Mirabeau boasted, in one of his letters, that he had 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.
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