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 peculiar
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