DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51519#0133
THE COUNTESS DE GRAMMONT.
113
amends for the loss of that oaf Norfolk; that sot Richmond; and
that rake Falmouth. And what have you to say to this, mon
pauvre pliilosophe!”
And so it proved j for Love in this instance was a better pro-
phet than usual. De Grammont obtained the reward which his
audacity and perseverance perhaps deserved; and carried off this
paragon from all his competitors; but it was no sooner secured;
than he seems; with his usual volatility; to have neglected his con-
quest. It has been said; with little probability; that one circum-
stance attending’ this marriage inspired Moliere with the first idea
of Le Marriage Force. Louis XIV. having been prevailed on at
length to recall De Grammont, after a banishment of six or seven
years,* he was in such haste to return to France; that he left
London without performing his engagements to Miss Hamilton.
Her two brothers; Anthony and George Hamilton; pursued him
to Dover, and overtaking him at the inn; they exclaimed aloud;
a Chevalier de Grammont, n’avez vous rien oublie a Londres F
— “Pardonnez moi; messieurs;” replied this ardent lover; “j’ai
oublie d’epouser votre soeur.” We may suppose that when his
high-spirited mistress gave him her hand; she was unacquainted
with this characteristic trait.
The Count de Grammont left England finally in 16C9; about a
year after his marriage. Charles, in a letter to his sister, the
unfortunate Duchess of Orleans; dated in October that year;
recommends the Countess de Grammont to his sister’s friendship.
“I writt to you,” he says; “yesterday by the Compte de Gram-
mont ; but I beleeve this letter will come sooner to your handeS;
for he goes by Dieppe with his wife and family. And now that
I have named her, I cannot chuse but againe desire you to be
* De Grammont, with his usual audacity and love of contradiction, had
ventured to make himself particularly agreeable to a lady (Mademoiselle de
Mothe-Houdancourt) whom his majesty as particularly admired : for this crime
he was banished.
I
113
amends for the loss of that oaf Norfolk; that sot Richmond; and
that rake Falmouth. And what have you to say to this, mon
pauvre pliilosophe!”
And so it proved j for Love in this instance was a better pro-
phet than usual. De Grammont obtained the reward which his
audacity and perseverance perhaps deserved; and carried off this
paragon from all his competitors; but it was no sooner secured;
than he seems; with his usual volatility; to have neglected his con-
quest. It has been said; with little probability; that one circum-
stance attending’ this marriage inspired Moliere with the first idea
of Le Marriage Force. Louis XIV. having been prevailed on at
length to recall De Grammont, after a banishment of six or seven
years,* he was in such haste to return to France; that he left
London without performing his engagements to Miss Hamilton.
Her two brothers; Anthony and George Hamilton; pursued him
to Dover, and overtaking him at the inn; they exclaimed aloud;
a Chevalier de Grammont, n’avez vous rien oublie a Londres F
— “Pardonnez moi; messieurs;” replied this ardent lover; “j’ai
oublie d’epouser votre soeur.” We may suppose that when his
high-spirited mistress gave him her hand; she was unacquainted
with this characteristic trait.
The Count de Grammont left England finally in 16C9; about a
year after his marriage. Charles, in a letter to his sister, the
unfortunate Duchess of Orleans; dated in October that year;
recommends the Countess de Grammont to his sister’s friendship.
“I writt to you,” he says; “yesterday by the Compte de Gram-
mont ; but I beleeve this letter will come sooner to your handeS;
for he goes by Dieppe with his wife and family. And now that
I have named her, I cannot chuse but againe desire you to be
* De Grammont, with his usual audacity and love of contradiction, had
ventured to make himself particularly agreeable to a lady (Mademoiselle de
Mothe-Houdancourt) whom his majesty as particularly admired : for this crime
he was banished.
I