Dr. J.-Sir, what Pope means, if he means what he says, is both false and
foolish. In the first place, 'what oft was thought,' is all the worse
for being often thought, because to be wit, it ought to be newly
thought.
Mr. P.-But, sir, 'tis the expression makes it new.
Dr. J.-How can the expression make it new? It may make it clear, or may
make it elegant---but how new? You are confounding words with things.
Mr. P.-But, sir, if one man says a thing very ill, may not another man
say it so much better that--
Dr. J.-That other man, sir, deserves but small praise for the amendment;
he is but the tailor to the first man's thoughts.
Mr. P.-True, sir, he may be but the tailor; but then the difference is
as great as between a man in a gold lace suit and a man in a blanket.
Dr. J.-Just so, sir, I thank you for that; the difference is precisely
such, since it consists neither in the gold lace suit nor the blanket,
but in the man by whom they are worn.
This was the summary; the various contemptuous sarcasms intermixed would
fill, and very unpleasantly, a quire.