whom she was then
suckling. A project was set on foot to try her on a capital charge of
adultery, for the purpose of rendering her offspring illegitimate,
in order that Prince Frederic, son of the queen-dowager, might become
presumptive heir to the throne. A secret commission had, indeed, found
her guilty, and had pronounced a divorce, as a preparatory step to her
trial on a capital charge. Matilda, however, was the sister of one of
the greatest sovereigns of Europe, whose arm was to be dreaded, and the
Danish court was compelled to agree that she should quit the kingdom,
and live under the protection of his majesty of England. An English
squadron repaired to Cronborg to receive her, but she was not allowed
the consolation of bringing her infant daughter away with her. She was
conveyed to the vessel in an agony of despair, and she sat on the deck
with her eyes fixed on the walls of the castle where she had left her
only earthly solace, till the darkness of night concealed them from her
view. She was conveyed to the castle of Zell, in Hanover, where a cheap
little court was provided for her; the expenses being paid out of the
Hanoverian revenue, or out of the English privy purse. But her days of
light-heartedness were over: her heart was stricken with grief which
weighed her down. Portraits of her infant-son and daughter were
procured, and these she hung in her chamber, where she would frequently
talk to them, as though the images had been the originals--the shadows,
the substance. She did not, however, long survive her misfortunes. She
died at the age of twenty-four in the month of May 1775; less than three
years after her release from Cronborg. Yet after all the machinations of
the queen-dowager of Denmark, the son of the ill-fated queen afterwards
ascended the throne: being first associated with his father Christian
VII. as a sort of joint monarch. This, at least, proves that the king
himself was convinced of the innocence of his unhappy consort.

DEATH OF THE PRINCESS DOWAGER OF WALES.

Before her daughter was hurled from the throne of Denmark, her mother,
the Princess-dowager of Wales, was no more. She died suddenly on the
8th of February, in the fifty-fourth year of her age. Although she had
endured much popular clamour, the accusations of her enemies were
never satisfactorily substantiated. At all events she appears to have
possessed many good qualities. It tends greatly to her honour that she
gradually li