Produced by David Widger
By Anthony Hamilton
Anthony Hamilton, the celebrated author of the Grammont Memoirs, muchcannot now be with certainty known.
[For uniformity's sake the writer of this sketch has followed the Memoirs in the spelling of this name; but he thinks it necessary to observe that it should be Gramont, not Grammont.]
The accounts prefixed to the different editions of his works, down to theyear 1805, are very imperfect; in that year a new, and, in general, farbetter edition than any of the preceding ones, was published in Paris,to which a sketch of his life was also added; but it contains rather justcriticisms on his works, than any very novel or satisfactory anecdoteconcerning himself. It is not pretended here to gratify literarycuriosity as fully as it ought to be, with regard to this singular andvery ingenious man; some effort, however, may be made to communicate afew more particulars relative to him, than the public has hitherto,perhaps, been acquainted with.
Anthony Hamilton was of the noble family of that name: Sir GeorgeHamilton, his father, was a younger son of James, Earl of Abercorn, anative of Scotland. His mother was daughter of Lord Thurles, and sisterto James, the first Duke of Ormond; his family and connections therefore,on the maternal side, were entirely Irish. He was, as well as hisbrothers and sisters, born in Ireland, it is generally said, about theyear 1646; but there is some reason to imagine that it was three or fouryears earlier. The place of his birth, according to the best familyaccounts, was Roscrea, in the county of Tipperary, the usual residence ofhis father when not engaged by military or public business.
[In September, 1646, Owen O'Neale took Roscrea,