Allow me to say a few words in reply to your correspondent "GASTROS."
His quotation from Fairholt (_Costume in England_), who cites
Stubbes's _Anatomy of Abuses_ as the earliest authority for the use
of beaver hats in England, is not a satisfactory reply to my query;
inasmuch as I am aware that beaver hats were occasionally worn by
great people in this country some centuries before Stubbes was born.
For example, Henry III. possessed "unum capellum de Bevre cum apparatu
auri et lapidibus preciosis;" as appears from the "Wardrobe Account,"
of the 55th year of his reign. I have, therefore, still to ask for
the _earliest_ instance of the use of hats or caps of this material
in England; such hats, as well as gloves, are mentioned in several
English inventories made between the thirteenth and sixteenth
centuries. Is there any example earlier than the time of Henry III.?
"GASTROS" has also obligingly replied to my query as to "the meaning
of the term _Pisan_, used in old records for some part of defensive
armour," but he seems to have forgotten that I expressly stated that
term had no relation to "the fabrics of Pisa;" at least such is my
belief. With regard to the inventory of the arms and armour of Louis
le Hutin, taken in 1316, printed in Meyrick's _Ancient Armour_, to
which he kindly refers me, it may be observed that the said inventory
is so perversely translated in the first edition of that work (just
now I have no means of consulting the second), as to be all but
useless; indeed it might be termed one of the most extraordinary
literary performances of modern times, as the following instance
may suffice to show. One of the items of the inventory is, "une cote
gamboisée à arbroissiaus d'or broudées à chardonereus;" and it is thus
rendered into English, "a gamboised coat with a rough surface (like
a thicket;--_note_) of gold embroidered on the nap of the cloth!"
The real signification is "a gamboised coat embroidered in gold,
with little bushes (or trees), with gold-finches [on them]." But I
am rather wandering from my point: I never could ascertain on what
authority Sir Samuel Meyrick asserted that "jazeran armour," as
he calls it, was formed of "overlapping plates." The French word
_jazeran_ was derived from the Italian _ghiazarino_, or _ghiazzerino_,
which signified "a gorget of mail," or what some of our antiquaries
have termed "a standard of mail;" in France this word always preserved
its relation to mail, and in process of time came to be applied to
so lowly an object as a flagon-chain: see Cotgrave's _Fr. Dict._ ed.
1673. Roquefort, indeed, says a "jaserans" was a cuirass, but to
my apprehension the passage which he quotes from the _Roman
d'Alexandre_--
"Es haubers, _jazerans_, et ès elmes gemez"--
seems to prove that, in that instance at least, a gorget is meant.
At any rate, the translation of the passage in the inventory to which
"GASTROS" refers should be, "three Pisan collerets of steel mail," not
that given by Meyrick. Here we have clearly a fabric of Pisa: whereas
the _pisan_, of which I desire to know the meaning, invariable occurs
as an independent term, e.g. "_item, unum pisanum_," or "_unum par
pisanorum_." Of course I have my own conjecture on the subject, but
should be glad to hear other opinions; so I again put the question to
your correspondents. In conclusion I would observe to "GASTROS" that
they must be _very_ late MSS. indeed in which such a contraction as
_pisan_ for _partisan_ can be found. If you have room, and think it
worth while, I will from time to time send you some corrections of the
more flagrant errors of Meyrick.