Page images
PDF
EPUB

NOTTINGHAM:

PRINTED BY R. ALLEN, LONG ROW.

IAN

BIBLI

ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL.

[blocks in formation]

PREFACE.

"It is a happy feature of English teaching, that the child is fed so largely with poetical fruit. A love of the good and the beautiful is thus entwined with the growing mind, and becomes a part of it."-REV. R. A. WILLMOTT.

This Manual has been compiled not only to facilitate the progress of Pupils in the most important Art of Expressive Reading, butby the variety of subjects, and the noble principles inculcated-to refine their tastes, elevate their sentiments, and excite in their minds an abiding interest in the study of our unrivalled Literature. It is believed that, within the same compass and at so moderate a price, never before were so many choice and varied selections* from British and American writers brought before the attention of schools and families generally. Whether regarded as subjects for exposition-for judicious criticism-for grammatical and logical analysis -for paraphrasing, or for tracing verbal analogies and derivations, the great value of such selections as aids to mental development must be quite obvious. Indeed, there is great reason to believe, that by the thorough study of the English language, most of the mental advantages can be obtained which are sought by the study of the Classics and Foreign Tongues.

Amongst the peculiar features of this Work, attention is directed to the Historical Pieces, in Chronological order, which form the first of the four Sections into which the subject-matter has been grouped. These pieces-if used in connection with the study of History-will tend to give much additional zest to it. The poetic selections are more numerous than those of prose, as suitable specimens of the latter are contained in so many other books. Some of the subjects introduced may at first be too difficult for the leastadvanced pupils-but by judicious explanations, these subjects can be brought level to their comprehension.+

No additional remarks are needed to give force and significance to the following highly suggestive passages from the works of distinguished Writers on Education:

"The taste for harmony, the poetical ear, if ever acquired, is so almost during infancy. The flow of numbers easily impresses itself on the memory, and is with difficulty erased. By the aid of verse, a store of beautiful imagery and glowing sentiment may be gathered up as the amusement of childhood, which in riper years may beguile the heavy hours of languor, solitude and sorrow; may enforce sentiments of piety, humanity and tenderness; may soothe the soul to calmness, rouse it to honourable exertions, or fire it with virtuous indignation."-MISS AIKIN.

* Permission has been kindly granted by several eminent Publishers, for the insertion of various extracts from our modern Poets-the copyright of whose works has not yet expired. If the Manual contains any other similar pieces which inadvertently have been included (from their appearance in several other collections of poetry for schools), it is believed that their re-appearance in this Work will not be in the least injurious to the interests of either Authors or Publishers. To adapt them the better for this Manual, many of the pieces have either been abridged or slightly altered in expression.

+"Divide and subdivide a difficult operation, until your steps are so short that the Pupil can easily take them."-Abbott's Teacher.

Pestalozzi led his pupils gradually-"du connu a l'enconnu."

"It is no wisdom to make boys prodigies of information; but it is our wisdom and our duty to cultivate their faculties each in its season-first the memory and imagination, and then the judgment; to furnish them with the means, and to excite the desire of improving themselves, and to wait with confidence for God's blessing on the result."-DR. ARNOLD.

"The mind should be great in imagination and virtuous emotion, no less than in intellect,-to be healthy and vigorous in all its proportions."-RUSKIN. "They who have known what it is-when afar from books, in solitude, or in travelling, or in intervals of worldly care-to feed on poetical recollections, to recal the sentiments and images which retain by association the charm that early years once gave them,-will feel the inestimable value of committing to memory, in the prime of its power, what it will easily receive and indelibly retain." "He who has drunk from the pure springs of Intellect in his youth, will continue to draw from them in the heat, the burden, and the decline of the day. The corrupted streams of popular entertainment flow by him unregarded. He lives among the society of an elder age. Tasteful Learning he numbers among the chief blessings of his home; when clasping the hand of Religion, it becomes its Vassal and its Friend. By this union he obtains the watchfulness and the guidance of two companions, loving and beloved, who redouble his delights in health, bring flowers to his pillow in sickness, and shed the lustre and the peace of the Past and the Future over the blackness and the consternation of the Present." REV. R. A. WILLMOTT'S Pleasures, &c., of Literature.

"The great tendency of Poetry is, to carry the mind beyond and above the beaten, dusty, weary walks of ordinary life; to lift it into a purer element; and to breathe into it more profound and generous emotion. It reveals to us the loveliness of nature, brings back the freshness of youthful feeling, revives the relish of simple pleasures, keeps unquenched the enthusiasm which warmed the spring-time of our being, strengthens our interests in human nature by vivid delineations of its tenderest and loftiest feelings, knits us by new ties with universal beings, and through the brightness of its prophetic visions, helps faith to lay hold on the future life."-DR. CHANNING.

"Poetry has been to me an exceeding great reward. It has soothed my affliction; it has multiplied and refined my enjoyments; it has endeared my solitude; and it has given me the habit of wishing to discover the Good and the Beautiful in all that meets and surrounds me.'

COLERIDGE.

"We cannot place too high a value on the art of reading aloud, with ease, intelligence and expression, when we consider how powerfully it tends to strengthen family union, to harmonize various minds, and to supply unfading sources of refreshment and delight in which the narrow views of self-interest do not in the least intrude."-MRS. ELLIS.-Adap.

"No one ever became a good reader by being taught the various rules of Elocution*-for to the adoption of any artificial scheme there are three weighty objections: first, that the proposed system must necessarily be imperfect; secondly, that if it were perfect, it would be a circuitous path to the object in view; and thirdly, that even if both those objections were removed, the object would not be effectually obtained."

"The practical rule, then, to be adopted, is to pay no particular attention to the voice merely, but to dwell as intently as possible on the sense-trusting to nature to suggest spontaneously the proper tones, inflections and emphasis. He who not only fully understands what he is reading, but is earnestly occupying his mind with the subject, and feels what he reads, will not only read with the greatest effect, but by his expressive tones expound the meaning of the Author."-ARCHBISHOP WHATELEY.-Adap.

A few exercises on the inflections of the voice,-emphasis on words, &c., are given in the Appendix. The next Work of the Series (Manual of Composition), contains directions and exercises on the Analysis of Sentences, &c. For valuable suggestions respecting the various methods of making Poetry most interesting and improving to Pupils, see also "Suggestive Hints," by Dawes, and Horace Mann's "Educational Tour,"

« PreviousContinue »