Page:The Queens of England.djvu/561

 acquirements of those she addressed. At her toilette "learned men and divines were intermixed with courtiers and ladies of the household, and the conversation turned on metaphysical subjects, blended with repartees and sallies of mirth, and the tittle-tattle of a drawing room." She corresponded with Leibnitz, and delighted in abstract science, about which and theology she and Mrs. Clayton, it is said, "puzzled" themselves.

Caroline was the friend and patroness of many celebrated divines and men of learning. Sir Walter Scott has invested her with an immortal interest by his celebrated introduction of Jenny Deans to her as a supplicant for the life of her sister. Her intercession saved the life of the unfortunate Richard Savage, when condemned to death for the life he took in a tavern brawl; and she settled an annuity of fifty pounds upon him, which, however, was withdrawn after her death.

This closing scene took place on the 20th of November, 1737. The queen had suffered for years from a painful and dangerous disease, unwisely concealing her calamity from her physicians, who, had they known the truth, might have alleviated her anguish. It is difficult to reconcile with her general behavior her refusal to see Frederick, Prince of Wales, on her death-bed. In his youth she had shielded him on many occasions from the anger of his father ; and in later years it is remarkable that, while his letters to the king were full of all the deferential expressions due to majesty, those to the queen abounded in the simpler words "madame" and "vous"—a familiarity that seems to tell of freedom and affection between them rather than of want of respect. Nevertheless, she refused him admission on that last awful occasion, though she sent him her blessing and forgiveness. Perhaps the mind of the poor queen — helpless and suffering in the last dread hour as the meanest of her subjects — wandered in its judgment. Certain it is, also, that she died without receiving the last sacrament. Whether confused by her controversial readings, she hesitated, or whether Archbishop Potter desired her personal reconciliation with the prince her son, is not known; but the prelate had a wily answer ready to meet all questioners. When a crowd eagerly asked, "Has the queen communicated?" he replied, evading a direct denial, "Her majesty is in a most heavenly disposition!"