"The shields on which armorial bearings are represented are of various
forms, as round, oval, or somewhat resembling a heart; which last is
the most common form. Excepting sovereigns, women unmarried, or widows,
bear their arms on a lozenge shield, which is of a square form, so
placed as to have one of its angles upwards, _and is supposed to
resemble a distoff_."
BOYES, _Great Theatre of Honour_, 1754. In this great work the various
forms of shields, and the etymology of their names, are treated on at
considerable length. The Greeks had five:--the _Aspis_, the _Gerron_ or
_Gerra_, the _Thurios_, the _Laiveon_, and the _Pelte_ or _Pelta_. The
Romans had the _Ancile_, the _Scutum_, the _Clypeus_, the _Parma_, the
_Cetra_, and others; but none of these approached the shape of the lozenge.
The shields of modern nations are also dealt with at length; still the
author appears to have had no information nor an opinion upon the lozenge,
which he dismisses with these remarks:--
"L'ecu des filles est _en lozenge_, de meme de celui des veuves; et en
France et ailleurs, celles-ci l'ornent et l'entourent d'une cordeliere
ou cordon a divers neuds. Quant aux femmes mariees, elles accollent
d'ordinaire leurs armes avec celles de leurs epoux; mais quelquefois
elles les portent aussi _en lozenge_."
COATES, _Dictionary of Heraldry_, 1725, quotes Colombiere, a French herald,
who, he says, gives upwards of thirty examples of differently formed
shields; but no allusion is made to the lozenge.
CARTER, _Honor Redivivus_, 1660.
DUGDALE, _Ancient Usage in bearing Arms_, 1682.
GWILLIM, _Display of Heraldry_, 1638.
CAMDEN, _Remains_, 1637.
GERARD LEGH, _Accedence of Armorie_, 1576.
None of these authors have touched on the subject; which, considering that
at the least two of them are the greatest authorities, appears somewhat
strange.