s myself, and for their entertainment commit the following pages
to press, without being in the least concerned about the severe
criticisms of the latter. I further declare, that the order of time
and disposition of the facts, which give more trouble to the writer than
pleasure to the reader, shall not much embarrass me in these Memoirs.
It being my design to convey a just idea of my hero, those circumstances
which most tend to illustrate and distinguish his character shall find
a place in these fragments just as they present themselves to my
imagination, without paying any particular attention to their
arrangement. For, after all, what does it signify where the portrait is
begun, provided the assemblage of the parts forms a whole which perfectly
expresses the original? The celebrated Plutarch, who treats his heroes
as he does his readers, commences the life of the one just as he thinks
fit, and diverts the attention of the other with digressions into
antiquity, or agreeable passages of literature, which frequently have
no reference to the subject; for instance, he tells us that Demetrius
Poliorcetes was far from being so tall as his father, Antigonus; and
afterwards, that his reputed father, Antigonus, was only his uncle; but
this is not until he has begun his life with a short account of his
death, his various exploits, his good and bad qualities; and at last,
out of compassion to his failings, brings forward a comparison between
him and the unfortunate Mark Antony.

What I have said upon this subject is not meant to reflect upon this
historian, to whom, of all the ancients, we are most obliged; it is only
intended to authorize the manner in which I have treated a life far more
extraordinary than any of those he has transmitted to us. It is my part
to describe a man whose inimitable character casts a veil over those
faults which I shall neither palliate nor disguise; a man distinguished
by a mixture of virtues and vices so closely linked together as in
appearance to form a necessary dependence, glowing with the greatest
beauty when united, shining with the brightest lustre when opposed.

It is this indefinable brilliancy, which, in war, in love, in gaming, and
in the various stages of a long life, has rendered the Count de Grammont
the admiration of his age, and the delight of every country wherein
he has displayed his engaging wit, dispensed his generosity and
magnificence, or practised his inconstancy: it is owing t