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