Note E300 — 49.
Reading edition
Magget the py = the magpie, a pun on the word magget, in its two meanings of 1. a maggot, 2. a magpie, commonly called in Prov. Eng. magot-pie, maggoty-pie, from mag, maggot = Meg, Maggie = Margery, Margaret, and pie; Fr. margot, old dimin. of Marguerite, and common name of the magpie. The line, therefore, reads, "If maggots be crawling in the cheese, fetch magget the py." "Pie, meggatapie."—Cotgrave. Cf. Shakspere, Macbeth, Act iii. sc. 4, 125.