Among the many children sent to France for education during the Civil War and Commonwealth were several future literary men. Both Vanbrugh and Wycherley were brought up in this way. At the age of fifteen Wycherley was "sent for education to the Western parts of France, either to Saintonges or the Angoumois. His abode there was either upon the Banks of the Charente, or very little remov'd from it. And he had there the Happiness to be in the neighbourhood of one of the most accomplish'd Ladies of the Court of France, Mme. de Montausier, whom Voiture has made famous by several very ingenious letters, the most of which were writ to her when she was a Maid, and call'd Mlle. de Rambouillet. I have heard Mr. Wycherley say he was often admitted to the Conversation of that lady, who us'd to call him the Little Hugenot: and that young as he was, he was equally pleased with the Beauty of her Mind, and with the Graces of her person."[959]
One of the young royalists who received his education in France during the Commonwealth so completely mastered the French language that he gained an important place among French men of letters: the famous Anthony Hamilton, the author of short stories in French[960]—masterpieces in the light vein[961]—and of the well-known life of his gallant brother-in-law, the Comte de Grammont, which gives a vivid picture of the life at the Court of Charles II. Hamilton has been placed second only to Voltaire as a representative of the esprit français.[962]
At the Restoration, Hamilton returned to England with the rest of the English emigrants, together with a considerable number of Frenchmen who had attached themselves to the English Court. He was followed two years later by the hero of his Mémoires,[963] the Comte de Grammont, who pronounced the English Court so like that of France in manners and conversation that he could hardly realize he was in another country.[964] French was the language freely used by the English emigrants on their return to London, and by others in imitation of them. "French is the most in use," wrote William Higford in the year of the Restoration, "a most sweet tongue called the Woman's tongue, and as I think for the address from the servant to the mistress, and from the servant to the soveraigne, there is no sweeter nor more civil."[965] The use of the French language was spreading all over Europe, but nowhere was it so popular as in England: "indeed it is most alamode and best pleases the ladies and we cannot deny but Messieurs of France are excellent wits."[966]
The presence of so many of these messieurs in London intensified the already strong French atmosphere. Several famous names occur in the list of French ladies and gentlemen who took up their abode in England at this time. Shortly before De Grammont, St. Evremond had arrived in England, where he spent over thirty years, and died in 1703. Both played important parts in the social life of the time. De Grammont especially was very popular. FRENCH COURTIERS IN LONDONHe received a warm welcome at Court, where he met many old friends and was overwhelmed with hospitality; to make an engagement with him it was necessary to see him a fortnight beforehand. He himself added to the Court festivities by giving French entertainments in the Parisian style.
At the numerous festivities held in honour of De Grammont, St. Evremond[967] was almost invariably one of the guests. He soon became the centre of a coterie, half English and half French, including his literary companion the Dutchman Vossius, Canon of Windsor, the French doctor Le Fèvre, professor of chemistry to Charles II.,[968] and the learned Huguenot Henri Justel, who had charge of the royal library at St. James's. What contributed most to reconcile St. Evremond to his life in England, however, was the arrival of Hortense Mancini, Duchesse de Mazarin, niece of the cardinal. The French ambassador Courtin said England was the refuge of French wives who had quarrelled with their husbands, and the Duchesse was one of these.[969] In her salon St. Evremond met the most distinguished Englishmen and foreign ministers of the day. He saw her daily, and she inspired much of his best work. There, too, met French Catholics, Huguenots, and Englishmen, free from all religious prejudice, and talked of the subjects which interested them most. Another of Mazarin's nieces, the Duchesse de Bouillon,[970] was also in London for a time, and received in her salon Waller, St. Evremond, and others; at one time there was a possibility of La Fontaine joining her circle. La Fontaine seems to have felt some interest in England and the English, who, he says,
pensent profondément;
Leur esprit, en cela, suit leur tempérament,
Creusant dans les sujets, et forts d'expériences,
Ils étendent partout l'empire des sciences.
To Mrs. Harvey, sister of Lord Montagu and friend of the Duchess of Mazarin, he dedicated his fable Le Renard Anglais.
Both St. Evremond and the Duchess of Mazarin ended their days in England.[971] St. Evremond enjoyed the favour of three English kings. Charles II. gave him a pension, and when William III. dined with one of his courtiers, he is said to have always stipulated that the French writer should be of the party, as he took great delight in his conversation. Though St. Evremond received permission in 1689 to return to his native land, he did not avail himself of the offer, preferring to remain in the midst of his English friends, who were accustomed to his ways and manners and his peculiarities.[972] But during the whole of his thirty years' stay in England he made no attempt to speak English. French was the language in which he and the rest of his countrymen carried on their daily intercourse with their hosts.
Pepys also refers frequently to the Frenchmen he met in London.[973] On one occasion at the Cockpit his attention was diverted from the stage by a group of loquacious Frenchmen in a box, who, not understanding English, were amusing themselves by asking a pretty lady, who knew both languages, what the actors said. "Lord! what sport they made!" says Pepys. On another occasion at Whitehall he met a very communicative Frenchman with one eye, who shared a coach with him, and told him the history of his own life "without asking."
Covent Garden, we are told, was the favourite resort of the French residents, "nearer the Court, than the Exchange."[974] Their presence, however, was not confined to Court circles; for the French were beginning to take an interest in England and to visit the country,[975] although, as yet, their curiosity had not extended to the language. In a few cases English was studied. Mauger even tells us that several of his contemporaries learnt it in France. It is certain that some employed the services of the French teachers of London, who were willing to teach their newly acquired language to their countrymen; for this purpose the practice of attaching English grammars to French ones—a combination first instituted by Mauger, who urged the French and English to FRENCH VALETS AND "FEMMES DE CHAMBRE"avail themselves of this opportunity of exchanging lessons—became more and more common as the seventeenth century drew to its close. In the meanwhile guide-books[976] and relations of travel in England appeared. The writer of one of these, M. Payen,[977] remarks on the great number of strangers, especially Frenchmen, in London.[978] At the time of the Restoration, however, the chief significance of their presence lies in the need they created for the English to speak French.