Quotation by H.L. Mencken:

So far as I know, the only eminent writer in English history who was also a 100% Englishman, absolutely beyond suspicion, was Samuel Johnson. The Ku Klux (Klan) of his day gave him a clean bill of health; he was the Roosevelt of the 18th century. But was Johnson actually an artist? If he was, then the cornet player is a musician. He employed the materials of one of the arts, to wit, words, but his use of them was hortatory, not artistic, Johnson was the first Rotarian; living today he would be a United States Senator, or a university president. He left such wounds upon English prose that it was a century recovering from them.

H.L. Mencken     (more by this author)

1880-1956 (Age at death: 76 approx.)

Henry Louis "H. L." Mencken (September 12, 1880 - January 29, 1956), was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a student of American English. Mencken, known as the "Sage of Baltimore", is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the first half of the 20th century.

Mencken is known for writing The American Language, a multi-volume study of how the English language is spoken in the United States, and for his satirical reporting on the Scopes trial, which he named the "Monkey" trial. In addition to his literary accomplishments, Mencken was known for his controversial ideas. An opponent of World War II[citation needed] and democracy, Mencken wrote a huge number of articles about current events, books, music, prominent politicians, pseudo-intellectuals, temperance and uplifters. He notably attacked ignorance, intolerance, frauds, fundamentalist Christianity, osteopathy, and chiropractic.

Author Information from Wikipedia

Country: United States

Type: Prose
Context: Newspaper
Context Details: From the Baltimore Sun newspaper, of April 7, 1924.
Uttered: 4