Mackenzie, Robert Journalist, Poet. Robert Shelton Mackenzie was born June 22, 1809 in Limerick, Ireland.  Mackenzie began his newspaper career editing a county journal in Hanley, Staffordsville, England.  After writing for various papers and contributing several biographies to the &lt;cite&gt;Georgian Era&lt;/cite&gt;, Mackenzie was appointed the English correspondent for the &lt;cite&gt;New York Evening Star&lt;/cite&gt; in 1834, possibly making Mackenzie the first European correspondent to any American paper (Baugh).  While maintaining several connections to English newspapers, Mackenzie contributed articles to the &lt;cite&gt;Star&lt;/cite&gt; on politics, literature, fashion, and &quot;gossip of high life&quot; until 1851.  Mackenzie came to New York in 1852 as a result of financial difficulties and the early death of his first wife.  While in New York, Mackenzie served as literary editor and political writer for an unidentified daily and as the music and dramatic critic for an unidentified Sunday paper. (Killis Campbell, in his 1917 book &lt;cite&gt;The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe&lt;/cite&gt;, speculates that this paper was the &lt;cite&gt;New York Times&lt;/cite&gt;.)  After the establishment of the &lt;cite&gt;Philadelphia Press&lt;/cite&gt;, Mackenzie moved to that city in July 1857, where he became that paper&#039;s literary and foreign editor and dramatic critic.  Mackenzie held this position for twenty years.  Near the end of his life, he worked as a literary editor at the &lt;cite&gt;Philadelphia Evening News&lt;/cite&gt;.  He also wrote several original published works over the course of his life.  Mackenzie died November 21, 1881, despite the popular belief that he died November 30, 1880, and he is buried in Philadelphia (Baugh).

Mackenzie&#039;s relationship to Pfaff&#039;s and the Bohemians is uncertain.  In &quot;Our New York Letter,&quot; Mackenzie is mentioned as one of English&#039;s &quot;associates&quot; at the bar (English, &quot;The Club&quot; 202).  A closer review of &quot;Our New York Letter&quot; associates Mackenzie with the Bohemian Club, a group of journalists that arose after the Pfaff&#039;s era (&quot;Our New York Letter&quot;).  There are, however, a few clear connections between the Pfaffians and Mackenzie.  When Fitz-James O&#039;Brien arrived in New York in 1852, he carried with him a letter of introduction from Mackenzie that he presented to several prominent New York editors in the hope of securing employment (Winter, &lt;I&gt;Old Friends,&lt;/i&gt; 75-76).  Later, though, Mackenzie wrote an article critiquing O&#039;Brien, especially his claim to being a baron (Gunn, vol. 10, 108, 137-9).  This was an insult that O&#039;Brien did not take lightly, according to Thomas Gunn, who wrote about an incident that erupted between O&#039;Brien and the publisher of Mackenzie&#039;s article (Gunn, vol. 13, 206).  Most notably, Mackenzie was embroiled in the controversy surrounding Gardette&#039;s &quot;The Fire Fiend.&quot;  When the poem was first published in the &lt;cite&gt;Philadelphia Press&lt;/cite&gt;, Mackenzie quickly authenticated the work as Poe&#039;s, only to change his position and condemn Gardette for his hoax.  Mackenzie&#039;s changing of positions on the work led to an exchange of letters between himself and Gardette and criticism of Mackenzie in the &lt;cite&gt;Saturday Press&lt;/cite&gt;.  A notable &quot;Curiousities of Criticism&quot; credited to Henry Clapp concludes with the &quot;Query&quot; &quot;What is the opinion of Dr. Mackenzie worth?  Yours, without much doubt on the subject, A.B.&quot; (Clapp, &quot;Curiousities,&quot; 40).


References & Biographical Resources\n";
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&lt;a href=&quot;/node/56467&quot;&gt;A. B. &quot;Curiosities of Criticism.&quot; &lt;em&gt;New York Saturday Press&lt;/em&gt;, January 20, 1866, 40.&lt;/a&gt;
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&lt;p class=&quot;list-group-item-text&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;views-field views-field-field-mention-note&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-content&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;He was the literary editor for the Philadelphia Press in 1864.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Clapp discusses Mackenzie&#039;s affirmation in the &lt;cite&gt;Philadelphia Press&lt;/cite&gt; that the poems published in &quot;The Fire Fiend and other Poems, by Charles D. Gardette&quot; appeared to be written by Poe.Clapp also notes Mackenzie&#039;s subsequent denials of Poe&#039;s authorship of the poems.Clapp tracks Mackenzie&#039;s responses to the poems: 30 Sept. 1864, &quot;We believe that Poe wrote them,&quot; 17 Nov. 1864, &quot;I thought Poe could not have written them,&quot; 21 Nov. 1864, &quot;We never believed that Poe wrote them,&quot; and finally, &quot;It did not decieve any critic in this country.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The piece ends with the &quot;Query&quot;:What is the opinion of Dr. Mackenzie worth?Yours, without much doubt on the subject, A.B. &lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;a href=&quot;/node/59021&quot;&gt;&quot;Appletons&amp;#039; Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume IV, Lodge-Pickens.&quot; In &lt;em&gt;Appletons&amp;#039; Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume IV, Lodge-Pickens&lt;/em&gt;, edited by Wilson, James Grant and John Fiske. New York: D. Appleton &amp;amp; Co., 1888.&lt;/a&gt;
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&lt;a href=&quot;/node/60046&quot;&gt;Baugh, Albert C. &lt;em&gt;Dictionary of American Biography&lt;/em&gt;. Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936. Reproduced in &amp;lt;cite&amp;gt;Biography Resource Center&amp;lt;/cite&amp;gt;. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale, 2006. http://www.galenet.com/servlet/BioRC, 1928.&lt;/a&gt;
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&lt;a href=&quot;/node/60106&quot;&gt;Clark, George Pierce. &quot;&amp;#039;Saerasmid,&amp;#039; an Early Promoter of Walt Whitman.&quot; &lt;em&gt;American Literature&lt;/em&gt; 27, no. 2 (1955): 259-262.&lt;/a&gt;
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&lt;a href=&quot;/node/55740&quot;&gt;English, Thomas Dunn. &quot;That Club at Pfaaf&amp;#039;s [sic].&quot; &lt;em&gt;The Literary World&lt;/em&gt;, June 12, 1886, 202.&lt;/a&gt;
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&lt;p class=&quot;list-group-item-text&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;views-field views-field-field-mention-note&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-content&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;English dissociates himself from Mackenzie, mentioned as one of English&#039;s &quot;associates&quot; at Pfaff&#039;s in &quot;Our New York.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;views-field views-field-field-mention-pages&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-content&quot;&gt;[pages: 202]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;views-field views-field-edit-node&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;field-content&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;a href=&quot;/node/55458&quot;&gt;Gardette, Charles Desmarais and Robert Shelton Mackenzie. &lt;em&gt;The Whole Truth in the Question of &amp;quot;The Fire Fiend&amp;quot;: Between Dr. R. Shelton Mackenzie and C.D. Gardette; Briefly stated by the Latter.&lt;/em&gt;. Philadelphia: Sherman &amp;amp; Co., 1864.&lt;/a&gt;
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&lt;p class=&quot;list-group-item-text&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;views-field views-field-field-mention-note&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-content&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gardette claims that Mackenzie never gave him the privildege of &quot;justifying&quot; his work with &quot;The Fire Fiend.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;a href=&quot;/node/60712&quot;&gt;Gunn, Thomas Butler. &quot;Diaries, Vol. 10.&quot; &lt;em&gt;Diaries, Vol. 10&lt;/em&gt;(1858).&lt;/a&gt;
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&lt;a href=&quot;/node/60715&quot;&gt;Gunn, Thomas Butler. &quot;Diaries, Vol. 13.&quot; &lt;em&gt;Diaries, Vol. 13&lt;/em&gt;(1860).&lt;/a&gt;
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&lt;a href=&quot;/node/60732&quot;&gt;Gunn, Thomas Butler. &quot;Diaries, Vol. 15.&quot; &lt;em&gt;Diaries, Vol. 15&lt;/em&gt;(1861).&lt;/a&gt;
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&lt;a href=&quot;/node/60728&quot;&gt;Gunn, Thomas Butler. &quot;Diaries, Vol. 8.&quot; &lt;em&gt;Diaries, Vol. 8&lt;/em&gt;(1856).&lt;/a&gt;
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&lt;a href=&quot;/node/58940&quot;&gt;Haynes, John Edward. &lt;em&gt;Pseudonyms of Authors: Including Anonyms and Initialisms&lt;/em&gt;. New York, 1882.&lt;/a&gt;
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&lt;p class=&quot;list-group-item-text&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;views-field views-field-field-mention-note&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-content&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;This text identifies the following pseudonym: Sholto (86).&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;a href=&quot;/node/55768&quot;&gt;Stylus. &quot;Our New York Letter.&quot; &lt;em&gt;The Literary World: A Monthly Review of Current Literature&lt;/em&gt;, February 20, 1886, 64-65.&lt;/a&gt;
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&lt;p class=&quot;list-group-item-text&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;views-field views-field-field-mention-note&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-content&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mentioned in reference to the Bohemian Club, which may be a post-Pfaff&#039;s group of journalists, even though they are described here as frequenting &quot;Pfaaf&#039;s&quot; [sic]. See Thomas Dunn English&#039;s &quot;That Club at Pfaaf&#039;s [sic].&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;a href=&quot;/node/55290&quot;&gt;Winter, William. &lt;em&gt;Old Friends; Being Literary Recollections of Other Days&lt;/em&gt;. New York: Moffat, Yard and Company, 1909.&lt;/a&gt;
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&lt;p class=&quot;list-group-item-text&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;views-field views-field-field-mention-note&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-content&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;When O&#039;Brien arrived in New York in 1852, he brought with him a letter of introduction from Dr. Mackenzie which he presented to prominent editors such as Major Noah and General Morris.In 1852, Dr. Mackenzie was living in Liverpool, but he was &quot;later eminent in the journalism of Philadelphia&quot; (75-76).&lt;/p&gt;
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