686 ON RURAL IMPROVEMENT, AND BOOK III. 



educated in the country by private tuition, and those sent to 

 public schools and colleges* in towns, is so great, and the 

 effects which would result from it are so extensive, that, were 

 this alone attended to, it would in thirty years effect a revolu- 

 tion in the manners of the higher classes; — a revolution highly 

 advantageous for the state, honourable to the subjects of it, and 

 conducive to the immediate happiness of parents, no less than 

 to the future welfare of their children. The present system of 

 female education and manners is every thing that it ought not 

 to be, the latter counteracts the indications of natural charac- 

 ter by habitual dissimulation ; and the former prevents all 

 mental energy by centring every thing in a few superficial ac- 

 complishments. 



3. Let the wealthy man consider the consequent effects of a 

 contrary practice to that which has been recommended — 

 either of living in the country without doing good— or squan- 

 dering immense sums of money in town. By the former prac- 

 tice, the improvement of property is neglected ; hence both the 

 public and the proprietor suffer loss. Life passes away with- 

 out being interesting to the possessor, while its approaching 

 termination gives inward pleasure to the neglected peasantry, 

 whose comforts it was his duty to promote. Old age ap- 

 proaches ; he is a burthen to himself ; death comes and rids 



* This is not meant to apply to all our seminaries of education, many of which 

 are unexceptionably disciplined. 



