was
extremely flattering to Grammont; and the result was, that he very much
wished to have his life, or part of it, at least, given to the public.
Hamilton, who had been so long connected with him, and with whose
agreeable talents he was now so familiarized, was, on every account,
singled out by him as the person who could best introduce him
historically to the public. It is ridiculous to mention Grammont as the
author of his own Memoirs: his excellence, as a man of wit, was entirely
limited to conversation. Bussy Rabutin, who knew him perfectly, states
that he wrote almost worse than any one. If this was said, and very
truly, of him in his early days, it can hardly be imagined that he would,
when between eighty and ninety years of age, commence a regular, and,
in point of style, most finished composition. Besides, independent of
everything else, what man would so outrage all decorum as to call himself
the admiration of the age? for so is Grammont extolled in the Memoirs,
with a variety of other encomiastic expressions; although, perhaps, such
vanity has not been without example. Hamilton, it is true, says 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 Hami