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 from His Grace the Duke of Schomberg's Camp at Dundalk, 1689;, Continuation of the History of the Wars of Ireland, p. 30). He is probably the Colonel Hamilton mentioned by Luttrell (23 Dec. 1690) as the author of an intercepted letter to King James ‘giving an account of the desperate condition of the garrison of Limerick.’ He does not appear to have been present at the battle of Aughrim. It is not clear when or how he obtained his title of count. The Count Hamilton who was in the service of the Roman catholic elector palatine, Johann Wilhelm, in 1694–5, is another person (, Relation of State Affairs, ii. 149, iii. 454; ''Hist. MSS. Comm''. 7th Rep. App. 264–5). The rest of his life appears to have been spent chiefly at the court of St. Germain-en-Laye, where he wrote some touching verses on the death of King James (6 Sept. 1701). He lived on terms of the closest intimacy with the family circle of the Duke of Berwick, as many letters printed in his correspondence testify. He is said to have been naturally grave and in later life sincerely religious, and to have had little readiness of wit in conversation. He never married. He died at St. Germain-en-Laye on 21 April 1720.

To Henrietta Bulkeley, one of the duchess's sisters, whom he sometimes addresses familiarly as ‘belle Henriette,’ Hamilton seems to have been particularly attached. Five charming letters from him to this lady (Mlle. B***) are extant (Œuvres, ed. Renouard, iii. 148;, Les Grandes Nuits de Sceaux, p. 18). Some of his best verses are also addressed to this lady and to her sisters, the Duchess of Berwick and Laura Bulkeley. With the Duke of Berwick he carried on a regular correspondence during his campaigns in Spain and Flanders (1706–8). His verses are usually graceful, but hardly poetical. They consist principally of epistles and songs addressed to various ladies. Passages of verse are not unfrequently introduced in his prose letters, of which practice the celebrated ‘Epistle to the Comte de Grammont’ is the most remarkable example. His epistolary style is uniformly easy and sprightly and often brilliant (Œuvres, ed. Renouard, vol. iii.) For the entertainment of his friends, and particularly of Henrietta Bulkeley, Hamilton wrote four ‘Contes,’ designed to satirise the fashionable stories of the marvellous. These are: 1. ‘Le Bélier,’ written to furnish a romantic etymology for the name of Pontalie, given to an estate belonging to his sister, the Comtesse de Grammont, in substitution for the too commonplace Moulineau, the principal incident being a contest between a prince and a giant for the daughter of a druid. 2. ‘Histoire de Fleur d'Épine,’ satirising the popular imitations of the ‘Arabian Nights' Entertainments,’ which were written, as Hamilton says, in a style ‘plus Arabe qu'en Arabie.’ 3. ‘Les Quatre Facardins,’ a fragment in the same style, completed by the Duc de Léon for Renouard's edition of Hamilton's works (Paris, 1812, 8vo). 4. ‘Zénéyde,’ in which the nymph of the Seine recounts her history; also a fragment, and completed by the Duc de Léon in Renouard's edition. He also wrote a fifth ‘Conte,’ ‘L'Enchanteur Faustus,’ in which Queen Elizabeth reviews a series of beauties from Helen to Fair Rosamond; ‘La Volupté;’ and some fragmentary pieces entitled ‘Relations de différents endroits d'Europe,’ and ‘Relation d'un Voyage en Mauritanie.’ About 1704 Hamilton wrote the ‘Epistle to the Comte de Grammont,’ announcing his intention of writing the ‘Memoirs’ of the count (ib. iii. 1 et seq.). Hamilton sent the letter to Boileau, from whom he received a very complimentary reply on 8 Feb. 1705 (Œuvres de Boileau, ed. Gidel, iv. 242). He probably began the composition of the ‘Memoirs’ about the same period, deriving the materials direct from the count. The work is mainly occupied with the ‘amorous intrigues’ at the court of Charles II during 1662–4; it is written with such brilliancy and vivacity that it must always rank as a classic. Grammont died in 1707, and the book appeared anonymously in 1713. It became what Chamfort (Œuvres, ed. 1824, iii. 247) called it, ‘le bréviaire de la jeune noblesse.’ The Abbé de Voisenon thought it a book to be regularly re-read every year (Œuvres, ed. 1781, iv. 129). Voltaire's estimate is more discriminating: ‘de tous les livres celui où le fonds le plus mince est paré du style le plus gai, le plus vif et le plus original’ (Œuvres, ed. 1785, xx. 101). That a foreigner should thus prove himself more French than the French is a unique phenomenon in the history of literature. Hamilton also executed a free paraphrase in French Alexandrines of Pope's ‘Essay on Criticism,’ a copy of which he sent to Pope, and which Pope very handsomely acknowledged, 10 Oct. 1713 (, Works, ed. Roscoe, vi. 215). It remains in manuscript, with the exception of a brief extract appended to Renouard's edition of Hamilton's ‘Works’ (1812). Hamilton was accustomed to write their letters for several of his lady friends, and in particular for his niece the Countess of Stafford, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's friend. A few of these letters are extant in his correspondence (Works, ed. Renouard, iii. 199 et seq.)

The principal editions of the ‘Mémoires’ are: (1) ‘Mémoires de la Vie du Comte de Grammont. Contenant particulièrement