THE MCGILL UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE. It is difficult to say in what mood an editor ought to write the editorial for a first number. If, yielding to temptation, he regards his office too seriously, he will fail to show the balance of mind which he is expected to display, and should he be gifted with humour and his pleasantry flow immoderately, he will be told that he is unconscious of the gravity of his calling. Our thoughts, as we find them at the instant, are playing round myths. The subject is obviously suggested by the easy-chairs which editors, like other men, are believed to possess, and to which they have been known to refer. To judge from illustrations, published, we suppose, for the enlightenment of the curious, an easy-chair sometimes figures in an editor's retreat, but we remain convinced that it is an illusion. Be the curve of its arms ever so inviting, its back inclined at the perfect angle for repose, its seat faultless, its artistic quality pleasing, it does not belong to the species easy. It is the seat perilous. If an editor leans back in its ample embrace at the hour when he would have his thoughts fleet carelessly, an incubus from the printing office springs upon his shoulders from behind and whispers "copy" in his ear. The editorial mind, being fond of definitions and similitudes, remembers that a magazine has been likened to a new pin. How many workmen have to be engaged in fashioning a pin is a matter for research, and there are no authorities at hand, but if the number is not exceeded by the contributors to a magazine of even humble pretensions, it must be large. The incubus wonders why Goldsmith did not |