s of an equal number of syllables, or ending
with the same sound, as men do when they write poetry. Others have
written in verse, because they wished rather to make us think over
and over again about the same thing, and, by doing so, to teach
us, gradually, how much we could learn from one thing; if we think
sufficiently long and carefully about it; and, besides this, they knew
that rhythmical or musical language would keep longest in our memory
anything which they wished to remain there; and by being stored up in
our mind, would enrich us in all our lives after.

In these books you will find pieces taken from authors both in prose and
verse. But of the authors who have made themselves famous by the books
which they have written in our language, many had to be set aside.
Because many writers, though their books are famous, have written so
long ago, that the language which they use, though it is really the same
language as our own, is yet so old-fashioned that it is not readily
understood. By and by, when you are older, you may read these books, and
find it interesting to notice how the language is gradually changing; so
that, though we can easily understand what our grandfathers or our great
grandfathers wrote, yet we cannot understand, without carefully studying
it, what was written by our own ancestors a thousand, or even five
hundred, years ago.

The first thing, however, that you have to do--and, perhaps, this book
may help you to do it--is to learn what is the best way of writing or
speaking our own language of the present day. You cannot learn this
better than by reading and remembering what has been written by men,
who, because they were very great, or because they laboured very hard,
have obtained a great command over the language. When we speak of
obtaining a command over language we mean that they have been able to
say, in simple, plain words, exactly what they mean. This is not so easy
a matter as you may at first think it to be. Those who write well do not
use roundabout ways of saying a thing, or they might weary us; they
do not use words or expressions which might mean one or other of two
things, or they might confuse us; they do not use bombastic language, or
language which is like a vulgar and too gaudy dress, or they might make
us laugh at them; they do not use exaggerated language, or, worse than
all, they might deceive us. If you look at many books which are written
at the present day, or at many of