the historical drama shall be completed. It is hoped that, if the Reader is used with intelligence and discrimination, it may stimulate many of our young people to seek an intimate acquaintance with the great masters of history represented in its pages. Prescott, Motley, Irving, Froude, and Macaulay can be read with appreciative pleasure by young persons of ordinary intelligence, and if the "historic sense" is once developed, the student can gradually rise to the study of the great philosophical historians-Grote, Von Ranke, Freeman, Bryce, and Guizot-in his loftier productions. The biographical and critical notes are just sufficient to stimulate inquiry and independent research. The intention of notes and comments is to suggest new lines of thought, and to develop a taste for more extended investigation.
A more varied range of selections might have been easily made, but my experience as a teacher of history and literature has convinced me that in no department are moderation and concentration more necessary. The attempt to compass all history and all literature results in confusion, bewilderment, and premature discouragement. A discriminating selection from the masters of a language is greatly to be preferred to a heterogeneous collection, representing all diversities of style, and failing to impress upon the minds of young readers the essential distinction between the classic and the commonplace in literature. With this brief explanation of the nature and design of the Reader,