learner may improve in style as well as in reading, and insensibly acquire a taste for accurate composition.— To imbue the tender mind with the love of virtue and goodness, is an especial object of the present work: and, with this view, the pieces have been scrupulously selected; and, where necessary, purified from every word and sentiment that could offend the most delicate mind.

As a work tending to season the minds of children with piety and virtue, and to improve them in reading, language and sentiment, the compiler hopes it will prove a suitable Introduction to the “English Reader,” and other publications of that nature; and also a proper book for those schools, in which, from their circumscribed plan of education, larger works of the kind cannot be admitted.

RULES AND OBSERVATIONS

FOR ASSISTING CHILDREN TO

READ WITH PROPRIETY,

THE compiler of this work having, in the preface to his "English Reader," explained at large the principles of elocution, nothing on this head seems to be necessary in the present publication, but to give a few plain and simple rules, adapted to the younger classes of learners; and to make some observations, calculated to rectify the errors which they are most apt to commit. These rules may be comprehended under the following heads. They are comprised in few words, and a little separated from the observations, that those teachers who wish their pupils to commit them to memory, may more readily distinguish them from the parts which require only an attentive perusal.

I. All the simple sounds should be pronounced with fulness, distinctness and energy; particularly the vowels, on the proper utterance of which, the force and beauty of pronunciation greatly depend.

The simple sounds, especially those signified by the letters 1, r, s, th, and sh, are often very imperfectly pronounced by young persons. B and p are apt to be confounded: so are d and t, s and z, f and v. The

letters v and w are often sounded the one for the other: thus, wine is pronounced vine; and vinegar, winegar. The dipthong ow is, in some words, vulgarly sounded like er: as foller, meller, winder; instead of follow, mellow, window. When several consonants, proper to be sounded, occur in the beginning or the end of words, it is a very common error to omit one of them in pronunciation: as in the words asps, casks, guests, breadth, fifth, twelfth, strength, hearths. Not sounding the letter h, when it is proper to sound this letter, is a great fault in pronunciation, and very difficult wholly to correct.

When children have acquired any improper habits with respect to simple sounds, the best mode of correction is, to make them frequently repeat words and sentences, in which those sounds occur.-When the simple sounds are thoroughly understood and acquired, the various combinations of them into syllables and words will be easily effected.

II. In order to give spirit and propriety to pronunciation, due attention must be paid to accent, emphasis, and cadence.

When we distinguish a syllable by a greater stress of the voice, it is called accent. When we thus distinguish any word in a sentence, it is called emphasis. It is difficult to give precise rules for placing the accent: but the best general direction is, to consult the most approved pronouncing dictionaries, and to imitate thè practice of the most correct speakers.

There are, in every sentence, some word or words, on which the sense of the rest depends; and these must always be distinguished by a fuller and stronger sound of voice, whether they are found in the beginning, the middle, or the end of the sentence. It is highly improper to lay an emphasis on words of little importance. Words put in opposition to each other arc always emphatical: as, "Here I am miserable; but there I shall be happy." "Children," says Beattie, “are not often taught to read with proper emphasis. When books are put before them which they do not understand, it is impossible they should apply it properly. Let them, therefore, read nothing but what is level to their capacity. Let them read deliberately, and with attention to every word. Let them be set right, not only when they misapply the emphasis; but also cautioned against the opposite extremes of too forcible and too feeble an application of it: for, by the former of these faults, they become affected in their utterance; and by the latter, insipid." That children may be enabled to apply the emphasis with judgment, they should carefully study the subject, and ascertain the meaning of every difficult word and sentence, previous to their being called to read to the teacher.

An emphasis consists in raising the voice, cadence signifies the falling of it. Towards the close of a sentence, the cadence takes place, unless the concluding words be emphatical. It should always be easy and gradual, not abrupt; and should never be expressed in a feeble and languid manner. Even the falling of the voice may be managed with spirit and variety.

III. As the art of reading greatly depends on the proper management of the breath, it should be used with economy. The voice ought to be relieved at every stop; slightly at a comma, more leisurely at a semicolon, or a colon, and completely at a period.

A due attention to this rule will prevent a broken, faint and languid voice, which is the usual fault of ignorant and vulgar readers. It will enable the reader to preserve the command of his voice; to pronounce the longest sentence with as much ease as the shortest ; and to acquire that freedom and energy, with which a person of judgment naturally expresses his perceptions, emotions and passions, in common discourse.

The comma marks the shortest pause; the semicolon, a pause double that of the comma; the colon, double that of the semicolon; and the period, double that of the colon. A dash following a stop, shows that the pause is to be greater than if the stop were alone; and when used by itself, requires a pause of such length as the sense alone can determine. A paragraph requires a pause double that which is proper at a period.

The points of interrogation and exclamation, are uncertain as to their time. The pause which they demand is equal to a semicolon, a colon, or a period, as the sense may require. They should be attended with an elevation of the voice. The parenthesis, unless accompanied with a stop, requires but a small pause. It generally marks a moderate depression of the voice.