Note 21 — Chapter V · THE SACRIFICE. (1682.)

I have been taken to task by eminent critics for accepting, on the authority of the Roman Octavia, the night journey of the Duchess Sophia to Celle, and the discomfiture of Duke Antony Ulrich and his son. But I would in all humility point out that the Roman Octavia was written by Duke Antony Ulrich himself, and published within the life-time of nearly all the parties concerned. Though the form in which it is written, a dramatic dialogue with the personages disguised under fictitious names, precludes absolute accuracy, yet it is generally admitted that the narrative closely followed in many respects what actually happened. The Duchess Sophia read the Roman Octavia when it appeared, but we do not find any record that she contradicted Antony Ulrich’s version of the part she played in bringing about the marriage. The Duchess of Orleans, writing to her aunt of Antony Ulrich’s book, says: “In all matters his truth is mixed with a modicum of lies,” and she proceeds to criticise it in detail, but she says nothing about this incident. If it were untrue we should expect to find Sophia denouncing it with her customary vigour; but she was probably ashamed of the part she had played and so passed it by in silence, tacitly admitting its truth. Dr. Köcher has clearly shown that negotiations for the marriage had been going on between the two courts for years more or less definitely, but I do not see that this affects the truth of Antony Ulrich’s version of the action which Sophia took at the last.