204 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 227. 



manhood, would show at once whether the " ortho- 

 graphe extraordinaire ment eslropiee " of his later 

 productions was the result of habit or design. 



The orthography of the French language is 

 peculiarly intricate ; and it is no uncommon thing 

 to meet with educated men in that country who 

 are unable to spell with accuracy. That Napoleon 

 may have been in a similar predicament, would 

 not be surprising; but that it should be said of 

 the most extraordinary man of the age, that his 

 spelling is extraordinairement estropiee, seems in- 

 explicable upon any fair supposition, except that 

 he accounted the rules of spelling unworthy the 

 attention of any but copyists and office drudges ; 

 or (which is more probable) that he wished this 

 extraordinary spelling to be received as an indi- 

 cation of the great rapidity with which he could 

 commit his thoughts to paper. Henry H. Breen. 



MEMOIRS OF GRAMMONT. 



(Vol. viii., pp. 461. 549. ; Vol. ix., p. 3.) 



There appearing to be a strong feeling that 

 a correct edition of these Memoirs should be 

 published, with the present inaccurate notes 

 thoroughly revised, I send you a few notes from 

 a collection I have made on the subject. 



The proper orthography of the name is " Gra- 

 mont," and the family probably originally came 

 from Spain. Matta's friend, the Marquis de Se- 

 vantes, asserts the fact ; and it is corroborated by 

 the fact, that on the occasion of the Marshal de 

 Grammont's demanding the hand of the Infanta 

 Maria Theresa for Louis XIV., the people cried, 

 *' Viva el Marescal de Agramont, que es de nues- 

 tro v sangue !" And the King of Spain said to the 

 Marshal after the presentation of his sons, the 

 Counts de Guiche and De Louvigny, " Teneis 

 Muy Buenos y lindos hijos y bien se hecha de ver 

 que los Agramonteses salen de la sangue de 

 Espana." 



The Grammont family had been so enriched 

 and ennobled by its repeated marriages with the 

 heiresses of great families, that, like many noble 

 houses of our own times, members of it hardly 

 knew their own correct surname : thus, in the 

 famous declaration of the parliament of Paris 

 against the Peers in 1717, on the subject of the 

 Caps, it was said : 



" The Grammonts have determined on their armorial 

 bearings, and hold to those of the house of Aure. The 

 Count de Grammont said one day to the Marshal, 

 What arms shall we use this year?" 



The Grammonts in the male line are descended 

 from Sancho Garcia dAure, Viscount de l'Ar- 

 boust. Menaud d'Aure, his lineal representative, 

 married Claire de Grammont, sister and heiress of 

 Jean, Seigneur de Grammont, and daughter of 



Francis, Seigneur de Grammont, and Catherine 

 d'Andoins his wife. 



Menaud d'Aure is the ancestor who is disguised 

 in the Memoirs as "Menaudaure" and " Meno- 

 dore;" and in the notes, coupled with "la belle 

 Corisande," they are styled two of the ancestresses 

 of the family celebrated for their beauty. 



Philibert, who was styled Philibert de Gram- 

 mont and de Toulongeon, Count de Grammont 

 and de Guiche, Viscount d'Aster, Captain of fifty 

 men at arms, Governor and Mayor of Bayonne, 

 Seneschal of Bearne, married on Aug. 7, 1567, 

 Diana, better known as " La belle Corisande" 

 d'Andouins, Viscountess de Louvigny, Dame de 

 Lescun, the only daughter of Paul Viscount de 

 Louvigny ; who, although a Huguenot, was killed 

 at the siege of Rouen, fighting under the com- 

 mand of the Duke de Guise. They had two 

 children : Antoine, subsequently the first duke, 

 and Catherine, who married Francois Nompar de 

 Chaumont, Count de Lauzun, the ancestor of the 

 celebrated Duke de Lauzun, who was first intro- 

 duced at court by his relative the Marshal de 

 Grammont. 



This Philibert, Count de Grammont, was killed 

 at the siege of La Fere in Aug. 1580. The con- 

 nexion between his widow, the fair Corisande, and 

 Henry IV., was subsequent to the Count's death. 



The Duchy Peerage was created on Dec. 13, 

 1643. Antoine, the first duke, married, firstly, on 

 Sept. 1, 1601, Louise, eldest daughter of the Mar- 

 shal de Roquelaure ; she died in 1610, leaving 

 Antoine, subsequently the Marshal Duke de 

 Grammont, and Roger, Count de Louvigny, killed 

 in a duel in Flanders on March 18, 1629. The 

 Duke de Grammont married, secondly, on March 

 29, 1618, Claude, eldest daughter of Louis de 

 Montmorency, Baron de Boutteville ; and had 

 Henri, Count de Toulongeon, who died unmarried 

 on Sept. 1, 1679; Philibert, the celebrated Cheva- 

 lier de Grammont, who was born in 1621 ; and 

 three daughters. 



The Marshal de Grammont was one of the most 

 celebrated men of the court of Louis XIV. : he 

 was a favourite both of Richelieu and Mazarin, 

 and married a niece of the former ; and, as a wit, 

 was not inferior to his brother the Chevalier. He 

 sided with the Court during the wars of the 

 Fronde ; whilst the Chevalier in the first instance 

 joined the Prince of Conde, probably from their 

 mutual connexion with the Montmorency family. 

 The Marshal died at Bayonne, on July 12, 1678, 

 aged seventy-four years, leaving four children, of 

 whom the Count de Guiche and the Princess de 

 Monaco are well known. 



The Chevalier de Grammont received his outfit 

 from his mother, and joined the army under Prince 

 Thomas of Savoy, then besieging Trin in Pied- 

 mont, which was taken on Sept. 24, 1643. The 

 notes to the Memoirs say May 4, 1639; but that 



