Judged by this test, these letters will reveal themselves as absolutely genuine, and further examination will show that they contain internal evidence of their authenticity. Let us briefly glance at this also. For our present purpose the correspondence may be divided into:— 1. Königsmarck’s letters to the Princess prior to the campaign in Flanders of 1692 (July, 1691, to June, 1692). 2. The Princess and Königsmarck’s letters to one another during the campaign in Flanders and until the granting of the Hanoverian Electorate (June to December, 1692). 3. The Princess and Königsmarck’s letters to one another, when she was at Brockhausen and Celle with her parents, and he at Hanover (June to July, 1693). 4. Königsmarck’s letters to the Princess when he was campaigning against the Danes and after his return to Hanover (August to December, 1693). This is merely a rough classification, but it will serve. The times were stirring in the courts of Hanover and Celle, and indeed in all Europe, because of the war of the great Alliance against Louis XIV. Königsmarck served with the allied armies in the campaign in Flanders of 1692, as colonel of a Hanoverian regiment, and the following year he served as colonel of a regiment of the troops of Hanover and Celle in the abortive campaign of the Brunswick-Lüneburg princes against the Danes on the banks of the Elbe. Many of his letters to the Princess were written when on active military service; and though one does not look to love-letters for news, it is only to be expected there should be some allusion to current events. We find in Königsmarck’s letters from Flanders mention of William of Orange, Prince George Louis, the Elector of Bavaria, Duke Frederick Augustus of Saxony (afterwards the Elector Augustus the Strong), and other exalted personages who were with the allied armies at that time; also of certain events in the campaign, such as the battle of Steinkirk, the attempted siege of Charleroy, and so forth. In the same way, the following year, during the campaign against the Danes, allusion is made to the burning of Ratzeburg and the negotiations between the Danes and the Brunswick-Lüneburg princes. The same may be said of the Hanoverian intrigues for obtaining the electorate. If these mentions of well-known persons and events were in any way incorrect, it would afford, of course, strong presumption against the genuineness of the letters; but they are quite accurate. Moreover, the allusions are made evidently without design, and arise naturally and casually in the course of the correspondence as things known, not only to the writer, but for the most part to the person to whom he is writing.