The only way therefore to try a Piece of Wit, is to translate it into a different Language: If it bears the Test you may pronounceit true; but if it vanishes in the Experiment you may conclude it to have been a Punn.
Joseph Addison (1721). “THE WORKS OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE JOSEPH ADDISON, Esq; In FOUR VOLUMES.: VOLUME the SECOND”, p.534