Such was the end of a man whose miserable story is indubitably one of the most romantic episodes of his century; and it only required a Danish Walter Scott, in order to make of it an historical romance of the first class. For such a work the matter is fully sufficient. But for the same reason all efforts must fail to convert Struensee into the hero of a tragedy. Many poets, some of them in the first flight, have undertaken this ungrateful task, but have not attained any success worth mentioning. The reason can easily be found. Struensee was no hero; not even an original: he possessed no distinct character, but was merely a type of his age, and in spite of his undeniable talents, he was an ordinary adventurer after all. Fortune is as much the touchstone of minds as misfortune is. It subjected this man to a trial, and he came out of it badly. Arrogant and unbridled in fortune, he proved himself in misfortune despondent, cowardly, and even worthless. The fortune which he at first did not turn to a bad use, brought a king's sceptre into his hand, and he allowed it to be shamefully torn from him by people far inferior to him in intellect. A queen, young and beautiful as a May morning, supported him, and he betrayed her. He had felt a pride in being an avowed free-thinker, and he died with wailing and gnashing of teeth, as a penitent sinner. No, he was not a tragic hero. Even the genius of a Shakspere would have failed in rendering him one. It is a fact worthy of attention that Struensee possessed none of the qualities which generally presuppose success at court. He was not an amiable man, in the conventional sense of the term. The English envoy, Gunning, who was not ill-disposed toward him, expressly stated, in a despatch of April, 1770, that Struensee did not at all display in his conversation the liveliness and pleasantry by which other men pave the way to fortune. "His mode of behaving and expressing himself is dry and even unpleasant, so that it was a subject of general surprise how he contrived to acquire such unbounded influence over the king and queen." Further, the envoy allows the favourite "no inconsiderable acquirements," but denies him all statesman-like ability and political tact. At the same time he was deficient in sufficient insight into Danish affairs. He was tolerably free from vanity, but not from an immoderate self-confidence, which not unfrequently degenerated into "impudence." The envoy, however, supplies us with the key to the enigma of Struensee's sudden elevation, when he mentions that he was "bold and enterprising," and such a man is sure to make his way among women.[24]