sheets of the day mention is frequently made of the
Queen's indisposition, and nearly always from a
different cause. The list of her ailments and the
barbarous and violent remedies resorted to makes
one wonder how she survived so long — gout, ague,
rash, pleurisy, chills, colic — everything, in short, but
her secret, and most dangerous, malady was recorded.
But the Queen seldom retired for more than a day
or two, she would never admit that she was really ill,
and was extremely angry if any one said that she was
so. The King disliked to have sick people about him,
and resented the Queen's ailments as though they
were invented for his special annoyance. Caroline
was aware of this peculiarity on the part of her
spouse, and would endure agonies rather than let



THE QUEEN'S ILLNESS AND DEATH 345

him suspect that anything was wrong with her.
She was a great sufferer from gout, which sometimes
crippled her so much that she could not move without
pain, but so absolute was her devotion to the King,
that she would plunge her swollen legs into ice-cold
water, in order that she might not fail to accompany
him on his daily walks. These desperate remedies
no doubt did her infinite harm. But she had another
malady too, which " false delicacy," as some de-
scribed it, though it would be more correct to say
" wifely devotion," made her conceal. At the birth
of her youngest child. Princess Louisa, in 1724,
Caroline suffered a slight internal rupture. Her
husband noticed it at the time, but she said it was
nothing, and would pass. Later he taxed her with
it again, and advised her to consult a doctor, but
she again denied it, this time with so much vexa-
tion, declaring that he sought a pretext for neglecting
her, that the King promised never to mention it
again. For a time the malady seemed to grow
better, or, at any rate, to remain dormant, but of late
it had been troubling her again, and neglect and
concealment made it go from bad to worse.

The Queen took infinite pains to hide the nature
of her illness, frequently consulting doctors, and yet
leaving them in ignorance of her real malady. For
years, amid the splendours of her court, in the
plenitude of her power, Caroline had carried with her
this dread secret, and maintained a smiling face to the
world. From time to time she must have suffered
agonies, but she bore them with Spartan heroism.



346 CAROLINE THE ILLUSTRIOUS

It was only during the King's absences at Hanover
that she indulged in the luxury of a collapse, and then
she ascribed her weakness to the gout, or any cause
but the real one. She held drawing-rooms as usual,
but more than once she had to be wheeled into the
presence-chamber in a chair, physically unable to
stand. Of one of these breakdowns Peter Went-
worth writes : —

"The Queen has been so ill. I went every day
to the backstairs and had the general answer that
she was better, but I knew when they told me true
and when not, and was often in great pain for my
good Queen, but it is not the fashion to show any
at Court. The first day that she came out into her
drawing-room she told a lady, whom I stood behind,
that she had really been very bad and dangerously
ill, but it was her own fault, for she had a fever a
fortnight before she came from Kensington, but she
kept it a secret, for she resolved to appear on the
King's birthday. She owned she did wrong, and
said she would do so no more, upon which I made
her a bow, as much as to say, I hoped she would do
as she then said. I believe she understood me for
she smiled upon me." '

In some way the Queen connected the decline of
her influence over the King, and his passion for the
Walmoden, with the failing of her physical health,
and she struggled against it to the death. It is no
exaggeration to say that she would have died rather

'The Hon. Peter Wentworth to the Earl of Strafford, London,
December loth, 1734.



THE QUEEN'S ILLNESS AND DEATH 347

than let her malady become known— in fact her con-
cealment of it led to her death. This secret anxiety
gnawing always at her heart, combined with the
worries she had to endure from without and within,
told upon her strength. For the last two or three
years she had been on the rack daily, a martyr to
physical and mental anguish. The infidelity of the
King, the unfilial conduct of the Prince of Wales,
the hard work inseparable from her position, and the
effort at all costs to keep a brave front to the world,
told upon her health, until at last she could bear
the strain no longer. It was in vain that she sought
relaxation in her best-loved pursuits ; the haunting
fear never left her day or night.

Soon after the Prince of Wales had been
turned out of St. James's Palace the King and
Queen removed there from Hampton Court, and
remained over the King's birthday (October 30th).
The Queen busied herself much this autumn in
fitting up a new library which she had built in the
stable yard of St. James's, on the site now occupied
by Stafford House. It was a large handsome build-
ing constructed on the most approved principles.
The Queen was now furnishing it with cases and
books ; she had ordered busts of philosophers and
learned men to be placed in the corridor, and had
requested the English ambassadors abroad to collect
for her the best Spanish, French and Italian books
to make her collection as complete as possible.
When all was finished she hoped to hold there
the intellectual tournaments in which she delighted,



348 CAROLINE THE ILLUSTRIOUS

and make the library serve the double purpose of a
lecture room. She used to go there nearly every
day to personally superintend the work, and it was
in this library on the morning of Wednesday, No-
vember 9th, that she finally broke down.

The Oueen was orivinp- some directions to the
workmen when suddenly she was seized with violent
internal pains. She made her way back to St. James's
Palace as quickly as she could, and went to bed.
At two o'clock there was to be a drawing-room ; the
King proposed that it should be postponed, but
the Queen, who did not wish it to be known that
she was ill, declared that she felt much better, got
up, dressed, and went to the drawing-room. She
smiled and bowed as usual, and even chatted to
some of the company, though she was suffering
extremely, and could scarcely stand. The King
noticed nothing amiss, and went on talking for a
lonsf time about some new farce that was the
fashion of the hour. At last he dismissed the court,
reminding the Queen, who was by this time in
agony, that she had not spoken to the premier
duchess, the Duchess of Norfolk. The Queen, as
she was going out, went to the duchess, and apolo-
gised for the omission with her usual graciousness.
On returnino- to her room she arain went to bed.

The King thought it was only a temporary
indisposition, in which belief she humoured him,
and he went off in the evening to play cards with
Lady Deloraine, after having sent for the German
court physician to look after the Queen. Every




THE PRINCESS CAROLINE.
(third daughter of GEORGE 11.)



THE QUEEN'S ILLNESS AND DEATH 349

hour the Queen became worse, but she was still
bent on concealing the cause of her illness, and
declared that she had the colic. She asked Lord
Hervey, who was in attendance, what she should
do to ease her pain. Lord Hervey, who was a
chronic invalid, and made himself a worse one by
taking quack nostrums, recommended her a concoc-
tion called "snake root". But the German physi-
cian would not let her take it, and, as the Queen was
now in a high fever, he called in another doctor.
In ignorance of her malady, the doctors dosed
their unfortunate patient with a number of horrible
decoctions, such as " Daffy's Elixir," " Sir Walter
Raleigh's Cordial," usquebaugh, and so forth,
and then, as the only effect of these remedies was
to make her violently sick, they sent for Ranby,
the surgeon, who bled her into the bargain. The
Princess Caroline, who had sat with her mother
all day, now declared herself seized with rheumatic
pains, and Lord Hervey, who was in his element,
dosed her with another nostrum called " Ward's
Pill," which, it is not surprising to hear, made her
worse. The King came back at his usual hour,
and was much upset at finding the Queen so ill.
By way of showing his anxiety he lay on her bed
all night, outside the coverlet, with the result that he
spoilt his night's rest and hers too.

The Queen was again bled in the morning
(Thursday), and the fever having abated a little it
was thought that she was better. But she knew that
she was not, for she said to the Princess Caroline, who



350 CAROLINE THE ILLUSTRIOUS

was suffering from the effects of the pill : "Poor Caro-
line, you are very ill too ; we shall soon meet again
in another place", x^t her request the King held a
drawine-room as usual, and the Princess Amelia took
her mother's place at court. So the day wore on.
Towards the evening the Queen got worse, and in her
agony cried aloud to the Princess Caroline : " I have
an ill which nobody knows of". But, as she gave no
particulars, this was regarded merely as a vague
statement. Two more physicians were called in, and
further added to the illustrious patient's discomfort
by ordering blisters and aperients, both without
effect. The King was now greatly concerned, and
sat up all night with his wife.

The next morning (Friday) it was impossible to
conceal any longer the fact that the Queen was
seriously ill. The news reached the ears of the
Prince of Wales, who was then at Kew, and he
immediately hurried up to London to inquire after
the Queen. The King had an idea that something
of the kind would happen, and gave strict orders
that if the Prince came he was not to be admitted.
About an hour after the King had thus expressed
himself, the Prince sent Lord North to St. James's
with a message saying that he was much grieved to
hear of the Queen's illness, and asking to be
allowed to come and see her. But the King not only
refused to let him come, but returned an answer
requesting him to send no more messages to St.
James's. " This," said he, " is like one of the scoun-
drel's tricks, it is just of a piece of his kneeling down



THE QUEEN'S ILLNESS AND DEATH 351

in the dirt before the mob to kiss her hand at the
coach door, when she came from Hampton Court to
see the Princess, though he had not spoken one
word to her during the whole visit, I always hated
the rascal, but now I hate him worse than ever. He
wants to come and insult his poor dying mother, but
she shall not see him." Later in the day, the Queen,
who had no knowledge of what had passed, said to
the King- that she wondered the Prince had not
asked to see her yet, as she felt sure that he would
do so, because it would look well before the world.
The King then told her of what had passed and how
he had forbidden the Prince to come, or send any
more messages, though, he added, if the Queen really
wished to see her son she could do so. But the
Queen emphatically declared that she had no such
wish, and the incident ended. The Prince continued
to send messengers to inquire throughout his mother's
illness.

The next day (Saturday) the Queen grew worse
every hour, yet she still, with a stubbornness which
it is impossible to understand, concealed the true
nature of her malady. Towards evening the King,
who was greatly worried, whispered to her that he
believed her illness came from rupture, but she
denied it with great warmth and peevishness. How-
ever, the King sent for the surgeon, Ranby, and
confided his fears to him. Ranby at once examined
the Queen, and even then she carried her desire
for concealment so far as to declare that she felt the
pain in a different part of her body to that where it



352 CAROLINE THE ILLUSTRIOUS

really was. But the surgeon was no longer to be de-
ceived, and having discovered the rupture, he took the
King aside and told him of it, adding that the Queen
was in the utmost danger. The Queen started up in
bed in a state of great excitement, but when the
surgeon told her bluntly that it was no longer possible
to conceal the truth, she turned her face to the wall
and wept silently — these were the only tears she
shed throughout her illness. As there was no
time to be lost, two more surgeons were called
in, and the same evening an operation was per-
formed. It did not give relief, nor did the doctors
hold out much hope, concealment and neglect had
made the ill past remedy.

The Queen passed a troubled night, and early
the next morning (Sunday) she complained that
her wound gave her great pain. The surgeons
were summoned, and discovered that it had already
begun to mortify. The dreaded news was im-
mediately conveyed to the King, and it was feared
the Queen could not live many hours. The King
came at once, followed by the Duke of Cumberland
and the Princesses Amelia, Caroline, Mary and
Louisa. The Queen took leave of her weeping
husband and children, and asked them not to leave
her until she died. To the Princess Caroline she
commended the care of her younger children, and
she bade her son William be a support to his
father, and try to make up for the sorrow and
vexation caused by his elder brother. Of the King
she took a most affectionate farewell, telling him that



THE QUEEN'S ILLNESS AND DEATH 353

he knew all her thoughts, and thanking him for his
love and trust of her. She commended to his care
all those who were dependent on her, from the
highest to the lowest. She then drew from her
finger the ruby ring he had given her at the Coro-
nation, and put it upon his, saying : " This is the
last thing I have to give you : naked I came to you,
naked I go from you. I had everything I ever
possessed from you, and to you everything I have
I return." She added one word of advice, which
she said she had often given to him when she was in
health — that after her death he should marry again.
At this the King burst into sobs and tears, and
vowed he would not, saying : " Non ! Non ! j'aurai
des maitresses ".^ The Queen replied wearily : " Mon
Dieu ! cela n'empeche pas ".^ It was the only hint of
reproach that ever crossed her lips, if we except that
other bitter cry wrung from her in the extremity of
her anguish years before : "I have never lived a
day without suffering ". Perhaps the King felt some
pangs of remorse, for he wept over her bitterly ;
kissed her again and again, and uttered many en-
dearing words. He had reason to weep, for he was
losing the only being in the world who loved him,
and loved him with a devotion that was as absolute
as it was unaccountable.

^ George the Second kept his word. He never married again,
though he survived the Queen thirty-three years. But within a year
of Caroline's death he brought Madame de Walmoden over to
England, and later created her Countess of Yarmouth.

"^ Vide Hervey's Memoirs. Also letter of Colonel William Douglas
to Lord Carlisle, 12th November, 1737 (Carlisle MSS.).
VOL. IL 23



354 CAROLINE THE ILLUSTRIOUS

After this trying scene the Queen fell into a doze
and it was thought that she would pass away in her
sleep, but, to every one's surprise, she woke up
feeling better. She now declared her belief that
she would last until Wednesday, saying that all the
great events of her life had happened on that day ;
she had been born on a Wednesday, married on a
Wednesday, had her first child on a Wednesday,
heard the news of the late Kind's death on a Wed-

O

nesday, and had been crowned on a Wednesday,
and therefore she would die on a Wednesday. This
was the only little touch of superstition in her char-
acter. Later in the day the surgeons again examined
the wound, and, finding that the mortification had
not spread, declared that perhaps after all she would
recover.^ This revived hope in all breasts but that of
the Queen, who knew it to be only a reprieve. " My
heart will not break yet," she said.

Her reprieve gave her time to see her trusted
friend and minister. Sir Robert Walpole, who ar-
rived in haste on Monday morning from Houghton,
whither he had gone ten days previously to bury his
wife. In consequence of his mourning he had not
been sent for officially, but when he heard the news
of the Queen's danger he came as fast as post horses
could brinof him. The Oueen had asked for him
once or twice, and when the King heard that Wal-
pole had arrived, and was in the ante-chamber, he at
once gave him audience. Walpole was in great

1 Letter of Lady A. Irwin to Earl of Carlisle, 17th November,
1737 (Carlisle MSS.).



THE QUEEN'S ILLNESS AND DEATH 355

disorder and distress, for he had been travelling hard
and fast. Despite his great bulk, he knelt down
awkwardly and kissed the King's hand, and with
tears, asked: "How is the Queen?" The King
said: "Come and see yourself, my good Sir Rob-
ert," and carried him off to the Queen's bedside.
The interview was very short, but the Queen's words
were to the point, " My good Sir Robert, you see
me in a very indifferent situation. I have nothing
to say to you but to recommend the King, my
children, and the kingdom to your care." ^

The Queen lingered throughout Monday and
Tuesday, and even the dreaded Wednesday, in much
the same condition. On Thursday a change took
place for the worse and she suffered much pain, but
she bore it all without a murmur and had a smile
and a cheery word for many. She even joked at
Ranby, the surgeon, when he was dressing her
wound, saying : " Before you begin, let me have a
full view of your comical face " ; and whilst he was
cutting her she said: "What would you give now
to be cutting up your wife ? " ' The Queen under-
went many of these cuttings, but she bore all with
great fortitude, and if sometimes a groan escaped
her she would beg the surgeons not to heed and

^ Hervey's Memoirs. According to another account, she said :
"I hope you will never desert the King, but continue to serve him
with your usual fidelity," and pointing to her husband, she added :
" I recommend his Majesty to you ". Mahon's History, vol. ii. Vide
also Horace Walpole's Reminiscences.

2 Letter of Hon. Peter Wentworth to the Earl of Strafford, ist
December, 1737. Ranby was then seeking a divorce.



356 CAROLINE THE ILLUSTRIOUS

even apologised to them for some peevish expres-
sions. Her patience and courage were marvellous,
and her mind remained calm and collected.

All this time the chaplain's services had not
been required. Several of the bishops remarked
on it, and many about the court whispered that it
was not right that the Queen should remain without
the consolations of religion. At last representations
were made to Walpole, who irreligiously shrugged
his shoulders. But he asked the Princess Amelia
to acquaint the King and Queen with what was
being said, and suggested that the Archbishop of
Canterbury (Dr. Potter) should be sent for. The
Princess Amelia, who knew her mother's views on
religious matters, at first demurred to taking the
message, but afterwards went to the King, who went
to the Queen, who immediately consented. The
Archbishop came, and continued afterwards to pray
by her bedside, morning and evening. But the
prayers of the Archbishop were far from satisfying
the scruples of the orthodox, who further required
that her Majesty should receive the Holy Com-
munion.

How far the Archbishop spoke to the Queen on
this solemn subject it is impossible to say. The
matter was one between the royal sufferer and her
God. Caroline was, in the wide sense of the word,
a religious woman, one whose religion was not on
her lips but in her life ; she had a firm faith in God
and trust in His mercy, but she was not, and never
had been, an orthodox Christian. In health, because



THE QUEEN'S ILLNESS AND DEATH 357

she conceived it to be her duty as Queen-Consort,
she had scrupulously conformed to the rites of the
Church of England, but now, in the presence of death,
she felt it necessary to be sincere in her convictions
and dispense with them. The Archbishop, who
was a godly and tolerant prelate, and who knew the
Queen's views, probably forbore to press her on the
matter, and we may take it for granted that the
Queen did not receive the last sacrament. It was
rumoured about the court that the Archbishop had
celebrated the Communion of the Sick in the royal
chamber, but at the last moment the Queen refused
to receive. When the Archbishop came out of the
room he was surrounded by courtiers and ladies in
waiting in the ante-chambers, who eagerly asked
him, '' My Lord, has the Queen received ? " The
Archbishop eluded the question, and rebuked them
by saying " The Queen is in a very heavenly dis-
position ". Some, more officious than the rest, told
him that it was his duty to reconcile the Queen to
the Prince of Wales. The Archbishop replied that,
whenever the Queen had spoken to him about the un-
happy divisions in the Royal F'amily, she had spoken
with such good sense that it would be impertinent
for him to offer her advice on the subject. By some
authorities it is stated that the Queen, at the last,
forgave the Prince, and one goes so far as to declare
that " She sent her blessing and forgiveness to her
son, and told Sir Robert [Walpole] that she would
have sent for him with pleasure, but prudence for-
bade the interview as it might irritate and embarrass



358 CAROLINE THE ILLUSTRIOUS

the King".^ On the other hand Hervey is silent on
this point, though he makes the Queen several times
during her illness express resentment against her
son, which was perhaps natural, as his insults were
very recent. Her enemies afterwards declared that
she refused the Prince her forgiveness, though he
sent again and again to humbly beseech her bless-
ing. There is a conflict of testimony here, and the
Queen may well have the benefit of the doubt, for
all her life she had laboured in the cause of peace,
and striven to prevent discord in the Royal Family.
The Oueen still lingered on, her brain and facul-
ties clear till the last. But the King's mind was
giving way under the strain. He was conscious of
this to some extent, for he told his pages that if he
were unreasonable in chiding and swearing at them
they were not to mind it. Lord Hervey, in his
grim and ghastly account of the Queen's deathbed,
mocks at the lamentations of the King, and jeers
at his behaviour. Yet there is every reason to
believe that his grief was absolutely sincere, and
in the presence of so great a sorrow these gibes
should surely have been stilled. It was all very
human and very pitiful. The King was not one
of those who could suffer and be still, his pfrief was
noisy and garrulous, and he talked incessantly
during those trying days to all whom he met of
the Queen's many virtues and the great and irrep-
arable loss her death would be to him and the

' Coxe's Life of Walpolc. Horace Walpole also makes a state-
ment to the same effect, though not so definite.



THE QUEEN'S ILLNESS AND DEATH 359

nation. He said the same to his wife over and over
again, and they babbled their love together with
tears and broken words. She knew now that she
was first with him, had always been first with
him, and their love was as fresh and fragrant
as when he wooed her in the rose-gardens of Ans-
bach long ago. Yet, evidently overwrought by long
watching and emotion, the King would sometimes
break off in the middle of his vows of love and
devotion to chide her in the old peevish fashion.
Her pain made her very restless, and she complained
that she could not sleep. " How the devil should
you sleep," burst forth the King, " when you will
never lie still a moment ? " or again, when the
Queen at his bidding lay perfectly still, the King
would rail at her for looking straight before her,
" like a calf waiting for its throat to be cut ". But
Caroline knew better than to blame him for these
rough words, which were more welcome to her
than sweetest music. Her wifely obedience never
failed, even at the last. The doctors said that her
strength must be kept up, so the King was always
forcing down her throat all sorts of food and drink.
The poor Queen would swallow whatever he wished,
and when he thanked her, she would say : "It is
the last service I can do you ". But her stomach
was not so complaisant, and she could only retain
the food for a few minutes. Then she would bravely
try again. For her own sake she wished not to
live ; for his she would fain have done so.

So the days wore on, the Queen almost apolo-



36o CAROLINE THE ILLUSTRIOUS

gising for being so long in dying. Thursday,