Memoirs of Count Grammont | Page 8

the French princes and nobles in the prosecution of
his vengeance; he discovered and dissipated all their secret cabals and
conspiracies. His sovereign himself he held in subjection, while he
exalted the throne. The people, while they lost their liberties, acquired,
by means of his administration, learning, order, discipline, and
renown."]
great men commanded little armies, and little armies did great things;
the fortune of great men depended solely upon ministerial favour, and
blind devotion to the will of the minister was the only sure method of
advancement. Vast designs were then laying in the heart of

neighbouring states the foundation of that formidable greatness to
which France has now risen: the police was somewhat neglected; the
highways were impassable by day, and the streets by night; but
robberies were committed elsewhere with greater impunity. Young men,
on their first entrance into the world, took what course they thought
proper. Whoever would, was a chevalier, and whoever could, an abbe: I
mean a beneficed abbe: dress made no distinction between them; and I
believe the Chevalier Grammont was both the one and the other at the
siege of Trino.--[Trino was taken 4th May, 1639.]--This was his first
campaign, and here he displayed those attractive graces which so
favourably prepossess, and require neither friends nor
recommendations in any company to procure a favourable reception.
The siege was already formed when he arrived, which saved him some
needless risks; for a volunteer cannot rest at ease until he has stood the
first fire: he went therefore to reconnoitre the generals, having no
occasion to reconnoitre the place. Prince Thomas commanded the army;
and as the post of lieutenant-general was not then known, Du Plessis
Pralin and the famous Viscount Turenne were his majors general.
Fortified places were treated with some respect, before a power which
nothing can withstand had found means to destroy them by dreadful
showers of bombs, and by destructive batteries of hundreds of pieces of
cannon. Before these furious storms which drive governors
underground and reduce their garrisons to powder, repeated sallies
bravely repulsed, and vigorous attacks nobly sustained, signalized both
the art of the besiegers and the courage of the besieged; consequently,
sieges were of some length, and young men had an opportunity of
gaining some knowledge. Many brave actions were performed on each
side during the siege of Trino; a great deal of fatigue was endured, and
considerable losses sustained; but fatigue was no more considered,
hardships were no more felt in the trenches, gravity was at an end with
the generals, and the troops were no longer dispirited after the arrival of
the Chevalier Grammont. Pleasure was his pursuit, and he made it
universal.
Among the officers in the army, as in all other places, there are men of
real merit, or pretenders to it. The latter endeavoured to imitate the
Chevalier Grammont in his most shining qualities, but without success;

the former admired his talents and courted his friendship. Of this
number was Matta:
[Matta, or Matha, of whom Hamilton has drawn so striking a picture, is
said to have been of the house of Bourdeille, which had the honour to
produce Brautome and Montresor. The combination of indolence and
talent, of wit and simplicity, of bluntness and irony, with which he is
represented, may have been derived from tradition, but could only have
been united into the inimitable whole by the pen of Hamilton. Several
of his bons-mots have been preserved; but the spirit evaporates in
translation. "Where could I get this nose," said Madame D'Albret,
observing a slight tendency to a flush in that feature. "At the side board,
Madame," answered Matta. When the same lady, in despair at her
brother's death, refused all nourishment, Matta administered this blunt
consolation: "If you are resolved, madame, never again to swallow food,
you do well; but if ever you mean to eat upon any future occasion,
believe me, you may as well begin just now." Madame Caylus, in her
Souvenirs, commemorates the simple and natural humour of Matta as
rendering him the most delightful society in the world. Mademoiselle,
in her Memoirs, alludes to his pleasantry in conversation, and turn for
deep gaming. When the Memoirs of Grammont were subjected to the
examination of Fontenelle, then censor of the Parisian press, he refused
to license them, or account of the scandalous conduct imputed to
Grammont in this party at quinze. The count no sooner heard of this
than he hastened to Fontenelle, and having joked him for being more
tender of his reputation than he was himself, the license was instantly
issued. The censor might have retorted upon Grammont the answer
which the count made to a widow who received coldly his compliments
of condolence on her husband's death: "Nay, madame, if that is the way
you