leather and prunella

Etymology
With reference to leather and prunella (materials used for making shoes and apparel), from a passage in ’s 1734 poem “”: “What differ more (you cry) than Crown and Cowl?” / I’ll tell you, Friend: a wise Man and a Fool. / You’ll find, if once the Monarch acts the Monk, / Or Cobler-like the Parson will be drunk, / Worth makes the Man, and want of it the Fellow, / The rest is all but Leather or Prunello.

Noun

 * 1)  That which is merely superficial and does not indicate the true nature or value of a person (or thing).
 * 2) * 1880,, letter to , cited in , Beaconsfield and Bolingbroke, London: Faber and Faber, 1961, p.19,
 * I have been profoundly convinced that the greatness and character of this country depended on our landed tenure. All the rest I look upon, and have ever looked upon, as leather and prunella.
 * 1) * 1931,, A Consideration of Thackeray, London: Humphrey Milford, Chapter17, p.257,
 * that leather-and-prunella man of fashion Mr. Adam FitzAdam
 * 1) * 1931,, A Consideration of Thackeray, London: Humphrey Milford, Chapter17, p.257,
 * that leather-and-prunella man of fashion Mr. Adam FitzAdam
 * that leather-and-prunella man of fashion Mr. Adam FitzAdam