331. Fortescue (De Laudibus Legum Angliae, c. 29) describes a franklin to
be a _pater familias--magnis ditatus possessionibus_; i. e. he was a
substantial householder and a man of some importance. See Warton, Hist. E.
Poet., ed. 1840, ii. 202; and Gloss. to P. Plowman.