post of lieutenant-general was not then known, Du
Plessis Pralin and the famous Viscount Turenne were his majors general.
Fortified places were treated with some respect, before a power which
nothing can withstand had found means to destroy them by dreadful showers
of bombs, and by destructive batteries of hundreds of pieces of cannon.
Before these furious storms which drive governors underground and reduce
their garrisons to powder, repeated sallies bravely repulsed, and
vigorous attacks nobly sustained, signalized both the art of the
besiegers and the courage of the besieged; consequently, sieges were of
some length, and young men had an opportunity of gaining some knowledge.
Many brave actions were performed on each side during the siege of Trino;
a great deal of fatigue was endured, and considerable losses sustained;
but fatigue was no more considered, hardships were no more felt in the
trenches, gravity was at an end with the generals, and the troops were no
longer dispirited after the arrival of the Chevalier Grammont. Pleasure
was his pursuit, and he made it universal.

Among the officers in the army, as in all other places, there are men of
real merit, or pretenders to it. The latter endeavoured to imitate the
Chevalier Grammont in his most shining qualities, but without success;
the former admired his talents and courted his friendship. Of this
number was Matta:

[Matta, or Matha, of whom Hamilton has drawn so striking a picture,
is said to have been of the house of Bourdeille, which had the
honour to produce Brautome and Montresor. The combination of
indolence and talent, of wit and simplicity, of bluntness and irony,
with which he is represented, may have been derived from tradition,
but could only have been united into the inimitable whole by the pen
of Hamilton. Several of his bons-mots have been preserved; but the
spirit evaporates in translation. "Where could I get this nose,"
said Madame D'Albret, observing a slight tendency to a flush in that
feature. "At the side board, Madame," answered Matta. When the
same lady, in despair at her brother's death, refused all
nourishment, Matta administered this blunt consolation: "If you are
resolved, madame, never again to swallow food, you do well; but if
ever you mean to eat upon any future occasion, believe me, you may
as well begin just now." Madame Caylus, in her Souvenirs,
commemorates the simple and natural hu