1815.] Necessity of Correcting the Passions of Children. but that would be very improper on some subjects, and, besides, it would bring most into a heavy drawling manner. However, an impetuous disposition, in reading too fast, must be curbed, and mere vociferation and declamation avoided; by which means, and strictly observing the stops, we may prevent a strained or broken articulation. Besides, every piece there are parts of minor importance, where every judicious person may save his breath; and thus, by all these means, he may obtain a cominand of breath and voice, which such as are vehement, or unthinking, will not possess. I come now to point out some of the chief benefits resulting from a good delivery of written language in company, which are as follows: 1. It makes social reading a personal pleasure. Many educated persons are sometimes called to read in company, and when not able to do it correctly, it must be a pain and discredit to them; but if done well, it is easy and pleasant to themselves. Such á rational accomplishment will most likely prevent from following less commendable amusements, and afford much Inward satisfaction.-2. It entertains and may improve others. The French have So much vivacity, that if they do not improve their company, they amuse them, but the English being in general phlegmatic, it is truly desirable that elegant reading and recitation should be For this inore common amongst us. purpose we should take the advice of De Watts, and, when we are in company, always have an entertaining book in our pocket, and be able to introduce it judiciously, and read it well. This method ought not ever to curtail free conversation, much less to supersede it; but reading and reciting are pleasant and improving ways of supplying its deficiencies. If they were in more general use, we should not so very often have to lament such unpleasant as well as tnprofitable chasms in social intercourse, and so much frivolous conversation. It is true, that a good reader may not be in himself communicative, but when he uses his talents judiciously he is sure to afford entertainment.-S. It recommends literature. Many beautiful passages in our celebrated authors, and many fine pieces in our selections in prose and verse, lie neglected unti! brought into notice by being recited or read well. To produce this most desirable end, the writings or lectures of Sheridan, (fenHerson, Walker, Mrs. Siddous, and Mrẻ NEW MONTHLY MAG,-No. 10. 303 Smart, while they improve the art of delivering written language, have at the same time diffused a taste for English literature. Good reciters and readers, in several meetings, do the like in proportion to their talent, zeal, and connexions.-Lastly, It is very likely to benefit youth. Having been engaged for above twenty years in the tuition of youth, I have had considerable experience in teaching this art. Where there were great defects in the speech, the voice, or memory, I have not succeeded; but in such of the rising generation as became any way proficient, I have observed how much they were delighted with it. I have also remarked that it has led to a greater love of other parts of useful and ornamental learning in every young gentleman under my care who excelled in recitation or elegant reading. I shall conclude with the following judicious remarks on the subject by Lindley Murray:-" If there were no other benefit from reading well than the necessity it lays us under of understands ing what we repeat, and the habit thereby acquired, it would compensate for the pains we take on the subject. But the pleasure we feel ourselves, and impart to others, in the exercise of this art, inust give additional importance to it. The perfect attainment of it will doubtless require great practice, joined to extraordinary natural powers. But as there are degrees of excellence in the art of good reading, the student whose aim falls short of perfection in it, will find himself amply rewarded for every exer tion he may think proper to make." Buckingham. G. G. SCRAGGS! MR. EDITOR; IT is worthy of observation, with what seeming indifference too many parents of the present day treat those sallies of passion so often incident in young chilwith dren, and which sometimes grow them to a maturer age. They little reš fect, that in this the good or bad dispo sition is pourtrayed; that from this their fature actions may be traced, and their whole character delineated. In a fit of anger, a person whose actions when calm' are distinguished by every good quality, may perpetrate a deed unworthy of himself, and that may perhaps occasion the forfeiture of life; though, had his temper been corrected in his youth, and afterwards restrained by himself, he would have been an ornament to society; and a blessing to his family. Ive VOL. III. 306 State of Society and Manners at Geneva. been in the habit of visiting at some houses, where children have been encouraged in these expressions of rage, as denoting a fine spirit, rather than symptoms of a bad disposition. A CONSTANT READER. DESCRIPTION OF GENEVA, WITH A SOCIETY SKETCH OF THE STATE or AND MANNERS IN THAT CITY. By W. WALTHER. (Concluded from p. 213.) HERE, as in all other social communities, the women act a very important part. Whether they are superior in inental cultivation to the other sex, I cannot pretend to determine; but they distinguish themselves in various ways. Upon the whole there are but very few handsome faces at Geneva, and I have not met with a single beauty. They have in general a good figure, being tall and slender, and their deineanour exhibits a certain virgin modesty without being tinctured with reserve or awkwardness. Their complexions are mostly pale, but their eyes lively; and their dress is very neat, but at the same time extremely simple. I was lately present at a violent dispute between a young foreigner and a Genevese lady, in which the latter victoriously contended that beauty, so far from being an essential, was not even a desirable quality for the sex in its civil sphere. Mothers attend entirely themselves to their children, and especially to their daughters, from their earliest infancy; so that I have not heard here of a single day-school or board ing-school for girls. On the other hand, parents are accustomed to chuse playfellows for their daughters from among their friends and acquaintance; these assemble regularly every Sunday, and spend the day together, and not a single boy or young man is suffered to enter their circle. Thus I see them frequently on week-days with their parents, or on Sundays with an old gentleman, the father of one of their number, walking in groups of from three to eight or nine, in the environs of Geneva. On fine evenings the number of these parties travers ing the woods and the fields is astonishing. The younger daughters are universally instructed by their mothers, as are, in many instances, those of maturer years; they also perform the same office for their boys, with whom it is not uncommon for them to repeat the lessons they have learned at the public school; so that many mothers learn Latin, that they may be able to hear their sons and [May assist them in their tasks. Neither is it rare for mothers to have their daughters instructed in fencing till they are ten or twelve years old, for the purpose of giv ing flexibility to their limbs. The principal means employed for bracing the body are the Courses à la Montagne, (for so they here call by way of eminence the Salèse, which is 5000 feet high) and bathing in the Rhone and Arve in summer. Great numbers of ladies and girls bathe every day in the glacier-water of the Arve which is a real ice-bath, to strengthen their nerves; and on the island of the Rhone in the city are several subscription-baths for females, which are almost always occupied. Music and drawing, and especially the latter, form here an essential part of female education. Girls are very regularly conducted to divine worship: I have been at church both on Sundays and other days, and have always found a full attendance of females. The pa rents never go thither without their chil dren, and exemplary devotion, silence, and attention prevail in these as-emblies. Many of the sex, both old and young, addict themselves to the study of particular branches of natural history, and communicate their aequirements to others. Several have been pointed out to me as excellent botanists. Others draw and paint, and submit their works to their husbands for correction. Almost all of them must, I should think, te very close observers of the thermometer} for into whatever company I go in an evening, I am sure to meet with ladies, who can tell the degree of temperature to a hair, at every hour of the day. When I went to see the public library, I was not a little surprised to find at least three hundred persons of all classes walking about in the rooms, bringing back books which they had read, and selecting others-all of them scientiae works too- and full one-fifth of these were women. Besides this collection, a great quantity of the worst trash is daily dealt out to the fair sex from the cabinets litte raires, or circulating libraries; and even in shops a woman is very seldom to be seen without a book in her hand. Among the higher classes the Bibliothèque Britannique is a decided favourite; no Sooner does a new volume appear than it is greedily devoured. It consists chiefly of extracts from scientific works, generally English, occasionally French, and still more rarely German, with original remarks and criticisms upon them, 1815.] State of Society and Manners at Geneva. in the form of annotations and letters. The editors are the best scholars of Geneva. PICTET and OLIVIER are particularly distinguished by the communication of scientific matters in a popular form, and the ladies of this place read their works partly because they know the authors; partly because they feel particularly interested in these subjects, from their associating with men of science, and from having almost all of them attended a course of natural philosophy and chemistry; and partly also, because it is a principle with these people to keep continually adding to their stock of knowledge. To the most remarkable phenomenon of recent times belongs the Sermon held by CELERIER, who is deservedly a favourite preacher, against reading bad books-Sermon sur le danger de la lecture des mauvais livres. It made so deep an impression, that the day after it was delivered numbers of books were seen burning in large bonfires. Solicitude for the public welfare, that is to say, for the welfare of his native city, seems to have become second nature with the Genevese. At the present moment, for instance, we have here a silkmanufacturer from Lyons, who offers his goods so cheap, that the tradesmen of Geneva cannot enter into competition with him: the ladies, however, with feelings of genuine patriotism, will not purchase any of his articles, lest they should deprive the dealers in their own town of an advantage, and thus tend to augment the difficulties which, under the French government, began to press very heavily upon the middling classes. Plans were projected for affording some relief, such as an increased attention to agriculture, and institutions for support ing and educating poor children. Such an institution is already in a highly flour ishing state; the most accomplished females are the teachers of the poor girls, who are brought up to be excellent seryants. Geneva is very populous, Mallet estimates its inhabitants at 25 or 26,000; but the number of the men seems much smaller than that of the other sex. They were distinguished at a remote period as an extremely lively, unsettled, ingenious, and polished people, and such they still continue to be. If we turn over the pages of history, political, ecclesiastical, or literary, it is indeed surprising what a number of remarkable facts of which this small space, six hundred fathonis in length, and about half as broad (for the 307 city forms an oval) has for the last three These regulations are still in force. It was owing to his efforts that Geneva afforded an asylum to the unfor tunate Protestants expelled from France, England, and Italy. Thus the city be came peopled with families of different nations, who introduced their various improvements in the arts and sciences, Many of the present inhabitants are descended from those refugees, and may be distinguished by their foreign names. By this reception, and by perseverance in the defence of religious and political liberty, the city rose amidst incessant contests with its neighbours into a considerable fortress, and consolidated its civil constitution. Among the most ecle 306 Literary Institutions and Eminent Natives of Geneva. brated French refugees who found a retreat at Geneva, was the great THEODORE DE BEZA, who here translated the Psalms, which are still sung in the churches. It was CALVIN who in 1558 founded here the first seminary, which is still the only public school at Geneva, and is called the College. The site of a vineyard was cleared, and on the same spot rose in six months this building, where in 1809 upwards of 800 scholars received instruction. It was at first diwided into seven classes, and since into nine. Through his persuasions the council of Geneva founded a second institution the Academy, for the higher studies, which still subsists upon its original plan. The library, which now contains 143,000 volumes, was established about the same time. In short there is scarcely any thing but what attests the extraordinary influence of this man, of whom Sennebier very characteristically remarks, that "Geneva is indebted to him for her ecclesiastical regulations; her Consistory and her College; by reforming their manners, he changed and modelled the character of the people, and impressed upon it those forms of simplicity and austerity, of order and wisdom, which have since marked and advantageously distinguished it among the varied characters of other nations. He infused into the Genevese a love of industry, a fondness for letters, a deep sense of duty..." I purposely quote this passage, because it delineates the present citizen of Geneva, who indeed possesses the qualities here enumerated in a high degree, but who also knows that he does, and seldom misses an opportunity of telling you so, though without ostentation. The people of Geneva are in truth proud, but their pride is not only venial but laudable, as it is unaccompanied with presumption, and founded on a just estimate of their own worth, It strongly reminded me of a similar national trait in the English, to whom the Genevese in general are strongly attached. I have therefore admitted their right to be proved, especially since I have made myself a little better acquainted with their literary history. In all the branches of the sciences and of active life, the iterati of Geneva-and these are almost all at the same time statesmen or men of business and artists, have had extensive influence. Cotemporary with Calvin and de Beza, were RoBERT STEPHANUS, who here published many works, and his more celebrated son, [May 1, HENRY STEPHANUS, the confident of King Francis I. the compiler of the Thesaurus Linguæ Græca; here wrote the eminent divine BEROALDUS; JOSEPH SCALIGER, the wonder of his age; Isaac CASAUBON, the great philologist and acute critic; here resided the equally distinguished family of LE CLERC, that of SPANHEIM, and others whose names we cannot mention without respect and admiration, when we call to mind their labours and their merits. Louis LE FORT, the favourite of Pater the Great, to whom that prince was indebted for the greatest part of his acquirements, and Russia for the first impulse toward civilization, was a native of Geneva. In the past century, the names of TURRETINI, ABAUZIT, DELVE, BURLAMAQUI, DE LOLMS, TRONCHIS, SAUSSURE, BONNET, MALLET the astronomer, SENNEBIER the physiologist, FICTET the natural philosopher, TRIMBLEY the investigator of the polypi, Lɛ SAGE the mathematician, ROUSSEAU, VAUCHER, NECKER, and MADAME DE STAEL, have acquired celebrity.* It is curious to observe how certain branches of the sciences and literary avocations have for many years successively, nay for upwards of a century, been heredie tary, as it were, in various families. Upon all these names the Genevese are fond of dwelling, and they are well aware of their importance. Besides, the College from which, on account of the very great number of scholars, nothing extraordinary can be expected, there are abundance of private institutions for young people, but iq these a stranger cannot obtain access without great difficulty, and to most of them not at all. This I don't like. On leaving the College the pupils attend, the lectures of the Academy. Notwithstanding the high-sounding division inte La Salle des Belles lettres, de l'hilosophi, de Droit, and de Theologie, all these, excepting the last, are not superior to the first class of a German gymnasium, It is moreover the prevailing practice at Geneva for well-educated persons of both sexes to bear a privac course of lectures, which are held chiefly in winter, but sometimes also in summer. Thus I am now attending such a private course To this list the author might justly have added the names of MALLET DU PAS and Sir FRANCIS D'IVERNO, who have distinguished themselves by their political writings, and the American statesman AtBERT GALLATIN, EDITOR. by M. Gosse, apothecary, who reads to us on botany. He is particularly conversant with the structure of vegetables, the general system, and the plants of Geneva, and delivers himself in a very pleasing inanner. He takes every opportunity of extolling the omnipotence, the wisdom, and the goodness of God; and all the other teachers here do the same. Gossé, though a very agreeable man, is remarkable for various eccentricities; he is fond of coining new words; has built himself a hermitage on the Salève, and laid out a botanic garden around it, to which he rides upon an ass; is a professed amateur and collector of all monsters, and has broached a perfectly novel theory of generation to account for their production. Of my excursions in the vicinity of the town I may perhaps give you an account another time. I anticipate the pleasure of a visit to Chamouni, to which the Genevese resort in flocks like the birds of passage in autumn. Montblanc in towering majesty is every evening an object of my admiration, and fills the mind with sublime emotions. The prospect from Ferney over the lake to Buet and Montblanc, which, after the setting of the sun, are long tinged with purple radiance, and seem to pierce the azure firmament that is gradually studded with glistening stars, might well suggest the idea that this is the entrance of heaven, the ascent to the blissful abodes of the Gods. MR. EDITOR, THE sportive translation into Greek of Three Children sliding on the Ice, by the learned Porson, which you have given us, is an ingenious classical hoax. What your correspondent Logos said of it I have not seen, but am perfectly astonished at the strangely offensive assumption of such a signature. I now send you, as its companion, a similar version into Greek of the "Christ-church Bells" of Dean Aldrich, said to be by some Oxford man, whose name I should be glad to learn. To this I prefix the original, together with a Latin version, which I once framed out of a very wretched attempt of this sort, which was found in a fraginent of some old song book. The Christ-church Bells. Hark! the first and second beil, That twice a-day, at four and ten, And the verger trips before the dean. nine, . For to call the beerers home; The same in Latin, Sub horam quartam, et decimam, um, at nemo sat se bibisse putat, The sume in Greck, Εν τω ναω Χριςε εξ Κροτωσιν ιλαρώς, λάρως. Δις καθ' εκάςην ημέρα, I cannot, indeed, compliment the And the bells of St. Andrew's, so loud and so clear ring, out of hearing. You'd have given ten pounds to have been I am afraid I have not recollected the original quite correctly. I am not an Oxford man, but a little account I have says, that Tom rings always at nine o'clock." + The last line but two was at first writ ten, Eis olov piñomugg I have taken the lis berty to substitute the above, because, as the original seemed to aim at alternate rhiming in the last stanza, I thought it pro per that both translations should resemble it in this respect |