In 1872 he went to London and for four years was on the staff of _FUN_. In London Bierce found congenial and stimulating associates. The great man of his circle was George Augustus Sala, "one of the most skilful, finished journalists ever known," a keen satiric wit, and the author of a ballad of which it is said that Swift might have been proud. Another notable figure was Tom Hood the younger, mordantly humorous. The satiric style in journalism was popular then; and "personal" journals were so personal that one "Jimmy" Davis, editor of the _CUCKOO_ and the _BAT_ successively, found it healthful to remain some years in exile in France. Bierce contributed to several of these and to _FIGARO_, the editor of which was James Mortimer. To this gentleman Bierce owed what he designated as the distinction of being "probably the only American journalist who was ever employed by an Empress in so congenial a pursuit as the pursuit of another journalist." This other journalist was M. Henri Rochefort, communard, formerly editor of _LA LANTERNE_ in Paris, in which he had made incessant war upon the Empire and all its personnel, particularly the Empress. When, an exile, Rochefort announced his intention of renewing _LA LANTERNE_ in London, the exiled Empress circumvented him by secretly copyrighting the title, _THE LANTERN_, and proceeding to publish a periodical under that name with the purpose of undermining his influence. Two numbers were enough; M. Rochefort fled to Belgium. Bierce said that in "the field of chromatic journalism" it was the finest thing that ever came from a press, but of the literary excellence of the twelve pages he felt less qualified for judgment as he had written every line. This was in 1874. Two years earlier, under his journalistic pseudonym of "Dod Grile," he had published his first books--two small volumes, largely made up of his articles in the San Francisco _NEWS LETTER_, called _The Fiend's Delight_, and _Nuggets And Dust Panned Out In California_. Now, he used the same pseudonym on the title-page of a third volume, _Cobwebs from an Empty Skull_. The _Cobwebs_ were selections from his work in _FUN_--satirical tales and fables, often inspired by weird old woodcuts given him by the editors with the request that he write something to fit. His journalistic associates praised these volumes liberally, and a more distinguished admirer was Gladstone, who, discovering the _Cobwebs_ in a second-hand bookshop, voiced his delight in their cleverness, and by his praise gave a certain currency to Bierce's name among the London elect. But despite so distinguished a sponsor, the books remained generally unknown.