Posted by Eugene Volokh:
My Favorite Zeugma:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_11_16-2008_11_22.shtml#1227034182
Thanks to commenter [1]Dan Simon, who reminded me of this [2]zeugma,
from the famous English radical (and hero to the American
revolutionaries) John Wilkes. The Earl of Sandwich apparently
exclaimed to Wilkes something like, "I don't know whether you will die
on the gallows or of the pox" (the "pox" referring to syphilis).
Wilkes then [3]replied,
That depends on whether I embrace your Lordship's principles or
your mistress.
The quote is often attributed to [4]Benjamin Disraeli, but the source
I cite above is from 1839, when Disraeli was just beginning his
political career; if the statement had indeed been from Disraeli
rather than Wilkes, it seems unlikely that an 1839 source would label
it as being Wilkes's.
References
1. http://icouldbewrong.blogspot.com/
2. http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_11_02-2008_11_08.shtml#1226090374
3.
http://books.google.com/books?id=X2x17FAWIL8C&pg=PA432&dq=%22principles+or+your+mistress%22++date:0-1850&lr=&as_brr=0
4.
http://books.google.com/books?lr=&as_brr=0&q=%22principles+or+your+mistress%22++disraeli&btnG=Search+Books
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