Nov. 5. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



449 



nearer our object in the middle of your eightietli 

 volume than we are now in your eighth. 



What P. P. is pleased to term the " routine " 

 reason is after all but one among many, and is 

 not better substantiated than some of the others 

 quoted by me ; for though the lozenge has _ a 

 "supposed" resemblance to the distaff or fusil, 

 heraldically it is but a supposed one, and by most 

 writers the difference is very distinctly indicated. 



Boyer says : 



" A fusil is a bearing In heraldry made in the form 

 of a spindle, with its yarn or thread wound about it. 

 Fusils are longer than lozenges, and taper or pointed at 

 both ends." 



" The same author thus describes a lozenge : 

 " A Rhimbus, in geometry, is a figure of four 

 equal and parallel sides, but not rectangular." 



Robson says : 



" Fusil, a kind of spindle used In spinning. Its 

 formation should be particularly attended to, as few 

 painters or engravers inake a sufficient distinction between 

 the fusil and lozenge," 



Nisbet describes a lozenge to be — 



" A figure that has equal sides and unequal angles, 

 as the quarry of a glass window placed erect pointways." 



He adds : 



" The Latins say, ' Lozengas factte sunt ad modum 

 lozangiorum in vitrels.' Heralds tell us that their use 

 in armories came from the pavement of marble stones 

 of churches, fine palaces and houses, cut after the form 

 of lozenges, which pavings the French and Italians 

 call laze and the Spaniards loza," 



Sylvester de Petra-Sancta of the lozenge says 

 much the same : 



" Scutulas oxigonlas seu acutangulus erectas, et 

 quasi gradiles, referri debere ad laterlcias et antlquas 

 domus ollm, viz. Nobilium quia vulgus, et infamis 

 sortis homines, intra humiles casus, vel antra inhabi- 

 tantur." 



Of the fusil Nisbet writes : 



" The fusil is another Rhombular figure like the 

 lozenge, but more long than broad, and its upper and 

 lower points are more acute than the two side points." 



He adds that : 



" Chassanus and others make their sides round, as in 

 his description of them : ' Fusas sunt acutaB in supe- 

 rlore et inferiore partlbus, et rotundse ex utroque latere ;' 

 which description has occasioned some English heralds, 

 when so painted or engraven, to call them millers' 

 picks, as Sir John Boswell, in his Concords of Armory, 

 and others, to call them weavers' shuttles." 



Menestrier says of lozenges : 



" Lozange est une figure de quatre polntcs, dont 

 deux sont un peu plus ^tendues que les autres, et 

 assise sur une de ces pointes. C'est le Rhomb des 



mathematiclens, et les quarreaux des vitres ordlnalres 

 en ont la figure." 



Of fusils: 



" Fusees sont plus etendues en longue que les 

 lozanges, et affilees en point commj les fuseaux. 

 Elles sont pieces d'architecture oil Ton se sert pour 

 ornement de fusees et de pesons." 



The celebrated Bo/te of St. Albans (1486) thus 

 describes the difference between a lozenge and 

 fusil : 



" Knaw ye y° differans betwlx fFusillis and losyng. 

 Wherefore it is to be knaw that fFusillis ar euermore 

 long, also fusyllls ar strattyr ouerwart In the baly then 

 ar mascules. And mascules ar larger ou'wartt in the 

 baly, and shorter in length than be fusyllis." 



The mascle is afterwards explained to be the 

 lozenge pierced. Again : 



*' And ye most take thys for a general enforraacion 

 and instruccion that certanli losyng eu'more stand 

 upright .... and so withowte dowte we have the 

 differans of the foresayd signes, that is to wete of 

 mascules and losynges." 



Dallaway, an elegant writer on Heraldry, says : 



" Of the lozenge the following extraordinary descrip- 

 tion is given in a MS. of Glover, ' Lozenga est pars 

 vitri in vltrea fenestra.' But It may be more satisfac- 

 tory to observe that the lozenge, with its diminutive, 

 are given to females instead of an escocheon for the 

 insertion of their armorial bearings, one of which is 

 supposed to have been a cushion of that shape, and the 

 other is evidently the spindle used In spinning ; both 

 demonstrative of the sedentary employments of women. 

 On a very splendid brass for Eleanor, relict of Thomas 

 of Woodstocke, who died 1384, she Is delineated as 

 resting her head upon two cushions, the upper of which 

 is placed lozenge- wise." — P. 140. 



The above Is taken from his Miscellaneous Ob- 

 servations on Heraldic Ensigns, the following from 

 the body of his great work : 



" Females being heirs, or conveying feodal lordships 

 to their husbands, had, as early as the thirteenth century, 

 the privilege of armorial seals. The variations were 

 progressive and frequent; at first the female effigy had 

 the kirtle or inner garment emblazoned, or held the 

 escocheon over her head, or in her right hand ; then 

 three escocheons met in the centre, or four were joined 

 at their bases, if the alliance admitted of so many. 

 Dimidiatlon, accoliation, and impalement succeeded 

 each other at short intervals. But the modern practice 

 of placing the arms of females upon a lozenge appears 

 to have originated about the middle of the fourteenth 

 century, when we have an instance of five lozenges 

 conjoined upon one seal ; that of the heir female In the 

 centre impaling the arms of her husband, and sur- 

 rounded by those of her ancestors." — P. 400. 



I think this quotation from so learned a writer 

 goes far towards settling the whole question. I 

 confess myself willing to have my theory placed 

 second to this, while I must discard the " distaff" 



