356 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Nc. 233. 



ence of a church, or of the subsequent grant of those 

 rights and privileges by which its due efficiency is 

 maintained." — Introd., p. xxiii. 



Wm. Dobson. 

 Preston. 



MEMOIRS OF GRAMMONT. 



{Vol. viii., pp. 461. 549. ; Vol. ix., pp. 3. 204.) 

 " Ceste noble race de Grantmont." — BrantGme. 



The following are some of the principal events 

 in the life of the Chevalier de Grammont. 



He was born in the year 1621, probably at the 

 family seat of Bidache, in Gascony. 



He was sent to the college at Pau in Beam, 

 the nearest university to the family residence. 

 His studies here did not much benefit him ; and 

 although intended for the church, we find him at 

 a later period actually highly commending the 

 Lord's Prayer, and seriously inquiring by whom 

 it was written. On his declining a clerical life, 

 he was sent to the French army in Piedmont in 

 1643. He served under his brother, the Marshal, 

 and the Prince de Conde ; and was present at the 

 three battles of Fribourg on the 3rd, 5th, and 9th 

 Aug. 1644 ; and at that of Nordlinguen on the 

 3rd Aug. 1645. It was at the battle of Fribourg 

 that the Prince de Conde, having failed in his first 

 attack on the enemy, got off horseback, and placed 

 himself at the head of the regiment of Conti, 

 •whilst all the officers and volunteers alighted also, 

 amongst whom is mentioned the Chevalier de 

 Grammont ; and this reassuring the soldiers, they 

 charged the enemy, who fled into a wood under 

 favour of the approaching night. At Nordlin- 

 guen, the Marshal de Grammont was taken pri- 

 soner, and nearly murdered by the Germans, to 

 revenge the death of their General, the great 

 Mercy, who was slain in the battle. The Marshal 

 was subsequently exchanged against Gen. Gleen. 



In 1647 Grammont served again under his 

 brother and the Prince de Conde in Spain : and in 

 1648 he was present with them at the battle of 

 Lens on the 20th Aug.,*where the Archduke Leo- 

 pold and General Beck were totally defeated in 

 Flanders. 



The troubles of the Fronde now commenced; 

 and in the first instance Grammont zealously at- 

 tached himself to the prince. In Dec. 1649, he 

 tested the accuracy of the report that it was in- 

 tended to assassinate the prince by sending his 

 own coach with the prince's liveries over the Pont 

 Neuf, to see what would occur. The result was, 

 the coach was fired at ; but, as no one was in it, 

 the would-be assassins did no harm. During the 

 imprisonment of the princes, Grammont, with 

 others, joined the Spanish army which had ad- 

 vanced into Picardy, in consequence of the treaty 

 the Duchesse de Longueville and Turenne had 

 made with the King of Spain. 



We do not find when Grammont left the 

 prince's party ; the prince himself admitted it was 

 with honour. He seems to have connected him- 

 self with Gaston, Duke of Orleans ; and is styled 

 about this time by "la Grande Mademoiselle" as 

 one of her father's gentlemen. She also relates 

 that when the royal forces threatened Orleans, the 

 inhabitants sent to the duke for succour, and he 

 sent the Count de Fiesque and Mons. de Gram- 

 mont, who appeased their fears. The duke also 

 advised his daughter to take the opinion of Fiesque 

 and Grammont in all matters, as they had been in 

 Orleans long enough to know what ought to be 

 done. When Mademoiselle was trying to effect 

 an entrance into the city, Grammont incited the 

 inhabitants to assist in breaking open agate, which 

 the authorities, under fear of the royal displeasure, 

 were afraid to direct. The gate was broken open, 

 and she was borne in triumph along the streets. 



It was probably at this period that Grammont 

 sighed for the Countess de Fiesque (about whom 

 he, and his nephew the Count de Guiche, quar- 

 relled) ; as Mademoiselle, in her Memoirs, re- 

 lates that, in the year 1656, on her interview with 

 Christina, Queen of Sweden, she presented to her, 

 amongst others, the Countess de Fiesque, one of 

 her ladies of honour. The Queen observed : " The 

 Countess de Fiesque is not so beautiful as to have 

 made so much noise ; is the Chevalier de Gram- 

 mont still in love with her ? " 



In 1654 Grammont accompanied the Court to 

 Peronne ; where they anxiously awaited Turenne's 

 attempt to force the Prince de Conde's lines at 

 Arras, as related in the Memoirs. 



On the 25th Nov. 1655, Madame de Sevigne 

 writes to Bussi-Rabutin, relating an anecdote in 

 which Grammont was a party. 



Madame de Motteville relates that Queen Chris- 

 tina rallied the Chevalier de Grammont on the 

 passion he had then for the Duchesse de Mercceur, 

 one of Cardinal Mazarin's nieces ; and spared him 

 only on account of the utter hopelessness of it. 



It is about this period we are inclined to 

 place Grammont's first visit to England ; where 

 curiosity, Hamilton informs us, drew him to see 

 so remarkable a character as Cromwell ; but this 

 visit will be a good starting-place for the next 

 Number. W. H. Lammin. 



Fulham. 



CELTIC AND LATIN LANGUAGES. 



(Vol. viii., pp. 174. 280. 353. ; Vol. ix., p. 14.) 



" Professor F. W. Newman, in his little work entitled 

 Regal Rome, maintains that the old languages of Italy, 

 especially the Umbrian and Sabine, contained a strik- 

 ing predominance of Celtic ingredients, and he wishes 

 to show that this is still evident even in the Latin of 

 Cicero. His proof rests on vocabularies (pp. 19 — 26.), 

 especially in regard to the military, political, and reli- 



