A joke from 1856

"A witty saying proves nothing." - Voltaire

***

A gentleman sitting in one of the boxes in company with the late Lord North, not knowing his lordship, entered into conversation with him.

Seeing two ladies come into an opposite box, the gentleman turned to Lord North, asking:

"Pray, sir, can you inform me who is that ugly woman that is just come in?"

"Oh," replied his lordship, with great good humor. "That is my wife."

"Sir, I ask you ten thousand pardons; I do not mean her, I mean that shocking monster who is along with her."

"That," replied his lordship, "is my daughter."

—From The Repository of Wit and Humor by M. Lafayette Byrn, M.D. -- Boston, 1856!

(via JumboJoke)