A SERIES OF LESSONS, IN PROSE AND VERSE, PROGRESSIVELY ARRANGED; INTENDED AS AN INTRODUCTION TO THE "COURSE OF ELEMENTARY TO WHICH IS ADDED A LIST OF Prefixes, afFIXES, AND LATIN AND GREEK PRIMITIVES, OCCURRING IN THE LESSONS. By J. M. M'CULLOCH, D.D., FORMERLY HEAD-MASTER OF CIRCUS PLACE SCHOOL, EDINBURGH, LARGELY AMENDED. FIFTY-EIGHTH EDITION. EDINBURGH: OLIVER AND BOYD, TWEEDDALE COURT. LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO. BODLEIAN LIBRAR 3 NOV85 OXFORD. DR M'CULLOCH'S EDUCATIONAL WORKS. FIRST READING-BOOK, 18mo, stiff wrapper, 14d. Ditto, Large Type Edition, in two Parts, 2d. each. SECOND READING-BOOK, 18mo, stiff wrapper, 3d. THIRD READING-BOOK, 18mo, bound, 10d. FOURTH READING-BOOK, and a SYNOPSIS OF ENGLISH SPELLING. Fcap. 8vo, bound, 18. 6d. SERIES of LESSONS in Prose and Verse, 12mo, bound, 28. COURSE of READING in Science and Literature, 12mo, bound, 38. MANUAL OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, 18mo, bound, 1s. 6d. PREFIXES and AFFIXES of the English Language, 18mo, wrapper, 2d. LESSONS from Dr M'CULLOCH'S FIRST READING-BOOK, printed with LARGE TYPE, in a Series of Ten Sheets, for Hanging on the Wall, 1s.; or mounted on Roller, 18. 8d. PRINTED BY OLIVER AND BOYD, EDINBURGH. PREFACE TO THE AMENDED EDITION. THE present edition of the "Series of Lessons" is not a mere reprint it is in some respects almost a new work. The whole Book has been not only revised and corrected, but to a considerable extent recast. Obsolete lessons have been cancelled; the lessons which are still retained have been amended; and new lessons have been introduced of a nature and style answerable to the educational requirements and appetencies of the day. These alterations have been made at the suggestion of Teachers who have long used the Book, and whose eminence in their profession entitles their opinion to peculiar weight. And although the Compiler cannot flatter himself that he has been successful in effecting all and the very changes which these gentlemen desire, he would fain believe that the Work, as now amended, will be found, upon the whole, much better adapted than heretofore to serve its professed design, as at once a Sequel to the previous Books of the Series, and an Introduction to the "Course of Reading in Science and Literature." It may be added that the changes now introducednumerous and important though they are-do not at all touch any of those distinctive features of the Work which have hitherto commended it to public favour. Essentially, the book is still the same book as before;-even as a ship -to compare small things with great-remains the same ship, how often and largely soever its spars and timbers may be changed. The subject-matter of the lessons is still limited to topics fitted to stimulate youthful curiosity, and enrich the mind with useful and entertaining knowledge; and the principle of arranging them according to the gradation of their difficulty in respect both of expression and of thought has been strictly maintained. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. THE following little Work has been prepared in adaptation to the Improved System of Teaching, which has of late years been so generally introduced into our initiatory schools. Being intended for seminaries where the Preceptor makes it his business to instruct his Pupils in the meaning of what is read, as well as in the art of reading, such lessons only have been introduced as appeared fitted to interest and educate the youthful mind. Simple extracts, relating to natural phenomena, and other matters within the cognizance of the young, have been preferred to Rhetorical Selections. And, while no pieces have been admitted but such as seemed likely to inform and entertain, care has been taken to abridge and otherwise alter them, so as to adapt their style as well as their sentiments to the juvenile capacity. It may be mentioned, as new features in this Work, that the extracts are progressively arranged according to their difficulty, -that each section is preceded by Exercises on the more difficult words that occur in it, and that, besides the ordinary selections, there is a series of Elliptical Lessons, or what have been termed "Rational Readings." The List of Prefixes, Affixes, and Latin and Greek Primitives given in the Appendix, is, since the publication of the Author's "Course of Elementary Reading," no longer a novelty in works of this description. It has not been judged expedient to append any list of Questions for Examination." These, it is thought, should be left entirely to the discretion of the Teacher. He is the best qualified to suggest and frame them. And the plan of leaving him to put such questions as occur to him during the time of instruction, has this great advantage, that it allows him to vary them according to the information and capacity of the Learner; while it also tends to sustain the interest and vigilance both of Preceptor and of Pupil, by compelling the one to originate questions, and the other to trust to his own resources for answers. DIRECTIONS. THE following simple hints on the mode of conducting the present Series of Lessons, are respectfully submitted to the consideration of Teachers : 1. Endeavour to make the Pupil understand the meaning of every lesson, as well as read it with ease; and, in doing this, aim principally at his acquiring a knowledge of its scope and the amount of the information contained in it. However important it is that he should accurately comprehend the signification of particular words, it is of far greater consequence that he should know the meaning of sentences. With mere memory he may be equal to the former; the latter is an exercise for the judgment. 2. Never permit him to leave a lesson till he has fully acquired it; nor to pass to a new section until he has carefully revised the preceding one. Unless due attention be paid to this rule, the advantages resulting from the graduated arrangement of the extracts will be in a great measure lost. 3. The Prefixes, Affixes, and Latin and Greek Primitives, introduced before each of the five sections of the book, and presented in a collective form in the Appendix, should be accurately committed to memory, and the Pupil should be required to give other instances (in addition to those there cited) of English words involving them or derived from them. The object, in impressing these Roots on the Learner's memory, is not merely to furnish him with a key to the correct understanding of his own language, but also to train him to the valuable habit of reflecting on the meaning and history of the words which he meets in his reading; and this object is entirely defeated, when, instead of being presented with only one or two English derivatives, as in the present little volume, he is furnished, as in some late compilations and vocabularies, with a list of almost all the derivatives that exist. It ought ever to be remembered, that the success of the Teacher is to be measured not by the number of words with which he loads the memory, but by the habits of application and reflection which he establishes in the mind of his Pupil. 4. The words and sentences which are prefixed to each section as introductory exercises, ought not to be hastily passed over. |