All we know with certainty of Pamela’s[81] “origin” is that at a very early age she made her appearance in the Convent of Bellechasse, whither Madame de Genlis had retired to devote herself to the education of the children of the Duke and Duchess of Orleans, and that until her marriage with Lord Edward in December, 1792, she was the constant companion of the young princes and their sister, and shared that remarkable and original system of education, which Madame de Genlis—one of the most gifted educationists of France, the country of educationists—had devised for her pupils. Footnote 81: The name Pamela was borrowed by Madame de Genlis, who was an enthusiastic admirer of the novels of Samuel Richardson, from the heroine of the most famous of them. M. Emile Faguet has discovered in the pedagogy of Madame de Genlis the origin of all modern education—in its theories, its practices, its tendencies. “With some of its defects,” he admits, but “wanting most of these defects,” as he also claims: “an education, directed towards the true, as well as to the beautiful, paying much attention to history, modern languages, _Realien_, the study of the most important new discoveries, as well as the literary masterpieces of ancient and modern times.” It seems to us, as we study this education in its results—that is to say in the character of the pupils who were formed by it—that some of the defects of our modern education were more inherent in Madame de Genlis’s system than M. Faguet is willing to admit. Lady Sarah Napier, with her shrewd woman’s wit, has perhaps formed a truer estimate of it. In a letter written to her friend, Lady Susan O’Brien, shortly after Lord Edward’s marriage to Pamela, she says: “Your account of M. Sillery (_i.e._ Madame de Genlis) and her _élèves_ answers my idea of her, all pleasing to appearance, and nothing _sound_ within _her_ heart, whatever may be so in the young minds whom she _can_ and does of course easily deceive. I hope we have got our lovely little niece time enough out of her care to have acquired all the _perfections_ of her education, which are certainly great, as she has a _very uncommon_, clever, active mind and turns it to the most useful purposes, and I trust our pretty little _Sylph_ (for she is not like other mortals) has not a tincture of all the double-dealing, cunning, false reasoning, and lies with which M. S. is forced to gloss over a very common ill-conduct, because she _will_ set herself _above_ others in virtue, and she happens to be no better than her neighbours.”