# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Genlis, Stephanie Felicite, Countess de

Layout 2
GENLIS, STEPHANIE FELICITE, COUNTESS DE,
Was born near Autun, in Burgundy, in 1746. Her maiden name was Ducrest de St. Aubin. Though of a good family, she had no fortune: but her beauty, accomplishments, and skill on the harp, introduced her into the highest circles, where she had the opportunity of cultivating her mind and improving her knowledge of the world. She received many offers of marriage, and accepted the Count de Genlis, who, before he saw her, had fallen in love with her from reading one of her letters. The union was not a happy one; and the tongue of scandal did not spare the character of Madame de Grenlis. By this marriage, however, she was allied to Madame Montesson, who was privately married to the Duke d'Orleans; and thus it happened that Madame de Genlis was chosen by the Duke de Chartres as the governess of his children. She conducted the education of these children entirely herself, and wrote her first works for their instruction. She produced in rapid succession "Adele and Theodore;" "The Tales of the Castle;" The Theatre of Education;" and "The Annals of Virtue;" all of which were much praised. Though she was a warm friend to the revolution, her connexion with the Duke d'Orleans rendered her so unpopular, that, in 1793, she was compelled to leave France.
She relates herself, in her "Précis de ma Cenduite," that Petion conducted her to London, that she might meet with no obstructions to her journey. About the time of the September massacres, 1792, the Duke of Orleans recalled her to Paris. As the governess of his daughter, the young Duchess of Orleans, and the friend and confidant of the Duke, she had become suspected. She therefore retired, with the princess, to Toumay, where she married her adopted daughter, the beautiful Pamela, to Lord Fitzgerald. Here she saw General Dumouriez, and followed him to St. Amand. Not approving of the plan of the General, (who had the sons of the Duke of Orleans with him,) to march to Paris and overthrow the republic, she retired with the princess to Switzerland, in 1793, where they lived in a convent at Bremgarten, a few miles from Zurich.
The daughter of the Duke of Orleans having at length gone to join her aunt, the Princess of Condé, at Friburg, Madame de Genlis ​retired with her foster-daughter, Henrietta Sercy, who was now alone left to her, to Altona. This was in 1794, and there, in monastic solitude, this once gay and brilliant woman devoted herself entirely to literature. She wrote about this time a novel, "The Chevaliers du Lygne," printed in Hamburg, 1795, which contains many republican expressions and very free descriptions. It was afterwards republished in Paris, but with many alterations. The same year, (1795,) Madame de Genlis wrote a sort of autobiography, which is amusing, but not very reliable. Between her own vanity and the license usually granted to French vivacity and sentiment, the portrait she has drawn of herself is very highly coloured and flattering. At the close of this work is a rather remarkable letter to her eldest pupil, Louis Philippe, in which she exhorts him not to accept the crown of France, even though it should be offered him, because the French republic seemed to rest upon moral and just foundations.
When Napoleon was placed at the head of the government, Madame de Genlis returned to France, and received from him a house; and in 1805, a pension of six thousand francs. He ever treated her with respect and favour; and she corresponded with him. But on the return of the Bourbons, she forgot her obligations to the Emperor, and welcomed the restoration of her early friends. This was not strange; but she even stooped to join in the detraction of the exiled Corsican, which was not creditable to her heart or mind.
For the last thirty years of her life, her inexhaustible genius continued to pour forth a great variety of works. The whole number of her productions consists of nearly one hundred volumes, and are characterized by great imagination, and purity of style. She died at Paris, in December, 1830.