Murray's English Reader

PART I.
PIECES IN PROSE.

CHAPTER I.

Select Sentences and Paragraphs.
CHAPTER IL
Narrative Pieces.

Sect. 1. No rank or possessione can make the guilty mind happy,
2. Change of external condition often adverse to virtue,
3. Haman; or the misery of pride,

4. Lady Jane Gray,

5. Ortogrul; or the vanity of riches,

6. The hill of science,

7. The journey of a day; a picture of human life,

CHAPTER III.
Didactic Pieces.

Sect. 1. The importance of a good education,

2. Ou gratitude,

3. On forgiveness,

4. Motives to the practice of gentleness,

5. A suspicious temper the source of misery to its possessor,

6 Comforts of religion,

7. Diffidence of our abilities a mark of wisdom,

8. On the importance of order in the distribution of our time,

9. The dignity of virtue amidst corrupt examples,

10. The mortifications of vice greater than those of virtue,

11. On contentment,

12. Rank and riches afford no ground for envy,

13. Patience under provocations our interest as well as duty,

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14. Moderation in our wishes recommended,

15. Omniscience and omnipresence of the Deity, the source of conso-

lation to good men,

Sect. 1. The seasons,

CHAPTER IV.

Argumentative Pieces.

Sect. 1. Happiness is founded in rectitude of conduct,
2. Virtue man's highest interest,

3. The injustice of an uncharitable spirit,

4. The misfortunes of men mostly chargeable on themselves,
5. On disinterested friendship,

6. On the immortality of the soul,

CHAPTER V.
Descriptive Pieces.

2. The cataract of Niagara, in Canada, North America,
3 Grotto of Antiparos,

4. The grotto of Antiparos, continued,

5. Earthquake at Catanca,

6. Creation,

7. Charity,

8. Prosperity is redoubled to a good man,.
9. On the beauties of the Psalms,

10. Character of Alfred, king of England,

11. Character of Queen Elizabeth,

12. On the slavery of vice,

13. The man of integrity,
14. Gentleness,

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CHAPTER VI..
Pathetic Pictes.

Sect. 1. Trial and execution of the Earl of Strafferd,

2. An eminent instance of true fortitude of mind,
3. The good man's comfort in a fiction,

4. The close of life,

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5. Exalted society, and the renewal of virtuous connections, two
sources of future felicity,

6. The clemency and amiable character of the patriarch Joseph,
7. Altamont,

CHAPTER VI.
Dialogues.

Sect. 1. Democritus and Heraclitus,
2. Dionysius, Pythias, and Damon,
3. Locke and Bayle,

CHAPTER VIII.
Public Speeches.

Sect. 1. Cicero against Verres,

2. Speech of Adherbal to the Roman Senate, imploring their protec-
tion against Jugurtha,

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woman,

4. On Discretion,

5. On the government of our thoughts,

6. On the evils which flow from unrestrained passions,

3. The Apostle Paul's noble defence before Festus and Agrippa
4. Lord Mansfield's speech in the House of Lords, 1770, on the bill
for preventing the delays of justice, by claiming the privilege
of parliament,

5. An address to young persons,

122

124

125

126

CHAPTER IX.
Promiscuous Pieces.

set. 1. Earthquake at Calabria, in the year 1638,

2. Letter from Pliny to Geminius,

3. Letter from Pliny to Marcellinus, on the death of an amiable young

128

129

132

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7. On the proper state of our temper, with respect to one another,
8. Excellence of the Holy Scriptures,

9. Reflections occasioned by a review of the blessings, pronounced by
Christ on his disciples, in his sermon on the mount,
10. Schemes of life often illusory,

11. The pleasures of virtuous sensibility,

12. On the true honour of man,

135

137

140

146

150

154

156

161

165

169

13. The influence of devotion on the happiness of life,

191

14. The planetary and terrestrial worlds comparatively considered,
15. On the power of custom, and the uses to which it may be applied, 194
16. The pleasures resulting from a proper use of our faculties.
17. Description of Candour,

196

197

18. On the imperfection of that happiness which rests solely on world-
ly pleasures,

19. What are the real and solid enjoyments of human life,
20. Scale of beings,

21. Trust in the care of Providence recommended,

22. Piety and gratitude enliven prosperity,

23. Virtue, when deeply rooted, is not subject to the influence of for-

170

171

174

176

178

180

181

182

185

187

189

tune,

24. The speech of Fabricius, a Roman ambassador, to king Pyrrhus,
who attempted to bribe him to his interests, by the offer of a
great sum of money,

25. Character of James I king of England,

26. Charles V Emperor of Germany, resigns his dominions, and re-
tires from the world,
37. The same subject continued,

198

202

204

207

209

211

213

214

215
218

PART II.

PIECES IN POETRY.

CHAPTER I.

Select Sentences and Paragraphs.

Sect. 1. The bears and the bees

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et. 1. Short and ergy sentences,

222
224

2. Verses in which the lines are of different length,

3. Vers98 containing exclamations, interrogations, and parentheses, 225
4. Verses in various forms,

227
229

5. Verses in which sound corresponds to signification,

6. Paragraphs of greater length,

231

CHAPTER II.

Narrative Pieces.

2. The nightingale and the glow worm,

3. The trials of virtue,

4. The youth and the philosopher,

5. Discourse between Adam and Eve retiring to rest,
6. Religion and death,

Bect. 1. The vanity of wealth,
2. Nothing formed in vain,
3. On pride,

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CHAPTER III.

Didactic Pieces.

4. Cruelty to brutes censured,

5. A paraphrase on the latter part of the 6th chap. of Matthew,
6. T death of a good man a strong incentive to virtue,

7. Reflections on a future state, from a review of winter,

8. Adam's advice to Eve, to avoid temptation,

Sect. 1. The Hermit,

9. On procrastination,

10. That philosophy, which stops at secondary causes, reproved,
11. Indignant sentiments on national prejudice and hatred; and on sla-

very,

Sect. 1. The morning in summer,

CHAPTER IV.

Descriptive Pieces.

2. Rural sounds, as well as rural sights, delightful,

3. The Rose,

4. Care of birds for their young,

2. The Beggur's Petition,
3. Unhappy close of life,

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5. Liberty and slavery contrasted,

6. Charity. A paraphrase on the 13th chap. of the First Epistle to
the Corinthians,

7. Picture of a good man,

8. The pleasures of retirement,

9. The pleasure and benefit of an improved and well directed imagi-

nation,

Pathetic Pieces.

5. Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk, during his

solitary abode in the island of Juan Fernandez,

6. Gratitude,

7. A man perishing in the snow; from whenco reflections are raised

on the miseries of life,

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266

9. Providence vindicated in the present state of man, 10. Selfishness reproved,

11. Human fraiity,

12. Cde to Peace,

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Murray's English Reader: Or, Pieces in Prose and Poetry, Selected from the ...