victory. A Hanoverian statesman wrote, in alarm, that William
seemed to prefer the Prussian prince, because he was a Protestant, to
the Hanoverian, who was a Lutheran. The implication is that the
Lutherans offered less resistance to Catholicism. But the fact also
was that Sophia was a Stuart by the mother's side, and did not wish
too loudly to proclaim that she was not a legitimist. There was a
little ostensible hesitation; and the electress so managed that the
crown should seem to be forced upon her. It was part of this decorous
comedy that her son never learnt English--a circumstance of the utmost
value, afterwards, to England. The Electress Sophia was not perhaps a
very estimable, though a very intelligent princess. But she was
eighty-four when the crown came within reach, and she died of rage at
an unfriendly letter from Queen Anne, betraying her Jacobite
propensity.

The elector, who ascended the throne of England two months after his
mother's death, was neither a tyrant, nor a coward, nor a fool; he was
only unintellectual and brutally selfish. There were ladies in his
company who received English titles, and offended one part of the
public by their morals and the remainder by their ugliness. One was
created Duchess of Kendal, and Walpole said of her that she was Queen
of England if ever there was one. But she sold her influence for
money, amounting sometimes to L10,000, and Walpole at last complained
to his master. The king laughed in his face, and replied, in his
dog-Latin, that no doubt his minister also was paid by the people whom
he recommended. There was a deeper taint on his reputation. He had
married the only daughter of his neighbour and kinsman, the duke of
Celle, thereby securing the succession to his dominions. Her mother
was not of royal birth, and she was treated so cruelly by her husband
and by the Electress Sophia that she resolved to escape from her
misery by flight. In her despair she accepted the assistance of Count
Konigsmarck, whom the envoy Stepney described as a profligate
adventurer. The secret was betrayed; the princess was divorced, and
spent the long remainder of her life at Ahlden, a remote country house
which had belonged to her father. This was no more than had happened
in many great families tried by the temptation of irresponsible
monarchy, but there was a superadded tragedy; for Count Konigsmarck
disappeared and was never seen again. As part of the scheme to run