_Meaning of "Pisan."_--Mr. Turner (No. 7. p.100.) asks the
meaning of the term _pisan_, used in old records for some part
of defensive armour.
Meyrick (_Ancient Armour_, vol. i. p. 155, 2d ed.) gives a
curious and interesting inventory of the arms and armour of Louis le
Hutin, King of France, taken in the year 1316, in which we find,
"Item 3 coloretes _Pizanes_ de jazeran d'acier." He describes
_pizane_ (otherwise written _pizaine, pusen, pesen_) as a
collar made, or much in fashion, at Pisa. The jazeran armour was
formed of overlapping plates. In the metrical romance of _Kyng
Alisaunder_, edited by Webber, occur the lines--
"And Indiens, and Emaniens,
With swordes, lances, and _pesens._"
Weber explains the _pesens_ here as gorgets, armour for the
neck.
In more recent MSS. _pisan_ may be a contraction for
_partisan_, a halberd.
I cannot agree with your correspondent "A.F." (p.90), that the nine
of diamonds was called "the curse (cross) of Scotland" from its
resemblance to the cross of St. Andrew, which has the form of the
Roman X; whereas the pips on the nine of diamonds are arranged in
the form of the letter H. "Mend the instance."
Erratum. P. 181 col. 2. line 3., for _obscurities_, read
_obscenities._
Cambridge, Jan. 31. 1850.