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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1815, by WILLIAM RUSSELL,

LIBRARYic 742727 A

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

ASTOR, LENOX AND

THE YOUNG LADIES ELOCUTIONARY READER, containing a Selection of Reading Lessons, by ANNA U. RUSSELL, and the Rules of Elocution, adapted to Female Readers, by WILLIAM RUSSELL. Also,

THE INTRODUCTION TO THE SAME, for Younger Classes.

THESE works are intended to combine, in each volume, the twofold advantage of a series of Reading Lessons, selected under the special influence of feminine taste and habits, with a manual of Elocution, adapted expressly to the systematic instruction of females, in the art of reading.

From Miss A. C. Hasseltine, Principal of Bradford Academy, Bradford, Ms. "I have examined the manuscript, plan, and contents of the Young Ladies' Reader,' and am free to say, that the importance of the various Rules and Exercises in Elocution, and the fine selection of Pieces for Reading Lessons, will render it a very desirable work to be introduced into all our female schools. We shall not hesitate to introduce it into our academy as soon as it is published."

From Mr. George B. Emerson, Instructor, Boston.

"I have carefully examined the plan of the Young Ladies' Reader;' and I like it so well-both the introductory portion and the selections that I say, without hesitation, I should immediately adopt it, as a reading book, in my own school, if it should be published."

From Mr. Asa Farwell, Principal of Abbot Female Academy, Andover, Ms. "The plan of the Young Ladies' Reader,' strikes me very favourably. The Selections are judiciously made; and the Introductory Rules will be exceedingly valuable. Such a work, in schools for young ladies, will occupy a place for which there is not now, so far as my knowledge extends, any suitable textbook. The volume will be looked for with pleasure; and, when published, we shall introduce it into our academy."

From Mr. Joseph Hale Abbot, Instructor, Boston.

"I have examined, with much satisfaction, the plan of the Young Ladies' Reader,' and the selection of pieces which it contains. It appears to me to be prepared with much taste and judgment, and to be admirably adapted to the wants of a numerous class of pupils. I have long-in common, doubtless, with many others- felt the need of such a work; and I do not hesitate to express the confident opinion, that it will be extensively used."

From Rev. Hubbard Winslow, Boston.

"I have examined the plan and many of the extracts for the Young Ladies' Reader,' and have no doubt of the great merit of the work. I shall introduce it into my school. May it find its deserved success, generally!"

STEREOTYPED AT THE

BOSTON TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.

PREFACE.

THE book now offered as an aid to the education of young ladies, is designed to combine the advantages of a volume of reading lessons, selected under the special influence of feminine taste and habits, and of a manual of elocution, adapted to the instruction of females, in the art of reading. The selection of pieces has been regulated by a regard to their fitness for the exercise of reading aloud, - a test which, though inapplicable to many productions of the highest intellectual excellence, becomes indispensable, as the standard of a collection of reading lessons.

A text-book of English literature, may justly contain passages of a character too abstract, or of a beauty too spiritual, for even the most skilful utterance; but, in a reading book, the preference is necessa rily given to matter adapted to the cultivation of a vivid and effective elocution. The literary merit of the extracts imbodied in the following pages, has, however, in no instance, been overlooked; as a genial influence on taste, is one of the most desirable results of the various stages and means of education. Nor have the higher considerations of sentiment and principle, been neglected, in the compilation of materials which necessarily become elements of thought and reflection, while repeated for the purposes of appropriate and impressive reading.

The introductory rules and exercises, presented in this volume, will, it is thought, be found sufficiently extensive for the use of readers not yet advanced to the study of elocution, as a distinct branch of education. The systematic training of the voice may be pursued, -in conjunction with the use of the Reader, on the system of exercises prescribed in a manual compiled by J. E. Murdoch and William Russell, and entitled "Orthophony, or Vocal Culture in Elocution;' and at a later stage of progress, the rules and principles of correct reading, may be studied, to greater extent, in Russell's "American Elocutionist "

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