Part 1 (1/2)
The Ill.u.s.trated London Reading Book.
by Various.
INTRODUCTION.
[Ill.u.s.tration: INTRODUCTION.]
To read and speak with elegance and ease, Are arts polite that never fail to please; Yet in those arts how very few excel!
Ten thousand men may read--not one read well.
Though all mankind are speakers in a sense, How few can soar to heights of eloquence!
The sweet melodious singer trills her lays, And listening crowds go frantic in her praise; But he who reads or speaks with feeling true, Charms and delights, instructs, and moves us too.
Browne.
To deprive Instruction of the terrors with which the young but too often regard it, and strew flowers upon the pathways that lead to Knowledge, is to confer a benefit upon all who are interested in the cause of Education, either as Teachers or Pupils. The design of the following pages is not merely to present to the youthful reader some of the masterpieces of English literature in prose and verse, arranged and selected in such a manner as to please as well as instruct, but to render them more agreeable to the eye and the imagination by Pictorial Representations, in ill.u.s.tration of the subjects. It is hoped that this design has not been altogether unsuccessful, and that the ILl.u.s.tRATED LONDON READING BOOK will recommend itself both to old and young by the appropriateness of the selections, their progressive arrangement, the fidelity of their Ill.u.s.trations, and the very moderate price at which it is offered to the public.
It has not been thought necessary to prefix to the present Volume any instructions in the art of Elocution, or to direct the accent or intonation of the student by the abundant use of italics or of large capitals. The princ.i.p.al, if not the only secrets of good reading are, to speak slowly, to articulate distinctly, to pause judiciously, and to feel the subject so as, if possible, ”to make all that pa.s.sed in the mind of the Author to be felt by the Auditor,” Good oral example upon these points is far better for the young Student than the most elaborate written system.
A series of Educational Works, in other departments of study, _similarly ill.u.s.trated,_ and at a price equally small, is in preparation. Among the earliest to be issued, may be enumerated a Sequel and Companion to the ILl.u.s.tRATED LONDON READING BOOK, designed for a more advanced cla.s.s of Students, and consisting of extracts from English Cla.s.sical Authors, from the earliest periods of English Literature to the present day, with a copious Introductory Chapter upon the arts of Elocution and Composition. The latter will include examples of Style chosen from the beauties of the best Authors, and will also point out by similar examples the Faults to be avoided by all who desire to become, not simply good Readers and Speakers, but elegant Writers of their native language.
Amongst the other works of which the series will be composed, may be mentioned, profusely Ill.u.s.trated Volumes upon Geographical, Astronomical, Mathematical, and General Science, as well as works essential to the proper training of the youthful mind.
_January_, 1850.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
CONTENTS.
Abbey, Account of Strata Florida Adam and Eve in Paradise (MILTON) Alfred, Anecdote of King (BEAUTIES OF HISTORY) Alfred, Character of King (HUME) Angling, Lines on (DOUBLEDAY) Antioch, The Siege of (POPULAR DELUSIONS) Artillery Tactics Athens, Present Appearance of Attock, Description of the Fort of
Bacon, Remarks on Lord (D'ISRAELI) Balloons, Account of Baltic, Battle of the (CAMPBELL) Beetle, The Bell, The Founding of the (MACKAY) Bible, Value of the (BUCK) Birds, Appropriateness of the Songs of (DR. JENNER) Bower-Birds, Description of the Bridges, Account of Tubular Railway Bunyan's Wife, Anecdote of (LORD CAMPBELL) Bushmen, Account of the
Caesar, Character of Julius (MIDDLETON) Canada, Intense Cold of (SIR F. HEAD) Canary, Account of the Charity (PRIOR) Chatterton, Lines by Cheerfulness, Description of (ADDISON) China, Account of the Great Wall of Christian Freedom (POLLOCK) Clarendon, Account of Lord Cobra di Capello, Description of the Condors, Account of Cruelty to Animals, Wickedness of (JENYNS) Culloden Battle-field, Description of (HIGHLAND NOTE-BOOK) Cyprus, Description of
Danish Encampment, Account of a Deity, Omniscience of the (ADDISON) Dogs, A Chapter on Dove, Return of the (MACKAY)
Edward VI., Character of (BURNET) Elegy in a Country Churchyard (GRAY) Elizabeth (Queen), at Tilbury Fort (ENGLISH HISTORY) Envy, Wickedness of (DR. JOHNSON)
Faith's Guiding Star (ELIZA COOK) Farewell (BARTON) Filial Love (DR. DODD) Fort.i.tude (BLAIR) Fox, Description of the Long-eared Frederick of Prussia and his Page (BEAUTIES OF HISTORY)
Gambier Islanders, Account of Gelert (W. SPENCER) Gentleness, Character of (BLAIR) Goldsmith, Remarks on the Style of (CAMPBELL) Goliah Aratoo, Description of the Greece, Isles of (BYRON) Greece, The Sh.o.r.es of (BYRON) Gresham, Account of Sir Thomas Grief, The First (MRS. HEMANS) Grouse, Description of the
Hagar and Ishmael, Story of Hampden, Account of John Hercules, The Choice of (TATLER) Holly Bough (MACKAY) Hope (CAMPBELL)