Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/225

Rh country which had beheaded its king, and not averse to bestow the polish of their own elegant court on the rough framework of the re-constructed kingdom. Of these polished foreigners, the circumstances under which one celebrated individual visited the British court are too much interwoven with the literary fame of Anthony Hamilton, to be here omitted. The chevalier, afterwards count de Grammont, one of the gayest ornaments of the court of Louis, found it inconvenient to remain in France after having disputed with his master the heart of a favourite mistress. High born, personally courageous, enthusiastic in the acquisition of "glory," handsome, extravagant, an inveterate gambler, a victor in war and in love, Volage, et meme un pen perfide en amour, the French emigrant to the court of England was a perfect human being, according to the measure of the time and the place. The admired qualities with which he was gifted by nature, were such as control and prudence could not make more agreeable; but the friends of the chevalier seem sometimes to have regretted that the liaisons in which he was frequently engaged were so destructive to the peace of others, and would have prudently suggested the pursuit of intrigues, which might have been less dangerous to his personal safety. The chevalier found in his exile a new field rich in objects that engaged his vagrant affections. Tired of alternate conquest and defeat, he is represented as having finally concentrated his affections on the sister of his celebrated biographer, on whom the brother has bestowed poetical charms, in one of the most exquisite of his living descriptions of female beauty, but who has been less charitably treated in the correspondence of some of her female rivals. The attentions of the chevalier towards Miss Hamilton were of that decided cast which admitted of but one interpretation, and justice to his memory requires the admission, that he seemed to have fixed on her as firm and honourable an affection as so versatile a heart could form. But constancy was not his characteristic virtue. He forgot for an interval his vows and promises, and prepared to return to France without making any particular explanation with the lady or her brother. When he had just left the city, Anthony Hamilton and his brother George found it absolutely necessary to prepare their pistols, and give chase to the faithless lover. Before he had reached Dover, the carriage of the offended brothers had nearly overtaken him. "Chevalier De Grammont," they cried, "have you forgot nothing in London?"—"Beg pardon, gentlemen," said the pursued, " I forgot to marry your sister." The marriage was immediately concluded to the satisfaction of both parties, and the inconstant courtier appears to have ever after enjoyed a due share of domestic felicity and tranquillity. The chevalier returned with his wife to his native country, and Hamilton seems to have added to the attraction of early associations a desire to pay frequent visits to a country which contained a sister for whom he seems to have felt much affection. Hamilton and Grammont entertained for each other an esteem which was fostered and preserved by the similarity of their tastes and dispositions. A third person, differing in many respects from both, while he resembled them in his intellect, was the tasteful and unfortunate St Evremond, and many of the most superb wits of the brilliant court of Louis XIV. added the pleasures, though not always the advantages of their talents to the distinguished circle. Wit and intellect, however perverted, always meet the due homage of qualities which cannot be very much abused, and generally exercise themselves for the benefit of mankind; but unfortunately the fashion of the age prompted its best ornaments to seek amusement among the most degraded of the species, who were in a manner elevated by the approach which their superiors strove to make towards them, and these men could descend so far in the scale of humanity as to find pleasure even in the company of the notorious Blood. Anthony