THE FIRST BOOK OF GEOGRAPHY. FOR CHILDREN. BY THOMAS BOWRING. SECOND EDITION. LONDON; J. GREEN; NEWGATE STREET. BRISTOL; PHILP AND EVANS; AND F. w. B. Reid. MANCHESTER; FORREST AND FOGG. 1841. 81. H THIS little book has been compiled at the suggestion of some esteemed friends for the use of a School under their management. It is, as will be perceived, a work of very humble pretensions; utility being its sole aim, and the instruction of young children who have no previous knowledge of Geography it's principal object. Works on this science are, to use a somewhat hackneyed simile, "thick as leaves in Valambrosa." Many of these are of high and deserved reputation, and it is to prepare for, and not to supersede, their use, that this "first book" is intended. The Compiler has sometimes painfully felt the want of such a little manual; as few, if any, of the numerous Introductions to Geography he has consulted have completely answered his expectations, or been entirely adapted to the wants and capacities of the little beings to whom allusion has been made. Technical terms have not been sufficiently explained nor clearly illustrated. The language employed has been too refined for their comprehension, and not colloquial enough to render the writer's meaning at all times intelligible. These discouragements tend to depress the mind of youth and to fill it with indifference if not with absolute dislike; and by the force of association they powerfully diminish the pleasure felt in the study in riper years. Many a poor child has turned with disgust from a string of names which i |