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GENLIS

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 596 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GENLIS , STEPHANIE-FELICITE DU See also:

CREST DE SAINTAUBIN, COMTESSE DE (1746-1830), See also:French writer and educator, was See also:born of a See also:noble but impoverished Burgundian See also:family, at Champcery, near See also:Autun, on the 25th of See also:January 1746. When six years of See also:age she was received as a See also:canoness into the noble See also:chapter of Alix; near See also:Lyons, with the See also:title of Madame la Comtesse de Laney, taken from the See also:town of See also:Bourbon-Lancy. Her entire See also:education, however, was conducted at See also:home. In 1758, in See also:Paris, her skill as a harpist and her vivacious wit speedily attracted admiration. In her sixteenth See also:year she was married to See also:Charles Brulart de Genlis, a See also:colonel of grenadiers, who afterwards became See also:marquis de Sillery, but this was not allowed to interfere with her determination to remedy her incomplete education, and to satisfy a See also:taste for acquiring and imparting knowledge. Some years later, through the See also:influence of her aunt, Madame de See also:Montesson, who had been clandestinely married to the See also:duke of See also:Orleans, she entered the Palais Royal as See also:lady-in-waiting to the duchess of See also:Chartres (1770). She acted with See also:great See also:energy and zeal as governess to the daughters of the family, and was in 1781 1 See also:Frederick the Great, iv. iii. 1407. to See also:man, his See also:place being taken by a See also:Juno (cp. Juno See also:Lucina, the goddess of childbirth) in the See also:case of See also:women. The male and See also:female spirit may thus be distinguished respectively as the See also:protector of See also:generation and of parturition (tutela generandi, pariendi), although the female appears less prominent. It is the See also:genius of the paterfamilias that keeps the See also:marriage See also:bed, named after him lectus genialis and dedicated to him, under his See also:special See also:protection.

The genius of a man, as his higher intellectual self, accompanies him from the See also:

cradle to the See also:grave. In many ways he exercises a decisive influence on the man's See also:character and mode of See also:life (See also:Horace, Epistles, ii. 2. 187). The responsibility for happiness or unhappiness, See also:good or See also:bad See also:fortune, See also:lay with. the genius; but this does not suppose the existence of two genii for man, the one good and. the other bad (ayaOo5aip,wv, xaKOBaLpaw), an See also:idea borrowed from the See also:Greek philosophers. The See also:Roman genius, representing man's natural optimism, always endeavoured to See also:guide him to happiness; that man was intended to enjoy life is shown by the fact than the Roman spoke of indulging or See also:cheating his genius of his due according as he enjoyed himself or failed to do so, when he had the opportunity. A man's birthday was naturally a suitable occasion for honouring his genius, and on that occasion offerings of See also:incense, See also:wine, garlands, and cakes were made (See also:Tibullus ii. 2; See also:Ovid, Tristia, Iu. 13. 18). As the representative of a man's higher self and participating in a divine nature, the genius could be sworn by, and a See also:person could take an See also:oath by his own or some one else's genius. When under Greek influence the Roman idea of the gods became more and more anthropomorphized, a genius was assigned to them, not however as a distinct See also:personality.

Thus we hear of the genius of See also:

Jupiter (Jovis Genio, C.I.L. 603), See also:Mars, Juno, See also:Pluto, See also:Priapus. In a more extended sense the genius is also the generator and preserver of human society, as manifested in the family, corporate unions, the See also:city, and the See also:state generally. Thus, the genius publicus Populi Romani—probably distinct from the genius Urbis Romae, to whom an old See also:shield on the Capitol was dedicated, with an inscription expressing doubt as to the See also:sex (Genio . . . sire mas sine femina)—stood in the See also:forum near the See also:temple of See also:Concord, in the See also:form of a bearded man, crowned with a diadem, and carrying a See also:cornu copiae and See also:sceptre. It frequently appears on the coins of See also:Trajan and See also:Hadrian. See also:Sacrifice, not confined to bloodless offerings like those of the genius of the See also:house, was offered to him annually on the 8th of See also:October. There were genii of cities, colonies, and even of provinces; of artists, business See also:people and craftsmen; of cooks, See also:gladiators, See also:standard-bearers, a See also:legion, a See also:century, and of the See also:army generally (genius sanctus castrorum peregrinorum totiusque exercitus). In imperial times the genius of See also:Augustus and of the reigning See also:emperor, as See also:part of the sacra of the imperial family, were publicly worshipped. It was a See also:common practice (often compulsory) to swear by the genius of the emperor, and any one who swore falsely was flogged. Localities also, such as theatres, See also:baths, stables, streets, and markets, had their own genius. The word thus gradually lost its See also:original meaning; the nameless See also:local genii became an expression for the universality of the divinum numen and were sometimes identified with the higher gods.

The local genius was usually represented by a snake, the See also:

symbol of the fruitfulness of the See also:earth and of perpetual youth. Hence See also:snakes were usually kept in houses (See also:Virgil, Aen. v. 95; See also:Persius i. 113), their See also:death in which was considered a bad See also:omen. The See also:personal genius usually appeared as a handsome youth in a toga, with See also:head sometimes veiled and sometimes See also:bare, carrying a drinking See also:cup and cornu copiae, frequently in the position of one offering sacrifice. See W. H. See also:Roscher, Lexikon der Mythologie, and See also:article by J. A. Hild in Daremberg and Saglio, Dictionnaire See also:des antiquites, where full references to See also:ancient and See also:modern authorities are given; L. See also:Preller, Romische Mythologie, 3rd ed., by H. See also:Jordan; G.

Wissowa, See also:

Religion and Kultur der Romer. Apart from the Latin use of the See also:term, the plural " genii " (with a singular " genie ") is used in See also:English, as See also:equivalent to the Arabic See also:jinn, for a class of See also:spirits, good or bad, such as are described, for instance, in The Arabian Nights. But " genius " itself has become the See also:regular English word for the highest appointed by the duke of Chartres to the responsible See also:office of gouverneur of his sons, a bold step which led to the resignation of all the tutors as well as to much social See also:scandal, though there is no See also:reason to suppose that the intellectual interests of her pupils suffered on that See also:account. The better to carry out her ingenious theories of education, she wrote several See also:works for their use, the best known of which are the See also:Theatre d'education (4 vols., 1779-178o), a collection of See also:short comedies for See also:young people, See also:Les Annales de la vertu (2 vols., 1781) and Adele et See also:Theodore (3 vols., 1782). Sainte-Beuve tells how she anticipated many modern methods of teaching. See also:History was taught with the help of magic See also:lantern slides and her pupils learnt See also:botany from a See also:practical botanist during their walks. In 1789 Madame de Genlis showed herself favourable to the Revolution, but the fall of the Girondins in 1793 compelled her to take See also:refuge in See also:Switzerland along with her See also:pupil Mademoiselle d'Orleans. In this year her See also:husband, the marquis de Sillery, from whom she had been separated since 1782, was guillotined. An " adopted " daughter, Pamela,' had been married to See also:Lord See also:Edward See also:Fitzgerald (q.v.) in the preceding See also:December. In 1794 Madame de Genlis fixed her See also:residence at See also:Berlin, but, having been expelled by the orders of See also:King Frederick See also:William, she afterwards settled in See also:Hamburg, where she supported herself for some years by See also:writing and See also:painting. After the revolution of 18th See also:Brumaire (1799) she was permitted to return to See also:France, and was received with favour by See also:Napoleon, who gave her apartments at the See also:arsenal, and afterwards assigned her a See also:pension of 6000 francs. During this See also:period she wrote largely, and produced, in addition to some See also:historical novels, her best See also:romance, Mademoiselle de Clermont (1802).

Madame de Genlis had lost her influence over her old pupil See also:

Louis Philippe, who visited her but seldom, although he allowed her a small pension. Her See also:government pension was discontinued by Louis XVIII., and she supported herself largely by her See also:pen. Her later years were occupied largely with See also:literary quarrels, notably with that which arose out of the publication of the Diners du See also:Baron d'See also:Holbach (1822), a See also:volume in which she set forth with a good See also:deal of sarcastic cleverness the intolerance, the fanaticism, and the eccentricities of the " philosophes " of the 18th century. She survived until the 31st of December 183o, and saw her former pupil, Louis Philippe, seated on the See also:throne of France. The numerous works of Madame de Genlis (which considerably exceed eighty), comprising See also:prose and poetical compositions on a vast variety of subjects and of various degrees of merit, owed much of their success to See also:adventitious causes which have See also:long ceased to operate. They are useful, however (especially the voluminous Memoires inedits sur le XVIII' siecle, to vols., 1825), as furnishing material for history. Most of her writings were translated into English almost as soon as they were published. A See also:list of her writings with useful notes is given by See also:Querard in La France litteraire. Start-See also:ling See also:light was thrown on her relations with the due de Chartres by the publication (1904) of her See also:correspondence with him in L'Idylle d'un gouverneur " by G. Maugras. See also Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du lundi, vol. Hi.; H.

See also:

Austin See also:Dobson, Four Frenchwomen (189o) ; L. Chabaud, Les Precurseurs du feminisme (1901); W. de Chabreul, Gouverneur de princes, 1737–183o (190o) ; and Lettres inedites a . . Casimir Baecker, 1802–1830 (1902), edited by See also:Henry Lapauze.

End of Article: GENLIS

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