"A figure that has equal sides and unequal angles, as the quarry of a
glass window placed erect pointways."
He adds:
"The Latins say, 'Lozengae factae sunt ad modum lozangiorum in vitreis.'
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 loze and the
Spaniards _loza_."
Sylvester de Petra-Sancta of the lozenge says much the same:
"Scutulas oxigonias scu acutangulus erectas, et quasi gradiles, referri
debere ad latericias et antiquas domus olim, viz. Nobilium quia vulgus,
et infamiae sortis homines, intra humiles casus, vet antra
inhabitantur."
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: 'Fusae sunt acutae in superiore et inferiore partibus, et rotundae
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 pointes, dont deux sont un peu plus
etendues que les autres, et assise sur une de ces pointes. C'est le
Rhomb des mathematiciens, et les quarreaux des vitres ordinaires en ont
la figure."
Of fusils:
"Fusees sont plus etendues en longue que les lozanges, et affilees en
point comme les fuseaux. Elles sont pieces d'architecture ou l'on se
sert pour ornement de fusees et de pesons."
The celebrated _Boke of St. Albans_ (1486) thus describes the difference
between a lozenge and fusil:
"Knaw ye y^e differans betwix ffusillis and losyng. Wherefore it is to
be knaw that ffusillis ar euermore long, also fusyllis 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 enformacion 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 description is given in a
MS. of Glover, 'Lozenga est pars vitri in vitrea fenestra.' But it may
be more satisfactory 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 Observations 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. Dimidiation, accollation, 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 surrounded 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" {450} notion, unless
better substantiated than by the French saying from their Salique law,
which I here give for P. P.'s information: "Nunquam corona a lance
transibit ad fusum." I am willing to admit the antiquity of this notion;
for while the shape of the man's shield is traced by Sylvanus Morgan to
Adam's spade, he takes the woman's from Eve's spindle!
"When Adam delved, and Eve span,
Who was then the gentleman?"
In Geoffry Chaucer's time the lozenge appears to have been an ornament worn
by heralds in their dress or crown. In describing the habit of one, he
says:
"They crowned were as kinges
With crowns wrought full of lozenges
And many ribbons and many fringes."
As for the difference between the lozenge and fusil, I could multiply
opinions and examples, but hope those given will be sufficient.
I cannot conclude these few hasty remarks without expressing a wish that
one of your correspondents in particular would take up this subject, to
handle which in a masterly manner, his position is a guaranty of his
ability. I refer to the gentleman holding the office of York Herald.