The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-08-05
A New York Critic Dissected.

1
complish its purpose it has resorted to all
sorts Of expedients. It has undertaken to
play the oracle. 1t has claimed to speak
as with the voice of fate. It has, as if by
the authority of high position, denounced
and abused its betters. 1t has got itself
prosecuted for libels. It has, at whatever
| cost, managed or tried to manage to have
itself talked about. Lately it has put
| forth series Of editorial articles on the
American newspaper press. Some papers
itpraises and some it condemns. The Louis
vile papers fall under its displeasure.
What pity! The Round Table needs a
Sir Roland as one Of its knights. We will
| give it one for its Oliver.
The Table is as paltry as it is pretentious.
It's editors lack ability. They want educa-
tion. They are illiterate. They can't write
| the English language correctly. They sin
grievously against Lindley Murray, Horne
Tooke, Gould Brown, and Noble Butler.
Even the articles in which they act the
critic on the American press, and in which,
if in any, they would of course be espe-
cially careful not to blunder in their gram
mar, they do blunder continually and mis-
erably. For instance, "a satisfactory
1
country papers is difficult to FORM"
"Form is an active verb, but what objec.
tive does it govern? Not estimate" for
| that is nominative to "is." Again, the
proper sphere ofsuch publications is not diff
fcult to determine" There the blunder
| already noticed recurs. "He can fill it
| with words enough to complete its pages"
That's tautology. "Tenets long since ex-
ploded and only lingering in the slug
gish recesses of the unenlightened rus
tic mind" &c. The word 'sonly" should
follow "lingering." Standing where it
| does, it fails to express the writer's idea.
"This desideratum is only attainable at
intervals" There's the same error again.
"Only" should be after, not before, " at
tainable." The idea isn't that the deside-
ratum is only attainable," but that it is
attainable only at intervals. "The Phila-
delphia Press, which is only prevented
from being model paper by" SC. There
it comes for the third time. "Only !"
should follow "paper." "They must not
only have position of respectability, but
which," sc. There's the things fourth ap-
pearance. "Not only" should follow
"have." "Only" is word that the
Round Table doesn't know how to use, and
it isn't the only one. The editor, speak
ing Of the contents Of country paper,
says 'sThe remainder of the sheet will be
filled with stray paragraphs" &c. Why
does he say 1ciU be filled He may see how
a sheet is filled, but what means has he of
knowing how sheet ,1iN be filed. "Their
chief characteristic is colorless vacuity."
This implies that some vacuities, spaces
in which there is no substance, are colored.
Of what color are they? "Such case
is very far from being SINGLE" sc. If the
case isn't &C SINGLE" what is it.? Double, or
treble, or quadruple Isn't every indi-
vidual case "single ?" "His popularity
and that of his journal is destroyed.' -
They ISIS they? "It follows as a Sc
quence," &c. "Sequence " is something
that follo,oS. So the writer's idea is that
1t folloacs as something that follo1s. "The
managing editor is compelled to achieve
the impossible. or course the impossi-
BILE is never achieved" AS the impossi-
BILE is never achieved and can't be, how is
an editor compelled to achieve it ?" "This
restriction is itself power; it permits of
ready classification, Of great variety" &c.
Permits Of !! The. man probably means
admits" According to the respec-
tive importance of the subject" SC.
What use of the word respective p"
"That place ofexcellence toaCard which the
metropolitan editor is always approaching
but never quite attains," &c. Leave
out toward" and the phrase is well
enough. As it stands, it is execrable.
"These expectations will be found at
tended by impotent conclusions" But
the conclusions don't attend the expecta-
tions. When the conclusions come, the
expectations are at an end. "The South
is in so yeasty a condition." &c. He thinks
the prosperous South is rising like a loaf
of light-bread. We wish she were. "The
Transcript, in some respects, is superior to
its rivals, but it's circle Of readers is rela-
lively less" If its circle of readers is
"less" " than that Of its rivals, why not be
satisfied to say so? What is meant by
"relatiuely less"? Maine has but two
newspapers of any critical WORTH" What
particular kind Of worth is "critical
WORTH? "The reader is conscious of a
choppy, tagging, short-breathed move
ment," &c, In the name OF the seven Won
ders of the world, what sort of movement
can that be? "Each Of these journals
are in one particular in advance
&c. Each of them are. That will do
"The Richmond papers were remarkable
for the Tilt and pungency of their edi-
torials." There's no such word as "lilt.' .
AS used by the writer, it is bogus word
bearing his own image and superscrlptlon
"The Baltimore papers are noted for no
thing unless it be for certain abstenta.
tion from sensations. Unless it IS, the
writer should have said. And there's nc
such English word as abstentation.'
'Tis the writer's own beggarly coin. Ab
stent;on is the word the BOBBY was after
Neither the Picayauae nor the Times car
be quoted as examples" Of course nei
ther of the two can be quoted as examples
though either of them might be quoted a.
an example. "Boston transcripts are mo-
in the habit of multiplying themselves
and their absence is moral loss" But
we have not mad them, how can their alb
sence be loss? Can we lose what We
have not and never had "The provin
cial press is not single in this lucrative
sim" SC. 'Tisn't "single" in it.! Wha
then {? Double or compound The write
wanted to say alone. Twice he uses tn
word publicist as synonymous with pub
Usher. The thrice-sodden ass A pub
licist is awiter on the laaoS Of nature ant
nations.
We could cite from the Round Table,
single article on the press three times a
many blunders as we have cited here
blunders in grammar, blunders in thought
blunders in everything. The editors, wh'
set themselves up as oracles OF literature
and arbiters of the American press, ar
miserably deficient in their own trade
that of writing. Their pretensions are tn
roaring of mountain; thelr per1Urmanc mh ai nc