OF ALL THE WORDS AND IDIOMS CONTAINED IN THE WORK.

66

By J. L. JEWETT,

EDITOR OF OLLENDORFF'S NEW Method of LEARNING FRENCH."

NEW-YORK:

D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 200 BROADWAY.

PHILADELPHIA;

GEO. S. APPLETON, 164 CHESNUT-STREET.

M.DCCC.XLIX.

ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1849, by

D. APPLETON & COMPANY,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New-York.

PREFACE

TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.

"THE CLASSIC FRENCH READER was compiled for the use of students who are sufficiently advanced to enable them to be made acquainted with the writings which constitute the standard literature of France. To adapt it to the wants of young persons of either sex, it has not been thought sufficient merely to exclude from it every thing of an exceptionable character; pains have also been taken to select pieces which, while they reward the efforts of the student, by imparting valuable instruction or innocent amusement, are at the same time intended to inculcate, in an agreeable manner, those moral lessons so indispensable for the formation of the youthful mind.

The broad field of classic French literature is rich in materials for such a work; and the peculiar clearness, vivacity, and gracefulness of its writers cannot fail to commend it to the particular attention of students. Each piece in the book presents a subject complete in itself. By selections from the writings of all the literary periods, the reader is enabled to form his judgment and taste by a comparison of the various styles of writing, and the work is thus rendered a