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Quote of the Week: ‘The True-Born Englishman’

Thus from a Mixture of all kinds began,

That Het’rogeneous Thing, An Englishman:

In eager Rapes, and furious Lust begot,

Betwixt a Painted Britton and a Scot:

Whose gend’ring Offspring quickly learnt to bow,

And yoke their Heifers to the Roman Plough:

From whence a Mongrel half-bred Race there came,

With neither Name nor Nation, Speech or Fame.

In whose hot Veins now Mixtures quickly ran, 

Infus’d betwixt a Saxon and a Dane.

While their Rank Daughters, to their Parents just,

Receiv’d all Nations with Promiscuous Lust.

This Nauseous Brood directly did contain

The well-extracted Blood of Englishmen . . .

—From Daniel Defoe, The True-Born Englishman

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