His father, supposed to have been the natural son of Henry the Great, of France, did not suppress that fact, but desired to publish it:  for the morals of his time were so depraved, that it was thought to be more honourable to be the illegitimate son of a king than the lawful child of lowlier parents.  Born in the Castle of Semeac, on the banks of the Garonne, the fame of two fair ancestresses, Corisande and Menadame, had entitled the family of De Grammont to expect in each successive member an inheritance of beauty.  Wit, courage, good nature, a charming address, and boundless assurance, were the heritage of Philibert de Grammont.  Beauty was not in his possession; good nature, a more popular quality, he had in abundance: 

    ’His wit to scandal never stooping,
     His mirth ne’er to buffoonery drooping.’

As Philibert grew up, the two aristocratic professions of France were presented for his choice:  the army, or the church.  Neither of these vocations constitutes now the ambition of the high-born in France:  the church, to a certain extent, retains its prestige, but the army, ever since officers have risen from the ranks, does not comprise the same class of men as in England.  In the reign of Louis XIII., when De Grammont lived it was otherwise.  All political power was vested in the church.  Richelieu was, to all purposes, the ruler of France, the dictator of Europe; and, with regard to the church, great men, at the head of military affairs, were daily proving to the world, how much intelligence could effect with a small numerical power.  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.’