hundred and thirty years, plan after plan was there laid to carry this cherished project of the French government into effect, ending with the mission of Baron de Kalb, a few years previous to the American Revolution, to ascertain whether the disaffected colonies could not be induced to change their allegiance, and come under the Bourbon rule. And there, after the declaration of independence, the Duke of Orleans received in state, (in the hall where Abenaquis and Iroquois chiefs had in times past paid homage,) the envoy of the United Colonies Benjamin Franklin. A picture of the scene was painted for the historical gallery of the Palace, representing the host and hostess in the rich costume of the time, the sturdy ex-printer in his plain garb, and a young lad seated upon the floor, beating a toy drum. "Judging from that boy's present performance," said Franklin, "I prophesy that he is destined to make a noise in the world." When, after passing through great vicissitudes of fortune, the amateur drummer became King of the French, he frequently related` this anecdote when Americans were presented at his court, and the picture was to them an object of great interest.*

Louis Philippe d'Orleans was born at the Palais Royal on the 6th of October, 1773. He is the eldest son of Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orleans, then Duke of Chartres, (the third Duke of Orleans being alive,) who even surpassed in dissolute villany his ducal ancestors, † and of Marie, only daughter and heiress of the wealthy Duke of Penthièvre. His sponsors at the baptismal font were the Dauphin, who was soon to call himself Louis XVI., and the unfortunate Marie Antoinette, who was that year described by Burke as decorating the elevated sphere she just began to move in, glittering like the morning star, full of life, and splendor, and joy." The Duke of Chartres professed the deepest

* See Frontispiece.

†The House of Orleans. Note A.

gratitude to the Dauphin for this mark of royal favor; yet twenty years had not elapsed ere he irrevocably sealed the fate of that martyr-prince, by walking to the tribune of the National Assembly, and declaring, " my vote is for death!" He is portrayed as a well formed, portly man, his eye haggard with debauch, and his face covered with fiery eruptions, the fruit of intemperance. When, by the death of his father, he became Duke of Orleans, his son, who had been baptized Duke of Valois, succeeded to the title of Duke of Chartres.

Louis Philippe's first preceptor was a boon companion of his father's, the Chevalier de Bonnard, captain of the royal artillery, whose sole aim (in accordance with his instructions) was to impart to his pupil graceful manners, the "code of honor," and the knowledge of fencing necessary to enforce its edicts, barbarous remnants of chivalry. When he entered his eighth year, he had three brothers and a sister the Duke of Valois, the Duke of Montpensier, the Count of Beaujolais, and the Princess Adelaide.

The Duke of Orleans had some years previously selected, as maid of honor to the Duchess his wife, Madame de Genlis, now about thirty years of age; the period when a woman joins to the freshness and graces of youth all the accomplishments acquired by intercourse with the world. Miss Burney, who saw her a few years afterwards, says, that “her face, without positive beauty, had the most winning agreeability; her figure was remarkably elegant, her attire was chastely simple; her air was reserved, and her demeanor was dignified." Yet, when breathing the voluptuous atmosphere of the Palais Royal, her conduct was as immoral as her talents were superior. Mirabeau, in his life, accuses her of having granted him favors, and in her own memoirs she accuses herself of enjoying the intimacy of half a dozen other equally depraved men of the time. Brought up by the financier La Popeliniére, whose old age she had taken captive, she was an intriguante from her infancy, and su

peradded to all the weaknesses of her own sex, all the pretensions of the other. One day, like the courtezans of ancient Greece, taking baths of milk covered with rose-leaves, the next dressed in masculine attire, carousing at the Porcherons following lectures on anatomy, and frequenting the dissecting rooms writing both pious books and infamous novels residing at the Palais Royal, despite of the Duchess of Orleans - her actions were a constant topic of scandal, and are recorded in the small gazettes of the time which circulated among the courtiers. Over the Duke of Orleans she exercised such unlimited influence, that he did nothing without asking her advice; and she thus relates a conversation which passed between them, when he consulted her on the choice of a fit tutor for his children.

"One evening the Duke called to see me, as was his custom, between eight and nine o'clock, and told me that there was no time to lose in procuring a tutor for his sons, for that, otherwise, his children would have the manners of shopmen. He consulted me on the selection of one. I proposed Schomberg, whom he refused to accept, alleging that he would render the children pedantic. I then named the Chevalier de Dufort, who, he said, would give them a bombastic air. I then spake of Thiars, but he objected to him as being too careless; and said that he would pay no attention at all to the children. An idea struck me, and I said in a laughing tone, Well, what do you think of me?' 'Why not,' he replied, seriously. I protested at first that I was jesting, but became so impressed with the thought of doing something at once glorious to myself and unprecedented in the history of education, that I determined to take the situation. When the Duke heard me unfold my first plans, he appeared delighted, and said, 'the thing is decided you must be their tutor.'"*

6

The Chevalier de Bonnard, (who was a protégé of Buffon

*Memoirs of Madame de Genlis.

the naturalist,) and the Abbé Guyot, were engaged as subtutors; but Madame de Genlis was to be absolute directress of her pupils, who were ordered by their father to call her "Maman Genlis," and to obey her commands in preference to those of the Duchess their mother. Bonnard thought his new position humiliating, and resigned in favor of M. Le Brun, for he could not endure the sarcastic remarks of the courtiers, who not only ridiculed the innovation of intrusting the education of boys to a woman, but commented freely upon a father's placing his children under the charge of his chère amie.

Madame de Genlis compiled a system of education, based upon the Emile of Rousseau,* which was thorough, and would have been excellent, had it included the inculcation of moral principle. Destitute of this governing virtue, Madame de Genlis could not, and did not cultivate it in the hearts of her pupils, who were also taught to sacrifice every thing for themselves and their family, and to regard life as a play, in which they were studiously to act a part. The pure-hearted Duchess, among her causes of grievance against Madame de Genlis, placed foremost the dramatical education given to her children, dreading the effects such a system might have upon them, by destroying the candor of their youthful hearts, and substituting, artificial feelings for those of nature. An instance of this was given at Spa, where the family were passing the summer. The Duchess lay for some time dangerously ill, but recovered her health by drinking the water of the Sauveniere, a mineral spring in the vicinity. Instead of sending with simple congratulations her sons and daughter, who had not been permitted to visit her sick bed, and to whom she would so joyfully have opened her arms with maternal tenderness, Madame de Genlis must needs compose a sentimental eclogue for the occasion. The vicinity of the spring was

* Memoirs of the Duke de Montpensier.

ornamented with flowers, the groves around were so thinned as to afford a view of the surrounding landscape, and, at the appointed hour, the children were duly ranged upon a turf stage to receive the Duchess. When she appeared, Louis Philippe recited a complimentary ode, and at its close a tableau was formed around a white marble altar, surmounted by a statue of the Goddess of Health. Adelaide, her hand on her heart, and her eyes raised to heaven, appeared to be thanking Providence; while Louis Philippe on his knees, followed with a graver, as if tracing with it, the first word of the inscription on the altar—“Gratitude." It was thus that Madame de Genlis reduced every thing to stage-like rules, even filial piety; and the moral education of her pupils was alternately composed of an idyl, a pastoral, a melo-drama, and a romance.

The mental training of the children was excellent, and Louis Philippe soon surpassed his brothers and sister when he once applied himself, though having been a spoiled child he was not at first disposed to study. When his indefatigable instructress called him into her room, at the commencement of her duties, to receive a lesson in history, she relates that, instead of listening, he yawned and stretched himself, then threw himself upon the sofa, placed his feet upon the table, and closed his eyes as if to sleep. Judicious severity cured these anti-studious habits, and he was soon deeply interested, not only in the usual branches of polite literature, but in the Roman law and surgery · every hour in the day having its appointed study. A German valet, an Italian table servant, and an English teacher, were in constant attendance upon the children, and were only allowed to converse in the language of their respective countries. One day the English teacher forgot himself, and, to assist him in conveying his meaning more rapidly to his pupils, made use of the French tongue. "Hold!" said Louis Philippe, "I will not understand you now, because you speak to me in French. I will admit that I did not comprehend what