to denote the Evil One, is only a modifica- | the institution of marriage, and the protion of the original Assyrian demon. duction of offspring amongst the evil spi "A monster, whose head, of fanciful and hideous form, had long pointed ears, and extended jaws armed with huge teeth. Its body was covered with feathers, its fore feet were those of a lion, its hind legs ended in the talons of an eagle, and it had spreading wings and the tail of a bird. "Behind this strange image was a winged man, whose dress consisted of an upper garment with a skirt of skin or fur, and an under robe fringed with tassels, and the sacred horned hat. A long sword was suspended from his shoulders by an embossed belt; sandals, armlets, and bracelets completed his attire. He grasped in each hand an object in the form of a double trident, resembling the thunderbolt of the Greek Jove, which he was in the attitude of hurling against the monster who turned furiously towards him."-p. 348. It is worthy of remark, that the Assyrians used the wood of the cedar in their royal and sacred edifices, and that they procured it from Lebanon. During this visit to the ruins, the traveller was attracted by the smell of that odoriferous wood, a beam of which had been used for fuel by the Arab work men. Fain would we linger with our author amongst the monuments of Nineveh, accompany him on his tour in Armenia and Kurdistan, decipher the, inscriptions on the cliffs by Lake Van, examine with him the rock sculptures of Bavian, and enter into the trials and troubles of the Nestorian Christians; but our consumption of paper warns us that the limits allotted to this article have already been exceeded, and with unwilling heart we must draw our remarks to a close. Since, however, the title of the work before us includes a visit to Babylon, we must not conclude without some allusion to the remains discovered in the desolate ruin which occupies the site once crowned by the lady of nations, the excellency of the Chaldees. Amongst other curious relics of early times, Mr. Layard discovered certain bowls which were used as charms. The bowls were covered internally with Hebrew inscriptions. The patient, afflicted with sickness, or otherwise exposed to evil influences, was directed to fill the bowl with liquid, and then to drain it dry; and it was believed that by so doing he appropriated to himself the benefits of the charm. We subjoin one of these singular compositions, advertising the reader that its authors believed in the existence of sex, rits. "This is a bill of divorce to the Devil, and to and to Satan, and to Nerig, and to Zachian, and to Abitur of the mountain, and to . . . and to the night monsters, commanding them to cease from Batnaium, and from the country of the north, and from all who are tormented by them therein. Behold, I make the counsels of these devils of no effect, and annul the power of the ruler of the night-monsters. I conjure you all, monsters... both male and female, to go forth. I conjure you and... by the sceptre of the powerful one who has power over the devils, and over the nightmonsters, to quit these habitations. Behold I now make you cease from troubling them, and make the influence of your presence cease in Beheran of Batnaium, and in their fields. In the same manner as the devils write bills of divorce and give them to their wives, and return not to them this written authority, and go forth and leave again, receive ye your bill of divorce, and take quickly, flee and depart from Beheran in Batnaium, in the name of the living... by the seal of the powerful one, and by this signet of authority. Then will there flow rivers of water in that land, and there the parched ground will be watered. Amen, Amen, Amen. Selah.”—pp. 512, 513. We ought not to omit mentioning that amongst the many interesting relics of antiquity discovered by our author after his return from Armenia, were sculptures representing the tortures inflicted on Israelitish captives for blaspheming the gods of Assyria. There are also many curious facts and careful deductions respecting the architecture, history, and religion of that ancient empire, in the latter pages of this volume, and some valuable suggestions regarding the light thrown by these discoveries on the arts and arms, the customs and buildings of Israel and Judah. Much, however, remains still to be discovered in the mounds which have not yet been opened; much still remains in those which have been but imperfectly searched; and we trust that the money will be soon found to carry out the great designs conceived, but, for want of funds, not executed by the author of this charming volume. Should the Sovereign grant him armorial bearings to reward his great achievements, we would suggest, on a shield sable the palace of Sennacherib argent; supporters, a winged lion and a winged bull, both proper; motto, LITORIS ASSYRII VIATOR. From Fraser's Magazine. MODERN FRENCH MEMOIRS. MADAME DE GENLIS-BARERE-JOSEPHINE. A CLEVER and well informed contemporary, the British Quarterly Review, has already anticipated us in reference to the older French memoirs-the Memoirs of the Fronde, and the age of Louis XIV., and has announced a third article on the subject, bringing down his criticism to the period of 1789. The ground being thus pre-occupied, there remains but for us to give some account of the more modern French memoirs, particularly those which have appeared within the last sixty or seventy years. if not the very greatest among the kings of France, we are not concerned to be informed of such trivialities regarding Madame A. or Monsieur B. As little does it concern Madame de Genlis's readers to know that in girlhood she fell into a pond and into the fire, and received two burns-that she put on whalebone and sat in an iron collar, and was forced to wear spectacles of a peculiar construction to prevent her from squinting. Yet all these things she tells us with as much precision and circumstantiality as though they were matters really important to the reader and to the world. It is quite in character for this worthy lady to announce to us that she inspired with a grande passion, when she was eleven and three-quarters of a year old, a There is no name in modern French literature better known than that of Madame de Genlis; and though it is only about thirty years since her memoirs on the 18th century or as she fixes the epoch herself, in her title page, her memoirs from 1756 to 1825-young man of eighteen, but who, as he was first saw the light, being then ushered into the world by Ladvocat, the bookseller of the Duke of Orleans, afterwards Louis Philippe, yet, as in this publication she speaks of many events which occurred nearly a century ago, we shall be doing no violence to chronological order in commencing our notice with some account of the lady and her numerous volumes, literary and autobiographical. Madame de Genlis tells us, in the preface to her memoirs, that she was born on the 25th of January, 1746, on the estate of Champceri near Autun in Burgundy. With that egotism and minute particularity which distinguishes her writings in everything relating to herself, she takes care to announce to us, that the wet-nurse to whose care she was confided, was already four months advanced in pregnancy, so that instead of being suckled as ordinary children are, she was fed with wine and water, passed through a tammy. Father Perefixe, in his life of Henry IV., thinks it incumbent on him to announce that the Roi vaillant, so soon as he made his first appearance in the world, was given by his nurse a draught of wine with a clove of garlic in it; but though we may be curious to know these particulars regarding one of the greatest merely the son of a doctor of medicine, and therefore, point gentilhomme, Mademoiselle Ducrest St. Aubin, the daughter of a noble, though reduced and poor, could not think of marrying. This little trait reveals not merely character, but a whole social system which it is important to know with a view to understand the mode of life in France previous to the first revolution. It may be asked who was the father and what was the family of Madame de Genlis? Her family was undoubtedly noble but poor. Her father was Seigneur of Bourbon Lancy, and she tells us that in virtue of her birth she was, in her seventh year, received a member of the noble Chapter of Alix, and created Countess of Lancy. Her father returning from St. Domingo (she does not say on what errand), was captured by the English and brought into Launceston, in Cornwall. There he first saw the Count de Genlis, who in returning from Pondicherry, where he had for six years commanded a regiment, was also taken prisoner. M. Ducrest de St. Aubin after a time was liberated, and returned to France. He found his young daughter already distin guished as a musician. As a harpist and pianist, all the salons were open to her, nor was she less distinguished by her esprit than by her musical capabilities. Indeed it was her wit and talent that gained her a husband. M. de Genlis having seen a letter written by her to one of his friends, when she was only eighteen years of age, was so prepossessed in favor of the writer, that he was already half in love with her, and no sooner did he become personally acquainted with her, than he was wholly so. When Madame de Genlis married, her mother and family were far from easy in circumstances; they had originally lived in a small apartment in the Rue Traversiere. Afterwards they accepted the hospitality of the famous Fermier General, La Popilniere, at Passy, and their host dying, were received by a reputedly rich judge. The homme de robe falling into difficulties, they rented a small house in the Faubourg St. Honoré, and there it was that Madame de Genlis became acquainted with many of the celebrated literary men of the day. Presented at court after her marriage by the Marchioness of Puisieux, she was admired by the monarch as pretty; but it was not, nevertheless, at court that she was destined to make her way. She was the niece of Madame de Montesson, first the mistress and subsequently the wife of the Duke of Orleans; and although she neither liked her aunt, nor was liked by her, she nevertheless dined at her house three times a week, and there became acquainted with some of the most celebrated beaux esprits and men of letters of the time. At the Duke of Orleans' château at Villers-Cotterets, where there were private theatricals, Madame de Genlis exhibited not merely a talent for the stage, but for the composition of theatrical pieces. While this secured her the favor of the prince, it also imposed on her the disagreeable task of correcting and amending her aunt's pieces de théâtre-for Madame de Montesson had the mania of writing for the stage, without the ability. The old Duke of Orleans found Madame de Genlis somewhat of an original. She had at this time read a very great deal, had written Cecile, had studied surgery and anatomy, and passed altogether for a person of a rather masculine turn of mind. The old Duke, charmed with her wit, her talents, and her pretty face, presented her to his son the Duke of Chartres, subsequently Duke of Orleans, better known as Egalité, father of Louis Philippe, King of the French. The Duke of Chartres confided to her the education of his children, not as governess, but under the title of governor. While engaged in this occupation, she published the Theatre of Education, Adele and Theodore, the Tales of the Castle, the Annals of Virtue, &c. The Revolution found Madame de Genlis engaged in writing books and treatises as well as giving instruction to the junior branches of the house of Orleans. Though she does not avow the fact in her Memoirs, Madame de Genlis became a strenuous partisan of the principles of the Revolution. She was particularly intimate with Barère and Petion, and often accompanied her pupils to the sittings of the Jacobins. But neither the position nor the opinions of Madame de Genlis, nor the extravagant professions of liberalism, indeed of Jacobinism, by Egalité, rendered France a safe sojourn for his children. Madame de Genlis was obliged to pass into England with Mademoiselle Adélaïde D'Orleans. The governor, as she was called, and her pupil were recalled after a little while by Egalité, but after a sojourn of a few months in France, during the massacre of September, Madame de Genlis was a second time obliged to take her departure from her native soil. It was in this exile, whilst at Tournay, that she married her adoptive daughter Pamela to Lord E. Fitzgerald. When Dumouriez retired before the Austrian army, Madame de Genlis left Belgium for Switzerland, in which country General Montesquiou procured her an asylum in the convent of Saint Claire. Meanwhile, Mademoiselle Adélaïde D'Orleans obtained a refuge with her aunt the Princess of Conti, who lived at Fribourg. After remaining somewhile in the Swiss convent, Madame de Genlis proceeded to Hamburgh and Altona, at both which places there were numerous French refugees, but not one of them would consent to see her, too well remembering her early adhesion to the principles of the Revolution. During this period and her subsequent séjour at Berlin, Madame de Genlis, much to her credit, supported herself by her literary labors. After the 18th Brumaire, she obtained permission from the first consul to return to Paris, but what was of still more importance to her, a pension of 6000 francs and a lodging in the Arsenal, with the privilege of reading in her own apartments any of the books in the library of that establishment. After a while, through the instrumentality of M. de Lavalette, this busy lady managed to correspond, as she tells us herself, with the emperor on public affairs, and no doubt afforded him some valuable suggestions. But no sooner did the current of fortune turn against Napoleon, than she directed her eyes towards Louis XVIII., who, however, refused to continue her pen sion. Albeit the restored monarch declined | have known that an Italian master, the Abbé to provide from the public purse, or from his Marastini, fell at her feet and made love to civil list, for this versatile lady, yet her ex- her-that M. Mervys was also desperately in pupil the Duke of Orleans, afterwards Louis love with her that an attempt was made by Philippe, the First King of the French, al- a good-looking young fellow whom she met lowed her a handsome pension. at the table d'hote at Altona, to entrap her It was during the period of the Restora- to his rooms under the pretence that she tion she composed her voluminous Memoirs, should there meet one of her earliest and oldest which extend in the original editions to eight friends, who was also, he represented, his volumes. Although these volumes are no- own common friend. Before the period arthing very wonderful in point of style, yet rived for keeping the appointment, however, they contain an immense amount of curious Madame de Genlis happily had learned matter on men, manners, and society; and enough to put her on her guard and did not as Madame de Genlis travelled much, saw proceed to the rendezvous. Soon after she much, and observed much, her remarks are was informed that the friend whose name he often piquantes, and may not seldom be conon- had made use of as a common acquaintance, sidered valuable as the expression of the knew nothing whatever of the adventurer, opinions and tone of thought of persons of who probably designed to rob and dishonor her class in life. The vanity of the lady is her. We need scarcely say, the fellow neegregious, throughout the whole eight vo- ver afterwards appeared at the table d'hôte. lumes. Not content with telling us that she Throughout her eight volumes, Madame had an excellent memory, innate religious de Genlis appears as a great religionist and sentiments, a beautiful voice, the prettiest a stanch supporter of Mother Churchhands and feet in the world-not content meaning thereby, the one Holy Roman Cawith announcing to us that an old Swiss col- tholic and Apostolical Religion. She is also, onel wished to marry her-that the Baron as in duty bound, a fervent hater of philosoD'Andlau proposed for her and was refused, phy, and of everything savoring of Voltairewhen he afterwards proposed for her mother ism; but this does not prevent her morality and was accepted-not content with telling us from being exceedingly loose. The morality of her accouchements, her pregnancies, her of the time in France was, that a woman for general health, her illnesses, and her colics one aventure eclatante was undone, yet she from gingerbread given her by the Duke of might raise herself after a thousand irregularOrleans; her readings, her recitations, her ities-after mille dereglemens. Madame de manner of life, and daily and nightly habi- Genlis defends this system of social ethics, tudes, she gives us a world of news, and as though it were in concurrence with the scandal, and small talk of the people with Gospel and the moral code as recognized by whom she mixed in the great world. The men and women of pure life. With all her society at Sillery-the chateau life of France vanity, egotism, and intense selfishness, howbefore 1789-the circles of the Puisieux, the ever, we must admit that Madame de Genlis Custines of the Palais Royal, are all vivid- admirably performed her duty of governor ly brought before us in her stirring pages. and governess to the children of Egalité. Not In her journeyings, too, the reader accom- merely did she teach them everything useful panies her. We go with her to Brussels, to in literature and the fine arts, but she gave Spa, to Aix la Chapelle, to Lausanne, to them instruction in physics and natural phiFerney, nay, to Italy, Germany, and our own losophy, and provided that the young men dear England, metropolitan and provincial. should learn two or three trades by the aid If we had not gone through these volumes, of which they could earn their bread. Maneither we nor our readers would ever have dame Adélaïde, their sister, was taught emknown that Madame de Genlis played the broidery, painting, and the finer works; and harp so divinely at the palace of the Queen all were made proficients in modern lanof Naples, that her Sicilian majesty kissed guages, chiefly by the method adopted in the performer's pretty and sound-promoting Russia, that is to say, by teaching the lanhand-we should never have known that Ma- guages de vive voix, and by word of mouth, dame de Genlis gave over rouge at thirty- rather than by means of written rules. Thus that her family was musical-that she invent- a German gardener, a German valet de chamed a new method of fingering the harp-bre, and English grooms were employed about that she made numerous playthings for the Orleans children, and discovered what not wonderful things besides. We should never her pupils, who at dinner were forced to speak English, and at supper Italian. When these facts are remembered, the proficiency of the late King of the French in languages | The diplomatist interested himself in her and in the sciences will be well understood. fate, and promised to obtain permission for He, like his preceptress, went through a re- her to enter France. While waiting for this gular course of anatomy, walked the hospi- permission, M. Lombard, a young littérateur tals, learned to bleed, to set a broken joint, of French extraction, the descendant of one to dress wounds, &c. That the emigrants at of the refugees obliged to quit France on the Hamburgh neither received nor consorted revocation of the edict of Nantes, fell, if we with Madame de Genlis, will not appear sur- are to believe the lady, desperately in love prising, when the reader learns that the lady with her, and proposed marriage. She tells accompanied her pupils to witness the demo- us she refused what she calls "le ridicule lition of the Bastille-that she attended with mariage que lui propose M. Lombard." them the sittings of the Cordeliers and other clubs, and caused the young Duke of Chartres, afterwards Louis Philippe, King of the French, to be received a member of the philanthropical and other democratical societies. That portion of the memoirs of Madame de Genlis devoted to literary criticism, though occasionally amusing, is of little intrinsic worth. In remarking on the works of Marmontel, Bernardin de St. Pierre, and above all, on the productions of Madame de Staël, it is plain to the most superficial observer that Madame de Genlis is guided by passion, by prejudice, where not actuated by envy and malevolence. In finding fault with the style of Madame de Staël, which, notwithstanding its occasional blemishes and Germanisms, is one of the most brilliant in the French language, Madame de Genlis regrets that the gifted author of Corinne, and of the book De l'Allemagne, was not her pupil; as though the teaching of such a woman, however excellent with persons of ordinary faculties, could have at all influenced the career of a man or woman of genius. None of the Orleans family, male or female, though they ali possessed average abilities, were men or women of genius. From all we have read and heard, however, on the subject, Madame de Genlis was to these pupils an admirable instructress, or, if we must consider her as governor, an admirable instructor. She did everything that in her lay to form the minds and hearts of her pupils, and spared neither toil nor pains to render the young princes and princesses what they ought to be. At a certain period of the pupilage, M. de Genlis, the husband of the lady, as well as the lady herself, became entitled to a considerable access of fortune, but this made no change in her conduct, or induced her for one moment to intermit her attention and instruction. While staying at Berlin, in emigration, Madame de Genlis met the French minister, General Beurnonville, at the house of Madame Cohen, where she was in the habit of playing in pieces of her own composition. The near prospect of her own return to France did not induce her to forget her distinguished pupils. She addressed to the directoire a memoir, with a view to obtain the liberty of MM. de Beaujolais and Montpensier, detained in prison at Marseilles. Soon after this memoir was despatched, Madame de Genlis obtained permission to return to her country. She passed by way of Hamburgh and Brussels to Paris, where she found, as might be expected, everything changed: language, manners, dress, habits, and modes of life, were no longer what they were at the period of her departure. Soon after her return, she established herself at Versailles, and worked away with great zeal at the Bibliotheque des Romans, giving it in succession le Malencontreux, les Ermites des Marais, Pontius, Mlle. de Clermont, etc. After awhile she ceased to labor for this publication, and produced the romance of Madame La Vallière. It was at this season that the first consul offered to better her position-an offer which she tells us she declined at the moment. Soon after, however, we find her in receipt of a pension of 6000 francs from the emperor, and engaged in writing the history of Henri le Grand, and editing the memoirs of Dangeau, after the MS. preserved in the Arsenal. Within a short interval of obtaining her own pension, this stirring and active woman had also obtained a pension of 2000 francs for Monsigny, a pension of 4000 francs for M. Radet, and a pension of 3000 francs for her own brother. Notwithstanding that her circumstances were now easier, she continued to labor with her prolific pen as indefatigably as before, producing La Tendresse maternelle, ou l'Education Sensitive, Le Siége de la Rochelle, Belisaire, Alphonse, and we know not how many others. While engaged scribbling thus all day long, the famous Gall discovered, she tells us, that she had the bump of religion and elevation of mind, as well as that of perseverance. That Madame de Genlis had the bump of perseverance, we can well believe; but the bump of religion and elevation |