And unforgiving, unforgiven dies! cried Chesterfield with bitter sarcasm, while Pope with more subtle irony wrote:-- Hang the sad verse on Carolina’s urn, And hail her passage to the realms of rest. All parts perform’d, and _all her children blest_! But these outbursts were overwhelmed in the spontaneous tribute of affection and respect paid to the dead Queen on all sides. Her loss was felt to be a national calamity. “The Lord hath taken away His anointed with a stroke,” cried a preacher, “the breath of our nostrils is taken away. The great princess is no more under whose shadow we said we should be safe, and promised ourselves lasting peace--she, whom future generations will know as Caroline the Illustrious.”[133] And indeed the Queen’s pre-eminent qualities fit her for no lesser epithet. Caroline’s character was formed on bold and generous lines, and her defects only served to bring into stronger relief the purity of her life, the loftiness of her motives and the excellence of her wisdom. She was a good hater but a true friend, patient under suffering, strong in adversity, fond of power, yet using it always for the good of others. In the words which Frederick the Great applied to her early mentor the Queen of Prussia, “She had a great soul”. FOOTNOTES TO BOOK III, CHAPTER XVI: [130] _The Gentleman’s Magazine_, 17th December, 1737. [131] This same anthem was sung at the memorial service in Westminster Abbey for Queen Victoria. [132] The large stone sarcophagus which contains the remains of George the Second and Queen Caroline stands in the middle of a vault below Henry the Seventh’s chapel in Westminster Abbey. This vault was used only for the family of George the Second. But many years after it was opened to admit the coffin of a child of the Duke of Cumberland. In 1837, when the duke became King of Hanover, he decided to remove this coffin to Hanover, and the vault was again opened. The two sides that were withdrawn from George the Second’s and Queen Caroline’s coffin respectively, were then seen, standing against the wall at the back of their sarcophagus. [133] Sermon preached on the death of Queen Caroline by the Rev. Dr. Crowe, chaplain in ordinary to his Majesty, and Rector of St. Botolph’s, Bishopsgate. THE END. APPENDIX. A LIST OF AUTHORITIES. UNPUBLISHED MSS. The despatches of George Louis, Elector of Hanover, to Privy Councillor von Eltz, and the replies thereto, 1705. Preserved in the Royal Archives, Hanover. The despatches of Poley, sometime English Envoy at the Court of Hanover, 1705. State Paper Office, London. The despatches of Howe (who succeeded Poley as English Envoy at Hanover), 1706–7. State Paper Office, London. The despatches of D’Alais (who succeeded Howe as English Envoy at Hanover), 1714. State Paper Office.