713. 'Greet well my husbands (i. e. servants) and their wives.' The A.S.
_wif_ was a neuter substantive, and remained unchanged in the plural, like
_sheep_ and _deer_ in modern English. We find _wif_ as a pl. form also in
Layamon, l. 1507. The present is a very late example.
714. 'I will go to (attend) the next assizes; see note to l. 715. If
_schire_ refers to the shire or county, the result is much the same. In
venturing into the shire of which his brother was sheriff, Gamelyn was
boldly putting himself into his brother's power.
715. _nexte schire_, may mean 'next (succeeding) assizes'; for _schire_
[488] may be used in the sense of A. S. _sc[=i]r-gem[=o]t_; and the Lat.
_comitatus_ meant _curia_ as well as 'county.' See, for example, the last
quotation in the note to l. 871.