Political cynicism, eighteenth-century style
Jonathan Swift, in The Examiner, 9 November 1710, cited an exchange between Lord Dartmouth and the earl of Wharton in the House of Lords.
Dartmouth challenged Wharton "for discoursing on a subject both men knew to be false, and Wharton allegedly replied, 'why, are you such a simpleton as not to know, that a lie well believed is as good as if it were true?'"
(Quoted in Christopher Robbins, The Earl of Wharton and Whig Party Politics 1679-1715, 1991, 251-252)
Dartmouth challenged Wharton "for discoursing on a subject both men knew to be false, and Wharton allegedly replied, 'why, are you such a simpleton as not to know, that a lie well believed is as good as if it were true?'"
(Quoted in Christopher Robbins, The Earl of Wharton and Whig Party Politics 1679-1715, 1991, 251-252)