June 24. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



583 



LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 1A, 1854. 



MEMOIRS OF GRAMMONT. 



Vol. 



3.204.356.) 



(Vol. viii., pp. 461. 549. ; Vol. ix., pp 



" Des gens qui £crivent pour le Comte de Grammont 

 peuvent compter sur quelque indulgence." — Vide In- 

 troduction to the Memoirs. 



Grammont's first visit to England may have 

 been in Nov. 1655, when Bordeaux, the French 

 ambassador, concluded a treaty with Cromwell, 

 whereby France agreed totally to abandon the 

 interests of Charles II. ; and Cromwell, on his part, 

 declared war against Spain, by which we gained 

 Jamaica. Another opportunity occurred in 1657, 

 when Cromwell's son-in-law, Lord Fauconberg, 

 was sent to compliment Louis XIV. and Cardinal 

 Mazarin, who were near Dunkirk. The am- 

 bassador presented some horses to the King and 

 his brother, and also to the Cardinal. They made 

 the ambassador handsome presents, and the King 

 sent the Duke de Crequi as his ambassador ex- 

 traordinary to the Protector, accompanied by 

 several persons of distinction. 



Grammont was at the siege of Montmedi, which 

 surrendered on the 6th August, 1657. 



He accompanied his brother, the Marshal, to 

 Madrid in 1660, to demand the hand of the Infanta 

 for his sovereign. On the King's entry into Paris 

 the same year with his Queen, Madame de Main- 

 tenon writes : 



" The Chevalier de Grammont, Rouville, Bellefont, 

 and some other courtiers, followed the household of 

 Cardinal Mazarin, which surprised everybody : it was 

 said it was out of flattery. The Chevalier was dressed 

 in a flame-coloured suit, and was very brilliant." 



In 1662 he was disgraced on account of Madlle 

 de la Motte Houdancourt, aggravated also, it is 

 said, by his having watched the King getting over 

 the tiles into the apartments of the maids of honour, 

 and spread the report about. 



The writer of the notes to the Memoirs supposes 

 that the Count's circumstances were not very 

 flourishing on his arrival in England, and that he 

 endeavoured to support himself by his literary ac- 

 quirements. A scarce little work in Latin and 

 French on King Charles's coronation was attributed 

 to him, the initials to which were P. D. C, which 

 it was said might stand for Philibert de Cramont. 

 There seems no reason for this supposition : his 

 finances were no worse in England than they had 

 been in France ; and there is no doubt be made his 

 appearance at the Court of England under the 

 greatest advantages. His family were specially 

 protected by the Duke and Duchess of Orleans, 

 the favourite sister of King Charles ; and the Count 

 was personally known to the King and to the Duke 



of York; and from a letter of Comminges', dated 

 20th Dec. 1662, it may be almost inferred that 

 the Duke sent his own yacht to fetch the Count 

 to London. Bussi-llabutin writes of the Count, 

 that he wrote almost worse than any one, and 

 therefore not very likely to recruit his finances by 

 authorship. 



The exact date of Grammont's marriage has yet 

 to be fixed : probably a search at Doctors' Commons 

 for the licence, or in the Whitehall Registers, if 

 such exist, would determine the day. The first 

 child, a boy, was born on the 28th August, O. S., 

 7th September, 1664, but did not live long. This 

 would indicate that the marriage took place in 

 December, 1663. From Comminges' letters, dated 

 in that month, it must have been on a day subse- 

 quent to the 24th December. Their youngest 

 child, who was afterwards an abbess, was born on 

 the 27th December, 1667. 



It has been stated that Grammont was the hero 

 of Moliere's Mariage forcee, which was performed 

 before the Court at Versailles in 1664. Comminges' 

 letter of May 19-24, 1664, may allude to the 

 Count's conduct to Miss Hamilton. He was twenty 

 years older than the lady. 



Under date of October 24— November 3, 1664, 

 Comminges announces the departure from London 

 of the Count and Countess de Grammont. 



The Count was present with the King at the con- 

 quest of Franche Comte in 1660, and in particular 

 at the siege of Dole in February, 1668. The Count 

 and Countess were subsequently in England, as 

 King Charles himself writes to the Duchess of 

 Orleans on the 24th October, 1669, that the Count 

 and Countess, with their family, were returning to 

 France by way of Dieppe. 



In 1668, according to St. Evremond, the Count 

 was successful in procuring the recall of his nephew, 

 the Count de Guiche. 



Evelyn mentions in his Diary dining on the 10th 

 May, 1671, at Sir Thomas Clifford's, "where dined 

 Monsieur de Grammont and several French noble- 

 men." 



Madame de Sevigne names the Count in her 

 letter of 5th January, 1672. 



He was present at the siege of Maestricht, which 

 surrendered to the King in person on the 29th 

 June, 1673. 



Madame de Sevigne names the Count again in 

 her letter of the 31st July, 1675. 



The Duchess of Orleans (the second) relates the 

 great favour in which the Count was with the 

 King. 



He was present at the sieges of Cambray and 

 Namur in April, 1677, and February, 1678. 



We obtain many glimpses of the Count and 

 Countess in subsequent years in the pages of 

 Madame de Sevigne, Dangeau, and others, which 

 may be consulted in preference to filling your 

 columns with extracts. 



