Memoirs of Count Grammont | Page 5

that he acts as Grammont's
secretary, and only holds the pen, whilst the Count dictates to him such
particulars of his life as were the most singular, and least known. This
is said with great modesty, and, as to part of the work, perhaps with
great truth: it requires, however, some explanation. Grammont was
more than twenty years older than Hamilton; consequently, the earlier
part of his life could only have been known, or was best known, to the
latter from repeated conversations, and the long intimacy which
subsisted between them. Whether Grammont formally dictated the
events of his younger days, or not, is of little consequence from his
general character, it is probable that he did not. However, the whole
account of such adventures as he was engaged in, from his leaving
home to his interview with Cardinal Mazarin (excepting the character
of Monsieur de Senantes, and Matta, who was well known to
Hamilton), the relation of the siege of Lerida, the description of
Gregorio Brice, and the inimitable discovery of his own magnificent
suit of clothes on the ridiculous bridegroom at Abbeville; all such
particulars must have been again and again repeated to Hamilton by
Grammont, and may therefore be fairly grounded on the count's
authority. The characters of the court of Charles II., and its history, are
to be ascribed to Hamilton: from his residence, at various times, in the
court of London, his connection with the Ormond family, not to
mention others, he must have been well acquainted with them. Lady

Chesterfield, who may be regarded almost as the heroine of the work,
was his cousin-german.
[She was born at the castle of Kilkenny, July, 1640, as appears from
Carte's life of her father, the Duke of Ormond.]
But, although the history altogether was written by Hamilton, it may
not perhaps be known to every reader that Grammont himself sold the
manuscript for fifteen hundred livres; and when it was brought to
Fontenelle, then censor of the press, he refused to license it, from
respect to the character of the Count, which, he thought, was
represented as that of a gambler, and an unprincipled one too. In fact,
Grammont, like many an old gentleman, seems to have recollected the
gaieties of his youth with more complaisance than was necessary, and
has drawn them in pretty strong colours in that part of the work which
is more particularly his own. He laughed at poor Fontenelle's scruples,
and complained to the chancellor, who forced the censor to acquiesce:
the license was granted, and the Count put the whole of the money, or
the best part of it, in his pocket, though he acknowledged the work to
be Hamilton's. This is exactly correspondent to his general character:
when money was his object, he had little, or rather no delicacy.
The History of Grammont may be considered as unique there is nothing
like it in any language. For drollery, knowledge of the world, various
satire, general utility, united with great vivacity of composition, Gil
Blas is unrivalled: but, as a merely agreeable book, the Memoirs of
Grammont perhaps deserve that character more than any which was
ever written: it is pleasantry throughout, pleasantry of the best sort,
unforced, graceful, and engaging. Some French critic has justly
observed, that, if any book were to be selected as affording the truest
specimen of perfect French gaiety, the Memoirs of Grammont would be
selected in preference to all others. This has a Frenchman said of the
work of a foreigner: but that foreigner possessed much genius, had
lived from his youth, not only in the best society of France, but with the
most singular and agreeable man that France could produce. Still,
however, though Grammont and Hamilton were of dispositions very
different, the latter must have possessed talents peculiarly brilliant, and

admirably adapted to coincide with, and display those of his
brother-in-law to the utmost advantage. Gibbon extols the "ease and
purity of Hamilton's inimitable style;" and in this he is supported by
Voltaire, although he adds the censure, that the Grammont Memoirs are,
in point of materials, the most trifling; he might also in truth have said,
the most improper. The manners of the court of Charles II. were, to the
utmost, profligate and abandoned: yet in what colours have they been
drawn by Hamilton? The elegance of his pencil has rendered them
more seductive and dangerous, than if it had more faithfully copied the
originals. From such a mingled mass of grossness of language, and of
conduct, one would have turned away with disgust and abhorrence; but
Hamilton was, to use the words of his admirer, Lord Orford, "superior
to the indelicacy of the court," whose vices he has so agreeably
depicted; and that superiority has sheltered such vices from more than
half