The Port Folio Author:Asbury Dickins, Joseph Dennie Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: no longer the same excuse thai many have hitherto made, for not perusing the sacred writings, with the same attention, readiness, and frequency, that they employ... more » on profane writers. Our translator gave us the Bible in the English language; i remained for Mr. R. to make it an English book, adapted to the perusal of every reader of English; an improvement which cannot fail of making the Bible more read and better understood, and of promoting still more extensively the interests of religion and virtue. Art. III.—Łt,tay on the andtile of Or. Samuel Julnmon. (Continued from Vol- XI. p. 309.) It is hardly possible for an author who writes much to avoid a peculiarity of manner. The recurrence of thoughts, similar in their restrictions and mutual dependance, introduces to the mind, by a natural association, the same arrangement and construction , and the mind, disdaining to bestow upon words that attention which is due only to things, will be too apt, through haste to execute its task, to admit the first expressions as to the best. It despises the humble as well as tedious labour of turning back to re-examine sentences already marked with approbation, and will not ejsily be persuaded to vary, what considered simply in itself appears to have no fault. Thus from the peculiar turn of each author's thoughts, even though there should be no other cause concurring, there will naturally arise a corresponding peculiarity of stile : a peculiarity which the powerful influence of habit makes so predominant, that there are very few pages, even of our best writers, which to those who are at all acquainted with iheir stile, do not readily betray their author. Such favourite forms or ornaments of expression, such peculiar modes of arranging, combining and connecting, lie within the easy reach of i...« less