wars; but history has treasured up their deeds, and a grateful country has embalmed their memory. These exploits, however, have no relation to the history.of the present Queen of England, although she may look back upon them with exultation, and in the remembrance of the noble deeds of her ancestors, she may gather fortitude to support her through the unexampled trials to which she is exposed.

It was in the very year (1735) that the father of her present majesty, Charles Duke of Brunswick, was born, that the family of Brunswick Wolfenbuttel was nearly rendered extinct, by as horrible a plot as ever was conceived by man. Two dukes of that family died in 1735, within six months of each other, and the little interval between the decease of these two princes, gave rise to some suspicion that their death was not a natural one. At first, however, this suspicion was regarded as without foundation, but after a diligent inquiry, a most execrable plot was discovered, which was to destroy, by poison, the whole of the reigning house of Brunswick Wolfenbuttel. It was clearly ascertained that the two last dukes fell a sacrifice to this hellish project, and their successor would have shared the same fate, if Divine Providence had not interposed, and preserved his life by a seasonable discovery of the whole plot. The persons concerned were thirty-six in number, at the head of whom was Baron Wolff, who had been .for many years at the court of Brunswick.

The

baron was apprehended and conveyed to the castle of Hartz, where, finding that his crimes were de tected, he made a full confession of the whole plot.

The discovery of this diabolical conspiracy rendered it an imperative necessity, in order to save the remaining branches from the machinations of the confederates, that they should be removed to a place of safety, and so well was the secret kept that for many years it was not known where the future father of our present queen was concealed, although an assurance from authority was given, at stated periods, that he was in existence and in health. At the time when the plot was discovered, Charles William Frederick, hereditary Prince of Brunswick Wolfenbuttel, the future husband of the sister of our late revered monarch, was quite an infant. It was, however, fortunate for him, that men could be found at that time in the court of Brunswick, who could assume the reins of government, and who, were not to be daunted by the perilous aspect of the times, from performing.their duty to their country and their prince. The vessel of the state was steered manfully through the storm, and during the scene of the seven years' war, we find the hereditary prince fighting under the banners of the Prussian monarch, and adding another leaf of laurel to the branch which encircled the brows of his illustrious ancestors.

It was in one of the journeys of George II. to his Hanoverian possessions, and at the period

when he joined the allied army, that the hereditary Prince of Brunswick attracted his notice; and the aged monarch, who was always bent upon increasing his continental connexions, immediately conceived the idea of a matrimonial alliance of the hereditary prince with his grand-daughter, the Princess Augusta. Soon after the close of the seven years' war, this alliance was actually carried into effect, and the illustrious individuals were married at St. James's on the 16th of January, 1764.

The issue of this marriage was first, Charlotte Georgiana Augusta, born December the 3d, 1764, and married October the 11th, 1780, to Frederick William, Prince of Wirtemburg, afterwards elevated to a dukedom, to whom she bore two sons and a daughter. At her death, the duke espoused the princess royal of Great Britain.

Second-Charles George Augustus, Duke of Brunswick Wolfenbuttel, born February the 8th, 1766, married October the 14th, 1790, to the Princess Frederica Louisa Wilhelmina, daughter of William V., Stadtholder of Holland.

Third-CAROLINE AMELIA ELIZABETH, now Queen Consort of his majesty George IV., born the 17th of May, 1768..

Fourth-George William Christian, born June the 27th, 1769.

Fifth-William Frederick, born October the 9th, 1771; and,

Sixth-Leopold, who lost his life in a noble at

tempt to save the lives of several persons, when the river Oder burst its banks in 1785.

The early years of our infancy present but few materials for the observer of human nature, with which to form his estimate of the character of the individual. In this respect the early life of the princess and the peasant bear a strong resemblance; both may be compared to the unfolded bud on the parent branch, on which the blossom is in embryo, and it may either bloom to maturity, yielding a precious fruit, or some malignant influence may blast it in its opening, and leave it for the remainder of its existence a sickly and shivering plant. There is, however, a period in human life, when the fertility or barrenness of the character begins to display itself, when the malevolent or virtuous dispositions exhibit themselves to the experienced observer, and the bent and inclination of the mind are declared by the simple pursuits and sports to which the individual seems inclined. It must, however, be considered, that man is an imitative animal, and that his character frequently takes a decided bias from the dispositions and pursuits of those with whom he is obliged to associate.

At the birth of Caroline, and for several years afterwards, the court of her father presented one of the gayest scenes in Germany. The transition from gaiety to licentiousness is however so very easy, and especially when circumstances so combine, as they generally do in a court, to give

the most favourable complexion to a departure from the established rules of decorum and propriety, that they must be little versed indeed in the general routine of human actions who would look into a court, and especially a foreign one, for a strict obeisance to moral law. Brave in themselves, the princes of the House of Brunswick collected round them hearts of a congenial spirit; the warriors who had fought under the Brunswick banner assembled at the court of him who had often led them on to victory; and where the warrior rests, there rests also "Heaven's masterpiece;" he forgets the toils of war in the glance of the lustful eye, and the remembrance of its dangers vanish when the midnight kiss is stolen. It must, however, be properly considered that the licentiousness which distinguished the court of Brunswick was not confined to it alone. A general laxity of morals pervaded the whole country, and if the fountain head was impure, it was not to be expected that the minor channels were to be uncontaminated.

But the court of Brunswick was not only the resort of the "war-worn soldier," but it was the refuge of the exile, and the unfortunate. Benevolence and generosity became the dupe of the systematic profligate, and several individuals trespassed on the bounty of the Brunswick family, who, had their characters been sifted ought to have been accommodated with a cell in a prison. These were persons by no means fit for