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Narrative of the Suffering of Christina, Princess of Zell.


mark of her great condescension. To say the truth, notwithstanding the variance between the brothers, she had always behaved to the Duke with that apparent affection that was due to the relation to her in which he stood.

With this ascendancy over his Highness, she wisely resolved to be her own Ambassadress, and to the weight of her instances to add all the advantages to be gained by surprise; she, therefore, without dropping the most distant hint of her intentions, ordered her equipage to be in readiness, and at the close of a fine summer's evening set out for Zell, where, by means of relays, she arrived so early next morning that Duke and Duchess were yet in bed.

Nothing could equal the astonishment of both, on hearing the door open without their command, and seeing the Electress enter, who was the person in the world the least expected, and to the Duchess, perhaps, the least welcome.

The Electress, knowing that among princes such freedoms were almost without precedent, made haste to unravel the mystery of her journey, but, with a reserve that marked her pride, chose to express herself in the German language, which she knew the Duchess did not understand.

Whatever arguments, whether of affection or policy, she might urge to gain her suit, certain it is, that her persuasions prevailed, and in two short hours she undid what the Prince of Wolfenbuttel had been for years before labouring to accomplish; and before she quitted the room, she obtained a positive promise from the Duke, that the heiress of Zell should be affianced to none but the Prince her son.

The Duchess, it may be imagined, was sufficiently mortified not to be trusted with the secret of this extraordinary visit till after the business that occasioned it was concluded; for tho the Duke had never been known to deny her any thing before, yet the Electress having opened the conversation on the express condition, that the Duchess should not be made acquainted with the subject of it till after the issue was determined, the repeated importunities of the Duchess produced only so many denials; and it was not till after the Electress was in bed to take some repose that she was at last complimented by the Duke as mother to the young Prince of Hanover. 

She was thunder struck at this appellation, and knew not what to reply. She retired to her own apartment, and gave vent to that excess of grief that must otherwise have overwhelmed her; for though she had not presumed openly to resent the slights put upon her by the House of Hanonover, they had, notwithstanding, left a bitter sting behind. She felt, likewise, for the young Duke of Wolfenbuttel, but more for her daughter who loved him; and the terror with which she was seized, on the first intimation of this connection, seemed to preface the misfortunes that afterwards attended it.

When a torrent of tears had relieved the heavy load of sorrow that oppressed her, she returned to the Duke, and falling on her knees in a second transport of grief, she implored him, for the love he bore to his only child, to change his mind; she beseeched him to consider the consequences of his breach of faith with the deserving Prince who had already thought himself happy in his consent; and she enlarged on the visible contempt in which she herself had ever been held by the Electress, who would still think herself dishonoured by an alliance which interest alone had prompted her to solicit.

But neither the consciousness of his own indiscretion in so hastily yielding to the persuasion of the Electress, nor the concern which must naturally arise for the fate of his only daughter; neither the tears of his beloved consort, nor the threatening vengeance of an offended Prince, could prevail upon the Duke to alter his resolution. He seemed wholly absorbed in the thoughts of aggrandizing the House of Lunenburg, and she who had till that fatal interview been able to direct his course in every thing, from that moment lost her influence entirely, and never more recovered it.

The illustrious descent from a royal line of Kings which the Electress had to boast, added to a certain dignity of manner that rendered her respectable, so flattered the vanity of the Duke, that love, which, in his youthful days, had triumphed irrefuttibly over every other passion, as it were, in an instant, gave way, and left ambition master of the field.

The Electress, experienced in the sudden revolutions of the human heart, left nothing untried to accelerate the match. She knew that the Duchess had reason to oppose a marriage in which she had never been consulted; and she knew likewise, that men in years have not always resolution enough to withstand the importunities of those whom they have long been accustomed to indulge: she, therefore, dispatched a courier to Hanover, the moment she obtained the Duke's consent, to acquaint the Elector with the success of her journey, and to require the immediate presence of her son. In the mean while she kept the Duke employed in adjusting the marriage articles, that he might have no time to think of future consequences, nor to reflect on the injustice done to the Prince of Wolfenbuttle by the violation of his promise.

The joy with which the news was received, on the arrival of the courier at Hanover, was more apparent in the countenance of the Elector than in that of the Prince his son; who, if report may be credited, had contracted an intimacy with Henrietta of Musshenbruck; a lady more remarkable for wit and vivacity than for the virtuous refinements which constitute the glory of her sex.

It was, however, necessary that he should submit to the will of his Sovereign in an affair of such concernment to the advancements of the State. It is unfortunate for Princes, that policy is made the measure of their contracts, and that love has seldom any share in directing their choice.

With the indifference natural to a youth already prepossessed with other attachments, the young Prince of Hanover appeared at the Court of Zell rather as a suitor to the Duchy, than as a lover to the Princess in whose right he was one day to enjoy it; but all that was wanting in gallantry on his side, being amply made up by the address of the Electress his mother, a short day was appointed for the nuptial ceremony, which was performed with as much pomp and solemnity as the short time would allow.

Both the bride and the bridegroom, who were the principal figures, were so distinguished by their brilliancy of dress, usual upon such occasions, that, if, by their outward splendor, the spectators had been to form an estimate of their inward felicity, they might have been pronounced the happiest couple in the universe.

But neither gold, nor jewels, nor state, nor sovereignty, bestow happiness; and a troubled spirit, surrounded with pomp, will hang a cloud upon the brow. It was thus with the Princess: she looked upon herself as a state victim; and though she was all resignation, betrayed such a melancholy as would have become Iphigenia when on the point of being sacrificed. 

As for the bridegroom, he was by nature sullen, reserved, haughty, and selfish: he considered the Princess as the title-deed to the Duchy of Zell, and consequently behaved like one passing through the forms of a Court, which, though tedious and troublesome, were absolutely necessary to ensure the conveyance. An affectation of gallantry, however, he was obliged to put on; but then it was visibly an affectation; and though he gave his hand to his bride, his heart remained still in the bosom of his mistress.

Appearances of this untoward nature were by no means pleasing to the Duke; but the Duchess was so deeply affected, that it was with difficulty she could conceal, amidst all the apparent gaiety, the anxiety of her mind, which frequently escaped in sighs she found it impossible to stifle. The Electress, of all the parties concerned, was indeed the only one who, at this triumphant crisis, enjoyed the full transport of court politicians, who ask only for success to their measures, and laugh at all other considerations. 

The favourite point being now effectually obtained, neither the Electress nor her son had any farther business at Zell. In a few days after the solemnity was over, they, therefore, set out for Hanover, together with the bride, whose grief at quitting her parents was no ways diminished either by the pompous reception she met with from the Elector her father in-law, nor by the phlegmatic caresses of the Prince her husband.

Ambition and gallantry, as in most other Courts, were then the prevailing pursuits in that of Hanover; and, according to the usual intercourse between the sexes, ladies became powerful, and Lords were made happy, by mutual obligations conferred upon each other.

While such was the commerce, it is not to be wondered at, that foreign adventurers should steer with a flattering gale of hope to a liberal port, where

Transcription Notes:
Please note the difference between the form of f and s in this typeface. The long S lacks the crossbar. The modern s shape is used at the end of a word. ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-05-11 13:04:35 ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-05-11 22:59:16