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Did Ambrose cut Frank?

Submitted by kirwar4face on
I've wondered for some years whether the barb-nibbed Ambrose Bierce intended Frank Harris as the target of the following entry in his [i]Devil's Dictionary[/i]. The verse seems to agree with the opinions of other Harris-haters; and didn't Harris gleefully collect the insults tendered him? This is the entry: Scrap-book n. A book that is commonly edited by a fool. Many persons of some small distinction compile scrap-books containing whatever they happen to read about themselves or employ others to collect. One of these egotists was addressed in the lines following, by Agamemnon Melancthon Peters: Dear Frank, that scrap-book where you boast You keep a record true Of every kind of peppered roast That's made of you; Wherein you paste the printed gibes That revel round your name, Thinking the laughter of the scribes Attests your fame; Where all the pictures you arrange That comic pencils trace -- Your funny figure and your strange Semitic face -- Pray lend it me. Wit I have not, Nor art, but there I'll list The daily drubbings you'd have got Had God a fist. This is the only Bierce satire I know of that seems to have been born of sheer viciousness, rather than from the spur of political indignation. Those familiar with Bierce know that "Agamemnon Melancthon Peters" is one of the temporary[i] nom[/i]s he pinned to his verses, the most active of these alter-egos being the distinguished Fr. Gassalasca Jape, S. J. Whether Bierce and Harris ever met, and what their relations may have been, I have no idea. I haven't been able to find their names mentioned together in the 'net.
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Submitted by Alfred Armstrong on 02 Jan 2007 - 13:23 Permalink

Several individuals knew them both: Mark Twain and Mencken for a start. But while it's quite possible they met I can't find any evidence of it so far.
Posted by kirwar4face on
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I've wondered for some years whether the barb-nibbed Ambrose Bierce intended Frank Harris as the target of the following entry in his [i]Devil's Dictionary[/i]. The verse seems to agree with the opinions of other Harris-haters; and didn't Harris gleefully collect the insults tendered him? This is the entry: Scrap-book n. A book that is commonly edited by a fool. Many persons of some small distinction compile scrap-books containing whatever they happen to read about themselves or employ others to collect. One of these egotists was addressed in the lines following, by Agamemnon Melancthon Peters: Dear Frank, that scrap-book where you boast You keep a record true Of every kind of peppered roast That's made of you; Wherein you paste the printed gibes That revel round your name, Thinking the laughter of the scribes Attests your fame; Where all the pictures you arrange That comic pencils trace -- Your funny figure and your strange Semitic face -- Pray lend it me. Wit I have not, Nor art, but there I'll list The daily drubbings you'd have got Had God a fist. This is the only Bierce satire I know of that seems to have been born of sheer viciousness, rather than from the spur of political indignation. Those familiar with Bierce know that "Agamemnon Melancthon Peters" is one of the temporary[i] nom[/i]s he pinned to his verses, the most active of these alter-egos being the distinguished Fr. Gassalasca Jape, S. J. Whether Bierce and Harris ever met, and what their relations may have been, I have no idea. I haven't been able to find their names mentioned together in the 'net.

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Submitted by Alfred Armstrong on 02 Jan 2007 - 13:23 Permalink

Several individuals knew them both: Mark Twain and Mencken for a start. But while it's quite possible they met I can't find any evidence of it so far.