Worth The Money
SIR ROBERT WALPOLE having misquoted a passage in Horace, Mr. Pulteney
said the honorable gentleman's Latin was as bad as his politics. Sir
Robert adhered to his version, and bet his opponent a guinea that he was
right, proposing Mr. Harding as arbiter. The bet being accepted, Harding
rose, and with ludicrous solemnity gave his decision against his patron.
The guinea was thrown across the House; and when Pulteney stooped to
pick it up, he observed, that it was the first public money he had
touched for a long time. After his death, the guinea was found wrapped
up in a piece of paper on which the circumstance was recorded.