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    not the result of any partiality to the French 5 yeU but for the generous interposition of Prince Bagration with the Commander in . Chief , it would have Ex posed them and their property to considerable danger . The A ustrians could not withhold their admiration ; and the French General ( Suchet ) published an order of the day for the very purpose of acknowledging such a singular instance of benevolence .

    I will mention but one moral feature besides , and that is , their gratitude . They have been long indebted ( as will be seen in the sequel ) to our nation for its sympathy and protection , and especially to a British Princess

    ( their guardian angel , if we may so speak ) , for her munificence . These benefits have never been forgotten : on the contrary , the pastors and people regard the English as their best friends—in seasons of difficulty , their chief resources ; * and I remember I

    was very forcibly struck with the remark of the amiable wife of one of their ministers , who told me , that they made a point of instilling into their children respect and esteem for the English from the very dawn of reason in their minds .

    Having said thus much of some valuable qualities of the mind , a few observations n ^ ay be added respec tin g &eir manners . They are in general very correct , such as one might anticipate amongst a people well instructed , little used to intercourse with the world , and devoted to the laborious

    occupations of ploughmen , herdsmen , shepherds and vine-dressers * The late war , however , has in some degree injured them , as it obliged many of their youth to become soldiers in

    the French service . There was also a fortress established by the French pf late years , not far from St . Jean , They have experienced , - no doubt , like most others , the melancholy truth of the maxim , " Evil communications

    ttOTupt good manners . " The principal amusement of the people has in itself something of the martial - , it is t « 6 ur great ambition to be expert fflarksmeu ; a circumstance ; to be fraced , probably as much to a motive

    * ft is tp ths Britisb ^ epresentative fhey * ZS £ ^** &W * SWwkwfel a « 4 ii ^ WSKto

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    of self-defence as of pleasure . After Easter the inhabitants of the several parishes ( each body with an elected king at its head ) receive each other with peculiar respect , fire at a mark with a musket ball , and afterwards adjudge rewards to the most skilful , This tends to cement the union of tha

    several parishes . Their marriages * baptisms , &c . usually take place in winter , and then they often indulge in their favourite amusement of dancing . Iu 1711 , a synod prohibited dancing , but the prohibition does not seem to have been attended with sue *

    cess . 1 will next describe what I am per * suaded will interest , I wish I could add gratify , benevolent persons m England—the state of their schools * They were once flourishing , and the > sum of six thousand livres of Pied- *

    montf was annually remitted from . Holland for the purpose of supporting fifteen great , ninety little ( or winter ) and two Latin schools ; part of thet money being reserved however , for the widows of ministers , for disabled ministers , for the poor , and Tor an allowance to fiv * e deans . t The events

    of the late war have entirely changed this happy aspect of affairs . Since , the year 1810 , two thousand livres per annum only ( 100 / . sterling ) have been received from Holland ; and as half the people had not the means of pay * ing , the schools have exceedingly

    declined , and even run the risk of com < - plete decay . With the exception of the Latin schools , however , they ex ^ ist at present ( barely exist * and but ill provided w , ith teachers ) , as charitable persons in the valleys have hitherto paid for the poor .

    They have been equally unfortunate with regard to the pensions which Queen Mary II . granted to thirteen schoolmasters ; for this re * source has also failed since > 1797 . It is highly important that Christian benevolence should avail itself of the

    occasion here presented of benefiting the rising generation , both in granting such an allowance as shall procure efficient teachers , and in suggesting , the various improvements in system which have lately taken place in th *

    f About 39 O / . sterling * * I Tfft £ fif $ « etuac iniiu 9 t « f »;* r # twaj data * . . ^

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    Memoir respecting the WdUkmeK 13 $

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1816, page 135, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2450/page/7/