With Mr. Mencken's latest work before us, Supplement One to his
celebrated American Language, the contrast in reputations is
piquant but not convincing. The Mercurial Mencken of the
twenties was not a ghoul, and the Monumental Mencken of the
forties is anything but harmless. They are indeed the same man,
his vocation unchanged. Nor is this a mere impression, but an
observation verifiable by dates and facts. The first edition of
The American Language was written during the original World War
and appeared in 1919. The work has grown fat on its maker's
feeding, and changed internally through four revisions, the last
of which appeared nine years ago. Beyond revision, it must now
be supplemented; but the spirit that animates the whole is the
same throughout—a spirit I should like to call, in spite of
paradox, satirical love of country. For America has always been
Mr. Mencken's subject; he still fondles it with ridicule; but on
a true view both emerge greater from an embrace that often
resembles a pugilistic clinch