II. Words to form Sentences 19 III. Abridgment of Complex Sentences IV. Abridgment of Complex Sentences (continued) II. Variety of Arrangement (continued) III. Variety of Arrangement (continued) V. Expression of Ideas (continued) XX. Of Sound united to the Sense XXI. Choice of Words with a View to Energy and Vivacity HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. CHAP. I.. Of different Languages . II. Of the Primitive Languages of Europe. IV. Of the early History of the English Language V.. The. Effect on it of the Saxon Conquest VI. The Effect on it of the Danish Conquest VII. The Effect on it of the Norman Conquest VIII. Of the Modern History of our Language CHAP. I. English Literature under the Tudors and the first Stuarts . 197 II. English Literature from the Restoration to the Reign of III. English Literature of the present Age IV. English Novels and Romances XII. Concluding Remarks on American Poets H. SECT. I. Sketch of American Literature since 1815 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. THE OCCASION FOR THIS WORK. LONG experience in teaching has convinced the compiler that none of the numerous works known to him on the subject of Rhetoric and Composition are sufficiently adapted to a large class of scholars, in academies and common schools, that need, and are susceptible of, instruction in this important branch of knowledge. He has been compelled, therefore, by a regard to the interests of the young, and to the interests of the community, to undertake the compilation of a work from the best sources, which, being the result of long experience, may not only aid teachers and scholars in this branch of education, but may render the pursuit of it more agreeable than any other treatise within his knowledge. One great objection to almost every treatise hitherto furnished to schools, is their dry, uninteresting, and even repulsive character in the view of the young; which, added to the dislike to efforts in composition which the young generally enter. tain, render those works of comparatively little service. THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS BRANCH OF EDUCATION BEING MORE EXTENSIVELY AND THOROUGHLY TAUGHT IN ACADEMIES AND COMMON SCHOOLS. The compiler of the present work begs leave to express his conviction that the labors of teachers in all our schools are di rected too exclusively to the securing of correct habits in speak. ing and reading the language; and that altogether too limited an amount of time and share of attention are employed in teaching the art of correctly WRITING the language. He believes that during several years of attendance at school, the time of the pupil could not be more profitably employed, during an hour or a half hour of each day, than in transcribing from books, or in composing, until the art is acquired of correctly committing to paper what may be heard or thought. To do this, implies a practical and thorough knowledge of orthography, punctuation, and proper use of capital letters, in addition to a knowledge of grammatical and rhetorical principles. When we consider how many, who have enjoyed the advantages of common and even of academic schools, are unable to write down their own thoughts or the speeches of other persons; how much occasion every one has in life for the ability to communicate or preserve his thoughts by writing; when we consider how many persons of strong powers of reflection make no record of their valuable thoughts because they were not educated to the practice of it at school; when we consider, also, how difficult and protracted the process must be of learning to reduce our |