Beaufort, Queen Dowager of Scotland,
attached to a parchment in 1439; while her arms, at an earlier period, were
borne on a common shield (_Gent. Mag._, April, 1851). In France the use of
the lozenge for ladies was very general; yet in the great work of Flacchio
(_Genealogie de la Maison de la Tour_) are found several hundred examples
of ladies' arms on oval {278} shields; and in _Vredii Genealogia comitum
Flandriae_ (p. 130.), on shields rounded off below. On the other hand,
lozenges have sometimes been used by men: for instance, on a seal of
Ferdinand, Infant of Spain, in Vredius, l. c. p. 148.; also on a dollar of
Count Maurice of Hanau, in Kohler's _Muentzbelustig_. 14. See again the arms
of the Count of Sickingen, in Siebmacher, Suppl. xi. 2. So much for the use
of the lozenge. Most explanations of its origin appear equally far-fetched.
That of Menestrier, in his _Pratique des Armoires_ (p. 14.), seems to me
the least forced. He derives the French name _lozange_ from the Dutch
_lofzang_:

"In Holland," he says, "the custom prevails every year, in May, to
affix verses and _lofzangen_ (songs of praise) in lozenge-formed
tablets on the doors of newly-made magistrates. Young men hung such
tablets on the doors of their sweethearts, or newly-married persons.
Also on the death of distinguished persons, lozenge-shaped pieces of
black cloth or velvet, with the arms, name, and date of the death of
the deceased, were exhibited on the front of the house. And since
_there is little to be said of women, except on their marriage or
death, for this reason has it become customary on all occasions to use
for them the lozenge-shaped shield_."

In confirmation of this may be mentioned, that formerly _lozange_ and
_lozanger_ were used in the French for _louange_ and _louer_; of which
Menestrier, in the above-quoted work (p. 431.), cites several instances.

Besides the conjectures mentioned by H. C. K. and BROCTUNA, may be cited
that of Laboureur: who finds both the form and the name in the Greek word
[Greek: oxugonios] (_ozenge_ with the article, _l'ozenge_); and of
Scaliger, who discovers _lausangia_ in _laurangia_, _lauri folia_. See
farther, Bernd. _Wapenwesen_, Bonn, 1841.

JOHN SCOTT.

Norwich.

_Sir William Hankford_ (Vol. ii., p. 161. &c.).--Your learned correspondent
MR. EDWARD FOSS proves satisfactorily that Sir W. Gascoigne was not
retained in his office of Chief Justice by King H