JEditorPane appending HTML

After initializing and drawing the JEditorPane with a default message in HTML format, I would like to be able to append new HTML code to the end of what was last outputted by the JEditorPane. I am looking for a function like JTextArea's append(), but there appears to be none.
[284 byte] By [JoshCa] at [2007-10-2 7:59:35]
# 1

NOTE: I do not want to have to redraw the entire JEditorPane field each time I update it, just like appending to the JTextArea.

Reason: This is for a chat window, which can get extensively long, and begins to lag after it is over a page long. Is there a better alternative? RTF format maybe? I don't know if its possible to hand-code font attributes in RTF.

JoshCa at 2007-7-16 21:51:00 > top of Java-index,Desktop,Core GUI APIs...
# 2
Never mind, problem resolved after analyzing this thread http://forum.java.sun.com/thread.jspa?forumID=57&threadID=618720
JoshCa at 2007-7-16 21:51:00 > top of Java-index,Desktop,Core GUI APIs...