290 HAMILTON. mother was sister to the Great Duke of Ormond, viceroy of that kingdom. The troubles in which his country was involved, occasioned the removal of his family to France while he was an infant, and he was educated in the religion and language of that country. During the reign of Charles the Second he made several visits to England; but his religion, to which he adhered stedfastly, prevented him from obtaining any public employment there. His sister, afterwards married to Philibert, Count of Grammont, was one of the ornaments of that gay court, and it is said that a scene, not unlike that in the “Mariage Forcé,” took place between the brother and the lover, when the latter was on his way to quit the kingdom without fulfilling his engagement. At the accession of James the Second, he was presented with a regiment of infantry in Ireland, and raised to the important post of governor of Limerick; but, upon the ruin of that monarch's affairs, the Count thought it prudent to accompany him back to France, where he ended his days, dying at St. Germains in 1720, at the advanced age of seventy-four. The works of Count Hamilton, in the French language, were printed collectively in six volumes 12mo, in 1749. They consist chiefly of poems, many of which possess a l l the ease and delicacy o f the best French poets; also “Fairy Tales,” which were intended a s a refined piece o f ridicule o n the then prevailing passion for the marvellous; and his celebrated “Memoirs o f Count Grammont,” which will always excite curiosity, a s giving a striking and faith ful detail o f the dissolute manners o f the court of Charles the Second. “This,” says Voltaire, “is o f a l l books, that i n which the most slender ground-work i s set off with the gayest, and most lively and agreeable style.” “The hero, his brother-in-law, (adds one o f his biographers,) i s little more than a genteel sharper, and the adventures which befal him are the common vices of such a character; but they are related with irresistible pleasantry and a l l the grace o f fashionable conversation.” The work i s filled with portraits and anecdotes o f the most celebrated per'
