The French spelling, once current in Philadelphia, still survives in pronunciation in some parts of Pennsylvania.

1

1794.  Mr. B. will now be obliged to look elsewhere for his gaz.—Gazette of the U.S., Phila., May 31.

2

1799.  The extrication of gazes from putrifying matter.—The Aurora, Phila., March 28.

3

1808.  

        O’er great, o’er small extends his physic laws,
Empalms the empyrean or dissects a gaz.
Joel Barlow, ‘The Columbiad,’ iv. 456. (N.E.D.)    

4