Art of reading and writing English: or, the chief principles and rules of pronouncing our mother-tongue

I The PREFACE. xi
Grammars and Spelling-Books, for
this Service, I found none of them £er-
fttily anfwer my Defign; that is, to
lead Englifh Readers into an eafy ac-
| quaintance with their Mother-Tongue,
‘ without conftraining them to acquire the
\ Knowledge of other Languages. And
s tho I did not fet myfelf at firft to write
Ithefe Diretiions for the Publick, yet,
fmce they are written, furely I may of¬
fer them to the World without Offence.
T/j not my Ambition, by this Comyo-
fure, to fufffant the Primer, or the
Spelling-Book. This Book was not
written to fiand in their [lead \ yet
fence it lies naturally in my way, 1 will
venture to fpeak my Sentiments concer¬
ning the bejt way of comfofeng them.
rTis the Cufiom of common Spelling-*
Books, in the firft Part of them, after
the Letters, to join Confonants and
Vowels together in various Forms ; then
‘ to make Tables of common Words, of
one, two, three, and more Syllables:
After theft, they ft ace Catalogues of
Prefer Names, dividing them all into
their diftinct Syllalles; and 1 think this
Method is happily and judicioujly con¬
trived