70 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
published by his nephew in 1830, entitled “Reminiscences of Henry Angelo,”
we are made acquainted with the fact of his having an elder brother of the same
profession, and who resided principally in London.
In these reminiscences Angelo the younger speaks very highly of his father,
Dorninico Angelo Malevolti Tremamondo-not only was he the best “ master
of equitation,” but one of the most “scientific swordsmen of the day‘;’’ and so
well proportioned in lith and limb, as to be equally fitted for a “ gallant in love
or a hero in war.”
Angelo the elder was a native of Leghorn. His father, being a wealthy merchant
there, intended him for the counting-house, but the ledger had no charms
for the handsome Tremamondo, who determined to push his fortune by other
means. He accordingly visited various parts of the Continent, and soon found
his way to Paris, at that time, if not now, the gayest and most polite city in the
world ; and so effectually did Tremamondo cultivate every external accomplishment,
that he became proverbially one of the most elegant men of the age,
‘( the gayest of the gay.”
Not long before he left Paris, a public fencing-match took place at a celebrated
hotel, at which were present the most renowned professors and amateurs
of the science. Tremamondo was persuaded by the Duc de Nivernois’ to try
his skill. No sooner had he entered the lists than a celebrated English beauty,
Miss Margaret Woffington, the well-known actress, presented him with a bouquet
of roses, which, as we are told, he placed on his breast with the most
exquisite gallantry, and, addressing the other knights of the sword, exclaimed,
(( This will I protect against all opposers.” Tremamondo fenced with the best
of them, but none could disturb a single leaf of his bouquet.
While in Paris, Tremamondo had formed an acquaintance with a French
officer, who boasted much of his fencing abilities. Motives of jealousy induced
him to waylay our hero one night, who happened to be only armed with a couteazc
de chasse, a small sword usually worn in undress. Tremamondo, acting on the
defensive for some time, at last made a home-thrust at the officer, who fell,
and there was every reason to think he was mortally wounded. The officer
was taken home. Next day Tremamondo visited him, and, although he
found him in bed gasping, he did not think there was enough of alteration in
the officer’s countenance for so serious an injury. He immediately suspected
there had been deception, and, throwing the bed-clothes suddenly off, discovered
the officer’s cotte de maille. The officer, ashamed at his cowardly conduct, and
dreading the stigma, implored secrecy and for,w’ veness.
Shortly after our hero’s arrival in London, he married Miss Masters, whose
father had commanded the Chester man-of-war. About the year 1758 he was
engaged by the Princess Dowager of Wales “to teach the young princes the
The Duc de Nivernois was afterwards ambassador in England from the Court of France. Hume
the historian, in a letter dated the 6th October 1763, to Dr. Blair, respecting Ossian’s Poems, mentions
the Duc as desirous of obtaining some proofs of their authenticity, which he proposed to lay before
the Acadhie de Belles Lettres at Paris.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 71
use of the small-sword, and subsequently, to teach them to ride in the
menage.”-(‘ During this time,” continues Angelo the younger, ‘‘ my father
frequently took me thither, when he attended his royal pupils, and I rarely came
away without a pocketful of sweetmeats.” At an interview with the King, on
which occasion Tremamondo displayed the various styles of riding on his favourite
horse Monarch, among others that of riding the “great horse,” his Majesty
was pleased to declare that Angelo was the most elegant horseman of his day ;
and it was in consequence of this interview that the King persuaded Mr. West,
the celebrated artist, when he was commissioned to paint the picture of the
“Battle of the Boyne,” to make a study of Tremamondo for the equestrian figure
of King William. He also sat to the sculptor for the statue of King William,
subsequently set up in Merrion Square, Dublin.
While in London, Tremamondo was challenged to a trial of skill with a Dr.
Keys, reputed the most expert fencer in Ireland. The scene of action was in
an apartment of the Thatched House Tavern, where many ladies and gentlemen
were present. When Tremamondo entered, arm-in-arm with his patron, Lord
Pembroke, he found the Doctor without his coat and waistcoat, his shirt sleeves
tucked up, and displaying a pair of brawny arms-the Doctor being a tall
athletic figure. After the Doctor had swallowed a bumper of Cognac he began
the attack with great violence. Tremamondo acted for some time on the defensive,
with all the grace and elegance for which he was renowned, and after
having planted a dozen palpable hits on the breast of his enraged antagonist, he
made his bow to the ladies, and retired amid the plaudits of the spectators.
Angelo the younger relates another anecdote of his father, which he calls
“ a fencing-master’s quarrel.” Shortly after Tremamondo’s appointment as
fencing-master to the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York, a Mr. Redman,
an Irishman, who had been formerly patronised by the royal family, was continually
abusing *Tremamondo for a foreigner, and for having supplanted him.
They met one day in the Haymarket, where words ensued, and then blows-the
Irishman with a shillelah, and the Italian with a cane. On this occasion also,
Tremamondo was victorious, having broken his opponent’s head ; but next day,
to wipe off the disgrace of having fought like porters, he challenged his rival to
meet him with swords, but Redman answered that he would put him in (‘ the
Crown Office,” and immediately entered an action against him in the King’s
Bench, which ended in Tremamondo having to pay 2100 damages and $90
costs.
We
find little more recorded of him than that he was acquainted with almost all the
celebrated characters of his day, whether of the ‘‘ sock and buskin,” or the gymnastic
(( art of equitation,” He was generous in the extreme, and Angelo the
younger had an opportunity at his father’s well-replenished table of forming a
most extensive and interesting acquaintance.
Old Dominico died at Eton in 1802, aged eighty-six, aid was so much in possession
of his faculties that he gave a lesson in fencing the day before his death.
So much for the gallant Dominico Angelo Malevolti Tremamondo.
