How different from fuch is one whom we have had the Honour to know, and the Happiness the amiable, and gentle

to converfe with,

HAMILTON! Though Nature has given her a Capacity equal to the most arduous Attainments, with what Address does the manage her excellent Talents, and turn them to that Kind of Culture only which embellishes and endears the Female Character! But, as a last Proof of her Merit, fhe has fixed irrevocably the fickle, the volatile, the various Grammont! You knew his long Attachment to her At length, he has married her. In this Meafure, however, though he has fhewn both Senfe and Honour, yet he proceeded on a Principle, of which even you, who know him, will have no Idea. And here, too, you will find another Inftance of the pernicious Spirit of Modern Gallantry. Though Grammont believed himself that he intended abfo- . lutely to espouse the fair Hamilton, yet when every thing feemed to be fettled, and the critical Event drew near, the Dæmon of Gallantry took up his Part He played the Character of Hymen, and rendered it fo infupportably ridiculous, that Grammont could no longer bear the Idea of Marriage. The Time appointed for the Nuptials was at hand The Lover flew up

on the Wings of the Wind to the

Coast

of France. This Defertion was received with a

proper

proper Indignation. A Brother of the fair Hamilton's, a Youth about Sixteen or Seventeen, purfued and overtook him almost as foon as he "Grammont, (faid he,) you blush

had arrived.

66 to fee me

"know me well

"me to England, and do yourfelf the Honour to "efpouse my Sifter

- If that is an Honour

66 you choofe to decline, I am the youngest

"of feven Brothers, and if I fall by your Hand, know, that there are ftill fix living, whose "Arms are stronger and more experienced than "mine, and who fcorn, as much as I do, to fur"vive the Honour of a

ftood filent for a while, beardlefs Champion

Sifter." The Count and fmiled upon the But it was not a smile

of Contempt. I have heard him fay, that he never felt the Sense of Honour so strongly as at that Moment. The Phantom of false Gallantry disappeared. "Let us return, (faid he,) my "brave Friend

I blush to think of my Folly I deferve not the Honour of being "allied to your Family; but I will hope to be ❝indebted for it to your kind Intercession."

This was certainly very great. It was a Return of Reafon; a Recovery from a State of Infanity. What is true Honour but the Exercise of right Reason? All else is false and frivolous.

Is.

Is Courage Honour? What a strange Confufion of Ideas! A Man of Honour would, in that Cafe, make a very despicable Figure, if put in the fame Scale with a Ruffian Bear. Young Hamilton behaved with a true Senfe of Honour His

Condu& was reasonable

It had the Protec

tion of a Sifter for its Objec. But what should we have thought of Grammont, had he acted a different Part? In what Light would he have appeared, had he lived to pierce the Heart of the Woman that he loved, through the Hearts of feven Brothers- The very Idea is Horror!

Yet this he certainly must have done, at least have attempted, had he placed Honour in Courage rather than in Reason.

Had Shrewsbury a right Senfe of Honour when he challenged Buckingbam? More than half the Court will tell you that he had-But, how ridiculous! Is the Defection of an infamous Woman

1

Difgrace to the Man fhe forfakes? Far otherwife It is rather a Mark of his Integrity. The Antipathy that Vice has to Virtue is a Proof of this. It was rank Cowardice, Pufillanimity itfelf, that provoked Shrewsbury to the Challenge. He was afraid that his Courage fhould be doubted, if he omitted it.

Yet

Yet how univerfal is this Idea of falfe Honour! In one of the Campaigns I made with the Duke D'Enguien, an Officer, who had loft his Miftrefs, thought it neceffary to fight for her. When he applied to the Duke for Permission, the latter asked him whether it was on Account of the Love he bad for her, and whether he wanted, by killing his Rival, to recover her. "No, (replied the Officer,) "but if I do not fight, my "Courage will be doubted." "If that is all, (faid the Duke,) "you may be easy about the "Matter. I fhall give you an Opportunity of "putting that out of queftion; for, To-morrow, "I intend to fight myself."

LETTER

I

LETTER V.

ST. EVREMOND to WALLER.

Now write to you from the Earl of Devon

fbire's, where I have been for this Fortnight paft paying my Devotions to the Genius of Nature. Nothing can be more romantic than this Country except the Region of the Valois; and nothing can equal this Place in Beauty but the Borders of the Lake.

*

It was not, however, fo much the Defire of feeing natural Curiofities that drew me down hither. There is a certain moral Curiosity under this Roof which I had long wifhed to fee, and my Lord Devonshire had the Goodness to indulge me by a very kind Invitation.

I need not tell you that I mean the great Philofopher, Mr. Hobbs, so distinguished for the Singularity of his Sentiments and his Difpofition.

I arrived a little before Dinner, notwithstanding which the Earl told me he believed I was too

* Chatsworth.

late