Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—L

Linsey-woolsy Million (The).

The great unwashed. The artisan class, supposed to dress in linsey-woolsy. “Broad cloth” being for the gentry.

Truth needs not, John, the eloquence of oaths:
Not more than a decent suit of clothes
Requires of broad gold lace th' expensive glare,
That makes the linsey-woolsy million stare.

Peter Pindar: Silvanus Urban.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Linspe
Linne
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