The Monk.
165. a fair, i. e. a fair one. Cf. 'a merye' in l. 208; and l. 339.
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.
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.'