OR A

SELECTION OF PIECES

IN

PROSE AND VERSE,

FOR THE

IMPROVEMENT OF YOUTH

IN

READING AND SPEAKİNG.

BY WILLIAM SCOTT.

TO WHICH ARE PREFIXED

ELEMENTS OF GESTURE,

LLUSTRATED BY FOUR PLATES; AND RULES FOR EXPRESSING

WITH PROPRIETY, THE VARIOUS PASSIONS, &e. OF THE MIND.

ALSO,

* APPENDIX,
TAINING LESSONS ON A NEW PLAN.

From the last revised edition.

CONCORD, N. H.

PRINTED BY HILL AND MOORE,
AND SOLD BY THEM AT THE FRANKLIN BOOKSTORE,
Sold also by all the principal booksellers.

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

163638 ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.

1899.

CONTENTS.

Page:

INTRODUCTORY LESSONS.

Walker,

2: Oponke speaking of speeches at schools,

ib.

3. Rules for expressing with propriety the principal passions and humors

which occur in reading or public speaking,

Burgh,

4. Rules respecting elocution,

Walker,

7

15

21

39

PART I.--LESSONS IN READING,

SECTION 1.

1 to 3. Select Senteheen,

0. The fox and the goat

7. The fox and stork,

8. The court of death,

9. The partial judge

10. The sick lion, the fox and the wolf,

Il. Dishonesty punished,

12. The picture,

13. The two bees,

14. Beauty and deformity,

15. Remarkable instance of friendship,

16. Dionysius and Damocles,

17. Character of Cataline,

18. Avarice and Luxury,

19. Hercules' choice,

20. Will Honeycomb's Spectator,

21. On good breeding,

22. Address to a young student,

23. Advantages of, and motives to cheerfulness,

61

Kanc's hinta

ib.

Dodsiey's Fables.

Percival'. Tales.

Art of Speaking.

Sallust.

Spectator,

Tatler,

Spectator,

Chesterfield.

Knox,

Spectacor,

02

63

04

65

66

68

72

75

78

SECTION II.

1. The bad reader,

2. Respect due to old age,

3. Piety to God recommended to the Young:

4. Modesty and docility,

5. Sincerity,

6. Benevolence

and humanity,

7. Industry and application,

8. Proper employment of time,

9. The true patriot,

20. On contentment.

11. Needle-work recommended to the ladies,

12. On pride,

13. Journal of the life of Alexander Severus,

14. Character of Ju lius Cæsar,

15. On mis-spent time,

16. Character of Francis I.

1. The sapper and grace,

18 Rustic felicity,

19. House of mourning,

ib.

92

SECTION III.

Page.

2. The honor and advantage of a constant adherence to

truth,

Percival's Tales.

2. Impertinence in discourse,

Theophrastus,

3. Character of Addison as a writer,

Johnson,

4. Pleasure and Pain,

Spectator,

6. Sir Roger de Coverly's family,

ib.

6. The folly of inconsistent expectations,

Aitkin.

7. Description of the vale of Keswick, in Cumberland, Brown,

8. Pity, an allegory,

Aitkin,

9. Advantages of Commerce,

Spectator,

30. On public speaking,

ib.

11. Advantages of History,

Hume,

12. On the immortality of the soul,

Spectator,

13. The combat of the Horatii and the Curiatii, Livy,

14. On the power of custom,

Spectator,

15. On pedantry,

Mirror,

16. The journey of a day; a picture of human life, Rambler,

109

110

ib.

112

113

116

118

121

123

125

127

129

131

133

-135

138

SECTION IV.

1. Description of the amphitheatre of Titus,

2. Reflections in Westminster abbey,

3. The character of Mary, queen of Scots,

4. The character of queen Elizabeth,

6. Charles V.'s resignation of his dominions,

6. Importance of virtue,

7. Address to art,

8. Flattery,

9. The absent man,

10. The Monk,

11. On the head dress of the ladies,

12. On the present and a future state,

13. Uncle Toby's benevolence,

14. Story of the siege of Calais,

Gibbon,

Spectator,

Robertson,

Hurne,

Robertson,

Price,

Harris,

Theophrastus,

Spectator,

Sterne,

Spectator,

ib.

Sterne,

Fool of Quality,

141

142

145

146

148

152

153

155

156

168

160

163

166

ib.

SECTION V.

1. On grace in writing,

Fitxborne's Lettera,

2. On the structure of animals,

Spectator,

3. On natural and fantastical pleasures,

Guardian,

4. The folly and madness of ambition illustrated, World,

5. The battle of Pharsalia, and the death of Pompey, Goldsmith,

6. Character of king Alfred,

Hume,

7. Awkwardness in company,

Chesterfield,

8. Virtue man's highest interest,

Harris,

9. On the pleasure arising from objeots of sight, Spectator,

10. Liberty and slavery,

Sterne,

ib.

11. The cant of Criticism.

12. Parallel between Pope and Dryden,

Johnson,

13. Story of le Feyre,

Sterne,

171

172

175

179

183

188

189

190

191

194

195

196

197

Page.

225

226

227

928

231

SECTION VII.

1. The eamelion,

Merrick,

2. On the order of nature,

Pope,

3. Description of a country alehonse,

Goldsmith,

4. Character of a country schoolmaster,

5. Story of Palemon and Lavinia,

Thomson,

6. Celadon and Amelia,

ib.

7. Description of Mal, queen of the fairies,

Shakespeare,

8. On the existence of a Deity,

9. Evening in paradise described,

Motion,

10. Elegy written in a country church yard,

Gray,

11. Scipio restoring the captive lady to her lover,

Thomson,

12. Humorous complaint to Dr. Arbuthnot of the impertinence

of scribblers,

Popcy

13. Hynın to adversity.

Gray,

14. The passions-Au ode,

Collins,

Young,

SECTION I.

Eloquence of the Pulpit.

1. On truth and integrity.

Tillotson,

2. On doing as we would be done unto,

Atterbury,

8. On benevolence and charity,

Seed,

4. On happiness,

Sterne,

5. On the death of Christ,

Blair,

200

268

271

SECTION II.

Eloquence of the Senate.

1. Speech of the Earl of Chesterfield,

Lord Mansfield,

285