12 COLLOQUIA ENTOMOLOGICA. 



not praise it enough. Then come a ream of errors in my last 

 number, philosophically and argumentatively pointed out; — 

 thirteen abusive letters for delaying publication ; — twenty-one 

 for giving worse contributors a better place ; — fifteen on 

 allowing errors to pass the press ; — and forty-three on giving 

 too much editorial matter, to the exclusion of more important 

 and original communication; et cetera, et ceterae, et cetera. 

 Oh!— 



An Editor leads an easy life; 



The pleasures, &c. 



Then the printer puts me off and off, till it comes to the 

 last day, and I have to let half the mistakes go by after 

 all, and have to stay in town till all the coaches are gone, 

 and then walk all the way home through the mud, and, wet 

 through with rain, get robbed of my watch, stopped by the 

 police, and experience, in one night, half the miseries of 

 human life. Well, at last, the Firefly comes out; the public 

 beholds it, but don't touch ; the publisher {bowing across the 

 table to Venator) meets me with a most gracious smile, talks 

 to me of his love of science, of his desire to promote the study, 

 of my eminent qualifications, of the increasing sale, of the 

 certainty of eventual success, of the mildness of the weather, 

 of the hardness of the times, of the war in Portugal, of the 

 improvements at London Bridge ; and adds, a la postcript, as 

 a thing of minor importance, that the Mag. has incurred a 

 pecuniary loss of so many pounds, so many shillings, and so 

 many pence ; for which, in the pleasantest way in the woi'ld, 

 he reminds me that I am responsible, et cetera, et ceterae, 

 et cetera. Oh ! — 



An Editor leads an easy life ; 



The pleasures, believe me, are many : — 

 Plague, jealousy, envy, fear, and strife, 



The evils, — I never found any. 



Erro. Ah ! there is trouble. Well, I must, — I suppose, — 

 there ought to be some fame. 



Amb, You can praise yourself, as does. 



Ent. Poor empty fellow ! — I suppose he fancies he can 

 trumpet loud enough for posterity to hear him ! 



{They remain sitting.) 



