Dorothea, and who lost his life on the battle-field of Philipsburg.

This young man was not rich, but he was handsome, and his position and character were excellent. He owned a small estate, sufficient to insure the comfort of himself and wife as soon as he could find one whom he could fancy, and who would accept him. His choice fell on his cousin, Sophia Dorothea, and he had an eye, too, to her dower, which, though not large, would help to maintain his princely state. So he wooed her, and soon won her heart. But the course of true-love did not run smooth, for the Duke of Zell objected to the match, which of course only served to increase the passion of the lovers. To be sure Sophia Dorothea was a dutiful daughter, and would have yielded to her father's objections had they been reasonable; but he was forced to admit that the lovers were well-suited to each other, and only opposed their marriage because, like many Germans of his day, he was absurdly superstitious. It seemed to him a sacrilege for his daughter to wed the brother of her dead lover, and he did not see how anything but bad luck could result from such a step. So the young girl begged her mother to intercede for her, and the worthy lady proved such a powerful mediator that her husband's consent was finally won.

A.D. 1682. Even then matters were by no means settled to the satisfaction of the lovers, for Madame von Platen had something to say on the subject. Several times had this female prime minister consulted with Ernest Augustus as to the most advisable manner of disposing of the hand of his son, George Louis, in marriage, providing the proper person could be found. In an evil hour for Sophia Dorothea, the worthy pair decided that greater importance would accrue to the electorate of Hanover by the acquisition of the broad acres of Zell. That was enough; for with Madame von Platen to desire was to have, and no obstacle could stand in the way of anything she had set her heart on. Sophia Dorothea was engaged certainly, but that made no difference; everything, hearts, hopes, happiness, must give way to political ambition. So a regular plot was laid to destroy the bond that existed between Augustus William and his lady-love.

Let us take a look at the young man who was to be substituted for the handsome, noble, brilliant, and fondly loved Augustus William of Wolfenbuttel. At the time of which

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we speak, George Louis was twenty-two years of age, undersized, coarse-minded, ungentlemanly, and mean-spirited. He was good-natured, to be sure; and, like all the princes of the House of Brunswick, he was brave on the battle-field, but he had no sympathy with suffering and sorrow, and none of the qualities that are apt to attract a young girl.

He was in England when the powers at Hanover decided to marry him to poor, innocent little Sophia Dorothea, and as ignorant of the plot as she was. On his way thither he had visited William of Orange, to whom he confided the object of his journey. This was to offer his hand and heart to Princess Anne, and it is easy to believe what is generally suspected: that William himself encouraged Madame Von Platen in the intrigues that recalled George Louis and brought about the marriage that caused so much misery. The reason why it is probable that William of Orange would endeavor to prevent a union between George Louis and Princess Anne is, that although his wife was heiress presumptive to the throne, in the event of her death, which, as we know, occurred before his, he would not have been permitted to govern alone had the House of Brunswick been so powerfully represented in England, and to avoid complications, he preferred to have George Louis safely married and settled out of the way.

Meanwhile, with the firm conviction that in William of Orange he had a friend ready to further his cause, George of Hanover arrived in England, and was received as befitted his rank by Charles II., and entertained at Whitehall Palace, where apartments had been prepared for him. Then he was introduced to the Princess Anne; but it is not probable that he made a very favorable impression on her, for she afterwards married Prince George of Denmark, with whom she lived happily until the day of his death. It is certain, however, that George Louis had some hopes of success with Anne, for when he was suddenly and most unexpectedly recalled home, he was dreadfully perplexed. Nevertheless, he obeyed the summons of his royal father without suspecting the cause of it. He must have been somewhat astonished when it was announced to him that he was to transfer his ideas of matrimony from one object to another.

Having made up his mind that an alliance with the House of Zell would be advantageous to that of Hanover, Ernest Augustus found no difficulty in persuading his brother to postpone the marriage of his daughter, Sophia Dorothea, with Augustus of Wôlfenbuttel on the score of her youth, as she was only fifteen years of age, he argued, and too young to become a wife. Anxious as he was to retain possession of his child for another year, the Duke of Zell was only too willing to listen to any argument that would accomplish that object, so he consented to a betrothal only, and postponed the marriage for a year. What reasoning he employed to make the young lovers agree to this arrangement, is not known; but Augustus went off evidently satisfied that the prize he was to get was worth waiting for, and with no suspicion that treachery would deprive him of his lady love.

No sooner was he well out of the way, than Ernest Augustus, Madame Von Platen, and others busied themselves in endeavoring to bring their plot to a climax. Months rolled by, Sophia Dorothea celebrated her sixteenth birthday; George Louis visited her from time to time, but he had made no impression whatever on the young girl, and the series of intrigues concocted by the old heads for the ruin of young hearts would have been utterly worthless had it not been for the active and efficient zeal of one person, who, just when failure seemed imminent, stepped in to prove the worth of her energy and power. That person was Sophia, mother to George Louis, a crafty, designing woman, ambitious as any of her family, who, having seen the advantage to be derived from the marriage of her son with her niece Sophia Dorothea, was determined that it should take place.

She had heard rumors of an engagement with Augustus of Wôlfenbuttel; but that was a matter of small consideration in her eyes, and so long as no marriage had taken place, it was not too late for her son to supplant the favored lover. The great, heavy family coach was therefore ordered to be put in readiness for a journey of about thirty miles, which an ordinary railway train of to-day would make in an hour. But two centuries ago travelling was a more serious matter, and it took the duchess all night to reach the ducal palace of Zell.

The sleepy sentinel was astonished when the lady pushed past him, and, totally regardless of anything like ceremony, breathlessly requested the servants she met in the hall to conduct her at once to the duke. She was told that he was dressing, but would soon come down stairs to see her if she would have the goodness to wait in a' reception-room.

But the lady was too impatient to lose a moment, so mounted the stairs, and bade the groom of the bed-chamber to point out the