Plato, indeed, is said to
have written the introduction to his _Republic_ seven times over in
different ways.[1]
[Footnote 1: _Translator's Note._--It is a fact worth mentioning that
the first twelve words of the _Republic_ are placed in the exact order
which would be natural in English.]
As neglect of dress betrays want of respect for the company a man
meets, so a hasty, careless, bad style shows an outrageous lack of
regard for the reader, who then rightly punishes it by refusing to
read the book. It is especially amusing to see reviewers criticising
the works of others in their own most careless style--the style of
a hireling. It is as though a judge were to come into court in
dressing-gown and slippers! If I see a man badly and dirtily dressed,
I feel some hesitation, at first, in entering into conversation
with him: and when, on taking up a book, I am struck at once by the
negligence of its style, I put it away.
Good writing should be governed by the rule that a man can think only
one thing clearly at a time; and, therefore, that he should not be
expected to think two or even more things in one and the same moment.
But this is what is done when a writer breaks up his principal
sentence into little pieces, for the purpose of pushing into the gaps
thus made two or three other thoughts by way of parenthesis; thereby
unnecessarily and wantonly confusing the reader.
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