Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—F

Frenchman

Done like a Frenchman, turn and turn again (1 Henry VI., iii. 4). The French are usually satirised by mediæval English authors as a fickle, wavering nation. Dr. Johnson says he once read a treatise the object of which was to show that a weathercock is a satire on the word Gallus (a Gaul or cock).

Frenchman.
The nickname of a Frenchman is “Crapaud” (q.v.), “Johnny” or “Jean,” “Mossoo,” “Robert Macaire” (q.v.); but of a Parisian “Grenouille” (Frog). (See Brissotins.)

They stand erect, they dance whene'er they walk;
Monkeys in action, parroquets in talk.

Gay: Epistle III.

French Canadian,
“Jean Baptiste.” French Peasantry, “Jacques Bonhomme.” French Reformers, “Brissotins” (q.v.).

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Fresco-painting
French of Stratford atte Bowe
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