[159] It is a diminutive of some word which appears to be unrecorded (cf. Fr. pistolet for the obsolete pistole). Charles Reade, whose archæology is very sound, makes Denys of Burgundy say, "Petrone nor harquebuss shall ever put down Sir Arbalest" (Cloister and Hearth, Ch. 24); but I can find no other authority for the word.
[160] Fusee, in this sense, occurs in Robinson Crusoe.
[161] Over the tomb of the Black Prince in Canterbury Cathedral hangs his cumbrous tilting helmet. But the magnificent recumbent bronze effigy below represents him in his fighting kit, basnet on head.
[162] Burgonet, Fr. bourguignotte, is supposed to mean Burgundian helmet. The origin of morion is unknown, but its use by Scott in Ivanhoe—"I have twice or thrice noticed the glance of a morrion from amongst the green leaves." (Ch. 40)—is an anachronism by four centuries. Both words are used vaguely as general names for helmet.
[163] See pay (p. [160]). It will be found that all verbs of this nature are formed from the name of the substance applied.
[164] See letter by Dr Murray, afterwards Sir James Murray, in the Athenæum, Feb. 4, 1884.
[165] The Encyclopædia Britannica does not imitate the wise reticence of Tabourot's saving clause, but pronounces authoritatively for the porte de Hugon fable.