Poets of America, and Poets and Poetry of the West, by W. T Coggeshall, and also from special Biographies and Lives. The critical matter, besides owning the above sources, has been drawn from the ablest magazines of the day, both American and English, while the extracts presented have invariably been made from reliable editions of the authors' works, and with a view to being both characteristic and interesting. From the number and variety of the extracts furnished, it will be seen that this work may be used, apart from its specific intent, as a repository from which to draw selections either for reading or for declamation, and thus, in a great measure, answer the ends of both advanced "Readers" and "Speakers." In the arrangement of the work the author has seen fit to sacrifice what might be deemed a strictly chronological order to one which he believes will the better address itself to the attention and also the comprehension of the student, although, it is claimed, there is nothing in the present arrangement that will prevent the student from following any order of study he may prefer. The author would here express his obligations to Messrs. James R. Osgood & Co. for permission to make use of suitable extracts from their copyright editions of the works of prominent American authors. That this book may prove so far palatable to the youthful student that, from its meagre store, he shall go, with educated appetite, to the bountiful feast provided in the works themselves of our eminent writers, is the author's sincere wish. CINCINNATI, July 22, 1872. N. K. ROYSE. |