Brewer's: Doyleys

Now means a small cloth used to cover dessert plates; but originally it had a much wider meaning. Thus Dryden speaks of “doyley petticoats;” and Steele, in No. 102 of the Tatler, speaks of his “doiley suit.” The Doyleys were linen-drapers, No. 346, east corner of Upper Wellington Street, Strand, from the time of Queen Anne to the year 1850.

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