PREFACE 'TO " THE ART OF READING AND WRITING ENGLISH." THE reader is briefly informed, in the Title Page, what is the general design of this little book, and who are the persons that may hope to profit by ,it. The Dedication sufficiently acquaints hire with the occasion of this com- posure: And since custom has taught the world to expect a word or two of address in the first leaves of a book, it shall be the business of the Preface to offer a few things which relate to the methods of teaching to read and write English, and to declare a littlemore particularly what may be expected from this attempt. My learned friendswill easily forgive me, that I did not write for them, who are fitter to be my instructors, in a science which has never been my professed business: I expect rather they will reprove me, for descending front noblerstudies, to employ my thoughts on no mean a subject. Now, if I had a mind to flatter my ambition, I would call in several great names to answer for me. Shall those renowneddivines and mathematicians, Bishop Wilkins, andDr. Wallis ? Shall Milton, that noblest of poets, and Ray, that pious philosopher, busy themselves in grammars and dictionaries, and nomencla- tures, and employ their meditationson words and syllables, and that without sinking their character ? Then surely I may tread in their steps and imitate such patterns without disgrace. But I will content myself with a much plainerapology, and confess to the world that I4thiuk nothing of this naturetoo mean for me to lay out a few weeks of my life upon, for the service of afamily, to whom, under God, I owe that I live : For when I had surveyed grammars, and spelling-books, for this service, I found none of them perfectly answer my design, that is, to lead English readers into an easy acquaintance with their mother -tongue, without constraining them to acquire the knowledge of other languages. And though I did not set myselfat first to write these directions for the public, yet, since theyare written, surely 1 may offer them to the world without offence. 'It is not my ambition, by this composure, to supplant the primer or the spelling-book. This book was not written to stand in their stead ; yet since it lies naturally in my way, I will venture to speak my sentiments con- cerning the best wayof composing them. It is the custom of common spel- ling- books, in the first part of them, after the letters, to join consonants and vowels together in various forms, then to snake tables of common words, of one, two, three, andmore syllables: After these, they place catalogues of pro- per names, dividing them all into their distinct syllables ; and I think this method is happily and judiciously contrivedfor the ease of the teacher, and the profit of the learner. In this part, all the words should be ranged in dis- tinct tables, according to their accents on the first, second, or following syllables.; and the consonants which are pronounced double, should have a double accent upon them, as Mr. Dyche hascontrived, and Mr. Munday has since improved. At the end of this first part of the book, three or four pages would be sufficient just to tell the young scholars, briefly, which are vowels, 'which are consonants, which are diphthongs;. and to teach them the common
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