421. bete, remedy, amend, better, relieve; cf. A. 2253.
422. cutted, cut short; see Leg. G. Women, 973, and note.
sloppes, garments; here, evidently, jackets of a short length. 'Sloppe, garment, Mutatorium'; Prompt. Parv.; Icel. sloppr, a robe, gown. There is a parallel passage in the Knight of La Tour-Landry, cap. xlvii (p. 63). Cf. oversloppe, G. 633.
hainselins (also spelt hanselins, anslets), the same as sloppes, i. e. jackets. Tyrwhitt unluckily says that 'it appears from the context to mean a sort of breeches,' whereas it was the shortness of the hainselin that enabled the breeches to be seen; and his error has been copied by others. This most unusual word answers to the rare O. F. hamselin, hamcellim, or hainselin, a sort of robe. Godefroy says—'sorte de robe longue'; whereas it was certainly 'courte.' His examples include the mention of 'un hainselin de vert brun' in 1416, 'hamselin' in 1403, and an extract from Christine de Pisan:—
'N'orent pas gonele a pointes,
Mais hamcellins a grans manches
Estroit serrez sus les hanches.'
I suppose the last line means 'tightly gathered in above the hips.' Cotgrave has: 'sus, above.' The word is probably of Frankish origin; from O. H. G. *hemithilīn, M. H. G. hemdelīn, dimin. of O. H. G. hemithi, a shirt (G. Hema). See Fig. 93 and Fig. 136 in Fairholt's Costume, i. 126, 180.
425. degysinge, mode of dress. This alludes to the singular habit of wearing parti-coloured dresses; see the remarks in Fairholt's Costume, i. 114, 115.