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.
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