pride in being father of such a brave and comely youth, at which my Lady
Castlemaine was both wrathful and jealous, fearing he would avert the
royal favour from her own offspring; but these feelings she afterwards
overcame, as will be duly shown. His majesty speedily showered honours
upon him, allotted him a suite of apartments in the royal palace of
Whitehall, appointed him a retinue befitting the heir apparent, created
him Duke of Orkney and of Monmouth, and installed him a knight of the
garter.

But, before this had been accomplished, there arrived in town some
personages whose names it will be necessary to mention here, the figure
they made at court being considerable. These were Sir George Hamilton
and his family, and Philibert, Chevalier de Grammont. Sir George was
fourth son of James, Earl of Abercorn, and of Mary, sister to James,
first Duke of Ormond. Sir George had proved himself a loyal man and
a brave during the late civil war, and had on the murder of his royal
master sought safety in France, from which country he, in the second
year of the restoration, returned, accompanied by a large family; the
women of which were fair, the men fearless. The Hamiltons being close
kin to the Ormond great intimacy existed between them; to facilitate
which they lived not far apart--the duke residing in Ormond Yard, St.
James's Square, and the Hamiltons occupying a spacious residence in King
Street. James Hamilton, Sir George's eldest son, was remarkable for the
symmetry of his figure, elegance of his manner, and costliness of
his dress. Moreover, he possessed a taste shaped to pleasure, and a
disposition inclined to gallantry, which commended him so strongly to
the king's favour, that he was made groom of the bedchamber and colonel
of a regiment.

His brother George was scarcely less handsome in appearance or less
agreeable in manner. Another brother, Anthony, best remembered as the
writer of Grammont's memoirs, was likewise liberally endowed by nature.
Elizabeth, commonly called "la belle Hamilton," shared in the largest
degree the hereditary gifts of grace and beauty pertaining to this
distinguished family. At her introduction to the court of Charles II.
she was in the bloom of youth and zenith of loveliness. The portrait
of her which her brother Anthony has set before the world for its
admiration is delicate in its colours, and finished in its details. "Her
forehead," he writes, "was open, white, and smooth; her hair wa