The celebrated Boke of St. Albans (1486) thus describes the difference between a lozenge and fusil:
"Knaw ye ye 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"
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!