ADAPTED TO DIFFERENT CLASSES OF LEARNERS, BUT MORE PARTICULARLY To the Use of Large Schools: ARRANGED IN A NEW MANNER, AND ENLIVENED WITH SUBJECTS: WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING FIVE CLASSES OF RECAPITULATORY EXERCISES. BY ROBERT GOODACRE, MASTER OF STANDARD-HILL ACADEMY, NEAR NOTTINGHAM. NINTH EDITION, CORRECTED AND IMPROVED BY SAMUEL MAYNARD. LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN & CO.; BALDWIN & CO.; WHITTA- 1839. PREFACE. WHEN a publication on a new subject makes its appearance, curiosity is excited: the work is eagerly sought after and perused, and though it may not answer the expectation which has been raised, yet the praise of ingenuity and invention is given to the author for having opened a source, which, by the suggestions of his own mind, or the labours of others, may, in future, produce pleasure or improvement. But when a fresh book, upon a subject which has been hackneyed for ages, is announced, it is natural to inquire, what improvements can this work contain? Is the writer aiming to turn the literary spirit of the age to his own private advantage? Or to force his name into publicity, when nature has designed it for oblivion? These are not captious, but, in the present state of literature, just and reasonable questions. Books of Arithmetic are numerous, and to add another to the number would be a real evil, unless it could be proved a real good. The writer of this work, therefore, esteems it a duty to give his reasons for this intrusion; and, to avoid the ill-natured, pedantic |