The Historical Gallery of Criminal Portraitures, foreign and domestic: containing a selection of the most impressive cases ... in modern history. Edited and compiled by J. Brown

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1 -'KO-VTISPIE CE s./t///////t*/ fn#lV.J //■//,■;/ //'////// / //// /.) ■ ////■/ .it h/tr;/.> //'//■ /(/.j it//// /////// //i/c.i " MASrCHESTMl , Printed fcPuMtsfud fy J.deave JflLJJeaiisi/itl* THE HISTORICAL GALLERY OF CRIMINAL PORTRAITURES, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC; CONTAINING A SELECTION OF THE MOST IMPRESSIVE CASES OF tSuilt and jiWi&fOt iunc TO BE FOUND IN MODERN HISTORY. ' It is not the scaffold, nor the touch of the executioner, that constitute* ' infamy, but alone the consciousness of guilt.' ' Facilis descensus Averni, Sed rcvocare gradum, ——— Hoc opus, hie labor est.' Virgil. EDITED AND COMPILED BY JOHN BROWN, AUTHOR OF THE MYtTERIES OF NEUTRALIZATION ; THE NAVAL ADVO- CATE J AND VARIOUS TRACTS RELATIVE TO THE LAW OF NATIONS ; THE NORTHERN COURTS, &C. &C. JN TWO FOLS. VOL. II. fHanrijester: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY J. GI.EAVE, No. 101, Dean9gate. 1823.

THE GALLERY OF Criminal portrattut*?, &c. &c. &c. SOPHIA DOROTHEA CHRISTINA, PRINCESS OF ZELL, DUCHESS OF HANOVER, WIFE TO GEORGE THE FIRST, KING OF GREAT BRITAIN. Adultery and Treason. Noble, injur'd woman ! bard was thy fate ! To thee, in Tain, wit, beauty, sense, were giv'n. If ever man deserv'd the name of fool, Beast, idiot, or some still more scornful mark Of deathless shame, thy recreant lord was one ! Fair, young, and rich, thee ! blooming rose of Zell ! Saw kings and heroes captives to thy charms. Those woo'd in vain ! A father's stern command Gave thee, in bonds, the victim of a slave Of common harlots. To his tainted court, With pimps and minions fill'd, wert thou convey'd ; No honest man — no virtuous female near. He left thee in the pride and bloom of youth : He loos'd a pack of blood-hounds : gave the cry Of cuckoldom !

All Europe heard the sound, And thought a pair of antlers well deserv'd. Such was the prince that fill'd thy wretch'd life With suff'rings dire— with ev'ry ill save guilt. False to thy bed, a stranger to thy worth, He knew not what a gem he cast away ! Ed. HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. THE vail of mystery which the hand of despotism wrapped round the fate of this high-minded princess is VOL. II. B not yet withdrawn. When the consort of George IV. was arraigned at the bar of the House of Lords, even her own lawyers seemed in doubt whether Dorothea Christina had been divorced or not ! Her name is scarcely men tioned in our best histories — her wrongs slightly glanced at. There is no regular history of her life. All that can be done is to throw together a number of narratives, each interesting in itself, and leave untouched the spirit that the writer meant to infuse ; by which process the reflecting and tasteful reader will derive more instruction and amuse ment, than if the various fragments were amalgamated into one recital.

Part I

A sketch of the early life of the Consort of George the First, extracted from the 'Memoirs of an unfortunate ' Queen,' and imputed to the pen of Queen Matilda. " Dear P n, " I have been so deeply affected by the recollection of Christina's misfortunes, doomed to perpetual exile in this very castle, fa) where she ended her days, that I have devoted some of my leisure hours to impart to you freely my thoughts on this most amiable princess's catastrophe. Your friendship and your indulgence will apologize for the length and inaccuracies of this narrative. " George-William, Duke of Zell, numbered among the heroes of the age, Sovereign of the principalities of Calen berg, Lunenburg, and the counties of Diepholt and Hoise, was brother to Ernest Augustus, Elector of Ha nover, the father of George the First.

This magnanimous prince, superior to national prejudices, married a French gentlewoman, whose beauty was the least of her rare accomplishments. Her name was Eleanor Desniers, daughter of Alexander, Baron of Olbreuse, in the pro vince of Poitou, in France, who had taken refuge in Germany before the revocation of the edict of Nantz. sa) Castle on the Abler. The house of Hanover, proud of a lineal descent of princes, who, according to the ridiculous notions of the petty German sovereigns, had never contaminated their blood by such an inglorious match, reproached bitterly the Duke of Zell for having offered an unparalleled indig nity to their illustrious pedigree ; and this preference which he had given to merit above birth and empty titles, made the elector his brother his declared and implacable enemy, notwithstanding the lady was afterwards invested with the ducal dignity by the Emperor Leopold, and acknowledged in quality of a Princess of the Empire.

Without this creation, her children could not have suc ceeded to the sovereignty of Zell, and the dukedom of course must have devolved, if no second marriage had intervened, to the elector. "Their union, formed by love, was now cemented by gratitude, and they found in each other's affection and fidelity an uninterrupted happiness ; the ducal pair exhi biting to their subjects such an instance of conjugal love, seldom to be met with in courts, diffused amongst them all the blessings of a mild, beneficent, and equitable administration. They earnestly wished for an heir who might inherit the princely virtues of his parents, and prove an equal ornament and happiness to his people. But the only fruit of this marriage was Sophia Dorothea Christina, born September 15, 1666, who became celebrated for the most excellent endowments of body and mind, and still more for her misfortunes.

Amidst a number of princes who became her suitors, when in the full bloom of youth and beauty, with all the improvements of education adapted to her rank, the young Prince of Wolfenbuttel was distinguished above all his competitors. " The duke and duchess encouraged his addresses, as far as the princess their daughter did not check them. She seemed favourable to his declaration, and preparations had been already made for the ceremony of their nuptials. "The Elector of Hanover, likely to lose all future pros pect of succession to the duchy of Zell for his progeny by this union, thought of all possible means to prevent it ; but the progress which the Prince of Wolfenbuttel had already made, the contempt which the Electress Sophia had on all occasions manifested for the Duchess of Zell, and the reciprocal feuds of the two families, were obstacles that seemed insurmountable.

Princess Anne, afterwards wedded to George Prince of Denmark, was the object pointed out by the electress's ambition for the prince her son. The royal family of Great Britain, from which she herself had the honour to be descended, was an incitement to aspire to this alliance. With this design the elec toral prince actually made a visit to England, but he had the mortification to meet with scorn and an absolute denial. Such a disappointment, attended with humiliating cir cumstances, contributed not a little to reconcile the electress to the elector's project of marrying the hereditary Prince of Hanover to the heiress of Zell, and thereby uniting the two dominions under one sovereign. " Before the prince had made a voyage to England, the electress had expressed her aversion to this match ; but as she thought it consistent with the aggrandizement of her house, she took a sudden resolution to bring it about, desirous to preclude another person from the merit of the success.

None was better qualified for the management of a reconciliation than the electress; she was proud, yet condescending when necessary, eloquent, and skilled in the arts of courts : though she had treated the Duchess of Zell with slight and haughtiness, her first advances were received by the duke as a flattering mark of respect and condescension. She no sooner perceived the powerful impression this first overture had made on the duke, than she conceived the project of negotiating herself at the court of the duke this advantageous marriage. The effect she expected from her personal appearance, added to her insinuating manners, andthe surprise which this unexpected visit would occasion, engaged her to fix upon this journey without dropping the most distant hint of her intentions. At the close of a fine summer evening her highness set out for Zell, where she arrived early the next morning, before the duke and duchess were up.

Their astonishment is more easily imagined than described, on hearing the doors open without their command, and seeing the electress enter, without previous intimation, as she was the person in the world the least expected, and whom perhaps the duchess was the least desirous to see. " She did not keep the duke long in suspense on the motive of such a freedom unprecedented amongst princes ; she immediately unravelled to him the mystery of her nego ciation ; but as she knew the duchess did not understand German, she chose to converse in this language. " She made use of all the arguments that eloquence, craft, and policy could suggest ; her persuasions prevailed, and she obtained her suit. In less than two hours she undid what the Prince of Wolfenbuttel had been so long labouring to accomplish ; and before she quitted the room, she obtained a positive promise from the duke to bestow the Princess of Zell upon her son.

"It was a great' mortification to the duchess not to be trusted with the subject of this extraordinary visit, which she was not to know till after the business that occasioned it was concluded ; for though the duke kept nothing secret from her, the electress on the first opening of the conversation expressly insisted that the duchess should not be made acquainted with this agreement till after it was per formed. The curiosity of the duchess was still increased by the duke persisting in his refusal to gratify it ; and it was some time after the electress had retired to take some rest, that she was at last complimented by the duke as mother to the young Prince of Hanover. " She was thunderstruck at this piece of intelligence, and knew not what to reply. To give vent to the most poignant grief, she shut herself up in her cabinet ; for the slights put upon her by the house of Hanover could not so soon be obliterated from her incensed mind.

The strong prepossession she had in favour of the young Duke of Wolfenbuttel made her feel for his humiliation and disap pointment, as soon as he should be apprized of this cruel determination, but more so for the princess her daughter, who loved him. It seems as if the apprehensions of this connection were the presage of the misfortunes that after wards attended it. " Having endeavoured to compose herself, she returned to the duke, and entreated him, by the most urgent arguments, supported by the affection he bore to his darling child, to change his mind ; she dwelt upon the consequences of a breach of faith so insulting to a prince who had thought himself happy in his consent ; as she judged, from the visible contempt in which she herself had ever beeu held by the electress, of the dishonourable light she would consider an alliance which interest alone had prompted her to solicit.

" But all these powerful motives could not prevail on the duke to retract : neither the consciousness of his own indiscretion, nor his tender concern for the fate of a daughter ; neither the tears of his beloved consort, nor the vengeance of an offended prince, could make him alter his resolution. The desire of aggrandizing the house of Lunenburg absorbed all other thoughts, and the duchess, who had till that fatal interview experienced her ascendency, lost from that moment her influence, and never recovered it.1 The royal descent of the electress, added to a certain dignity of manner that rendered her respectable, flattered the duke's vanity ; and love, which, in his younger days, had triumphed over every other passion, now yielded to ambition. The electress took all necessary measures te accelerate the match.

She was sensible of the duchess's aversion to a match in which she had never been consulted, and she knew, likewise, the power of conjugal respect over a man accustomed tP indulge that sentiment. The moment the electress had obtained the duke's consent, she sent for her son. In the mean time she watched the duke so narrowly, and forwarded the marriage-articles with such ardour, that she gave him no time to reflect on the injustice done to the Prince of Wolfenbuttel, and the consequences of the violation of his promise. The Electoral Prince had contracted an intimacy with Henrietta of Mushenbruck, a lady more remarkable for wit and coquetry, than for the virtuous accomplishments which constitute the glory of the sex. He was, however, obliged to submit to the will of his father in an affair which was considered of great con cern to the state.

Like most princes, he rather yielded to policy in this contract, than followed the dictates of love. The young Prince of Hanover, whose heart was already pre-engaged, appeared at the court of Zell rather as a suitor to the duchy, than a lover to the princess, in whose right he was one day to enjoy it; but the address of the electress his mother supplied all that was wanting in gallantry on his side : the day for the nuptial ceremony was fixed upon, and celebrated with all the pomp the short ness of time would allow. " The princess looked upon herself as a state-victim ; and though she was seemingly resigned to paternal injunction, she testified by her sighs the emotions of her heart. As for the prince, he was naturally sullen, reserved haughty, and capricious : he was obliged to put on an affectation of joy and satisfaction, and though he gave his hand to his bride, his mistress preserved her empire over his affections.

The duke had perceived the youn°- prince's coolness and indifference, which caused him a secret dis pleasure ; but the duchess foresaw, with sorrow, the unhan piness of this inauspicious marriage. The electress was the only one who enjoyed the triumph of court-politicians, when success justifies measures. " In a few days after the solemnity was over, the elec tress and her son set out for Hanover with the bride, who could not conceal her grief and anxiety in parting from her parents. " The court of Hanover was then immersed in pleasures and gallantry ; a free intercourse between the sexes, and the politeness and splendour which distinguished the electoral residence as the centre of taste, made it resorted to by illustrious foreigners of the northern parts of Europe. The marriage of Ernest-Augustus to the Princess Pala tine, grand-daughter to James I. added a new lustre to the court, as feasts and entertainments, diversified with elegance and luxury, were the epocha of this alliance, which raised afterwards the progeny of Sophia to the Bri tish throne.

The young nobility of Zell, emulous to show their respect to the daughter and heiress of their beloved sovereign, went in a body to congratulate Christina at the court of the hereditary prince, on an event which promised a happy reconciliation between two houses who had looked upon each other as aliens. Count Konigsmark, a noble Dane, brave, gallant, and generous, appeared at their head. He had been brought up at the court of Zell, and lived from his infancy with the princess in that freedom and familiarity usual to children. Ever since Christina, pleased with his zeal and assiduity, had distinguished him from her noble attendants ; and Konigsmark never was more happy than when waiting upon the princess. The count had always considered her as the arbitress of his fate, and wished to continue at the electoral court, under the auspices of his beneficent patroness, to forward his designs of fortune and ambition.

His figure, sprightliness, and address, recommended him so effectually to the elector's attention, that he obtained a commission in the army, with appointments suitable to his rank. He paid his court VOL. II. D assiduously to Prince Charles, youngest son to the elector, who had the same propensity to pleasure and gallantry as himself. Konigsmark was soon admitted to the prince's select parties, with two or three favourite ladies ; none of the young noblemen who attended him had the same talent to enliven the conversation, and to vary the pleasures of those entertainments ; his ready wit, graceful carriage, ease, and dignity, pronounced him the best-bred man in Hano ver; and Prince Charles was so delighted in his company, that they became inseparable. This intimacy with Chris tina's brother-in law furnished the count with daily access to her highness, who was pleased to see the only nobleman who had followed her fortunes so highly honoured by her new relations.

She innocently dropped a gracious hint of her gratitude for his Zealand his attachment. Konigsmark was vain and presumptuous ; he forgot insensibly the distance at which he stood, and began to flatter himself that the princess had conceived for him sentiments more tender than bare esteem. He had observed the indifference of her consort, and flattered himself he might be instrumental in heightening her resentment into disgust ; and avail him self of a disposition that be thought favourable to his aspiring views. " He had experienced the ladies of the higher rank were swayed by the same passions which predominate in the lower class of women, and this illusion inspired him with pretensions which had proved his ruin, had the amiable and virtuous princess suspected he could harbour such an injurious and unjustifiable notion.

Men are too apt to give a wrong construction to female kindness, and to ascribe to sensual motives, the purity of friendship which flows from an unguarded and generous heart. The readiness Konigs mark had manifested on all occasions to receive and obey the commands of her highness, gave her the highest opinion of his fidelity, and she asked his counsel in a matter of too delicate a nature to be trusted to a young volatile courtier. " She could not silently brook with the insolence and haughtiness of the elector's mistress, who required more homage than his slighted consort : not satisfied with a secret triumph, that lady exulted in proportion as her ascendency over the prince was publicly known. Though the electress was not insensible of her repeated indignities, she prudently affected a total ignorance of her unworthy rival's uncontrolled power and manifest influence, and seemed rather pleased than offended at the extraordinary favours which continually flowed from the condescension of the sovereign she had subdued.

"Christina admired this excess as complaisance, which she could not imitate. She was acquainted with the be witching allurements of lascivious beauty, and all the arts of an unprincipled courtezan. Alike careless of the resent ment of the countess who captivated the father, and of her sister who acquired an absolute empire over the son, Christina took every occasion that offered to mortify the pride of these two reigning mistresses, holding these mi nions of vice in utter contempt, whilst she supported the dignity of unspotted virtue with becoming spirit. The princess being of a cheerful disposition, fond of mirth and raillery, Konigsmark, who had an equal tendency to indulge this dangerous talent, hit upon a subject which afforded frequent occasions of laughter and ridicule ; the airs and arrogance of court mistresses excited his satire.

If the princess's virtue was proof against scandal aud defama tion, her prudence was not sufficiently guarded against the attacks of malevolence. Surrounded by spies, the count's visits had been too often repeated to escape injurious sug gestions, which seldom fail;' to leave disadvantageous im pressions ; and though they had never been permitted without a witness, they had been observed with the most unfavourable construction of malice and unmerited severity. The Electoral Prince, who had kept up appearances witlfin the bounds of mere civility to his amiable consort, not only forsook her bed, but avoided her company, and for two whole months together never exchanged a word with her, nor allowed her the opportunity to inquire the cause of this cruel and undeserved treatment. At last, thinking her reputation and her duty were equally concerned in soliciting an explanation, she one day had the courage to surprise him in his closet alone, and, with the additional eloquence of her tears, entreated him to let her know the subject of her offence and his displeasure.

His stern look and angry tone accompanied this answer, ' I know your ' heart ; never presume to disturb me ;' and immediately withdrew. In vain she replied that her heart knew no other joy but that of pleasing him ; he left her without speaking another word, with all the exterior marks of rage and indignation, a prey to grief and anxiety. She immediately retired to her own apartment, where Madame de Molke waited to pay her court. The princess, in the first emotions of resentment, gave vent to her affliction, and declared the cause of it, though under the sacred seal of secrecy ; adding, as soon as she had recollected herself, that, as she regarded her peace of mind, not to let a word of this conversation transpire, that might still more exasperate the prince her husband. " Madame de Molke soon forgot her promise.

She sought a private interview with Konigsmark, in whom she knew the princess placed confidence, and revealed to him, under the same injunction of secrecy, all that the princess had entrusted to her, with some additional reflections on the prince's savage brutality. Konigsmark, fired with rage flew to the princess, and, forgetting his dependence declared he was ready to avenge her wrongs, and the last affront which the worthless prince had offered her. "He had scarce ended this daring and inflammatory speech, when Prince Charles entered the apartment, and surprised him in a violent agitation. The princess, amazed at his audacity and insinuation, the concealment of which must involve her in guilt, was at that critical instant deter mined to banish Konigsmark from her presence. The prince discovered her perplexity, when Christina, sum moning her fortitude, said she was deliberating how she could bring his brother to a due sense of her unfeigned love and respect for him ; that this very moment she was on the point of sending for his highness, to implore his mediation, as she could no longer bear the Electoral Prince's slight and displeasure : she added, that she had consulted Konigsmark on proper means of effecting a reconciliation.

" The prince promised his best services, and after a short conversation took his leave. Konigsmark was out of decency obliged to follow him. ' Count,' said the prince, as soon as they could speak without witnesses, ' you seem to be a distracted lover ; be ingenuous, make 'me your confidant, and if the sovereign of your affections 1 is flexible, trust to my skill.' Konigsmark replied, with some surprise, ' that he was a general admirer of the ' court beauties, but that no one in particular had yet fixed ' his heart.' The prince did not seem satisfied with this answer, and made him understand, that anything suspected is half discovered. • I shall watch your motions,' said he, 'and if I make some discovery, you cannot reproach me ' with perfidy, since you have not imparted to me an im 'portant secret.' The count protested his aversion to particular attachments, when the conversation was inter rupted by the approach of some officers who joined their company.

" The princess, unable to struggle longer against her inward grief, took to her bed, with all the symptoms of a dangerous disease, which in a few days was pronounced mortal by her physicians. " Bienseance obliged the elector and his consort to show some concern upon this occasion ; the electress seldom left her bedside as long as her life was in suspense, and behaved to her with all the exterior tenderness of a real mother, which the princess did not fail to acknowledge on her recovery, showing that she was as sensible of kind ness, as she was of disregard. " The prince her husband had visited her, but without manifesting the least sorrow for that harshness and severity to which the princess owed her dangerous malady. "Once she took hold of his hand as he sat upon her bedside, her eyes swimming with tears, ' I am dying, 'prince,' said she; 'your rigour has broke my heart; ' this I did not deserve : but your affections were pre ' engaged, and it was my fate to be sacrificed to an 'imperious rival.

If you cannot love, you may be just. 'Do me at least the justice to acknowledge that I do not ' suffer for my faults, but through the severity of my des ' tiny. Living or dying, you shall be ever dear to my 'inmost soul.' A fainting fit put an end to this moving speech, and delivered the prince from the embarrassment of a reply ; before she came to herself, he had, with great composure, called in the attendants, and quitted the room. "When she recovered, she looked round for a com forter, but the only object who could alleviate her pains had left to her women this difficult task. Her spirit and fortitude got at last the better of her sorrow ; and in a few days after, her physicians, who had before relinquished all hopes of her recovery, pronounced her out of danger. " She was far advanced in her pregnancy when these hard trials befel her, and so near her time, that before she had fully recovered her strength, she was brought to bed of a princess, the late Queen-Dowager of Prussia.

The recollection of her misfortunes was more than she could withstand ; she sunk into a deep and settled melan choly, which all possible care and attention could not remove. During this gloomy interval, she kept her cham ber, saw no company, scarce ever spoke or smiled to her attendants, and seemed to have lost all relish for life and its enjoyments. " The electress at last became sensible of her merit, and, touched with her misfortunes, prevailed, by her kind entreaties, on the distracted Christina to retire to Heren hausen, where the electress accompanied her. This princess, who loved Prince Charles beyond any of her other children, gained the elector's consent that he should be one of the party; and Prince Charles obtained leave for Konigsmark to accompany him. " The electress had a more delicate taste in her plea sures than is usually met with in the courts of Germany.

She had read the most elegant writers, conversed with the most polished persons of both sexes, and had derived from her excellent mother, the Princess Palatine, those graces and embellishments of high life, which the ladies alone can attain and practise. Without having recourse to fri volous amusements to divert the princess's melancholy, she gradually inspired her with the rational pleasures of a select society, where she found all the instruction and entertainment to be met with in a circle composed of persons distinguished by their sense, knowledge, and delicacy. " Some walks, ingeniously diversified, and rural amusements adapted to this enchanting spot, were equally con ducive to restore the princess imperceptibly to her wonted gayety. She had towards the close of the autumn the additional comfort of a visit from the Duke and Duchess of Zell, who were received in the most sumptuous manner at the electoral court.

"The Electoral Prince, on the recovery of his consort, and the arrival of her relations, gave a splendid ball, to which the nobility, foreign ministers, and persons of dis tinction of both sexes, were invited ; all of whom endeavoured to eclipse each other in dress and magnificence. Count Konigsmark, on this occasion, displayed his taste, and those graces which never fail to make the desired impression. " The elector's mistress, in particular, seemed charmed with the brilliant appearance and irresistible address of the count ; she discovered a flattering partiality for Ko nigsmark, which he did not fail to improve to his advan tage. He considered that the favour of her who governed the elector was no small acquisition ; and that whatever her views might be, he was sure to be the gainer by grati fying them.

" The princess's gay artless disposition ill suited the grave formal temper of the prince her husband ; and the forwardness of the favourite ladies gave a disgust to the Duke and Duchess of Zell ; so that those who were most interested in the conduct of this entertainment, were the least pleased with the effect it had produced. The princess had made no secret to her parents of the treatment she had met with from the prince her husband ; but, instead of showing a tender concern for her situation, they recommended prudence and submission. They suggested to her that the freedom and levity they had observed in her manners were not suitable to the dignity of her rank ■ and on pretence of business, hastened their departure. As soon as the visitants had taken leave, the prince resumed his usual coolness ; his visits to the princess were the mere effects of ceremony, not the dictates of affection ; and though the princess received him with civility, she could not embrace him with rapture !" The continuation of this narrative, Part II., is attri buted to the Countess Konigsmark, mistress to Augustus, King of Poland.

Part II

Extract from a scarce ivork, entitled ' Home Truths, 'or Memoirs of the Love and State Intrigues of the ' Court of Hanover, from the Marriage of the Princess 'of Zell, to the tragical Death of Count Konigsmark.' " IT happened one evening, whilst Count Konigsmark was at the Polish court, that both the king and his guests having drank away their modesty and discretion, a pro posal was made and acceptetl, for every man in turn to entertain the company with an account of his love intrigues, not omitting either names or circumstances, or whatever else might give a zest to the narration. But set the example, and few scruple to follow where monarchs lead the way. sb) "When, therefore, it came to the turn of Count Konigs mark, he first made his adventures with Madame de Plaa ten the subject of his comedy, which he set forth with all the wit aud humour of which he was master, and likewise as minutely as possible, not forgetting that after all that had passed between them, Madame de Plaaten had had the excessive goodness to make him an offer of her daughter : sc) neither did he stop here, for the wine having sb) This is indeed a ' home-truth ;' where a monarch's life is deeply tainted with vice, no limits can be assigned to its morally contagious influ ence.