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INTRODUCTION

duced in the present collection fairly scintillate with epigrammatic wit and rollicking humor. Scholars and literary men often deliver speeches that prove most readable because they know both from intuition and training that simplicity is the soul of style in spoken as well as in written thought. Simplicity and culture have been largely considered by the Committee of Selection; and take it, for all in all, the Editors and Publishers feel confident that the Library of "Modern Eloquence" will be found a most comprehensive compilation of recent oratory—both in serious and lighter vein—and a work which ought to find a place in every educational institution and in every public or private library throughout the land.