AMERICAN SELECTION OF Lessons in Reading and Speaking. CALCULATED TO IMPROVE THE MINDS AND REFINE THE TO WHICH ARE PREFIXED RULES IN ELOCUTION, AND DIRECTIONS FOR EXPRESSING THE PRINCIPAL PASSIONE BY NOAH WEBSTER, Esq. A New Edition. From Sidney's Press, New-Haven for 1804. 882306 ADVERTISEMENT TO THE REVISED EDITION, TILDEN FOUNDATIONS R 1919 L THE American Selection, tho' well received and much used in schools, has been thought susceptible of improvement; the compiler has therefore made some alterations, omitting some pieces which are believed to be less adapted to interest young minds, and substituting others, which cannot fail to be as entertaining as useful. The present editition comprehends a great variety of sentiment, morality, history, elocution, anecdote and description; and it is believed, will be found to contain as much interesting matter, as any compilation of the size and price. NEW-HAVEN Sept. 1804. District of Connecticut, fs. BE it remembered that on the thirtienth day of January in the twentyeigbth year of the Independence of the United States of America, NOAH WEBSTER Jun. of faid District Esq. hath depofited in this office the title of a book the right whereof be claims as author, in the words following, viz. "An American Selection of Lefsons in Reading and Speaking, calculated to improve the minds and refine the taste of youtb-To which are prefixed Rules in Elocution and directions for expressing the principal passions of the mind.By NOAH WEBSTER Jun. Author of Differtations on the English Language, Collection of Effays and Fugitive Writings, the Prompter, Sc.” In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled an act for the encouragement of learning by fecuring the copies of maps, charts, and books to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned. Charles Denison, Clerk of the District of Connecticut. Connecticut, fs. District Clerk's Office. Jan, 30, 1804. CHARLES DENISON, Clerka RULES FOR READING AND SPEAKING. RULE I. Let your articulation be clear and distinct. A GOOD articulation consists in giving every letter and syllable its proper pronunciation of sound. Let each fyllable, and the letters which compose it, be pronounced with a clear voice, without whining, drawling, lifping, stammering, mumbling in the throat, or speaking through the nose. Avoid equally a dull drawling habit, and too much rapidity of pronunciation for each of these faults destroys a diftinct articulation. RULE II. Obferve the Stops, and mark the proper Pauses; but make no pause where the fenfe requires none. The characters we use as stops are extremely arbitrary, and do not always mark a fufpenfion of the voice. On the contrary, they are often employed to feparate the several members of a period, and show the grammatical construction. Nor when they are designed to mark pauses, do they always determin the length of those pauses, for this depends much on the sense and the nature of the subject. A femicolon, for example, requires a longer pause in grave grave discourse, than in lively and spirited declamation. However as children are incapable of nice distinctions, it may be best to adopt, at first, some general rule with respect to the pauses, and teach them to pay the fame attention to these characters as they do to the words.* They should be cautioued likewise against pausing in the midst of a member of a fentennce, where the sense requires the words to be closely connected in pronunciation a RULE III. Pay the ftrictest attention to Accent, Emphasis, and Cadence. Let the accented syllables be pronounced with a proper stress of voice; the unaccented, with little stress of voice, but diftinctly. * See my American Spelling book, in which the pauses of the com esta, femicolon, colon, and period, are fixed at one, two, four, fix. |