TIIL

ENGLISH READER :

OR

Pieces in Prose and Poetry,

SELECTED FROM THE BEST WRITERS,

DESIGNED TO ASSIST YOUNG PERSONS
TO READ WITH PROPRIETY AND EFFECT

TO IMPROVE THEIR

LANGUAGE AND SENTIMENTS :

AND TO INCULCATE

SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PRINCIPLES OF

PIETY AND VIRTUE.

With a few preliminary Observations

On the Principles of Good Reading,

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BY LINDLEY MURRAY, Author of « English Grammar, adapted to the different

Classes of Learners," &c.

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(Prom the latest English edition.)

ANY selections of excellent matter have lalely been

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of this kind are of so great utility, that fresh productions of them, and new attempts to improve the young mind, will scarcely be deemed superfluous, if the writer makes his compilation instructive and interesting, and sufficiently distinct from others.

The present work, as the title expresses, aims at the at: tainment of three objects : to improve youth in the art of read. ing : to meliorate their language and sentiments; and to inculcate some of the most important principles of piety and virtue.

The pieces selected, not only give exercise to a great váriety of emotions, and the correspondent tones and variations of voice, but contain sentences, and members of sentences, which are diversified, proportioned, and printed with accura. cy. Exercises of this nature are, it is presumed, well calcu • lated to teach youth to read with propriety and effect. A se. lection of sentences, in which variety and proportion, with exact punctuation, have been carefully observed, in all their parts as well as with respect to one another, will probably have a much greater effect, in properly teaching the art of reading, than is commonly imagined. In such constructions, every thing is accommodated to the understanding and the voice ; and the common difficulties in learning to read well are obviated. When the learner has acquired a habit of reading such sentences, with justice and facility, he will readily apply that habit and the improvements he has made, to sen:ences more compiicated and irregular, and of a construction entirely different.

The language of the pieres rbosen for this collection, hus been carefu.ly regarded. Purity, propriety, perspicuity, and in many instances,elegance of diction distinguish them. They are extracted from the works of the most correct and elegant writers. From the sources whence the sentiments are drawn, the reader may expect to find them connected and regular, sufficiently important and impressive, and divested of every ihing that is either trite or eccenrric. The frequent perusal of such composition, naturally tends to infuse a taste for this

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