THE ELEMENTS OF COMPOSITION, BELLES-LETTRES, AND ORATORY. BY AUGUSTUS LAYRES, PROFESSOR OF VARIOUS LANGUAGES, RHETORIC AND SCIENCES. SAN FRANCISCO : A. ROMAN & CO., Nos. 417 AND 419 MONTGOMERY STREET. 1867. 68620 First Book, "THE ELEMENTS OF COMPOSITION," entered according BY AUGUSTUS LAYRES, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Printed by DEWEY & CO., MINING AND SCIENTIFIC PRESS BOOK AND JOB OFFICE, THE ELEMENTS OF COMPOSITION, BELLES LETTRES, AND ORATORY, COMPRISED IN THREE BOOKS, A WORK PROFESSEDLY WRITTEN FOR THE INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND RESPECTFULLLY DEDICATED ΤΟ THE DIRECTORS OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INSTRUCTION, TO THE PATRONS OF THE AUTHOR, AND TO ALL THE FRIENDS OF LITERATURE, BY AUGUSTUS LAYRES, PROFESSOR OF VARIOUS LANGUAGES, RHETORIC AND SCIENCES. PREFACE TO THE WORK ON THE ELEMENTS OF COMPOSITION, BELLES-LETTRES, AND ORATORY. 1. It is customary with writers of a new book to acquaint the reader with the motives that have impelled the author to write it; the nature of the subject; the manner in which it is treated; the sources that have furnished the materials; and, finally, with the peculiar character of the book. 2. A custom so proper and just will be faithfully observed. 3. The motives which have led the Author-a foreigner by birth to write this work, professedly for the American Institutions of Learning, and more especially for the Public Schools, are a decided preference for their System of Instruction, and a sincere desire of promoting in them Literature, by furnishing, upon the ELEMENTS OF COMPOSITION, BELLes-Lettres, and ORATORY, a book clear, concise and comprehensive, which may facilitate the progress of pupils in the Art of Composition. 4. The System of Free Instruction adopted by the Public Schools of the United States of America, is certainly admirable. Its beautiful features soon reveal it as the genuine Child of the Republic. It seems the only feasible and practical system, in a financial point of view, which could be devised and successfully carried out. It is eminently adapted to impart instruction to |