The following is a passage from The Way of the World. Two gentleman are backbiting an acquaintance.
Fainall. He comes to town in order to equip himself for travel.
Mirabell. For travel! Why the man that I mean is above forty.
Fainall. No matter for that; ’tis for the honour of England, that all Europe should know that we have blockheads of all ages.
Mirabell. I wonder there is not an act of parliament to save the credit of the nation, and prohibit the exportation of fools.
Fainall. By no means, ’tis better as ’tis; ’tis better to trade with a little loss, than to be quite eaten up with being overstocked.
Mirabell. Pray, are the follies of this knight-errant, and those of the squire his brother, anything related?
Fainall. Not at all; Witwoud grows by the knight, like a medlar grafted on a crab. One will melt in your mouth, and t’other set your teeth on edge; one is all pulp, and the other all core.
Mirabell. So one will be rotten before he be ripe, and the other will be rotten without ever being ripe at all.