"the New Huns"?

[Christopher Philippo]

"In Arnold Bennett’s 1927 novel, The Strange Vanguard (or in America, just The Vanguard), a forthright multi-millionaire talks about his immense wealth:
“People call me one of the new Huns, because I’m so darned rich. […]
"This phrase ‘the New Huns’ is new to me. I’ve come across (mostly immediately postwar) texts in which war profiteers are compared to Huns, but Bennett’s character seems to be appealing to a well-known set phrase of the time. The online OED doesn’t help. Has anyone else come across ‘Hun’ used in this way during the twenties?" http://greatwarfiction.wordpress.com/2014/01/17/new-huns/

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