GOLDSMITH'S GRAMMAR OF GEOGRAPHY For the Use of Schools. REVISED AND BROUGHT DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME BY FRANCIS YOUNG, F.R.G.S., AUTHOR OF "ROUTLEDGE'S EDUCATIONAL MANUALS," AND CONTRIBUTOR TO LONDON: T. J. ALLMAN, 463, OXFORD STREET. 201. g. 84. ді PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION. THE Author of "GEOGRAPHY ON A POPULAR PLAN, FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS AND YOUNG PERSONS," has been persuaded by some of his friends to print, in a separate form, an Elementary Work, as an introductory Grammar to that pleasing and important Science. It has been suggested that the large Work is too expensive for the common use of the Junior Classes in Schools, by whom it will be principally wanted for the purpose of committing particular parts to the memory; and that a selection of such parts would be a great convenience in the practical business of education. With this suggestion he has cheerfully complied: and now prints such a brief synopsis of Geography, as has long been wanted by tutors; and which, united to the popular and fascinating contents of his larger work, will, he believes, form a complete System of Geography for the use of Schools. The author has annexed to this Grammar a great number of plain questions, with a view to exercise the ingenuity, the invention, and the memory of the pupil; but he has omitted the chapter on the construction of Maps, considering it as too difficult for the young persons for whom this Grammar is intended; he continues, however, to lay the same stress as before on the importance of copying maps, as the only means by which an acquaintance with Geography can be perfected. Several of the maps contained in the larger work are given also in this compendium; for though they add to the expense, nothing can be more absurd than for any person to attempt to teach Geography without a constant reference to them. A proper mode of familiarising very young pupils with an idea of the meaning and intention of maps, is to lay before them a plan, or map, of the district in which they reside. In the metropolis, a plan of London will best convey these ideas, by referring to the street in which the pupil lives, and then pointing out to him the adjacent streets. In the country, a map of the county in which the pupil resides will effect this purpose: the place of his residence should be shown, and its relation to other places on the map be compared with his actual knowledge of the neighbourhood. The pupil who understands what is meant by a plan of a town, or the map of a county, will easily extend his ideas to the objects of general maps. Another addition to this Grammar, the utility of which will be felt by every tutor, is the Alphabetical Table of proper names, in which, for the first time, an attempt is made to fix the pronunciation of the names of places and countries. Such a guide to pronunciation has not hitherto existed in our language; and the want of it has tended very considerably to impede the study of Geography. The proper mode of using this little book to advantage will, it is apprehended, be to let the pupil commit the whole of the facts to memory, at the rate, perhaps, of one, two, or three per day, according to his age and ca pacity; taking care, at the end of each section, to make him repeat the whole of what he has before learnt. In connection with this labour, he may be usefully employed in examining the maps; and in answering, in writing, the questions which are formed from them. If he read over also a part of the vocabulary each day, comparing the words with the places on some maps of a larger scale than could be bound up with this Grammar, it may be affirmed, that half an hour only spent in this manner every day, will render any youth familiar with Geography in the course of a few months. That part which relates to the use of the Globes, and which contains all the most useful problems, may be learned as the preceptor shall see fit. The questions on this part will be found a useful and agreeable exercise. ADVERTISEMENT TO KENNY'S EDITION. THE importance which Geography, as a science, has attained of late years, has suggested to the Editor of the present work that considerable improvements could be made in the original Grammar. Since the first edition of Goldsmith's Geography, so many political changes have taken place in every quarter of the globe, that nearly one half of the contents of that edition has become obsolete. The principal features of this new and improved edition are the remodelling of all the articles in the body of the work, the contracting of all the facts so as to render them easier for children to commit them to memory, and the adding of above 300 Questions on the Maps and Globes to those previously existing. This latter method of exercising children, and even adults, in |