communicated
his own tenderness to the charming tigress; but Mirubeau was a vain,
good-for-nothing coxcomb, and the boudoir on four wheels which he
presented as the theatre of his triumph, was a horrible invention. The
proof is, that Madame de Genlis says nothing whatever about it in her
Memoirs. Posterity should be just towards the illustrious Countess, and
accept, as sincere, her revelations. Let us, then, consider her as the
most virtuous of women; as the least arrogant; the most sensible; the
most learned; for all, in fine, that she desired to appear; for Madame
de Genlis never said what was untrue; she solemnly declares so.

Madame de Genlis had a talent that was very dear to her, but the title
of a good housewife was that she coveted above all the rest. I can never
forget the following circumstance, exemplifying the _naif_ vanity
of the pretension to be without pretension, which the noble lady
sometimes assumed. I was anxious to see this celebrated person, and
wrote to ask the favour of a brief interview. She appointed the
following day. At twelve o'clock I presented myself;--Madame de Genlis
was writing; she laid down her pen, and obligingly offered me a seat,
then said--"Allow me, sir, to finish my _pot an feu_; above being a
woman of letters, I value myself as a good housewife." And the Countess
scraped the carrots and the leeks, tied them up, put them into the
soup-kettle, skimmed the meat, and neither forgot cloves nor fried
onions. Then taking off her kitchen apron, came with very good grace to
offer herself to my curiosity We talked upon art and literature; and
I must say that she did not speak of her harp more than twice, of her
talent for acting more than once, or of her facility of writing--very
much more than six times.

Madame de Genlis died almost suddenly, and was employing herself as
usual, when death struck her. She leaves two works, which will, no
doubt, be published as soon as a bookseller is found to put them
together, and idlers seem disposed to read them. The King offered her
rooms in the Tuileries, and she had replied to his gracious proposal
the evening before she died.

Louis Philip never forgot his preceptor--Madame de Genlis is said to
have had some desire to be forgotten by her pupil.--_New Monthly
Magazine._

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FINE ARTS.

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EXHIBITION OF THE WORKS OF LIVING ARTISTS AT THE BRITISH INSTITUTIO