England see also the CAT, the rat, and Lovell the dog, rule all England under the hog;
what MANCHESTER says today, the rest of England says tomorrow; TURKEY, heresy, hops,
and beer came into England all in one year.
The ENGLISH are a nation of shopkeepersAttributed to Napoleon in B. E. O’Meara Napoleon in Exile (1822) I. 103 L’Angleterre est
une nation de boutiquiers. The concept of the shopkeeping nation is however earlier: 1766 J.
TUCKER Letter from Merchant 46 A Shop-keeper will never get the more Custom by beating
his Customers; and what is true of a Shop-keeper, is true of a Shop-keeping Nation; 1776 A.
SMITH Wealth of Nations II. IV. vii. To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising
up a people of customers, may at first sight appear a project fit only for a nation of
shopkeepers.
1831 DISRAELI Young Duke I. xi. Hast thou brought this, too, about that ladies’
hearts should be won.. over a counter. .. We are indeed a nation of shopkeepers. 1911
Times Weekly 17 Feb. 132 Napoleon.. described the English as a nation of shopkeepers.
Uttered in a sneering spirit, it embodied.. the profound truth that our prosperity is based
upon our trade. 1981 R. RENDELL Put on by Cunning xiv. Americans.. are a nation of
salesmen just as the English are a nation of small shopkeepers. 2002 Times 5 Jan. 25
England is indeed a nation of shopkeepers, but it has always preferred to draw these
shopkeepers from among the newly Anglicised. national characteristicsOne ENGLISHMAN can beat three FrenchmenNow also used of other nationalities, and in different proportions.1599 SHAKESPEARE Henry V III. vi. 144 When they were in health. .. I thought
upon one pair of English legs Did march three Frenchmen. 1745 H. WALPOLE Letter 13
July (1941) IX. 17 We, who formerly.. could any one of us beat three Frenchmen, are now
so degenerated that three Frenchmen can evidently beat one Englishman. 1834
MARRYAT Peter Simple III. viii. My men.. there are three privateers. .. It’s just a fair
match for you—one Englishman can always beat three Frenchmen. 1851 G. BORROW
Lavengro I. xxvi. In the days of pugilism it was no vain boast to say, that one Englishman
was a match for two of t’other race [the French]. 1913 A. LUNN Harrovians i. Peter knew
that an Englishman can tackle three foreigners, and forgot that the inventor of this theory
took care to oppose three Englishmen to one foreigner as often as possible. 1981 London
Review of Books 16 July-5 Aug. 5 Spain’s conquest of Mexico ‘gave Europeans a new and