Note 4 — Chapter I

Pye, i.e., parti-coloured, as in the bird. It is said to have been so called because the initial and principal letters of the rubrics were printed in red, and the rest in black. At the beginning of the Church of England Prayer-Book, in that section which relates to the service of the Church, mention is made of ‘the number and hardness of the rules called the Pie.’ Shakespeare, in the ‘Merry Wives of Windsor,’ says, ‘By cocke and pie you shall not choose, sir; you shall not choose, but come.’ In this asseveration cock is supposed to be a euphemism for God, and pie the above-named ordinal.