At first sight this is difficult, for the daily life of these little German courts is not a matter of history, and the ordinary historical records shed little light upon it. Fortunately I found in the State Paper Office, in London, the despatches and entry book of Sir William Dutton Colt, sometime English envoy at Hanover, which furnish exactly what we want—independent and authoritative documents with which we may test the accuracy of many of the minute events mentioned in these letters. Colt was envoy to the princes of Brunswick from 1689 to 1693; his entry book covers the period from July, 1689, to December, 1692, so that the period of eighteen months only is coincident with the letters, which do not begin until July, 1691. Early in January, 1693, he went to Dresden, and afterwards was but little at Hanover or Celle, so further evidence is lacking. But there is enough for our purpose. In Colt’s entry book we have a record, week by week, almost day by day, of the courts of Hanover and Celle; it is wholly made up of copies of his despatches to the English Government. At his death the book, with other official documents, was sent to London, and has since been preserved in the archives. It was, of course, never seen by any one in Hanover outside the English Legation, and it has only been open to the public in England since the Home Office and Foreign Office papers of that period were removed to the State Paper Office. It is scarcely necessary, therefore, to say that between this official record and the correspondence now at Lund there could have been no possible collusion. By no possibility could the writers of these letters have seen Colt’s despatches. Where coincidences arise they are absolutely undesigned, and the points of agreement are those which necessarily occur when truthful and independent records touch on the same incidents. Colt’s despatches are a record of facts and events; the love-letters of Sophie Dorothea and Königsmarck are love-letters first of all, and where mention is made of persons and events, it is made incidentally and secondarily. Nevertheless, many coincidences occur and afford strong corroboration of the genuineness of the letters. I have noted them in more detail in the correspondence itself. Here it will suffice to quote a few in illustration of my meaning:— _The Letters._ _Colt’s Despatches._ On and after June 20, 1692, the “The Duke of Celle is now at Princess dates her letters from Brockhausen.”—Colt’s _Despatch_, Brockhausen, showing that her June 17, 1692. parents, with whom she was staying, had moved thither from Celle.