On JOHNSON's DICTIONARY. 1755

Talk of war with a Briton, he'll boldly advance, That one English soldier will beat ten of France; Would we alter the boast from the sword to the pen, Our odds are still greater, still greater our men: In the deep mines of science tho' Frenchmen may toil, Can their strength be compar'd to Locke, Newton, and Boyle? Let them rally their heroes, send forth all their pow'rs, Their verse-men, and prose-men; then match them with ours! First Shakespeare and Milton, like gods in the fight, Have put their whole drama and epic to flight; In satires, epistles, and odes would they cope, Their numbers retreat before Dryden and Pope; And Johnson, well arm'd, like a hero of yore, Has beat forty French, and will beat forty more.