coignes

We cannot even climb it, as we could a tower; for it is nearly as unapproachable as the Oracle of God, save to the innocent birds, who love to flock and wheel about it in the sunshine, and build their nests in its "coignes of vantage," or, in the night-time, to the troops of stars which touch it in their journey through the skies.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 05, No. 27, January, 1860 Various

Since nine o'clock all those of the courthouse had been occupied, and here most of the damsels congregated to enjoy the spectacle of the parade, and their swains attended, gallantly posting themselves at coignes of less vantage behind the ladies.

The Gentleman from Indiana Booth Tarkington 1907

Gothic cathedrals, are not merely what they seem, but massive coignes and buttresses, which support the fabric.

Hyperion Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1844

Three deeply-embayed windows, having stout wooden bars, filled with minute diamond panes, set in leaden frames, were allotted to each floor; while the like number of gables, ornamented with curiously-carved coignes, and long-moulded leaden spouts, shooting far into the street, finished the roof.

Old Saint Paul's A Tale of the Plague and the Fire William Harrison Ainsworth 1843

And the figures and ornaments of his style, wild, fantastic, and oft-times startling, like those in Gothic cathedrals, are not merely what they seem, but massive coignes and buttresses, which support the fabric.

Hyperion 1839

Time, however, that had stained the neglected towers with an antique tint, and had permitted many a generation of summer birds to build their sunny nests on all the coignes of vantage of the unfinished walls, had exercised a mellowing influence even on these rude accessories, and in the course of years they had been so drenched by the rain, and so buffeted by the wind, and had become so covered with moss and ivy, that they rather added to then detracted from the picturesque character of the whole mass.

Henrietta Temple A Love Story Benjamin Disraeli 1842

Such were the figures and inscriptions the Romane Emperours gaue in their money and coignes of largesse, and in other great medailles of siluer and gold, as that of the Emperour Augustus, an arrow entangled by the fish Remora, with these words, Festina lento, signifying that celeritie is to be vsed with deliberation: all great enterprises being for the most part either ouerthrowen with hast or hindred by delay, in which case leasure in th'aduice, and speed in th'execution make a very good match for a glorious successe.

The Arte of English Poesie 1569