Which, I take to mean, people who had grown so big as to require more
land and larger houses to live on and in than their neighbours.
2. _Magicians_; i. e. people rather cleverer than their non-conjuring
fellow-citizens.
It will be admitted that Sir John Falstaff did a great man’s best to
reduce the influence of these two varieties in his own favour.
The knights-errant had their esquires and men-at-arms, who were allowed
the privilege of fighting under their leader’s banner. It was not
customary for the chroniclers of the period to mention the names of
these subordinate personages. The dawn of a more equitable state of
things, in this respect, may be traced to the time of Falstaff. The
names of his immediate followers have been honourably preserved.