FIRST

BOOK OF POETRY

FOR

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.

SELECTED

Frederis Rehark

BY THE REV. F. C. COOK, M.A.

ONE OF HER MAJESTY'S INSPECTORS

OF CHURCH SCHOOLS.

A NEW EDITION.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR

LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS.

PATERNOSTER-ROW.

1851.

PREFACE.

THIS book has been prepared for the use of elementary schools. My object, however, was to select, not so much the easiest poetry, as that which appeared best calculated to leave beneficial and durable impressions upon the hearts and minds of young persons. I believe that there are few pieces in this volume which, with proper care, cannot be made intelligible and interesting to boys and girls in the upper classes of most national schools. It is intended to be used both as a reading book for the classes which are accustomed to use books containing some general information, and as a lesson book, to be taken home by the children, in order that poems, selected and previously explained by the teacher, may be committed to memory.

I have to express my very sincere and grateful thanks to those distinguished writers, who have permitted me to make so many extracts from their works.