The collected works of Ambrose Bierce

Bierce, Ambrose (1842-1914?)

VOLUME I ASHES OF THE BEACON THE LAND BEYOND THE BLOW FOR THE AHKOOND JOHN SMITH, LIBERATOR BITS OF AUTOBIOGRAPHY

VOLUME IV SHAPES OF CLAY

VOLUME V BLACK BEETLES IN AMBER

VOLUME VII THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY

Understanding, n.

Urbanity, n.

VOLUME VI

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Abdication, n.

[_]

An act whereby a sovereign attests his sense of the high temprature of the throne.

[Poor Isabella's dead, whose abdication]

Poor Isabella's dead, whose abdication
Set all tongues wagging in the Spanish nation.
For that performance 'twere unfair to scold her:
She wisely left a throne too hot to hold her.
To History she'll be no royal riddle—
Merely a plain parched pea that jumped the griddle.

G. J.

University of Virginia Library

Abdication, n.

[Poor Isabella's dead, whose abdication]