d, pray remember me in your will." Talbot, who, upon
this compliment, immediately recollected the money he owed the Chevalier,
burst out a-laughing, and embracing him: "My dear Chevalier," said he, "I
am so much obliged to you for your offer, that I resign you my mistress,
and will send you your money instantly." The Chevalier de Grammont
possessed a thousand of these genteel ways of refreshing the memories of
those persons who were apt to be forgetful in their payments. The
following is the method he used some years after with Lord Cornwallis:
this lord had married the daughter of Sir Stephen Fox,--treasurer of the
king's household, one of the richest and most regular men in England.
His son-in-law, on the contrary, was a young spendthrift, was very
extravagant, loved gaming, lost as much as any one would trust him, but
was not quite so ready at paying. His father-in-law disapproved of his
conduct, paid his debts, and gave him a lecture at the same time. The
Chevalier de Grammont had won of him a thousand or twelve hundred
guineas, which he heard no tidings of, although he was upon the eve of
his departure, and he had taken leave of Cornwallis in a more particular
manner than any other person. This obliged the Chevalier to write him a
billet, which was rather laconic. It was this:

"MY LORD,

"Pray remember the Count de Grammont, and do not forget Sir Stephen
Fox."

To return to Talbot: he went away more concerned than became a man who
had voluntarily resigned his mistress to another: neither his stay in
Ireland, nor his solicitude about his domestic affairs, perfectly cured
him; and if at his return he found himself disengaged from Miss
Hamilton's chains, it was only to exchange them for others. The
alteration that had taken place in the two courts occasioned this
change in him, as we shall see in the sequel.

We have hitherto only mentioned the queen's maids of honour, upon account
of Miss Stewart and Miss Warmestre the others were Miss Bellenden,
Mademoiselle de la Garde and Mademoiselle Bardou, all maids of honour,
as it pleased God.

Miss Bellenden was no beauty, but was a good-natured girl, whose chief
merit consisted in being plump and fresh-coloured; and who, not having a
sufficient stock of wit to be a coquette in form, used all her endeavours
to please every person by her complaisance. Mademoiselle de la Garde,
and Mademoiselle Bardou, both French, had been preferred to their places
by the quee