The Young Gentleman and Lady's Monitor, and English Teacher's Assistant

John Hamilton Moore

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• Publié par: maphir
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 51
• Langue: English

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English Teacher's Assistant, by John Hamilton Moore
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Title: The Young Gentleman and Lady's Monitor, and English Teacher's Assistant
Author: John Hamilton Moore
Release Date: October 3, 2004 [EBook #13588]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MONITOR ***
Produced by Stephen Schulze and the Online Distributed Proofreaders
Team. Scans courtesy of University of Pittsburg.
THE
YOUNG GENTLEMAN AND LADY's
MONITOR,
AND
ENGLISH TEACHER's
ASSISTANT:
BEING
A COLLECTION OF SELECT PIECES
FROM OUR BEST MODERN WRITERS;
CALCULATED TOEradicate vulgar Prejudices and Rusticity of Manners;
Improve the Understanding; Rectify the Will; Purify the Passions;
Direct the Minds of Youth to the Pursuit of proper Objects;
and to facilitate their Reading, Writing, and Speaking the English language,
with Elegance and Propriety.
Particularly adapted for the use of our eminent Schools and Academies,
as well as private persons, who have not an opportunity of perusing the
Works of those celebrated Authors, from whence this collection is made.
DIVIDED INTO SMALL PORTIONS, FOR THE EASE OF
READING IN CLASSES.
THE LATEST EDITION.
BY J. HAMILTON MOORE,
AUTHOR OF
THE PRACTICAL NAVIGATOR AND SEAMAN'S NEW DAILY ASSISTANT.
1802.
PREFACE.
As the design of Learning is to render persons agreeable companions to
themselves, and useful members of society; to support solitude with pleasure,
and to pass through promiscuous temptations with prudence; 'tis presumed, this
compilation will not be unacceptable; being composed of pieces selected from
the most celebrated moral writers in the English language, equally calculated to
promote the principles of religion, and to render youth vigilant in discharging,
the social and relative duties in the several stations of life; by instilling into their
minds such maxims of virtue and good-breeding, as tend to eradicate local
prejudices and rusticity of manners; and at the same time, habituate them to an
elegant manner of expressing themselves either in Writing or Speaking.
And as the first impression made on the minds of youth is the most lasting,
great care should be taken to furnish them with such seeds of reason and
philosophy as may rectify and sweeten every part of their future lives; by
marking out a proper behaviour both with respect to themselves and others,
and exhibiting every virtue to their view which claims their attention, and every
vice which they ought to avoid. Instead of this, we generally see youth suffered
to read romances, which impress on their minds such notions of Fairies,
Goblins, &c. that exist only in the imagination, and, being strongly imbibed, take
much time to eradicate, and very often baffle all the powers of philosophy. If
books abounding with moral instructions, conveyed in a proper manner, were
given in their stead, the frequent reading of them would implant in their mind
such ideas and sentiments, as would enable them to guard against those
prejudices so frequently met with amongst the ignorant.
Nor is it possible that any person can speak or write with elegance and
propriety, who has not been taught to read well, and in such books where the
sentiments are just and the language pure.
An insipid flatness and languor is almost the universal fault in reading; oftenuttering their words so faint and feeble, that they appear neither to feel nor
understand what they read, nor have any desire it should be understood or felt
by others. In order to acquire a forcible manner of pronouncing words, let the
pupils inure themselves, while reading, to draw in as much air as their lungs
can contain with ease, and to expel it with vehemence in uttering those sounds
which require an emphatical pronunciation, and read aloud with all the exertion
they can command; let all the consonant sounds be expressed with a full
impulse of the breath, and a forcible action of the organs employed in forming
them; and all the vowel sounds have a full and bold utterance.
These reasons, and to inspire youth with noble sentiments, just expression, to
ease the teacher, and to render a book cheap, and convenient for schools, as
well as private persons, who have neither time nor opportunity to peruse the
works of those celebrated authors from whence this Collection is made, was
the cause of the following compilation.
And as the speeches in both houses of parliament, pleading at the bar,
instructions in the pulpit, and commercial correspondance, are delivered and
carried on in the English language; the cloathing our thoughts with proper
expressions, and conveying our ideas, either in writing or speaking, agreeably,
cannot fail of making an impression upon the hearer or reader. For a man's
knowledge is of little use to the world, when he is not able to convey it properly
to others; which is the case of many who are endowed with excellent parts, but
are either afraid or ashamed of writing, or speaking in public, being conscious
of their own deficiency of expressing themselves in proper terms.
In order to remedy these defects, and to ease the teacher, I would advise, that
several young gentlemen read in a class, each a sentence in this book, (it
being divided into small portions for that purpose,) as often as convenient: and
let him who reads best, be advanced to the head, or have some pecuniary
reward; and every inferior one according to his merit; this will create emulation
among them, and facilitate their improvement much more than threats or
corrections, which stupifies and intimidates them, and often ends in contempt of
their teachers, and learning in general. This will draw forth those latent abilities,
which otherwise might lie dormant forever.
It may not be improper for the teacher, or some good reader, to read a sentence
or two first, that the learners may gain the proper emphasis, and read without
that monotony so painful to a good ear: for they will improve more by imitating a
good reader, than any rules that can be laid down to them. When they come to
read gracefully, let them stand up in the school and read aloud, in order to take
off that bashfulness generally attending those who are called upon either to
read or speak in public.
The next thing I would recommend, is the English Grammar (the best I know of
is the Buchanan's syntax) the knowledge of which is absolutely necessary, as it
is the solid foundation upon which all other science rests. After they have run
over the rules of syntax, the teacher may dictate to them one or more sentences
in false English, which they may correct by their grammar rules, and also find
out the various significations of each word in the dictionary; by which means
they will soon acquire a copious vocabulary, and become acquainted not with
words only, but with things themselves. Let them get those sentences by heart
to speak extempore; which will in some measure, be delivering their own
compositions, and may be repeated as often as convenient. This will soon give
the young gentlemen an idea of the force, elegance, and beauty of the English
language.
The next thing I would gladly recommend, is that of letter-writing, a branch of
education, which seems to me of the utmost utility, and in which most of our
youth are deficient at their leaving school; being suffered to form their own styleby chance: or imitate the first wretched model that falls in their way, before they
know what is faulty, or can relish the beauties of a just simplicity.
For their improvement in this particular, the teacher may cause every young
gentleman to have a slate or paper before him, on Saturdays, and then dictate a
letter to them, either of his own composition, or taken out of some book, and
turn it into false English, to exercise them in the grammar rules if he thinks
proper, which they shall all write down, and then correct and transcribe it fairly
in their books.
After the young gentlemen have been accustomed to this some time, a
supposed correspondence may be fixt between every two of them, and write to
one another under the inspection of the teacher who may correct and shew
their faults when he sees occasion; by such a method he will soon find them
improve in epistolary writing. The same may be observed with regard to young
ladies, who are very often deficient, not only in orthography, but every other part
of grammar.
If something similar to this method be pursued, it will soon reflect honor on the
teacher, give the highest satisfaction to judicious parents, and entail upon the
scholar a pleasing and lasting advantage.
THE EDITOR.
CONTENTS.
Pursuit of Knowledge recommended to Youth,
Directions how to spend our Time,
Mispent Time how punished,
Modesty,
Affectation,
The same continued,
Good humour and Nature,
Friendship,
Detraction and Falshood,
The Importance of Punctuality,
Exercise and Temperance the best Preservative of
Health,
The Duty of Secrecy,
Of Cheerfulness,
On the Advantage