him
the most delightful society in the world. Mademoiselle, in her
Memoirs, alludes to his pleasantry in conversation, and turn for
deep gaming. When the Memoirs of Grammont were subjected to the
examination of Fontenelle, then censor of the Parisian press, he
refused to license them, or account of the scandalous conduct
imputed to Grammont in this party at quinze. The count no sooner
heard of this than he hastened to Fontenelle, and having joked him
for being more tender of his reputation than he was himself, the
license was instantly issued. The censor might have retorted upon
Grammont the answer which the count made to a widow who received
coldly his compliments of condolence on her husband's death: "Nay,
madame, if that is the way you take it, I care as little about it as
you do." He died in 1674. "Matta est mort sans confession," says
Madame Maintenon, in a letter to her brother. Tome I., p. 67.]

He was agreeable in his person, but still more by the natural turn of his
wit; he was plain and simple in his manners, but endued with a quick
discernment and refined delicacy, and full of candour and integrity in
all his actions. The Chevalier Grammont was not long in discovering his
amiable qualities; an acquaintance was soon formed, and was succeeded by
the strictest intimacy.

Matta insisted that the Chevalier should take up his quarters with him;
to which he only consented on condition of equally contributing to the
expense. As they were both liberal and magnificent, at their common cost
they gave the best designed and most luxurious entertainments that had
ever yet been seen. Play was wonderfully productive at first, and the
Chevalier restored by a hundred different ways that which he obtained
only by one. The generals, being entertained by turns, admired their
magnificence, and were dissatisfied with their own officers for not
keeping such good tables and attendance. The Chevalier had the talent
of setting off the most indifferent things to advantage; and his wit was
so generally acknowledged, that it was a kind of disgrace not to submit
to his taste. To him Matta resigned the care of furnishing the table and
doing its honours; and, charmed with the general applause, persuaded
himself that nothing could be more honourable than their way of living,
and nothing more easy than to continue it; but he soon perceived that the
greatest prosperity is not the most lasting. Good liv