PREFACE

Of ail auxiliaries to the acquirement of a good pronunciation in the study of the French language, the most rapid and effective is undoubtedly the practice of recitation. For this valuable and pleasing exercise, the poetical chefs-d'œuvre of the Hterature of France offer pecuHar advantages, as the distinctness of articulation required, especially in classical poetry, to express with propriety ail metrical compositions, added to the necessity of a due obsenance of those emphatic intonations of the rhythm so justly called mots de valeur of French versification, must necessarily produce that purity of accent and correctness of utterance which it is so important for the pupil to attain.

With this conviction, the resuit of many years' expérience in teaching, and for the purpose of bringing together a sélection df subjects suitable for recitation, the présent compilation has been prepared.

But besides this désirable object, the volume will be found, from the chronological arrangement of its contents, to gradually famiharize the studeut with the rise and progress of French poesy. Extracts from the earliest productions of the Muse in France, the songs of the Troubadours, a 2