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742 Mr . BakewelP * concluding Remarks on the Present State of Geneva ,
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interest in whatever Contributes to the improvement of society * was indefatigable iu her inquiries ; and , as a lady , she had opportunities of learning much respecting the state of Information , in orals and religious feeling of females in theydiffereM' classes ; of society , comprising both ricli' aiiil pooi ^ as ^ velt as domestic fe m ale servants .
This knowledge , which gentlemen can-. not easily \ acquire * is absolutely necessary when we would form a just estimate of the character of a people . He must know little of human nature
and society , who is not aware that the moral character and religious feeling of men owe more to the early care of virtuous and intelligent mothers , than to all the after-teaching of masters or priests in schools or colleges , or
chapels or churches . It is true , that in England the good effects of the inost J udicious maternal care are too often obliterated by the hard-hearted immorality of public schools , and the
impious piety and frequency of public prayers in schools and colleges , which make religion appear a contemptible farce , even to children , and tend more to deaden the soul to all religious feeling in after-life , than the writings of all the infidels that ever existed .
The result of Mrs . B . ' s inquiries , as well as of my own , continued during two winters , were highly favourable . Among females in the higher classes , the education being chiefly domestic , is devoted to the acquisition of useful knowledge , as well asr of household
duties , which precludes that hi # hfinish given to our English ladies in fashionable boarding-schools , where the physical , intellectual ami moral energies are flittered down and wasted alway , in the acquisition of w ^ iat are called
accomplishments . The Gehevese are more practically wise than we are on the subject of iemale education ; and I hope they may never be seduced to follow our example . The females in the humbler walks of life are -much
better informed than those of the same class in England , and their manners and their morals are entitled to high praise , if strangers would do them justice . —Now I appeal to Dr . Smith himself , whether in a small
state , where the moral character and information of the females are what I have described , it is at all ¦ probable , that * ' dissoluteness of morals ? .
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and open immorality / ' should prevail among the men : nor do they * for no account was ever ihore erronecftfs than that which he has given of the state of morals in Geneva . —The prevailing defects of character in the Genevese are
of 4 different description : they arise from peculiar circumstances m their situation . —Geneva , till lately , has been treated as the enfant g&te of the Reformation ; it may also be called the
Athens of Switzerland $ and perhaps an overstrained opinion of their owi * knowledge and importance may be the ** easily-besetting sin * ' of the inhabitants . I have heard the young Genevese studying at Paris censured by their fellow-students for their conceit . But these are defects which liberal
persons , who have a more extensive acquaintance with mankind , will be rather disposed to smile at , than censure severely . Dr . Smith appear to cfeem it presumptuous in me to touch upon the state of religion . He would have it to be believed , that I am toe inueh occupied with the study of rocks
and stones , to feel any interest about my fellow-creatures ;—like Milton ' s Mammon , I am ever * ' regarding more the pavement" of the earth , than the beings that tread upon it . I know he has not said this with ill nature , nor will I receive it as such - I y but can assure him , I have long considered that the nature of man and his future
expectations form the most interesting of all inquiries , infinitely exceeding in importance all physical researches whatever . To these subjects I have devoted much time from very early Kfe ; with what profit I will not determine . | One of the principal motives which induced me to winter at Geneva , was to observe the influence of a
republican democratic governmeq > t , and a liberal faith , on . the morals and character of the people . I conversed with persons of both parties in religion , and endeavoured to keep my mind
open to receive the truth . The dispute 5 n the English Church occasioned by the attempt of a few evangelical persons to supplant the Rev . G . Rooke and brinsr in a friend of Mr . Zacariah
Macaulay , occurred the first winter I was at Geneva ; and as I lived under the same roof with Mr . R , and saw him every day , the state of religious parties in Geneva was a subject of
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1824, page 742, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2531/page/38/
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