The features of this exquisite face are accurately described by De
Grammont, as Sir Peter has painted them. 'The mouth does not smile, but
seems ready to break out into a smile. Nothing is sleepy, but everything
is soft, sweet, and innocent in that face so beautiful and so beloved.'
Whilst the colours were fresh on Lely's palettes, James Duke of York,
that profligate who aped the saint, saw it, and henceforth paid his
court to the original, but was repelled with fearless _hauteur_. The
dissolute nobles of the court followed his example, even to the
'lady-killer' Jermyn, but in vain. Unhappily for La Belle Hamilton, she
became sensible to the attractions of De Grammont, whom she eventually
married.
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 continued 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
powerful effect than even her charms had done. Her success in
hoaxing--which we should now think both perilous and indelicate--seems
to have only riveted the chain, which was drawn around him more
strongly.
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