Page images
PDF
EPUB

exercises in declamation and elocution: in fact, I have little faith in such exercises, save in connection with the attainment of something higher and better. For manner, to be really good, must be held subordinate to matter; and the pursuit of manner for its own sake, or even as a paramount aim, can hardly fail to result in a very bad manner. I submit that the art, or the habit, of pronouncing nothing in such a way as to make it pass for something grand, is not so little known among us as to call for special encouragement and aid by books and teachers. At present we seem to be in no little danger of educating people into a good deal more tongue than mind.

In conclusion, it may not be amiss to say that this volume is not designed for any "auction of popularity." The thought of popular favour has had no part or lot in the preparation of it. For I know right well that, in preparations of this sort, a great many people altogether prefer something which may seem to teach a little of every thing, while really giving no true instruction whatever. So the most I venture to hope for is, that the book may commend itself to the judicious; the number of whom, I fear, is not large enough to make up any thing like a popularity. And this leads me to remark that our young students, it seems to me, can be better occupied than with the transient, shifting literary fashions and popularities of the day. I am not myself a very aged man, yet I am old enough to have outlived two generations of "immortal" writers who have already sunk into oblivion; and of the popular authors now living probably very few will be heard of thirty years hence. Surely, in forming the mind and taste of the young, it is better to use authors who have already lived long enough to afford some guaranty that they may survive the next twenty years.

BOSTON, January, 1876.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

FROM THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING:

Discredits of Learning

Dignity and Value of Knowledge

Miscellaneous

[ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
« PreviousContinue »