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GENLIS
, STEPHANIE-FELICITE DU See also:CREST DE SAINTAUBIN, COMTESSE DE (1746-1830), See also:French writer and educator, was See also:born of a See also:noble but impoverished Burgundian See also:family, at Champcery, near See also:Autun, on the 25th of See also:January 1746
.
When six years of See also:age she was received as a See also:canoness into the noble See also:chapter of Alix; near See also:Lyons, with the See also:title of Madame la Comtesse de Laney, taken from the See also:town of See also:Bourbon-Lancy
.
Her entire See also:education, however, was conducted at See also:home
.
In 1758, in See also:Paris, her skill as a harpist and her vivacious wit speedily attracted admiration
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In her sixteenth See also:year she was married to See also: The genius of a man, as his higher intellectual self, accompanies him from the See also:cradle to the See also:grave . In many ways he exercises a decisive influence on the man's See also:character and mode of See also:life (See also:Horace, Epistles, ii . 2 . 187) . The responsibility for happiness or unhappiness, See also:good or See also:bad See also:fortune, See also:lay with. the genius; but this does not suppose the existence of two genii for man, the one good and. the other bad (ayaOo5aip,wv, xaKOBaLpaw), an See also:idea borrowed from the See also:Greek philosophers . The See also:Roman genius, representing man's natural optimism, always endeavoured to See also:guide him to happiness; that man was intended to enjoy life is shown by the fact than the Roman spoke of indulging or See also:cheating his genius of his due according as he enjoyed himself or failed to do so, when he had the opportunity . A man's birthday was naturally a suitable occasion for honouring his genius, and on that occasion offerings of See also:incense, See also:wine, garlands, and cakes were made (See also:Tibullus ii . 2; See also:Ovid, Tristia, Iu . 13 . 18) . As the representative of a man's higher self and participating in a divine nature, the genius could be sworn by, and a See also:person could take an See also:oath by his own or some one else's genius . When under Greek influence the Roman idea of the gods became more and more anthropomorphized, a genius was assigned to them, not however as a distinct See also:personality . Thus we hear of the genius of See also:Jupiter (Jovis Genio, C.I.L . 603), See also:Mars, Juno, See also:Pluto, See also:Priapus . In a more extended sense the genius is also the generator and preserver of human society, as manifested in the family, corporate unions, the See also:city, and the See also:state generally . Thus, the genius publicus Populi Romani—probably distinct from the genius Urbis Romae, to whom an old See also:shield on the Capitol was dedicated, with an inscription expressing doubt as to the See also:sex (Genio . . . sire mas sine femina)—stood in the See also:forum near the See also:temple of See also:Concord, in the See also:form of a bearded man, crowned with a diadem, and carrying a See also:cornu copiae and See also:sceptre . It frequently appears on the coins of See also:Trajan and See also:Hadrian . See also:Sacrifice, not confined to bloodless offerings like those of the genius of the See also:house, was offered to him annually on the 8th of See also:October . There were genii of cities, colonies, and even of provinces; of artists, business See also:people and craftsmen; of cooks, See also:gladiators, See also:standard-bearers, a See also:legion, a See also:century, and of the See also:army generally (genius sanctus castrorum peregrinorum totiusque exercitus) . In imperial times the genius of See also:Augustus and of the reigning See also:emperor, as See also:part of the sacra of the imperial family, were publicly worshipped . It was a See also:common practice (often compulsory) to swear by the genius of the emperor, and any one who swore falsely was flogged . Localities also, such as theatres, See also:baths, stables, streets, and markets, had their own genius . The word thus gradually lost its See also:original meaning; the nameless See also:local genii became an expression for the universality of the divinum numen and were sometimes identified with the higher gods . The local genius was usually represented by a snake, the See also:symbol of the fruitfulness of the See also:earth and of perpetual youth . Hence See also:snakes were usually kept in houses (See also:Virgil, Aen. v . 95; See also:Persius i . 113), their See also:death in which was considered a bad See also:omen . The See also:personal genius usually appeared as a handsome youth in a toga, with See also:head sometimes veiled and sometimes See also:bare, carrying a drinking See also:cup and cornu copiae, frequently in the position of one offering sacrifice . See W . H . See also:Roscher, Lexikon der Mythologie, and See also:article by J . A . Hild in Daremberg and Saglio, Dictionnaire See also:des antiquites, where full references to See also:ancient and See also:modern authorities are given; L . See also:Preller, Romische Mythologie, 3rd ed., by H . See also:Jordan; G .
Wissowa, See also:Religion and Kultur der Romer
.
Apart from the Latin use of the See also:term, the plural " genii " (with a singular " genie ") is used in See also:English, as See also:equivalent to the Arabic See also:jinn, for a class of See also:spirits, good or bad, such as are described, for instance, in The Arabian Nights
.
But " genius " itself has become the See also:regular English word for the highest
appointed by the duke of Chartres to the responsible See also:office of gouverneur of his sons, a bold step which led to the resignation of all the tutors as well as to much social See also:scandal, though there is no See also:reason to suppose that the intellectual interests of her pupils suffered on that See also:account
.
The better to carry out her ingenious theories of education, she wrote several See also:works for their use, the best known of which are the See also:Theatre d'education (4 vols., 1779-178o), a collection of See also:short comedies for See also:young people, See also:Les Annales de la vertu (2 vols., 1781) and Adele et See also:Theodore (3 vols., 1782)
.
Sainte-Beuve tells how she anticipated many modern methods of teaching
.
See also:History was taught with the help of magic See also:lantern slides and her pupils learnt See also:botany from a See also:practical botanist during their walks
.
In 1789 Madame de Genlis showed herself favourable to the Revolution, but the fall of the Girondins in 1793 compelled her to take See also:refuge in See also:Switzerland along with her See also:pupil Mademoiselle d'Orleans
.
In this year her See also:husband, the marquis de Sillery, from whom she had been separated since 1782, was guillotined
.
An " adopted " daughter, Pamela,' had been married to See also:Lord See also:Edward See also:Fitzgerald (q.v.) in the preceding See also:December
.
In 1794 Madame de Genlis fixed her See also:residence at See also:Berlin, but, having been expelled by the orders of See also:
Madame de Genlis had lost her influence over her old pupil See also:
See also:Austin See also:Dobson, Four Frenchwomen (189o) ; L
.
Chabaud, Les Precurseurs du feminisme (1901); W. de Chabreul, Gouverneur de princes, 1737–183o (190o) ; and Lettres inedites a
.
.
Casimir Baecker, 1802–1830 (1902), edited by See also: |
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