Chapter Lindabrides to Linspe of L by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

aloft, when lo! the ceiling burst in twain, and he fell to the ground. When he came to himself he espied two chests of beaten gold, and a third full of white money, and over them was written, “Once more, my son, I set thee clear; amend thy life, or a rope at last must end it.” The heir of Linne now returned to his old hall, where he asked his quondam steward for the loan of forty pence; this was refused him. One of the guests proffered the loan, and told John o' the Scales he ought to have lent it, as he had bought the estate cheap enough. “Cheap call you it?” exclaimed John; “why, he shall have it back for 100 marks less.” “Done,” said the heir of Linne, and counted out the money. He thus recovered his estates, and made the kind guest his forester. (Percy: Reliques, series ii. book 2.)

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.

Linspe (French, 2 syl.) means a prince in slang or familiar usage. It comes from the inspector or monitor of the cathedral choir called the Spé or the Inspé (inspector), because he had to superintend the rest of the boys.