517. _Wayte_, observe, watch; 'observe what thing it is that we have a
difficulty in obtaining.'
521. 'With great demur (or caution) we set forth all we have to sell.'
_With daunger_ implies that the seller makes a great difficulty of selling
things, i. e. drives a hard bargain, and makes a great favour of it.
_Withoute daunger_ means without opposition, or without resistance; Gower,
C. A. v. ii. p. 40.
_Outen_, put out, set out or forth, is from A. S. _[=u]tian_, verb, a
derivative of _[=u]t_, out. Both here and in G. 834, Tyrwhitt needlessly
alters the reading to _uttren_, against all the MSS. The note in Bell's
Chaucer says--'Difficulty in making our market makes us bring out all our
ware for sale'; which is utterly remote from the true sense, and would be
the conduct of a reckless, not of a cautious woman. Compare the next two
lines.
522. 'A great throng of buyers makes ware dear (because there is then great
demand); and offering things too cheaply makes people think they are of
little value (because there is then too ready a supply).' Hence the wise
woman is careful not to be in too great a hurry to sell; and such is the
meaning of l. 521. It is further implied that, when she gets her expected
price, she does not hold out for a higher one.
552. From Le Rom. de la Rose, 9068, which again is from Ovid. 'Spectatum
ueniunt, ueniunt spectentur ut ipsae'; Art. Amat. i. 99.