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

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!