1768, her Royal Highness Maria Carolina || libertinism. "They are a people," says a left Vienna for the kingdom of Naples,|| celebrated writer, "who indulge more in accompanied by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Leopold, and his wife, the Grand Duchess. Ferdinand met the royal party at Casserta, where he had a palace to receive them. Casserta is about sixteen miles from Naples.

The young Princess had been instructed by her mother in the manner in which it would be decorous for her to receive her husband. The King of Naples, therefore, no sooner advanced to salute his destined bride, than she immediately fell on her knees, and, in a kind of Oriental supplica- || tion of a husband's love, bowed her face to the ground. The King was confounded; he raised her up, but the embarrassment of both parties was not speedily got over. The marriage was immediately celebrated; and Casserta was, for some time, a scene of gaiety and hospitality.

the luxuries and forbidden pleasures of life, than any other nation in Europe; and yet," he adds, "they will sin with the moroseness of a hermit, and the gravity of a philosopher. Pleasure they have educed to a business; and, like every other employment, they conceive it must be followed with a steady and serious temperament of mind, or its objects can never be obtained."

The Queen, undoubtedly, very much improved the general manners of the Neapolitan Court. She made Naples, particularly, pleasant to all strangers; the slightest introduction was sufficient, and the reception was always in proportion to the merits of the individual. A constant intercourse was kept up with France, in which kingdom, her sister, the unfortunate Maria Antoinette, was adored as a divinity.

She had been married four years, when she was brought to bed of a daughter.From that period her Majesty's family increased yearly, and she at length produced sixteen children to the King of Naples. She had four daughters before she had one son. Her eldest daughter was married to the present Emperor of Germany; she died, in child-bed, a few weeks since.

It is necessary that we should here pass over a considerable interval. The King and Queen had been married four years without having any family. His Majesty, and all the priests in the kingdom, put up their prayers, night and morning, to Heaven, for an heir to the throne of Naples. Ferdinand was so desirous of posterity, that he would frequently break out into a kind of angry expostulation upon this subject; and one day, in conversation In the delightful climate of Naples, one with Sir William Hamilton, he observed, of the chief pleasures of the Court was in that there were three miracles which seemed short expeditions to the surrounding to occur in his reign. Upon being intercountry, in which they were generally rogated what they were, he replied," I || accompanied by the nobility and foreign am young, and have no children." This ministers resident at Naples. The year is the first.-The second is, "The Jesuits was mostly divided in the following manare dissolved, and there is no finding ner-On the fourth of November the where they have concealed their bordes." King and Queen usually came to Naples, And my last and greatest prodigy yet re- where they continued during the Carnival, mains,-"Tanucci, my minister, is old, in the months of January and February. and will never die." In the spring they removed to Casserta. The summer was again passed at Naples, on account of the fine air of the sea; and the autumn was always spent at Portici.

The Queen of Naples had been extremely well educated, and had imbibed a great deal of the harmless levity and cheerfulness of the French manners, in the Austrian Court. The Neapolitans are naturally solemn and austere even in their

[To be continued.]

MEMOIRS OF MADAME DE GENLIS.

Such were the occupations of Madame de Genlis, till the commencement of a revolution, so pregnant with horror, not only to her native land but to a great portion of the civilized world. On the convocation of the States-General, in 1789, foreseeing that the circumstances of the times were likely to be productive of terrible con

STEPHANIE FELICITE DUCREST, sister' of the Marquis Ducrest, chancellor of the late Duke of Orleans, was born in the province of Burgundy, about the year 1744, and was married before she had attained the age of fifteen to Brulart, Count From her de Genlis and Marquis de Sillery. entrance into the world, she was distinguished by an agreeable person, pleasing accomplish-vulsions in the state, she was anxious to withdraw ments, and a shrewd observation of mankind. It from the scene of action, and formed the resolu was these qualifications that procured her the tion of removing with her pupils to Nice. From acquaintance and the friendship of some of the this measure, sanctioned by their relatives, she most distinguished geniuses, who, thirty years was diverted by the representation, that it would ago, like brilliant constellations illumined the weaken the interest of the house of Orleans, and horizon of France. From the virtuous Buffon, she was so strongly attached to her pupils, that no consideration of personal advantage or security in particular, she experienced an affection that could induce her to abandon them." I had might almost be denominated parental. educated the young princes," says she," without any pecuniary reward, or receiving any appointment on that account; and having been in possession of a considerable hereditary fortune for two years, I might have been perfectly independent had I wished it; but I loved the children as if they had been my own. I could not prevail upon myself to quit them; the eldest had yet two years to spend with me; to have left him at this period, would have been at once to sacrifice his education, and the work of so many years.— I remained.”

Notwithstanding her rank and her talents, which so well qualified her to shine in the sphere of fashionable life, her love of study induced her to shun the courtly circle and the haunts of dissipation, that she might devote herself entirely to the cultivation of the arts and sciences. One who was so well acquainted with the value of mental acquirements, could not be indifferent on that subject, with regard to her offspring. Accordingly, at the age of thirty years, an age at which most females of her rank and pretensions are desirous only of figuring in the fashionable world, Madame (then the Countess) de Genlis shut herself up in the convent of Bellechasse, that she might complete the education of her daughters, and initiate in the rudiments of science, infants who were still in their cradles.

She, however obtained a promise, that she should be allowed to visit England, when the constitution should be settled.

Accordingly, in October, 1791, she set out with Mademoiselle d'Orleans and two other children, and arrived without accident in England. Having first spent three months in Bath, they repaired to Bury, and there resided three quarters of a year. From this place they made several excursions to different parts of England, during the summer of 1792. On their return from Derbyshire, in the beginning of September, she found a letter waiting for her from M. d'Orleans, containing a positive injunction to return im

These were the children of the late Duke of Orleans, who had committed to her the super intendance of their education. How well qualified she was for the office, her numerous works on that subject sufficiently attest. It was during the period of her retirement at Bellechasse, a period of fifteen years, that she gave to the world those works which have placed her in the rank of the most distinguished modern writers. The "Theatre of Education;" "Adelaide and Theo-mediately to Paris, on account of the decrees at dore;" "Annals of Virtue;" "The Tales of the Castle;" and other works, amounting in the whole to twenty two volumes, successively issued from her indefatigable pen. The object of all these publications was the same. To instruct the minds and at the same time to improve the hearts of youth, by works calculated to interest and amuse, was the laudable aim of Madame de Genlis; and to this she devoted every moment of leisure left her by the important duties of an office which she conscientiously discharged.

that moment passing against emigrants. No sooner had Madame de Genlis reached Paris, than she delivered her charge into the hands of their father, and immediately resigned her place; but the day after their arrival they were all declared emigrants, and received orders to leave Paris in less than forty-eight hours, and repair to a foreign country.

"While we were thus treated," says Madame de Genlis, "the Convention received intelligence of the taking of Namur by my son-in-law, M. de

Valence; a few days before they had applauded || self, when he knew that he was included in the

those relations which gave an account of the bebaviour of my pupils, the two sons of M. d'Orleans, who distinguished themselves in the army by their valour. My unfortunate husband, after much useless labour, successfully executed an important mission with his usual ability. On his return from this mission, he was to have waited for me at Calais, and we were to have returned together. Having been absent from Paris two months, he was imperfectly acquainted with the last decrees concerning emigrants; but he knew that a terrible change had taken place in the general spirit of the Convention. O that he had yielded to my earnest intreaties! He was, however, determined to remain at his post, and he defended to the last moment the rights of humanity and justice !"

proscription of the sanguinary Robespierre, yet he voluntarily delivered himself up to prison, whence he was very soon conducted to the scaffold.

On the day of the King's death, M. de Sillery wrote to his wife, desiring her to take care of herself, to leave Flanders, and to retire either to Ireland or Switzerland. With this advice she could not immediately comply, on account of the illness of Mademoiselle d'Orleans.

From Tournay, Madame de Genlis went to Bremgarten, where, through the interest of M. Montesquieu, she obtained an asylum for herself, her niece, and Mademoiselle d'Orleans, in the Convent of St. Clare; here they passed for an Irish family, whom the dangers of war deterred from going home to their native country.

As she was denied repose in her own country, Madame de Genlis wished to return to England; but M. d'Orleans would not allow his daughter to go thither. He begged her to accompany her pupil into Flanders, which was not then under the dominion of France. He added, that he only wished her to conduct his daughter to Tournay,pened during this period. there to remain with her three weeks or a month, till he could find a person to supply her place. || On these conditions, Madame de Genlis consented to accompany the young lady, not as a governess, but as a friend.

At Bremgarten Madame de Genlis passed a year in the greatest retirement, paying the same attention as ever to the education and the happiness of her beloved pupil, from whom she concealed the tragical fate of her father, which hap

On her arrival at Tournay, she prepared for her departure for England. Three weeks afterwards, she gave in marriage her pupil, and adopted daughter, Pamela, to Lord Edward Fitzgerald; but as the person promised by M. d'Orleans had not yet arrived, she was prevented from proceeding with them to England as she had intended.

About a month after their departure, Madame de Genlis was apprized of the dreadful catastrophe which terminated the life of Louis XVI. and on this occasion she received a letter from her husband, M. de Sillery, which began in these words:" I send you my opinion in print; you will see, that in voting for the confinement of the king during the war, I frankly say that he merits not death, and that we have no right to judge him. I have followed the dictates of my conscience, and I know well that this opinion, announced so freely, is in fact the decree of my own death." In answer to this letter, she wrote bý a trusty messenger, again entreating him to leave France; but he repeated his former declaration, that he would never desert it; adding, that every thing he saw made him more and more indifferent about a life which the misfortunes

of his country rendered odious to him. He therefore remained, though he might have fled; and though he could easily have concealed him

Having come to the resolution of quitting Bremgarten, her first care was to provide another asylum for Mademoiselle d'Orleans. She prevailed on that young lady to write to her uncle, the Duke of Modena, to entreat that he would receive her in his territories; but he replied, that he was prevented by political reasons from complying with her request. She learned soon afterwards, that the aunt of Mademoiselle d'Orleans, the Princess of Conti, resided in Switzerland, and was then at Friburg. To her she then persuaded her pupil to apply, and the princess promised at the end of a month to take her niece under her protection.

The moment at length arrived at which she was to part with her beloved pupil, for whose sake she had subjected herself to so many difficulties and dangers. The manner in which this separation is related by Madame de Genlis, is too honor. able to the feelings of her heart to be omitted in this account. "The Countess of Pons St. Maurice, now arrived from the Princess of Conti, to carry away Mademoiselle d'Orleans. I knew the day before her arrival, that she would be with us the following morning, but I had concealed it from Mademoiselle d'Orleans, who thought she had yet a fortnight to pass with me. When she went to bed, I embraced her in the anguish of my heart, as I was determined to avoid bidding her adieu, and consequently this would be the last time I should see her. I kept her half an hour upon my knees, and I never felt before how much I loved her. Next day, which was the 11th of May, a day I shall never forget, I did not

open the shutters, but dressed myself without | Hamburgh, in a farm, of which M. de Valence

me.

undertook the management. Here she led a life of the utmost tranquillity and retirement, and resumed those literary pursuits which had experienced such a long interruption. In this retreat she composed or completed several works, principally novels; amongst which may be enumerated, Rush Vows, The Rival Mothers, The Little Emigrants, and The Knights of the Swan. Here, likewise, she published an account of her conduct since the revolution, in answer to the calumnies which had been circulated against her.

Madame de Genlis continued to enjoy the sweets of retirement at Silk, till, in the year 1800, she was permitted by the French Government to return to her native country, to which she was still bound by the ties of maternal affection. She flew to the embraces of her daughter, her grand-children, and the friends who still remained true to her; and since that period she has resided at Paris. Having lost the whole of her ample property by the revolution, she now subsists by the honourable exercise of those talents, which it has been one of the principal objects of her life to cultivate and to improve.

any noise, and found Madame de Pons waiting for me in the parlour. I gave her every necessary direction for the treatment of Mademoiselle d'Orleans. She already knew that the unfortunate young lady was ignorant of her father's death, and I convinced her of the impropriety of acquainting her with it for some time to come. After this conversation I shut myself up in my chamber, and sent my niece to tell Mademoiselle d'Orleans, that as I knew Madame de Pons would arrive in the morning, I had set out at break of day and had gone to the fir-wood, about a mile from Bremgarten, with only one servant. The grief of Mademoiselle d'Orleans was inexpressible. Mine was excessive; it is impossible for me to describe it. In about an hour I heard her come down stairs; she stopped at my door, the key of which she was told I had carried with I heard her sobbing violently. Certain that she was going to leave me for ever, I was ten times tempted to open my door that I might see her once more, that I might clasp herin my arms, and mingle my tears with hers. But she could not have supported such a scene. She went from my door-she departed. I heard the carriage set Many attempts have been made by anonymous off--none but a mother can conceive my feelings libellers, probably jealous of her fame, to blacken at that moment.-Beloved child! who was enthe moral character of Madame de Genlistrusted to my care at the age of eleven months, Whatever may be her failings-and what mortal and during sixteen years and a half, had scarcely is without them?-this we may, at least venture ever been out of my sight but twice; on one to assert, that her total want of ambition; her occasion for a month, and on another for a fort-disregard of private interest; the goodness of her night; who never would quit me during so many heart, of which many striking traits may be adyears; who, notwithstanding her youth, was induced; her exemplary attention to the duties of truth my friend; from whom I kept nothing secret, and who has given me so many proofs of her gratitude and of her love! I shall ever cherish towards her the sentiments of the tenderest of mothers; the cares of which office I have already had, and the feelings of which I shall ever retain."

Notwithstanding the sincere attachment, which Madame de Genlis had conceived for the nuns of Bremgarten, the departure of her pupil, which she so pathetically describes, rendered the convent completely odious to her. She accordingly made preparations for leaving it with her niece, the only one of her pupils who now remained. They set out on the 19th of May, 1794, and first repaired to Holland, where she left her niece in safe and virtuous hands, and then proceeded to Altona.

After a residence of nine months at Altona, where she was perfectly unknown, Madame de Genlis left that place, and at Hamburgh joined her niece and her son-in-law, M. de Valence. With them she settled in the duchy of Holstein, at the village of Silk, about fifteen miles from

the important office confided to her; the mater nal attachment she manifested to her pupils ; and her invariable solicitude for the promotion of virtue and consequently of human happiness, are qualities which would do honour to any character, and establish a powerful claim to universal admiration and respect.

As a writer, Madame de Genlis has undoubtedly displayed abilities of the very first order, in those departments which she has particularly chosen. Her works for youth are alike fascinating and instructive; they inculcate the principles of the purest morality; they breathe the sentiments of the most rational picty, and lead the juvenile mind, in a manner that is irresist ibly attractive, to the love and practice of every social virtue. It cannot then be surprising, that they should be read and admired in every country to which the knowledge of letters has penetrated; and that their author should be placed in the rank of those writers who, by their talents, have conferred the most signal benefits on mankind.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

THE GOLDEN MIRROR;

OR,

THE KINGS OF SHESHIAN :

A TRUE HISTORY, TRANSLATED FROM THE SHESHIANESE.

[Continued from Page 118 ]

Danishmende answered as became an humble slave, and thus proceeded with his narrative:

THE morality of thy-how is he called? is || herself, who loves variety, has made among an excellent morality, said the Sultan to Danish-mankind. The attachment to our constitution, mende; I have slept so soundly at it! But now and reverence towards the aged, whom we regard I should esteem it a favour if, as I have no in- as the preservers of it, are sufficient for the mainclination to sleep, thou would bring thy story to tenance of tranquillity and order among us, the a.conclusion, without any more morality. fruit of harmonious principles and inclinations. We consider ourselves all as one sole family, and the petty misunderstandings that may arise among us are the quarrels of lovers, or like the transient differences of affectionate children. Our festivals are the only assizes we know; our whole nation then assembles before the temple of the Graces, and under their eyes all causes are I decided by our elders, and ali common covenants made.

"These, said the old man, putting up his tablets are the maxims by which we live; we imbibe them, as it were, with our mother's milk, and by example and habit they would be a second nature to us of themselves, even if they were not so perfectly conformable to nature as they are. Can you any longer be astonished that, at the age of fourscore, I am still capable of partaking in the pleasures of life? that my heart and my senses are still open to every gentle emotion; that my eyes still love to dwell on beautiful forms; and that, though nature has denied to my age some particular gratifications, which I neither despise nor miss, I am satisfied with the enjoyment of those which she has left ine; in short, that the last stage of my life is like the evening of a fine day, and at least in this particular I re-sibility. Agriculture employs the men from the semble the sage, who (to repeat the expression of our lawgiver) drinks of the cup of pleasure to the dregs: and I swear by this enlightening eye of nature, our common parent, that to my latest breath, if I have but the strength for it, I will drain the last drop from the dregs themselves!

"We feed and clothe ourselves with our own products, and the few things we want we receive from the neighbouring bedouins in exchange for our superfluities. The care of the flocks and herds is consigned to our youth; from the twelfth to the eighteenth year all our lads are shepherds, and all our maidens shepherdesses; for this seemed to the wise Psammis to be the natural employment of the age of passion and nicer sen→

eighteenth to the sixtieth year; and gardening is left to the aged, who are relieved of its toilsome labours by the youths. The culture of silk, the weaving of that and cotton, the nurture of flowers, and the whole business of housekeeping belong to our wives and daughters. Each family lives together so long as the common dwel ling is capacious enough to hold them, and the paternal estate sufficient to maintain them; when these will no longer suffice, a young colony is instituted, which settles in a neighbouring vale. For the Arabs (whose protection we purchase by a moderate tribute, and who seem to respect d nature the more in us as it would be of little benefit to them to exterminate us) have made over to us a larger parcel of land than we can Our lawpeople in several centuries to come. giver judged, with good reason, that it was I h

"The old man said this with such an agreeable vivacity, that the emir was obliged to smile; but there was too much dissatisfaction and envy lurking under this smile to be of any advantage to his countenance in the sight of a daughter of nature. "The remainder of our system of legislation, added the old man, which concerns our police, I had better reduce to your comprehension by description of our habits of life and our manners. Our little nation, which consists of about five hundred families, lives in a perfect equality, as we need no other distinction than what nature No. XVII. Vol. II.