Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-19
GROWTH OF THE EDITOR
FRANCIS JEFFREY SAID TO BE
FATHER OF THE CRAFT.
Evolution of the Tyrant of the Press
Product of Eighteenth
Century.
From the London Globe.


The editor as he Is now best known-the
responsible conductor OF a newspaper or
periodicals. a comparatively recent prod
uct of civilization. He is. indeed. but little
more than century Old. The word is
much older. for IL has been in use for near
ly 300 years: but Il originally meant like
the French ''editeur'-puhiisher And an
editor OF that kind was sometimes even
called an 'editioner"-a particularly ugly
word This use OF the term. however. soon
became obsolete. and from the beginning
or the eighteenth century the word OF
readers has been familiar with the editor
or the second kind-that is. one who pre-
p&res or revises and annotates and ar
ranges the work of another, or of others,
for publication.
This species OF editor has undergone a
subprocess of evolution on his own
count. Between the conceptions of edi-
torial duty as understood by. say. Pope
and Johnson in their work on Shakespeare.
for example. and those OF "A present-day
scholar who. under the auspices OF such n
body as the Clarendon Press. or one OF
the book-publishing societies or clubs. pre-
pares a new edition of a classic. or reprints
manuscript material with wealth of Criti-
cal apparatus in the shape of Introduction
and notes and Observation-Disclosures these
notions OF editorial duty there Is a great
gulf fixed.
writers and Editors.
A learned editor of the modern variety
has lately laid it down that "a good writer
will be a bad editor. and a good editor a
bad stvlist: and his own use of the odious
word 'stvlist'' may be held to go some way
to prove the truth OF his diction. But the
statement is too sweeping to be accepted
as IL stands. Ii contains, OF course. a
measure of truth. for the qualities required
for effective textual criticism. for the pat
lent collation. of texts and authorities, and
for the various other kinds OF detailed work
regarded by modern scholarship edi-
torially important. are very different from
those needed for original composition. Such
considerations as these, however. never oc-
CURED to the writers and publishers Of the
eighteenth century. A man made his name
known BY his writing, and then put money
in his pouch by his editing-his name being
a marketable CONCENTRATIONS the &C
tual editorial work might be but slight and
perfunctory, as was the case with john
sons work on Shakespeare.
Edinburgh Review.
Then there Is the third kind of editor
the responsible conductor Of journal or
periodical-who is hardly traceable much
beyond the beginning of the nineteenth
century. 1t is curious to recall now the
primitive nature of the editorial arrange
mcnts which were made when the Ediu-
burgh Review was started. The small band
of northern scholars who cultivated litera-
ture a little oatmeal seem to have
thought that a review could be satisfac-
torily conducted by a committee of nearly
a dozen. But this was soon found to be
an impraCticable arrangement and the Re
sponsible authority was lodged IN the re-
views first real editor. Francis Jeffrey.
Somewhat similar attempts have been
made occasionally in later days to place
the editorial authority more or less in
commission to speak. though not with
such naive ignoring Of possibilities as
characterized the start of the Edinburgh.
but such experiments have not usually
been very successful.
Francis Jeffrey, in charge Of the Edin-
burgh Review. was the real father Of all
who have since occupied the editorial chair
of paper or periodical. 1t may be objected
that magazine editors existed before JEFF
frey's day; but 1t would be hard To show
that any so-caled editor exercised func-
lions really corresponding to those OF his
present-day successor. Forster. i'm his Life
of Goldsmith" speaks of Smollett as the
editor of the once famous Critical Review.
but this is not strictly correct. Smolett
the mainstay. from the literary point
of view of that magazine, but the respon-
sible charge rested with its founder and
proprietor. Archibald Hamilton, the book
seller. This the usual arrangement.
The conductor was the publisher.
Goldsmith and the Monthly.
Goldsmith was for while the chief