PREFACE.
The most eminent physicians dwell particularly upon the necessity there is for young ladies, as they advance towards womanhood, to take active and regular exercise; and to avoid, as much as possible, all sedentary amusements. That love of variety, however, so natural to the human mind, and which is particularly observable in children, renders it a matter of some difficulty to diversify their sports, so as to discover a sufficient number of games that require exertion: we, however, flatter ourselves that this has been accomplished, in the little Work here presented to the reader in an English dress. They will find in it instructions for playing at a great number of games, of such a nature that they cannot fail of being conducive to their health; and which, while they afford an innocent relaxation from study, will be eminently useful in forming that easy and graceful carriage, which can only result from the free and active motion of the limbs, necessarily produced by frequently playing at these games.
The prose part of the work has been faithfully rendered into English from the French original; but the Proprietor is indebted to the author of the Tours of the original Dr. Syntax, who has enriched this little Repository of Youthful Sports, with some elegant verses, illustrative, in a moral point of view, of the games described.