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Front Matter
Preface
One
special object which the author of this series has had
in view, in the plan and method which he has followed
in
the preparation of the successive volumes, has been to
adapt them to the purposes of text-books in schools. The
study of a general compend of history, such as is
frequently used as a text-book, is highly useful, if it
comes
in at the right stage of education, when the mind is
sufficiently matured, and has acquired sufficient
preliminary knowledge to understand and appreciate so
condensed a generalization as a summary of the whole
history of a nation contained in an ordinary volume
must necessarily be. Without this degree of maturity of
mind, and this preparation, the study of such a work
will be, as it too frequently is, a mere mechanical
committing to memory of names, and dates, and phrases,
which awaken no interest, communicate no ideas, and
impart no useful knowledge to the mind.
A class of ordinary pupils, who have not yet become
much acquainted with history, would, accordingly, be
more
benefited by having their attention concentrated, at
first, on detached and separate topics, such as those
which form the subjects, respectively, of these
volumes. By studying thus fully the history of
individual
monarchs, or the narratives of single events, they can
go more fully into detail; they conceive of the
transactions described as realities; their reflecting
and reasoning powers are occupied on what they read;
they
take notice of the motives of conduct, of the gradual
development of character, the good or ill desert of
actions, and of the connection of causes and
consequences, both in respect to the influence of
wisdom and
virtue on the one hand, and, on the other, of folly and
crime. In a word, their minds and
hearts are occupied
instead of merely their memories. They reason, they
sympathize, they pity, they approve, and they condemn.
They
enjoy the real and true pleasure which constitutes the
charm of historical study for minds that are mature;
and
they acquire a taste for truth instead of fiction,
which will tend to direct their reading into proper
channels
in all future years.
The use of these works, therefore, as text-books in
classes, has been kept continually in mind in the
preparation of them. The running index on the tops of
the pages is intended to serve instead of questions.
These captions can be used in their present form as
topics, in respect to which, when announced in the
class,
the pupils are to repeat substantially what is said on
the page; or, on the other hand, questions in form, if
that mode is preferred, can be readily framed from them
by the teacher. In all the volumes, a very regular
system of division is observed, which will greatly
facilitate the assignment of lessons.
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