It is true that, even admitting the worst, of which there was no positive proof, the young Queen of Denmark was only imitating the conduct of the Empress Catherine of Russia and her predecessors, the Empresses Ann and Elizabeth. But Russia was a more barbarous country than Denmark, and the priests of the Eastern Church took a more tolerant view of breaches of the seventh commandment than the puritanical clergy of Denmark. Moreover, Catherine conducted her amours with more discretion than Matilda; her conduct in public was a model of decorum, however shameless it might be in private; she was careful always to conciliate the clergy, to respect the rights and privileges of the national Church, and to be regular in her attendance at public worship. But Matilda, urged by Struensee, had attacked the rights of the established Church, and had needlessly shocked the conventions. And whereas the favourites of the Empress of Russia were puppets in her hands, the Queen of Denmark was a puppet in the hands of her favourite. [Illustration: TWO RELICS OF QUEEN MATILDA IN THE ROSENBORG CASTLE, COPENHAGEN. (1) THE INSIGNIA OF THE ORDER OF MATILDA; (2) THE WEDDING GOBLET.] It must be repeated that much would have been forgiven the young and beautiful Queen had her favourite been other than he was--had he been a Dane of good birth, who respected the proprieties sufficiently to keep himself in the background. Had the young Queen been first, and her favourite second, she might have gathered as much power in her hands as she would, and have aroused little opposition except at the court of the Queen-Dowager, and those whose interests she attacked. She would certainly have reigned still in the hearts of the people, who were willing to make great allowance because of her wrongs. But when her favourite was a German, an upstart, who flaunted his power over the Queen in the face of the public, and made her do a hundred things which were not in keeping with her rank as a queen, or her dignity as a woman, when every one knew that it was he who dictated the new policy of the King, and used the Queen as a buffer between him and the popular indignation, when he attacked the national institutions and flouted the national sentiment at every turn--it is no wonder that a cry of indignation went up, not only against the minister, but also against the Queen.