Young men took
one course or another: the sway of the cabinet, on the one hand, tempted
them to the church; the brilliant exploits of Turenne, and of Conde, on
the other, led them to the camp. It was merely the difference of dress
between the two that constituted the distinction: the soldier might be
as pious as the priest, the priest was sure to be as worldly as the
soldier; the soldier might have ecclesiastical preferment; the priest
sometimes turned out to fight.
Philibert de Grammont chose to be a soldier. He was styled the Chevalier
de Grammont, according to custom, his father being still living. He
fought under Turenne, at the siege of Trino. The army in which he served
was beleaguering that city when the gay youth from the banks of the
Garonne joined it, to aid it not so much by his valour as by the fun,
the raillery, the off-hand anecdote, the ready, hearty companionship
which lightened the soldier's life in the trenches: adieu to
impatience, to despair, even to gravity. The very generals could not
maintain their seriousness when the light-hearted De Grammont uttered a
repartee--
'Sworn enemy to all long speeches,
Lively and brilliant, frank and free,
Author of many a repartee:
Remember, over all, that he
Was not renowned for storming breaches.
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