hould be Gramont, not Grammont.]

The accounts prefixed to the different editions of his works, down to
the year 1805, are very imperfect; in that year a new, and, in general,
far better edition than any of the preceding ones, was published in
Paris, to which a sketch of his life was also added; but it contains
rather just criticisms on his works, than any very novel or satisfactory
anecdote concerning himself. It is not pretended here to gratify
literary curiosity as fully as it ought to be, with regard to this
singular and very ingenious man; some effort, however, may be made to
communicate a few more particulars relative to him, than the public has
hitherto, perhaps, been acquainted with.

Anthony Hamilton was of the noble family of that name: Sir George
Hamilton, his father, was a younger son of James, Earl of Abercorn, a
native of Scotland. His mother was daughter of Lord Thurles, and
sister to James, the first Duke of Ormond; his family and connections
therefore, on the maternal side, were entirely Irish. He was, as well as
his brothers and sisters, born in Ireland, it is generally said, about
the year 1646; but there is some reason to imagine that it was three or
four years earlier. The place of his birth, according to the best family
accounts, was Roscrea, in the county of Tipperary, the usual residence
of his father when not engaged by military or public business.

[In September, 1646, Owen O'Neale took Roscrea, and, as Carte says,
"put man, woman, and child to the sword, except Sir George
Hamilton's lady, sister to the Marquis of Ormond, and some few
gentlewomen whom he kept prisoners." No family suffered more in
those disastrous times than the house of Ormond. Lady Hamilton died
in August, 1680, as appears from an interesting and affecting letter
of her brother, the Duke of Ormond, dated Carrick, August 25th. He
had lost his noble son, Lord Ossory, not three weeks before.]

It has been always said, that the family migrated to France when Anthony
was an infant; but this is not the fact: "Sir George Hamilton," says
Carte, "would have accompanied his brother-in-law, the Marquis of
Ormond, to France, in December, 1650: but, as he was receiver-general
in Ireland, he stayed to pass his accounts, which he did to the
satisfaction of all parties, notwithstanding much clamour had been
raised against him." When that business was settled, he, in the spring
of 1651, took Lady Hamilton and all hi