The splendid view which we have now described, be comes more distinctly seen as we advance along the road to Fernay, and is developed in all its majesty from the beech tree promenade, in the garden of Voltaire. The writer of this article had the good fortune to see this magnificent prospect under the most favourable circumstances ; but he was much more overpowered with the majesty of Mont Blanc when lie saw it from the heights of Foureiere, or from the Quai de la Guillotierre, at Lyons, a distance of about 160 miles.
The system of education which prevails at Geneva, is perhaps not surpassed by that of any other city in Europe. It is not associated, indeed, with those splendid establish ments, nor supported by those rich endowments, which are to be found in the other cities of Europe ; but it is kept alive and regulated by a love•of science, and an enlighten ed and patriotic zeal among the learned men of ,Geneva, which we believe has no other example. The system of public education which prevails in this city, relates to the studies of childhood, those of adolescence, and those of the learned professions of divinity, law, and physic.
The first of these departments resembles that of our Eton or Westminster schools. It is conducted by eleven masters, called regena, under the superintendance of a rec to], a principal, and the academy of professors. Children from the age of five to sixteen are successively taught read ,ing, writing, orthography, arithmetic, and the elements of Greek, Latin, and mathematics. The college is divided into nine classes, each having a separate and commodious class room. The scholars generally continue a year in each class, and no one is permitted to leave his form, till he is fit for being promoted to a higher one. An account of the degrees of good and bad conduct of every boy is regularly and faithfully kept, which is summed up at the end of the week. Twice every year prizes are distributed for good conduct, and for progress in study ; and once in the year, generally in the beginning of June, exercises are proposed to each class, and prizes are adjudged to the best. These prizes are distributed on the day called the Day of Promo tion, the day before that on which the properly qualified students are promoted to a higher class. A grand solem nity is on this occasion celebrated in the cathedral church, and is attended by all the public bodies in their robes, and by crowds of citizens of every class. On the celebration of this fete on the 20th June 1814,88 silver medals were distributed.
The second department of the system of education at Geneva, is entrusted to the professors, who occupy the highest station in the academy. It is subdivided into dif ferent classes, called auditoires. All the courses of lectures begin on the first Tuesday of August, and continue sum mer and winter, with several vacations, which amount to between four and five months in the year. Four years at
tendance is necessary to complete the studies of this depart ment : the two first are devoted to the Belles Lettres, and the two last to the different branches of philosophy. The pupils are examined daily on the subject of the preceding lecture.
When the student has completed this course, which he generally does at the age of 18, he may then attend to the study of divinity, law, or physic. The following is a list of the subjects on which lectures are delivered : Our readers will no doubt be surprised to learn, that the preceding establishment, in which more than 1000 pupils are educated, is supported exclusively by a population of 30,000. The annual salary of the professors is not more than 60 guineas, and scarcely half of the professors are en titled to this sum, the rest being merely honorary teachers, who give their labour to the community without any remu neration. The honour of teaching is here considered as a sufficient compensation for its labour ; and such is the es teem :n which even the masters of the schools are held, that one of the regents was made a member of the provisional government at the restoration of the republic.
As it is very probable that many of our countrymen will send their sons to Geneva for the sake of acquiring the French language, and other advantages which cannot be easily obtained at home, we have dwelt more minutely on the subject of education than we would otherwise have been entitled to do. There is certainly no place in the world to which a father may send his children with fewer anxieties than to Geneva. The vices which prevail in ma ny of the principal towns of Europe, are here in a great measure unknown. The young men are regularly instruct ed in the duties and principles of Christianity, and all the decent proprieties of religion are observed here, as in our own country. An Englishman, and a Scotchman still more, finds himself at home in the society and customs of this happy republic. The religion of Geneva has lost much of the austerity which she wore in former times. Cheer ful and enlightened, she now appears in her native charac ter; and there is no danger of the religious habits of our youth experiencing any violent change among the virtuous inhabitants of this city. The similarity of our institutions to theirs, the civil liberty and religious toleration ss hich distinguish both countries, have attached the Genevese to the English character ; and we have no hesitation in saying, that if an Englishman could for one moment expatriate himself, even in imagination, he would wish to be a citizen of Geneva.