Two centuries ago one John Gay, a poet, wrote a lyric play called The Beggars' Opera in which he slurred Sir Robert Walpole, British Prime Minister who had assumed the task of rescuing England from the financial crash following the bursting of the South Sea Bubble. When Gay wrote a sequel and the Duchess of Queensberry solicited subscriptions for it in the palace, right-minded Queen Caroline indignantly dismissed her from the Court.
Last week another John Gay, a Wisconsin politician, made a slurring speech at Waukesha. At a Republican rally where 2,300 citizens...
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