266 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



history. His consort, Sophia, however, was a woman much praised 

 for her intellectual eminence.* From this union sprang Christian 

 IV., the idol of Danish history and the only sovereign who ranks at 

 all with the more able kings of other countries. There were six other 

 children, but Christian is the only one who has left a distinguished 

 record. Anna, the wife of Christian IV., descended from a compara- 

 tively obscure branch of the Brandenburg family, was a mild, sweet- 

 tempered, charitable princess,! Du t. not a conspicuous character in 

 contemporary records. Their son, Frederick III., 1609-70, was a 

 wise and shrewd sovereign, but of languid disposition. His temper 

 was amiable, and his reign popular. The brilliant, haughty and 

 vindictive Sophia Amelia was queen during this reign. It was she 

 who imprisoned the king's half sister for twenty-two years, because, 

 when trying on the crown, it is said, Eleonora Christian dropped it 

 and injured a very fine jewel. The same authority gives us the 

 anecdote that she ordered a noble executed, because he claimed she 

 would fall in love with him. The Brunswick stock from which she 

 came shows at this point no eminence of any kind; still we expect 

 some of her six children to have been mentally gifted. The next 

 generation gives us a rather mediocre showing, with Prince George, 

 husband of Queen Anne of England, almost a fool. Ulrica Elenora, 

 who married Charles XI. of Sweden and became the mother of the 

 remarkable Charles XII., was the only one among the six children 

 to represent the intellectual side of the family. 



Christian V. 1646-1699, the eldest son, courageous, enterprising 

 and chivalrous, was no ordinary man, but the strong tendency to ease 

 and pleasure and the weakness he showed in being governed by others 

 forbid us to give him a high rating for intellect when this is judged 

 by the standard of outward achievements. His marriage brought 

 in no mental uplifting, since the Queen Charlotte Amelia was from 

 an 'obscure' region in the family of Hesse Cassel. Neither in the 

 next generation (Frederick IV.) or the two following this (Christian 

 VI. and Frederick V.) do we find any noteworthy mental variations. 

 In all these generations a study of the chart will show the stock good 

 but far from illustrious. 



We now come to a very interesting anomaly in Christian VII., 

 the only son of Frederick V. by his first wife Louisa, daughter of 

 George II. of England. Among all modern royalty there is scarcely 

 a feebler specimen of the human race than this poor little, half-mad, 

 debauchee king. His type of mind was so purile and his self-restraint 

 so weak that it seems only charity to consider him among the irre- 

 sponsibles. From L. Wraxall and Walpole an idea may be obtained 



* Allen, ' Hist, de Dannemark,' II., 29. 



t L. Flamancl, ' Danmarke Dronninger,' 1848, pp. 11, 12. 



