. THE NEW YORK 474589 ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS. 1909 DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT: District Clerk's Office. BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the first day of November, A. D. 1830, in the fiftyfifth year of the Independence of the United States of America, Melvin Lord and John C. Holbrook, of the said district, have deposited in this Office the title of a Book, the right whereof they claim as Proprietors, in the words following, to wit: 'The Academical Speaker: a Selection of Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from ancient and modern Authors; adapted for Exercises in Elocution. By B. D. Emerson. In-conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, 'An act for the encouragement of learning, by Securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned; and also to an act, entitled An act supplementary to an act, entitled 'an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned; and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints.?" JNO W. DAVIS, Clerk of the District of Massachusetts. ranster from Circ. Dept. Muhlenberg Branch NOV 21 1500 PREFACE. IN forming the following compilation, the object has been, to furnish a copious collection of pieces of suitable character for exercises in declamation, and, at the same time, of convenient brevity for that purpose.-In doing which, it has been necessary to enter a wide field of research, but to gather with a sparing hand; for, short specimens of eloquence, which would not subject the speaker to the appearance of abruptness, are by no means abundant. We well know how great is the influence of school exercises in the formation of young minds; and, perhaps, in no department of education does that influence operate with more force, than through the medium of exercises for recitation. The youthful speaker (if he feel at all) must feel like, and, for the time at least, become the character he attempts to personate.-In this view of their importance, each extract has been the subject of inquiries like the following:-Has the piece force and spirit? Is its moral tendency unquestionable? Does it convey a complete sense, intelligible to an audience without the 1* |