ADVERTISEMENT.

To render the following work as complete as the

plan will admit of, this edition is enriched by several observations, and some additional information respecting the present state of France, Ireland, &c. The contest in which the former has been engaged, having altered its geographical situation with respect to surrounding nations, it has been thought necessary to give the youthful student a description of its present state, with the division of the country into departments, and the acquisition of territory during the war, which has been annexed to France, and now forms a part of that extensive country. This useful work, thus revised, is submitted with increased confidence to the public, in the hope that it will experience that support and protection, by which the former editions have been so greatly distinguished.

In addition to the above, it is only necessary to observe that this work is patronized in a peculiar manner, and that the preceding eight editions have been sold with a rapidity beyond expectation.

This edition has been carefully revised, several of the new political arrangements have been introduced, and also a plate and epitome of the solar system, with the outlines of astronomy and ancient geography, have been added.

THE

THE

PREFACE.

THE following pages were originally intended

solely for the use of my own children, and would never have been presented to the public, if I had not myself experienced an inconvenience from the manuscript; for though the first sheets were purposely written in a large and distinct hand, I found they read them with a difficulty that retarded their progress : and this first gave me the idea of putting it in print. I have selected from different authors such matter as appeared to be the most necessary for the improvement of young minds; and have, as much as possible, divided it into small sections, and endeavoured to throw such heads together, as I thought would best assist the memory. Children that are accustomed to learn things by question and answer, very frequently get them by rote, in the same words that are before them, without attending to the sense; and if the question be put in any other form, it throws them out, and they are totally at a loss for an answer. To obviate this, I have placed each different subject in a detached paragraph, which will give the teacher an opportunity of varying the mode of the question at pleasure.

We

We are in general too apt to under-rate the capacities of children; but I believe experience will evince that they are just as capable of learning something that may be useful (provided a proper method be taken to render it agreeable to them) as they are of repeating the little tales that are frequently told them for their amusement: and as Geography and History enlarge the mind more than any other studies, they cannot be begun too early. Geography is by no means a dry and irksome task to children; on the contrary, they have a pleasure in looking over a map, and are rejoiced if they happen to discover any place they have ever heard of. They are naturally inquisitive, and by judicious management may be easily led on by every object that surrounds them; and when once their curiosity is excited, and they begin to inquire, how such a thing is made? or where it comes from?. they may every day acquire some * Useful Knowledge: and will often be delighted if you refer them to the maps, and shew them the place or country where the object of their inquiry is produced.

I would begin with a dissected map of England, merely as a toy, when you chuse to be at leisure to play with it; and at first give a child the county he lives in, and a few of the adjacent ones; point out to him his own town; explain that it appears but a speck, because the map is little, and takes in a great many places; then shew him any other

The Rev. John Adams, A. M. has published an excellent work under this title, from which children may derive material information.

towns

towns that are familiar to his ear, where any of his acquaintance come from, &c. When he can rea dily join these, and remember them by name, adł a few counties more, and so on till he gets pretty well through England. In the mean time, if he can read well enough, you may sometimes, as an indulgence, allow him to look over some of the sections of England, and make him find out the places on his map of whatever he reads. When they have gone through England in this manner, (which if they begin at five or six years old, may perhaps take up a twelvemonth,) they should then begin with the divisions of the earth, and pro. ceed regularly. It is a good method to let them read over any new section, or a part of it, every day for a week or more, accompanied by a map, before you give it them to get by heart; by which means it makes a deeper impression on their minds, and becomes much easier to them, as they have half learnt it before they consider it as a lesson; and by frequently reading the historical part, during the period taken up in getting the rest, they generally remember it sufficiently, without obliging them to repeat it word for word. To prevent them from forgetting any thing they have learnt, it is proper that they should have a general repetition of all they have gone through, after every new country; this may appear a tedious process, but will turn to account in the end, as every such repetition will impress it more strongly, and they will not forget any thing very essential while their memory is thus constantly exercised.

By the time they have made the tour of the Globe, according to this plan, they will be fit to begin a regular course of history. I have presumed to mention such as seemed the most con. cise, and for that reason best adapted to youth; and would have the geography of every country gone through again with its history.

E. R.

THE BINDER

Is desired to place "the Map of the World” facing the Title. Geographical Terms explained, next before Page 1.

The Armillary Sphere at Page 275.

The Plate of the Solar System, facing Page 283.