faults arise almost entirely from its being, as the title-page avows, a compilation. * * * * * As usual, our statement of particular defects fills much more space than our general commendation, which we think it proper, therefore, to repeat, by stating it as our opinion, that the adoption of this little manual in schools, and even in the lower classes of our colleges, would, under the direction of judicious teachers, tend to great improvement in the art of composition, and to the diffusion of much useful information as to English literature. Mr. Boyd has evidently taken special pains to make the literary merits of the Bible, and the literature of our own country, duly prominent in his compilation, although chiefly drawn from British sources. Similar notices and recommendations have appeared in the Albany Argus, Aibany Evening Journal, Black River Journal, and other periodicals. BOYD'S ECLECTIC MORAL PHILOSOPHY. THIS work, prepared for schools by the author of the "Rhetoric," professes to teach the Science of Human Duty in a lucid and thorough manner; and also to unfold the moral structure, capacities, and active principles of man. To youth nothing is of greater importance than a knowledge of their moral and active powers, and an acquaintance with the proper method of employing them in the performance of the various duties of life. Should not some text-book on this subject be constantly employed in every academy and district school? Must not the education of our youth be extremely imperfect without it? Whether the "Eclectic Moral Philosophy," when the character of its contents, its moderate price, and handsome style of publication are considered, is entitled to a preference over other works on the same subject, is submitted to the judgment of instructors, upon an examination and trial of the work. The science of Moral Philosophy, in this day of educational improvement, should not be undervalued and neglected as it has ever been. It should take rank, as a matter of course, with Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and Mathematics. The work has an advantage which no other of the kind can possess, of suggesting to the pupil the works and authors where the various topics are more extensively treated. It is, in fact, an excellent guide-book for an exploration of the wide and tangled field of moral science.-Bib. Repository. We commend this comprehensive volume, as one of great utility, to all teachers and students especially, also the private reader, as an admirable epitomized system of moral philosophy.-American Review. This is an excellent book. Mr. Boyd has, in our judgment, succeeded in presenting "the science of human actions" with such steady reference to the only true sources of that science as will commend the book warmly to all the best friends of popular education. The work is strictly a compilation, and the merit of the compiler, which is great, consists in the taste and judgment which he has every where shown in the effort to make it not merely a profound, but a really practical treatise.-Teacher's Advocate It is better adapted to the wants of learners than any manual of the kind we have seen.-Princeton Biblical Repertory. AND LITERARY CRITICISM. WITH COPIOUS PRACTICAL EXERCISES AND EXAMPLES. FOR THE USE OF COMMON SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES. COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY J. R. BOYD, A.M. PRINCIPAL OF JEFFERSON COUNTY INSTITUTE. SIXTH EDITION. NEW-YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 82 CLIFF STREET. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844, by HARPER & BROTHERS, In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York PREFACE TO THE FIFTH EDITION. In preparing this edition for the press, the compiler has sought to render his work more complete by adding PART VIII., supplementary to what appeared in the former editions, and particularly adapted to the wants of the more advanced students in common schools or academies. It will be found to embrace some of the more important and practical instructions found. in works on Logic, and which properly belong. to a complete treatise on the Art of Composition.. The whole work has been carefully revised, but it was found necessary to make only a very few alterations, and those so slight, chiefly corrections of typographical errors, that no inconvenience will be experienced in using this edition with any of the former. The compiler would take the liberty to add, that after a trial of one year in the institution under his care, during which several classes, in the different departments, have been carried through the work, it has been found peculiarly well adapted to the important objects for A |