The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886 | Page 2

except, perhaps,
that appropriate to a few of the stronger passions. It is not pretended
that they are all simple and easy. Many of them will require much study
and preparation before they can be read with that precision of
expression which is necessary to perfect intelligibility. The
chronological arrangement precludes grading; the teacher will decide in
what order the selections are to be read.
The introductory chapter is mainly intended to assist the teacher in
imparting to his pupils a somewhat scientific knowledge of the art of
reading. Of course the teacher will choose for himself his mode of
dealing with the chapter, but it has been written with the thought that he
should use it as a convenient series of texts, which he might expand and
illustrate in accordance with his opportunities and judgment. Examples
for illustration are indispensable to the successful study of the
principles described, and they should be sought for and obtained by the
teacher and pupils together (whenever possible they should be taken
from the READER), and should be kept labeled for reference and
practice. If the application of these principles be thus practically made
by the pupils themselves, they will receive a much more lasting
impression of their meaning and value than if the examples were given
to them at no cost of thought or search on their part.
To the teacher it is recommended that he should not be contented with
the short and necessarily imperfect exposition of the art of reading
therein given. The more familiar he is with the scientific principles the
more successfully will he be able to direct the studies and practices of
his pupils. Works on elocution are numerous and accessible. Dr. Rush's
Philosophy of the Voice is perhaps the foundation of all subsequent
good work in the exposition of voice culture. Professor Murdoch's
Analytic Elocution is an exhaustive and scholarly treatise based upon it,

and to the plan of treatment therein fully developed the practical part of
the introductory chapter has largely conformed.
The pleasing task remains of thanking those authors who have so
kindly responded to requests for permission to use selections from their
works: to President Wilson, for a sonnet from Spring Wild Roses, and
for Our Ideal; to Mr. Charles Sangster, for two sonnets from Hesperus;
to Mr. John Reade, for two poems from The Prophecy of Merlin; to Mr.
Charles Mair, for the scenes from Tecumseh; and to Professor C. G. D.
Roberts, for To Winter.
To Miss A. T. Jones, thanks are due for permission to use Abigail
Becker, recently published in the Century Magazine. The heroic acts
described in this poem seem so wonderful, so greatly superior to
woman's strength, even to human strength and endurance, to
accomplish, that were it possible to doubt its truthfulness, doubt one
certainly would. Nevertheless the poem is not only strictly in
accordance with the facts, it is even within and below them.

CONTENTS.
(The Titles of the Selections in Poetry are printed in Italics.)
NUMBER. TITLE. AUTHOR. PAGE.
I. King Solomon's Prayer and Blessing at the Dedication of the Temple.
HOLY BIBLE 33
II. Invitation. HOLY BIBLE 39
III. The Trial Scene in the "Merchant of Venice." SHAKESPEARE 40
IV. Of Boldness. BACON 53
V. To Daffodils. HERRICK 55
VI. Of Contentedness in all Estates and Accidents. TAYLOR 56

VII. To Lucasta, on Going to the Wars. LOVELACE 61
VIII. Angling. WALTON 62
IX. On the Morning of Christ's Nativity. MILTON 67
X. Character of Lord Falkland. CLARENDON 76
XI. Veni, Creator Spiritus. DRYDEN 81
XII. Lines printed under the Portrait of Milton. DRYDEN 82
XIII. Reason DRYDEN 83
XIV. On the Love of Country as a Principle of Action. STEELE 83
XV. The Golden Scales. ADDISON 88
XVI. Misjudged Hospitality. SWIFT 93
XVII. From the "Essay on Man." POPE 96
XVIII. Rule, Britannia. THOMSON 101
XIX. The First Crusade. HUME 102
XX. The Bard. GRAY 111
XXI. On an Address to the Throne concerning Affairs in America.
CHATHAM 116
XXII. From "The Vicar of Wakefield." GOLDSMITH 127
XXIII. Meeting of Johnson with Wilkes. BOSWELL 133
XXIV. The Policy of the Empire in the First Century. GIBBON 142
XXV. On the Attacks upon his Pension. BURKE 147
XXVI. Two Eighteenth Century Scenes. COWPER 155

XXVII. From "The School for Scandal." SHERIDAN 159
XXVIII. The Cotter's Saturday Night. BURNS 171
XXIX. The Land o' the Leal. LADY NAIRN 177
XXX. The Trial by Combat at the Diamond of the Desert. SCOTT 179
XXXI. To a Highland Girl. WORDSWORTH 202
XXXII. France: an Ode. COLERIDGE 205
XXXIII. Complaint and Reproof. COLERIDGE 208
XXXIV. The Well of St. Keyne. SOUTHEY 209
XXXV. The Isles of Greece. BYRON 211
XXXVI. Go where Glory Waits Thee. MOORE 214
XXXVII. Dear Harp of My Country. MOORE 215
XXXVIII. Come, ye Disconsolate.