The adoption of this riding-habit greatly tended to lessen the Queen's popularity, while her intimacy with Struensee before long caused it to disappear altogether. The staider and more respectable portion of the community were ready to believe any evil of a woman who went out riding like a man, and the clergy in particular were horrified; but acting on Struensee's advice, the Queen never troubled to conciliate the clergy. This was a great mistake in a puritanical country like Denmark, where the Church had great power, if not in the immediate circle of the court, at least among the upper and middle classes. Even the semi-barbarous Danish nobility were disgusted. That the young and beautiful Queen should have a favourite was perhaps, under the circumstances, only to be expected; if he had been one of their own order, the weakness would have been excused. But that she should stoop to a man of _bourgeois_ origin, a mere doctor, who was regarded by the haughty nobles as little above the level of a menial, was a thing which admitted of no palliation.[123] But the Queen, blinded by her passion, was indifferent to praise or blame, and Struensee took a delight in demonstrating his power over her under their very eyes. It was the favourite's mean revenge for the insults he had suffered from these nobles. [123] Even Frederick the Great (who was very broad-minded) wrote: "L'acces que le médecin eut à la cour lui fit gagner imperceptiblement plus d'ascendant sur l'esprit de la reine qu'il n'etoit convenable à un homme de cette extraction". [Illustration: QUEEN SOPHIA MAGDALENA, GRANDMOTHER OF CHRISTIAN VII.]