THE COLLECTED WORKS OF AMBROSE BIERCE VOLUME X [Illustration: N] _The publishers certify that this edition of_ THE COLLECTED WORKS OF AMBROSE BIERCE _consists of two hundred and fifty numbered sets, autographed by the author, and that the number of this set is_ ...... THE COLLECTED WORKS OF AMBROSE BIERCE VOLUME X TANGENTIAL VIEWS [Illustration] NEW YORK & WASHINGTON THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1911 _FREDERICK_ _POLLEY_ COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY CONTENTS THE OPINIONATOR THE NOVEL ON LITERARY CRITICISM STAGE ILLUSION THE MATTER OF MANNER ON READING NEW BOOKS ALPHABÊTES AND BORDER RUFFIANS TO TRAIN A WRITER AS TO CARTOONING THE S. P. W. PORTRAITS OF ELDERLY AUTHORS WIT AND HUMOR WORD CHANGES AND SLANG THE RAVAGES OF SHAKSPEARITIS ENGLAND’S LAUREATE HALL CAINE ON HALL CAINING VISIONS OF THE NIGHT THE REVIEWER EDWIN MARKHAM’S POEMS “THE KREUTZER SONATA” EMMA FRANCES DAWSON MARIE BASHKIRTSEFF A POET AND HIS POEM THE CONTROVERSIALIST AN INSURRECTION OF THE PEASANTRY MONTAGUES AND CAPULETS A DEAD LION THE SHORT STORY WHO ARE GREAT? POETRY AND VERSE THOUGHT AND FEELING THE TIMOROUS REPORTER THE PASSING OF SATIRE SOME DISADVANTAGES OF GENIUS OUR SACROSANCT ORTHOGRAPHY THE AUTHOR AS AN OPPORTUNITY ON POSTHUMOUS RENOWN THE CRIME OF INATTENTION FETISHISM OUR AUDIBLE SISTERS THE NEW PENOLOGY THE NATURE OF WAR HOW TO GROW GREAT A WAR IN THE ORIENT A JUST DECISION THE LION’S DEN THE MARCH HARE A FLOURISHING INDUSTRY THE RURAL PRESS TO “ELEVATE THE STAGE” PECTOLITE LA BOULANGÈRE ADVICE TO OLD MEN A DUBIOUS VINDICATION THE JAMAICAN MONGOOSE THE OPINIONATOR THE NOVEL Those who read no books but new ones have this much to say for themselves in mitigation of censure: they do not read all the new ones. They can not; with the utmost diligence and devotion—never weary in ill doing—they can not hope to get through one in a hundred. This, I should suppose, must make them unhappy. They probably feel as a small boy of limited capacity would in a country with all the springs running treacle and all the trees loaded with preserved fruits.