“The flying Rumours gather'd as they roll'd,
Scarce any Tale was sooner heard than told;
And all who told it, added something new,
And all who heard it, made Enlargements too,
In ev'ry Ear it spread, on ev'ry Tongue it grew.”

— Alexander Pope

Source: The Temple of Fame (1711), Lines 468-472.

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Alexander Pope 158

eighteenth century English poet 1688–1744

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