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AGNES STRICKLAND'S QUEENS OF ENGLAND

Abridged

By Rosalie Kaufman

Vol. III. (Of III)

Fully Illustrated

Boston

Estes & Lauriat

1882




NOTE.

In presenting this last volume of Queens of England to our readers, we
are glad to say that we have been permitted to carry the story through
the entire history of that country, from the Conquest to the present
day. We present a more complete, although less extended account than is
given in any volume or series of volumes now before the public. We feel
sure that the interest has been continued unabated from the beginning,
and that not only pleasure but real profit will be derived from a
careful perusal of every page of these three volumes. It is true that
some eminent names and many noteworthy events have been sacrificed; but
nothing has been omitted which has been requisite for the comprehension
of events which have depended upon them. Those who follow carefully
the story of these famous characters, will find suggestions which will
prompt them to independent inquiry and landmarks which will indicate a
more elaborate and complete course of study.




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


Sebastopol...........................................Frontispiece

India.........................................................014

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes,............................017

Zell..........................................................025

Sophia Dorothea of Zell.......................................033

The Bower.....................................................039

George I......................................................053

Caroline Wilhelmina Dorothea of Anspach.......................061

Lady Walpole's Reception......................................069

Sir Robert Walpole............................................083

George II.....................................................101

Kensington Palace.............................................115

Landing of George II..........................................121

Stoke Pogis Church............................................125

The Ivy Tower.................................................127

Charlotte Sophia..............................................137

William Pitt..................................................145

Garrick's Villa...............................................153

George III....................................................157

Cedar from Kew Gardens........................................163

Carlton House.................................................173

Pox...........................................................175

William Pitt the Younger......................................183

What a Little Place you Occupy................................195

Caroline of Brunswick.........................................205

Cowley's House................................................217

Country-scat..................................................223

View from Richmond Hill.......................................229

Hampton Court.................................................237

George IV.....................................................245

The Grotto....................................................231

Warwick Castle................................................259

Kensington Gardens............................................269

Caroline Refused Admittance to Westminster Abbey..............277

Adelaide Louisa...............................................281

O'Connell Haranguing the People...............................287

Lafayette.....................................................303

Queen Victoria................................................311

Victoria at the age of Eight..................................318

Marshal Soult.................................................325

The Youthful Queen............................................328

Street in Coburg..............................................335

Sir Robert Peel...............................................345

Houses of Parliament..........................................357

Beethoven's House at Bonn.....................................365

Castle of Coburg..............................................369

Lord John Russell.............................................373

Orleans House.................................................376

Drawing-room at Balmoral......................................379

Scene in Ireland..............................................385

Duke of Wellington............................................395

Lord Aberdeen.................................................403

Custom-House, Dublin..........................................408

Charge of the Light Brigade...................................413

Park of St. Cloud.............................................419

Capture of the Malakoff.......................................423

Calcutta......................................................433

Sans-Souci....................................................441

Frankfort-on-the-Main.........................................451

Windsor Castle................................................459

An old Castle on the Thames...................................463

The "San Jacinto" stopping the "Trent"........................465

Queen Victoria................................................473



STORIES OF THE LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND.

Compiled From Agnes Strickland, For Young People, By Rosalie Kaufman
{014}

[Illustration: 0020]

THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. {015}




CHAPTER I. SOPHIA DOROTHEA OF ZELL, WIFE OF GEORGE I.

(A.D. 1666-1726.)

|When the Edict of Nantes was revoked by Louis XIV., of which mention
has been made in a previous reign, persecutions that equalled the
never-to-be-forgotten St. Bartholomew, followed, and being spread over
a longer period, affected a larger number of victims. This Edict had
permitted to Protestants the free observance of their religion so long
that when it was repealed it was a cruel blow, though perhaps a triumph
to Roman Catholics. Those faithful adherents to Protestantism who
refused to become converts were executed or imprisoned; but thousands
escaped and fled, leaving their property to be confiscated to the crown,
while they sought refuge, strangers in a strange land, with poverty
staring them in the face. Those were times when horrors unspeakable were
of daily occurrence. Armed bodies of dragoons went from town to town
in France, barbarously butchering the terror-stricken men, women, and
children, who had failed to confess and receive the sacrament according
to the mode prescribed by the king; while thousands hastened at the
point of the sword to do so, pretending, in order to escape massacre,
that {016}they had suddenly awakened to the error of their former ways.

When the report of these conversions--if we may so call the cowardice
that compelled myriads to take false oaths out of sheer desperation--was
carried to the willingly-duped King of France, he raised his eyes to
Heaven, amazed at the miracle, which he pronounced, in the presence of
his fawning courtiers, more wonderful than many of those recounted in
Scripture. But he knew as well as his bishops did, that "a man convinced
against his will is of the same opinion still."

We have said that some of the Protestants escaped their persecutors;
among the number of these lucky beings was Alexander D'Esmiers, Marquis
D'Olbreuse, a gallant gentleman of Poictiers, who, with his daughter,
Eleanora, sought refuge in Brussels. It was not long before this
beautiful, accomplished French girl was introduced into the gay society
of that gay city, where she was courted and admired by many of the
beaux, and no doubt envied and criticized by the belles.

[[A.D. 1665.]] It was at a grand court ball that this young girl first
became acquainted with Duke George William, second son of George, Duke
of Brunswick-Lunebourg, and heir to the dukedom of Zell. The duke fell
violently in love, for the first time in his life, though he had been
a traveller for some years, and was noted for his gallantry among the
ladies with whom he had flirted in various parts of the world. With
the awakening of this sentiment, George William, who had been rather a
taciturn man, became eloquent in his love-pleadings; he had never cared
to study, but a sudden desire to perfect himself in the French language
took hold of him, and he begged the beautiful Eleanora to assist him
with the intricacies of her native tongue. She consented, and throughout