behalf of the injured Matilda ; and a formal divorce separated her for ever from her husband. Measures were now taken for the removal of Queen Matilda from Cronenburg. The small town of Aalborg, in Jutland, was first intended for her residence, and she herself seemed to wish to live within the Danish dominions. But when she heard of the melancholy end of her friends, she changed her resolution. Her brother, the king of England, made an offer to the Danish court to appoint her a residence at the palace of Zelly in the electorate of Hanover: this proposal was accepted; and || it was at the same time agreed, that she should still keep the title and rank of a Queen. Her dower of 250,000 dollars was returned, and an annuity of 30,000 dollars (about 50001. sterling) settled upon her for life. On the 27th of May, two English frigates and a cutter,* arrived at Helsingor; and on the 30th the This squadron was commanded by the gallant Captain Macbride, whose conduct upon this, as on every other occasion, was that of a gentleman, a brave officer, and a true patriot. He conducted her to the frigate in his barge --the squadron saluted her upon her coining on board, as the sister of the British monarch; and as soon as she was on board, he hoisted Danish colours, and insisted that the fort of Cronenburg should salute her as Queen of Denmark; which salute he returned with two guns less. queen left Cronenburg. The last At last she cal At Zell, Matilda appeared in her true and native character.Divested of the retinue and pomp which, on the throne of Denmark, veiled her in a great degree from observation, the qualities of her heart displayed themselves in her little court at Zell, and gained her universal love. Her person was dignified and graceful; she excelled in all the exercises benefitting her sex, bith and station; she danced the finest minuet of all the females at the Danish court, and managed the horse with uncommon spirit and-The feelings of the sovereign A few moments before her death she shewed with transports of joy, to the first lady of her bedchamber, a portrait of the Prince Royal, her son, which she had just received. It happened that a few days afterwards, this lady entered the queen's apartment at an unusual hour; she was surprized at hearing her majesty talk though quite alone. While she thus stood in mute astonishment, unable to conversed with perfect facility in French, English, German, and Danish, and to these attainments she added a thorough knowledge of the Italian, which she studied and admired for its beauty and delicacy. Her manners were the most polished, soft, and ingratiat-retire, the queen suddenly turned ing, and even the contracted state of her finances could not restrain that princely munificence of temper which kept her purse continually open to distress and misery. Naturally cheerful and happy in disposition, even the dark cloud of adversity could not alter the sweetness and serenity of her temper. Though banished with every circumstance of indignity from the throne of Denmark, she yet retained no sentiment of revenge against the authors of her fall or the Danish people in general. Her heart was not tinctured with ambition, and she looked back to the diadem which had been torn from her brow with calmness and magnanimity. It was not the crown that she regretted; her children alone employed her care. round, and addressing her with manner : "Eh! qui donc, comme moi, gouteroit la douceur De t'appeller mon fils, d'etre chere a ton eoegr ! Toi qu'on arrache aux pras d'une mere sensible Qui ne pleureque toi; dans ce destin terrible." The lady could not make any reply; overcome with her own emotions, she burst into tears, and hastily retired from the royal pre serce... In the beginning of May, 1775, she was seized with the disorder, which proved fatal to her. Ley ser, the physician by whom she was attended, deaded the event from the first moment. She was no stranger to his apprehensions, and impressed with a sentiment of her approaching end, she said to him, "You have twice extricated me from very dangerous indispo sitions, but this exceeds your skill; I know that I am not within the help of medicine." When the dangerous nature of her disorder, became generally known, anxiety and consternation pervaded her whole court, by which she was idolized Her physician called in to his assistance the celebrated, Dr. Zimmerman, of Hanover, but her majesty's illness, which proved to be a most malignant spotted fever, baffled every exertion of their skill. She bore the pains of her distemper with exemplary paticpce, and even showed the most generous and delicate attention to the ladies by whom she was attended. She preserved her speech, senses and understanding to the last moment, and only a short time previous to her dissolution, which took place on the 10th of May, 1775, expressed the most hearty. forgiveness of all those enemies by whom, during her life, she had been persecuted and calumniated. Her majesty's remains were interred with her maternal ancestors the Dukes of Zell, with a pomp suited to her dignity. The streets, and the great church were throng ed with crowds of people, impressed with the sincerest, sorrow by the event which had called them together. It was a scene the most affecting and awful that can be imagined; and when the funeral sermon was delivered, the numerous audience melted into tears, and were overcome with emotions to be compared only with those of the famous Bossuet on a similar occasion, the interment of Henrietta, duchess of Orleans, about a century before.gad * But the most striking proof of the love and attachment borne to her majesty's memory after her, death, and the impression which her virtues had made among all ranks of people in the country where she died, is the resolution drawn up soon afterwards by the states of Luneburg. It was as follows:-"The nobility and the Istates of the duchy of Luneburg assembled, have resolved in their session on the 10th of June, to present a request to the King of Great Britain, to obtain permission to erect, at Zell, a monument in memory of the qualities of mind and heart of the late Queen of Denmark, as well as of the devotion and veneration which they bore to that princess. They intend to chuse the first-rate artists for its execution, and they hope. by this avowed proof of their zeal, to perpetuate to the remotest posterity, both the profound grief which the premature death of that young queen has spread through a whole province which adored her, and the homage which they rendered to that true greatness which disasters and adversities the most eruel only rendered the more respectable." These wishes, so honorable to the memory of the unfortunate Matilda, were granted; and the monument, by the celebrated Oeser, stands in the garden belonging to the electoral palace at Zell, A late traveller, adverting to the catastrophe which precipitated the Queen Matilda from the throne of Denmark observes, that people in Denmark now strive to forget the whole history of that event, which is never mentioned among such persons as are at all connected with the court. "Nevertheless," continues he, "I have had several conversations on the subject with a gentleman who is honored with the intimacy of the royal favour. The butchery of Struensee and Brandt is regarded with horror, and the fate of the amiable but unfortunate queen is universally deplored. The Crown Prince has I do not pretend to deny but that there have been many rules and maxims laid down, by men of wisdom, learning and experience, that serve, in many instances, as a guide to express our sentiments with clearness and perspicuity; but it is very frequent that we see in the writings of these very men, that they are regardless of their own maxims and have overstept the bounds that they have prescribed for others. The style and composition of writers are as various as their different inclinations and capacities, and almost every author of any note has a manner of expressing When a tale is told, the nearer the language and description ap approaches to nature and simplicity, his thoughts and ideas peculiar to himself, and which if he at tempts to step out of often pear unnatural and ridiculous. There was Shakspeare, whose writings will remain to be consumed with the last wreck of time, never was guided by any set of rules or style in composition, for they would only have been a curb and restraint upon his genius, and suppressed those inimitable beauties and strokes of nature that could flow from no other fountain, the greater effect it has in interesting and affecting our feelings. I would apply this observation to the much admired story of Sterne's Maria, which has ever been esteemed as the master piece of his hand; from beginning to end is to be seen such remarkable unaffected simplicity and beauty, as to fully demonstrate, that any set of rules in composition, would only serve. to embarrass the sallies and im than a mind like his, without pre-pulses of passion, which is the cept and without form, but at times beautiful and graceful beyond comparison. His mind was the miniature of nature, and although his language is generally crude and inharmonious, yet it can only be said to be the effusions of a mind not perfect; but it must be acknowledged, that he has made such master strokes with his pen, and painted nature and life in such true and perfect colours, as to surpass all who have lived before or since his time. Art and refinement have done a great deal for mankind, but Nature has done more. Sterne was another of her favourite children, mother of the most apt and happy descriptions in every author of genius, whose productions have rescued his name from oblivion and secured his immortality. Some critics have pretended to lay down certain rules relative to the collocation of words and the formation of sentences, but without much success, as they never could get any author to follow them, nor have they been able to follow them themselves, for they only serve to embarrass and perplex, those beauties that would otherwise appear. I do not by any means intend to insinuate, that an adherence to grammatical rules is not necessaon whom she was extremely bounry, for they serve to aid the pertiful in her gifts and endowments. spicuity and harmony of language, In his works he was faithful in his which I consider as two of the representation of her-like her he most essential and ornamental was without rule or form, at the qualities that constitute the beausame time possessed all her varieties of writing. ty and beauty. W. A. T. |