Cobwebs from an Empty Skull

Ambrose Bierce

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The matter of which this volume is composed appeared originally in the columns of 'FUN,' when the wisdom of the Fables and the tru...

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The matter of which this volume is composed appeared originally in the columns of 'FUN,' when the wisdom of the Fables and the truth of the Tales tended to wholesomely diminish the levity of that jocund sheet. Their publication in a new form would seem to be a fitting occasion to say something as to their merit. Homer's 'Iliad,' it will be remembered, was but imperfectly appreciated by Homer's contemporaries. Milton's 'Paradise Lost' was so lightly regarded when first written, that the author received but twenty-five pounds for it. Ben Jonson was for some time blind to the beauties of Shakespeare, and Shakespeare himself had but small esteem for his own work. Appearing each week in 'FUN,' these Fables and Tales very soon attracted the notice of the Editor, who was frank enough to say, afterward, that when he accepted the manuscript he did not quite perceive the quality of it. The printers, too, into whose hands it came, have since admitted that for some days they felt very little interest in it, and could not even make out what it was all about. When to these evidences I add the confession that at first I did not myself observe anything extraordinary in my work, I think I need say no more: the discerning public will note the parallel, and my modesty be spared the necessity of making an ass of itself.