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INTRODUCTION xxxi
I may add a memorandum of this time, which Mr. Smith also
gives me.
The mechanical part of the work became more and more irksome
to him, and he found—in common, I believe, with most editors
—that it is not that which appears in print, but that which does
not appear which is the really trying part of the editor's duty.
Mr. George Smith told me a little story the other day about
the drawing on the next page. The Cornhill rises once a month
with its yellow rays streaming from the bookstalls ; but long before
this revolving sun appears, the particles of which it is composed
are fusing, and igniting, and melting down, and printers and
engravers are at work preparing for its dawn. One day the proprietor
of the planet wrote to my father, and asked him to send
his drawings in by a certain date, before the arrival of the MS.,
so as to give the engravers more time to complete their part of
the work. There was no answer to the note ; but somewhat before
the day came a wood-block with a drawing upon it. It was the
sketch of the editor holding Time by the forelock, and it was
addressed to the writer of the note.
What does he say of the thorn in the cushion of the editorial
chair ? "It is there. Ah, it stings me now as I write. It comes
with almost every morning's post. At night I come home and
take my letters up to bed, not daring to open them. And in the
morning I find one, two, three thorns on my pillow. ... It is all
very fine to advertise on the magazine that contributions are only
to be sent to Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co., and not to the editor's
private residence. My dear sir, how little you know of man or
woman kind if you fancy they will take that kind of warning.
No day passes but that word misericordiam is used. Day and
night that sad voice is crying for help. Before I was an editor I
did not like the postman much, but now !"
" The sad voice " was often answered as the following letters
will show :—
" DEAR SIB,—I can give you little help or advice in the matter.
You must know yourself in what literary subjects you are most
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