Miss  Hamilton,  intelligent  as  she  was,  lent  herself  to  the
fashion  of  the  day,  and  delighted  in  practical  jokes  and
tricks.  At  the  splendid  masquerade  given  by  the  queen  she  con-
tinued to  plague  her  cousin,  Lady  Muskerry ;  to  confuse  and
expose  a  stupid  court  beauty,  a  Miss  Blaque ;  and  at  the  same
time  to  produce  on  the  Count  de  Grammont  a  still  more  power-
ful effect  than  even  her  charms  had  done.  Her  success  in
hoaxing — which  we  should  now  think  both  perilous  and  inde-
licate— seems  to  have  only  riveted  the  chain,  which  was
drawn  around  him  more  strongly.
His  friend,  or  rather  his  foe,  St.  Evremond,  tried  in  vain  to
discourage  the  chevalier  from  his  new  passion.  The  former
tutor  was,  it  appeared,  jealous  of  its  influence,  and  hurt  that
De  Grammont  was  now  seldom  at  his  house.
90        THE  HOUSEHOLD  DEITY  OF  WHITEHALL.
De  Grammont's  answer  to  his  remonstrances  was  very  cha-
racteristic. '  My  poor  philosopher,'  he  cried,  '  you  understand
Latin  well — you  can  make  good  verses — you  are  acquainted
with  the  nature  of  the  stars  in  the  firmament — but  you  are
wholly  ignorant  of  the  luminaries  in  the  terrestrial  globe.'

He  then  announced  his  intention  to  persevere,  notwith-
standing all  the  obstacles  which  attached  to  the  suit  of  a  man
without  either  fortune  or  character,  who  had  been  exiled  from
his  own  country,  and  whose  chief  mode  of  livelihood  was
dependent  on  the  gaming-table.
