第48章 LETTER XVIII(2)

A gentleman who was a witness of the scene assured me,likewise,that if the people of property had taken half as much pains to extinguish the fire as to preserve their valuables and furniture,it would soon have been got under.But they who were not immediately in danger did not exert themselves sufficiently,till fear,like an electrical shock,roused all the inhabitants to a sense of the general evil.Even the fire-engines were out of order,though the burning of the palace ought to have admonished them of the necessity of keeping them in constant repair.But this kind of indolence respecting what does not immediately concern them seems to characterise the Danes.A sluggish concentration in themselves makes them so careful to preserve their property,that they will not venture on any enterprise to increase it in which there is a shadow of hazard.

Considering Copenhagen as the capital of Denmark and Norway,I was surprised not to see so much industry or taste as in Christiania.

Indeed,from everything I have had an opportunity of observing,the Danes are the people who have made the fewest sacrifices to the graces.

The men of business are domestic tyrants,coldly immersed in their own affairs,and so ignorant of the state of other countries,that they dogmatically assert that Denmark is the happiest country in the world;the Prince Royal the best of all possible princes;and Count Bernstorff the wisest of ministers.

As for the women,they are simply notable housewives;without accomplishments or any of the charms that adorn more advanced social life.This total ignorance may enable them to save something in their kitchens,but it is far from rendering them better parents.

On the contrary,the children are spoiled,as they usually are when left to the care of weak,indulgent mothers,who having no principle of action to regulate their feelings,become the slaves of infants,enfeebling both body and mind by false tenderness.

I am,perhaps,a little prejudiced,as I write from the impression of the moment;for I have been tormented to-day by the presence of unruly children,and made angry by some invectives thrown out against the maternal character of the unfortunate Matilda.She was censured,with the most cruel insinuation,for her management of her son,though,from what I could gather,she gave proofs of good sense as well as tenderness in her attention to him.She used to bathe him herself every morning;insisted on his being loosely clad;and would not permit his attendants to injure his digestion by humouring his appetite.She was equally careful to prevent his acquiring haughty airs,and playing the tyrant in leading-strings.The Queen Dowager would not permit her to suckle him;but the next child being a daughter,and not the Heir-Apparent of the Crown,less opposition was made to her discharging the duty of a mother.

Poor Matilda!thou hast haunted me ever since may arrival;and the view I have had of the manners of the country,exciting my sympathy,has increased my respect for thy memory.

I am now fully convinced that she was the victim of the party she displaced,who would have overlooked or encouraged her attachment,had not her lover,aiming at being useful,attempted to overturn some established abuses before the people,ripe for the change,had sufficient spirit to support him when struggling in their behalf.

Such indeed was the asperity sharpened against her that I have heard her,even after so many years have elapsed,charged with licentiousness,not only for endeavouring to render the public amusements more elegant,but for her very charities,because she erected,amongst other institutions,a hospital to receive foundlings.Disgusted with many customs which pass for virtues,though they are nothing more than observances of forms,often at the expense of truth,she probably ran into an error common to innovators,in wishing to do immediately what can only be done by time.

Many very cogent reasons have been urged by her friends to prove that her affection for Struensee was never carried to the length alleged against her by those who feared her influence.Be that as it may she certainly was no a woman of gallantry,and if she had an attachment for him it did not disgrace her heart or understanding,the king being a notorious debauchee and an idiot into the bargain.

As the king's conduct had always been directed by some favourite,they also endeavoured to govern him,from a principle of self-preservation as well as a laudable ambition;but,not aware of the prejudices they had to encounter,the system they adopted displayed more benevolence of heart than soundness of judgment.As to the charge,still believed,of their giving the King drugs to injure his faculties,it is too absurd to be refuted.Their oppressors had better have accused them of dabbling in the black art,for the potent spell still keeps his wits in bondage.

I cannot describe to you the effect it had on me to see this puppet of a monarch moved by the strings which Count Bernstorff holds fast;sit,with vacant eye,erect,receiving the homage of courtiers who mock him with a show of respect.He is,in fact,merely a machine of state,to subscribe the name of a king to the acts of the Government,which,to avoid danger,have no value unless countersigned by the Prince Royal;for he is allowed to be absolutely aim idiot,excepting that now and then an observation or trick escapes him,which looks more like madness than imbecility.

What a farce is life.This effigy of majesty is allowed to burn down to the socket,whilst the hapless Matilda was hurried into an untimely grave.

"As flies to wanton boys,are we to the gods;They kill us for their sport."

Adieu!