Why restrict ourselves to Charles F. Browne ("Artemus Ward"--and I did think
his stuff was funny when I read it 30 years ago. He was an early practitioner
of the American pose of comic ignorance, and there is no doubt that his
unprecedented platform style was the model for Twain's later successes. ) and
Samuel Brockden Browne when we have J. Ross Browne to toss into the stew.
What influence did his "Crusoe's Island: A Ramble in the Footsteps of
Alexander Selkirk with Sketches of Adventure in California and Washoe" have
on Twain during his "Roughing It" days?