After the
Marquis had been talking for some time, De Grammont turned to his wife
and said, 'Countess, if you don't look to it, Dangeau will juggle you
out of my conversion.' St. Evremond said he would gladly die to go off
with so successful a bon-mot.
He became however, in time, serious, if not devout or penitent. Ninon de
l'Enclos having written to St. Evremond that the Count de Grammont had
not only recovered but had become devout, St. Evremond answered her in
these words:--
'I have learned with a great deal of pleasure that the Count de Grammont
has recovered his former health, and acquired a new devotion. Hitherto I
have been contented with being a plain honest man; but I must do
something more: and I only wait for your example to become a devotee.
You live in a country where people have wonderful advantages of saving
their souls: there, vice is almost as opposite to the mode as virtue;
sinning passes for ill-breeding, and shocks decency and good-manners, as
much as religion. Formerly it was enough to be wicked, now one must be a
scoundrel withal to be damned in France.'
A report having been circulated that De Grammont was dead, St. Evremond
expressed deep regret.
Pages:
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179