sanguinary shores. 
 Thy shores, where, victimB doom'd, to state and me, 
 Fell hapless Brandt, and murdered Struenaee ! — 
 Thy shores — where, ah ! in adTerse"hour I came. 
 To me the grave of happiness and fame f — 
 Alas ! how different then my vessel lay ; 
 What crowds of flatterers hastened to ohey ! 
 What numbers flew to hail the rising sun ; 
 How few now bend to that whose course is run ! 
 By fate deprived of fortune's fleeting train, 
 Now " all the oblig'd desert, and all the vain; " 
 But conscious worth, -that censure can control, 
 Shall 'gainst the charges arm my steady soul, — 
 Shall teach the guiltless mind aKke to bear 
 The smiles of pleasure, or the frowns of care. 
 Denmark, farewell ! for thee no sighs depart ; 
 But love maternal rends my bleeding heart. 
 Oh ! Cronsbourg's tower, where my poor infant Ues, 
 Why, why, so soon recede you irom my eyes ? 
 Yet stay, ah me ! not hope nor pray'r avails ; 
 For ever exH'd hence — Matilda sails. 
 Keith ! form'd to smooth the path afliction treads. 
 And dry the tear that friendless sorrow sheds ; 
 Oh ! generous Keith ! protect their helpless state. 
 And save my infants from impending fate ! 
 Par, far from deadly pomp each thought remove. 
 And, as to me, their guardian angel prove ! 
 Yes, Julia ! now superior force prevails. 
 And all my boasted resolution fails ! ii 
 
 6 ■■ 
 "Having passe^, the summer months in one of 
 the electoral palaces, till the castle of Zell was 
 ready for her Majesty's reception, she was con- 
 ducted to this princely residence through an im- 
 mense crowd of spectators, who wished this royal 
 guest might long remain among them." 
 
 As, in the introduction to a recent work of fie- 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 327 
 
 tion*,' presented to the public under the auspices 
 of a popular English author, a doubt (which the 
 preceding official documents would have been 
 alone sufficient to remove) has been cast on the 
 fraternal interest of Greorge IILj in the misfortunes 
 and subsequent fate of his unfortunate sister, it is 
 with peculiar pleasure that .the following letters, 
 corroborative of his deep and continued attention 
 to her comfort and welfare, are inserted here. 
 
 [Private."] 
 LOUD SUFFOLK TO SIE E. M. KEITH. 
 
 " Castle Rising, October \ltk, 1772. 
 
 " Mt dear Keith, 
 
 " Though recollection does not suggest to 
 me anything material, added to the variously ex- 
 tensive considerations we have discussed together, 
 it does the real satisfaction I have had in discus- 
 sing them with you; and how earnestly I wish 
 success to everything public and private which 
 concerns you. Yoii cannot he too minute and 
 am/ple on all points of your, mission to Zell. A 
 thousand little circumstances, which would, of 
 course, be passed over on other occasions, will be 
 interesting upon this. And I think I may venture 
 to assure you that the rnore conformable your ac- 
 counts are to this hint, the better they will please. 
 And I hope you will permit me to remind you of 
 the respectful manner in which I begged to be 
 represented to her Danish Majesty. 
 
 * The novel (translated &om a Danish original, already 
 alluded to) entitled the " Queen of Denmark.'' 
 T4 
 
328 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACTi 
 
 , " In the character 6f your friend, I may be per- 
 mitted to write that which ministerial pride is not 
 supposed to admit of. Therefore let me seize this 
 opportunity of claiming your indulgence for all 
 the crudities, inaccuracies, and errors which want 
 of experience,, or more irremediable qualities, may 
 expose my public correspondence to, I know it 
 goes into candid hands. But I wish instruction, 
 as well as indulgence, and shall think myself 
 infinitely indebted to you for a frank communica- 
 tion of all your ideas upon public points. 
 
 "And now sir, once more, may all success, 
 honour, and happiness attend you ! Let our con- 
 nection continue most intimate and cordial, till 
 such time as we shall be able to do something as 
 useful to our country, as we have already been 
 fprtunate enough to do agreeable to our master ; 
 and as much longer than that period (if we ever 
 are so lucky as to reach it) as you please. Nor 
 do you ever cease to believe me, with the highest 
 esteem and regard, your most obedient and. most 
 faithful servant, 
 
 " Suffolk." 
 
 SIR R. M. KEITH TO LORD SUFFOLK. 
 
 " Zell, November 2nd, 1772. 
 
 "Mt Lord, 
 
 "I arrived here, on the 31st October, late 
 in the evening, and next day had the honour of 
 delivering the King's letter to her Danish Majesty, 
 ■whom I found in perfect health, and without any 
 
THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 329 
 
 remains of pain from her late accident. In two 
 very long audiences which her Majesty was pleased 
 to grant me, I endeavoured to execute, with the 
 utmost punctuality, his Majesty's command, and 
 shall now lay before your lordship all the lights 
 those audiences afforded me, relative to the Queen's 
 wishes and intentions. I cannot enter upon that 
 subject, without previously assuring your lordship 
 that the Queen received those repeated proofs of 
 his Majesty's fraternal affection and friendship 
 which my orders contained, with the warmest ex- 
 pressions of gratitude and sensibility, and that 
 nothing could be more frank and explicit than 
 her answers to a great number of questions, which 
 she permitted me to ask upon any subject that 
 arose. 
 
 *'In regard to Denmark, the Queen declares 
 that, in the present situation of that court, she 
 has not a wish for any correspondence or connec- 
 tion there, beyond what immediately concerns the 
 welfare and education of her children. That she 
 never has written a single letter to Denmark since 
 she left it, or received one from thence. That the 
 only person belonging to that kingdom from whom 
 she hears, lives in Holstein, and is not connected 
 with the court. 
 
 "The Queen having expressed great, anxiety 
 with respect to the false impressions which may 
 be instilled into the minds of her children, par- 
 ticularly regarding herself, I thought it my duty 
 to say that such impressions, however cruelly in- 
 tended, could not, at the tender age of her Ma- 
 
330 THE EOMAKCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 jesty's children, nor for some years to come, take 
 so deep a root as not to be entirely effaced by more 
 candid instructors, and the dictates of filial duty, 
 when reason and reflection shall break in upon 
 their minds. The Queen seemed willing to lay 
 hold on that hope, yet could not help bursting 
 into tears, when she mentioned the danger of 
 losing the affections of her children.* 
 
 "Her Majesty appears very desirous to com- 
 municate directly to her royal brother, all her 
 views and wishes in the most confidential manner ; 
 hoping to obtain in return his Majesty's advice and 
 directions, which she intends implicitly to follow. 
 She said, that in matters of so private and domestic 
 a nature, it would give her much greater pleasure 
 to learn his Majesty's intentions upon every point, 
 from, his own pen, than through the channel of 
 any of his electoral servants. 
 
 " It gave me great satisfaction to find her Ma- 
 jesty in very good spirits, and so much pleased 
 with the palace at Zellf, the- apartments of which 
 are very spacious, and handsomely furnished. She 
 wishes to have an apartment fitted up in the 
 palace for her sister, the Pri/ncess of Brunswick, 
 as she thinks that the etiquette of this country 
 does not permit that princess, in her visits to Zell, 
 to be lodged out of the palace, without great im- 
 
 * An apprehension happily never realised. Her memory was 
 affectionately cherished throughout life by hoth. 
 
 t On first approaching it, and seeing the preparations made 
 for her royal accommodation, she exclaimed, " Thank God! my 
 brother still considers and treats me as a Queen ! " 
 
THE EOMAUCE OF DIPLOMACY. 331 
 
 propriety. Her Majesty said, tliat she intended 
 to write herself to the King on this head. 
 
 " The Queen told me that the very enterprising 
 and dangerous part which Queen Juliana has acted 
 in Denmark, had created greater astonishment in 
 Brunswick (where the abilities and character of 
 that princess are known) than, perhaps, in any 
 other city of Europe. 
 
 "Her Majesty talked to me of several late in- 
 cidents at the Court of Denmark, but without 
 appearing to take much concern in them. She 
 mentioned, with a smile, some of the paltry things 
 which had been sent as part of her baggage from 
 Denmark, adding, that this new instance of their 
 meanness had not surprised her.* But the Prin- 
 cess of Brunswick, who happened to be present 
 W^hen the baggage was opened, expressed her in- 
 dignation at that treatment in such strong terms, 
 that she (the Queen) could not help taking notice 
 of it in her letters to the King. 
 
 " She let me understand that a small collection 
 of English books would be very agreeable to her ; 
 leaving the choice of them entirely to the King. 
 
 * As a proof of the lofty and magnanimous disdain which (on 
 the contrary) had influenced the British Princess to decline re- 
 taining the trappings of her Danish slavery, we quote a despatch 
 on the subject (the last addressed to Sir E. M. Keith) : — 
 
 " His Majesty does not see any objection to his sister's reeeiv- 
 ing the jewels you mention, which were formerly given, and are 
 now intended to be dehvered to her. Her Danish Majesty will 
 thereby only retain a property, not accept a present ; and there 
 seems no occasion for rejecting the attention voluntarily offered. 
 But if the Queen of Denmark is vety averse to the- proposition, 
 his Majesty does not wish to control her inclination." 
 
332 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 " Her Majesty more than once expressed hoW 
 much she considered herself obliged to the King's 
 ministers, for the zeal they had shown in the 
 whole of the late unhappy transactions relating to 
 Denmark -and to herself. She is particularly sen- 
 sible of the great share your lordship had in all 
 those affairs ; and has commanded me to convey 
 to your lordship her acknowledgments for that 
 constant attention to her honour and interests, 
 which she is persuaded the King will look upon as 
 an additional mark of your lordship's dutiful at- 
 tachment to his royal person and- family. 
 
 " It only remains that I should beg your for- 
 giveness for the great length to which I have 
 swelled this letter. The only excuse I can offer 
 arises from my ardent desire to execute the King's 
 orders with the utmost possible precision. 
 " I am, &c. &c., 
 
 «E. M. Keith." 
 
 ■ Before entering on the pleasing details of the 
 brief interval of serene repose, if not unmixed 
 happiness, which was, for two short years, the por- 
 tion of the exiled Queen, it may gratify the inte- 
 rest which it is hoped her chivalric champion has 
 awakened in the reader's mind, to close with the 
 following extract, for the present, his familiar cor- 
 respondence with his family: — 
 
 "London, 1772. 
 
 " Deae Anne, 
 
 " There are situations which beggar all 
 definition, and luckily stand in need of none. 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 333 
 
 Such is mine at present, and I need not tell you 
 from what a variety of concurring circumstances, I 
 claim a title to be looked upon as the happiest 
 man in this wide capital. My ambition is more 
 than satisfied, my heart is completely so. The 
 beneficent master I serve, has gone beyond my 
 utmost wishes ; yet, of all the obligations he has 
 laid upon my mind, the manner in which they are 
 conferred is undoubtedly the greatest.* I have 
 acquitted myself hitherto with zeal and assiduity ; 
 Heaven grant that I may serve him one day 
 with a success adequate to the measure of my 
 gratitude ! 
 
 " You know already how much I am indebted 
 to Lord Suffolk ; his reception of me (a perfect 
 stranger) was that of an old and intimate friend, 
 and I have sworn to him and to myself, that in 
 every event he shall find me act up to that honour- 
 able title. You have heard of my future destina- 
 tion f, which is the most distinguished upon all 
 accounts, and the most agreeable in every parti- 
 cular to myself. I have obtained leave to make 
 a. journey (a short one, I am afraid), to the Her- 
 
 * This protably alludes to the peculiarly gracious reception of 
 the writer by his Eoyal Master, the particulars of which have 
 just been communicated to the editor by a surviving friend of 
 Sir E. M. Keith. The obeisance customary on such occasions 
 was prevented by the Sovereign who, saying, " No, no, Keith, it is 
 not thus we receive our ftiends," condescendingly substituted a 
 cordial embrace for the usual kissing of hands. The circum- 
 stance, gratifying in itself, corroborates the extent and warmth 
 of the Monarch's fraternal interest in his sister's rescue. 
 
 f The embassy to Vienna, where the memory of his father's 
 long sojourn was affectionately cUerished. 
 
334 THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 mitage, where I long to rest me a little among my 
 family and friends. My poor nurse must be told 
 of my happy arrival. Inquire into her situation, 
 and let me know when and how I can mend it. 
 I am delighted with the joyful meetings which 
 await me. But adieu, for I must fly twenty miles 
 to dinner. . . , 
 
 " I have little to add to this scrawl. I meet 
 with fresh instances of goodness and friendship 
 every day of my life ; and if I had it not in me to 
 be sincerely grateful, I should deserve the pillory ! 
 Once more adieu. Kind love to the Hermits 
 and their many friends, whom I hope ere long to 
 embrace." 
 
 Having thus consigned to domestic happiness in 
 possession, and future honourable employment in 
 prospect, the hero (the writer fears it must be 
 confessed) of the preceding pages, it is high time 
 to applogise, or at least account for, the promi- 
 nence given in them to his character and corre- 
 spondence. 
 
 That the fond hope of thus raising to a distin- 
 guished relative, a monument slight and perish- 
 able, no doubt, yet grateful to the best feelings of 
 human nature, formed the paramount inducement, 
 it would be vain to deny. But with the same 
 truth it may be added that the hope of benefiting, 
 by thus lifting aside the veil, which for nearly a 
 century has shrouded these familiar effusions, the 
 rising generation of statesmen and politicians, of 
 proving that even in diplomacy the straight path 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 335 
 
 leads most directly to success and fortune — that 
 honour and integrity are weapons with which a 
 high-minded soldier could sever its most intricate 
 Gordian knots — that worthy sovereigns may be 
 served from disinterested affection, and discerning 
 ones rewarded by the devotedness of those in 
 whom they place their confidence, has led (after 
 many misgivings arising from their " strictly-con- 
 fidential " tenor) to the publicity now given to the 
 letters of Sir Eobert Murray Keith. 
 
 After the dethronement of Carolina Matilda, 
 and the death of Struensee, it required all the 
 talent of Juliana and her party to keep the wheels 
 of government in motion. The finances were in 
 the utmost disorder, trade at a stand, and Norway 
 in such a state of popular ferment on account of 
 an obnoxious poll-tax, as threatened a general re- 
 volt, while the sovereignty was in reality possessed 
 and exercised by the Queen Dowager. Taking 
 warning by the fate of Struensee, she sufi'ered the 
 council of state to be re-established, which, with 
 the exceptiojuof her ancient foe and reluctant ally, 
 Count EantzR, was composed of persons devoted 
 to her views. The King soon found his condition 
 was not bettered ; he had only changed keepers ; 
 and was deprived of some gratifications (perhaps 
 properly enough) which he had enjoyed under 
 the reign of his consort. What the court had 
 gained in morality it lost in elegance and attrac- 
 tion ; the graceful ease and magnificence of Ver- 
 sailles suddenly disappeared, and Grerman etiquette, 
 stiff, formal, and unbending, arose in its stead. 
 
336 THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACT. 
 
 If, however, Juliana restored the semi-barbarism 
 of ancient German grandeur, she occasioned a 
 greatly beneficial reduction of expense in the royal 
 establishment. Had her ambition been bounded 
 by this and similar reforms, and satiated by a 
 resumption of power and influence as complete as 
 it was unexpected, this princess (whose tact, if not 
 her ability, was proved by a judicious subsequent 
 choice of ministers) might have lived down ca- 
 lumny, and stifled, by a wise and temperate use of 
 renewed dominion, the relenting feelings of sym- 
 pathy soon manifested by the nation towards her 
 tinhappy victim. 
 
 Her first step, on the contrary, was one calcu- 
 lated to corroborate and confirm all the rumoured 
 designs of family aggrandisement ascribed to her 
 from the birth of her own son ; for whose appointr 
 ment as Eegent during the minority of his nephew, 
 the infant Crown prince, she secured a majority of 
 votes in the council. As, however, without the 
 concurrence of Count Eantzau she durst not risk 
 the undertaking, he is said (on the ^^ority of the 
 MS. before quoted) to have been in^ed, with cir- 
 cumstances of great form and courtesy, to a secret 
 conference in the palace, now inhabited by Queen 
 Juliana, — whence he had so cruelly and trea- 
 cherously ejected his former friend and royal 
 benefactress, — for the purpose of sounding him 
 on the meditated appointment. 
 
 The account of the transaction, for the accuracy 
 of which the translator of the MS. pledges himself, 
 is quite in keeping with the well-known vacilla-. 
 
THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 337 
 
 tion and inconsistency of that unprincipled states- 
 man, who, foiled in his hopes of rising to supreme 
 power on the ruins of the friend whom he had, at 
 the eleventh hour, fruitlessly endeavoured to warn, 
 and twice out-manoeuvred by the woman, whose 
 tool he now perceived he was about once more to 
 become, — sacrificed ambition to revenge ; and by 
 denouncing, as "more treasonable against the 
 King than all the crimes imputed, to Struensee" 
 the projected nomination, frustrated for the mo- 
 ment the plan of Juliana, and anticipated by a 
 voluntary self-banishment the order for exile 
 which his contumacy had called forth.* 
 
 Notwithstanding the efforts of the narrator 
 (with whom the Count is evidently a favourite) 
 to invest with an air of chivalrous loyalty this 
 resistance to the domination he had assisted its 
 possessor in usurping, it is impossible not to re- ■ 
 joice in the frustration of his own ambitious 
 hopes ; not to feel (as an honest skipper, grateful 
 for the benefits of Carolina Matilda, is said to 
 have done) satisfaction in seeing the fugitive 
 wind-bound, within view of the blackening relics 
 
 *■ A letter from Copenhagen mentions that the greater part 
 of those persons who were chiefly assisting in the revolution 
 of the 17th January last, instead of being rewarded for that 
 important event, are either disgraced or forced to resign their 
 employments. The first Minister of State, and General, Count 
 Schaek de Rantzau Asohherg, is removed from all his posts, but 
 with a pension of 8000 dollars. He is to depart for his estate 
 at Aschhergwith the first packet-boat. Several more changes in 
 the ministry have followed ; likewise in the military and admi- 
 ralty. — Weekly Magazine. 
 
 VOL. I. Z 
 
338 THE KOMAHCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 of his betrayed former associates ; nay, not even 
 to do more than acquiesce in the poetic justice 
 which caused the too well-known arrester of Caro- 
 lina Matilda to perish, spite of her alleged for- 
 giveness, hy the hknd of an officer devoted to her 
 memory. 
 
 The incident regarding the rencontre with the 
 old seaman is so honourable to the well-known 
 benevolence and affability of the Queen, and so 
 completely in keeping with what is elsewhere re- 
 corded of her, as well as in itself bearing the 
 stamp of truth, that we cannot resist giving it at 
 length, on the authority of the Danish MS; 
 already so often quoted. 
 
 When Coimt Eantzau, having freighted a small 
 vessel for the purpose, was taking his final leave 
 of Denmark, he had food for " meditation even to 
 madness" in the fate of those former associates and 
 benefactors whom, without benefit to himself, or 
 permanent good to the state, he had precipitated 
 from power. The sight of Cronenburg castle re- 
 called the remembrance of Carolina Matilda and 
 her sufferings, reflected as they now were in his 
 own virtual banishment. But a tack made by 
 the skipper having brought the vessel nearer to 
 Copenhagen, and in full view of the mangled 
 remains of Stpiensee and Brandt, the Count, 
 whose featur^ denoted horror and surprise, 
 sternly bade tjie skipper put instantly about, and 
 on the man's humbly stating that to proceed on 
 their voyage he must first weather a point , of 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 339 
 
 land called the Ness, the Count, ashamed of his 
 weakness, flung him a ducat, and went below. 
 
 The skipper, by birth a Norwegian and a coun- 
 tryman of the Count's valet, showed him the 
 ducat, saying, "WTiat made your master start at 
 the sight of the limbs of those men and order me 
 to put about ? " The valet, shaking his head and 
 making no reply, the skipper continued, " Had 
 he any hand in bringing them to that dreadful 
 end ? If he had, the Lord have mercy upon him ; 
 I would not have their blood on my head, for all 
 the ducats in the world^" 
 
 The valet looked the old man steadfastly in 
 the face, and said, "Are you not Peter NeUsen, 
 who rescued the King from the sea when he was 
 Crown-prince. "Ay," said the blunt old sailor, 
 " that man am I. The villain Brockdorff, I be- 
 lieve (Grod forgive me if I wrong him), intended 
 he should be drowned.* King Frederick, of 
 blessed memory, gave me a handful of money at 
 the time, and ordered I should be provided for ; 
 
 • During the life of King Frederick the Fifth water-parties 
 in the royal yacht often took place. During one of these the 
 young Prince (afterwards Christian Til.) was more than usually 
 wild and disorderly ; neither entreaties nor remonstrances could 
 prevail on In'm to be quiet. A gentleman of the household, 
 Brockdorff by name, whose manners were not the most polished, 
 threatened to throw him into the water unless he behaved more 
 decently, ' and taking him by the arm, he was really awkward or 
 unfortunate enough to let him fall into the water. The young 
 Prince was rescued by a sailor, but ever afterwards it was impos- 
 sible to persuade him it was not the act of his stepmother, who 
 injudiciously confirmed his suspicions by taking Brockdorff into 
 her service. 
 
 Z2 
 
340 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 but I never had any provision till the good young 
 queen chanced to hear that I had once saved her 
 husband's life. Heaven bless her ! and be her 
 guide and protector ! " continued the grateful sea- 
 man. " She sent for me, and made me tell her 
 all about it, which I did in my homely way. The 
 beautiful Queen shook her head, as much as to 
 say, I know who was at the bottpm of this ; and 
 so did I, though I didn't say so. So then she 
 bade her woman tell me I should be provided for 
 when the King came home, who was then ia 
 England ; and she shook me by my coarse hand, 
 and made her baby put its little hand in mine 
 to thank me for having saved its father's life ; and 
 she gave me money, for I was very poor, through 
 sickness and ill luck. 
 
 *' Soon after the King returned, I was indeed 
 sent for to the palace, and the King himself took 
 me by the hand ; but it seems his Majesty thought 
 I had been provided for. Count Struensee was 
 there ; but he was no count then ; happy for him. 
 if he never had been ! He was then the King's 
 Grerraan doctor, . I could speak a little Grerman, 
 and Untold me I was to have a hundred dollars a 
 year for my life, so that I need never work, or go to 
 sea again. I fell on my knees to thank the King 
 and Queen, and told them I should die if I were 
 not to work, nor to go to sea. They smiled when 
 they heard this, and the King said, ' Old man, 
 thou shalt not die if I can save thee ; ' so then, 
 Doctor Struensee (God bless his soul ! and may 
 his sins be forgiven him), said, ' A gift of a small 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 341 
 
 vessel would be more useful.' 'True,' said tlie 
 Queen, 'he shall have a vessel, and the pension 
 too,' and this very yacht was the Queen's gift. 
 Now:, have not I and mine, a right to pray for my 
 benefactress?" 
 
 On learning the name of the enemy to her 
 peace and fame, for whom his vessel had been 
 freighted, the story goes on to . say, that he not 
 only pitched into the sea the ducat he had just re- 
 ceived from him, but ^hen paid his freight, set 
 it aside for the poor, determined not to mis it 
 with what he called his honest money. 
 
 The above anecdote derives additional authen- 
 ticity (whether, as circumstances and the age of 
 the hero of the one just narrated render unlikely, 
 they relate to the same individual, or another 
 grateful recipient of Carolina Matilda's bounty), 
 from an almost similar trait of disinterested at- 
 tachment to the memory of a deceased benefac- 
 tress, equally honourable with the above to the 
 national character of Danish seamen, given in 
 the " Tour of the Lady of Bank," already alluded 
 to, as having occurred in 1796. 
 
 " On leaving Copenhagen" (after the audiences 
 already mentioned, in which the venerable ap- 
 pearance and singular deportment of the King 
 have been described), the tourist proceeds — "for 
 Stockholm, I was accompanied by the two Dutch 
 envoys, who were going to compliment the young 
 King of Sweden on his marriage with the Prin- 
 cess of Baden ; having myself been furnished 
 with letters of introduction to the Princess Sophia 
 
 Z3 
 
342 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 Albertina, aunt to the King, from her Eoyal 
 Highness the Duchess of York,' who had been 
 co-abbess of Grutemberg with her highness.* On 
 our arrival at Elsinore, we hired two boats, one 
 for the conveyance of our carriages, servants and 
 luggage ; the other for ourselves. 
 
 " "We had scarcely set sail for Helsingborg, on 
 the opposite coast of the Sound, the usual land- 
 ing-place in Sweden, when one of the sailors, 
 hearing us converse in -ihe English language, 
 thus addressed us with all the frankness of his 
 profession: — 'There,' said he, pointing to the 
 castle of Cronenburg, which was distinctly seen 
 as we cleared the port, is the fortress in which 
 the unfortunate and persecuted Queen Matilda 
 was shut up by that infernal old beldame Juliana 
 Maria, who I hope is now in a place where all 
 the water in the world will not quench the fire 
 which surrounds her ! Poor Queen Matilda, Grod 
 rest her soul ! she educated three of my sons' and 
 one of my daughters," for whom she had the con- 
 descension to become godmother, and who died 
 of grief when her benefactress was exiled.f I 
 
 * These particnlara are merely given here, as lending authen- 
 ticity and weight to the succeeding anecdote. 
 
 t That it was not in isolated cases like the above that the 
 characteristic benevolence of the unfortunate deposed Queen 
 was manifested, is evident from a casual notice in the periodicals 
 of the day to the following effect : " Several charities which 
 were instituted at Copenhagen at the instance of the late Queen 
 Consort have, since her departure, been abolished; and the 
 utmost disrespect is shown at Court to everything that seems 
 calculated to support her memory." — Weekly Magazine. 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 343 
 
 have since that time,' continued the old , man, 
 ' entered the Swedish service, determined never 
 to set foot in a land which I detest ; since it has 
 been so cruel and unjust towards the poor de- 
 parted Queen, who was condemned on the false 
 evidence of individuals under the horrors of the 
 rack, because they were persuaded that if they 
 criminated her Majesty their own lives would be 
 saved. Poor Brandt and Struensee, they little 
 thought that while compelled to accuse their 
 generous Queen, they were only sealing their own 
 destruction ! I never think of those dreadful 
 times with a dry eye ; though it is now near thirty 
 years since that horrid transaction disgraced the 
 national character in us Danes.' And indeed 
 there was no hypocrisy," adds the narrator, " in 
 the old seaman's expressions, for tears actually 
 ran down his furrowed cheeks while he thus art- 
 lessly gave vent to his feelings. On reaching 
 Helsingborg, we made a point of inquiring relative 
 to the old man's story, and found that there was 
 every reason to believe in its veracity; as the 
 officers of the customs were perfectly acquainted 
 with the circumstances which led to his entering 
 the service of Sweden, and spoke highly of his 
 character. They added, ' that though frequently 
 at Elsinore, he was never known to land, but 
 always remained in his boat, firmly resolved not 
 to break through his resolution.' On taking our 
 leave of this honest son of Neptune, to whom 
 each of the party gave some token of remem- 
 
 Z4 
 
344 THE EOMAHCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 brance, we could not help contrasting his fidelity 
 and gratitude with the conduct of those who have 
 much greater reason to exercise those virtues ; or 
 asking each other how many of those who revel 
 in the sunshine of royal favour would evince 
 such sincere and heartfelt sympathy for fallen 
 majesty." 
 
 That such or similar sentiments, however, soon 
 resumed the ascendant in public opinion, may be 
 gathered from the following paragraph, in a 
 weekly journal of the time : — 
 
 " Private letters from Copenhagen say that 
 every day witnesses fresh troubles in the state, 
 that the many changes in the ministry cause mur- 
 murs and complaints all over the kingdom, and 
 that the cruelties which have been exercised on 
 some of the first nobility, by order of the Queen 
 Dowager and her party, make her unpopular 
 with all ranks of people." 
 
 " Denmark," says Adolphus in his ' History of 
 the Eeign of George the Third,' " exhibited at 
 this time a miserable spectacle of a frail govern- 
 ment, and an imbecile sovereign. Since the 
 banishment of Carolina Matilda, the King, too 
 feeble in his intellects to act 'in any affair of state, 
 relinquished the royal supremacy to the Queen- 
 mother, an ambitious and designing woman, whose 
 projects are said to have embraced the dethrone- 
 ment of her step-son, the exclusion of his children, 
 and the usui-pation of his younger brother. Under 
 her, the weak and disjointed condition of the 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 345 
 
 Danisli ministry rendered it contemptible in the 
 eyes of all Europe." 
 
 A later traveller in Denmark gives, on the 
 authority of eye-witnesses of that period of nomi- 
 nal sway by the puppet monarch, an anecdote, 
 elsewhere recorded, and quite in keeping with 
 what French memoir-writers style the sayings 
 (when at that court) of the "foolish yet witty 
 King of Denmark;" and with the occasional 
 gleams of acuteness which flashed across the dark- 
 ness of his later years. 
 
 " During the early part of Juliana's domination, 
 and when the reins of power were yet nominally 
 in the hands of the King, she would, for form's 
 sake, sometimes send the public documents for his 
 sign manual. On one of these occasions, his signa- 
 ture was given as follows : ' Christian the Seventh, 
 by the Grrace of Grod, King of Denmark, &c., in 
 company with Juliana Maria and others, by the 
 grace of the Devil ! ' And as no remonstrances 
 would induce the obstinate monarch to substitute 
 the usual form, it may be believed that his sig- 
 nature was henceforward dispensed with." 
 
 We the more readily return to the legitimate 
 and ostensible subject of our memoir, the exiled 
 Queen, that we can do so, for a time at least, with 
 unmingled satisfaction. " This exalted sufferer," 
 says, and truly, her anonymous biographer, " was 
 never greater than during the latter years which 
 she spent in her retirement. She was no longer 
 a young unguarded princess, whose levities had 
 given her enemies too favourable an opportunity 
 
346 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 to effect her fall. She had learned in the school 
 of adversity, and from the malevolence of Juliana, 
 who had misconstrued even her virtues into vices, 
 to act with such prudence and circumspection, as 
 to command a personal respect independent of 
 majesty; without being less admired for her gra- 
 cious condescension, and most endearing affability. 
 She appeared at Zell in her true and native cha- 
 racter, divested of the retinue and pomp which, 
 on the throne of Denmark, veiled her, in a great 
 degree, from the inspection of impartial judges. 
 She displayed, in her little court, all the princely 
 and social qualities calculated to charm her visitors 
 and attendants; there was in her person such 
 grace and dignity as could not fail to gain her 
 universal love. Though she excelled in all the 
 exercises befitting her sex, birth, and station, and 
 danced the first minuet in the Danish Court, she 
 never indulged herself in this polite amusement, 
 of which she had been excessively fond, since the 
 masked ball, the conclusion of which had been 
 so fatal and disgraceful to her Majesty. As one 
 of her pretended crimes had been the delight she 
 took in riding, and the uncommon address and 
 spirit with which she managed the horse, she 
 renounced also this innocent diversion, for fear 
 of giving the least occasion to the blame and 
 censures of the malicious or ignorant. 
 
 " IJer Majesty had an exquisite taste for music, 
 and devoted much of her time to the harpsichord, 
 accompanied by the melodious voice of a lady of 
 her court. There was in her dress a noble sim- 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 347 
 
 plicity, whicli exhibited more taste than magnifi- 
 cence. As her mind had been cultivated, by 
 reading the works of the most eminent writers 
 among the moderns, she read regularly two hours 
 before dinner, with Miss Schulemberg, whatever 
 her Majesty thought most conducive to her in- 
 struction or entertainment, in poets and histo- 
 rians ; communicating to each other their obser- 
 vations, with equal freedom and ingenuity. She 
 improved the knowledge she had acquired Of the 
 Crerman language, and had a catalogue of the best 
 authors of that nation, to enable her to converse 
 fluently on subjects of literature with men of taste 
 and condition. As- her manners were the most 
 polished, grateful, and endearing, her Court be- 
 came the resort of persons of both sexes, cele- 
 brated for their love of the fine arts. The con- 
 tracted state of her finances could not restrain 
 that princely magnificence and liberal disposition, 
 which made her purse ever open to indigent 
 merit and distressed virtue. Naturally cheerful, 
 and happy in the consciousness of her innocence, 
 adored and revered by the circle of a Court, free 
 from cabals and intrigues, even the dark cloud of 
 adversity could not alter the sweetness and se- 
 renity of her temper. There she was surrounded 
 with faithful servants, who attended her not from 
 sordid motives of ambition, but from attachment 
 and unfeigned regard. They were not the spies 
 and emissaries of an artful, imperious, and re- 
 vengeful woman; or the evil counsellors of a 
 wretched King, the first slave of his debauched 
 
348 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 and profligate Court. Peace, content, and har- 
 mony, dwelt under her Majesty's auspices, whose 
 household was like a well-regulated family, super- 
 intended by a mistress who made her happiness 
 consist in doing good to all those who implored 
 her compassion and beneficence. 
 
 " Banished with every circumstance of indignity 
 from the throne of Denmark, her noble soul re- 
 tained no sentiment of revenge or resentment 
 against the wicked authors of her fall, or against 
 the Danish people. Ambition, a passion incom- 
 patible with enjoyment, never disturbed her peace 
 of mind : she looked back to the diadem which 
 had been torn from her brow with a calmness and 
 magnanimity, which Christina, of Sweden could 
 never attain after her abdication. It was not the 
 crown she regretted, her children only employed 
 all her care and solicitude: the feelings of the 
 Queen were absorbed in those of the mother." 
 
 The genuineness of the letter subjoined by the 
 biographer so often quoted, purporting to be from 
 the Queen at this period (August, 1772), to her 
 sister, the Hereditary Princess of Brunswick, there 
 can now be no means of ascertaining. It is merely 
 given here as containing^ not only a natural ex- 
 pression of the maternal feelings so often alluded 
 to, but a pleasing and perfectly correct description 
 of the manner in which the calumniated Carolina 
 Matilda employed her retirement from the cares, 
 as well as pleasures (so called) of royalty, in which 
 only six short months before, she had been so fa- 
 tally immersed, and which must now, when con- 
 
THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 349 
 
 templated from this calm retreat, have appeared to 
 her like some troubled and feverish dream. 
 
 " Zell, August llth, mi. 
 
 "Deak Ststee, 
 
 " Thaaks to Heaven for having made me 
 sensible of the f atility and delusion of all worldly 
 pomp and stately nothingness. Believe nie when 
 I tell you I have not once wished to be again an 
 enthroned Queen. Were my dear children re- 
 stored to me I should think, if there is on this 
 earth perfect happiness, I might enjoy it in a 
 private station with them ; but the Supreme Dis- 
 poser of all events has decreed that my peace of 
 mind should be continually disturbed by what I 
 feel on this cruel and unnatural separation. You 
 are a tender mother, and I appeal to your own 
 fondness. Pray give my love to the dear Augusta 
 and all her brothers; now that she is in her 
 seventh year, she is, I dare say, an agreeable chatty 
 companion. As for Charles, he is, I understand, 
 like his father, born a warrior*; nothing but 
 drums, swords, and horses, can please his martial 
 inclinations. George, Augustus, and William, no 
 .doubt equally contribute to your comfort and 
 amusement. Tell them I have some little presents 
 I shall send them the i6rst opportunity. 
 
 " You desire to know how I vary my occupa- 
 tions and amusements in this residence. I get up 
 between seven and eight ; take a walk in the gar- 
 
 * A prediction verified in the military career of the weE- 
 known Duke of BniDswick. 
 
350 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 den, if weather permits, give my instructions to 
 the gardener for the day, observe his men at work 
 with that contented mind which is a continual 
 feast, return to the castle for breakfast^ dress my- 
 self from ten to eleven, appear in njy little circle 
 at twelve, retire to my apartment about one, read, 
 or take an airing till dinner, walk again in the 
 gardens for about an hour with the ladies of my 
 retinue, drink tea, play upon the harpsichord, some- 
 times a little party at quadrille before supper, and 
 am commonly in bed by twelve. Every Monday 
 I receive petitions from real objects of compassion, 
 and delight in relieving their necessities according 
 to my power ; go twice to chapel every Sunday : 
 and thus every week passes in a regular rotation 
 of rational conversations,-— feciures amtisantes et 
 instructives, — musical entertainments, walks, and 
 little curious needleworks. I see everybody 
 happy around me, and they vie with each other 
 in proofs of zeal and affection for my person. 
 Now I can truly say I cultivate friendship and 
 philosophy, strangers to the throne. I expect to 
 see you soon, according to your promise ; this 
 visit will add much to the comfort of your most 
 affectionate sister, 
 
 " Cakolina Matilda." 
 
 The woman who, at twenty-one, could thus write, 
 or what is of more importance, thus act, and that 
 for the whole remainder of a too brief existence, 
 when released from the trammels of etiquette, 
 and left to follow the bent of h^r own inclinations. 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 351 
 
 must, if ever she manifested qualitiesi so foreign 
 as those ascribed to her during one unhappy 
 period, have been under the influence of a spell, 
 which had only to be removed to restore her to 
 her better and original self. 
 
 That a revulsion of public feeling in the favour 
 of one so injured and amiable should ere long 
 take place was only to be expected. " The cruel 
 and unjust punishment," says her biographer, " in- 
 flicted on Carolina Matilda, for some indiscreet 
 sallies of youth, was looked upon by the Danes 
 with every allowance, for this amiable princess's 
 endearing virtues and accomplishments filled the 
 mind of the sensible and generous part of the 
 nation with horror and indignation.* The King 
 soon perceived his injustice and his error, a 
 wretched solitary being, a prey to remorse for his 
 conduct towards his injured consort f, whom he 
 wished to recall, and to have once more seated 
 on his gloomy throne ; but his fickleness and 
 imbecility made him again the sport of his step- 
 mother's devices. Since this revolution, the state 
 
 * The last letters from Copenhagen advise that the inhaMtants 
 of that city inveigh exceedingly against the execution of the 
 Counts Straensee and Brandt; several circumstances having 
 since appeared relative to the motives for the proceeding, which 
 render the authors of it more and more odious to the public. — 
 
 t This state of miad and feeling in the unhappy monarch is 
 thus briefly but expressively noticed in the public prints of the 
 day : " Advices from Copenhagen mention that the King has of 
 late manifested an extraordinary absence of mind ; and is almost 
 continually in a state of desponden(^.'' 
 
352 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY; 
 
 has gradually sunk into a languid inaction, torn 
 by intestine factions, and exposed to the insult 
 and derision of a powerful ally, become its 
 enemy." 
 
 The hint contained in the foregoing passage, 
 though penned in perfect unconsciousness of an 
 event, of which all Europe was ignorant till its 
 posthumous' revelation by the chief actor con- 
 cerned, as to the wish entertained in Denmark, 
 ere many years had elapsed, to recall to the throne 
 from which she had been so cruelly precipitated, 
 the subject of this memoir, may serve to pave the 
 way for the singular details given by Sir Nathaniel 
 Wraxall of the negotiations to that effect, in 
 which he became an agent ; and which were only 
 frustrated by the sudden removal from this world 
 of their object. And inaccurate as this writer 
 confessedly shows himself, on some occasions, in 
 adopting and circulating reports, for which he was 
 indebted to others, it were surely unwarrantable to 
 - suppose .(even did the narrative itself less bear the 
 stamp of truth) that, in his record of a transaction 
 in which he was personally engaged, and which 
 was not destined to transpire till the grave had 
 closed over the narrator, any conceivable motive 
 should lead him to bequeath to future generations 
 a relation of circumstances, whose easy refutation 
 (if untrue) by persons still alive, would brand 
 ■with falsehood the memory of their recorder.* 
 
 * They derive great additional credibility from the residence, 
 already alluded to, of the writer at Vienna, and his intimacy 
 ■while there ■with Sir R. M. Keith ; ■with ■whom (it is evident 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT.' 353 
 
 Th,is deeply interesting history, as exciting in 
 its details as any chapter in romance, occurs in 
 his Posthumous Memoirs, vol. i. p. 372, to which 
 the reader must be referred for particulars, of 
 which our necessarily brief resume must deprive 
 him. It is thus introduced by one whose heart 
 and soul had evidently been in the enterprise, in 
 the prosecution of. which, he underwent hardships 
 and disguises little inferior to those of the preux 
 chevaliers of old. 
 
 "I am tempted to recount an adventure in 
 which I was personally engaged, the nature and 
 delicacy of which has hitherto prevented my 
 divulging it to the world, but which I may, 
 without impropriety, transmit to posterity. If 
 the tragical transactions connected with Maria 
 Antoinette must ever agitate the human mind, 
 the history which I am to relate respects a 
 princess, whose misfortimes and premature end, 
 warmly interested her contemporaries, and will 
 be perused with emotion in future times. I 
 mean the Queen of Denmark, Carolina Matilda,' 
 consort of Christian VII., and sister of Greorge III." 
 
 A lively personal interest in this princess having 
 been excited in his mind by a visit to Zell (in 
 which he had the satisfaction of communicating 
 to her oral information respecting her beloved 
 
 from frequent thougli guarded allusions in Sir N. Wraxall's 
 letters) the matter had been talked over; and to whom the 
 latter (who entertained for him the profoiindest Teneration) 
 •vrould not have yentured to make any but an authentic commu- 
 nication, especially on this particular subject. 
 
 vol. I. A A. 
 
354 THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 children, whom he had recently seen at Copen- 
 hagen), Sir Nathaniel, then a young disengaged 
 traveller, and, as may be gathered from his writ- 
 ings, of a character quite fitted for political 
 intrigue, was admirably disposed to become the 
 agent of a party of exiled Danish nobles at Ham- 
 burgh, whom the growing unpopularity of the 
 faction which had supplanted them in Denmark, 
 and assurance of support and success from that 
 quarter, had led to form well-grounded plans for 
 the restoration to power and dignity of the now 
 again popular banished Queen. 
 
 To insure this success, two, and two only, con- 
 comitants were deemed indispensable — the con- 
 sent of Carolina Matilda herself to embark in the 
 no doubt somewhat hazardous enterprise, and her 
 influence with-her brother. of England, to procure 
 for it, when acM&ved, such assurance of support 
 as should offer those engaged in it a guarantee 
 against the consequences of possible reaction. 
 Pecuniary aid from Greorge III. was also a neces- 
 sary condition towards its accomplishment. 
 
 The prosecution Of these objects involved their 
 willing negotiator in a series of travels by flood 
 and field, in the midst of an inundated country, 
 in the depiJi of a northern -wTnter, to which he 
 says all his other extensive Tours (so fully and 
 graphically recorded) were as nothing. Nor is 
 any drama, even of the Spanish school, more 
 fertile in midnight assignations, on lonely ram- 
 parts and in solitary post-houses, nay, in the 
 palace of royalty itself, than the romance of real 
 
THE KOMASCE OF DIPLOMACY. 355 
 
 life, which we thus reluctantly abridge. The 
 most really perilous, however, of these iaterviews, 
 to the success of the enterprise, was one in broad 
 daylight, when, previous to one of the early 
 dinners of the little German courts, it was Sir 
 Nathaniel's somewhat nervous task to deliver in 
 public to the Queen (in presence of her sister 
 the Duchess of Brunswick, a witness justly 
 dreaded by the party, as niece by marriage to the 
 Queen Dowager of Denmark, Juliana Maria), 
 the letter containing the proposal for that now 
 triumphant princess's dethronement from virtual 
 sovereignty, and the substitution in her place of 
 the reader of the unlooked-for missive. 
 
 The heightened colour, irrepressible curiosity, 
 and somewhat indiscreet evidences of natural 
 emotion, betrayed by the still young and high- 
 spirited princess (in spite of the earnest warnings 
 conveyed in its envelope) on peri^sing, thus cir- 
 cumstanced, a document purporting to relate to 
 a company of comedicms, but in reality putting a 
 throne once more within her grasp, — are such as 
 cannot be read without corresponding and breath- 
 less interest ; or without an immediate and irresis- 
 tible conviction, how easily one, incapable of dis- 
 sembling, even when taught by sad experience 
 and misfortune, must have become a prey, in her 
 days of reckless prosperity, to the malignant, and 
 probably ill-founded constructions, of the enemies 
 she unhappily despised. 
 
 Eecovering, however, the royal dignity she 
 
 A A 2 
 
356 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 could SO well, even in, adversity, assume, Carolina 
 Matilda, in various secret interviews with the 
 negotiator, entered on the discussion of his deli- 
 cate mission with an abiUty, as well as propriety, 
 which seems to -have surprised, while it charmed 
 the envoy ; whom she furnished with credentials 
 to her faithful partisans, and assurance of her 
 readiness, at the suggestion of duty as well as 
 inclination and maternal affection, to co-operate 
 with the Danish nobility (at whatever personal 
 hazard to herself), provided the consent of her 
 brother of England — as a hospitably entertained 
 resident in whose states, she purposely declined 
 all attempt to quit them without his sanction — 
 should be obtained. This she, on being made ac- 
 quainted in a second interview with their precise 
 wishes and stipulations, undertook to procure. 
 . Not content with writing to her broths to 
 enforce the appeal to his fraternal feelings, on the 
 part of the exiled noblesse, she also wrote (anti- 
 cipating that the caution of Greorge III. would 
 preclude his granting Sir Nathaniel a personal 
 interview) to Lord Suffolk, who, as Secretary of 
 State at the time of her misfortunes, and as the 
 friend of Sir E. Keith, she justly regarded as one 
 deeply interested in their termination; and to 
 Baron Lichtenstein, a personal favourite of her 
 brother's, and enjoying as such, uti-official oppor- 
 tunities of discussing the subject with his Majesty, 
 and communicating the result to Sir Nathaniel, 
 — who, with these credentials, made a hurried 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 357 
 
 and fatiguing journey to London, where he arrived 
 15th November, 1774. 
 
 The former nobleman being, as usual, hors de 
 combat with a fit of the gout, the business was 
 transacted through the latter ; who very cordially 
 undertook it, and proceeded, after many tanta- 
 lising delays, occasioned by the necessity of corre- 
 spondence with the Queen's party, to ascertain the 
 precise nature of their views and stipulations, — 
 to deliver to Sir Nathaniel on the 3rd of the 
 following February, a paper drawn up in French, 
 containing four articles, expressive of the King's 
 approbation and consent to his sister's restoration, 
 on the following conditions:- — That no act of 
 severity, beyond simple dismission, and removal 
 to their private places of abode, should, in the 
 event of success, be exercised against any of the 
 individuals actually in possession of power. That 
 as soon as the revolution was effected, the King's 
 minister at Copenhagen should be directed to 
 declare that it had been done with his icp-opera- 
 tion. By the third, though he declinec^'inaking 
 pecuniary advances for facilitating the enterprise, 
 he guaranteed the repayment of such sums as 
 should necessarily be expended in procuring the 
 return of Queen Carolina Matilda to Denmark. 
 By the fourth, he engaged that when the revolu- 
 tion should be completed, he would maintain it, if 
 requisite, by the forces of Great Britain. 
 
 Furnished with this all-important document, 
 Wraxall set out for Zell and Hamburgh, and 
 
 A A 3 
 
358 THE KOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 braved (as a less enterprising man miglit have felt 
 impelled to do) the perils from impassable roads 
 and swollen streams, to which we have already- 
 alluded, and of which no one who, has not seen a 
 northern country under water in the winter time, 
 can form an adequate idea. He seems to have 
 found the reward of his chivalry, in the gracious- 
 ness of the reception of its object in a two hours' 
 interview on the following afternoon, of which he 
 has left a detail too animated, and relevant to 
 the subject of these pages, to be omitted. 
 
 " It took place," says he, " in a spacious apart- 
 ment, the windows of which commanded a view 
 over the gardens of the castle ; and I had scarcely 
 leisure to cast my eyes around when the Queen 
 entered, without any attendant. My interview 
 with her lasted till near a quarter past six, during 
 all which time we stood in the embrasure of a 
 window. As I had then an opportunity of closely 
 examining her countenance and person, it being 
 broad IdMylight, I shall add a few words more on 
 the sulyect, though I have elsewhere described 
 her. Her charms consisted principally in her 
 youth, the delicacy of her complexion, and her 
 embonpomt. Like the King, her brother, she 
 betrayed a hurry in her articulation when eager 
 and agitdted ; but which peculiarity rather added 
 to than diminished her attractions. Her manners 
 were very ingratiating, noble, yet calculated to 
 win those who approached her. Indeed, towards 
 me, who was engaged, at the hazard of my life, in 
 endeavours to replace her on the throne, it was 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 359 
 
 natural she should express much good-will and 
 condescension. I say to place her on the throne, 
 because it was not merely the crown matrimonial 
 to which she would have been restored; Chris-, 
 tian VII. being in a state of hopeless imbecility, 
 it followed that if she returned to Denmark, she 
 must have been invested with supreiAe authority 
 as Eegent, during her son's minority. 
 
 " After expressing regrets that her brother had 
 not admitted me to a personal interview, and 
 hopes that the stipulations I had brought from 
 England would satisfy the party engaged in her 
 interests, with great animation she assured me, 
 that no sentiment of revenge or animosity towards 
 the Queen Bowager, or Prince Frederick, or any 
 of the individuals who had arrested or imprisoned 
 her, would ever actuate her conduct.* The men- 
 tion of their names naturally led her, to speak of 
 the memorable night of the 13th January, 1772, 
 when she fell a victim to her imprudence and 
 want of precaution. I would have avoided such 
 a topic for obvious reasons, but she entered on it 
 with so much determination, that I could only 
 listen while she recounted to me all the extraor- 
 dinary occurrences which befel her ; not omitting 
 names and particulars respecting herself and others 
 of the most private nature. I am, however, far 
 
 * These amiable sentiments seem hereditarily and nneon- 
 seiously (for they were not published till long after 1784, and 
 her children, at her decease, ■were too young to have imhibed 
 them) to have influenced her son in hia triumphant, yet Chris- 
 tian, assumption of power in that year. 
 A A 4 
 
360 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 from meaning that she made any disclosure unbe* 
 coming a woman of honour and delicacy." * 
 
 The not unnatural dissatisfaction of the Altona 
 refugees, -with that one stipulation from England, 
 which made the King's declaration by his Minister 
 subsequent to, instead of simultaneous with, the 
 counter-revolution, necessitaljid a mission to Co- 
 penhagen, which the officious Wraxall was, from 
 prudential motives, with difficulty withheld from 
 volunteering. The stipulation again of the power- 
 ful party there, for the Queen's personal presence 
 (which this true sister of Greorge III.'s never 
 flinched from hazarding) at the outset of their 
 enterprise, in hopes of inducing the King of 
 England similarly to countenance its execution at 
 the Tnoment, — necessitated fresh journeys to Zell 
 and London, in which Wraxall was once more a 
 willing and, unobjectionable emissary. His last 
 interview with the Queen, an evening one, pre- 
 faced with excessive precautions, and preceded by 
 
 * The narrator miglat have spared the last proyiso, one rather 
 in his own peculiar style. But, independently of this negative 
 testimony (which, as posthumous is undoubtedly valuable) the 
 instinct of womanhood impresses on every woman, — like Matilda, 
 of " honour and delicacy," — that nothing short of the triple 
 shield of innocence could enable one of her sex to press, in broad 
 daylight, with a somewhat youthful countryman, subjects, in- 
 volving (on any other supposition) her dereliction of woman's 
 holiest duties. Nor, had the consciousness of guilt been to ac- 
 company her back T;o Denmark, would she have been so ready to 
 place her head once more within the jaws of a fate, which, con- 
 science must then have whispered, would not be revenge, but 
 retribution. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 361 
 
 long and apprehensive waiting, in a miserably 
 rainy and tempestuous night, is thus described : — 
 
 " The room (the Queen's library) was fully 
 lighted up, and in about half an hour she entered 
 the apartment. She was elegantly dressed in 
 crimson satin, and impressed me as having an air 
 of majesty, mingled with condescension, altogether 
 imlike an ordinary woman of condition. Our in- 
 terview lasted two hours. She assured me she 
 would write the letter demanded by the Danish 
 nobility, to her brother, before she retired to rest ; 
 and ' as to the question put to me (added she), 
 whether I shotdd be ready to set out for Copen- 
 hagen, — assure them that I am disposed to share 
 every hazard with my friends, and to quit this 
 place upon the shortest notice. To obtain my bro- 
 ther's permission for that step (which I cannot take 
 without his consent and approbation), shall form 
 one of the principal objects of my letter to him.' 
 
 " These material points being settled, our con- 
 versation took a wider range, and as her Majesty 
 showed no disposition to terminate it, we re- 
 mained together till near eleven. When ready to 
 leave me, she opened the door, but retained it a 
 minute in her hand, as if willing to protract her 
 stay. She had never, perhaps, been more en- 
 gaging than that night, in that attitude, and in 
 that dress. Her countenance, animated with the 
 prospect of her, approaching emancipation from 
 Zell (which was in fact only a refuge and an exile) 
 and restoration to the throne of Denmark, was 
 lighted, up with smiles, and she appeared to be in 
 
362 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 high health. Yet if futurity could have been 
 unveiled to us, we should have seen, behind the 
 door which she held in her hand, the ' fell ana- 
 tomy ' (as Constance calls him) already raising his 
 dart to strike her. Within seven weeks from that 
 day she yielded her last breathl" 
 
 It was not, however, amid the toils and hazards 
 of revolution, or the recovered pains and pagean- 
 tries of royalty, that the impending stroke was to 
 descend upon the head of its unconscious victim. 
 The absence (on Wraxall's arrival in London, on 
 the 5th of April, 1775,) of Baron Lichtenstein, in 
 Hanover, and the necessity created, by the caution 
 of the King, in refusing a personal interview, of 
 transmitting all communications by-that circuitous 
 route, protracted the business till May the 10th*, 
 when the baron wrote to Wraxall to await in 
 London his next despatch, assuring him that all 
 was proceeding favourably for the projected en- 
 terprise. 
 
 On Friday, the 12th of Ma]^ all this fabric of 
 hopes and expectations was dashed to the earth 
 by the tidings of the decease of the ill-starred 
 
 * The precise day of Caioliaa Matilda's demise. The event 
 is thus annouliced by Lord Suffolk to Sir R M. Keith, in terms 
 identifying them hoth -with its illustrious subject : — 
 
 "London, May 19, 1779. 
 "Deae Keith, 
 
 " News is just ariiTed of our Queen of Denmarkls death. 
 She died of a putrid fever and sore throat, on the 10th of this 
 montli. 
 
 " Yours ever, most truly, 
 
 " Suffolk.'' 
 
THE ROMANCE OlF DIPLOMACY. 363 
 
 object ! Carolina Matilda, for whose restoration, 
 with or without the co-operation of her brother, 
 the day and hour had actually then been fixed, 
 had breathed her last, or at least was unconscious, 
 ere a letter containing, it is believed, his full 
 assent to her every request, reached Zell, whence 
 it was returned, with the seal unbroken, to the 
 writer. 
 
 Perhaps it was well for the peaceful serenity 
 of a death-bed, on which no thought of earth 
 seems to have intruded, that a document, so cal- 
 culated to awaken visions of temporal greatness, 
 was not permitted to reach the closing eyes, of 
 the dying sufiferer; though the equanimity she 
 manifested when a throne had seemed for ever 
 lost, renders it doubtful if even its restored pos- 
 session could at that moment have disputed with 
 higher aspirations, the resigned and weary spirit 
 of the royal victim ! 
 
 Wraxall proceeds to relate what personally con- 
 cerned himself, and his strenuous, though frus- 
 trated exertions, in the service of the Queen and 
 her adherents. The latter were not ungrateful, 
 and made urgent and persevering applications in 
 his behalf, through Baron Lichtenstein, to George 
 III. They remained, however, apparently dis- 
 regarded, till in 1781, six years after the death 
 of Carolina Matilda, Lord North thus addressed 
 him one day in the house : " Mr. Wraxall, I have 
 received his Majesty's commands to see and talk 
 with you- He informs me that you renderedvery 
 important services to the late Queen of Denmark, 
 
364 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 of ■wHch he related to me the particulars. He 
 is desirous of acknowledging them, and we must 
 have some conversation on the subject. Can you 
 .come to me at Bushy Park, dine, and spend the 
 day ? " At this interview. Lord North asked Sir 
 Nathaniel what compensation he expected for his 
 expenses in the service of her Majesty ? A thou- 
 sand guineas was named, and shortly after paid, 
 and employment promised, but prevented by the 
 change of ministry in 1782.* 
 
 We must now accompany the unhappy Princess, 
 so long the sport of fortune's most cruel and haras- 
 sing vicissitudes, to that closing scene, which their 
 quick succession undoubtedly accelerated. When 
 we consider that at an age when female youth 
 is generally still sheltered beneath a parent's fos- 
 tering wing, Carolina Matilda had to encounter a 
 pruel and final separation from all she had ever 
 known or loved ; unkindness and contumely in 
 a foreign land ; calumny and misrepresentation, 
 followed by adulation, rendered more perilous and 
 intoxicating by previous neglect ; that, hurried 
 from a scene of unconscious revelry, she was awoke 
 in the night by a rude soldiery, and conveyed to 
 
 * An unexpected collateral testimony to the one before men- 
 tioned — corroborating tbe truth of the transaction itself from 
 the cognizance of it of Sir E. Murray Keith, — was given to the 
 Editor (as regards the circumstance of this visit) by the lively 
 surviving inheritrix of the Premier's unrivalled social qualities 
 — Lady Charlotte Lindsay ; on whom (then a mere child) the 
 after-dinner stories of her father's entertaining guest made an 
 inde](|lile impression. 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 365 
 
 a fortress, where, for four long months, her own 
 fate was more than doubtful, while that of others 
 must have called forth agonising sympathy ; that 
 during this interval of forced separation from one 
 child, the life of the other, her nursling, was in 
 danger, and its recovery the signal for its being 
 for ever torn from her arms; that in quitting 
 Denmark, she not only bade fai'ewell to power and 
 royalty, but a final farewell to objects dearer far ; 
 and that, no sooner had torturing anxiety for them 
 allowed her a brief interval of peace, than these 
 were invaded by agitating proposals (accepted, no 
 doubt, chiefly for her children's sake), to embark 
 once more on the stormy ocean where her bark 
 had already suffered shipwreck, — who can wonder 
 that a mental and bodily constitution, which, at 
 four-and-twenty had exhausted all the vicissitudes 
 of a long life, should fall an easy prey to the in- 
 roads of malignant disease ? Twice, indeed, within 
 a few months, had she experienced severe illness, 
 which her youth alone had probably enabled her 
 to withstand. 
 
 " Though her excellent sense, and the iadigni- 
 ties she had suffered on the throne " (writes her 
 biographer) " had reconciled her to a private sta- 
 tion, yet her bodily frame had been visibly im- 
 paired by the repeated shocks of the outrages she 
 had borne, with that noble fortitude, the result of 
 innocence. The uncertainty of her dear children's 
 fate, and the very thought of their being for ever 
 precluded from her sight, daily preyed on her soul. 
 
366 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 No other retrospect gave her the least uneasiness. 
 ' Were it not,' said her Majesty often to the ladies 
 of her household, 'for this cruel separation, I 
 should be content and happy; but this is more 
 than I'can bear.' " 
 
 Two or three months before her death she 
 showed with transports of joy to Madame D'O— — , 
 her first lady of the bedchamber, a little portrait 
 of the Prince Eoyal, her son, which she had just 
 received. It happened that this lady, some few 
 days after, entered the Queen's apartment at an 
 unusual hour, and was surprised to hear her Ma- 
 jesty talking, though quite alone. While 'she 
 stood, in the attitude of astonishment, unable to 
 retire, the Queen turned suddenly round, and ad- 
 dressing her with that smile which she alone could 
 preserve at such a moment, while her heart wastorn 
 with the most acute sensations — "What must you 
 think," said she, " of a circumstance so extraordi- 
 nary as that of overhearing me talk, though you 
 find me perfectly alone ? But it was to this dear 
 and cherished image I addressed my conversation. 
 And what do you imagine I said to it ? Nearly 
 the same verses which you applied, not long ago, to 
 a child, sensible of the happiness of having found 
 a father ; verses," continued she, " which I changed, 
 after the manner following : — 
 
 " ' Et qui done, eomme moi, goftterait la douceur, 
 De t'appelermon fils, d'etre ch&re a ton eoeur? 
 Toi, qu'on arrache aux bras d'une mJre sensible, 
 Qui ne pleure que toi, dans ce destin terrible ?'" 
 
 Madame D'O could not speak ; she burst 
 
THE EOMAHCE OF DIPLOMACY. 367 
 
 into tears, and, overcome by her emotions, hastened ■ 
 from the royal presence.* 
 
 Though the circumstances connected with the 
 Queen, in which we have seen Wraxall so deeply 
 engaged, were not for many years subsequently 
 made public to the world, they must have been 
 full in the narrator's mind when he paid, at the 
 distance of three years, a fourth visit to the now 
 desolate scene of such high hopes and brilliant 
 anticipations ; the frustration of which must have 
 deepened the contrast he so pathetically describes, 
 and will lend a deeper interest to the details of her 
 premature decease. 
 
 "This place," writes he in 1777, "is no longer 
 to be recognised for the same city it was three 
 
 * May it not be hoped (judging irom the date of this touching 
 anecdote) that it 'vras in the Tiew of a possibla reunion with her 
 son, that this tenderest of mothers so feeKngly apostrophised his 
 likeness ? That the Queen obtained the portraits of her chUdren, 
 is matter of history. The Danish MS., so often before quoted, 
 gives a somewhat romantic, yet natural, account of the mode in 
 which they reached the bereaved mother, by the hands of an 
 actress, who had accompanied the now repentant Eantzau in his 
 exile. To this person, whose sentiments and manners were 
 superior to her unhappy condition, her former royal patroness is 
 said to have exclaimed, while thanking her for the precious 
 images of her lost children, " I am now a veteran in sorrow, 
 though so young in yeaxs. Fate has crowded into the last ten 
 months of my life more misery than, if spun out, might have em- 
 bittered a centv/ry." "While the affecting remark of one, who had 
 only gazed at her afar off in the days of splendour, was, "How 
 greatly is the Quegn changed ! Her sufferings have, indeed, not 
 been lost upon her ! The sedate and melancholy cast of counte- 
 nance she has acquired, only renders her beauty more striking ! 
 Her appearance is much improved by it." 
 
368 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 years ago. Now all is silent and desert. Not a 
 carriage is to be seen or heard in the street ; grass 
 
 , already grows in the area of the castle, and hardly 
 a human creature is to be found within its walls. 
 I waridered yesterday for a considerable time 
 through the galleries and apartments, without 
 being able to meet any person, tUl, casting my 
 eyes into one of the rooms, I discovered at its 
 farthest extremity a man, whom I soon recognised 
 to be Mantel, the late Queen's valet-de-chambre.* 
 He conducted me all over the castle, which is a 
 noble edifice, fit for the residence of a sovereign 
 prince. It is a square Gothic fortress, having 
 ramparts and bastions for its defence, and sur- 
 rounded by a moat. The apartments inhabited 
 
 ■ by the late Queen of Denmark (in which all had 
 been left exactly as at the time of her death) 
 may be termed magnificent ; but in a few years 
 they will probably sink into neglect and dilapi- 
 dation." 
 
 For the somewhat diffuse, though authentic and 
 simply-touching details given by Mantel to Sir 
 Nathaniel of his mistress's last fatal illness, we 
 must substitute the more concise, though equally 
 affecting one contained in the following letter, 
 from a lady of her household, written to an influ- 
 ential person at the Court of Copenhagen. 
 
 • The same who, under very different circumstances, had 
 been his conductor, under cloud of night, to that palace, of 
 which they two now had the unlimited and unquestioned range! 
 
THE BOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 369 
 
 " Zdl, May I5fh, 1776. 
 
 " The epidemic with which we were threatened, 
 no longer exists here ; having carried ofif in the 
 chateau only a page, besides our beloved Queen, 
 so deservedly the object of not only owe own but 
 the most general regrets. Her Court, where she 
 was idolised, is overwhelmed with grief, notwith- 
 standing their firm persuasion that our worthy 
 Sovereign * will take care of them. But it is for 
 .herself she. is so deplored ; and you cannot imagine 
 the distress and consternation which spread through 
 the whote town when she was understood to be in 
 danger. She was indeed so, from the first moment 
 of her seizure, in the opinion of our clever physi- 
 cian, Leyser : and was herself at once aware of it, 
 saying to him, in express terms, ' You have 
 brought me, since October, through two pretty 
 serious illnesses, but this one will baffle you ;' and 
 she spoke but too truly If The fever showed 
 its violence from the beginning, by a pulse of 130, 
 and for the two last days it was past counting. 
 Leyser sent for Zimmermann from Hanover, who 
 came to his aid, but without effect. 
 
 *' The eruption did come out, but it was with 
 
 * George III. of England. 
 
 t " The Queen," said Mantel, "who was of a plethoric habit, 
 had always been constitutionally subject to inflammation of the 
 throat. The weather was excessively warm, and on the 4th of 
 May, haTing risen early, as was her custom, and walked out for 
 a couple of hours, exposed to the sun, she returned exceedingly 
 fatigued, continued unwell all day, and, on going to bed at night, 
 said to the faithful narrator, ' Mantel, I am very iU, and fiilly 
 believe that I shall die ! ' " 
 
 VOL. I. B B 
 
370 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 spots, which indicated its ^violent nature ; and to 
 this cruel disease, and the decrees of an immortal 
 Providence, we owe our unspeakable loss. After 
 having suffered like a Christian, with the most 
 perfect, nay almost unexampled patience and re- 
 signation, testifying, as usual, the most 'gracious 
 and tender attentions towards the ladies who 
 nursed her through her illness, and retaining her 
 senses and speech to the last moment, she termi- 
 nated her career in a manner which edified and. 
 penetrated with admiration all who witnessed it. 
 She saw both our worthy superintendent Jacobi, 
 and the pastor Lehzen, who never left her ; and 
 to whom she pointed out several times what he 
 should read to her ; and among other things, that 
 beautiful hymn of Grellert, on The Love of Enemies, 
 'Never will I seek to do them harm,' &c.,frequently 
 repeating the last verse. In a word, during these 
 closing hours, when the mask falls from every 
 human being, the truly heroic firmness with 
 which she seemed to sustain the painful reverses of 
 such signal misfortunes — the magnanimity (of all 
 human virtues perhaps the most diSicult to prac- 
 tise) which she displayed towards the adversaries 
 who never ceased persecuting her — joined to the 
 irreproachable conduct which has marked the whole 
 time we have had the happiness to possess her, 
 have thoroughly persuaded us of the malignity of 
 the enemies of this august Princess. She, how- 
 ever, has forgiven them, and we must try to do 
 the same, hoping they may confess and repent the 
 wrong. At the funeral service in the great church. 
 
THE EOMANCE 01' DIPLOMACY. 371 
 
 the whole city was dissolved in tears ; and in the 
 streets, while she yet lived, nothing was heard but 
 lamentations and invocations for the restoration to 
 health of ' unser guten wnd lieben Kdnigvn' "* 
 
 " On the first symptoms," writes another contem- 
 porary, " of the malignant fever which snatched 
 her from a censorioiis and merciless world in the 
 prime of her. youth, Carolina Matilda declared, 
 with calmness and resignation to her attendants, 
 that she did not expect to survive the malady ; and 
 before it grew worse, she wrote two letters with 
 her own hand, one to his Britannic Majesty, and 
 the other to the King of Denmark. After they 
 were sealed, she said, with tears in her eyes, ' I 
 hope the King, my brother, will protect my friend- 
 less children ; and that the King of Denmark will 
 do my memory that justice he denied me while 
 li-nng. I freely forgive my persecutors and ene- 
 mies, and will die in peace with all mankind, and 
 my conscience.' Her Majesty continued to the 
 last in these pious and edifying sentiments ; com- 
 forting herself all those who beheld, with mingled 
 grief and admiration, their royal mistress in the 
 agonies of death. She preserved her senses to 
 within a few minutes of that awful moment, ex- 
 cept in the delirious intervals of her illness. She 
 expired on the fifth day of her violent disorder, 
 which bafiled all the skill of her physicians, on the 
 10th of May 1775, about midnight, before she had 
 
 * Our good, and beloved Queen. 
 
 BBS 
 
372 THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 accomplished her twenty-fourth year, universally 
 lamented by all ranks of people in her native 
 country, who had sympathised with her disasters, 
 vindicated her innocence, and foiled her accusers.* 
 
 " The inhabitants of Zell, who experienced her 
 beneficence, grieved deeply for her loss. The 
 King of Denmark, though conscious of the flagrant 
 injustice he had done to his consort, was not 
 allowed to mourn publicly for this royal victim of 
 malice, vengeance, and calumny f ; but the Danes 
 will revere the ashes of their ill-fated Queen. 
 The imprudences of her youth are already for- 
 gotten, but her virtues and sufferings will be 
 transmitted to the latest posterity." 
 
 That this was no fond anticipation of warm 
 (though anonymous) partisanship, belied by the 
 subsequent result — the following elegant ex- 
 pression of the general sentiment in Denmark, 
 from the pen of one of the living ornaments of its 
 now widely differing Court, affords a pleasing proof. 
 
 " Although seventy years have elapsed since the 
 
 * The participation of the Englisli public, the middle and 
 lower orders especially, in the sorrows and wrongs of their native 
 princess, can hardly he overrated. It displayed itself at the 
 time of her rescue in eulogiums (in almost all the then existing 
 periodical publications) on Sir R. Murray Keith, under the title 
 of the " Heroic Minister." 
 
 t So outrageously was decorum violated on this occasion, that 
 when the intelligence of the decease of the mother of the royal 
 children arrived, the royal family appeared the same day at the 
 theatre, and there was afterwards a ball in domino. The king 
 (evidently constrained) was among the dancers ; but so much 
 affected as to alarm the foreign ministers who had occasion to 
 approach him. 
 
THE EOMANCB OF DIPLOMACY. 373 
 
 revolution in Denmark, of January 1772, it still 
 lives iQ the memory of every Dane; as it laid 
 such a violent hand on the rudder of the State, 
 and has not perhaps been without its influence 
 on our political history ; and even after the lapse 
 of seventy years more, the unfortunate,, but 
 amiable Carolina Matilda, and her mournful 
 destiny, mil still be remembered." 
 
 The interest created, it is hoped, in the reader's 
 mind in behalf of this worse than orphan offspring 
 of an unhappy mother, as well as the love of 
 poetical justice inherent in all mankind, will 
 render acceptable the following brief account of 
 the counter-revolution of 1784. 
 
 In January 1784, the Crown Prince completed 
 his sixteenth year. In stature he was very like 
 his father. His complexion very fair, his eye- 
 brows bushy for a youth of his age ; his hair 
 almost white. Though a plain likeness, he bore 
 a strong resemblance to his unfortunate mother. 
 
 The Queen Dowager, if (as is inferred) she did 
 not cherish hopes of excluding the heir-apparent 
 from the throne, had succeeded in keeping him 
 hitherto as much as possible in the back-ground ; 
 and fiUiag the residence with unfavourable re- 
 ports ; even insinuating that he was affected with 
 the same mental imbecility which had so long 
 incapacitated his father from governing. Ee- 
 strained, it is said, bf^the advice of the wary 
 Groldberg* from attempting to set aside his 
 
 * Goldberg, the preceptor to Prince Frederick, was tlie then 
 efficient minister for foreign affairs. After the faU of Struensee, 
 
 BBS 
 
374 THE EOMiNCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 succession, she yet used every method to protract 
 the period of taking his seat in the Council, as he 
 must necessarily do on his confirmation; a cere- 
 mony which, at the age of fourteen, had been 
 gone through by his father. Christian the Seventh, 
 and which, at a later period by two years, it was 
 no longer in her power to delay. 
 
 On the 28th of March 1784, being then sixteen 
 years and two months old, the Crown Prince was 
 confirmed, in the royal chapel of Christianborg, 
 in the presence of the whole court, the foreign 
 ministers, the great officers of State, and other 
 persons of distinction. Monsieur Bashkow, first 
 chaplain to the King, interrogated him as to his 
 religious creed. The examination was a long one, 
 and the young Prince made his responses in a 
 firm, manly, deliberate, and very audible tone of 
 voice. His demeanour was mild, dignified, and 
 collected ; giving the most complete refutation to 
 the calumnies that had been so industriously 
 spread. The Queen Dowager was astonished and 
 dismayed. The impression made on the audience 
 was such, that many were actually affected to the 
 shedding of tears. When Count Bernstorff* was 
 
 an interior cabinet was erected, nearly of tlie same kind as that 
 for wliich lie was doomed to die. Having possession of the 
 king's person (who continued in a deplorahle state of mental 
 imbeciHty) the Queen Dowager exercised the most despotic 
 power, till the son of Matilda vapsted the reins of government 
 from her hands, and drove her lEto a retirement from which 
 she emerged no more. 
 
 * Count Andreas Bemstorff (nephew to the able minister 
 formerly mentioned) the secret adviser of the young prince; 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 375 
 
 assured of the firmness and capacity which the 
 Crown Prince displayed on this trying ordeal, he 
 anticipated complete success when the great 
 attempt should be made. 
 
 At length the hour arrived which was destined 
 finally to destroy the power of Juliana and her 
 party, and effect a change almost as great in the 
 Danish government as that which followed the 
 arrest of Carolina Matilda. Having received the 
 sacrament, the Crown Prince was admitted as a 
 member of the Privy Council, and succeeded his 
 uncle. Prince Frederick, as president. On the 
 morning of the 14th of April, he took the oath 
 prescribed. At the moment of relieving guard, 
 when a double proportion of the garrison was 
 under arms, he gave personal orders that no one 
 should quit his post without permission from 
 himself. The Council was assembled in the 
 King's apartment, Ms uncle was present. The 
 Crown Prince addressed himself to his father, 
 stating that the law now called on him to govern ; 
 to do which efficiently, he required a council in 
 which both he and the nation had confidence. 
 
 who, in his comespondence with him, is said to have displayed 
 premature discretion, and a firm sensible mind. Their inter- 
 conise had not escaped the lynx-eyed Juliana, and was commu- 
 nicated by her to Goldberg, who told, her he believed that a 
 crisis was at hand which would be fatal to her power ; and ad- 
 monished her not to risk the consequences which might ensue 
 to herself and her son by pushing matters to extremities. The 
 warning (as in the case of those whom she had herself over- 
 turned) was unheeded ; but the less vindictive spirit of those 
 who triumphed averted the consequences. 
 
 B B 4 
 
37'6 THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY, 
 
 He then produced a memoir which he had com- 
 posed, and which having read, with a firm de- 
 liberate tone of voice, he laid before the King, 
 and requested his signature. The poor imbecile 
 monarch, who had during so many years been 
 kept in total subjection, appeared to hesitate. 
 
 One of the members, Eosencrone, arose and said, 
 " Your Eoyal Highness is sensible that the King 
 cannot sign such a paper without due considera- 
 tion," He had the boldness even to attempt to 
 snatch the paper from the Prince's hands. Turn- 
 ing round to the Count with an air fall of dignity 
 and courage, he said, "It is not for you, sir, to 
 advise the King on such an occasion ; but I, who 
 am heir to the throne, and responsible as such to 
 the nation," Groldberg was silent, appearing 
 thereby to acquiesce. Prince Frederick looked 
 astonished and dismayed. The Crown Prince 
 then laid the papers before the King, by whom 
 they were immediately signed. Being thus 
 authorised to act, the Prince addressed himself 
 to the Council, and in a mild, yet decisive tone, 
 announced their dismissal. 
 
 Fearless and alone, attended only by a single 
 domestic, the young prince perambulated the 
 town, without the interference of the military; 
 the crowd keeping at a respectful distance. The 
 windows and balconies were filled with hand- 
 some and well-dressed females, who waved their 
 handkerchiefs, bowing as he passed. These 
 courtesies he gracefully returned, and thus escorted 
 by a people, in whose affections he already reigned 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 377 
 
 (and whose respect and confidence, amid sub- 
 sequent national misfortunes, he never lost) the 
 Crown Prince,' on this most brilliant day of his 
 life, returned to the portals of Christianborg. 
 
 Amid the extensive changes that ensued, in 
 every department of the state, the removals were 
 attended, even in the case of the most obnoxious 
 individuals*, with exemplary moderation, nay, 
 considerate kindness. 
 
 Infinitely to the credit of the Crown Prince, he 
 set an example to all the servants of the crown, 
 in the respectful delicacy with which he treated 
 his dejected, disconsolate, step-grandmother. He 
 strove, by the kindest deportment, to soften the 
 stroke which had wrested a sceptre from her 
 hands; and his mildness and humanity affected 
 her proud spirit more than any other mode of 
 conduct could have done. She saw that he pitied 
 and forgave her, and it almost broke her heart. 
 She soon withdrew froin the, metropolis, fixing her 
 residence at Fredensborg* Sullenly resigned, she 
 strove to appear not to value what she had for 
 ever lost ; and aware of the unpopularity which, 
 sooner or later, accompanies the votaries of 
 
 * Even General Eichstadt (a chief agent in the miafoitunes 
 of his unhappy and beloved mother, and who, hy a refinement 
 of cruelty, had been appointed his own governor), was allowed 
 to retire to his estates with honour and emolument; and M. 
 Goldberg, (the Struensee of the late regime, but a man of 
 widely differing character, and of exemplary private virtues) 
 was permitted to retain his high situations in the household of 
 Prince Frederick, with a pension of a thousand a year ! 
 
378 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 ambition, and the abettors of erime, she remained 
 henceforth entirely secluded from public affairs.* 
 To conclude, the mildness and fortitude that 
 distinguished the Crown Prince, on this trying 
 occasion, entitled him to admiration and esteem. 
 There was a pensiTeness imprinted on his features, 
 that showed he had not been nursed in the 
 lap of fortune. He sought to obtain his legal 
 inheritance, but he avoided anything that looked 
 like exultation or triumph. Firm and temperate 
 at the moment of peril, his demeanour was 
 marked by modesty and discretion. When his 
 enemies were overthrown, humanity forbade him 
 to expose to misery and degradation those whom 
 
 * She emerged from her retreat (it would seem) on an occa- 
 sion, ■wHcli might have been thought to have recalled to her 
 mind any hut pleasing recollections, though it -will afford to 
 that of the reader an interesting reminiscence of the infant 
 daughter of the unhappy Carolina Matilda, In 1785, Count 
 Eazomonffsky,, Russian minister at Copenhagen, -writes to Sir E. 
 M, Keith : — 
 
 " La Eeine demeure 4 Fredenhourg, et ne yient ici que rare- 
 ment. On dit que'ce sAjour Vennuie; et qu'eHe fait tout ce 
 qu'elle pent pour trouver les occasions d'en sortir, Elle se 
 rendra ici le jour de la confirmation de la Prineesse Eoyale ; qui 
 est aussi int&fasajite par sa figure, que par son affability, et ses 
 maniires honnStes et privenantes. Cette c&Amonie se fera en 
 public, et nous y assisterohs. Quant k son mariage, le tems 
 n'en est point fix^, Le Prince son frire qtii Vaime tendrement, 
 voit dans oe parti I'avantage de ne s'en point sepaier ; et il a M 
 engagi i y souscrire, par les raisons d'etat, qu'au defant d'he- 
 rAditi de sa part, et de ceUe de son onde, e'est a sa soeur que la 
 couronne doit Achoir." The union proved a most happy one ; 
 and its offspring, a daughter, by marrying the late King, united 
 the rival races of Juliana Maria and Carolina Matilda. 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 379 
 
 he had dismissed from their offices ; though the 
 greatest fault of many of them was the part they 
 had acted in the sad and terrible events of 1772. 
 Obnoxious as they must have been on that account 
 to a son, by whom the memory of his mother was 
 through life idolized, he displayed towards themj 
 at this early age, a spirit of clemency and modera- 
 tion *, that gave the fairest prospect of the virtues 
 which justly endeared him to all his subjects, as 
 Frederick VI. 
 
 That Sir E. M. Keith retained a lively interest 
 in the offspring of her whom his friend Marshal 
 Conway always styles " hi& Queen," cannot be 
 doubted. We have seen one Ambassador's reports 
 to him of the sister. The following account of 
 the brother, from Mr. Elliott, the British minister, 
 is dated a year later : 
 
 " Copenhagen, Attgitst, 1786. 
 
 " The Prince Eoyal is much improved since I 
 last saw him, and gains daily on the affections and 
 good opinions of his subjects. The Danish army, 
 which was much neglected, is now fully adequate 
 to check the ambition of a neighbourvng country. 
 The Prince has the sole merit of having effected 
 this, by unremitting assiduity, and a marked 
 natural genius for military pursuits." 
 
 At a period when the ancient good feelings 
 between Denmark and Great Britain appear re- 
 
 * Precisely akiii, he it rememlDered, to that -srliioli liis la- 
 mented parent herself had expressed, on her expected restora- 
 tion to power in 1776. 
 
380 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACf. 
 
 viving in their pristine force, it is impossible to 
 c6nclude the above sketch without echoing the 
 remarks of Wraxall (in his Posthumous Memoirs, 
 written after the changes here recorded), on their 
 far earlier possible renewal,and the widely different 
 and more auspicious probable course of events, 
 as regarded both kingdoms, had the counter- 
 revolution he was employed in forwarding in 
 behalf of Carolina Matilda, actually taken place. 
 
 That it would, had she lived, have been effected, 
 " without difficulty, and almost without jresist- 
 ance," he says, "from the easy and bloodless 
 manner in which it was Carried into execution by 
 the same individuals, or their survivors, in the 
 spring of 1784," as narrated above, " cannot 
 admit of a doubt." 
 
 He then adds, with a posthumous, and therefore 
 valuable testimony, to the " energy of character 
 and firmness" of the youthful destined Queen- 
 regent, — " that the restoration of Carolina 
 Matilda must have produced most beneficial 
 political consequences to Denmark, by reviving 
 the ancient hereditary natural connection between 
 that country and England, is incontestable." 
 
 " Even the modern history of Denmark, in- 
 cluding the events that took place during the 
 late revolutionary war, and consequently the 
 destiny of Europe, has been affected by the con- 
 sequences that flowed from the . imprisonment 
 and exile of Carolina Matilda, followed by her 
 premature death. For her brother, George the 
 Third, imbibed so rooted a dislike to the Danish 
 
THE EOMANCE, OF DIPLOMACY. 381 
 
 royal family and alliance, that he never would 
 listen to any proposal for renewing the connection 
 by marriage with the House of Oldenburg. I 
 know that the present king*, Frederick the 
 Sixth, when prince-regent, made, between 1787 
 and 1789, repeated efforts to obtain the hand of 
 an English princess, leaving the selection in a 
 great degree to his Britannic Majesty; but the 
 king instantly rejected the overture. The heir 
 of the Danish monarchy thus refused, espoused, 
 in July 1790, the eldest daughter of Prince 
 Greorge of Hesse Cassel, by whom he had no 
 male issue. Contrary to the true policy of Den- 
 mark, we find him thenceforth joining with 
 France at every period of his administration. 
 
 " Napoleon had not, among his vassal kings, a 
 more determined ally, and that formidable chief, 
 when in 1806, and the following years, he planned 
 the invasion of this country, he relied, with good 
 reason, on the navy of Frederick the Sixth, to 
 ' transport,' as he threatened, ' the vengeance of 
 the continent to our shores.' Hence, we may 
 assume, took place the sanguinary naval engage- 
 ment of Copenhagen in 1801. ' Hoc fonte de- 
 rvuata clades.^ Hence, too, originated the siege 
 and surrender of Copenhagen in 1807. Hence, 
 also, the loss of Norway in 1814; a kingdom 
 which, during successive centuries, had been 
 united to Denmark, but which is now transferred 
 to the dominion of her ancient enemy, governed 
 
 * The late monarch, son to Carolina Matilda. 
 
382 THE EOMANCB OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 by one of Bonaparte's lieutenants, who occupies 
 tlie throne of Grustavus Adolphus. Such are the 
 extraordinary facts which we have witnessed in 
 our time ; facts indirectly to be traced to 
 Carolina Matilda's death. Had she been restored 
 to Denmark, and filled the situation of regent 
 during her son's minority, we can scarcely suppose 
 that her brother would have refused to cement 
 the alliance between the two crowns, by giving 
 one of his daughters in marriage to his nephew. 
 Norway might, at this hour, have remained 
 subject to him, and the Danish capital would 
 never have been attacked or entered by an 
 English army." 
 
 Such were, on the retrospect of nearly half a 
 century, the conclusions of a political observer of 
 acknowledged sagacity. May the generous inter- 
 position of our own day, banish from the minds of 
 both nations the recollections of a less auspicious 
 period ! 
 
 [Having now concluded the Memoir of Queen 
 Carolina Matilda, in whose sad history Sir E. M. 
 Keith took so deep an interest, the interval 
 between his earliest and latest political trans- 
 actions (the intermediate ones being already 
 authentically detailed in *' Coxe's History of 
 Austria "), will, it is hoped, not unacceptably be 
 filled by his fqjniliar correspondence with dis- 
 tinguished individuals of his time.J 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY, 383 
 
 Among the many changes, palpable, striking, 
 nay, gigantic as they are, which -within the last 
 century have totally altered the face of society in 
 Britain, substituting general intercourse for local 
 association, general wealth for individual accumu- 
 lation, and views of general utility for private 
 opinion, and the ties of political party — there 
 has not been wanting an undercurrent of change, 
 rimning silently and with more questionable 
 effect within its bosom ; bearing with it, into the 
 wide ocean of universal philanthropy, or some- 
 times, it may be feared, into the more absorbing 
 tide of selfishness, much of that tenacity of 
 personal friendship by which, at an earlier and 
 simpler period, even public men were wont to 
 indemnify themselves for the restraints and con- 
 ventionalities of office. 
 
 Of this love (" passing," like Jonathan's, " the 
 love of woman ") it was the good fortune, perhaps 
 not wholly undeserved, of Sir Eobert Keith to 
 enjoy an unwonted portion. And as the feudal 
 usages, predatory' habits, and local traditions of 
 " sixty years ago," are now probably (thanks to 
 the author of Waverley) more familiar to the 
 present generation of readers, than genuine out- 
 pourings of affection and school-boy merriment 
 from the Treasury Bench and Foreign Office, a 
 collection of letters, as " curiosities of literature," 
 not likely to occur again in our matter-of-fact 
 age, are here preserved; that those who have 
 learned from history, how English public men 
 
384 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT.- 
 
 acted and spoke, and fought, under North and 
 Pitt, and Wolfe, and Eodney, may, by a little 
 peep under the domestic curtain (rendered harm- 
 less, alas ! by the demise of all by whom it might 
 have been deprecated),- be made aware how their 
 hearts could at the same time beat high for their 
 country's honour and dignity, and yet find in 
 them a quiet corner for a tenderness of more 
 than feminine friendship, which it was evidently 
 the solace of their lives^ to pour forth, and which 
 it never occurred to their manly hearts to be 
 ashamed to express. 
 
 Far be it from us to assert that there -are now 
 no male friendships. But the annihilation of dis- 
 tances consequent on facilities of intercourse, 
 leaves little scope for its expression on paper. 
 Never again will a Horace Walpole carry on (as 
 he somewhere boasts) a forty-three years' corre- 
 spondence with a friend, whom, in all that time, 
 it was never his lot to behold ; or a British 
 minister at Vienna, during an expatriation of 
 twenty years, have his warm domestic feelings 
 cherished, and his proud patriotism fed by the 
 loving epistles of the very men who, while ming-. 
 ling in th^ stormy politics of the time, or even, 
 sitting at their uneasy helm, could give politics 
 to the winds, to exchange " nonsense " with one 
 who, while deeply immersed in what he somewhere 
 calls the " slough of despond," yclept diplomacy, 
 still contrived (thanks to his natural buoyancy of 
 disposition,) to keep up, in a brighter and purer 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 385 
 
 atmosphere, his clear Briton's head and ■warm 
 Briton's heart. 
 
 The peculiarity — a peculiar chann some may 
 think it — of the ensuing letters is, that while 
 deficient comparatively in Walpole's passing inci- 
 dent and local gossip, they are rich in their ex- 
 uberance of good feeling and good wiU to man- 
 kiad. . The heart has still more to do with them 
 than the head, powerful as were the intellects 
 which could thus sportively imbend. No one, 
 perhaps, could rise from their perusal, without at 
 least a keener appreciation of the pleasure of 
 friendship, and a deeper conviction that there is a 
 sunshine of the soul, which office could not ob- 
 scure, nor ceremony chill, nor the very clouds of 
 age itself suffice to dim ; and why ? because its 
 perennial fount within was independent of exter- 
 nal circumstances, and destined to survive even 
 the body's decay. 
 
 SIE K. MTTKEAY KEITH TO ME. BEADSHAW.* 
 
 " Sarwich, October 18th, 1772. 
 
 " Here I am, my dear Brad, upon the utmost 
 verge of the best of all possible kingdoms, with the 
 
 * This gentleman (often playfully styled in the correspon- 
 dence " my lord," from being a Lord Commissioner of the Ad- 
 miralty) formed one of the select society already mentioned 
 Tinder the title of the " Gang ; " and enjoyed in consequence, 
 along with the intimacy of its other distinguished members, that 
 of Sir E. M. Keith ; and seems to have been selected, for his 
 congenial epistolary powers, as the amanuensis of that circle of 
 friends, to cheer with home intelligence its exiled member. It 
 
 VOL. I. C C 
 
386 THE EOMAKCB OF DIPLOMACY, 
 
 expeGtation of quitting it in a few hours ! I have 
 a thousand tender feelings for those I leave, and 
 as many anxious ones in regard to the business 
 upon which I am now to enter! What zeal, 
 assiduity, and truth can do to justify the partiality 
 of my friends and patrons, shall not be wanting. 
 " You live among those to whom I owe every- 
 thing. Bear witness to them of the extent of my 
 gratitude, and be assured that I am, with the 
 truest friendship, 
 
 " My dear Bradshaw, yours for ever, 
 
 "ROBEET MUEEAT KeITH." 
 
 SIR E. M. KEITH TO ME. BEADSHAW. 
 
 " Vienna, December 5th, 1779. 
 " I told you at parting, my dear Brad, nay, more, 
 I proved to you by geometrical demonstration, 
 that I am, and ought to be, the happiest of all. 
 mortal beings. That "a separation from a set of 
 the best friends that ever a poor man was blessed 
 with, has thrown a cloiid over that happiness, is» 
 
 was a task for wluoli he was eminently fitted, by the confidential 
 acquaintance with, and active participation in, their measures, 
 ("far heyond," says Walpolej "his ostensible situation,") to 
 which he was admitted by the Ministry ; as weU as by a vein of 
 playM humour, too much akin to his correspondent's own, not 
 to haye formed a bond of mutual intimacy ; resting, however, it 
 ■wiU be seen, on higher and better grounds than mere political 
 sagacity, or convivial pleasantry. The series of letters, (care- 
 fully preserved by surviving friends to both, and foiming an un- 
 broken whole), win, on that account, be more acceptable to the 
 reader ; and by their lively badinage, relieve the graver portions 
 of the present work. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMAOT. 387 
 
 nothing more than a proof that I am not unde- 
 serving of those sentiments, upon the duration of 
 which, I have the most implicit reliance. I am 
 firmly persuaded, that my royal master, and his 
 ministers, under whom I serve, as well as my 
 private friends, and their wives, are the honestest 
 people alive ; I expect to be every day more and 
 more obliged to every one of them ; and hang me 
 if I don't serve them all in their turns, to the 
 very best of my power ! So much for what you 
 already know ; now to the new scene upon which 
 I am entering. After making a kind of a zig-zag 
 journey through Holland, Germany, &c., (in, 
 which I picked up your two scraps, for they are 
 no more, though folded in the shape of letters) I 
 arrived here on the 20th November. 
 
 " The first ten days of my residence here were 
 trotted away in leaving bits of card at doors, andi 
 repeating my dancing-master's bows to crowds of 
 people who may, in a course of years, become my 
 friends, or at least acquaintance. I don't know 
 \iow my own face looked upon these occasions, but 
 I know that I felt pleased, as every person turned 
 of forty said something kind about niy father.* A 
 good omen, you'll say — ^for a favourable impres- 
 sion, conveyed from fathers and mothers, may 
 possibly be transferred to the second generation, 
 
 * No more detailed accotmt of Sir E. M. Keiti's present 
 deWt in Vienaa haying been (unfortnnately) preserved, the 
 reader is requested to refer for his prohable reception as a re- 
 sident, to the letter from Dresden, describing its flattering tenor 
 when a mere passing visitor. 
 
 C C 2 
 
388 THE EOMANCB OP BIPLtJMACT. 
 
 and work in my favour. I am a stranger, a per- 
 fect stranger as yet ; but I may hope to be looked 
 upon as a benevolent traveller, who brings good 
 intentions, and hopes for good treatment. You 
 shall know more of me when I have had time to 
 look about me, and peep a little into the minds 
 which animate the handsome faces I have seen. 
 No offence to the dear creatures I have left be- 
 hind, if I say that there are here some as pretty 
 patterns of Dame Nature's workmanship as one 
 can set eyes upon ; and then they play at loo as 
 keenly as any Bess in Europe ! But what is that 
 to me, who never touch a card, you know ? 
 
 " Well ; but I must have done scribbling to you, 
 for I am to write this very day to every point of 
 the compass, to tell my. colleagues that his 
 Majesty's plenipo is legitimately installed in the 
 enjoyiuent of so many thousands per annum.* 
 Heaven grant me an opportunity of returning the 
 beneficent bestowers of the thousands some good 
 merchandise for their money ! 
 
 " I entreat of you, dear Brad, to remember our 
 
 * The replies to these circulars, still extant, are very charac- 
 teristic. WMle one stiff confrh-e — (indeed, many do,) con- 
 gratulates, not the Envoy,, but Great Britain and the Royal 
 Family, on the promotion of one to Trhom they are indebted for 
 such weU-lmown public services ! another (in witty though irre- 
 verent phrase) thus expresses himself. " I most heartUy wish 
 you joy upon your nomination to Vienna. I hope you wiU not 
 have so Tiot work there as in your last ^laoe; but should there 
 be any, and it ends as much to your honour and reputation as 
 that did, I do not care if all the devils in H — were to appear to 
 you!" 
 
THE KOMANCE OP DIPLOMACTJ 389 
 
 bargain, and to adihinister to me, now and then, 
 an enlivening dose of that wholesome nonsense I 
 delight in. You, and the Gcmg, deserve Tyburn 
 together, if you suffer me to dwindle -into a wise 
 and humdrum politician! Adieu, my frieiid, 
 carouse with the present, cherish the absent, make 
 the fortime of Sir Basil, and believe me, 
 " Most truly yours, 
 
 «K. M. K." 
 
 SIR E. M. KEITH TO HIS SISTER. 
 
 " Vienna, December llth, 1772. 
 
 "Dear Anne, 
 
 " Your patience has been meritorious, and 
 shall be rewarded. You see my intentions by 
 the size of my sheet, and I promise you it shall 
 be crammed with all manner of novelties, great 
 and small. First, then, I rejoice with you on the 
 prospect of our being in possession of a capacious 
 and most elegant building, to hold and preserve 
 our deeds and titles.* The clan Keith will not 
 require a large allotment of the inside of the 
 ofi&ce ; but they have, in my opinion, as clear an 
 interest in the outside, as any family in the 
 kingdom. 
 
 " Secondly, I think my father's advice to Aber- 
 geldie's son the wisest that can be given.f I am 
 
 * The splendid new Register Office erecting at Edinburgh, 
 under the direction of Sir B. M. Keith's particiilar friend, Lord 
 Frederick CampbeJ], then Lord Registrar for Scotland. 
 
 t Mr. Gordon, of Ahergeldie, so named, more Scottice, from 
 bis family estate. 
 
 C C 3 
 
390 TEE KOMAKCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 told that Ms purchase here, if permitted, must 
 begin at the very lowest rank of an oflScer ; and 
 an order is soon expected, to forbid any futxire sale 
 of commissions. This matter seems pretty clear ; 
 but I have one hint to give you en passant, which 
 is, that whenever you mention a Scotch laird, you 
 will, for the moment, sink the magnificence of 
 title, and condescend to let me know his family 
 name. Abergeldie, however pompous, may be, 
 for aught I know, the name of a Eoman cardinal ; 
 and I should have some scruple in serving as 
 counsellor to one of their Catholic eminences. 
 Apropos to cardinals, I dined yesterday at the 
 house of one, who expresses the most sincere 
 regard for my father, and desires it may be known 
 to him ; Prince and Princess Clary, ditto ; as also 
 Esterhazy, GoUoredo, Lichtenstein^ Lubomirski, 
 Kinsky, Auersberg, Dietrichstein, KhevenhuUerj 
 Schwartzenberg, Steniberg, Kollowrath, Taronca, 
 Trauben, and Trautmansdorf, Hildburghhausen, 
 and Burghausen, Tekeli, and Freychapell; in 
 short, the whole city and suburbs of Vienna! 
 You see that your friend Abergeldie walks at the 
 head of a handsome procession, and need not be 
 ashamed of his company. 
 
 " And now pray, my dear Anne, let me appoint . 
 
 you my substitute with Gr ,* to din into his 
 
 ears ' Trees, trees, trees ! ' every time you meet 
 him. I have not a twig of his planting at the 
 hall, and I own I expected a forest. This is -no 
 
 * Sir E. M. Keith's bailiff, on Ha property in Tweeddale. 
 
THE EOMANCE OF BIPLOMACT. 391 
 
 jaking matter*; I would rather be master of a 
 handsome plantation, and hedge-rows, than of a 
 mine of gold ; so you know your cue, and will 
 pursue it. You shall be the ranger of the new 
 forest in Tweeddale, and your husband, when you 
 get one, shall be Jord-warden of the marches ! 
 
 " There is a fatality attends the English post since 
 my arrival here, which leaves me often in the dark 
 as to what regards my private, and, I may say, 
 invaluable connections. Few men, I believe, my 
 dear Anne, can brag of such a set of friends as 
 those I have left behind me ; and no man can be 
 more grateful for that first of all worldly blessings. 
 From the kindness and good disposition of many 
 •worthy people I have met here, I will flatter myself 
 
 * This alludes to an amusing anecdote (just communicated to 
 the editor), occurring in a letter from Sir E. M. Keith to his 
 sister, when traTeUing in Prance in 1764. "Yesterday after- 
 noon, in passing through the noble forest of Compiigne, I took 
 the Hberfy of questioning, as follows, my man Andrew, who is a 
 gentleman of great sagacity. 'Pray, Andrew, saw you ever so 
 fine a forest as the one we have come through?' 'Sir,' quoth 
 Andrew, ' the forest is a gay forest ; hut I'se warrant I've seen 
 other forests before now.' ' Where Andrew ? Have you any- 
 thing like this in Athol?' 'Aye, sir.' I wish yoiu; honour had 
 only seen the Duke of Perth's grit forest in our country ! It hae 
 a hantle of fine deers in't, and Colonel Grseme pays a hunder pund 
 starling by the year just for tiU keep the deers frae bein' de- 
 stroyed intilt.' ' Well, Andrew, I'm glad to hear what you say ; 
 but are the trees in that forest as fine as those we saw to-day ?' 
 'Trees.' sir!' quoth Andrew; 'no, sir, there's no a stannin' 
 stick in the Duke's grit forest ; but it's a' bonny hiU and heather, 
 like the wood o' Mar.' 0, patriotism, patriotism ! thy errors are 
 beautiful ! I embraced my man Andrew, and we pursued our 
 journey." 
 
 («C 4 
 
392 THE KOMANCB OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 that my good fortune, in that respect, is not 
 confined to one nation or country. My old Saxon 
 friends* received me, in my late visits, with great 
 cordiality ; and I am now so near a neighbour, 
 that I can attend to all that passes among them. 
 
 " A letter, like an egg, is' all the better for being 
 new laid; and I confess it hurts me to think that 
 this beautiful sheet of nonsense may be musty and 
 fusty in its eighteen days'" passage from hence to 
 Leith. However, this must not deter us from 
 continuing our traflSc; the more so, as I can 
 assure you that your folio of the 5th November, 
 came as fresh as the first day. Basin cosi — 
 m' vntende? You speak very good Italian, and 
 I wish you could see our comic opera, and our 
 ballets. The whole life and conduct of Agamem- 
 non and Clytemnestra, and iEgisthus, and Orestes, 
 with loves, jealousies, murders, and complete 
 revenge, are expressed to a miracle in capers and 
 coupies; and I declare to you, that this heroic 
 tragedy, without words, is as interesting as a 
 tragedy can be, when Grarrick is not an actor.* 
 Our composer Noverre, is a very Shakespeare 
 (no offence to his memory), and, as an author, he 
 is certainly one of the greatest that ever put toe to 
 stage, for I cannot say pen to paper. 
 
 " You village maidens have no idea of these 
 brilliant and pompous shows, and, to say the truth, 
 that noble pUe of building, the Taylors' Hall, is 
 
 * The Court of Dresden, from whence Sir E. M. Keith had, 
 in the Dowager Electress, a weekly correspondent. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 393 
 
 not large enough to be a waiting-room for Cly- 
 temnestra's maids of honour! But enough of 
 this ; I must not put you out of conceit mth the 
 Leith company of comedians." ...... 
 
 " Bee. 12th. 
 " BasU confirms the good news of his blooming 
 hopes ; may they soon ripen into such substantial 
 fruit as suits his palate and circumstances!* 
 
 * A wish realised by Sir Basil's appointment to the govern- 
 ment of Jamaica. As a specimen (courtly even for that day) of 
 the ministerial language of the times, may he quoted the ex- 
 pressions of the Colonial Secretary to Mr. Keith, his father. A 
 short time previous to the nomination. Lord Dartmouth (then 
 newly entered on office) thus writes. 
 
 " SiE, — I am very sorry that my predecessor had given Sir 
 Basil Keith any hopes of being appointed to the government of 
 one of his Majesty's Colonies in America ; because, if it should 
 hereafter be my good fortune to be able to fulfil his wishes in 
 that respect, I shall not be able to claim to myself the sole 
 merit of a recommendation, which wiU be so honourable to 
 me, and so advantageous to the public. The personal cha- 
 racter of Sir Basil, as well as the pubUc and eminent services of 
 his father and brother, entitled him to my particular consider- 
 ation from those who are intrusted with any share in the ad- 
 ministration of the King's affairs ; and though I should iU- 
 deserve the frankness with which you have honoured me with 
 your commands, were I to say he will be the very first I may 
 wish to recommend, I can say, with equal frankness and sin- 
 cerity, that it will make me very happy to see the day when I 
 shall find myself at liberty so to do. I hope you will believe 
 that I feel what I express, when I assure you that I am, with 
 the highest sense of the pleasure I received from our former ac- 
 quaintance, and with great regard and esteem, 
 
 " Your most obedient and humble servant, 
 
 " Daetmouih." 
 
394 THE EOMANOE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 You talk of rains and inundations, while at 
 present my daily walks round Vienna are as 
 pleasant as at any time of the year. Whenever 
 any object strikes me agreeably, I reflect with 
 pleasure that it has probably created the same 
 sensation in my father. My love and duty to 
 him and all the Hermits. Adieu, dear Anne. 
 " Your affectionate 
 
 «E. M. K." 
 
 SIK E. M. KEITH TO MR. BKADSHAW. 
 
 " Vienna, Sec. 26th, 1772. 
 
 " Your reasoning upon the subject is perfectly 
 just, my dear Brad ; and it would be the highest 
 absurdity to expect that a Lord of the Admiralty, 
 who has apartments in Hampton Court Palace, 
 and a town house opposite to Lord Bute's, should 
 waste his time in scribbling to a pragmatical 
 fellow, whose dulness has been rewarded by the 
 privilege of talking politics to a foreign potentate. 
 I give up the point, my dear Sir ; I release you 
 
 The courtly secretary 'was perhaps not yet aware that Sir 
 Basil possessed a friend at court more powerful than either. On 
 the authority of the same venerable surviving friend of Sir B. 
 M. Keith, by whom other anecdotes have heen communicated, 
 George the Third, considering apparently the ribbon and em- 
 bassy so handsomely conferred, as only the well-earned meed of 
 diplomatic merits, still wished to add some token of personal 
 good-will, and complaining repeatedly that while others con- 
 tinually importuned him, " Keith would ask nothing for him-, 
 self," drew forth the fraternal wish of a provision for his less 
 fortunate brother. 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 395 
 
 from every engagement of that sort., and all I 
 request is, that you ■will he pleased to allot one 
 half guinea per quarter for the postage of those 
 letters which I must address to you, in order to 
 keep up the appearance of my being in a certain 
 intimacy with some of your great men at the helm 
 of afiairs. As to the letters I write (as I am 
 persuaded you have too much sense to read them 
 yourself), the best thing you can do is to clap a 
 cover upon them, and send them down to some 
 blockhead at your borough of Saltash, telHng 
 him that they come from a foreign minister, 
 and probably contain a great part of the secrets 
 of Europe. This epistle will, I am afraid, hardly 
 serve for that purpose, but I shall take care that 
 the next shall be a perfect plum-pudding of 
 foreign hard names, surmises, innuendoes, crosses 
 and stars, and your whole borough may feast 
 upon it for a month. I allow that your antagonist, 
 Mr, Wniiams, may set up a counter correspond- 
 ence in the borough, and tell them strange tales 
 about the Caribs and the other savage inhabitants 
 of the West Indies. But I trust to the political 
 genius of your worthy constituents, and make no 
 doubt that the, hints I shall be able to convey from 
 the banks of the Danube and the Pruth, and the 
 Borysthenes, and the Black Sea, will greatly pre- 
 ponderate, and secure your interest in the corpo- 
 ration. In this manner I would fain hope that 
 my correspondence (otherwise nugatory and 
 jejune) may be turned to some Kttle account, by 
 
396 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 that ability which your lordship possesses in 
 matters of governmeiit. 
 
 " With regard to my humble self, I must freely 
 confess, that the total silence of all my friends 
 did make me fret a little at first. But I am now 
 perfectly reconciled to it, especially since I have 
 fallen upon a method of obtaining authentic in- 
 formation (and pretty fresh too) of everything 
 that passes in old England. For I have written 
 to a gentleman in the city who will send me out 
 by the first ship that sails in the sprvng for 
 Trieste, a complete second-hand set of the Maga- 
 zines, both Universal a/nd . Gowntry; and I defy 
 any one of you all to be married, or pilloried, or 
 hanged, but what I shall know of it before six 
 months go about 
 
 " I don't know how it is, my dear friend, but the 
 same old story which you and I talked over in a 
 post-chaise, about a thousand pounds a year, a 
 wife and a farm, is contiaually thrilling through 
 my brain ; and I can't for the soul of me help 
 thinking, that in something of that kind consists 
 the summwm bonum. But mounted as I am 
 upon the above-mentioned hobby-horse, I can, 
 however, assxire you with great truth, that whilst 
 I am to serve my master abroad, I never can 
 have a commission so honourable and agreeable 
 as the one I now enjoy. I like the sovereigns I am 
 sent to, their capital, and their subjects. There 
 is not a happier man in all Austria than myself; 
 yet I have a hankering after home which, as it is 
 built upon laudable motives, I cannot wish to 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 397 
 
 suppress. I have often thought that not one in a 
 hundred of you odd fellows, who wallow in the 
 luxury of the land you Hve in, knows the val]ie 
 of the enjoyments which are within his reach. 
 For my own part, I never think of John Bull 
 and his little proud island without a singular 
 pleasure. There is a queemess in John that I 
 delight in ; there is a stamp upon him — a cha- 
 racter — a variety — a manliness, which nothing 
 can come up to ; and then John's women are so 
 fresh and tidy, his grass so green, his mutton and 
 claret so good, his house so much his own, that I 
 cannot relinquish my share of those advantages. 
 
 " I hope you do not suppose from all this that 
 I am fool enough to give way to a boyish im- 
 patience, which sours the present pleasures, by 
 anticipatiog, and perhaps over-rating, futurity. 
 No, my Brad, — I am desirous to earn my bread 
 before I sit down to eat it ; and my only secret is 
 to be contented now, with the certainty of being 
 still happier hereafter. I question whether any 
 of your brethren of the Cabinet possess a more 
 valuable nostrum than the one I boast of ; but I 
 have affection and gratitude enough towards 
 several of them, to wish that they may ; and so 
 you are at liberty to say in my name, to Lord 
 North, and Lord Suffolk, and Mr. Eigby ; assuring 
 them that no man on earth is more sincerely 
 attached to them than, dear Brad, 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 « E. M. K." 
 
398, THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 MK. BIIADSHAW TO SIE K. M KEITH. 
 
 " 19th January, 1772. 
 
 " You have heard of all the misery and distress 
 which has fallen upon the commercial world. It 
 has not in the smallest degree alffected our friends, 
 which I am sure will give you pleasure. Poor 
 Shah AUum * has been upon the brink of bank- 
 ruptcy, and is at this moment supported by a sub- 
 scription of lOOjOOOZ. from bankers and merchants, 
 set on foot by our friends.j To what a situation 
 has the little mortal brought himself from being 
 master of 300,000?., and of a business from which 
 he could draw 12,000Z. per annum! You, my 
 dear Chevalier, are in the high road to enormous 
 wealth. You cannot .fail, in your present walk 
 of Hfe, to amass Ttiany plwms. I charge you, take 
 warning by Shah Allum ; and don't let the desire 
 of & fifth plwm, rob you of the four, which I take 
 for granted you have nearly completed ! 
 
 " All that you love here, love, remember, and 
 regret you. If our parties are dull, you are wished 
 for to enliven them ; if cheerful, you are longed 
 for, that you may have your share of them. There 
 is not a D — , or a B — , or any honest letter in 
 the alphabet, that is not devoted to you, and 
 would not willingly make you a partaker of our 
 pleasures; because, by coming to claim your 
 share, you would more than double our stock. 
 
 * Sir George Colebrooke, an Indian millionnaire of the day. 
 t Messrs. Dnunmonds, of Charing Cross, 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 399 
 
 Finish your business, obtain your well deserved 
 reward ; and ' Hve with us, and be our love,' as 
 the old song says. Adieu, my dear friend; I 
 write in the utmost hurry; but with still more 
 truth-than haste, I subscribe myself, 
 
 " Ever yours, 
 
 «T. B." 
 
 SIK K. M. KEITH TO MR. BBADSHAW. 
 
 " Vienna, February 11th, 1773. 
 
 "My servants are not arrived, nor do I know 
 anything of them. To be sure, these gentlemen 
 are the bearers of the joint labours of all my 
 London friends, and I shall have at least one 
 letter from your honour ; and I have no right to 
 scold — for that was so snug an opportunity of 
 writing — and saved postage, &c. Nonsense! 
 nonsense! my dear Brad; my anxiety does not 
 brook such calm deliberation ; my stomach cannot 
 feed upon air for four months, in order to make 
 a more hearty meal at the end of them. In short, 
 I am angry, and I say so frankly, because I can 
 neither be sulky nor silent. If the Gang has 
 found out any man who is more cordially attached 
 to them than I am, let them put him m my place 
 in Grod's name, — but if not, pray do you help 
 them to recollect, that He who made me, gave 
 me the warmest and strongest feelings, and that 
 nothing can put these feelings to a more severe 
 trial than the silence of that set of people whom 
 
400 THE EOMAUCE OF BIPLOMACT. 
 
 I love in preference to all others. I bar all 
 flimsy excuses on their part — of — 'I have not 
 a moment's time' — 'I hate pen and ink' — 'I 
 love my friend, but I can't write.' Take my 
 word for it, he who is obstinate in depriving his 
 friend of a very sensible pleasure, which would 
 cost him but a three minutes' trouble, is either very 
 selfish, or very lukewarm. How do you like my 
 logic, Mr. Brad? I think it pretty conclusive; 
 ergo (for I will positively scold out this page) my 
 bosom friends are a parcel of careless, caUous 
 blockheads ; and youj dear sir, are very deservedly 
 the leader of them. 
 
 " This is the third time I have tuned the vocal 
 shell since my arrival here, and to 'hills and 
 dales,' as the song says, ' did I my passion tell,' 
 for not a human creature answered. The same 
 may happen to me now ; but, like Sawbridge on 
 septennial parliaments, I will renew my motion, 
 in hopes of a less profligate majority; and show 
 to those who can read, that our ancestors, from 
 the days of Alfred down to those of the tyrannical 
 reign of Henry the Eighth, laid it down as a 
 principle, that friendship might outlive an absence 
 of twelve calendar months. 
 
 " But hang it ! I can't harp any more upon that 
 old string. Have not I got Prince Schwartzer- 
 berg, and Prince Trautsohn, and Count Traut- 
 mansdorff, and Count Zinzendorff de Pottendorfif, 
 who doat upon me? Other guess people these 
 than your Brads, and Freds, and Bobs, and Harrys 
 
THE EOMAHCE OP DIPLOMAOT. 401 
 
 — fellows vritli names of no sound or dignity! 
 Have I not the Princess of Khevenhullerr Match, 
 and the Baxoness of KoUowrath Kraskofsky, the 
 Countess of Schrettenbach, and the Dowager of 
 Eumpenhausen ? all ladies of sixty quarters, who 
 speak the High Grerman and Sclavonic, whose 
 very maids of honour would turn up their sharp 
 noses at your Besseys, and Ferrys, and Tattys ? 
 With these will I live in their palaces and castles, 
 and like a great man as I am, wipe out the 
 memory of past connections. If I could but pre- 
 vail upon his Majesty to lengthen my name, by 
 five or six syllables, I do not despair of obtaining 
 the hand of the fair Feretina de Podstcakzky 
 Lichtenstein, niece to Count Grazalkovic? de Gy- 
 arach. Conservator of the Crown of the King-» 
 doms of Hungary, &c., &. 
 
 " But, alas ! whUe I carry the little stunted name 
 of Keith, there is no aiming at that honour! 
 Don't you now, Mr. Brad, go to imagine that I 
 am again in good humour with you, because I 
 write nonsense ! No, truly — nature had indeed 
 like to have got the better ; but I won't be in 
 good-humour, I'll never be in good-humour, and 
 ' if I am so, I will at least not own itj to such 
 people as you. I don't desire to be remembered 
 to anybody. I scorn bankers, brokers, agents, 
 commissioners, lords register, and lords of Adr 
 miralty; I don't care who governs your paltry 
 island, or who sits as chairman of committees. 
 The day may come, when the best of jou may 
 
 VOL. I. B » 
 
402 THE EOMASrOB OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 have bilsiness to transact in the Holy Eomaa 
 Empire, and then, you will seek the protection of, 
 
 " Sir Egbert Mukeat Keith, 
 
 " KJoigit of the most Honourable Order of the Bath, Colonel 
 of Departed Infantry, Laird of the Manors of Muirays- 
 haJl, Beghonse, &o., in the coimtj- of IVeeddale, and His 
 Majesty's Envoy Extraordinaly, and Plenipotentiary at 
 the Court of their Imperial, Eoyal, and Apostolic Me- 
 
 SIR E. M, KEITH TO HIS SISTEE. 
 
 "Vienna, March 7 th, 1773. 
 
 " At length, dear Anne, I have one of your 
 sheets, and VelcOm'e it was, as I began to think 
 the Hertnits had lost the faculty Of inditing. I 
 have received all the preceding letters (my 
 father's included) which you "mention ; and when 
 you shall have hold of this missive it will be the 
 eighth of all denominations 1 shall have trans- 
 mitted to the fiefmitage from Vienna. This 
 being premised, 1 must remeihber that my folio 
 must be an outlandish journal. 
 
 " I wish Lent were in the Pope's inside I or that 
 a good comedy were a part of the papistical, 
 penance 1 Cards, cards, cards ! You must know 
 I never touch them in jest or earnest; and there- 
 fore am the most useless of Grod's creatures. 
 " Monsieur — jou6-t-il f " " Won." " Gommeni? 
 Monsieur ne joue pas a awm/n jeu?" "Non" 
 "Mais 6ela, est vnoui!" — it puis on laisse Idi, 
 Monsiewr pour jamais. I, your tinworthy 
 brother, lost thirty bowing acquaintances, male 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 403 
 
 and female, in the first six weeks, by the above 
 laconic answers to two simple questions ; and yet 
 I am incorrigible, for cards and I are incom- 
 patible. I never tire, that's one thing. I can 
 look pleasant for a week together, and feel com- 
 fortable, and laugh cheerfully, when it comes to 
 my turn; and all without cards. Ergo, why 
 should I play ? 
 
 " March lith. 
 " I have fallen upon an excellent way to please 
 the public in the article of card-playiag, without 
 sacrificing my own five senses to a parcel of red 
 and black spots. A lady, who is generally re- 
 markably lucky at cards, but who had lately a 
 bad run of about a week, complained t'other day 
 loudly of her misfortunes, and said she must soon 
 relinquish cards, her favourite amusement. I 
 immediately thought I might strike an advan- 
 tageous bargain with this dear creature, and 
 satisfy all mankind. I therefore agreed to attack 
 Dame Fortune with my money and her fingers ; 
 and now she plays her three parties every day in 
 my name, and at my risk ; and I am now one of 
 the prettiest card-players in Vienna — hy ^roxy ! 
 This agreement has amused the whole town ; and 
 I am in no danger of being a loser by it in the 
 end, as she plays weU and luckily, and for very 
 small sums. " Monsieur le Chevalier Keith est 
 bien ai/mable ;^' — dit on "il joue au lowp par 
 ^ocurewr." % Ay ! and next Carnival I will 
 
 * Sir R Keith little thought, perhaps, that in granting this 
 " deputation" to the keen little sportswoman, he was enlisting 
 
 D D a 
 
404 THE KOMANCB OF DIPLOMACT, 
 
 hire me a dancer, and skip by procuration 
 also! 'You may tell my father that the lady 
 in question is a widow. Countess Clary; perhaps 
 he does not remember her. She is a Saxon, 
 and does thfe honours at Prince Kaunitz's. A 
 little, fat, round, tidy body, and extremely good- 
 humoured, 
 
 " But I must have done for this evening, as my 
 friend the Venetian Ambassador is coming to chat 
 at my fireside. This letter of mine is pretty much 
 in the style of that conversation; but so much 
 the better, for I am so tired of spreading politics 
 upon paper, that I am happy to find some vent 
 for my own native nonsense. They say people 
 read ministers' letters upon the road. Who- 
 ever has the good fortune to peruse this epistle, 
 with the eye of a politician, will say (and perhaps 
 not without reason) that his Britannic Majesty 
 has sent the idlest fellow in all his dominions to 
 reside in the capital of the Holy Eoman Empire. 
 I have a great mind to tell that same anxious 
 gentleman, that the aforesaid idle fellow is hap- 
 pier in himself and in his friends, than any ten of 
 the wisest and gravest diplomatical Dons in Chris- 
 tendom. But I must positively have done, for I 
 
 in Hs Royal Master's service an equally staunch ally. When, 
 a few years later (in Sir Keith's absence), an emissary &om the 
 revolted American Colonies was surreptitiously introduced at 
 Prince Kaunitz's by the Prench Ambassador, " la petite veuve" 
 (as she was called), declared he should " ndver either dine op 
 play cards there while she presided, were she to be a winner by 
 it, of ten thousand crowns!" 
 
THE EOMANCB OF DIPLOMACT. i06 
 
 tear the Venetian Senator coughing upon my 
 staircase ! 
 
 " Adieu. 
 
 « E. M. K" 
 
 ME. BBADSHAW TO SIK E. MUEEAT KEITH. 
 
 " South Audle^-street, 8th March, 1773. 
 
 " I never in my life could make an excuse to a 
 man I loved, and to whom I had not behaved as 
 I ought. You, my dear Keith, stand in both 
 those situations, and I have not impudence enough 
 to use any arms in my defence, but submission 
 and penitence. I am not only impardonable to 
 you, but to myself; for if I had written to you I 
 should have had more letters from you, and I 
 should also have deserved them better ; but then 
 I must have showed them to Miss Fomny Mur- 
 ray*, and J must have heard that there is no 
 such man, for public or private correspondence, as 
 Sir Eobert Keith ; that it was the most fortunate 
 circumstance of Fanny's life to know and be con- 
 nected with you, as the most able assistant and 
 most pleasing friend! Not one word of this is 
 true of this same Sir Eobert Keith; and yet this, 
 and far more, was I obliged to hear from Fanny, 
 a few days ago, who wished to know if you were 
 happy. I had your own picture in my pocket, 
 drawn by your own masterly hand: and I gave 
 it to Fanny, who, to be serious, makes me jealous, 
 
 * The private cypher name for Lord Suffolk, the official, prin- 
 Hpal, and private fiiend of Sir E. M. Keith. 
 
 D D 3 
 
406 THE EOMANCB OP DIPLOMACT- 
 
 for she seems to love you better than I do. I 
 have promised to show her your private corre- 
 spondence at the Ketreat. She told me that every 
 day convinced her of your superiority in your 
 line ; > that she had not more confidence in herself 
 than in you ; and upon my saying something of 
 your attachment and regard, she disclaimed having 
 ever had it in her power to show you favour, and 
 said you had been much more useful to her than 
 she had been to you, and added, that your merit 
 was as much felt in a c&rtavn place, as by her and 
 I. Write to me now. Monsieur le Chevalier; 
 forgive me my past negligence and omissions ; for 
 though I fear I can't hurt you with Fcmny or her 
 master, yet I will not be bored about you, nor will 
 I report my borings to you unless I am paid for it. 
 
 " It is now necessary, my dear Keith, that I 
 should tell you that many vexations which are 
 now over, and which it would answer no purpose 
 to tell you (or you should have them to the last 
 grievance), have really prevented me from fulfil- 
 ling my promise and indulging my inclination to 
 converse with you in this only way that is in my 
 power. In future, you shall have no occasion to 
 complain of me ; believe this, and forget that you 
 have had any. 
 
 " I saw the governor of Jamaica fo-dasy in per- 
 fect health. 'Who the d — 1 is the governor of 
 Jamaica?' quoth you. 'Why, one Sir Basil 
 Keith,' replies the Brad. If I had not behaved 
 like a dog to you, perhaps you would have opened 
 my letter the first of the parcel by this pacquet. 
 
THE EOMANCB OF DIPLOMACY. 407 
 
 and I should have had the supreme felicity of 
 first infbjrmiag you tha,t our Basil has had that 
 government conferred upon him in the most fla,t- 
 tering, as well as the most honourable manner ; 
 refusing all recommendation to Lord Dartmouth, 
 though he was offered an application from the 
 first merchants,; and having fo? competitors, Fre- 
 derick Vaii.e, Sir Alexander G-i,lmour, and Sir 
 George Rodney, for whom I know the strongest 
 interest was made from ve^y respectable quarters. 
 Well, this is not to the purpose, for Basil will tell 
 you all these particulars, and I will not take the 
 trouble of telling yon how niuch I rejoice at this 
 event ; for if you were ten times as angry with 
 me, you would nevertheless do me the justice to 
 suppose all that. 
 
 " My poor wife has lost our last-born child, and 
 is in great affliction; biit she desires to be re- 
 membered in the kindest inanner. Though my 
 girl was but five ];nonths old, I lost her with a 
 regret which none but a Kqith or a father can 
 
 feel. Peace'be with her ! 
 
 f Adieu, my dear friend, 
 
 « T. B." 
 
 ME. BEADSHA.W TO SIR E. M. KEITH. 
 
 " South Audlm/-efyeet, 11th Mg,rch, 1773. 
 
 " If there is any one subject upon which you 
 write better than another, it is when you are 
 pleased to express your indignation against your 
 humble servants, who, for their sins, are con- 
 
 D D 4 
 
408 THE EOMAHOE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 demned to pass their lives in this paltry island ; 
 to fast upon our beef and claret, and never to be- 
 hold the sunshine of their Imperial, Eoyal, and 
 Apostolic Majesties. These circumtances, mon 
 cher Chevalier, ought to plead our excuse ; in such 
 situations the minds of men are not likely to be 
 at ease, and why should they attempt to poison 
 your enjoyment of the uninterrupted pleasures of 
 Vienna, by their grievances ? 
 
 " They envy you no happiness ; you want no 
 increase ; they love you too well to tease you with 
 unaviHng wishes, though they all lick their lips at 
 your princes, and rather blush when they are 
 obliged to name their own shabby enjoyments. 
 But times may mend; the Duchesses of Grlou- 
 cester and Cumberland have opened their doors 
 two evenings in every week, and as their assem- 
 blies do not fill, some of the " Ocung " may get 
 admittance; and when we can send you Eoyal 
 anecdotes. Lord have mercy upon you! Super 
 ea;ira-extraordiiiaries will not pay your postage! 
 
 " The Drummonds, male and female, are well. 
 Harry and Bess are the same laughing, good- 
 humoured pair they used to be; and Bob and 
 Tatty no worse. Fred and Ferry are neither fat- 
 ter nor leaner ; the Sebrights talk for ever of you, 
 and her ladyship's passion does not seem abated 
 by your absence. In short, the whole " Oa/ng" 
 with all their adherents, flourish. None of them 
 have been brought to justice since you left them, 
 but Sir Basil, who, being an old offender, is very 
 deservedly ccwi /or transportation. 
 
THE EOMANCE OF MPLOMACT; 409 
 
 " Your letter of the I7th February was the best 
 of all possible letters. I gave it to Lord North td 
 read last night at the Oratorio ; and he laughed 
 aloud, in the face of the King, over against whom 
 we happened to be sitting.* 
 
 " You have only to choose your name : Lord 
 North says he will not stand with you for a dozen 
 of syllables; and he desires me to express his 
 wishes that his friends on this side of the water 
 would content themselves with such reasonable 
 requests. I will give your list of princes and 
 counts to Bob, to break Castleton's heart. If he 
 thought you would introduce him as a Johlmow- 
 shy at any of your great dinners, he would set out 
 post for Vienna. 
 
 , * That some of Sir B. M. Keith's familiar epistles (though not 
 exactly the facetious one in question) found their way to Royalty 
 itself, seema not improbable ; from His Majesty, in an audience 
 to a young nobleman from Vienna (the Earl of Morton), when 
 speaking in the highest terms of Sir Eobert, alluding particularly 
 to his " delightful letters." This epithet can hardly be deemed 
 applicable to official dispatches, notwithstanding the terms in 
 which the latter are characterised by Mr. Eden (afterwards 
 liord Auckland), then Under Seeretaiy in the Foreign Depart- 
 ment, in August 1774. " You will think yourself entitled to a 
 much fuller acknowledgment of your dispatches than you have 
 yet received. But what could we do ? It would have been no 
 compliment to you to say that in your description of the Imperial 
 Cabinet, you had contrived to blend sound politics and sterUng 
 toit, in a degree of which this of&ce has seen few instances! 
 And when that idea ■*afl known to have presented itself to all to 
 whom the dispatches in question were submitted, it was not the 
 part of friendship to make fiirther fuss about it. Ostracism is at 
 an end ; but few of us can yet bear to read much of the merits 
 of a live man, if they are very great." 
 
410 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 " I have been under some apprehensions of mis- 
 chief for the last two days; but Mrs. Tattina 
 loves nonsense as nmch as ever.* If it had been 
 otherwise^ Miss Smith] would have been where 
 you wish to see Fa/n/ny Murray.^ 
 
 " A French regiment, returning from the East 
 Indies, has takeA a method of making a rise in the 
 corps. The oflBcers had a quarrel with the Lieu-j 
 tenant-Colonel, as they could not bring him to 
 their way of thinking, they very politely threw 
 him out of the cabin window. I should have no 
 objeotion to a good number of those who are be- 
 tween ypu and yowr regiment, taking the benefit 
 pf sea-bathing in the same manner. I told Bigby 
 I should write to you to-day, and l^e desires to be 
 cordially remembered. You sober fellows never 
 come to good ! He is a martyr to gout. 
 
 "Pastfcmr o'Cfock, Thwrsday morning. 
 
 " \ am this moment returned from Lord Hbit 
 rington's §, where I have been playing at loo with 
 Lady H., and some vile cats, who have robbed 
 me, withoiit giving me a moment's entertainment. 
 Patience! I owe his lordship more than that; 
 and, therefore, with an aching head, and empty 
 purse, I will go to sleep. 
 
 " Q-ood night, !iea,y ICeith, 
 
 " T. B." 
 
 * liord North is strong, and -will continue so. (Private cypher.) 
 t Lord ©oweiL % The Earl of Suffolk. 
 
 § Then Secretary of State for the War Department 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 4H 
 
 " I have been at Portsmouth with the Earls of 
 Suffolk, Sandwich, Eochfort, and Grower; and 
 passed three days exceedingly to my satisfaction. 
 I saw everything, and every kind gf work per- 
 formed in the yards, storehouses, bakehouses, &c. 
 We went to Spithead in a yacht, and were saluted 
 by the sixteen ships of the line, every one of 
 which was manned, and lined with mariaes, as we 
 sailed by them. We dined on board the Ad- 
 miral, with all the Captains of the fleet ; and I 
 never saw so respectable a sight as the circle of 
 brave fellows with whom I sat at table, every one 
 of whom was fit to command the navy of Eng- 
 land. The lords were delighted, and they have 
 all sworn to use their utmost endeavours to pre- 
 vail on the King to see his fleet, which would 
 certainly be exceedingly popular. Lord Suffolk 
 talked of you every day. I showed him parts of 
 your last letter, which pleased him much, and he 
 desired me to tell you that Oaten* is sent to the 
 very castle which was intended for the Queen. He . 
 said he had secret things to write you when he 
 had a •proper opportunity. I will write you the 
 particulars you desire to know, about Famrvy. 
 Mwrray,vrhen a messenger goes to Vienna; of 
 which Fra8er\ has promised to give me timely 
 notice. 
 
 * Comit Osten, Foreign Minister of Denmark, of whose du- 
 plicity Sir E. M. Keith complains, during its unhappy revolution 
 in 1772. 
 
 t Mr. Fraser, iPrivate Sectetaty to the Earl of Suffolk. 
 
412 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 "Zo'ClooL 
 " I am this moment returned from St. James's^ 
 ■where I saw the remonstrance presented by the 
 Lord Mayor, the Eecorder, one Sheriff, one 
 Alderman, and about ten shabby Common-coun- 
 cUmen. WTiat a respectable voice of the people! 
 His Majesty sent out word by the Lord Cham- 
 berlain, that he would not allow them to kiss 
 his hand. Lord Mayor answered, he came there 
 only officially, and thought his Majesty was 
 •perfectly right. When they were introduced to 
 the Throne, Lord Chamberlain said to the King, 
 " Sir, I am desired by the Lord Mayor to ac- 
 quaint your Majesty, that he came here only 
 offi/dally." The remonstrance was then read by 
 the Eecorder, to which the King gave a most 
 excellent answer, which I am sorry I cannot send 
 you in his own words. The purport was, that 
 he should be unjust to doubt that his people 
 were convinced of his readiness, at all times, to 
 hear, and redress their just complaints ; but at 
 the same time, it. would be highly improper to 
 give the smallest countenance to ill-grounded 
 jealousies, and misrepresentations ; that the pre- 
 sent application was so unfounded, and conceived 
 in such disrespectful terms, that he could not 
 believe they seriously expected that any notice 
 would be taken of it. 
 
 "Adieu, my dear Chevalier. 
 
 "P.S. — I shall speedily summon the com- 
 mittee of the " Gang " whom you have chosen 
 to provide and propose a future lady. We all 
 
THE EOMANOB OF DIPLOMACY. 413 
 
 deprecate a Transylvanian or Croatian countess. 
 If your house should be uncomfortable, it will 
 be a cruel stroke upon the evening of my life. 
 Apropos to marriage, the Duke of Orleans has 
 followed some great examples in this country; 
 and owned his marriage with Madame de Mon- 
 tesson ; but all this you know better than I do, 
 from the Dauphiness' private letters. 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 «T. B." 
 
 SIR E. M. KEITH TO ME. BEADSHA.W. 
 
 " Vienna, March 27th, 1773, 
 
 " Oho ! my Lord ! you are upon your marrow- 
 bones; are ye? and peccavi is the word. I 
 thought I should bring you to that; but (as 
 BUly Amherst says), his Majesty's troops never 
 blunder, nor kick those who are down; therefore, 
 I stretch out the friendly hand to lift you upon 
 your legs again. And now, we start afresh, with 
 the cordial innocence of two twin-brothers newly 
 ushered into life by the skilful hand of Dr. 
 Hunter. 
 
 "Do you know, my dear Brad, that it is a 
 shame for you, who have been bred in all the 
 cursed, callous company of courtiers, jobbers, 
 boroughmongers, and piebald parliament-men, 
 to prove such a dunghill cock, in the article of 
 facing an angry friend. Why, there is not an 
 understrapper in office who would not have fought 
 a better battle than you did. Whereaa you just 
 now submit to be looked upon as an honest good- 
 
414 THE EOMAJ^CE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 Hatured fellow ; which is an eiror in judgment, 
 a want of pa/rts (as Peter Taylor said of my 
 fa'ther, when he returned home a heggat). 
 Apropos to beggars ! what say you to Sir Basil ? 
 His Excellency the Governor? Lord! lord! 
 when will the beneficence of my roya,l master 
 end ? As I hope for mercy, 'tis a fair heat, the 
 Kiag agaiast the Keiths — goodness against gra- 
 titude ! and a close run thing it will be, as any 
 match at Newmarket these ten years. I'll tell 
 you one thing. Brad, there's an old gentleman 
 in the Imigdom — the parent of the Keiths, 
 one who is blest with fine feelings, and a steady 
 good heart. I must think that the breath of 
 that man's blessing upon the royal hand which 
 deals out honour and opulence to all his family, 
 may create a pleasing sensation, and be some- 
 thing more than an empty tribute of thanks. Wha,t 
 must I do, my friend, to keep pace with so many 
 accumulated favours ? Why, what I can ; and that 
 with a zeal, an ardent zeal, adequate to the call 
 upon me ; and if Heaven shall please to grant 
 me an opportunity, my Suffolks, my Norths, my 
 Eigbys, and all my Gang shall not blush for me. 
 I write to worthy Lord Dartmouth ; and if I write 
 nonsense to him, it shall be the nonsense of a full 
 heart. My sweet and beautiful Basil has ere this 
 got fairly astride upon his government ; and I trust 
 that by dint of good plain sense, and fair dealing, 
 he "will sit very snug in the saddle. The fellow 
 has a warm heart, and despises money ; and that, 
 my lord, goes a good way in the qualification of a 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMAOT. 4lS 
 
 governor. I made him swear to avoid partialities, 
 and set speeches, and to rememher who got him, 
 and made him what he is.* Oh ! I'll be bound 
 for Basil ! he may do an imwise thing, but I'll 
 be hang'(i if (willingly) he either does an unjust 
 or a mean one. 
 
 " I am preparing for a visit this summer from 
 my good friend Mr. Conway. It is an old 
 promise, and I hope he will have no reason 
 to repent the performance of it. We have rare 
 shows for soldiers here, and some too for fine 
 gentlemen like yourself, if you were not so 
 
 d — dly lazy 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 "E. M. K." 
 
 MB. BEADSHAW TO SIR R. M. KEITH. 
 
 " 2Zrd March, 1773. 
 " Hazy weather. Master Noah ! on the Contiaent 
 — but you know more of that matter than I do — 
 besides, what has that to do with our correspond- 
 ence — which, thanks be to nonsense, — cannot 
 be affected by the ambition or timidity of any 
 or all of the Courts of Europe. 
 
 * ATriTi to this judicious and &atemal counsel, was that given 
 to the new functionary by the highest legal authority of his 
 native land. On learning that his commission as Governor, also 
 involved within it that df Chief Judge of the Island (one aJike 
 alien to the habits and feelings of a sailor), he expressed to the 
 great Lord Mansfield his conscientious scruples on the subject. 
 His Lordship's answer soon removed them: "Basil," said he, 
 "you have excellent common sense ; always decide according to 
 that, and nine times in ten you-vdll be right. But mind, never 
 give a reason for your decision ; that will infaUibly be wrong ! " 
 
416 THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY, 
 
 " The India business begins to grow serious, 
 not for government, but for the men of millions, 
 
 "Apropos, Lord Holland has once more paid 
 Stephen Fox's debts, which amounted to the 
 trifling sum of 86,000Z. ! Charles's, I am in- 
 formed, from very good authority, are ascer- 
 tained, and as they only rise to 110,000?., it will 
 be shabby if his father should leave them unpaid. 
 Charles pays 10,400Z. a year in annuities; and 
 many of the annuitants who have been applied 
 to, declare that they will not sell them, as they 
 are regularly paid. His establishment, exclusive 
 of his race horses (which must be considered 
 as his Ways and Means), is calculated to cost 
 upwards of 6000Z. a year, so that he must an- 
 nually raise a supply of 17,000Z. for the current 
 expenses; besides his bill of extraordimaries, 
 incurred and not provided for. You must agree 
 with me that he is a great financier, and his 
 practical knowledge must enable him to cut a 
 very brilliant figure at the head of the treasury, 
 
 when he gets there » 
 
 " Once more adieu, 
 
 "T. B." 
 
 MB. BBADSHAW TO SIB BOBEBT TS.. KEITH. 
 
 " South Avdla/street, 2nd, April, 1773, 
 > ■ . • 
 
 " I have not paid you for your china yet, but 
 the good time will come, if no more bankers 
 break. The times are hard, and the poor of all 
 
THE HOMAHCE OF DIPLOMACY. 417 
 
 ranks are severely pinched. Even Charles Fox 
 finds a difficulty in raising money. He was under 
 a necessity of staking 2000?. at Newmarket last 
 Monday, for some matches that were to be run 
 that day. The twelve tribes of Israel were all 
 tried, but their hearts were uncircumcised and 
 hard, and he could not raise a single guinea. 
 He declared this at White's and Almack's on the 
 preceding Friday night; he seriously oifered 
 60001. at the end of six months, for an itnme- 
 diate supply of 3000?. ; and, at last, thinking 
 himself sure of winning his matches, he offered 
 500Z. for the loan of 2000?., till the following 
 Tuesday night. No offers would tempt his 
 friends, nor soften the hard hearts of the Jews ; 
 and poor Charles was in the last stage of distress. 
 In this situation, with five guineas, his whole 
 fortune, in his pocket, he came into White's an 
 hour before dinner on Saturday; there he found 
 Harry Cavendish (the House of Commons note- 
 writer), with whom he began to play billiards for 
 a guinea; and having a run of luck, he won, 
 with the assistance of some bets, eighty-five 
 guineas ; which enabled him to go to Almack's 
 at night, where, without losing one cast, he won 
 3000?. ! His good fortune then left him, and he 
 lost back 700?.,; but he cut at three o'clock in 
 the morning, with 2300?., which enabled him 
 to make his stakes at Newmarket. All ■ this I 
 know to be exactly true. I have not heard what 
 he did at Newmaket, but I will venture to pro- 
 nounce, that no Lord of the Treasury ever had 
 such a practical knowledge of ewculation, nor 
 VOL. r. E E 
 
418 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 such extensive dealings with the monied interest 
 of this country. If he escapes a pistol in a 
 gloomy hour, when the ways cmd means are 
 desperate, what has not this country, to expect 
 when he is at the head of its finances. 
 
 " Charles Fox has ' lost every shilling he had, 
 at Newmarket ! The great meeting is Monday 
 se'nnight, and he must win more than 3000?., for 
 none -can he borrow. Lord Tyrawley not yet 
 dead ; no resignation ; the ribbons not yet given 
 away. Eigby still suffering in the gout. Oh! 
 for a letter from you, to make him laugh in the 
 violence of the fit ! 
 
 "Has Basil written you the conversation he 
 had at Court with the lovely Mrs. D'Oyley?* 
 "Give me leave. Sir John, to wish you joy, 
 which I do with great pleasure. How is the 
 General at Berlin'? And give me leave to in- 
 quire after the worthy old gentleman. Pray 
 how is Sir Charles?" Upon the honour of a 
 cream-coloured gentleman, I am a faithful his- 
 torian, and make no additions. But she could 
 make no mistake equal to poor D'Oyley's, when 
 he married her. 
 
 " Lord Clive is to make his defence on Monday, 
 in the House of Commons. He has published' 
 his famous speech, which I will send you by the 
 first messenger. ., 
 
 " Adieu, my dear friend, 
 «T. B." 
 * A lady of the day famous for her misnomers. 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 419 
 
 MB. BEADSHAW TO SIE K. M. KEITH. 
 
 . ' " April 6th, niS. 
 
 " When I have written your excellency five com- 
 plete dozen of letters, perhaps I shall hear from 
 you again. I feel daggers at my disappointment, 
 but will write none. 
 
 " An express is this day arrived from Ports- 
 mouth with letters from St. Vincent. The Caribs 
 were totally subdued, and a peace made with 
 them, the 17th of last February; the total loss 
 of our troops is about 110 men." 
 
 SIK B. M. KEITH TO MB. BBADSHAW. 
 
 ^ " Vienna, April 23rd, 1773. 
 "What an abominable little spitfire dog of a 
 letter yours of the 6th April is ! I feel daggers, 
 say you, but I will write none. Yes, but you 
 will, Mr. Brad, and poisoned ones too; but I 
 have a target which is proof against them all, 
 and that target is mnocence immaculate. Can 
 you forget, you base man you, that five long 
 months had passed without a line ? But I will 
 be calm. I received several of your letters to- 
 gether. I wrote instantly to thank you, and 
 have been scribbling ever since,, and here am I 
 abused and vilified. Sed integer vitce, sce- 
 lerisque purus, &c. I wish your lordship under- 
 stood Latin, for I have twenty quotations at my 
 fingers' ends, which would cut you up most 
 classically. But I shall have a peace-offering 
 from you by next post, and all will be well 
 again. 
 
 E E 2 
 
420 THE EOMANCB 01 DIPLOMACY. 
 
 " To have done with the see-8aw of recrimina- 
 tion, let me tell you a bit of my mind, and upon 
 a very serious subject. You must know, my 
 friend, that I have for the last fortnight been" 
 coagitating, and comparing, and rwle of three-mg, 
 all my ways and means of happiness. I have 
 said to myself — 'Thou hast struggled through 
 life cheerfully, and (with the help of such friends 
 as few men possess), thou hast reached the 
 level of thy utmost wish, at an age when enjoy- 
 ment ought to take the place of ambition. If 
 I mistake thee not, thy turn is domestic, and 
 the scene of thy enjoyment must be under thine 
 own roof. "What is thy hobby-horse? — A woman! 
 Dost thou require an angel, an heiress, or a 
 Catherine Macauley ? No, no, no ! a fireside 
 companion, with a hale constitution, and a de- 
 licate mind.' 
 
 "Thus far have I gone in soliloquy — the rest 
 remains with you and Fred, and Bob and Harry, 
 and the Hays, who, in self-defence, must provide 
 me with a British housewife ; else^ in the heat 
 of my pursuit, and 'with all the wrong-headedness 
 of an old bachelor, I will take to myself (and con- 
 sequently saddle their society with) some Tran- 
 sylvanian or Croatian countess, with five hun- 
 dred ancestors in her pedigree, and just as 
 many crowns in her pocket. What she wants 
 in wealth may be made up in pride and pre- 
 sumption; and I may hope that hereafter, 
 when I come to settle among you, her ladyship 
 wUl revenge the wrongs I have suffered, by keep-. 
 
IHE EOMANOE OF DIPLOMACY. 421 
 
 ing the Gang in continual hot water; and 
 dashing a little of her vinegar and wormwood 
 into the daily cup of every member of it. But I 
 scorn to strike such a stroke by surprise ; and 
 therefore, I give you all a twelvemonth's notice 
 to cater for me — or, look to yourselves. 
 
 "I am glad that Sir George Colebrooke is 
 likely to retire with the small pittance of 180,000Z. 
 I like moderation in others, and shall one day 
 give an example myself, by retiring with some- 
 what near the same sum, whenever I shall have 
 paid off my score of gratitude to my King and 
 coimtry. Why, my dear Brad, should a man, 
 whose name is recorded with never-dyiug honour 
 in the "Town and Country Magazine," give 
 himself up to turmoil and trouble, in order to 
 accumulate excessive wealth? Has not my 
 worthy friend. Count Osten (that sage and in- 
 flexible statesman), withdrawn himself from stat^ 
 troubles and worldly grandeur, and with a cool 
 three hund/red a year, gone to turn his pen into 
 a ploughshare in the heathy wilds of Jutland? 
 Has not Count Eaatzau (that 'staunch and un- 
 corrupted patriot) fled from those honours which 
 bloomed aroimd his brows, and sought philosophic 
 retirement in Switzerland? Has not general 
 Koller Banner ? — Has not Greneral Eichstadt ? * 
 But I am tired of has nota, and shall therefore 
 only beg of your lordship, for the sake of moral- 
 ising (and for the honour of my penetration), to 
 
 * The leading conspirators in the Danish reTolntion — all dis- 
 graced and exiled. 
 
 E E 3 
 
422 THE EOMANCE OF DIPIOMACT. 
 
 cast an eye upon what has passed in the last ten 
 months, in that blessed capital of Copenhagen. 
 Think, my friend, how comfortable I feel in my 
 present mansion, and judge what ought to be 
 my thankfulness to those who chose it for me ! 
 You live amongst my friends and patrons — tell 
 them how strongly that sentiment is impressed 
 
 upon my mind. 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 «E. M, K." 
 
 ME. BEADSHAW TO SIE E. M. KEITH. 
 
 " 16th April, 1773. 
 " I am better than I was, my dear Keith, but I 
 still feel the secretaryship of the Treasury, and my 
 nerves are shattered to pieces; but hang grier- 
 ances, my boys are all at home, and in perfect 
 health, and I will enjoy in them, what I want in 
 myself. Do you know that I have cut you out a 
 little business, for your leisure hours ? You are 
 to determine what I shall do with all and each of 
 my four boys. The eldest is a boy of sound parts, 
 the second a very extraordinary boy, with quick 
 and brilliant parts, and I should think would suc- 
 ceed in the law; the other two you know are 
 infants. You see, my dear Keith, that I shall 
 make no ceremony when I have any biirden to lay 
 upon yoiu- shoulders. If I should die, I will leave 
 you the whole family, as a legacy ; and as you are 
 an advocate for a married life, you may take post 
 at the head of a battalion at once.* 
 
 * Little did the playful writer foresee how soon and literally 
 his prediction would be -verified ! Within a year, hip sudden and 
 
THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 423 
 
 " Mr. Hart, who being a pretty gentleman, must 
 be a friend of yours, is turned out of the banking- 
 house, and may now accompany the Cownt in his 
 next tour to the Continent. It is very dangerous 
 to have any dealings with you foreign ministers, 
 and I am resolved to owe you money no longer. 
 
 " Suppose I were now to take some notice of 
 your Excellency's modest letter of the 27th March. 
 So ! when the natural sweetness and softness of 
 my disposition induces me to make concessions, I 
 am to be rewarded by abuse ! and gibbetted with 
 the title of a good sort of man ! Why, neither 
 Woodfall nor J. Miller ever treated me so cruelly. 
 Pray, good Mr. Plenipo, don't sink me into a good 
 sort of a vncm ; a character that becomes only the 
 deputy of a ward. I had forgot that I was engaged 
 with the prince of negotiators. I should have 
 thought of the brass that adorns the forehead of 
 his Majesty's chosen envoy. By. the bye, the man 
 who could bully a King, his ministry, an ambi- 
 tious mother, and ia, whole country*, paust be a 
 very impudent fellow ! and it is not strange that 
 a poor gentle Lord of the Admiralty, whose dis- 
 position as well as his face, is couleur de crime, 
 should fall under the practices of such a person. 
 What you say about Basil's appointment brought 
 tears in my eyes, and they were tears of much sa- 
 
 tme^ected death — ^leaTing his family apparently indifferently 
 proTided for — consigned his ■widow and children to a friendship 
 which, it ■will he seen on the occorrence of the event, realised his 
 wannest anticipations. 
 * Alluding to Sir E. M. Keith's spirited conduct in Denmark. 
 E E 4 
 
424 XHE.KOMANCE OP DIPLOMACt. 
 
 tisfaction. I don't care whether you approve or 
 not ; but I shall show your letter to Lord Dart- 
 mouth, as the most certain method of having that 
 part of it reported in a certain place. 
 
 " Air the Drummonds supped with me last night, 
 and I did not fail to communicate to them your 
 hind remembrance of the whole family. If anger 
 don't make Tatty write to you, your chance must 
 be desperate. Bess, with her usual smile, says 
 you are an impudent dog. 
 
 " T. B." 
 
 MB. BEADSHAW TO SIK E. M. KEITH. 
 
 "IZrd April, 1773. 
 "Wednesday was a day of days. From the 
 most perfect tranquillity that reigned in the Ad- 
 miralty on Tuesday, we were plunged at once, the 
 next day, into all the preparations for war. Yo^ 
 know that the French are preparing a fleet of 
 twelve sail of the line, at Toulon. You may also 
 know what they intend to do with this fleet, or 
 you may amuse yourself with forming a thousand 
 brilliant conjectures upon the subject ; all this is 
 not my business, who only mean to inform you of 
 facts in my authentic Gazette. Fifteen ships of 
 the line were yesterday ordered to be immediately 
 fitted out for sea, to reinforce Sir Peter Dennis in 
 the Mediterranean. The following is the list :— 
 The Barfleur of 90 guns ; the Resolution, Egmont, 
 Lennox, Eoyal Oak, Terrible, Albion, Dublin, 
 Kent, and Torbay, of 74 guns each ;, the Boyne of 
 70, and the Worcester, St. Albans, and Somerset, 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 425 
 
 of 64 each. They are to be completed, to the 
 highest complement of men, and the seventy 
 companies of marines are to be augmented 
 twenty men a company. Fifteen more ships of 
 the line will be put into commission, and grim- 
 visaged War seems peeping abroad everywhere ; 
 but I hope the fleet will only be one of observa- 
 tion. The way to secure peace is certainly to be 
 prepared for war ; and I will venture to say, with- 
 out laying claim to the smallest degree of merit, 
 or wishing to rob Lord Sandwich of any part of 
 the credit he so well deserves, that the navy of the 
 country never was in so effective a state as it is at 
 this present ; and that no fleet ever was ready for 
 service so soon after it was ordered, as this will be. 
 Upon second thoughts, I am too modest, and 
 might lay claim to some merit ; for — I signed all 
 the orders, • ■ 
 
 " I kept my intention, and yesterday showed 
 your letter about Basil's appointment, to Lord 
 Dartmouth. He was much pleased with my letter ; 
 still more with the one to himself. He respects 
 your father and your Excellency exceedingly ; but 
 he is positively in love with Basil ; and I am 
 ashamed to say, he said more of him than I could 
 have found words to say, though I love him as 
 well,, and have known him longer. The Knight 
 is returned in perfect health from Bath, where he 
 went to break into a succession of Jamaican feasts. 
 He showed me your incomparable letter to him, 
 which I cannot sufficiently admire. 
 
 " You promised to write to me by the last post. 
 
426 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 but as the song says, " I find it nothing so." Yet 
 I am patient, and, don't mount the great horse, 
 like the laird of Murrayshall, &c. I wish I had 
 bullied a Queen, I might then dommeer like some 
 folks, and be minded as they are. Bob, the 
 governor, bids me ask you whether* you have 
 forgot a certain business, about which in certain 
 cases, you were to write to him in a certadn man- 
 ner ? So much for my commission, executed in 
 your own way. I hope you understand me, which 
 will be more than I do myself ; for my instruc- 
 tions were secret, but not confidential. 
 
 " Basil returns to-morrow to Bath. He says, 
 he found the waters had been of use to him ; but 
 I don't think he seemed to want them when he 
 left town. 
 
 "A very melancholy and extraordinary event 
 has happened at the Castle at Salthill. A com- 
 pany of eight persons dined there last Saturday, 
 and were all taken ill that evening. Captain 
 Needham of the Guards (Lord Kilmurray's son), 
 a Mr. Isherwood of Windsor, and a third person 
 whose name I do not know, are already dead ; Mr. 
 Mason, commander in the navy, is dying, and the 
 other four are dangerously ill. They have not 
 yet found from what cause this unhappy business 
 has proceeded. 
 
 " Two more of the persons whom I mentioned 
 to you above, as having dined at Salthill, are dead. 
 It seems there were some felons removing from 
 Beading Gaol put into a stable at the inn ; that 
 
THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 427 
 
 the gaol distemper is now in that prison, and the 
 persons who have died, all, from curiosity, or some 
 other motive, went to see these fellows. This I 
 mention, in justice to your friend, Mrs. Partridge, 
 whose wine or cooking has been supposed to have 
 poisoned these unfortunate persons. 
 
 " I send you Wilkes's letter to the Speaker. It 
 is a modest and decent epistle. The House met 
 yesterday. The Speaker informed them of the 
 return he had received from the Sheriffs of Mid- 
 dlesex, and not one word was said ! ' Whereia the 
 spirit of Onslow the dead.' 
 
 "The Sp^ker has not mentioned Wilkes's 
 letter. Adieu. 
 
 "T. B." 
 
 MK. BEADSHAW TO SIK B. M. KEITH. 
 
 " SOth April, 1773. 
 
 " We begin with the Nabobs next week, but I 
 see plainly they will get out of the scrape with the 
 loss of chai'acter (which many of them set no 
 value on) and a very small sni/p of their tails. In 
 this country, if a man gets a great deal of money 
 by any means, he is secure of keeping it ; and if 
 he will spend it liberally, nobody will consider 
 what he was or how he came by it, while they are 
 eating his meat, drinking his wine, or winning 
 his money. If he is obliged to retrench, his fame 
 is undone, and mankind are so vifiiuoue, they 
 
 will not keep him company. 
 
 " T. B." 
 
428 THE BOMANCE OF DIPLOMACt. 
 
 LOED FEEDEEICK CAMPBELL TO SIE M. KEITH. 
 
 "May nth, 1773. 
 
 " You have too much spirit, my deax Keith, and 
 have been too long at the Court of Vienna, easily 
 to receive into your confidence an old friend, 
 who has so long neglected your correspondence. 
 Besides, I am become a mere country gentleman, 
 and know as little as am old Tory did formerly, 
 when he had first found his way to St. James's. 
 Yet I think there is a certain good-nature about 
 you which does you more honour than your red 
 ribbon; and which, after having seen about as 
 many letters from me, as there are usually post- 
 boys before a Grerman dispatch of a victory, will 
 soften your heart to its old feelings, so that the 
 pen will nm again in its usual Keith style, and 
 I shall deserve to hear from you. 
 
 " By the bye, what an escape we have had ! 
 War and peace — orders and counter-orders to 
 arms for this fortnight past, have taken their 
 turns again and again. At present, the barometer 
 of this part of the world certainly stands at peace. 
 "We have this from authority ; the First Lord- of 
 the Treasury let this out of a budget the other 
 day in the House of Commons, before his brethren 
 of the Cabinet knew it was assured. They were 
 very angry, as it is said, and have since taken 
 most ample revenge of his lordship, by showing, 
 to a very full House, that he must sometimes 
 eubmit to be governed. 
 
THE EOMAKCE OF DIPLOMACT. 429 
 
 " Yesterday, upon notice given, the administra-, 
 tion suffered Burgoyne to lead the House to the 
 consideration of the various reports of the secret 
 and select committees, and to call for examples, 
 by way of punishment, or at least restitution. 
 The motions themselves shall follow, as part of 
 my speech, alias letter. In the meantime, I will 
 tell you the whimsical turn those propositions 
 took, and the whimsical situation Lord North 
 contrived to put himself into. 
 
 " The propositions were framed by a secret 
 committee of the select committee, some three or 
 four; as Burgoyne, Sir William Meredith, Sir 
 John Turner, and Vane; but were made public 
 long enough before they were moved. His lord- 
 ship, as I am told, was well apprised of them, and 
 it was known he meant to support them. His 
 Solicitor-general, equally apprised of them, re- 
 solved to give them the strongest opposition; 
 which he did in a long and elaborate able speech, 
 full of bitterness against Burgoyne, to whom he 
 was a second Junius. The House was, to a man, 
 almost as determined to abandon these motions,, 
 as they had been eager to adopt them. They 
 were allowed by all to be too general, too un- 
 defined, and too equivocal to be voted ; Burgoyne 
 having particularly chosen the word State, as 
 applicable either to the public as sovereigns, or to 
 the Company, and professing not to decide the 
 question of territorial right, one way or the 
 other. 
 
 " Lord North gave up the propositions, but de- 
 
430 THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 fended the substance of them. Dyson said he 
 could not assent to them as proposed, and it was 
 universally agreed they could not be proceeded 
 upon. In this state the House remained, two or 
 three hours debating in what manner they should 
 be postponed ; for the Solicitor-general had very 
 injudiciously moved for the order of the day, 
 which seemed to carry with it an intention to put 
 an end to any further proceeding whatever, by 
 way of example. Had he only moved to adjourn 
 the debate immediately, the question would have 
 been carried without a moment's hesitation. From 
 dry order, the House got round again to the 
 rapacity, oppressions, robberies, and murders of 
 our English nabobs. The Attorney-general, with 
 all the eagerness of a Migby, and, as if supported 
 by all the warmth and weight of a Bedford, rose 
 up, and in a very able, masterly performance, 
 caught the instant, and at once, with redoubled 
 heat, established the motions ! 
 
 " Dyson did now find out that it was possible to 
 assent ; Lord North did now find out there was a 
 part of the administration that must be blooded ; 
 and he submitted to take their direction, and 
 govern the House more effectually by their pas- 
 sions than ever he had done by his ministerial 
 influence; Nothing that you have read of con- 
 cerning the effects of ancient oratory, could have 
 given you a stronger idea of the transitions that 
 are to be made in the opinions of a popular 
 assembly, than this scene, had you been present. 
 Yet, it was not oratory (though that had its 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLQMACT. 431 
 
 weight), but passions and political feelings that 
 made the fluctuations. 
 
 , " What has been doi;e, is right in substance. 
 But the manner of it will show who are to govern 
 in the Cabinet ; and that what was omitted to be 
 done for years past through indolence, must now 
 be hastily pursued with violence*; for to that 
 the House of Commons often have, and will now 
 oftener come, when they make themselves judges. 
 " The Gang are not, as you wished them, tied 
 neck and heels, or hanging upon gibbets, but all 
 well. 
 
 " Yours, most truly, 
 
 « F. C." 
 
 " P.S. PROPOSITIONS OF THE SECRET COMMITTEE 
 UPON INDIAN AFFAIRS. 
 
 " 1. That all acquisitions made under the in- 
 fluence of miltary force by treaty with 
 foreign powers, do of right belong to the 
 State. 
 
 " 2. That to appropriate acquisitions so made, to 
 the private emolument of persons intrusted 
 with any civil, or military power of the 
 State, is illegal. 
 
 " 3. That very great sums of money, and other 
 valuable property, have been acquired in 
 Bengal, from Princes, and others of that 
 
 * It is impossible not to be struck with tbe applicability of 
 this remark to many important constitutional changes of more 
 modem times. 
 
432 THE EOMAKCB OF BIPLOMACT. 
 
 country, by persons intrusted with the 
 military and civil power of the State ; 
 which sums of money and valuable pro- 
 perty have been appropriated to the 
 private use of such persons." 
 
 ME. BEADSHAW TO SIB E. M. KEITH. 
 
 " Tuesday, 25th May, 1773. 
 
 " Now hang me like a dog if I don't write you 
 an account of the inquiry into the conduct of 
 Lord Clive, notwithstanding your impertinent 
 sarcasm about Indian politics and roasted Di- 
 rectors. Nay, don't turn up your plenipotentian 
 snub-nose. You may throw my letter into the 
 fire, or send it, wrapped about , half a dozen 
 lozenges to the Princess Lamberg ; but the Acts 
 of the Commons of Great Britain shall travel to 
 the walls of Vienna by some other conveyance 
 besides Woodfall's Fly and J. Miller's Tim- 
 whisky ! 
 
 " On Friday last, after examining a witness to 
 some of the facts relative to Lord Clive, which 
 were stated ra the report of the Select Commitee, 
 Colonel Burgoyne moved, " That it appears to 
 this House, that Eobert Lord Clive, about the 
 time of deposing Surajah Doulah, Nabob of 
 Bengal, and establishing Meer Jaffier on the 
 Musnud, did, through the influence of the powers 
 with which he was intrusted as a member of the 
 Select Committee and Commander-in-chief of the 
 British forces, obtain and possess himself of two. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 433 
 
 lacks and 30,000 rupees, as member of the Select 
 Com.mittee, of a like sum as Commander-in- 
 Chief, a further sum of sixteen lacks or more, 
 under the denomination of private donation ; 
 which sums, amounting together to 20 lacks, 
 30,000 rupees, were of the value of 234,000^. ; 
 and that in so doing, Eobert Lord Clive abused 
 the powers with which he was intrusted, to the 
 evil example of the servants of the Company,' 
 
 ''Mr. Stanley moved to divide the question, 
 
 and that the censure, from the figures 234,000i. 
 
 should be left out. After debate this was agreed 
 
 to. Lord North beiag for it. Eose Fuller then 
 
 moved to amend the first question, then to be 
 
 put, by leaving out, ' through the i/nfiuence of the 
 
 powers with which he was i/ntrusted,'' which 
 
 occasioned a very long and warm debate till past 
 
 five o'clock on Saturday morning, when, upon a 
 
 division, 155 were for Fuller's amendment, and 
 
 95 against leaving out the above words, in. which 
 
 last number ^as your humble servant, who was 
 
 beat, with his general. Lord North ; but, upon 
 
 my word, L voted from conscience and feeling. I 
 
 would not have taken a shilling from Lord Clive, 
 
 but I would have established the priaciple ; and 
 
 avowed that in consideration of Lord dive's great 
 
 and eminent services, the House would proceed 
 
 no farther in his case. It was no ministerial 
 
 question. Lord North did not call for the support 
 
 of any one friend. He was opposed by his 
 
 warmest partisans, and supported by many of his 
 
 keenest enemies.. 
 
 VOL, I. F F 
 
434 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 *' Upon the whole I felt a pleasure in the good- 
 humour of John Bull. He will speak and write 
 daggers, .and hang and cut off heads without 
 laercy in the newspapers ; but when a culprit has 
 submitted, and John has him absolutely in his 
 power, he will not hurt a hair of his head. 
 Having done justice to John's temper, I must add, 
 that I see very serious consequences from the 
 effects of it upon the present occasion. Without 
 pursuing a very strict and serious inquiry into 
 the causes of the present wretched and bankrupt 
 condition of the Company, and making an ex- 
 ample of some of those, at least, whose rapine 
 and villainy have brought it to the brink of 
 destruction, all laws will be a joke, and regula- 
 tions will be waste paper. It is intended to go 
 on with the inquiry, and to punish some of the 
 wntitled plunderers of the East by making them 
 disgorge. Now I own, though these minor 
 plunderers have not Lord Olive's services to plead, 
 yet when they say in their defence, that what 
 they received by holding a pistol to some dis- 
 tressed nabob's head, and making him give them 
 a voluntary present (for they are all stated as 
 voluntary), they were encouraged to take from' 
 the example of Lord Clive, and the honours 
 which were afterwards conferred upon him (for 
 the scene of rapine has been, since the revolution, 
 in favour of Meer ■ Jaffier) — and when they plead 
 the precedent of the House, established last Satur- 
 day, and the arguments used by respectable 
 members in support of such presents, I own I 
 
THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 435 
 
 shall bring myself with difficulty to squeeze even 
 a Sykes. As my mind goes to equal and im- 
 partial justice, though I have been Secretary to 
 the Treasury, and am still a member of Parlia- 
 ment, I shall in all probability vote with Lord 
 North, but I shall do it with remorse. If the 
 House had established the offence in the case of 
 Lord Clive, I should have been satisfied, and his 
 services would then have been a sufficient ground 
 for pardoning what had been declared a fault. 
 
 " Lord Clive said but little in his defence. He 
 threw himself upon the candour of the House; 
 and just before he retired, with tears in his eyes, 
 he implored the House to save his reputation and 
 take his fortune. In short, he acted his part so 
 well, that several members burst into tears ; and 
 I am only surprised that the ICing was not 
 addressed to bestow some additional honour upon 
 him. The priuciple article of merit insisted upon 
 by his friends was, that when he entered Muxa- 
 dabat with Meer Jaffier, at the time of the re- 
 volution, he did not plimder that city, by which 
 he might have obtained to himself some millions. 
 He had, in that particular exactly the same degree 
 of merit which King William had,, by not plunder- 
 ing London when he took possession of Whitehall 
 with his Dutch Guards. Lord Clive entered 
 Muxadabat in procession, with the new Nabob, 
 his friend, whose city it was, and to whom be- 
 longed the treasures it contained ; and I do not 
 believe Jonathan Wild would have acted other- 
 wise. 
 
 F F 2 
 
436 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 " Barre drew an excellent picture of the in^ 
 crease of nabobs, and of their power, as well as 
 of the additional strength which ministers would 
 derive in Parliament from men who must fly to 
 government for protection. He told the country 
 gentlemen that their consequence would be at an 
 end ; that the Minister would not even think it 
 worth his while to solicit their attendance. It 
 would not be necessary for him to summon the 
 national troops, as he would be able to beat 
 opposition with his Sepoys. 
 
 "Thus have I tried your patience, my dear 
 Keith, with a long and dull account of what I think 
 an important matter. I should think it relates 
 to a business upon which the eyes of all Europe 
 have been turned (to use Lord Hardwicke's 
 favourite expression), and therefore I was resolved 
 you should know the proceedings in detail. Now 
 to your letter of the 8th of May, which arrived to 
 indemnify me from the disagreeable night which 
 has been the subject of this long despatch. You 
 write better without a subject than with one, and 
 I had rather have one line of Keith, unadul- 
 terated, than a volume of the acts of all the Kings 
 of Europe, or the events of all their kingdoms. 
 I therefore desire that all the bricks you send me 
 may be made without straw. 
 
 " Ever yours, 
 
 " T. B." 
 " Eigby gave Basil a dinner yesterday. He 
 sneaked away early to his T^arrew.'" 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 437 
 
 SIK E. M. KEITH TO ME. BEABSHAW. 
 
 " Vienna, May \Zth, 1773. 
 
 "I» often find you arrogating to yourself the 
 title of an exceedingly dull fellow, and I see you 
 grow proud upon that species of super-emiaence ; 
 but I would have you know that his Majesty's 
 diplomatical servants deal as largely in that way 
 as any set of men whatever. For instance, I 
 myself at this moment have the intimate feeling 
 of a dulness which would do honour to any 
 cheesemonger in Thames Street, and am heartily 
 disposed to pour a certain quantity of that 
 dulness through the fwrvnel of this letter. It 
 shall be the melted lead of matter-of-fact, which 
 is known to be particularly porideroias and 
 soporific. 
 
 " First, then, my new hotel has precisely thirty- 
 four rooms, besides passages and entries. These 
 rooms I intend to furnish handsomely, with my 
 two dozen and a half of chairs (ten of which you 
 know have damask bottoms), one settee, sis 
 tabourets, and three card-tables! Well, sir! I 
 have stabling for sixteen stout saddle and coach 
 horses, and stout ones they shall be ! and three 
 of them (my stalls) are already actually filled with 
 liwe horses, my own property. I have but three 
 kitchens, and two ice-houses, and yet I defy any 
 man to guess which is which, for ice or fire 
 have I none! My oJBBcers of the household, 
 steward, butler, confectioner, cooks, and four 
 
 F F 3 
 
438 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY, 
 
 valets-de-cliainbre, are men at the top of the 
 fashion, and dress according to the four seasons 
 of the year. My running and walking varlets 
 wear, in their red and yellow doublets of Ben- 
 mark, a variety of wretchedness. I have ■heard 
 say that these gentlemen and serviag-men of my 
 retinue do dine, but where, or how, is no matter 
 of mme. Thus you see how a foreign minister 
 is undone, by the three deadly drains of furniture, 
 equipage, and hospitality. .... 
 
 "You shall now have (and indeed it is high 
 time), a little bit of common sense and sound 
 reason tacked to all the preceding fustian and 
 balderdash. You do me honour by consulting me 
 about your boys, and I look with pleasure to the 
 hope of being able to repay by the kindest atten- 
 tion towards them, some part of the debt of 
 friendship which I owe to their father and mother. 
 
 " The question with regard to the eldest is not 
 how to enable him to create a fortune, but to give 
 him (which is ten times harder to do) the means 
 of enjoying opulence with utility and dignity. 
 I need not remark to you, that a solid and well 
 founded education is (after health) the first of all 
 blessings in every station; but 'I am fully of 
 opinion that a man whose fortune is already 
 made, stands more in need of a fond of knowledge, 
 and self-occupation, than one of any other class 
 whatever. Open therefore the door of every science 
 and accomplishment to your eldest boy, and when 
 you see him step in with pleasure, then make his 
 residence as comfortable and beneficial tO' him as 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. , 439 
 
 you can. Should his genius lead him to any grave 
 study which demands a length of application, I do 
 not .think you ought to check him in the pursuit, 
 though you may not intend he should follow the 
 profession hereafter. The habit of application is 
 in itself a treasure, no matter of how little advan- 
 tage to fortune that branch of knowedge may be 
 which is the object of it. Such a habit may save 
 your boy from the dreadful danger of the times, 
 that of coming i^to the world too early, with, 
 alas ! no other time-killer than cards and — New- 
 market. 
 
 " I myself am certainly one of the happiest of 
 mortals, and I thank God I feel it. But if I 
 were to be asked which is my surest fence against 
 the frowns of fortune, or the miseries of ennui, 
 which so often follow her smiles, I should answer 
 without hesitation, my love of boohs, and that 
 love you must early instil into your son and heir. 
 Tell me what he likes best to do when nobody 
 controls him, and hiat to me the foibles which 
 you have been able to discover in his temper and 
 character, and you shall have my best advice upon 
 everything. A flashy bit of a letter like this, 
 with a few wise sentences and nostrums, will 
 neither fulfil your intentions nor mine; but I 
 will willingly follow the matter out, step by step, 
 which is the only way of doing education busi- 
 ness. I like the private tutor, and the company 
 of Bob's son exceedingly, for the present; and 
 here we will leave him, and proceed to Master 
 Barrington. I think that same young dog, with 
 
 F F 4 
 
440 THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACt. 
 
 sharp and brilliant parts, must, and shall he, a 
 laMjei ; because that profession is in Britain, and 
 in Britain only, the profession of an honest man, 
 as well as the road to honour and affluence^ Let 
 him Harrow on at his school for some time 
 longer, but it will not be amiss in your conver- 
 sation with him, to endeavour to fix his eye and 
 his ambition early upon the Lord Chancellor's wig. 
 It is fair in a father to give to the saplvng that 
 gentle twist which bends him towards the paternal 
 wishes for his good. 
 
 " All degrees of force carried beyond that pointj 
 and in opposition to natural talents and disposi- 
 tion, are not only crtiplj but absurd. We will 
 take care of the other brats as they grow up, and 
 as I think, I have proved to you that I am fond 
 of boys, I am proud to tell you, Mr. Brad, that 
 you are not the only father who has promised to 
 leave me a legacy of all his children. More than 
 one honest man has made me the honourable 
 offer, and, hang me like a dog, if I don't accept 
 of such legacies whenever they may fall upon me, 
 with a tender gratitude, and the sincerest intention 
 of acting up to the duties which they may bring 
 along with them. 
 
 " Heigh-ho ! I have talked reason now for 
 upwards of ten minutes, which is an exercise of 
 the mind I have been little accustomed to, and it 
 jades me prodigiously! My daily pastimes are 
 gallantry and politics ; and it is no hard matter to 
 sputter about one or other of those topics for a 
 dozen hours, without the smallest mental fatigue.- 
 
THE EOMANCB OF DIPLOMACY. 441 
 
 Every fool is fluent with the ladies ; and as to the 
 jargon of politics, I verily believe that if you 
 were to sit down at my bed-aide at three o'clock 
 in the morning, and put a question to me in 
 regard to the Pragmatic Sanction, I should be 
 able to run on (like an alarum clock), for an hour 
 or two, with the rumbling nonsense which belongs 
 to the subject, and never lose a single instant of 
 my seven hours' sleep. I warrant now, my Brad, 
 you could (from a parity of practice) fit out a 
 royal fleet in your first* slumber ! 
 
 " So — you have been down with Eigby, have 
 ye ? and you have had the mutton hash, and the 
 Harwich soles, and the neck of venison, and the 
 asparagus, and green peas, with a little Hock and 
 Spa, and half a glass of champagne, and a pint 
 of the old claret ? Oh ! Brad, Brad, if you did 
 but know what a fortunate puppy you are, and 
 what a mint of money the Danish knight would 
 ■ have given to share those blessings which (ten to 
 one) you received with a lordly apathy and in- 
 difference ! I don't know how it is. Brad, but I 
 am not sure if you possess the talent oi enjoyment. 
 I sometimes doubt whether Providence has granted 
 you that best balsam of life. I truly have not 
 had many of the hey-day enjoyments within my 
 reach, but such as have fallen to me I have 
 feasted upon with all the poignancy of appetite. 
 You know that I do not mean aldermanic guzzling 
 of meat and driak; but (as my learned friend 
 Macpherson has it) the feast of souls.' I shall 
 grow monstrously hungry for Eigby cookery in 
 
442 THE EOMANCB OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 that style in a year or two ; for, to say the truth, 
 I cannot bring my stomach to relish my present 
 soupe maigre and water-gruel diet. When you 
 meet with the matadores of the Ministry, such as 
 Lords North, Suffolk, Dartmouth, &c., you may 
 assure them that, as men who have helped to 
 make my fortune, I respect and honour them; 
 and as men whose friendship makes fortune worth 
 the having, I love them, and wish to live with ' 
 them. Farewell, my dear Brad. La belle des 
 belles se porte di/wmement bien. 
 
 «K. M. K." 
 
 SIE E. M KEITH TO ME. BEADSHAW. 
 
 " Vienna, June 5th, 1773. 
 
 "I am now pretty well convinced that some 
 ingenious postmaster instructs his daughter in 
 the art of letter-writing, by examples drawn from . 
 our correspondence. "What is to be done, my 
 dear Brad? I have lost my money at whist, to 
 Count I*aar, the Imperial Postmaster-general ; I 
 have made three bows extraordinary, and given 
 two piaches of snuff to the Prince de la Tour 
 Taxis, the Postmaster of the Holy Eoman Empire. 
 It is not in the power Of man to form a more 
 tender connexion with those princely personages. 
 Yet are our letters purloined in part ; for I can 
 no longer doubt of the loss of my manuscript of 
 April 17th, nor stifle my anxiety on your silence 
 of last post. Pray make all safe on your side of 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 443 
 
 the water, by redoubling your kindness and 
 attention to Lord Despenser and Harry Thynne ; 
 and I shall be bound that if my valuable friend, 
 Mr. Todd, takes a peep into our papers (as peep 
 he will sometimes), he has too much taste, as 
 well as liberality of sentiment, to suppress a 
 syllable of our cordial confabulations. 
 
 *' I have had your scrawl of May 18th, inform- 
 ing me of the marriage of Ensign Horneck *, to 
 which I give my full consent, looking upon it as 
 a happy omen for the Knight of Denmark. Don't 
 you recollect that Master Horneck was Sir Basil's 
 squire, and that Sir Basil was Sir Eobert's proxy 
 at the installation ? Mark, now, what has be- 
 fallen these two gentlemen, and judge whether 
 they are not again walking in procession before 
 him, to guide his steps in the mysterious path of 
 matrimony. Upon the promise you have given 
 me to assemble a committee {secret or select, as 
 you please), I have suspended all my matrimonial 
 negociations in Transylvania, Croatia, Podolia, 
 and Volhynia, as well as in Moldavia and 
 Wallachia. The news of my purpose had reached 
 those provinces, and many a fair face was washed 
 upon the occasion, which no other waters than 
 those of baptism had ever touched before ! I 
 may, perhaps, from an exertion of patriotic spirit, 
 resist for a month or two more the overtures of 
 these magnates and their misses; but I cannot, 
 in conscience, stay the progress of population in 
 
 * To the beautiM'Miss Keppd, daughter to Lord Albemarle, 
 
444 THE EOMANCE OF DIPIOMACT. 
 
 SO many provinceSj or keep in suspense such 
 crowds of females, for my single persoui 
 
 " I see that Burgoyne has moved for a large 
 slice of the Jaghire ; but pray, can you gentlemen 
 of St. Stephen's enforce a restitution without the 
 form of legal process ? I do not ask this question 
 from any retrospection towards self; for, though 
 I have touched a pretty round sum of public 
 money and (heaven knows) made but a scanty- 
 return for it, yet I boldly defy all the Burgoynes 
 in Britain, to force me to refund a shilling, as I 
 have the happiness to find myself not worth a 
 groat. A few nick-nacks and silver spoons, and 
 so forth ; but there's no buckler against violence 
 and envy like pristine poverty, and that buckler 
 I do wear. 
 
 " N.B. — I do great justice to Burgoyne's 
 honour and spirit. 
 
 " dear ! dear ! undone, ruined, past re- 
 demption ! Who d' ye thiak is come to Vienna ? 
 Why the Duchess of Gordon ; and I must feast, 
 and gallant, and present her grace — oh ! poor 
 Plenipo ! The pen drops from my hand, I can 
 no more. ^ 
 
 « E. M. K." 
 
 SIB E. M. KEITH TO MK. BKADSHAW. 
 
 "J%me 12ih. 
 . " I told you in my last that I had just got a 
 Duchess astride upon my shoulders, who intended 
 to amble me about the streets of Vienna for one 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 445 
 
 painful fortnight at least. Now, in so saying, I 
 did a manifest injustice to her Grace of Gordon, 
 who is certainly one of the best conditioned, as 
 well as plainest, of God's Duchesses. She has 
 behaved like a Cherubim for this week past. She 
 has preserved an incognito becoming her face and 
 the fashion. She has seen all my shows (in- 
 eluding the bear-garden), with a good-humoured 
 ■curiosity. She has ate my mutton with a hearty 
 stomach, and said civil things of Sir Robert and 
 his cook, and to sum up all in a word, she leaves 
 Austria on Tuesday next. I swear I am almost 
 sorry for it, for I would sell my coat to serve a 
 woman who is always pleased, always ready, and 
 whose warmth of heart has lighted up a constant 
 glow on her countenance." 
 
 SIR E. M. KEITH TO MK. BEADSHAW. 
 
 " Vienna, Jvly 10th, 1773. 
 " I have, for this hour past, steeped my pen in 
 milk and honey, in order to wash away the gall 
 which naturally flowed to its nib. I have said to 
 myself, that after living so much in the world, 
 and so long, as an inferior limb of the ministry, 
 it would be absurd in me to complain or fret at 
 the suspension of those gratuitous favours, which 
 a person in high office had for some time past 
 been pleased to confer upon me. In short, I have 
 so far subdued the uncourtly frankness of my 
 natural temper, as to be able to ask your lordship, 
 with all the meekness of a pliable politician. 
 
446 THE ROMANCE OP DIBLOMAOT. 
 
 when it may be permitted me to hope for the 
 sequel of that instructive correspondence which 
 you had the goodness to promise me in. your last 
 flying favourr of the 1st of June ? 
 
 " I can partly guess at the nature of those 
 weighty occupations which have engrossed a 
 considerable share of the intermediate time. But 
 I cannot suppose that a man of your activity and 
 experience in maritime affairs, should be so far 
 taken up by the equipment of a small squadron 
 of twenty ships, and the arrangement of thra 
 days' etiquette, as not to have found in a whole 
 month one moment to throw out a signal of 
 affection to a longing friend in a distant and 
 dangerous offing. I leave it to your conscience to 
 decide, whether my expectation upon that head 
 had done too much honour to your naval abilities, 
 or to your feelings as a friend; for I humbly 
 conceive that in one or other of these qualities 
 your lordship has fallen short of my partial con- 
 ception. 
 
 " I shall learn from Messieurs Miller and Bald- 
 win, the detail of your brilliant operations at 
 Spithead, but shall be happy to hear from you 
 that they succeeded comipletely to the satisfac- ' 
 tion of the Sovereign of the Ocean, and the 
 hearts of oak, his sailing servants. I wish that 
 half a dozen Bourbons had been present at the 
 show, which would hardly have suffered by com- 
 parison with the Dauphin ess's entry into Paris. 
 But enough of sea affairs ; we landsmen are apt to 
 talk nonsense when we talk upon them. Bess 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 447 
 
 and Harry I hear were ■with you. Did they 
 momit upon the main-yard of a man-of-war to 
 huzza their loyalty? I hope they did; and I 
 wish you had carried down Dick Cox and Lord 
 Fred along with you, and keel-hauled them both 
 for their cruelty to me ! It might have cured 
 their laziness, which I fear no remedy of mine can 
 accomplish. 
 
 " Sir Basil is now turned off ; let me know how 
 he behaved at the matrimonial tree. If any man 
 could be trusted to tell the truth upon matri- 
 monial affairs, I should in a month or two hence 
 ask his counsel upon the gain and loss of that 
 sort of venture. But I have remarked, from my 
 infancy, that married persons (like Popish nuns) 
 take a pleasure in inveigling the young and un- 
 wary to put on the very fetters which perhaps 
 gall them in the tenderest part. It must always, 
 I fear, be a leap in the dark, and then — let the 
 hardest fend off. Adieu, dear Brad. 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 " E. M. K." 
 
 SIR R. M. KEITH TO MR. BRADSHAW. 
 
 " Vienna, July list, 1773. - 
 "This comes to say, Mr. Thomas Bradshaw, 
 that you are forgiven in consideration of your 
 wounds in the service*, though there can be no 
 reason for my admitting you beyond the ante- 
 cha/mher of my affections, till I have seen proofs 
 
 * An accident, subsequently mentioned, during the naval 
 reTOTT. 
 
448 THE EOMAMCE OF DIPLOMACT.' 
 
 of your contrition registered in whole quires of 
 intelligence and entertainment. 
 
 " If I could condescend to embrace you in my 
 present humour, it would be, for the welcome 
 (thrice welcome) information of Sir John Sebright's 
 perfect recovery, and the happy situation of Bill 
 Amherst and his family. These are men, indeed ! 
 such as my soul loveth ; and if immortality upon 
 this clod of earth could belong to any two-legged 
 animal, surely these two, from the gentle and 
 beneficent tenor of their lives, are amongst those 
 who might best lay claim to it. You are a hard- 
 hearted fellow. Brad, and don't love women, else 
 I would teU you that the trembling exultation of 
 two such angels as the wives of Sir John and 
 Billy, in marking the growing health of the hus- 
 bands of their choice, is to me an idea infinitely 
 affectiag. But those fine feelings which Provi- 
 dence has been pleased to twine into the fibres of 
 my constitution, are caviare to the multitude ; 
 and for the present I will not do you the honour 
 to suppose you susceptible of any similar impres- 
 sions. 
 
 " I have had nme different descriptions of your 
 Portsmouth show, and am happy to see that a 
 measure of so much propriety met with success so 
 complete and satisfactory. Several millions of 
 John Bulls appear now to be all of one mind with 
 regard to their Sovereign and his seamen, which 
 in these latter times is somewhat of a rarity ; but 
 I will take upon me to assure them, that in what- 
 ever light they set their royal master within the 
 
THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 449 
 
 reach of their inspection, they will see him to 
 equal g.dyantage. 
 
 " I have said this a hundred times (and I spoke 
 from the heart), but I was a placeman, the dflb^of 
 a pensioner, a ribboned slave, and a ScotcJmmn, 
 and therefore not to be believed. I have now the 
 bulk of my fellow-subjects on my side, and by and 
 bye I shall not meet with a dissenter from that 
 political tenet to preach to, imless I look for them 
 (which in my sober senses I never shall) in that 
 temple of patriotism^ the Guildhall of London. 
 
 "Poor Mr. Miller! Poor Henry Woodfall ! not 
 a paragraph nor a squib of sulphurous materials ! 
 yet Sand-wich's flag was flying, and Bradshaw's 
 cream besprinkled the ocean ! Hang me ! if, in 
 their place, I would have let you off so dieap ! 
 As to the honour you enjoyed in having your leg 
 broken by the tiller of the royal yacht, I hope 
 that in the first kingly review of every succeeding 
 reign a Bradshaw of your line shall be singled 
 out to imdergo the same experiment. It is the 
 least a King of England can do, to distinguish a 
 family whose ancestor showed such a respect for 
 Majesty in the person of the Rqyal Martyr! 
 But enough of this : your pride is already puffed 
 up within an inch of bursting. 
 
 " Adieu, dear Admiral, 
 
 «B,M.K." 
 
 "August \ith. 
 
 " I am this evening to set out for Hungary, by 
 which I suppose you conclude that I am running 
 VOL. I. G G 
 
450 THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 away from the debts of my mission. Not unlikely, 
 my lord, yet not true; for the capital of Hungary is 
 at nogreater distance from hence than Henley from 
 Lo^Bn ; and there I am to pay my court to the 
 Archduchess and Duke of SaxeTeschen to-morrow, 
 and after a princely repast, and an evening fan,- 
 dango, I shall again step into my chaise, and fly 
 back to Vienna. There will be weeping, wailing, 
 and gnashing of teeth in both capitals ; but what' 
 can a man do ? Ubiquity comes not within his lot ! 
 " In this jaunt, as in every other excursion or 
 party, I am blessed with a trusty companion, in the 
 person of Bartholomew Grradenigo, Knight, Se- 
 nator, and Ambassador of the Eepublic of Venice. 
 A rare hand, a man among a million, for he shall 
 preside at a feast, bamboozle an old woman, or 
 flirt with a young one, with any He in Christen- 
 dom ; and then with all this, he is as honest as 
 the day is long, and has had four Doges of Venice 
 amongst his ancestors; which you must needs think 
 renders his company infinitely agreeable. Alas ! 
 alas ! the Turks have got hold of him ; and in six 
 months he removes his household gods from hence 
 to the banks of the Hellespont. I could blubber 
 like a boy when I think of it ; for Grradenigo is to 
 me meat, drink, and raiment. It may be some 
 comfort to you, my dear friend, to know that this 
 jewel of an ambassador is as fat and gouty, and 
 nearly as great a courtier, as your lordship. If I 
 could bring you two together for six months, and 
 feast my five senses with you for that time, I 
 would consent that chaos should come again, at 
 
THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 451 
 
 tlie end of it. But human nature does not reach 
 that pitch of felicity ! 
 
 " Apropos ; why have you made a secret to me 
 of the abdication of the Great Mogul in favour of 
 our royal master ? I have been wished joy of it a 
 hundred times, and am in expectation of receiving 
 my credentials in a post or two, as Plenipo from 
 the Peninsula of Indostan, with two or three lacks 
 of rupees to support the splendour of my mission. 
 Never were lacks more wanted, or more welcome 
 than those I look for. 
 
 "Adieu, 
 
 «E. M. K." 
 
 SIR E. M. KEITH TO ME. BEADSHAW. 
 
 "Vienna, Aztgzist 25th, 1773. 
 
 " Thanks to you for your No. 26, and likewise 
 for your hints about the Milanites* (that are to 
 be) ; and if they come in my way (which Heaven 
 avert !) they shall have my best services, and not 
 the shadow of a visit ! N'est-il pas vrai ? Mon- 
 sieur de la Crime — ^that's your meaning ? Every- 
 thing as Sir Bob, nothing as Sir Pleni. 
 
 "Now I would have you to know. Sir, that in 
 matters of punctilio, and etiquette, and right and 
 left hand, and all the other Sir Clement Cotterell- 
 ish nonsense, I can intersect, in twenty different 
 shapes, the narrow space which divides dutiful 
 observance and dignified stateliness, and never go 
 a hair-breadth beyond my purpose. I wish, my 
 
 * The Duke and Duchess of Cumberland, then in disgrace at 
 Court. 
 
 Q G 2 
 
452 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 dear Brad, that you were fairly kicked out of 
 office, and turned adrift by his Majesty's ministers, 
 that I might have the pleasure of showing you 
 how nicely I can infuse the first cold drops of 
 courtly Tenom into a pailful of stale cordiality, 
 so as to ewrdh the whole, and separate the two 
 substances for ever afterwards. 
 
 " You fancy yourself now in the very core of 
 my good graces ; and so to be sure you are. Be- 
 cause why ? You have two or three pretty em- 
 ployments, and a tolerable share of the ministerial 
 confidence. But with all this, my dear lord, if 
 henceforth it shall please Lord North (or any 
 given premier) to withdraw from you the breath 
 of his nostrils, I will be bound in the space of 
 three months to retract every jot of our intimacy ; 
 and by such imperceptible degrees, that, without 
 knowing how the deuce it came about, you shall 
 find yourself xeduoed to the distant civility of a 
 quondam, acquaintance, and yet shall .never dare 
 to tax Sir Robert with ingratitude. 
 
 "There, my dear Brad, is the advantage of a 
 liberal education, and I hold it to be a point of as 
 high importance in a man who has his fortime to 
 make, to know how to unfetter himself hand- 
 somely from unfashionable friends, as to be master 
 of the talent of seizing the first feather of the 
 rising wing of favour. But all this is theory, and 
 I long to show you a little of my practice. 
 There's Lord Frederick, now,; he can do me jus- 
 tice; for he must needs remember bow, upon 
 his being dismissed from the Privy Seal, and 
 
The romance of diplomacy. 453 
 
 before he got the registership, I trimmed matters 
 so judiciously, that he had not the least hold of 
 me, whilst out of place, and that I was again his 
 bosom friend before the seals of his new office 
 were cold. » 
 
 " Do, my dear Brad, pray do me the favour to 
 step a little into the 7nvre of minority, only for a 
 month or so, that I may have some chance for 
 sport with you in my own way ; but reserve it for 
 Tiext meeting with 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 «E. M. K." 
 
 SIK K. M. KEITH TO MR. BRADSHAW. 
 
 "Vienna, Aiigust 28<A. 
 
 « You are persuaded, no doubt, that in every 
 great capital a man .may, by taking some pains, 
 find out a few choice companions of his own 
 stamp and cast. An arrant mistake, my good 
 lord, and one which I have experienced to my 
 cost. This city is, in many respects, amongst the 
 first in Europe. "We have thousands of nobility ; 
 imiversities and academies in abundance ; lawyers 
 without end ; and clergymen of all colours. I 
 have sought in vain for my fellows in all these 
 societies, and what will surprise you more is this, 
 that if (in the course of the last nine months) 
 there has been handled with ability or pleasantry 
 in either of them, any one subject of instruction, 
 moral, civil, or political, it certainly has not been 
 within ear-shot of your friend the Plenipo. All 
 
 G G 3 
 
*454 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 this is nothing; but if, in the same space of time 
 he had been witness to one joyous meeting, to one 
 heatty laugh, performed by man, woman, or child, 
 he would have taken his' share of that gaiety in 
 lieu of the information he thirsts after, and have 
 thought himself a gainer by the bargain. The 
 ephemeral fly, which is bom in the morning to 
 die at night, might hold up the conversation of 
 one half our most brilliant circles. The play, the 
 dance, your horse, my coach, a pretty embroidety, 
 or a well-fancied lining, these are the favourite 
 topics ; upon every one of which I am a numskull 
 of the first water. ,1 never play at cards ; ergo 
 I am not only a stupid fellow, but an useless one. 
 
 " I would not have you to think, however, that 
 we want capabilities for better purposes than these ; 
 but education and custom are everything, and we 
 have been so much habituated to swim upon the 
 surface of things, that we never take the trouble 
 to inquire whether there be any bottom or not. 
 
 " With you Johns in England, 'tis quite other- 
 wise; for you are often so cursedly profound, 
 that you are never at ease till you are groping 
 and floundering in the very bed of the river. 
 I have seen scores of you stick in the mud, 
 and seldom it is that you show your heads above 
 water. I hate all extremes in society, but I 
 must needs say, that that which falls to my lot 
 carries with it, now and then, an insipidity that 
 wears me to the very bone. As I hope for mercy, 
 the King should breed his foreign ministers from 
 the cradle to that calling, give them the education 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 455 
 
 of the department they are to belong to, and by 
 denying them the good things which are peculiar 
 to his kingdoms, fit them for the enjoyment of 
 those which belong to others. I am not puppy 
 enough to think myself wiser, cleverer, or more 
 worthy of esteem than the many people I meet 
 with daily; but I say, and persist in thinking, 
 that 'tis a hard thing to stand alone in the midst 
 of a great city, and be forced to say, as I do, that 
 an eel is more like an oyster than I am to a Grer- 
 man fine gentleman. 
 
 " Love me all of you as my patience deserves, 
 
 « E. M. K." 
 
 SIR E. M. KEITH TO MK. BBADSHAW. 
 
 " Vienna,' October \%th., 1773. 
 " Well, Sir, you have been in the country, and 
 so have I. You have your dukes and ducalities, 
 I my princes and palatines; with more of the 
 dignified foibles which pertain to high birth, than 
 ever fell to the lot of your whole Anglo-Saxon- 
 Norman house of peers put together. Yet these 
 hurt not me, nor did they hinder me from passing 
 in the midst of them a pleasant and jocund 
 fortnight as any fortnight can possibly be when 
 half a dozen of my chosen comrades were not 
 present. Our pleasantry in Moravia, was not pre- 
 cisely the same as that at Mistley* ; but there is a 
 Tnode in merriment as there is in everything else, 
 and I don't care a twopenny piece by what rule I 
 
 * The seat of Richard- Eigby, Esc[. 
 
 G G 4 
 
456 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 am entertained, provided that my soul laughs in 
 its earthly tenement, and that all goes smooth and 
 easy. Our landlord, Prince Kaunitz, has read 
 Kabelais, and made a proper use of his maxims. 
 ' 8ois Jieureux a ta mode,' is the only rule laid 
 down for everybody ; and we were five-and-thirty 
 masters and mistresses who adhered strictly to the 
 letter of that, golden law. Whenever you get 
 your little four-square mansion in the Isle bf 
 Wight, inscribe those words over the door of it, 
 my dear friend, and be sure to stamp them deep 
 upon the mind of the master of the house. In 
 short, my journey to the country has done me 
 good, to mind as well as body ; and it has brought 
 me into a closer connection with several valuable 
 people, than all the frippery of town etiquette 
 would permit rde to form in the preceding six 
 months. That's the advantage of country living ; 
 and faith (between you and me) it is almost the 
 only advantage which belongs to it. 
 
 " I hope you don't love hunting, and shooting, 
 and coursing, and sniping, and toiling in mud and 
 mire, for the honour of being the cook's 'purveyor. 
 No ; you are too much a man of sense and deU' 
 cacy ; and I am sure of your approbation when I 
 confess that all the monsters of the forest were 
 slaughtered by these ' dignified Nimrods, whilst I 
 fetched a walk with fair ladies in the precincts of 
 the shady grove, or, at most, was pleased to ap- 
 prove the labours of the chase from the windows 
 of a gilded landau, in which a dame of quality 
 sat by my side, and two angelic damsels vis-a-^is. 
 
THE EOMAKCE OF DIPLOMACY. 457 
 
 Don't i^d this account of my hunting to your 
 brawny*Peef-eating barons of England ; for they 
 have no notion of taste or elegance, and would 
 rather see a hare in her form than the fairest bdle 
 in Austria. Goths ! Goths ! my sweet lord ! I 
 only wish you could go with me into Moravia next 
 year, and see (only for a start) how we great 
 people live. Apropos — ^you and the Duke of 
 Grafton shall have your Tokay, whenever I meet 
 with any good ; and that — whether you are m or 
 out. 
 
 " This sheet may possibly find you at the last 
 bottle with my brother Basil. Tell him and his 
 helpmate that if they, by their justice and gene- 
 rosity, make the voice of gladness sound through 
 the mountains of Jamaica, they shall have a large 
 share in the core of my affections on their return. 
 I long to see how far downright honesty and blunt 
 zeal can succeed in the governing of mankind. I 
 have seen, before now, parts, policy, law, and 
 learning all meet in one composition, and yet 
 make a sorry governor among them ; and if Basil 
 prospers and pleases, as I hope and believe, it will 
 confirm my favourite maxim, that in a wife, or a 
 ruler of men (often synonymous terms), no two 
 ingredients are of such extensive use as a beneficent 
 heart, and an active integrity, There's no fear of 
 Basil. I'll pawn my life for him that he will do 
 as much for others, with as little thought for self, 
 as any fellow in the King's dominions. 
 
 " Yours, &c., 
 
 « E. M. K." 
 
458 THE EOMANCB OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 SIR E. M. KEITH TO ME. BEADSHAW. 
 
 " Vienna, Jan. 1th, 1774. 
 
 ""Welcome to my arms, my long-lost corre- 
 spondent ! I must, in the effusion of my heart, 
 tell you a little secret, whiclj is, that the peccavi 
 of a friend is halm to my wounds ; that the cure 
 it effects is almost instantaneous,-;- because why ? 
 I have no more gall in my system than a sucking 
 turtle-dove. Don't now go to make a bad use of 
 this key to my character, which a wiser man than 
 me would have kept in his pocket. It would be 
 a baseness of which I cannot suspect you, and 
 which even your Trea,sury education could not 
 justify. Come, shake hands. Brad : all is well ; 
 and now to our old chit-chat, as if nothing had 
 ever interrupted it. Oh ! I must indulge my 
 fancy by transcribing a few lines from an un- 
 finished letter, which I have just now found in my 
 porte-feuUle, and which must have been written 
 by some very touchy gentleman, in a moment of 
 bitterness. Perhaps it may make you laugh, 
 though neither you nor I know the persons con- 
 cerned. At any rate it will make a pretty con- 
 trast, with the style of this epistle I am now 
 inditing — so here goes : — 
 
 " ' SiE,— Though not altogether hackneyed in 
 the ways of your world, I had long known that 
 in the crazy metropolis you inhabit, a man may 
 be the idol of the people on Monday, and be 
 
THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACt. 459 
 
 hanged-sin effigy on the Friday following. That 
 a man of the Court might embrace you at bed- 
 time with all the demonstrations of the most cor- 
 dial friendship, lay his head on the pillow, dream 
 that you might ask him a favour one day, and 
 therefore wisely forget your name in the morning. 
 I had known that a certain quantity of salt water 
 let in between two sworn comrades, would in a 
 short time obliterate all remembrance of the 
 navigator, and free the landsman from every tie 
 of attachment. But what I owe to your lordship 
 is the precise and accurate experiment of the 
 quantum of time and distance which can and 
 ought to cancel in the mind of a man every obli- 
 gation, and root out all those paltry virtues, such 
 as truth, constancy, and gratitude, which the 
 shallow part of mankind suppose to be the 
 strongest bonds of society. Ten months and 
 sixteen days precisely— ^ not an hour more; 
 your lordship has proved it to a demonstration : 
 and it is by your goodness that I am now en- 
 abled to calculate so nicely in matters of that 
 sort, that when I see any two broftiers hugging 
 one another to-day, I say to m.jseli slyly — on the 
 17th day of next November, I may expect to see 
 these same two gentlemen spitting in each other's 
 faces ! This is mighty clever, mighty convenient, 
 and particularly to me, who (I confess to your 
 lordship) had the misfortune to be born a very 
 silly, a very credulous fellow, a mere gull in 
 friendship ! ' 
 
 " Well, Brad, the rest of the sheet is pretty 
 
460 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 mucli in the same style. He must have been a 
 very choleric blade who wrote it; can you guess 
 why he did not send it ? I suspect that the poor 
 author was a Christian, which- is a weakness that 
 some people still have, even in our enlightened 
 days. 
 
 " I rejoice very sincerely, my dear friend, at 
 finding that the little difficulties in pecuniary 
 matters, to which your generous turn of mind 
 had subjected you, are in a fair way to be re- 
 moved. I claim a share in those high spirits 
 which are returning upon you ; but I must beg 
 of you to remember that whenever it may hap- 
 pen that care or pain are brooding in your breast, 
 there is no man on earth who will do more than 
 myself to alleviate or dispel the wayward impres- 
 sions. I am, perhaps, a pretty light-hearted 
 companion for a man in .prosperity ; but if I know 
 my own forte, — it lies in administering comfort 
 and consolation to the mind of a friend labouring 
 under anxiety or distress. May you never stand 
 in need of that proof of my talents, but if it 
 should unfortunately happen — you are a cold- 
 hearted dog if you spare me. This is grave 
 Yiriting, Master Brad — but I tell it you once for 
 all — and now for other matters. 
 
 "You know, nay you are morally convinced, that 
 Lord Suffolk's friendship is my plight anchor in 
 life ; you know that the conquest of Denmark could 
 not have brought me anything of half its value. 
 I need not, therefore, tell you with what pleasure 
 I learned his recovery from a long illness, and 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 461 
 
 th« contiimance of that partial esteem with which 
 his lordship honours me. But I cannot think of 
 employing so good a man's friendship in hammer- 
 ing a naU which will not dri/ue. I have good 
 reason to believe that the door of St. Stephen's 
 Chapel will not be opened to me in the way you 
 aim at. Lord March is probably pre-engaged, 
 and Lord North has many better men to employ* 
 than one whose vocation may, in all likelihood, 
 detain him for some years abroad. I have a sort 
 of repugnance to sit down in any house where I 
 am not highly welcome, and cannot be in some 
 degree useful. I would not swallow a parliamen- 
 tary equivocation as to qualification for the 
 Speaker's gown ; but if the King's servants think 
 that 1 ought to represent my own paltry county, 
 or any boroughs of Scotland to which I am en- 
 titled by my small property, I shall undertake 
 that service (as I would do any other) with cheer- 
 fulness. Now you know, my dear Brad, that I 
 have not a shilling to bestow (nor the intention 
 of bestowing a shilling) upon acquiring a seat 
 in parliament. Ergo — as I told you before, we 
 shall do well to keep Lord Suffolk's friendship 
 for a better purpose. Tell my lord so from me ; 
 and tell him that I love and inspect him with 
 erery nerve of my heart. 
 
 " I must now talk to you, my friend, about 
 
 * The writer's modesty led him to undervalue his chances of 
 success. The representation of the county of Tweedale, in 
 which his property was situated, was, on his return to England, 
 proposed to Tiiwi Taj Lord North, and unanimously carried. 
 
462 THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 my own money matters, which are indeed (and 
 unavoidably) at a lower ebb than ever I 
 knew them. The King's goodness has set me 
 down (and I hope for a length of years) in. the 
 very spot of the whole continejit where, in point 
 of personal satisfaction, and (as I flatter myself 
 in iime) of public utility, my own views and 
 wishes would have fixed me. I am (and I am 
 proud to say it) the most contented being in the 
 dominions of Austria, But it is nevertheless true 
 that I have already almost devoured my scanty 
 patrimony in changing of establishments, and 
 doing here, not vain or ostentatious things, but 
 the needful, the essentially needful, for the 
 honour of my gracious employer. This preface 
 looks like my thanking your honour for putting 
 me in mind that I begin to stand high on the list 
 of Colonels, and that I may soon look for a regi- 
 ment. Quite otherwise ; the King shall never be 
 asked for anything unreasonable, by me. There 
 are many men still above me, whose seniority of 
 service gives them a better title to a regiment 
 than I can pretend to (excepting a Highland 
 one) ; and I am one of those who think that the 
 King has done for the Keiths ten times more 
 than they deserve, and that these ragamuflSns 
 from the North are very rapacious indeed, if they 
 cannot wait to be served with future good things, 
 in their turn. 
 
 " Strange language this from a man, who owns 
 his poverty, and is cramped by it ; but I tell you 
 it is the language I would (and I believe did) 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 463 
 
 hold in the cabinet of one of the best as well as 
 greatest men in Europe. How the deuce am I 
 to get out of debt, then ? say you ; why, I'll tell 
 you all my secrets. I will endeavour, by the 
 strictest order (not economy) in my housekeep- 
 ing to make both ends meet. I restrict my am- 
 bition in regard to money, to the certainty of 
 paying everybody as I go on, and dying possessed 
 of five hundred golden guineas, lawful property. 
 If indeed, and that may possibly happen, I shall in 
 a little time see the bottom of my private purse, 
 without my conscience telling me that I have 
 drained it by a.ny private vice, — I shall, in that 
 case, not feel the smallest scruple in saying to my 
 worthy Lord Suffolk, I am reduced to my last 
 guinea ; neither my beneficent sovereign, nor your 
 lordship, can wish that I should dip into the 
 pockets of my tradespeople. Give me some public 
 money, or some equivalent for it in an honest way, 
 if my services are worth having, and trust me I 
 shall be a better economist of that money than 
 I have been of my own. I never saw fair reason, 
 and downright truth, fail of their effect in this 
 world ; and if ever I am reduced to make this 
 speech, I'll bet you fifty pounds (poor as I am) 
 that his lordship's answer will make me easy. 
 You don't know (and how the deuce should you, 
 for you were bred amongst courtiers), that a man 
 may not care a twopenny piece about ambition 
 or interest, and yet be neither a fool nor a stoic. 
 So much for my confession, which you will un- 
 doubtedly clench with a — Hang the fellow ! he 
 
464 TEE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 will- die a beggar, and deserves it! I have seven 
 princesses, eighteen nobles, and one cardinal to 
 dine with me to-morrow ; the Aulic coMiocil in a 
 body on Wedniesday ; the Coimts of the circle of 
 Suabia on Saturday; yet am I dog enough to 
 sigh after a Eigby ! Lord, Jord, shall I never 
 laugh again ? 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 « E. M. K." 
 
 SIR K. M, KEITH 10 ME. BRADSHAW. 
 
 "Vienna, Jan. 15th, 1774. 
 " I am heartily sorry that Lord North fell from 
 his horse, but I infer from thence that he was 
 wpon one, and consequently intended to take an 
 airing : which is a sign that amongst the better- 
 most people in England the locomotive faculty 
 is not totally neglected. I- hope his lordship 
 will sit long and steadily in the ministerial saddle, 
 and find both his spirits and his stomach im- 
 proved by cantering an hour or two every day in 
 St. Stephen's Chapel, upon some pleasant tit of 
 opposition." 
 
 " Evening, six d Clock. 
 
 " Whilst I was taking a little morning lounge 
 with your lordship in the manner you see above, 
 a message from a most amiable and virtuous lady 
 (a mother of a family) called me to keep my 
 promise, by being present at the reading of Grul- 
 liver's Travels to two sweet girls and a boy^ Ixer 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 465 
 
 cMdren, all under ten years of age. The lady 
 was obeyed, as you will believe, and at half an hour 
 after one (I am exact as to the hour) the lady 
 was shipwrecking poor Samuel Gulliver upon the 
 coast of LUliput, tp me and her children — when, 
 behold ! a pretty smart shock of an earthquake, 
 which lasted about a minute, interrupted her 
 narrative, without creatiag any violent emotion 
 or fear. It was imdulating and slow, but some 
 of the chamber-doors creaked on their hinges, 
 and some bits of lime came tumbling from the 
 roof of the house. After an interval of less than 
 two minutes, we felt a second shock, much 
 quicker, in the same direction, of west to east, 
 but tremulous, abrupt, and in some measure 
 waving from the horizontal line of the first. A 
 large crystal lustre in the room, with all its 
 dangling ornaments, jung like a chime of bells, 
 and all the servants in the house began to be in 
 an uproar. Mr. Gulliver was laid aside, and we 
 all walked into the court-yard of the hotel. The 
 weather was calm and pleasant; a gentle thaw 
 with sunshine. We talked for half an hour to 
 the children (who were much more curious than 
 frightened), about comets and earthquakes ; and 
 it would have done your heart good to have seen 
 the lady, as solicitous in that moment as in the 
 calmest hour of her life, to prevent her children 
 from adopting false fears, or false impressions. 
 The earth having stood still (to listen to her sage 
 admonitions) we returned to the library — but 
 put a mark in Mr. GulUver till another day ; and 
 
 VOL. I. H H 
 
466 THE 'ItOMANCB OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 I, your humble Bervant (having swallowed a 
 •draught of admiration of so manj^good qualities), 
 returned to my neck of mutton, and ministerial 
 cyphers at home. 'Tis at the issue of one and 
 t'other, I give you this instructive account of an 
 earthquake, which will make a tremendous figure 
 in the German newspapers. Ah ! Brad ! if the 
 narratwe of an earthquake would mend your 
 manners, or awaken your sloth ! You are a sad 
 set of men, and I think my dance of to-day should 
 make me resolve to break off all connexion with 
 you ; but you may still assure Frederick and the 
 Grang that I loved them whilst the earth stood 
 ptUl, and mayhap may do so, let it wag as it will. 
 
 " Yours, &c., 
 
 « E. M. K," 
 
 SIK E. M. KEITH TO HIS SISTER. 
 
 "Vienna, February/ 16th, mi. 
 " I sit down to write with a boyish sort of en- 
 thusiasm, about something which a sagacious and 
 deep-read politician should hardly deign to take 
 notice of. But, my dear Anne, I have not yet 
 learnt to value things by their magnitude, and 
 when I tell you the object of my admiration is 
 no other than a country dance, I am not afraid 
 of losing an inch of ground in the opinion of the 
 Hermits. On the contrary, I am careful to 
 cherish and keep up that aptitude for innocent 
 enjoyments which Providence has kindly im- 
 plauted in me ; and mal^e no scruple t^3 own, 
 
\ \ \ \ \ \^ 
 
 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 467 
 
 that when the Vienna puppet-show is a, good one, 
 I endeavour to form an intimate acquaintance 
 with Punch in the first days of the fair. 
 
 "But here goes a bit of description of this 
 said country dance, which has set us all a raving. 
 Know, then, that about three weeks ago, sixteen 
 couple of our chosen belles and beaux put them- 
 selves under the direction of the great Noverre, 
 in order to learn from him one of the prettiest 
 figure dances one can possibly conceive, with the 
 intention of exhibiting it at the public masque- 
 rade. The principal ladies of this set (the list of 
 which I give for my father's sake) were Mesdames 
 Thun, Wallenstein, Wurmbrand, (nee Lichten- 
 stein), Paar, Pergen, Walmoden, Tarouca (nee 
 Schonbrunn), Esterhazy, Choteck (nee Clary), 
 Hoyos, Zinzendorfif (nee Schwartzenberg), with 
 Mesdemoiselles Schoenborn, Canal, and Bassewitz. 
 They were dressed a la ProvenQale, in blue and 
 white striped satin ; and ijothing could be more 
 handsome or airy. Their appearance at the mas- 
 querade ten days ago, before three thousand spec- 
 tators, gave universal satisfaction ; and kindled up 
 a spark of keenness in sixteen other couples to 
 imitate or excel them. These were composed of 
 still higher personages — as the Archduchesses 
 Marie Christine and Elizabeth, with the Archduke 
 Maximilian, shone at the head of the list; and 
 were followed by Mesdames Hatzfeld, Palfy (nee 
 Colloredo), Metternich, Tekeli, Trautmansdorff 
 (nee Colloredo), Esterhazy (nee Stahremberg), 
 G-ods (nee Schwartzenberg), Csaky ; with Mesde- 
 
 H H 2 
 
468 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 
 
 moiselles Altems, Palfy, and Czemin. They were 
 dressed in the same form with the others, but in 
 rose-coloux"ed and white striped satin, to make a 
 distinction and variety. The country dance No- 
 verre taught these was still more elegant than the 
 first, and the Empress, to give both parties fair 
 play, and to prevent jealousy, ordered that they 
 should exhibit si/ngly, and in conjunction, at a 
 private ball at Court, as last night. 
 
 " Conceive now, Mrs. Anne, their imperial ma- 
 jesties, and about one hundred and fifty chosen 
 spectators, seated in the great ball-room, behind 
 an elevated balustrade, with a large orchestra in 
 front on the opposite side, and the whole floor of 
 the room left to the discretion of theM merry 
 dancers, not one pf whom had yet appeared in 
 the ball-room. 
 
 " Upon the first stroke of the fiddles, two oppo- 
 site doors were thrown open, and all the blues on 
 one side, and all the roses on the other, entered 
 gaily, dancing in the Provenjal style, and mixing 
 as they rnet. After two or three figures in this 
 medley manner, the roses drew back at once to 
 the balustrade, and left the floor to the blues, 
 who went through their original country dance 
 with infinite precision and grace. They in their 
 turn made room for the roses, who did themselves 
 no dishonour by their emulation, and were at least 
 equal to the former in the choice and design of 
 the figures. they went through. Each separate 
 dance lasted seven or eight minutes, and when the 
 second was upon the point of concluding, the 
 blues were most ingeniously courted by. their 
 
THE aOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 469 
 
 rivals to join, and by a serpentine stroke of No- 
 , verre's genius, they were twisted and mingled 
 with the others, and sixty-four handsome men 
 and woTnen dazzled the eyes and delighted the 
 hearts of their adorers, for five minutes more, in 
 all the mazes and groups of elegant entanglement 
 and variegated contrast. At a decisive squeak of 
 the music, all hats in the air, and a low obeisance 
 to the throne ! Hey, Mrs. Anne, what say you to 
 my description? Did I gaze with rapture? did 
 I follow certain favourite figures through all their 
 intricacies ? did I feel a Provenp ale twitching at 
 my heart ? was I blue ? was I rose ? I leave all 
 this to your spinstership's sagacity; but remember, 
 if you think this a dull epistle, and you don't 
 like my dance, you are no sister of Sir Roberfs. 
 " I wish you had seen Mrs. Johnson at the ball. 
 She was certainly, to a. vulgar eye, one of the 
 least shining figures in the hall : but a propriety, 
 a look and mien of modest merit, an expression 
 of sensibility. You understand me, Mrs. Anne, 
 or you are more of a numskull than I take you 
 
 for. Adieu. 
 
 «E. M. K." 
 
 SIR E. M. KEITH TO MR. BRADSHAW. 
 
 "Vienna, March 5th, 1774. 
 " I have conducted friend Chamiter's * botanical 
 
 * The amiable tTnder-Secretaiy at the War-office, and relative 
 of Mr. Bradshaw ; whose passion for flowers had induced him 
 to request Sir Bobert to procure him rare specimens from the 
 Imperial Gardens. 
 
 H H 3 
 
470 THE EOHANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 negotiation in so masterly a manner, that in the 
 com'se of threp or four days I shall be in posses- 
 sion of as many seeds of different plants as will 
 make up the weight of half a pound. But as I 
 perceive that Mens. Jaquin * has very needlessly 
 taken the trouble to wrap them up in forty or 
 fifty different parcels, I shall presume (in order to 
 save pains and postage) to empty them all toge- 
 ther into one strong sheet of whitey brown, which 
 shall be forwarded without loss of time. Now, 
 my dear Brad, you will easily conceive that this 
 little expedient of mine will add greatly to the 
 keenness as well as rapture of Chamier and the 
 king's gardener ; to whom my best advice is, im- 
 mediately upon the receipt of this, to clear out 
 and prepare with the greatest nicety about half an 
 acre of their best kitchen ground, upon which 
 they are to sow my multifarious half pound as 
 soon as it arrives; and then, laying themselves 
 down upon the ground at the two extremities of 
 their half acre, they may in less than a month 
 (especially if it showers plentifully) read Mon- 
 sieur Jaquin as he rises out of the earth, and dis- 
 play their knowledge by describing in gardeners' 
 Latin every tree, pea, bush, or berry, as it first 
 pops its green head above the fostering mould. 
 
 " Common sense, my dear lord, is as rare a plant 
 as any in the whole budget ; and your lordship 
 will not be surprised that I have, upon this occa- 
 sion, thrown in my small quota for the benefit of 
 
 * The Emperor's head gardener. 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 471 
 
 botany. I dare hardly take upon me to request 
 that my share in the transaction should be made 
 known to the King's gardener in person ; but if 
 Mr. Chamier would be so kind as to take an op- 
 portunity, in one of their learned lectures, just to 
 hint to that great man the name of his seedsman, 
 Sir Eobert, at Vienna, it might do me a great deal 
 of service in bettering my fortune, which at present 
 is considerably on the wane. I hate vanity, my 
 dear Brad, and that you know ; but as my money 
 is gone, it may not be amiss to give you some idea 
 of the advantages it has produced to me in my 
 public capacity. During the late carnival I had 
 the honour to feed, fatten, and stuff at my "table, 
 at least three hundred of the first lords and ladies 
 of the Holy Empire. I went to work ably, for I 
 laid the groundwork of their surfeits with beef, 
 pudding, and potatoes, for the honour of, Old 
 England, building thereupon with all the ragouts, 
 pies, and sauces of France ; and finishing the 
 superstructure with the jellies, ices, spices, and 
 devildums of Italy. This succeeded to a wonder. 
 Every guest smacked his lips and unbuttoned his 
 waistcoat at the second course ; and several ladies 
 had their stay-laces cut open in honour of my 
 confections ; so that in the space of six weeks I 
 had the satisfaction to see that no less than three 
 jaundices, five dropsies, and thirteen apoplexies 
 amongst those great personages, were fairly and 
 honestly laid to my door, and that of my kitchen. 
 I need not add, that with so much well-earned 
 glory on my side, I am not mean-spirited enotgh 
 
 H H 4 
 
472 THE ROMANCE OF BIPLOMACT. 
 
 to grudge the melting of my last guinea. It 
 would, I own, give me pleasure to know where I 
 shall find, in six months hence, a leg of mutton 
 for self and servants ; as my best friend, the 
 butcher, talks of leaving off business. But this is 
 only a mere matter of curiosity, for you know that 
 no man who has six or seven sounding titles 
 like mine, and three or four Brads and Eigbys 
 near the British treasury, can be in any danger of 
 starving^ 
 
 "I was in rare trim for scribbling nonsense, 
 when a grave Aulic counsellor (of a light airy 
 figure, like the late Lord Winchelsea) forced my 
 door, in order to furnish me with an hour or two's 
 amusement, by explaining to me the lawful right 
 of the branch of Hohenzollern to the male fief of 
 Kecklinghausen, which, indeed, he made out as 
 clear as noon day ; and if you, my dear friend, 
 have still any doubts about the matter, I will lay 
 it out before you in black and white. You have 
 no notion of those pretty pastimes which now and 
 then fall to the lot of Hugo Grrotius's children ; but 
 I conjecture that you may have some Irish cousins 
 who can plague you as heartily as any German 
 counsellor whatever, and that you know comes to 
 the same thing. 
 
 " I forgot to tell you that I am famished for 
 news from Boston, and curious beyond measure to 
 know what Dr. Franklin says in his own defence. 
 Everybody here talks wildly about liberty, and 
 electricity, because they understand neither ; and 
 J am shrewdly suspected to be a friend to mo- 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 473 
 
 narchy and King George, and therefore to have 
 seen everything that regards America and the 
 Doctor with an eye of partiality. I shall fight, 
 however, a rare battle under your banner ; only 
 give me now and then a few materials to dumb- 
 founder my noisy opponents. I ask only a clear 
 stage and no favour. Adieu, God bless you, your 
 letters are the baunie de vie to 
 
 " Yours ever, 
 
 " E. M. K." 
 
 SIR R. M. KEITH TO ME. BKABSHAW. 
 
 "Vienna, April 2nd, mi. 
 
 "Your alarm during the illness of a certain 
 lady does you no injury in m/y opinion, because I 
 allow every man his oddity, and that of loving 
 one's own wife may be forgiven, provided that a, 
 man is not impudent enough to own it in public. 
 I have not told a creature in Vienna that Monsieur 
 de la Creme had been guilty of such a weakness, 
 because I make it a rule never to tell improbable 
 stories, and because anecdotes relating to conjugal 
 affection would hardly gain credit here. Do you 
 know, my deaPfriend, I am sometimes a good deal 
 mortified in observing that John Bull is still un- 
 polished enough to set a high price upon certain 
 threadbare fashions, and exploded virtues, which 
 nobody in more polite countries would like to be 
 suspected of; and you must forgive me, my dear 
 Brad, if I just hint to you that there are capitals 
 in the world where, for these hundred years past,. 
 
474 THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 no man has so much as dreamt of weeping for his 
 ■wife. Thus you see I have convicted your lord- 
 ship of two vulgarities in one letter, but I have 
 touched upon them with a gentle hand^ knowing 
 that in other points your lordship is quite the 
 man of fashion. Come abroad. Brad ; I have told 
 you again and again, that not even the taste of your 
 neighbour, Sir William Chambers, can set the 
 highest polish on your manners without a dash of 
 foreign education. A six months' tour across sea 
 would do you, and half a dozen more of his Ma- 
 jesty's ministers, more good than you can possibly 
 imagine. 
 
 " I am glad to see that you are turning over a 
 new leaf with the tea-spillers ; and I should not 
 be sorry if, while your hand is in, you shotdd turn 
 over Judf a dozen; for to say the truth, those 
 gentlemen had forgot the greatest part of their 
 catechism,. But you are wiser men and better 
 politicians than I can pretend to be, and all I wish 
 of you is to think before you speak, and do what 
 you threaten. Your hobbling kind of gait in that 
 walk, with your two steps on, and three steps hack, 
 have neither done yourselves much credit, nor 
 good to anybody, as far as I can*feear.* John 
 Bull is a very honest, sedate, and firm-minded 
 gentleman, when he reflects soberly. I am per- 
 suaded he will have done so upon this occasion, 
 
 * The sagacious, though at that time unfavourahly disposed, 
 King of Prussia, thus expressed the same sentiment to some 
 English gentlemen : "If you intend conciliation, your measures 
 are too rough; if subjection, too gentle." 
 
THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 475 
 
 and I trust that the moderate and well-timed 
 exertion of the parental authority, which is so 
 naturally vested in him, will produce, without 
 much bustle, the best and most durable effects 
 upon the morals and filial duty of his turbulent 
 children. You would laugh heartily if you heard 
 half of the wild and absurd conjectures which are 
 made within ear shot of the Highlander. He lets 
 the small talkers by profession take their swing ; 
 but if a Matadore steps into the mud of false 
 argument) Sir Eobert does not fail to take the 
 politest as Well as shortest method of seizing him 
 by the shoulder and lifting him out of the kennel. 
 A little of your lordship's intelligence upon the 
 subject, which is likely to grow more interesting 
 every day, will, I assm-e you, be of real service to 
 the knight, who is wedded to John Bull, and will 
 not allow his character (which John often allows 
 to be abused in open court, for want of proper in- 
 structions to his lawyers) to be called in question; 
 " Good morning to your lordship, 
 
 « E. M. K." 
 
 SIE E. M. KEITH TO MR. BBADSHAW. 
 
 "Jv,ly2ith, 1774. 
 
 " Tell Lord Barrington that his two nephews 
 are here; that they are very genteel and well- 
 behaved young men, and that they shall have the 
 best company, wine, and welcome, that this cap- 
 ital can afford them. I have just twenty Johns 
 under my wing at this moment, exclusive of 
 
476 THE KOMANCE QF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 Mr. Conway, whom I expect, with three or four 
 more, in a week's time. I think I do them jus- 
 tice both in breeding and feeding ; and they seem 
 highly satisfied with me and my dear creatures, 
 who lay themselves out to give them satisfac- 
 tion. 
 
 " They shall begin next week to swallow my 
 silver dishes (like Eneas's harpies), for I have 
 melted down my last candlestick, and have or- 
 dered it to be served up to them (and forty more 
 friends) in the shape of fifty ragouts, and as 
 many fricassees. I make a short life and a 
 merry, and if these Johns, when they return 
 home, do not do honour to my hospitality, why truly 
 I must be bold to say that their hearts are not so 
 good as their stomachs. Tell Lord Suffolk that 
 his young cousin, Mr. Cecil, is here, and behaves 
 extremely well. To say the truth, I have great 
 honour by my present batch of countrymen, and 
 they are perfectly well received from the top to 
 the bottom of Austria. Lady Mary Coke sent me 
 a gold snuff-box t'other day, as a present, because 
 I had been civil to her here. I suppose you 
 would not be sorry if I took the same method of 
 acknowledging the civilities I have met with in 
 South Audley Street ; but I'm not such a noodle 
 neither, my dear lord. 1 have heard you say, as 
 a lesson to your sweet babes, that he who pays in 
 gold (oTpast favours is a blockhead ; so you» see I 
 have learnt something by living in your lordship's 
 company. There 's a Mr. Eigby, too, in the 
 world, who conferred sundry obligations upon me 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 477 
 
 —tut you know I have a right to forget them, as 
 they are at least a twelvemonth old. But here 
 come half a score of Etonians. I must lay you 
 aside till to-morrow, and then you shall know the 
 state of the Polish delegation, and the latest ac- 
 coimts from the Siege of Silistria. 
 
 " G-ood bye, dear Brad." 
 
 SIR B. M. KEITH TO MR. BEADSHAW. 
 
 " Vienna, August 29th, 1774. 
 
 " I have a better excuse for my silence of some 
 weeks than you, perhaps, are aware of; for after 
 doing the honours of Austria to aU the rising 
 generation of Great Britain, and showing to my 
 old patron, Mr. Conway, that affectionate wel- 
 come he had a right to expect from my deep- 
 rooted gratitude, I set out upon a very active as 
 well as pleasant ramble through Hungary. That 
 kingdom, though one of the most fertile in 
 Europe, and rich in those paltry metals which 
 damn, mankind, is iil many respects so unlike the 
 countries that surround it, that in two days' jour- 
 ney from hence, I thought myself already re- 
 moved to the other side of our terraqueous 
 globe; and the more so, as with my ten lan- 
 guages, I could make never a one of the six 
 nations which inhabit Hungary comprehend a 
 word I said. 
 
 " These inhabitants have been brought together 
 by all the strange accidents of twenty emigra- 
 tions, and as many civil wars ; and some of these 
 
478 THE BOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 hordes, coming from the Chinese wall, some from 
 the White Sea, some from Saxony, and others 
 from Scandinavia, and even Eome — their having 
 scratched the surface of the earth (for their agri- 
 culture is no better) for some centuries, under the 
 same dominion, has not been a sufficient reason 
 for mixing their breeds, or moulding down their 
 opposite peculiarities into one uniform national 
 character. Their dress, language, religion, and 
 manners, still savour strongly of their distant 
 origin ; and if I had been a philosopher instead of 
 a plenipo, I might have reaped more advantage 
 from the contemplation of this hodge-podge of 
 humanity, than I have hitherto done in my visits 
 to all the refined nations of Europe ; who bating 
 the cut of a coat, or the curl of a wig, have a 
 tiresome sameness in every feature and opinion, 
 which blunts the curiosity of a traveller. 
 
 " Instead of turning my journey to this liberal 
 purpose, I went {like a blockhead) into the very 
 bowels of the earth to learn to know gold and 
 silver in all their disguises ; and to see how they 
 are torn thence by the stubborn hands of a set of 
 men who voluntarily abandon the sight of the 
 sun, to feed the avarice of others, and agree to 
 content themselves with black bread and onions, 
 in order that some gentlemen whom they never 
 saw may keep race horses. This is very strange, 
 my dear Brad, and the first man who said to a 
 fellow -creature, 'go into that dog-hole, and 
 starve industriously in digging out some gold, that 
 I may spend it' — was indeed a very impudent 
 scoundrel ! 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 479 
 
 " And what do you think of a Keith going into 
 that same hole with much pains and trouble, to 
 see whether a blue stone, or a grey stone, pro- 
 duces that gold which he despises, and would not 
 purchase by the sacrifice of one single crotchet of 
 sentiment ? Yet this have I been doing for some 
 days together ; and if I had not distributed all the 
 money in my pocket amongst these miserable 
 gold-finders, I should have been afraid at last 
 that my principles had been tainted by the study 
 of metallurgy! Luckily for my philanthropy, 
 the surfaces of those hills, (which are thus ran- 
 sacked for precious curses) are inhabited by a set 
 of simple Sclavonians, or Vandals ; who, amidst 
 the most romantic of all earthly situations, retain 
 an originality of character, and a rudeness of man- 
 ners, which show that the interior of their moun- 
 tains has happily been carried very far away from 
 them. 
 
 " But I am writing a dissertation instead of a 
 letter; and I don't think that is either to your 
 purpose or mine. Well ! now to the rest of my 
 Journal. From these hills, whence the sinews of 
 war are extracted, I went to the Imperial camp at 
 Pesth, to see in what manner and by what weapons 
 God's creatures may be swept off the face of the 
 earth in the most effectual and expeditious method. 
 I saw ten thousand men on foot, and nearly as 
 many on horseback, who, if the field be wide 
 enough, and the day long enough, will cheerfully 
 imdertake to exterminate twice their number of 
 any given nation under the sun. This, you know. 
 
480 THE KOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 my dear Brad, was a mighty clever sight after the 
 other gold story ; and I naturally enquired whe- 
 ther the entrails of the mountains were not 
 distributed in handfuls amongst these hardy exe- 
 cutioners. I found to my astonishment, that the 
 art of killing Christians is practised in this country 
 at so cheap a rate that each of these heroes, I had 
 just admired, thought his labour amply repaid by 
 twopence halfpenny a day, and a crust of jdry 
 bread into the bargain. This afforded me a fresh 
 lesson of morality, and my love of mankind would 
 have undergone a second shock, if I had not ob- 
 served that these fire-eating gentry were as sober 
 and orderly a set of people in their private life as 
 any I had ever met with." 
 
 " August 30A 
 
 "I have sent Mr. Conway to the King of 
 Prussia's camp at Breslaw, from whence he will 
 proceed to take a second touch of the Austrians 
 at Prague, and after all this we shall see him 
 again for a day or two at Venice, on his way to 
 Paris. Our German newspapers have proved that 
 Mr. Conway has been, signing treaties, and form- 
 ing alliances at every post-house upon the road 
 since he left England ; but I (poor devil !) know 
 Tiought of the matter, and am bought and sold in 
 the political market like an Essex calf in Smith- 
 field. Remember, I tell you, I am answerable for 
 no treaties but those I set my name to ; and I 
 enter my caveat against the supposition of my 
 having had any hand in the late Turkish peace. 
 
THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 481 
 
 which is indeed the most prodigal piece of parch- ' 
 ment that has heen blotted by any Mussulman 
 since the days of Mahomet. Did I ever tell you 
 how much I like your young Stanley ? He is a 
 very lively, good-humoured, gentlemanlike young 
 fellow as any I know ; and behaved with great 
 propriety in a sort of vncog visit I advised him to 
 make to the Emperor's camp in Hungary. Stanley 
 has a strong vocation for the military, and I wish 
 his friends would set him afloat in that channel 
 betimes, Young Edmonstone was likewise of the 
 party, and you may tell Lord Fred that I show 
 him kindness for his own sake as well as that of 
 his family. My saucy younkers are indeed above 
 the common. standard, and I flatter myself none 
 of them will be the worse for their stay in Vienna. 
 My city will get into vogue by their report of it, 
 and I shall be rui/ned, but what of that? — a beg- 
 garly Scotchman set upon a prancing horse must 
 needs ride to the devil. I pity poor Lord Egre- 
 mont for his uncle's negligence in not makiug a 
 will to leave his fortune away from him. It does 
 not happen once in a century that riches bring 
 happiness and contentment along with them. But 
 there is an exuberance of wealth in the case of 
 Lord Egremont which may go nigh to exclude 
 these blessings entirely. I do not think, my dear 
 Brad, that there is any chance of your ever being 
 exposed (any more than myself) to that calamity. 
 We have no Irish or Scotch uncles who may heed- 
 lessly overwhelm us with a torrent of riches. 
 
 " "Within these eight-and-forty hours I have re- 
 
 VOL. I. I I 
 
482 THE BOMAIJCE OF DIPLOMACX. 
 
 ceived with infinite pleasure your two kind letter's, 
 and I thank you for them in the abundance of my 
 heart. What a pity that your sea voyages, your 
 Saltash trip, and all your patriotic labours as Lord 
 Mayor, should have brought you a return of your 
 nasty ague? Men of your stamp should have a. 
 patent for plunging into all sorts of dissipation 
 with impunity. I am glad, however, to see by- 
 your latest epistle that you have so far recovered 
 health and spirits as to be able to do the honours 
 of the Isle of Wight, and Fawley, and Quarley,, 
 and the other distant country-seats to the amiablej^ 
 and friendly clan of the Cornwalls. You wish the 
 Knight of Denmark were of the party. Alas!; 
 my dear Lord ! his Excellency is grown such a 
 methodical clockwork sort of a courtier, that you. 
 might reap as much pleasure from the society of 
 one of the Chinese figures in Cox's museurn, as, 
 from that of the quondam facetious Sir Bob, 
 There is no fire in the brain of man which a dip- 
 lomatic extinguisher will not smother effectually in 
 a short term of years» I hope and believe that the 
 warm afi'ections of the heart are not so easily- 
 quenched, and that, indeed, is my only comfort. 
 
 " A letter I had from my sterling Lord Suffolk 
 by Pisani, (and such a letter I) has -administered 
 more comfort and more intense -satisfaction to 
 every exquisite feeling of my inward man, than 
 any words can express. Poor dog as I am, I 
 would not barter that letter against a swingeing 
 pension for life upon your kingdom of Ireland., 
 You may tell my Lord Suffolk from me that he 
 
THE EOMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 483 
 
 never bestowed a sheet of paper to better purpose 
 since he was born, as I know that his humane 
 purpose was to make me happy, I have told you 
 twenty times, and now repeat it with infinite 
 gratitude, that no human being this day upon 
 earth ever had so many striking proofs of genuine 
 friendship and disinterested kiadness showered 
 upon him by his fellow-creatures, as I have had 
 from the cradle to this hour. Ask yourself, — ask 
 Lord Suffolk, and Kigby, and the Drummonds, 
 and the Amhersts, and the Gang, and all their 
 wives and daughters, if I over-rate my good for- 
 tune ; and if I have not the fairest title to talk 
 enthusiastically of the virtues of human nature? 
 
 " This romantic exclamation may in the opinion 
 of every member of Almack's, or the Savoir-vivre, 
 be downright nonsense; but it is the nonsense 
 which serves me for food and raiment, and in the 
 enjoyment of which I shall live and die. I don't 
 like the last news from America any more than 
 your worship ; but we have good men and true at , 
 the head of everything, and he must be a shallow 
 politician who expects that so many topsy-turvy 
 heads can be set right afresh without a deal of 
 pains and perseverance. Pray, Grod love you, my 
 dear Brad, let me know now and then a little of 
 the true state of things there ; for I should get 
 into low spirits about that very interesting busi- 
 ness, if I were left entirely to public newspapers 
 and popular clamour. 
 
 " Adieu, yours, 
 
 "E. M, K" 
 
 I I 2 
 
484 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 SIK E. M. KEITH TO ME. BEADSHAW. 
 
 " Vienna, September 15th, 1774. 
 
 "I have been hurried off my legs these last three 
 weeks with running backward and forward from 
 capitals to camps, and initiating my young Johns 
 in all the rites of Mars and Venus. On Sunday 
 last, this courtly campaign was concluded by a 
 most delightful show, the description of which 
 would do honour to the pen of Sir William Cham- 
 bers. The ladies of the court, with all their 
 diamonds and danglers, were marshalled in their 
 gayest attire, under a sumptuous pavilion, on the 
 summit of a romantic hill, which commanded an 
 extensive view of a charming country. 
 
 " This hill was fortified in the slight manner 
 of a temporary post for a small army, and during 
 several hours of the finest afternoon that was ever 
 seen, the hill was surrounded, invested,, and 
 attacked in form, by three different corps of 
 bloody-minded foes, who arrived by forced 
 marches from Turkey, Bohemia, and Italy, to 
 make the second chapter of the Eape of the 
 Sabines. The little chosen band charged with 
 the defence of the dear creatures, performed 
 wonders, and (contrary to the rules of your coun- 
 trymen,) defended the place by vnches; yet, at 
 length, overpowered by numbers, and drenched 
 in blood, they were forced to capitulate in the 
 centre of the fortress ; and by an effort of mag- 
 nanimity, which , does honour to the generous 
 
THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 485 
 
 victors, they showed their own gallantry, and 
 their respect for ours, by allowing us to retain, 
 and carry off, all our damsels, unruiHed in a hair 
 of their head-dresses. 
 
 " It was a noble day. Master Brad, and I flatter 
 myself that our ladies from their pavilion, did so 
 much execution in the eye-shot way, as left the 
 conquerors no mean impression of their charms 
 and discipline. General Clinton, and Lord 
 Thomas, who were just arrived from the Turkish 
 wars; declared that they had seen nothing half so 
 hot in the fields of Silistria, as this last scene of 
 our Laxemburg campaign ; and, if it had not 
 been for the ice-creams and lemonade, which 
 were poured down our dusty throats during the 
 heat of the engagement, not a man of us would 
 have been able to say one tender thing to our 
 Dulcineas for a week after. Clinton will tell 
 you all this story better than, I can, and you will 
 get it from him soon, for he left this yesterday, 
 intending to call at the Imperial camp at Prague 
 for a few days, and then push home with all his 
 budget of military adventure. I have sent a 
 large detachment of my younkers to Prague, and 
 am reduced to half a dozen, amongst whom is the 
 heir of Sir Archibald Edmondstone. Your Stanley 
 (by the by, a very lively lad,) is gone to the 
 Bohemian wars, but promises to come- back and 
 winter at Vienna. The two Fawkeners, alas ! will 
 arrive when all the sport is over. 
 
 *I I 3 
 
486 THE EOMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 
 
 " September I6th.„ 
 
 " I would give my best suit of gala clothes for 
 the gift of a six months' fore-knowledge of your 
 American affairs. You can't imagiue, my dear 
 lord, how deeply I am interested in the success 
 of those measures, which, in my opinion, every 
 principle of sound policy, and national dignity, 
 dictated to our matadores upon this trying occa- 
 sion. Hitherto, no voice has been heard from 
 America, but that of the noisy brawlers for licen- 
 tious democracy. There must be somewhere, in 
 that vast continent, a set of men, who respect law, 
 and love order. I long to hear these men speak 
 out, and when they do, I hope, my dear Brad, 
 that you will be their echo to my attentive ear. 
 
 " The nonsense with which I am worried upon 
 that subject, is not to be credited : and though I 
 am not called upon to make a regular defence of 
 the steps of government, or to foretell their pro- 
 bable consequences, to every idle fellow who talks 
 of America without knowing its position upon the 
 globe, within fifty degrees of latitude — yet for 
 my own private satisfaction, and now and then to 
 lay in a word where it may be hpropos, I shall 
 really think myself indebted to you for every 
 scrap of solid information which can give me a 
 just idea of what now is, and what may naturally 
 be expected there, in time coming. A dissertation 
 upon colonial governments and upon colonial 
 parties, is what I neither expect nor wish from 
 you, my dear lord ; but when daylight begins to 
 
THE- ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACT. 48 7 
 
 •break in upon yourself, pray let a glimpse of it 
 fall upon my dark closet. Your counteraction of 
 the alarming report of an immense desertion 
 among our soldiers, gives me great pleasure, and 
 I have already made use of it to knock half a 
 dozen lies on the head. 
 
 " You judge very sagaciously in deciding that I 
 made the Turkish peace, and defeated the French 
 Chancellor : and when you consider that in the 
 course of the same six weeks, I have, in concert 
 with Mr, Conway, made four or five stout treaties 
 of peace and commerce, and alliance, you will be 
 forced to say that I work hard to deserve the 
 privilege of devouring my last guinea in the 
 service of government. I shall send home with 
 the ratification of all the above-mentioned treaties, 
 my humble request for a statute of bankruptcy, 
 which I flatter myself will not be thought a pre- 
 sumption beyond the merit of my feeble services. 
 
 " You fancy, my dear Brad, that I am joking 
 as to the tottering state of my finances. But it 
 is a melancholy truth that with more marks of 
 favour conferred upon me than I ever looked for, 
 or merited — with a more grateful and contented 
 disposition than most people are blessed with — I , 
 find myself imavoidably verging into beggary; 
 because my place, my principles, my duty towards 
 the King and my countrymen, lay me under m- 
 disp&nsahle obligations of expense which are, from 
 their nature and from inveterate custom, carried 
 to a pitch which exceeds my appointments, and 
 swallows up the last shreds of my private fortune. 
 
 *I I 4 
 
488 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 I live amongst great Austrian lords, whose tables 
 are costly and splendid, and ambassadors from 
 great courts, whose appointments are at least the 
 double of mine. I neither cope with, nor ape 
 any body in magnificence ; but the minister of 
 England in the first court in Europe, must live 
 not only hospitably, but handsomely, especially if 
 he has frequently a score of young fellows of the 
 first fashion of his country to introduce into the 
 best company of the capital, 
 
 " This is not a representation or a remonstrance, 
 my dear ^rad, but a plain matter of fact which I 
 lay before you in the same frank good humour 
 that I do everything that concerns me nearly; 
 and I promise you, at the same time, that I have 
 not at this moment a shadow of a grievance in 
 my mind, and that I shall go on cheerfully till I 
 have melted the last of my dirty acres in Tweed- 
 dale, and then, (with that gaiety and openness 
 which my friends have a right to expect from me) 
 I shall say to my worthy superiors, ' Here honesty 
 bids me stop short ; I have no more guineas of my 
 own to dispose of; I cannot stoop to eat my 
 butcher's beef without knowing for certain that 
 he is to be paid for it; you must help me, or 
 have done with me.' Well, what do you say to 
 my speech ? Don't you think it will be pretty 
 much of a piece with the rest of my conduct ? I 
 am very sure of one thing, that it will neither 
 hurt nor surprise any of the honest men whom I 
 have the happiness to call my friends as well as 
 superiors. 
 
THE ROMANCE OP DIPLOMACY. 489 
 
 " If I had the opportunity, or (to call it by a 
 juster name) the levity, of running away from the 
 expense as well as cares of my profession every 
 now and then, and spending a year or two at a 
 time in diplomatic labours at my father^s fire- 
 side, all might be well, and my finances recover 
 their pristine plumpness through downright in- 
 dolence. But I have a something about me which 
 is averse to this method of recruiting ; and, right 
 or wrong, I have never once asked a leave of 
 absence, either as a military man or a minister, 
 during the twenty-seven years I have had the 
 honour of serving his Majesty; and for no other 
 reason but that my mind told me I had some- 
 thing to do in the precise station allotted to me. 
 I don't know how the deuce I got up to the ears 
 in this long story of the rise and progress of my 
 poverty ! 
 
 " Oh ! here comes a post from England, and 
 your honour's letter of September 2nd. I do 
 thiuk, my dear lord, that you make as comfort- 
 able a pluin-pudding of this transitory life as any 
 gentleman I know. You have Mrs. Brad and the 
 brats, with all the heaps of home enjoyments for 
 the great ingredients ; you have suet and marrow 
 in courtly occupations and luncheon offices ; you 
 have plums and currants in abundance from the 
 county of Cornwall ; eggs, salt, and seasoning in 
 a set of excellent companions, and I^ poor dog, 
 am the glass of Old Nantz that you souse into the 
 midst of the composition, to make it sit light upon 
 your stomach, and save you from heart-burnings. 
 
490 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 Why faith, this is no bad receipt of your'e, my 
 lord, and in these worst of times, I should be very 
 glad if each of my bosom friends had as whole- 
 some a mess in his private corner. But there lives 
 but one Brad in a century ; and if every one were 
 to aim at being a mayor and a member, and a 
 lord and a senator, and a sylvan swain, and all in 
 'perfection, as your worship does, the world would 
 not be wide enough to hold half a score of you. 
 
 " In the course of the last two months, I have 
 seen you trotting down philosophically to Squire 
 
 ' Eigby's along with Lord Suffolk, there to solace 
 in the very quintessence of good society and ex- 
 quisite cheer. 
 
 " I have seen you return to your .royal castle at 
 Hampton Court, there to revel in lawful joys, and 
 astonish the coTmty with your hospitality. I 
 have seen you bamboozling a borough at Saltash, 
 and drQwning common sense in port and politics 
 as Mr. Mayor, and then dancing yourself into 
 health and stomach again in leading up the ball 
 with the buxom wives and daughters of your con- 
 stituents. I have seen you flying like a comet 
 over half the island, and dipping luxuriously into 
 
 ' the sweets of all the companies you illuminated, 
 at Fawley, Quarley, and fifty other countiy seats. 
 I have had a peep of you in a snug and peacefill 
 eclipse at Hendon ; and now you are packing up, 
 bag and baggage, plums, almonds and all — to 
 hasten to the prettiest hermitage in the most 
 delightful of all islands, there to sip in genteel 
 ease the very cream of all earthly beatitude. 
 
THK KOMAIJCE OF DIPLOMACY. 491 
 
 " Why, Sir, there is enough of substantial hap- 
 piness in these very two months, to be spread out 
 by a reasonable man into plaisters for every sore 
 of a life of threescore and ten years. And yet I'll 
 lay fifty poimds that in less than six months, we 
 shall see you moping in some dark comer, swear- 
 ing at the' miseries of human existence, and 
 wondering how any thinking being can look for 
 pleasure on this side of Eternity. You are a sad 
 dog. Master Brad, a thankless fellow towards the 
 prodigality of Providence, if ever you let a single 
 hint of despondency or low spirits drop from 
 yoiir lips. Kemember I teU you so, and, by 
 Heavens, I'll prove it to the world too, if ever I 
 hear one word more of your whining ! I wish to 
 the Lord, you could only taste of my daily mess 
 of porridge! It may be wholesome, and it is 
 dressed in the newest feshion ; but as to salt, 
 pepiper, or toothsomeness — it has, indeed, as 
 little of it as you can possibly suppose in the milk 
 pap of one of your sucking babes of six weeks 
 old. Aye ! and it all goes down with poor Keith, 
 and cheerfully too ! for his great talent lies in 
 fitting his stomach for the food that is to fill it. 
 My love to Lord Suffolk, Eigby, and all your 
 companions. I love you much for the virtues 
 that belong to you; but I would give the world 
 for a six weeks' trial of your vices. 
 
 " Adieu, my dear Brad. 
 
 «E. M. Keith." 
 
 A melancholy interest is attached to the above 
 
492 THE ROMANCE OF DIPLOMACY. 
 
 letter; both as being the last of a humourous 
 nature, which, for many months, (in consequence 
 of the death of his father, before so fully adverted 
 to,) Sir Eobert Keith addressed to any corre- 
 spondent whatever, and still more as being- the 
 last probably ever received from him by his un- 
 happy friend ; the termination of whose life took 
 place not many weeks after the dispatch of the 
 very letter, enumerating those very fortunate cir- 
 cumstances in his lot in life, on which. Sir Eobert, 
 in reply, (and not without a benevolent purpose,) 
 intentionally dwells. 
 
 And here it is impossible to forbear remark- 
 ing on the many traits of high and generous 
 sentiment, as well as good feeling, and domestic 
 virtues scattered over the correspondence ; which 
 (not to mention the conclusive proof resulting 
 from the attachment of a distinguished circle of 
 the first men in England, and the warm friend- 
 ship of a man like Sir Eobert Keith, himself the 
 soul of honour and integrity) may serve to redeem, 
 from the aspersions cast on it by the malignity of 
 party, the character of one, of whom the same 
 Junius who gave it as his solenm deliberate 
 opinion that the great Earl of Mansfield was the 
 " worst man that ever' existed on the face of the 
 earth," only spoke disparagingly, as of a too suc- 
 cessful placeman. 
 
 The event is thus feelingly communicated in a 
 private letter from Lord Suffolk to Sir E. M. 
 Keith. 
 
the romance op diplomacy. 493 
 
 " Dear Keith, 
 
 " It seems to be my lot to be the messenger 
 of bad tidings to you.* Another unwetcome occa- 
 sion calls upon me to perform this office. Poor 
 Bradshaw died suddenly on Sunday last. I can 
 tell you no particulars, being but this instant re- 
 turned from Hampton Court, where I have passed 
 three or four days, and I have not seen anybody 
 that by being able to satisfy my curiosity can 
 put it into my power to satisfy yours. Knowing 
 the friendship that existed between you and the 
 poor man who is no more, I would not omit to 
 send you this information, impleasant as it is. 
 
 " As for myself, I am still heart-whole, and it 
 is not bodily pain will make me otherwise. 
 « My dear Keith, 
 " Faithfully yours, 
 " Suffolk." 
 
 * Lord Suffolk had two months previoTisly transmitted the 
 tidings to Sir E. M. Keith of his father's death. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
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