Now also used of other nationalities, and in different proportions.
When they were in health. ‥I thought upon one pair of English legs Did march three Frenchmen.
[1599 Shakespeare Henry V iii. vi. 144]
We, who formerly‥could any one of us beat three Frenchmen, are now so degenerated that three Frenchmen can evidently beat one Englishman.
[1745 H. Walpole Letter 13 July (1941) IX. 17]
My men‥there are three privateers. ‥It's just a fair match for you—one Englishman can always beat three Frenchmen.
[1834 Marryat Peter Simple III. viii.]
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].
[1851 G. Borrow Lavengro I. xxvi.]
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.
[1913 A. Lunn Harrovians i.]
Spain's conquest of Mexico ‘gave Europeans a new and potent myth’, the conviction of one European as equal to twenty others.
[1981 London Review of Books 16 July-5 Aug. 5]
Related to: boasting; national characteristics
Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.
