■william: and many.

151

Lely. She had the glory of achieving no vulgar conquest. Itwas reserved for her voluptuous beauty and for her flippant witto overcome the aversion which the coldhearted and scoffingGranimont felt for the indissoluble tie. One of her brothers,Anthony, became the chronicler of that brilliant and dissolutesociety of which he had been one of the most brilliant and mostdissolute members. He deserves the high praise of having,though not a Frenchman, written the book which is, of allbooks, the most exquisitely French, both in spirit and inmanner. Another brother, named Richard, had, in foreignservice, gained some military experience. His wit and polite-ness had distinguished him even in the splendid circle of Ver-sailles. It was whispered that he had dared to lift his eyes toan exalted lady, the natural daughter of the Great King, thewife of a legitimate prince of the House of Bourbon, and thatshe had not seemed to be displeased by the attentions of herpresumptuous admirer.* The adventurer had subsequentlyreturned to his native country, had been appointed BrigadierGeneral in the Irish army, and had been sworn of the IrishPrivy Council. "When the Dutch invasion was expected, hecame across Saint George’s Channel with the troops whichTyrconnel sent to reinforce the royal army. After the flight ofJames, those troops submitted to the Prince of Orange. RichardHamilton not only made his own peace with what was now theruling power, but declared himself confident that, if he weresent to Dublin, he could conduct the negotiation which hadbeen opened there to a happy close. If he failed, he pledgedhis word to return to London in three weeks. His influence inIreland was known to be great: his honour had never beenquestioned; and he was highly esteemed,by the Temple family.John Temple declared that he would answer for Richard Hamil-ton as for himself. This guarantee was thought sufficient; and* Mtfmoires do Madame do la Fayette.

CHAP.

XU.

liisy.