dueling lexicographers

Another response to last night's post, this time from "Mr B" (1, 2, 3):

Hello Mr. Marcus!

I saw your link to the Black Crayon entry for "patriotism" in your "And Don't You Forget It!" article and followed it. You have an entry mentioning Dr. Johnson, but not Ambrose Bierce's reply to it. [...]

PATRIOT, n.

One to whom the interests of a part seem superior to those of the whole. The dupe of statesmen and the tool of conquerors.

Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"

PATRIOTISM, n.

Combustible rubbish read to the torch of any one ambitious to illuminate his name.

In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer I beg to submit that it is the first.

Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"