"The king, observing with judicious eyes The state of both his universities, To Oxford sent a troop of horse, and why? That learned body wanted loyalty; To Cambridge books, as very well discerning How much that loyal body wanted learning."
— Joseph Trapp

January 1, 1970

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ClergyPoets from EnglandAnglicans from the United KingdomUniversity of Oxford faculty
Original Language: English

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Compare: — The king to Oxford sent a troop of horse, For Tories own no argument but force; With equal skill to Cambridge books he sent, For Whigs admit no force but argument. — William Browne's impromptu reply, standing up "for the honor of Cambridge, of which he was a graduate", according to Henry Philip Dodd's The Epigrammatists (1870), p. 310; also quoted in Nichols's Anecdotes (1782), p. 462. — Samuel Johnson's opinion of this answer is given in Hester Thrale's Anecdotes of the Late Samuel J