VICISSITUDES IN THE LIFE OF A PRINCESS OF THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. BY LORD DOVER. ABOUT the year 1760, there lived in the city of Brussels, in great retirement, an old lady, who bore the name of Madame d'Aubant. She was much occupied in observances of religion, as well as in extensive charities to the poor of her neighbourhood, who regarded her as their benefactress. She had passed some years in this circle of duties, unnoticed by the great or the gay, and apparently without connexions or relatives. Yet none in that city were born of higher lineage, or wedded to greater hopes; nor had any other of its inhabitants probably endured so great a variety of prosperity and adversity, and of romantic changes of fortune, which almost exceed the bounds of credibility. * Lewis Rodolphus, Duke of Brunswick Wolfenbuttel, married Christina Louisa, Princess of Oëttingen, who bore him three daughters. The eldest, Elizabeth Christina, married Charles the Sixth, Emperor of Germany, and slumbered through a tranquil life of Austrian precision and etiquette. Far different was the lot of her youngest sister, the Princess Charlotte Louisa; though she also was destined to marry into an imperial house. On the twenty-fifth day of October, 1711, she became the ill-fated wife of Alexis Petrowitz, Prince of Russia, the eldest son of Peter the Great. The marriage took place at Torgau in Germany, and the young * The second Princess of Brunswick, Antonetta Amelia, married Ferdinand Albert, Duke of Brunswick Bevern. B 1 bridegroom was in the twenty-second year of his age. The czarowitz was a man of ferocious manners, and his habits of debauchery had greatly increased his natural brutality. He is also said to have taken a violent aversion to his unhappy wife, and to have attempted no less than three different times to poison her. Happily the princess, upon all these occasions, received such speedy succour, that her life was preserved. But the ill-treatment she received from her barbarous husband continued to increase. Nor was there any one at this time at the court of Russia, who could control the violences and the outrages of the czarowitz, as Peter the Great and the czarina Catherine were occupied in visiting foreign countries. At length, one day, when the princess was eight months gone with child, her husband attacked her with greater fury than ever, knocked her down, kicked her while she lay on the ground, and left her bathed in blood. He then set off for one of his country houses, without deigning to make any further inquiries respecting his unhappy victim. The consequence of the ill-treatment she had received was a premature labour, which her attendants determined to take advantage of, to deliver the princess for ever from the hands of her unworthy husband. They therefore sent a courier to him, to inform him of her death. The czarowitz returned for answer, an order for her immediate interment as privately as possible, hoping by speed and secresy to prevent the public from becoming aware of the manner in which he had behaved towards her. The funeral of the princess accordingly took place, but her coffin only contained a log of wood. In the meanwhile, and whilst all the courts of Europe were wearing mourning for her supposed decease, she had escaped from the palace in which she usually resided. The Countess Konigsmark, who had been one of the mistresses of Augustus the Second, King of Poland, and was the mother by him, of the celebrated Maréchal de Saxe, was at this time at the court of the Princess of Russia. It was to her assistance and management that the princess principally owed her escape. She collected for her whatever of money or of jewels could be found in the palace; gave her an old and trustworthy man-servant of her own, who spoke French and German, to accompany her, and one of her own femmes-dechambre. Thus attended, the princess set off for Paris, where she arrived without accident. Fearing, however, lest she might be recognised in that capital, she determined to go to America. With this view she went to l'Orient, from which port the vessels belonging to the company of the Indies, to whom the king had conceded the right of colonizing Louisiana, otherwise called the Mississippi, were accustomed to sail. The princess embarked in a packet with eight hundred other Germans, who were on their way to the newly-settled colony. Her faithful servant, who passed on board the vessel for her father, and her maid, still accompanied her. She arrived in safety at the place of her destination. The appearance of the young and beautiful stranger in this wild colony excited universal admiration. The Chevalier d'Aubant, an officer of merit, who at that time resided in the colony, and who had formerly been at Petersburgh soliciting an employment in the Russian service, saw and recognised the princess. At first he could hardly believe the testimony of his eyes; but after seeing her frequently, and examining attentively her air, her countenance, and her features, he could no longer doubt that the obscure exile was the same person, whom he had formerly beheld surrounded by a brilliant court. He had |