And what the people but a herd confused, A miscellaneous rabble, who extol Things vulgar, and, well weighd, scarce worth the praise. They praise and they admire they know not what, And know not whom, but as one leads the other; And what delight to be by such extolld, To live upon their tongues, and be their talk, Of whom to be dispraised were no small praise! Milton.Paradise Regained, Book III.
The people are a many-headed beast. Pope.Horace, Epi. I. Book I. Line 121. Ben Jonson, Discoveries, The Rascal Many. Spenser.The Fairy Queen, Book I. Canto XII. Stanza 9.