about their neighborhood. Our very ghosts are cold, and the volcanoes only make the frost colder by contrast. We descend upon the other side, take ship again, and float up the Atlantic, through the tropics. We have been round the world now, and among the ice, and have not grown much older since we started. * * * * * Other "Phantoms" are to be added to those thus described. Besides the expeditions now in the ice regions, from England and America, one, and perhaps two more, have in the last two months started in the search for Franklin. MADAME DE GENLIS AND MADAME DE STAËL. This curious piece has recently appeared in the _Gazette de France_, and has excited much remark. It is given out to be the production of Charles X., when Monsieur, and was communicated to M. Neychens by the Marquis de la Roche Jacqueleine. "Before the Revolution, I was but very slightly acquainted with Mme. de Genlis, her conduct during that disastrous period having not a little contributed to sink her in my estimation; and the publication of her novel, 'The Knights of the Swan' (the _first_ edition), completed my dislike to a person who had so cruelly aspersed the character of the queen, my sister-in-law. "On my return to France, I received a letter full of the most passionate expressions of loyalty from beginning to end; the missive being signed Comtesse de Genlis; but imagining this could be but a _plaisanterie_ of some intimate friend of my own, I paid no attention whatever to it. However, in two or three days it was followed by a second epistle, complaining of my silence, and appealing to the great sacrifices the writer had made in the interest of my cause, as giving her a _right_ to my favorable attention. Talleyrand being present, I asked him if he could explain this enigma. "'Nothing is easier,' replied he; 'Mme. de Genlis is unique. She has lost her own memory, and fancies others have experienced a similar bereavement.' "'She speaks,' pursued I, 'of her virtues, her misfortunes, and Napoleon's persecutions.' "'Hem! In 1789 her husband was quite ruined, so the events of that period took nothing from _him_; and as to the tyranny of Bonaparte, it consisted, in the first place, of giving her a magnificent suite of apartments in the Arsenal; and in the second place, granting her a pension of six thousand francs a year, upon the sole condition of her keeping him every month _au courant_ of the literature of the day.' "'What shocking ferocity!' replied I, laughing; 'a case of infamous despotism indeed. And this martyr to our cause asks to see me.' "'Yes; and pray let your royal highness grant her an audience, were it only for once: I assure you she is most amusing.'