PREFACE.

MANY selections of excellent matter have been made for the benefit of young persons. Performances of this

kind are of so

them, and new attempts to improve the young mind, will scarcely be deemed superfluous, if the writer make his compilation instructive and interesting, and suffi

great utility, that fresh productions of

ciently distinct from others.

The

present work, as the title expresses, aims at the attainment of three objects: to improve youth in the art of reading; to meliorate their language and sentiments; and to inculcate some of the most impor tant principies of piety and virtue.

The pieces selected, not only give exercise to a great variety of emotions, and the correspondent tones and variations of voice, but contain sentences, and members

4005

666