PREFACE. THAT so much labour should be bestowed upon the initials and terminations inserted in this volume, when most of them are to be found in the Author's other progressive books, may be a matter of wonder to many persons, who will very naturally inquire into the utility of them. To these it may be answered, that the words of our language seem more nearly related to each other by their initials and terminations than at first sight may appear, and that the classing of them according to their beginnings and endings seems to exhibit a new view of them which is both curious and useful: for as their accent and quantity depend so much on their terminations, such an arrangement appears to give a more definite and comprehensive idea of their pronunciation than it is possible to give by the common clas sification. This end was so desirable as to induce the Author to spare no pains to promote it; and to endeavour to show, at one view, nearly all the words of the same class differently accented, by which means the rule and exception may be found, and by seeing them contrasted, are imprinted more strongly on the memory, and are the more easily recollected. When words are sounded nearly alike, we can recollect them better than when they are promiscuously mingled with the rest of the words in the language. By frequently repeating them as they stand together, the ear will gain a habit of placing the accent properly without knowing why it is so. Children learn the pronunciation of words much easier, and with greater facility by the ear, and by correct oral instruction, than by any formal rules. Let instructers pronounce and read correctly, and their pupils will readily imitate them. It is unnecessary to observe, that the first preparatory step to correct reading is a just and elegant pronunciation, but this cannot be obtained without care and attention. The practice of requiring children to read, before they can pronounce words correctly, is an errour which ought to be avoided. To this end, the Author has collected, arranged, and accented all the words which are liable to be mispronounced, and so simplified them by analogical classifications that their true pronunciation cannot well be mistaken.* The variety of sounds, however, which the vowels and dipthongs make in dif ferent words, render it extremely difficult to acquire a correct pronunciation. It is indispensably requisite, therefore, for all persons who would become complete masters of orthoepy to make themselves acquainted with the sounds of the letters, especially the vowels and dipthongs; to exemplify them in a variety of ways, copious illustrations are inserted. It is deemed unnecessary to make any further remarks on this subject, the reader on a perusal, will readily perceive the full scope and bearing of the work. In teaching the art of reading, it should be the first object of every Preceptor to make his pupils talk correctly and naturally on book; and to sweeten their tone of voice by an elegant pronunciation and just inflection. A good reader (says a correct writer,) is one who can perfectly comprehend, and readily enter into the feelings of his author; consequently, he is one who has learned to THINK, a species of knowledge seldom thought of, in our schools, though it ought to be the first In this, as in the Author's other progressive books, he has followed the judicious Walker. inculcated. Children, as soon as they can speak, are remarkable for expressing their own wishes and sentiments in the genuine language of nature. Not an emphasis is misplaced-not an inflection of the voice is niisapplied. But as soon as they begin to read, and express the thoughts and sentiments of others, how different is their execution. The most unnatural habits are speedily acquired, which too often attend them through life! The only way to remedy this evil, is to give children such lessons in reading as are suitable to their tender capacities, and teach them to make the sentiments as it were their own, and to express them as they would to their play-mates in telling a story. The selection of pieces in this volume is to this end; and to imbue the minds of the rising generation with the pure principles and sentiments of virtue, patriotism, and religion. RULES FOR READING. 1. Give the letters their proper sound. 2. Pronounce the vowels a, e, i, o, u, clearly, giving to each its proper quantity. 3. The liquids l, m, n, r, should be pronounced with a considerable degree of force. 4. Distinguish every accented letter or syllable by a particular stress of the voice. 5. Read audibly and distinctly, with a degree of deliberation suited to the subject. 6. Pause at the points a sufficient length of time, but not so long as to break that connexion which one part of a sentence has with another. 7. Give every sentence, and member of a sentence, that inflection of voice which tends to improve either the sound or the sense. 3. Before attempting to read the examples on inflections, a thorough knowledge of the two slides or inflections of the voice (see p. vi.) ought to be obtained. Without a very accurate knowledge of these two slides, no very great progress in reading can possibly be made. 9. The inflections of the voice which accompany the pauses, are the stamina of all good reading or speaking; for whether we read or speak high or low, loud or soft, quickly or slowly, with or without the tones of a particular passion, the voice must rise or fall, or proceed in a continued monotony so that the rising and falling inflection must be considered as the axis on which the whole force and variety of reading or speaking turns. And a just mixture of these inflections is so important, that whenever they are neglected the pronunciation becomes feeble, monotonous and ungraceful. If a speaker elevates his voice too frequently, he contracts a squeaking tone; if he depresses it too often, he hurts the sense by breaking its connexion; and though a monotony may sometimes be used for the sake of variety, too frequent recourse to it would produce languor, listlessness, and inattention. 10. In reading, the principles should be gradually reduced to practice. Words that require the rising inflection may, by the pupil, be marked with a pencil with the acute (') aceent; and such as require the falling inflection, with the grave () accent. Emphatical words may be marked by drawing a straight line over them; and when a rhetorical pause is admissible, a mark such as a comma may be inserted after the word. 11. The tones of the voice must, in every instance, be regulated entirely by the nature of the subject. 12. At the beginning of a subject or discourse the pitch of the voice should, in general, be low: to this rule, however, there are some exceptions, especially in poetry, and even in prose. 13. Though an elegant and harmonious pronunciation of verse will sometimes oblige us to adopt different inflections from those we use in prose, it may still be laid down as a good general rule, that verse requires the same inflection as prose, though less strongly marked, and approaching to monotony.-Whenever a sentence or member of a sentence, would necessarily require the rising or falling inflection in prose, it ought always to have the same in poetry. h OF PAUSES OR POINTS. See Juvenile Expositor, p. 356, 7, 8, 9, and 360, &c. There are two kinds of pauses, viz. Grammatical and Rhetorical pauses. Grammatical pauses are denoted by certain points or marks; at which it is necessary to pause or stop a little, for the purpose of breathing and clucidating the meaning of a sentence. Rhetorical pauses are those stops made by a reader or speaker, which, though frequently not marked, serve to beautify delivery, by giving it all that variety and ease of which it is susceptible. The grammatical pauses are distinguished into The Comma The Semicolon The Colon The Period marked thus And those which are accompanied with an alteration in the tone of the voice, The Parenthesis into marked thus Besides these, there is another pause called the hyphen or dash marked with a short line, thus - Period pronounce one. one, two. one, two, three. one, two, three, four. The number of pauses may be reduced to three; namely, Comma. Semicolon and Colon. The Smaller Pause The Greater Pause answering to the The Greatest Pause S Period. The interrogation and exclamation points are said to be indefinite as to their quantity of time, and are used to mark an elevation of voice; and the parenthesis to mark a moderate depression of the voice, with a pause greater than a comma The time of the hyphen or dash is also indefinite. A 2 TABLE of the Two SLIDES, or INFLECTIONS of VOICE." The acute accent (') denotes the rising, and the grave accent (`) the falling inflection. Did they act properly, or im' properly? Did he go willingly, or unwillingly? They acted properly, not im'properly. He went willingly, not un'willingly. It was done correctly, not in'correctly. He said wisely, not wise ly. KEY. The figures over the letters refer to the vowels in the words, as follow Fare får fåll fåt mẻ mêt pine pin nỏ mỏve når nôt tùbe tâb båll dil påånce. th sharp, as in thin, thought. ial w and y sound as in we, ye.-ou and oy sound as in now, cloy, &c. INITIAL SOUNDS.f These orthographical exercises should be scrupulously attended to: not a word should be passed over unless it be correctly spelled, accented, and pronounced: they should even be read by the pupil till he is fully master of them before he commences the reading lessons. 1. au, at the beginning of words, sounds å, in au'burn, auction, auc'tionary, au'dible, au'dibly, au'dience, au'dit, au'ditor, au'ditory, au'ditress, au'ger, aught, augment (noun), au'gar,‡ augury, august (n.), au'spice, aus'tral, au'thor, authorize, au'tograph, au'tumn, auctioneer, audacious, audacity, augment' (verb) augmentation, august' (adj.), aurelia, auric'ula, auric'ular, aurif'erous, aurora, aurora-boreális, auspi"cial, auspicious, austére, auster'ity, authen'tic, authen'ti For a full and philosophic view of this subject, see Walker's Elocution, Rhetorical Grammar, &e. These words may serve as useful exercises, not only in orthopy, but also in orthogra phy. For this purpose a portion of them may be pronounced and spelled by the pupil each day, or as often as the Teacher may think proper. The Teacher will secure the attention. and improvement of his pupils by accustoming them to turn to those words in some good dictionary say Picket's Walker, and learn their meaning as an evening's exercise. See Juvenile Expositor, p. 24, 25, 26, &c. Participles have the accent on the same syllable as the verbs from which they are de rived; thus the verb to interest, has the accent on the first syllable; the participles in'teresting, interested, derived from it, have the accent on the same syllable. cate, authenticity, authoritative, authority, autom'aton, autom'atous, autop'tical autum'nal, auxiliar auxiliary.-aunt s. ant. 2. pircum, s. ser-kům, in circumam'bient, circumam'bulate, cir'cumcise, circu ncision, circumduct', circum'ference, circumferen'tor, cir'cumflex, circum' fluent, circum fluons, cire amfúse, circumfusion, circumjacent, circumlocution, circumloc'utory, circumnavigation, circumrotation, circumscribe, cir'cumspect, cir'cumstance, circumvent', circumvolution, &c. 3. co-op, s. ko-op, in co-op'erate, co-operation, co-op'erative, co-op'erator, co-optation, (co-or s. kò̟-ör in) co-or'dinate, co-or'dinately, co-or'dinateness, co-ordination. 4. dis, s. dis, in disability, disadvan tage, disaffection, disagrée, disallow', disappear, disapprove', disavow', discard', disclose, discontent', discourse, discreet', disembark', disincline, disobedient, disquietude, dissem'ble, dissent', dissolution, distrib'utive, distrust', disunity, &c.. 5. dis, s. diz, in disable, disarm', disas'ter, disas'trous, disband', disbark', dishur'den, disburse', disbursement, discern', discern'ible, discern'ing, discern' ment, disdain, disdainful, disease, disgorge', disgrace, disgraceful, disgracefully, disgrácious, disguise, disguisement, disgust', disgust'ful, dishon'est, dishonesty, dishon'our, dishon'ourable, disin'terested, disjoin', disjoint', disjunct', disjunc'tion, disjunc'tive, dislike, disliken, dislimb', dislodge', disloy'al, disloyalty, dis'mal, dismantle, dismask', dismast', dismay, dismember, dismiss', dismiss'ion, dismort'. gage, dismount', disor'der, disor'derly, disor'dinate, disówn, disrel'ish, disrep'utable, disrobe, disruption, dissolv'able, dissolve', dissolv'ent, dissolv'able, disvaluátion, disval'ue, disuse, (n.), disvouch', (di befores, s de in) dishev'elled, dispread', (disme s. dime.) 6. ca s. è in each, eager, éagerly, éagerness, eagle-eyed, earless bar-ring, éarwax, easily, éasiness, easterly, éastern, eastward, easy, eatable, eaves-dropper, (earl s. êrl in) earl'dom, ear'liness, early earn, earnest, ear'nestly, earth, earth'en, earth'ling, earth'ly, earth'-quake, earth'y. (ead &c. s. ¿d in) dead, lead, head, deaf, deaf'ness, deaf'ly. 7. ex, s. egz, in exact',exact'ly, exac'tion, exact'ness, exa"ggerate, exa"ggerátion, exa"gitate, exalt', exaltation, exámen, examination, exam'ine, exam'ple exanʼimate, exas'perate, exasperation, exec'utive, exec'utor, exec'utrix, exem'plar, exemplary, exemplification, exem'plify, exempt', exemp'tion, exert', exer'tion, exhále, exhalement, exhaust', exhaust'less, exhib'it, exhil'erate, exhort', exile (v.), exist', exis'tence, exis'tency, exis'tent, exonerate, exoneration, exorbitance, exor'bitant, exordium, exotic, exuberance, exuberant, exult', exult'ance, exultation, exúviæ. (ex, in the beginning of almost all other words, sounds, eks) ex'cellence, excep'tion, exclaim, excommúnicate, excur'sion, exhalation, expect'ant, explóre, expulsion, extinc'tion, extravagant, ex'tricate, &c. 8. h is silent in heir, heiress, heir'less, heir'ship, herb, herb'age, herb'y, hon'est, hon'estly, honesty, hon'orary, hon'our, hon'ourable, hon'ourably, hos'pital, host'ler, hour, hour'glass, hourly, hum'ble, humorist, húmorous, húmorously, húmour. 9. or, s. or, in orb, orb'ed, or'chard, or'chestre, or'deal, or'der, or'derless, or'derly, or'dinal, ordinance, or'dinary, or'dinate, ord'nance, or'donnance, or'dure, or'gan, organism, or'ganist, or'ganize, or'gies, or'nament, or'namental, or'nate, orphan, or'thodox, or thoepist, or'thoepy, orbicular, orchestra, ordain, ordination, organic, organ'ical, organization, orgil'lous, ornamental, ornithology, orthog'rapher, orthograph'ically, orthog'raphy. (oris. ò in) oriental, ori'ginal, originally, ori"ginary, originate, orac'ular, orac'ulous, oration, óral, orient (or s. ôr in) or'acle, or'ange, or'ator, oratórial, orator'ical, orʼatory, or'rery, or'ris, or'ifice, or'igin, or'ison. pre 10. pre, s. prè, in preacher, précept, prédal, prédial, préfect, préfix, (n.) premier, prémium, préscience, préscient, préscript, prétor, previous, préviously, precárious, precéde, precep'tive, precipitate, precise, clúde, preconceit, predestinarian, predict', predispose, predominant, pre-estabʻlish, prefer', prejúdicate, prematúre, prepar'ative, prerog'ative, prescrip'tion, presúme, presump'tion, presump'tive, presump'tuous, preternatural, prevail, preven'tion, |