_for the maistrye_ is equivalent to the French phrase _pour la maistrie_,
which in old medical books is 'applied to such medicines as we usually call
sovereign, excellent above all others'; Tyrwhitt. We may explain it by 'as
regards superiority,' or, 'to shew his excellence.' Cf. 'An stede he gan
aprikie · wel _vor the maistrie_'; Rob. of Glouc. l. 11554 (or ed. Hearne,
p. 553).
In the Romance of Sir Launfal, ed. Ritson, l. 957, is a description of a
saddle, adorned with 'twey stones of Ynde Gay _for the maystrye_'; i. e.
preëminently gay.
Several characteristics of various orders of monks are satirically noted in
Wright's Political Songs, pp. 137-148.
166. _out-rydere_, outrider; formerly the name of an officer of a monastery
or abbey, whose duty was to look after the manors belonging to it; or, as
Chaucer himself explains it, in B. 1255--
'an officere out for to ryde
To seen hir graunges and hir bernes wyde.
[20]
In the Visitations of the Diocese of Norwich, 1492-1532, ed. Jessop (Camden
Soc.), pp. 214, 279, the word occurs twice, as the name of an officer of
the Abbey of St. Benet's, Hulme; e.g. 'Dompnus Willelmus Hornyng,
_oute-rider_, dicit quod multa edificia et orrea maneriorum sunt prostrata
et collapsa praesertim violentia venti hoc anno.'
The Lat. name for this officer was _exequitator_, as appears from Wyclif,
Sermones, iii. 326 (Wyclif Soc.). I am indebted for these references and
for the explanation of _out-rydere_ to Mr. Tancock; see his note in N. and
Q. 7 S. vi. 425. The same vol. of Visitations also shews that, in the same
abbey, another monk, 'Thomas Stonham tertius prior' was devoted to hunting;
'communis venator ... solet exire solus ad venatum mane in aurora.' There
is also a complaint of the great number of dogs kept there--'superfluus
numerus canum est in domo.' In the Rolls of Parliament (1406), vol. iii. p.
598, the sheriffs collect payments for the repair of roads and bridges 'par
lour Ministres appellez Outryders'; N. and Q. 8 S. ii. 39. Note that this
fully explains the use of _outryders_ in P. Plowman, C. v. 116.
_venerye_, hunting; cf. A. 2308. 'The monks of the middle ages were
extremely attached to hunting and field-sports; and this was a frequent
subject of complaint with the more austere ecclesiastics, and of satire
with the laity.'--Wright. See Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, bk. i. c. 1. §§
9, 10; Our Eng. Home, p. 23. From Lat. _uenari_, to hunt.
168. _deyntee_, dainty, i. e. precious, valuable, rare; orig. a sb., viz.
O. F. _deintee_, dignity, from Lat. acc. _dignitatem_. Cf. l. 346.
170. _Ginglen_, jingle. (The line is deficient in the first foot.)
Fashionable riders were in the habit of hanging small bells on the bridles
and harness of their horses. Wyclif speaks of 'a worldly preest ... in
pompe and pride, coveitise and envye ... with fatte hors, and jolye and
gaye sadeles, and bridelis _ryngynge be the weye_, and himself in costy
clothes and pelure' [fur]; Works, ed. Arnold, iii. 519, 520.
In Richard Cuer de Lion, l. 1517, we read of a mounted messenger, with silk
trappings--
'With fyve hundred belles ryngande.'