About this time (1684) there were great festivities at the court of Hanover, for the Duchess Sophia’s matchmaking proclivities bore fruit in the marriage of her only daughter, Sophia Charlotte, to the Elector of Brandenburg, who later became first King of Prussia. True, the Elector was eleven years older than his bride and a widower, but the Duchess Sophia did not consider her daughter’s inclinations in such a matter as her marriage, especially one so advantageous as this. Sophia Charlotte was the young lady of whom her mother said, when sounded on the subject, “that she was of no religion as yet,” and by this marriage her faith was finally settled on the Protestant side. The Electress of Brandenburg seems to have justified this up-bringing, for she was a sprightly princess of extremely liberal and advanced views. She had inherited her mother’s abilities and also her dislike for Sophie Dorothea. There was never any love lost between them, so the Princess was glad when the Electress of Brandenburg took her departure from Hanover to Berlin, where she afterwards reigned as the first Queen of Prussia. CHAPTER VII. THE POWER OF COUNTESS PLATEN. (1684-1688.) Trust not the treason of those smiling looks Until ye have their guileful brains well tried, For they are like unto the golden hooks That from the foolish fish their baits do hide. ED. SPENSER. Shortly after the marriage of his daughter to the Elector of Brandenburg, the Duke of Hanover gave himself a holiday from the cares of state and made another journey to his beloved Italy, where he stayed this time nearly two years. He travelled with much magnificence and a large suite, including the indispensable Madame Platen—and her husband by way of keeping up appearances. Ernest Augustus made his headquarters at Venice, where he maintained considerable state, which he was now well able to do with the aid of Sophie Dorothea’s dowry. Madame Platen was the great lady of this miniature court, and no doubt Ernest Augustus often regaled her with tales of the merry days which he and George William had spent in the city of the Doges. Brilliant festivities, some of which cost seven or eight thousand thalers, and a princely liberality, endeared him to the hearts of the nobility and people, and consoled the Venetians for the large subsidies they paid for the two thousand four hundred Hanoverian soldiers Ernest Augustus sold them by agreement in 1684. The Duke of Hanover was shrewd even in his pleasures, and was always ready to do a good stroke of business when the opportunity came his way. He had not much to sell except his soldiers, but they were good fighting men, and fetched a high price in the market,—he sold them like cattle in herds, and squandered the blood-money on his Platens and extravagant living.