IV PREFACE

lion, ib je most conducive to the acquirement of the délicate inflex^Rft of pure pronunciation and acceût.

Portions from Gil Bios, and Sceneb from Molière, Beaumarchais, Picard, Scribe, Alexandre Dumas, etc., precededby afew interesting dialogues chiefly from the ingenuousBerqum, hâve been introduced, with a view to supply a store of idiomatic expressions for familiar conversation. 'Under the head of Introduction^ at the beginning of the book, will be found extracts from the early writers who flourished in France previously to the âge of Louis XIV or the 17th century. Separated from the sélections of French Uterature arrived at toaturity, and merely intended, in their chronological arrangement, to deyelope the graduai growth of the language, thèse spécimens may be consulted by the pupil at a more advanced period of his study. Biographical notices of each author quoted, critical explanations of the text, annotations on history, geography, statistics, etc., are given throughout the work, and the varions quotations which illustrate the passages from Télémaque, Les voyages (TAnadharsis en Grèce, Le voyage de Polyclète, ou Lettres romaines, etc., showing the connexion between French and Ancient Literature, will remind the pupil that he still treads on classic ground.

The orthography adopted in the récent édition of the Dictionary of the French Academy''^ bas been strictly adhered to ; consequently this work may be considered as stamped with the highest lexicographical authority, being modelled on the standard of the présent day.

32, Ely-place, London.

* Institut db France, Dictionnaike de l'Académie française • sixième édition. — Dans cette nouvelle édidoni rAcadémie remplace Vo par Va dans les mots /kible, monnaie, eonnattre, par&itre. Français, '

' Anglais, etc.» ainsi que dans la terminaison des imparfaits et des conditionnels : je voulais, Je voudrais, etc. Elle a également décidé que les mots terminés en anf ou en ent, tels que puissant, élément, etc.;

.retiendraient le t au pluriel: puissants* éléments, etc.