ABRIDGMENT OF LECTURES ON RHETORIC. BY HUGH BLAIR, D. D. WITH QUESTIONS. AMHERST, MASS. PUBLISHED BY LEWIS WHITTEMORE, 1823. ADVERTISEMENT. · THE want of a system of Rhetoric upon a concise plan, and at an easy price, will, it is presumed, render this little volume acceptable to the public. To collect knowledge, which is scattered over a wide extent, into a small compass; if it has not the merit of originality, has at least the advantage of being useful. Many, who are terrified at the idea of travelling over a ponderous volume in search of information, will yet set out on a short journey in pursuit of science with alacrity and profit. Those, for whom the following essays are principally intended, will derive peculiar benefit from the brevity, with which they are conveyed. To youth, who are engaged in the rudiments of learning; whose time and attention must be occupied by a variety of subjects; every branch of science should be rendered as concise as possible. Hence the attention is not fatigued, nor the memory overloaded. That a knowledge of Rhetoric forms a very material part of the education of a polite scholar must be universally allowed. Any attempt, therefore, however imperfect, to make so useful an art more generally known, has claim to that praise which is the reward of good intention. With this the editor will be sufficiently satisfied; since being serviceable to others is the most agreeable method of becoming contented with ourselves. |