NUMEROUS SPECIMENS, BOTH IN PROSE AND POETRY, FROM THE BEST AS EXERCISES FOR PRACTICE: AND WITH Notes and Sketches, Literary and Biographical, FORMING TOGETHER A BRIEF, THOUGH COMPREHENSIVE COURSE OF AUTHOR OF "A SERIES OF SCHOOL READERS," "YGUNG»ŁADIES' READER, SPILLER, NEW YORK: IVISON, PHINNEY, BLAKEMAN & COMPANY, Nos. 48 & 50 WALKER STREET. CHICAGO: S. C. GRIGGS & CO., 39 & 41 LAKE ST. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by CHARLES W. SANDERS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. PREFACE. VIEWED merely in the light of its primary purpose, withcut reference to collateral aims, the present work is simply a com isive course of reading. But this view is quite inadequate, → superficial. It is like examining a watch without opening the case. The main part is left out of sight. A better view may be gained by a different illustration; for, as in a great garden, representing all the products of the earth,where art works with nature in promotion of the general design, where color, form, and variety unite in wooing the sense of beauty, where every noxious growth is closely watched and carefully excluded, and where, in addition to all this, a guide is at hand to point out the character of each production, so here, in the compass of a single volume, is a collection of specimens from every part of the literary world, all duly arranged and duly explained, and all shedding the selectest moral influence. But, to enable the young reader better to appreciate all this variety of style and subject, pertinent collateral instructions and suggestions are provided throughout. These reach down to the very elements of vocal utterance. They reach up to whatever, in the matter of reading, can either be taught by rules or illustrated by example. |