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The Editor

The Editor image
Parent Issue
Day
16
Month
January
Year
1847
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

The editor is the dupe of destiny. - His lot was knockcd down lo him a borgain, and it turns out to bo a take in. His land of promise is a tnoving bog. His bed of roses isa high-backed chair, stufíed wiih thorns. His laurel wreath isa gnrland of nottles. His honors resolve themselves into a capital hoax ; his pleasures are heavy penalties ; his pride the snuiT of a candle ; his power but volumes of smoke. The editor is the most ül-s'arred man alive. He and hc alone - the thou-?an pretenders about town.notwithstanding - is indeed the idenlical martyr eommonly talked of as the most ill-used individual. He seems to govern opinión, and is in realitya victim loihe opinionsof ntliers - he incursmore than niuetenths of the risk and responsibility, and reaps less tlian one-tenth of the reputation and reward. The defects of his works are Überally ossigned to him; the merits of it are magnanimously im puied to his correspondents. If a bad arlicle appears, the editor is unsparingly condemned ; if a brilliarit one be inserted, Anonymous arries off the prize. - The editorial function is supposed to consit jn the substitution of ' if it be ' for ' if it is,' and the insertion of the word 'however' here and there to inpede the mnrch of a fine style. ' Commas and colons' are the only points he is reputed to make ; his niche of fame is merely a parenthesis; he is but a note of ndmiration to genius ; his life is spent in u.ihering clever people into deserved celebrity ; he sits ascharioteer outside the vehicle in which prodigious talents aro driven to immortality.It is his fortune to insert all h,is contributors n the temple of glory, ai:d to ex clu'fe hiinself for want of sjiace. Me is always lo go in, but expires unpublisbed at lat. He bestows present populariry on thousands, without securing postbumous renown as his own share. Hiscareer in this life is a tale of mystery, 'to be continued' in the next. He is only thought of when things go wrong in the journal. Curiosity then looks out at the corners of its eyes, and with brows and lips pnrsed up qaerulously ejaculates, ' wlio is he ? ' If by chance pniise int-teal ofcensui-e should ba medilated, the wn;ng man is immediaiely mentioned. - People ure only cerlain of their editor when i hoyare goingto cbwhide him. Is there a bright passage or two in an indifferent article, yon may he sure they are not indebted for that polish to the editori.-i] pen. Is there a dull phrase or harsh period in somc fcivorite contribution ? Oh, ihe editor has altered it, or negle ;ted to revise the press ! But if he h abusad for what he inserts, he is twice abused for wha! he rejects. It is a curious featuro of his des'.iny thnt if he strikes out but a single line of an article, whether in poetry or prose that very line is infallibly the great beauty of the production It is not a little odd that when he declines a paper, that paper is sure to be by fár the best article the author ever wrole. Accepted artif.-les may be had : rejectëd ones nrc invariably good. It is admitled thai judgment is the first esential fur an editorship, and it is at the same time insisted on that judgment is exaetly the quality which the editor has not. An nuthor is praised in a review - he is grateful to the individual wiiier whose name he lias industriously nquired lor; an author is condemned in a review - he is qnspealcai)ly disgusted wilh the editor. Week after week, month after month, the said editor succors the oppressed, r'aises up the wenk, applauds exalts latent he pens or promulgates the pfaises of friends - of their books and pictures - ncting safety-lamps and stéam paddles - liut frotn the catalogue of golden names, his own ís an eternul nbsentee.