I fear we have run into Poe's law here... that sufficiently advanced humor/sarcasm is indistinguishable from arrogance. If his contemporaries truly reviewed him as a humorist,
“done in an admirable manner, in a strain of exquisite humor, with a strong undercurrent of delicate satire against the follies of the times. Then there were the interspersed observations, speculations, and suggestions upon dress, fashions, food, dwellings, furniture, &c., &c., sufficiently queer to keep the audience in almost constant mirth…The performance has created ‘quite a sensation’ amongst lyceum goers.”
then it does truly seem that I've learned (and been taught) the very antithesis of his meaning. The joke was on us!
“done in an admirable manner, in a strain of exquisite humor, with a strong undercurrent of delicate satire against the follies of the times. Then there were the interspersed observations, speculations, and suggestions upon dress, fashions, food, dwellings, furniture, &c., &c., sufficiently queer to keep the audience in almost constant mirth…The performance has created ‘quite a sensation’ amongst lyceum goers.”
then it does truly seem that I've learned (and been taught) the very antithesis of his meaning. The joke was on us!