him. Meanwhile the generals of Gengis Khan had penetrated the Caucasus, and carried the Mongolian banner to the banks of the Dnieper, so that part of Russia, as part of Siberia had already been, was compelled to own the Mongolian monarch's supremacy. Master of seventeen hundred leagues of country, Gengis Khan returned to Caracorum his capital. He returned, but not to rest. Though now more than sixty, he placed himself at the head of a grand expedition for the full and final overthrow of his foes in China. Crossing the desert of Kobi in the depth of winter, the troops of Gengis Khan met those of the enemy, reckoned at half a million of men, near the frozen lake Kokonor, and completely defeated them. This was followed by the capture, among other cities, of Nankin. The tide of success with Gengis Khan had known no ebb, and it was still bearing him on when on the 24th August, 1227, he died. That success was paid for with the lives of five or six millions of human beings. He was buried, according to his wish, beneath a wide-spreading tree on a mountain. Though rioting recklessly in ruthless murder, Gengis Khan was kind and considerate to his soldiers and subjects. He drew up a code of laws in which there were enactments both wise and merciful. The noble library at Bokhara, and countless valuable manuscripts in other cities, he destroyed, and he strewed his path with nuns; yet he tried in his own rude fashion to diminish the barbarism of his countrymen, and to make them submit to a more settled state of existence. Gengis Khan was a strict monotheist, but he tolerated all religions, and exempted from taxes ecclesiastics and physicians. Implacable in his hatreds, he was devoted, ardent, and unchanging in his friendships. Fairly judged, he was perhaps neither more a monster nor a madman than conquerors in general.—W. M—l.
GENIN, François, born at Amiens in 1803; died at Paris in 1856; first employed as teacher at Strasburg, afterwards in 1837, commenced publishing in the Paris journals. There, his writings on the subject of education in the important controversy between the church and the state, attracted great attention. He supported the rights of the state, and his tracts on the subject were collected into a volume which had very extensive circulation. Genin published several works on the "Origines" of the French language and literature.—J. A., D.
GENLIS, Stéphanie Felicité Ducrest de St. Aubin, Comtesse de, a celebrated French writer, born 25th of January, 1746, near Autun in Burgundy, her parents being of good family but in reduced circumstances. When six years old she was admitted as a canoness into the chapter of Alix, near Lyons, where, according to a privilege of the order for its members to assume the style of countess, the subject of this memoir took the title of Comtesse de Lancy. Here the essentials of her education were postponed, whilst the undivided attention of the pupil was concentrated on music, assiduous practice in which rendered her so great a proficient, that at thirteen years of age she was an agreeable performer upon seven different instruments. But so utterly had other acquirements been overlooked that she was almost entirely ignorant of the ordinary branches of information. Still the graces of her person, and the charms of her manner, insured her the entree of Parisian society; and at a very early age, shortly after the death of her father, she became the wife of the count de Genlis, a colonel of grenadiers, with a very slender fortune, but large expectations. By the demise of a relative, the count, at a later period, became marquis de Sillery; but his distinguished wife retained through life the earlier title under which she was originally known. Her husband eventually perished by the guillotine, having been one of the victims of the Revolution in 1793. By this alliance the comtesse de Genlis became niece of madame de Montesson, who was secretly married to the duke of Orleans; and it was not till after her marriage that she devoted her attention to the neglected cultivation of her mind; and this she pursued with so much success as to qualify her for the office of gouvernante to the daughter of the duchess, which she undertook in 1770; and in 1782 she was intrusted with the still higher duty of superintending the education of the young princes, sons of the duke, one of whom—Louis Philippe—became afterwards king of the French. While holding this appointment, madame de Genlis wrote several works for the instruction of her pupils; amongst others the "Théâtre l'education," "Adèle et Théodore," and the "Veillées du Chateau," which obtained for the authoress considerable literary reputation. But the novelty of her position exposed her to censorious remarks, and rendered her the subject of calembourgs and epigrams not less unjust than severe. Her literary efforts, at first limited to the theory of education, of the pursuit in which she found herself embarked, were eventually directed against the school of modern French philosophy, in the attacks on which her name became associated with those of Fréron and Sabatier. In 1787 she published "La Religion considérée comme l'unique base du bonheur," &c., an essay which provoked the satirical strictures of Buffon; but these were more than counterbalanced by the approval of La Harpe, Grimm, Gaillard, and Briffaut. Whatever the essential defects in her mind and character, madame de Genlis acquired sufficient ascendancy in the family of the duke of Orleans to have been regarded as instrumental in advising the part which he took on the outbreak of the Revolution. She accompanied his children during the exile in Switzerland; and during her residence there she produced the defence of her conduct under the title of "Precis de la conduite de Madame de Genlis, pendant la Revolution." She afterwards visited Prussia, England, and Belgium, and eventually took up her residence at Hamburg, where she published "Les Chevaliers du Cygne," a work which it is impossible to justify, and which greatly damaged her literary reputation. During this wandering period she wrote her romance of "Les Meres Rivales," and histories of "Les petits Emigrés" and "Le Petit la Bruyere," the sale of the manuscripts of which contributed mainly to her support. In 1800 she returned to France during the period of the consulate, and Napoleon, in consideration of her literary merits, assigned her apartments in the arsenal and a pension of six thousand francs. This income she was enabled to increase considerably by her pen; and amongst other productions at this period appeared her tale of "Madame de Valliere," her life of "Henri le Grand," and "Souvenir de Felicie." She contributed also to the Biographie Universelle, and amongst other publications produced about this time, was her "Diners du Baron Holbach," in which she undertook to expose the so-called philosophers of the eighteenth century. On the restoration of the Bourbons, madame de Genlis endeavoured to ingratiate herself with her former friends, in order to obtain a continuation of her pension, but Louis XVIII. refused to accede to her petition. The duke of Orleans, however, granted her an allowance; but she was never again permitted to make her appearance at the court. When eighty years of age madame de Genlis published her "Memoires," and continued her literary pursuits up to the year of her death, which took place on the 31st of December, 1830. Of all her works the most popular is probably the story of "Mademoiselle de Clermont." Her character was too deficient in profound feeling to permit of its impartment to her works, throughout which there is evidence less of thought and invention than of tact and capacity, somewhat imperfectly developed. The works by which she is best known are those in connection with education; but these are coloured by romance to an extent inconsistent with general utility.—J. E. T.
GENNADIUS, an ecclesiastical writer of the fifth century, was priest of Marseilles. All that we know about him is summed up in a few lines subjoined to his work, "De Viris Illustribus," which is a continuation, containing one hundred lives from the year 392 to 495, of the work bearing a similar title by St. Jerome. He informs us that he had composed eight books against all heresies, six against Nestorius, three against Pelagius, treatises on the millennium and the Apocalypse, and a letter "De Fide," which he had sent to "the blessed Pope Gelasius." The form of expression shows that Gelasius was dead at the time of writing; Gennadius, therefore, must have died after 496. His only surviving writings are the confession of faith above mentioned, and the work "De Viris Illustribus," which is printed with the works of St. Jerome.—T. A.
GENNADIUS, Patriarch of Constantinople in the fifteenth century, had up to the period of his ordination, which did not take place till towards the close of his life, borne the name of Georgius Scholarius. A native of Constantinople, he rose to the rank of secretary to the Emperor John Palæologus, and chief judge of the imperial palace. In 1438 he accompanied the emperor as one of his suite to the council of Ferrara, convoked by Eugenius IV. to consider the question of the reunion of East and West. He followed the council, upon its removal to Florence, and was present at the long discussions on the disputed doctrine of the procession of the Holy Ghost. When those were concluded, the Greeks had a separate meeting to consider the project of union between the churches. At this meeting Georgius Scholarius
