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Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

E. Cobham Brewer From The Edition Of 1894

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This letter represents an ox—goad, and is called in Hebrew lamed (an oxgoad).

the twelfth letter of the English alphabet, and a vocal consonant. It is usually called a semivowel or liquid. Its form and value are from the Greek, through the Latin, the form of the Greek letter being from the Phoenician, and the ultimate origin probably Egyptian.

L

for fifty is half C (centum, a hundred).

L

for a pound sterling, is the Latin libra, a pound. With a line drawn above the letter, it stands for 50,000.

L. E. L

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (afterwards Mrs. Maclean), a poetess of the “Lara” and “Corsair” school (1802—1839).

LL.D

Doctor of Laws— i.e. both civil and canon. The double L is the plural; thus MSS, is the plural of MS. (manuscript); pp., pages.

L.L. Whisky Lord—Lieutenant whisky. Mr. Kinahan being requested to preserve a certain cask of whisky highly approved of by his Excellency the Duke of Richmond, marked it with the initials L.L., and ever after called this particular quality L.L. whisky. The Duke of Richmond was Lord—Lieutenant from 1807 to 1813.

L.S

Locus sigilli, that is, the place for the seal.

L. S. D

Latin, libra (a pound); solidus (a shilling); and denurius (a penny); through the Italian lire (2 syl.), soldi, denari. If farthings are expressed the letter q (quadrans) is employed. Introduced by the Lombard merchants, from whom also we have Cr. (creditor), Dr. (debtor), bankrupt, do or ditto, etc.

La—de—da

A yea—nay sort of a fellow, with no backbone. “Da,” in French, means both oui and nenni, as Oui—da (ay marry), Nenni—da (no forsooth).

“I wish that French brother of his, the Parisian la—de—da, was more like him, more of an American.”— A. G. Gunter: Baron Montez, book iii. 8.

La Garde Meurt ne se Rend pas

The words falsely ascribed to General Cambronne, at the battle of Waterloo; inscribed on his monument at Nantes.

La Joyeuse

The sword of Charlemagne. The traditional coronation sword of France, once attributed to the great Emperor Charlemagne. It is kept in the Louvre in Paris, France. To this day, it is unclear whether the sword is Charlemagne's sword "Joyeuse" or if it is of a later date.

La Muette de Portici

Auber's best opera. Also known as Masaniello.

La Roche

(1 syl.). A Protestant clergyman, whose story is told in The Mirror, by Henry Mackenzie.

Labadists

A religious sect of the seventeenth century, so called from Jean Labadie, of Bourg in Guyenne. They were Protestant ascetics, who sought reform of morals more than reform of doctrine. They rejected the observance of all holy days, and held certain mystic notions. The sect fell to pieces early in the eighteenth century.

Labarum

The standard borne before the Roman emperors. It consisted of a gilded spear, with an eagle on the top, while from a cross staff hung a splendid purple streamer, with a gold fringe, adorned with precious stones. Constantine substituted a crown for the eagle, and inscribed in the midst the mysterious monogram.

(See Constantines Cross .) Rich (Antiquities, p. 361) says “probably from the Gaulish lab, to raise; for Constantine was educated in Gaul.” The Greek laba is a staff. (See Gibbon: Decline and Fall, etc. chap. xx.)

Labe

(Queen). The Circe of the Arabians, who, by her enchantments, transformed men into horses and other brute beasts. She is introduced into the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, where Beder, Prince of Persia, marries her, defeats her plots against him, and turns her into a mare. Being restored to her proper shape by her mother, she turns Beder into an owl; but the prince ultimately regains his own proper form.

Labour of Love

(A). Work undertaken for the love of the thing, without regard to pay.

Labourer is Worthy of his Hire

In Latin: “Digna canis pabulo.” “The dog must be bad indeed that is not worth a bone.” Hence the Mosaic law, “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn.”

Labourers

(The Statute of). An attempt made in 1349 to fix the rate of wages at which labourers should be compelled to work.

Labyrinth

A mass of buildings or garden — walks, so complicated as to puzzle strangers to extricate themselves. Said to be so called from Labyris, an Egyptian monarch of the 12th dynasty. The chief labyrinths are:—

(1) The Egyptian, by Petesuchis or Tithoes, near the Lake Moeris. It had 3,000 apartments, half of which were underground. (B.C. 1800.) Pliny, xxxvi. 13; and Pomponius Mela, i. 9.

(2) The Cretan, by Dæ'dalos, for imprisoning the Minotaur. The only means of finding a way out of it was by help of a skein of thread. (See Virgil: Æneid, v.)

(3) The Cretan conduit, which had 1,000 branches or turnings.

(4) The Lemnian, by the architects Zmilus, Rholus, and Theodorus. It had 150 columns, so nicely adjusted that a child could turn them. Vestiges of this labyrinth were still in existence in the time of Pliny.

(5) The labyrinth of Clusium, made by Lars Porsena, King of Etruria, for his tomb.

(6) The Samian, by Theodorus (B.C. 540). Referred to by Pliny; by Herodotos, ii. 145; by Strabo, x.; and by Diodorus Siculus, i.

(7) The labyrinth at Woodstock, by Henry II., for the Fair Rosamond.

(8) Of mazes formed by hedges. The best known is that of Hampton Court.

Lac of Rupees

The nominal value of the Indian rupee is 2s., and a lac means 100,000. At this estimate, a lac of rupees = 200,000s. or 10,000. Its present value varies according to the market value of silver. In 1894 between 13 and 14 pence.

Lace

I'll lace your jacket for you, beat you. (French, laisse, a lash; German, laschen, to strike; our lash.)

Laced

Tea or coffee laced with spirits, a cup of tea or coffee qualified with brandy or whisky.

“Deacon Bearcliff ... had his pipe, and his teacup ... laced with a little spirits.”— Sir W. Scott: Guy Mannering, chap. xi.

“Dandie ... partook of a cup of tea with Mrs. Allan, just laced with two teaspoonfuls of cogniac.”— Ditto, chap. iii.

Lacedaemonian Letter

(The). The Greek (iota), the smallest of all letters. Laconic brevity. (See Laconic .)

Lacedaemonians

(The). The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. So called because in 1777 their colonel made a long harangue, under heavy fire, on the Spartan discipline and military system. (See Redfeathers .)

Lachesis [Lak'—e—sis ]. The Fate who spins life's thread, working into the woof the sundry events destined to occur. Clotho held the distaff, and Atropos cut off the thread when life was to be ended. (Greek, klótho, to draw thread from a distaff; Lachesis from lagchano, to assign by lot; and Atropos = inflexible.)

Lackadaisical

Affected, pensive, sentimental, artificially tender.

Laconic

Very concise and pithy. A Spartan was called a Lacon from Laconia, the land inwhich he dwelt. The Spartans were noted for their brusque and sententious speech. When Philip of Macedon wrote to the Spartan magistrates, “If I enter Laconia, I will level Lacedæmon to the ground,” the ephors wrote word back the single word, “If.” (See above Lacedæmonian Letter .)

In 1490 O'Neil wrote to O'Donnel: “Send me the tribute, or else—.” To which O'Donnel replied: “I owe none, or else—.”

Lacustrine Deposits

Deposits formed at the bottom of freshwater pools and lakes. (Latin, lacus, a lake.)

Lacustrine Habitations

The remains of human dwellings of great antiquity, constructed on certain lakes in Ireland, Switzerland; etc. They seem to have been villages built on piles in the middle of a lake

Lad o' Wax

A little boy, a doll of a man. In Romeo and Juliet the Nurse calls Paris “a man of wax,” meaning a very “proper man.” Horace speaks of the “waxen arms of Telephus,” meaning well modelled.

Ladas

Alexander's messenger, noted for his swiftness of foot, mentioned by Catullus, Martial, and others. Lord Rosebery's horse Ladas won the Derby in 1894.

Ladies

(See after Lady .)

Ladon

One of the dogs of Actæon.

Ladon. The dragon which guarded the apples of the Hesperides.

Ladrones

The island of thieves, so called, in 1519, by Magellan.

Lady

A woman of wealth, of station, or of rank. Verstegan says, “It was anciently written Hleafdian [? hlæfdige], contracted first into Lafdy, and then into Lady. Laf or Hláf (loaf) means food in general or bread in particular, and dig—ian or dug—an, to help, serve, or care for; whence lady means the `bread—server.' The lord (or loaf—ward supplied the food, and the lady saw that it was properly served, for the ladies used to carve and distribute the food to the guests.”

Another etymology is Hláf—weardie and loaf—wardie, where ie stands for a female suffix like—ina ine; as Carolus, female Carol—ina, or Carol—ine; Joseph, Joseph—ina or Joseph—ine; Czar, Czar—ina, etc. etc.

Ladies retire to the drawing—room after dinner, and leave the gentlemen behind. This custom was brought in by the Norsemen. The Vikings always dismissed all women from their drinking parties. (S. Bunbury.

Ladybird, Ladyfly, Ladycow

or May—bug. The Bishop Barnaby, called in German, Unser herrin huhn (our Lady—fowl), Marien—huhn (Mary—fowl), and Marien Käfer (Mary's beetle). “Cushcow Lady,” as it is called in Yorkshire, is also the German Marienkalb (Lady—calf), in French, bête à Dieu. Thus the cockchafer is called the May—bug, where the German käfer is rendered bug; and several of the scarabæi are called bugs, as the rose—bug, etc. (See Bishop .)

Lady Bountiful

The benevolent lady of a village. The character of Lady Bountiful is from the Beaux' Stratagem, by Farquhar.

Lady Chapel The small chapel east of the altar, or behind the screen of the high altar; dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Lady Day

The 25th of March, to commemorate the Annunciation of Our Lady, the Virgin Mary There is a tradition that Adam was created on this day. Of course, this rests on Jesus being “the Second Adam,” or “federal head.”

Lady Isabella

the beloved daughter of a noble lord, accompanied her father and mother on a chase one day, when her step—mother requested her to return and tell the master—cook to prepare “the milk—white doe for dinner.” Lady Isabella did as she was told, and the master—cook replied, “Thou art the doe that I must dress.” The scullion—boy exclaimed, “O save the lady's life, and make thy pies of me;” but the master—cook heeded him not. When the lord returned he called for his daughter, the fair Isabelle, and the scullion—boy said, “If now you will your daughter see, my lord, cut up that pie.” When the fond father comprehended the awful tragedy, he adjudged the cruel step—dame to be burnt alive, and the master—cook “in boiling lead to stand;” but the scullion—boy he made his heir. (Percy: Reliques, etc., series iii., bk. 2.)

Lady Magistrate

Lady Berkley was made by Queen Mary a justice of the peace for Gloucestershire and appointed to the quorum of Suffolk. Lady Berkley sat on the bench at assizes and sessions, girt with a sword. Tony Lumpkin says of Mr. Hardcastle—

“He'll persuade you that his mother was an alderman and his aunt a justice of the peace.”— Goldsmith: She Stoops to Conquer.

Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, founded in 1502 by the mother of Henry VII. The year following she founded a preachership. Both in the University of Cambridge.

Lady in the Sacque

The apparition of this hag forms the story of the Tapestried Chamber, by Sir Walter Scott.

An old woman, whose dress was an old—fashioned gown, which ladies call a sacque; that is, a sort of robe completely loose in the body, but gathered into broad plaits upon the neck and shoulders.

Lady of England

Maud, daughter of Henry I. The title of “Domina Anglorum” was conferred upon her by the Council of Winchester, held April 7th, 1141. (Rymer: Fædera, i.)

Lady of Mercy

(Our). An order of knighthood in Spain, instituted in 1218 by James I. of Aragon, for the deliverance of Christian captives amongst the Moors. Within the first six years, as many as 400 captives were rescued by these knights.

Lady of Shallott'

A maiden who fell in love with Sir Lancelot of the Lake, and died because her love was not returned. Tennyson has a poem on the subject; and the story of Elaine, “the lily maid of Astolat,” in the Idylls of the King, is substantially the same. (See Elaine .)

Lady of the Bleeding Heart

Ellen Douglas; so called from the cognisance of the family. (Sir Walter Scott: Lady of the Lake, ii. 10.)

Lady of the Broom

(The). A housemaid.

“Highly disgusted at a farthing candle,

Left by the Lady of the Broom,

Named Susan ...

Peter Pindar: The Diamond Pin.

Lady of the Haystack

made her appearance in 1776 at Bourton, near Bristol. She was young and beautiful, graceful, and evidently accustomed to good society. She lived for four years in a haystack; but was ultimately kept by Mrs. Hannah More in an asylum, and died suddenly in December, 1801. Mrs. More called her Louisa; but she was probably a Mademoiselle La Frülen, natural daughter of Francis Joseph I., Emperor of Austria.

(See World of Wonders, p. 134.)

Lady of the Lake

Vivien, mistress of Merlin, the enchanter, who lived in the midst of an imaginary lake, surrounded by knights and damsels. Tennyson, in the Idylls of the King, tells the story of Vivien and Merlin. (See Lancelot .)

Lady of the Lake. Ellen Douglas, who lived with her father near Loch Katrine. (Sir Walter Scott: The Lady of the Lake.

Lady of the Rock

(Our). A miraculous image of the Virgin found by the wayside between Salamanca and Ciudad Rodrigo in 1409.

Ladies' Mile

(The). That part of Hyde Park which is most frequented by ladies on horseback or in carriages.

Ladies' Plate

(The), in races, is not a race for a prize subscribed for by ladies, but a race run for by women.

“On the Monday succeeding St. Wilfred's Sunday, there were for many years at Roper's Common [a race] called the Lady's Plate, of 15 value, for horses, etc., ridden by women.”— Sporting Magazine, vol. xx., New Series, p. 287.

Ladies' Smocks

Garden cress, botanically called Cardamine, a diminutive of the Greek kardamon, called in Latin nasturtium, sometimes called Nose—smart (Kara—damon, head—afflicting); so nasturtium is

Nasi—tortium (nose—twisting), called so in consequence of its pungency.

“When ladies' smocks of silver white

Do paint the meadows with delight.”

Called Ladies' smocks because the flowers resemble linen exposed to whiten on the grass— “when maidens bleach their summer smocks.” There is, however, a purple tint which mars its perfect whiteness. Another name of the plant is “Cuckoo—flower,” because it comes into flower when the cuckoo sings.

Ladies and Gentlemen

Till 1808 public speakers began their addresses with “gentlemen and ladies;” but since then the order has been reversed.

Læding

The strongest chain that had hitherto been made. It was forged by Asa Thor to bind the wolf Fenrir with; but the wolf snapped it as if it had been made of tow. Fenrir was then bound with the chain Dromi,

much stronger than Læding, but the beast snapped it instantly with equal ease. (Scandinavian mythology.)

Lælaps

A very powerful dog given by Diana to Procris; Procris gave it to Cephalos. While pursuing a wild boar it was metamorphosed into a stone. (See Dogs , Actæcon's fifty dogs.)

Laertes

(3 syl.). Son of Polonius and brother of Ophelia. He kills Hamlet with a poisoned rapier, and dies himself from a wound by the same foil. (Shakespeare: Hamlet.)

Lætare Sunday

The fourth Sunday in Lent is so called from the first word of the Introit, which is from Isa.

lxvi. 10: “Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her all ye that love her.” It is on this day that the pope blesses the Golden Rose.

Lagado

Capital of Balnibarbi, celebrated for its grand academy of projectors, where the scholars spend their time in such useful projects as making pincushions from softened rocks, extracting sunbeams from cucumbers, and converting ice into gunpowder. (Swift: Gulliver's Travels, Voyage to Laputa.)

Lager Beer

A strong German beer. Lager means a “storehouse,” and lager beer means strong beer made (in March) for keeping.

Laird

(Scotch). A landed proprietor.

Lagoon

A shallow lake near river or sea, due to infiltration or overflow of water from the larger body.

Laïs

A courtesan or Greek Hetaira. There were two of the name; the elder was the most beautiful woman of Corinth, and lived at the time of the Peloponnesian War. The beauty of the latter excited the jealousy of the Thessalonian women, who pricked her to death with their bodkins. She was contemporary with Phryne (2 syl.), her rival, and sat to Apelles as a model.

Laissez Faire, Laissez Passer

Lord John Russell said: “Colbert, with the intention of fostering the manufactures of France, established regulations limiting the webs woven in looms to a particular size. He also prohibited the introduction of foreign manufactures Then the French vine—growers, finding they could no longer get rid of their wine, began to grumble. When Colbert asked a merchant what relief he could give, he received for answer, `Laissez faire, laissez passer;' that is to say, Don't interfere with our mode of manufactures, and don't stop the introduction of foreign imports.”

The laissez—faire system. The let—alone system.

Lake School

(The). The school of poetry introduced by the Lake poets Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey, who resided in the Lake district of Cumberland and Westmoreland, and sought inspiration in the simplicity of nature. The name was first applied in derision by the Edinburgh Review to the class of poets who followed the above—named trio.

N.B. Charles Lamb, Lloyd, and Professor William (Christopher North) are sometimes placed among the “Lakers.”

Lakedion

or Laquedem (Isaac). The name given in France, in the fourteenth century, to the Wandering Jew.

Lakin

By'r Lakin. An oath, meaning “By our Lady—kin,” or Little Lady, where little does not refer to size, but is equivalent to dear.

“By'r Lakin, a parlous [perilous] fear.”— Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream, iii. 1.

Laksmi or Lakshmi. One of the consorts of Vishnu; she is goddess of beauty, wealth, and pleasure. (Hindu mythology.)

Lalla Rookh

[tulip cheek ] is the supposed daughter of Au—rung—ze'—be, Emperor of Delhi, betrothed to Aliris, Sultan of Lesser Bucharia. On her journey from Delhi to the valley of Cashmere, she is entertained by a young Persian poet named Feramorz, who is supposed to relate the four poetical tales of the romance, and with whom she falls in love. (Thomas Moore: Lalla Rookh.) (See Feramorz .)

Lama

among the Mongols, means the priestly order. Hence the religion of the Mongols and Calmucs is termed Lamaism. The Grand Lamas wear yellow caps, the subordinate Lamas red caps. (See Grandlama .)

Lamaism

[Tibetan, Blaina, spiritual teacher]. The religion of Tibet and Mongolia, which is Buddhism corrupted by Sivaism and spirit—worship.

Lamb

In Christian art, an emblem of the Redeemer, called the “Lamb of God. It is also the attribute of St. Agnes, St. Geneviève, St. Catherine, and St. Regina. John the Baptist either carries a lamb or is accompanied by one. It is also introduced symbolically to represent any of the “types” of Christ; as Abraham, Moses, and so on.

Lamb

( The Vegetable) or Tartarian lamb; technically called Polypodium Barometz. It is a Chinese fern with a decumbent root, covered with a soft, dense yellow wool. Sir Hans Sloane, who calls it the Tartarian lamb, has given a print of it; and Dr. Hunter has given a print which makes its resemblance to a lamb still more striking. The down is used in India for staunching hæmorrhage.

“Rooted in earth each cloven hoof descends,

And round and round her flexile neck she bends; Crops the grey coral moss, and hoary thyme,

Or laps with rosy tongue the melting rime;

Eyes with mute tenderness her distant dam,

And seems to bleat, a Vegetable Lamb.”

Darwin: Loves of the Plants, 283, etc.

Lamb

Cold lamb. A schoolboy's joke. Setting a boy on a cold marble or stone hearth. Horace (Sat. i. 5, 22) has “Dotare lumbos,” which may have suggested the pun.

Lamb—pie

A flogging. Lamb is a pun on the Latin verb lambo (to lick), and the word “lick” has been perverted to mean flog (see Lick); or it may be the old Norse lam (the hand), meaning hand—or slap—pie. (See Lamming .)

Lamb's Conduit Street

(London). Stow says, “One William Lamb, citizen and clothworker, born at Sutton Valence, Kent, did found near unto Oldbourne a faire conduit and standard; from this conduit, water clear as crystal was conveyed in pipes to a conduit on Snow Hill” (26th March, 1577). The conduit was taken down in 1746.

Lamb's Wool

A beverage consisting of the juice of apples roasted over spiced ale. A great day for this drink was the feast of the apple—gathering, called in Irish la mas ubhal, pronounced “lammas ool,” and corrupted into “lamb's wool.”

“The pulpe of the rosted apples, in number foure or five ... mixed in a wine quart of faire water, laboured together until it come to be as apples and ale, which we call lambes wool.”— Johnson's Gerard, p. 1460.

Lambert's Day (St.), September 17th. St. Landebert or Lambert, a native of Maestricht, lived in the seventh century.

“Be ready, as your lives shall answer it,

At Coventry, upon St. Lambert's day.”

Shakespeare: Richard II., i. 1.

Lambro

was the father of Haidée. Major Lambro, the prototype, was head of the Russian piratical squadron in 1791. He contrived to escape when the rest were seized by the Algerines on the island of Zia. (Byron: Don Juan, iii. 26.)

Lame Duck

(A.), in Stock Exchange parlance, means a member of the Stock Exchange who waddles off on settlement day without settling his account. All such defaulters are black—boarded and struck off the list. Sometimes it is used for one who cannot pay his debts, one who trades without money.

“Pitt ... gambled and lost:

But who must answer for the cost?

Not he, indeed! A duck confounded lame

Not unattended wadding ...”

Peter Pindar: Proh Impudentiam.

Lame King A Grecian oracle had told Sparta to “Beware of a lame king.” Agesilaos was lame, and during his reign Sparta lost her supremacy.

Lame Vicegerent

(in Hudibras). Richard Cromwell.

Lamerock

(Sir), of Wales. A knight of the Round Table, son of Sir Pellinore, and brother of Sir Percival. He had an amour with his own aunt, the wife of King Lote. Strange that of all the famous knights of the Round Table, Sir Caradoc and Sir Galahad were the only ones who were continent.

Lamia

A female phantom, whose name was used by the Greeks and Romans as a bugbear to children. She was a Libyan queen beloved by Jupiter, but robbed of her offspring by the jealous Juno; and in consequence she vowed vengeance against all children, whom she delighted to entice and murder. (See Fairy .)

“Keats has a poem so called. His Lamia is a serpent who assumed the form of a beautiful woman, was beloved by a young man and got a soul. The tale was drawn from Philostratus.”— De Vita Apollonii book iv., introduced by Burton in his Anatomy of Melancholy.

Lammas At latter Lammas. At the coming of the Coqueligrues (Rabelais: Pantagruel). At the Latter Lammas. i.e. never.

Lammas Day

(August 1st) means the loaf—mass day. The day of first—fruit offerings, when a loaf was given to the priests in lieu of the first—fruits. (Saxon, hlam—mæsse, for hlaf—mæsse dag.)

August I Old Style, August 12 New Style.

Lammas—tide

Lammas time, or the season when lammas occurs.

Lammor Beads Amber beads, once used as charms. (French, Vambre; Teutonic, lamertyn—stein.)

Lammermoor

(See Edgar, Lucia .)

Lamming

(A). A beating. (See Lamb—pie .)

Lamminin, Lamkin, Linkin

or Bold Rakin. A scottish ogre, represented in the ballad as a bloodthirsty mason; the terror of the Scotoh nursery.

Lamourette's Kiss

On July 7th, 1792, the Abbé Lamourette induced the different factions of the Legislative Assembly of France to lay aside their differences; so the deputies of the Royalists, Constitutionalists, Girondists, Jacobins, and Orleanists rushed into each other's arms, and the king was sent for to see “how these Christians loved one another;" but the reconciliation was hollow and unsound. The term is now used for a reconciliation of policy without abatement of rancour.

Lamp

To smell of the lamp. To bear the marks of great study, but not enough laboured to conceal the marks of labour. The phrase was first applied to the orations of Demosthenes, written by lamp—light with enormous care.

Lamp of Heaven

(The). The moon. Milton calls the stars “lamps.”

“Why shouldst thou ...

In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars,

That Nature hung in heaven, and filled their lamps With everlasting oil, to give due light

To the misled and lonely traveller?”

Comus, 200—204.

Lamp of Phoebus

(The). The sun. Phoebus is the mythological personification of the sun.

Lamp of the Law

(The). Irnerius the German was so called, who first lectured on the Pandects of Justinian after their discovery at Amalphi in 1137

Lamps

The seven lamps of sleep. In the mansion of the Knight of the Black Castle were seven lamps, which could be quenched only with water from an enchanted fountain. So long as these lamps kept burning, everyone within the room fell into a deep sleep, from which nothing could rouse them till the lamps were extinguished. (See Rosana .) (The Seven Champions of Christendom, ii. 8.)

Sepulchral lamps. The Romans are said to have preserved lamps in some of their sepulchres for centuries In the papacy of Paul III. one of these lamps was found in the tomb of Tullia (Cicero's daughter), which had been shut up for 1,550 years. At the dissolution of the monasteries a lamp was found which is said to have been burning 1,200 years. Two are preserved in Leyden museum.

Lampadion

The received name of a lively, petulant courtesan, in the later Greek comedy.

Lampoon

Sir Walter Scott says, “These personal and scandalous libels, carried to excess in the reign of Charles II., acquired the name of lampoons from the burden sung to them: Lampone, lampone, camerada lampone'— Guzzler, guzzler, my fellow guzzler.” (French, lamper, to guzzle.) Sir Walter obtained his information from Trevoux.

Lampos and Phaeton

The two steeds of Aurora. One of Actæon's dogs was called Lampos.

Lancashire Lads or “The Lancashire.” The 47th Foot. Now called the First Battalion of the North Lancashire Regiment.

Lancaster

The camp—town on the river Lune.

Lancaster Gun

A species of rifled cannon with elliptical bore; so called from Mr. Lancaster, its inventor.

Lancasterian

(A). One who pursues the system of Joseph Lancaster (1778—1838) in schools. By this system the higher classes taught the lower.

Lancastrian

(A). An adherent of the Lancastrian line of kings, as opposed to the Yorkists. One of the Lancastrian kings (Henry IV., V., VI.).

Lance

(1 syl.), in Christian art, is an attribute of St. Matthew and St. Thomas, the apostles; also of St. Longinus, St. George, St. Adalbert, St. Oswin, St. Barbara, St. Michael, St. Dometrius, and several others.

Astolpho had a lance of gold that with enchanted force dismounted everyone it touched. (Orlando Furioso, bk. ix.)

A free—lance. One who acts on his own judgment, and not from party motives. The reference is to the Free Companies of the Middle Ages, called in Italy condottieri, and in France Compagnies Grandes, which were free to act as they liked, and were not servants of the Crown or of any other potentate. It must be confessed, however, that they were willing to sell themselves to any master and any cause, good or bad.

Lance—Corporal

and Lance—Sergeant. One from the ranks temporarily acting as corporal or sergeant. In the Middle Ages a lance meant a soldier.

Lance—Knight

A foot—soldier, a corruption of lasquenet or lancequenet, a German foot—soldier.

Lance of the Ladies

At the termination of every joust a course was run “pour les dames,” and called the “Lance of the Ladies.”

Lancelot

(Sir). “The chief of knights” and “darling of the court.” Elaine, the lily of Astolat, fell in love with him, but he returned not her love, and she died. (See Elaine .) (Tennyson: Idylls of the King; Elaine.)

Lancelot

or Launcelot Gobbo. Shylock's servant, famous for his soliloquy whether or not he should run away from his master. (Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice.)

Lancelot du Lac

One of the earliest romances of the “Round Table” (1494). Sir Lancelot was the son of King Ban of Benwicke, but was stolen in infancy by Vivienne, called “La Dame du Lac,” who dwelt “en la marche de la petite Bretaigne;” she plunged with the babe into the lake, and when her protégé was grown into man's estate, presented him to King Arthur. The lake referred to was a sort of enchanted delusion to conceal her demesnes. Hence the cognomen of du Lac given to the knight. Sir Lancelot goes in search of the Grail or holy cup brought to Britain by Joseph of Arimathe'a, and twice caught sight of it. (See Graal .) Though always represented in the Arthurian romances as the model of chivalry, Sir Lancelot was the adulterous lover of Guinevere, wife of King Arthur, his friend. At the close of his life the adulterous knight became a hermit, and died in the odour of sanctity.

Sir Lancelot is meant for a model of fidelity, bravery, frailty in love, and repentance Sir Galahad of chastity; Sir Gawain of courtesy Sir Kay of a rude, boastful knight; and sir Modred of treachery.

Sir Lancelot du Lac and Tarquin. Sir Lancelot, seeking some adventure, met a lady who requested him to deliver certain Knights of the Round Table from the power of Tarquin. Coming to a river, he saw a copper basin suspended to a tree, and struck at it so hard that the basin broke. This brought out Tarquin, when a furious encounter took place, in which Tarquin was slain, and Sir Lancelot liberated from durance “threescore

knights and four, all of the Table Round.” (Percy Reliques, etc., bk. ii. series 1.)

Lancelot of the Laik. A Scottish metrical romance, taken from the French roman called Lancelot du Lac. Galiot, a neighbouring king, invades Arthur's territory, and captures the castle of Lady Melyhalt among others. Sir Lancelot goes to chastise Galiot, sees Queen Guinevere and falls in love with her. Sir Gawayne is wounded in the war, and Sir Lancelot taken prisoner. In the French romance, Sir Lancelot makes Galiot submit to Arthur, but the Scotch romance terminates with the capture of the knight.

Lancers

(The). The dance so called was introduced into Paris in 1836. It is in imitation of a military dance in which men used lances.

Land

See how the land lies. See what we have to do; see in what state matters are. See in what state the land is that we have to travel or pass over, or in what direction we must go. Joshua sent spies (ii. 1) “to view the land” before he attempted to pass the Jordan.

“Put your blankets down there, boys, and turn in. You'll see how the land lies in the morning.”— Boldrewood: Robbery under Arms, ch. xi.

Land—damn

A corruption of landan (to rate or reprove severely). According to Dean Milles the word is still used in Gloucestershire.

“You are abused ... would I knew the villain, I would land—damn him.”— Shakespeare: Winter's Tale ii. 1.

Land—loupers

Persons who fly the country for crime or debt. Louper, loper, loafer, and luffer are varieties of the German läufer, a vagrant, a runner.

Land—lubber

An awkward or inexpert sailor on board ship. (Lubber, the Welsh llob, a dunce.)

Land of Beulah

(Isa. lxii. 4). In Pilgrim's Progress it is that land of heavenly joy where the pilgrims tarry till they are summoned to enter the cerestial City; the Paradise before the resurrection.

Land of Bondage

Egypt was so called by the Jews, who were bondsmen there to the Pharaohs “who knew not Joseph.”

Land of Cakes

Scotland, famous for its oatmeal cakes.

Land of Myrrh

Azab or Saba.

Land of Nod

(The). To go to the land of Nod is to go to bed. There are many similar puns and more in French than in English. Of course, the reference is to Gen. iv. 16, “Cain went ... and dwelt in the land of Nod;” but where the land of Nod is or was nobody knows. In fact, “Nod” means a vagrant or vagabond, and when Cain was driven out he lived “a vagrant life,” with no fixed abode, till he built his “city.” (See Needham .)

Land of Promise

Canaan, the land which God promised to give to Abraham for his obedience.

Land of Shadows

(Gone to the). Fallen asleep. Shadows = dreams, or shadows of realities.

Land of Stars and Stripes (The). The United States of America. The reference is to their national flag.

Land o'the Leal

(The). The Scotch Dixey Land (q.v.). An hypothetical land of happiness, loyalty, and virtue. Caroline Oliphant, Baroness Nairne, meant heaven in her exquisite song so called, and this is now its accepted meaning. (Leal = faithful, and “Land of the Leal” means the Land of the faithful.)

Landau'

A four—wheeled carriage, the top of which may be thrown back; invented at Landau, in Germany.

Landeyda

(See Raven .)

Landiere

(French, 3 syl.). A booth in a fair; so called from Le Landit, a famous fair at one time held at St. Denis. Landit means a small present such as one receives from a fair.

“Il gambadoit, il faisoit le badin;

Oncqon ne vit ung plus parfait landin.”

Bourdigné: Légende, c. iii.

“Mercure avec d'avides mains ...

Met impost et taxes nouvelles ...

Sur les landis, sur les estrennes.”

L. Chamhoudry: Le Voyage de Mercure, bk. iii., p. 51 (1653).

Landscape

(A) is a land picture. (Anglo—Saxon landscipe verb scap—an; to shape, to give a form or picture of.)

Father of landscape gardening. A. Lenotre (1613—1700).

Lane

No evil thing that walks by night, blue meagre hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost, no goblin, or smart fairy of the mine, has power to cross a lane; once in a lane, the spirit of evil is in a fix. The reason is obvious: a lane is a spur from a main road, and therefore forms with it a sort of T, quite near enough to the shape of a cross to arrest such simple folk of the unseen world as care to trouble the peaceful inmates of the world we live in.

Lane

`Tis a long lane that has no turning. Every calamity has an ending. The darkest day, stop till to—morrow, will have passed away:

“Hope peeps from a cloud on our squad,

Whose beams have been long in deep mourning: `Tis a lane, let me tell you, my lad,

Very long that has never a turning.”

Peter Pindar Great Cry and Little Wool, epist. 1.

Lane

(The) and The Garden. A short way of saying “Drury Lane” and “Covent Garden,” which are two theatres in London.

Lane

of King's Bromley Manor, Staffordshire, bears in a canton “the Arms of England.” This honour was granted to Colonel John Lane, for conducting Charles II. to his father's seat after the battle of Worcester. (See next paragraph.)

Jane Lane, daughter of Thomas and sister of Colonel John. To save the King after the battle of Worcester, she rode behind him from Bentley, in Staffordshire, the ancient seat of the Lanes, to the house of her cousin, Mrs. Norton, near Bristol. For this act of loyalty the king granted the family to have the following crest: A strawberry—roan horse saliant (couped at the flank), bridled, bitted, and garnished, supporting between its feet

a royal crown proper; motto, Garde le Roy.

Lanfusa's Son (See Ferrau .)

Lang Syne

(Scotch, long since). In the olden time, in days gone by.

“There was muckle fighting about the place lang—syne.”— Scott: Guy Mannering, chap. xl.

The song called Auld Lang Syne, usually attributed to Robert Burns, was not composed by him, for he says expressly in a letter to Thomson, “It is the old song of the olden times, which has never been in print ... I took it down from an old man's singing.” In another letter he says, “Light be the turf on the heaven—inspired poet who composed this glorious fragment.” Nothing whatever is known of the author of the words; the composer is wholly unknown.

Langbourn Ward

(London). So called from the long bourn or rivulet of sweet water which formerly broke out of a spring near Magpye Alley. This bourn gives its name to Sharebourne or Southbourne Lane.

Langstaff

(Launcelot). The name under which Salamagundi was published, the real authors being Washington Irving, William Irving, and J. K. Paulding.

Language

The primeval language. Psammetichos, an Egyptian king, entrusted two new—born infants to a shepherd, with strict charge that they were never to hear any one utter a word. These children were afterwards brought before the king and uttered the word bekos (baked bread). The same experiment was tried by Frederick II. of Sweden, James IV. of Scotland, and one of the Mogul emperors of India.

James IV., in the 15th century, shut up two infant children in the Isle of Inchkeith, with a dumb attendant to wait on them.

The three primitive languages. The Persians say that Arabic, Persian, and Turkish are three primitive languages. The serpent that seduced Eve spoke Arabic, the most suasive language in the world; Adam and Eve spoke Persian, the most poetic of all languages; and the angel Gabriel spoke Turkish, the most menacing of all languages. (Chardin.)

“Language given to men to conceal their thoughts,” is by Montrond, but is generally fathered on Talleyrand.

Characteristics of European languages: L'Italien se parle aux dames. Le Francais se parle aux hommes. L'Anglais se parle aux oiseaux L'Allemand se parle aux chevaux. L'Espagnol se parle à Dieux.

English, according to the French notion, is both singsong and sibilant. Charles Quint used to say, “I speak German to my horses, Spanish to my God, French to my friends, and Italian to my mistresses.”

Langue d'Oc

The Provencal branch of the Gallo—Romaic idiom; so called from their oc (yes).

Langue d'Oil

Walloon or Germanised Gallo—Romaic; so called from their pronouncing our yes as oil (o.e) These Gauls lived north of the Loire; the Provencals dwelt south of that river.

Languish

(Lydia). A young lady of romantic notions in The Rivals, a play by Sheridan.

Lantern

In Christian art, the attribute of St. Gudule and St. Hugh.

The feast of lanterns. Tradition says that the daughter of a famous mandarin, walking alone by a lake one evening, fell in. The father called together his neighbours, and all went with lanterns to look for her, and happily she was rescued. In commemoration thereof an annual festival was held on the spot, and grew in time to the celebrated “feast of lanterns.” (Present State of China.)

À la lanterne. Hang him with the lantern or lamp ropes. A cry and custom introduced in the French

revolution.

Lantern Jaws

Cheeks so thin that one may see daylight through them, as light shows through the horn of a lantern. In French, “un visage si maigre que si on mettait une bougie allumée dans la bouche, la lumière paraitait au travers des joues.”

Lantern—jawed. Having lantern—jaws.

Lantern—Land

The land of literary charlatans, whose inhabitants are graduates in arts, doctors, professors, prelates, and so on. (Rabelais: Pantagruel, v. 33.) (See City Of Lanterns )

Lanterns

Authors, literary men, and other inmates of Lantern—land ((q.v.). Rabelais so calls the prelates and divines of the Council of Trent, who wasted the time in great displays of learning, to little profit; hence

“lanternise” (q.v.).

Lanternise

Spending one's time in learned trifles; darkening counsel by words; mystifying the more by attempting to unravel mysteries, putting truths into a lantern through which, at best, we see but darkly. When monks bring their hoods over their faces “to meditate,” they are said by the French to lanternise, because they look like the tops of lanterns; but the result of their meditations is that of a “brown study,” or “fog of sleepy thought.” (See above.)

Laocoon

[La—ok'—o—on ]. A son of Priam, famous for the tragic fate of himself and his two sons, who were crushed to death by serpents. The group representing these three in their death agony, now in the Vatican, was discovered in 1506, on the Esquiline Hill (Rome). It is a single block of marble, and was the work of Agesander of Rhodes and two other sculptors. Thomson has described the group in his Liberty, pt. iv. (Virgil Æneid, ii. 40 etc., 212 etc.)

“The miserable sire,

Wrapped with his sons in Fate's severest grasp”

Laodami'a

The wife of Protesilaos, who was slain before Troy. She begged to be allowed to converse with her dead husband for only three hours, and her request was granted; when the respite was over, she accompanied the dead hero to the shades of death. Wordsworth has a poem on the subject.

Laodicean

One indifferent to religion, caring little or nothing about the matter, like the Christians of that church, mentioned in the Book of Revelation (chapter iii. 14—18).

Lapet

(Mons.). The beau—ideal of poltroonery. He would think the world out of joint if no one gave him a tweak of the nose or lug of the ear. (Beaumont and Fletcher: Nice Valor, or the Passionate Madman.)

Mons Lapet was the author of a book on the punctilios of duelling

Lapithæ

A people of Thessaly, noted for their defeat of the Centaurs. The subject of this contest was represented on the Parthenon, the Theseum at Athens, the Temple of Apollo at Basso, and on numberless vases. Raphael painted a picture of the same subject. (Classic mythology.)

Lapping Water

When Gideon's army was too numerous, the men were taken to a stream to drink, and 300 of them lapped water with their tongue; all the rest supped it up (Judges. vii. 4—7). All carnivorous animals lap

water like dogs, all herbivorous animals suck it up like horses. The presumption is that the lappers of water partook of the carnivorous character, and were more fit for military exploits. No doubt those who fell on their knees to drink exposed themselves to danger far more than those who stood on their feet and lapped water from their hands.

Laprel

The rabbit, in the tale of Reynard the Fox. (French, lapin, rabbit.)

Lapsus Linguæ

(Latin). A slip of the tongue, a mistake in uttering a word, an imprudent word inadvertently spoken.

We have also adopted the Latin phrases lapsus calami (a slip of the pen), and lapsus memoriæ (a slip of the memory).

Laputa

The flying island inhabited by scientific quacks, and visited by Gulliver in his “travels.” These dreamy philosophers were so absorbed in their speculations that they employed attendants called “flappers,” to flap them on the mouth and ears with a blown bladder when their attention was to be called off from “high things” to vulgar mundane matters. (Swift.)

“Realising in a manner the dreams of Lapnta and endeavouring to extract sunbeams from cucumbers.”— De Quincy.

Lapwing (The). Shakespeare refers to two peculiarities of this bird; (1) to allure persons from its nest, it flies away and cries loudest when farthest from its nest; and (2) the young birds run from their shells with part thereof still sticking to their head.

“Far from her nest the lapwing cries away.”

Comedy of Errors, iv. 2.

“This lapwing runs away with the shell on his head.”— Hamlet, v. 2.

Lar Familiaris

(plu. Lares familiares). The familiar lar was the spirit of the founder of the house, which never left it, but accompanied his descendants in all their changes. (See Lares .)

Lara

The name assumed by Lord Conrad, the Corsair, after the death of Medora. He returned to his native land, and was one day recognised by Sir Ezzelin at the table of Lord Otho. Ezzelin charged him home, and a duel was arranged for the day following; but Ezzelin was never heard of more. In time Lara headed a rebellion, and was shot by Lord Otho, the leader of the other party. (Byron: Lara.) (See Conrad .)

The seven infants of Lara. Gonzales Gustios de Salas de Lara, a Castilian hero of the eleventh century, had seven sons. His brother, Rodrigo Velasquez, married a Moorish lady, and these seven nephews were invited to the feast. A fray took place in which one of the seven slew a Moor, and the bride demanded vengeance. Rodrigo, to please his bride, waylaid his brother Gonzales, and kept him in durance in a dungeon of Cordova, and the seven boys were betrayed into a ravine, where they were cruelly murdered. While in the dungeon, Zaida, daughter of the Moorish king, fell in love with Gonzales, and became the mother of Mudarra, who avenged the death of Lara's seven sons by slaying Rodrigo.

Larboard

now called port (q.v.). (Starboard is from Anglo—Saxon steorabord, the steer—board, or right side of a ship.) Larboard is the French bâbord, the left—hand side of a ship looking towards the prow;

Anglo—Saxon boec—bord

“She gave a heel, and then a lurch to port,

And going down head foremost— sunk in short.” Byron: Don Juan (The Shipwreck).

“To give a heel” is to sway over on one side. Here it means a heel to the starboard side.

Larceny

Petty theft, means really the peculations and thefts of a mercenary. (Greek latron, hire [latris, a hireling]; Latin latro, a mercenary, whence latrocinium; French, larcin.)

Larder

A place for keeping lard or bacon. This shows that swine were the chief animals salted and preserved in olden times. (Latin, lardum, lard.)

The Douglas Larder. The English garrison and all its provisions in Douglas castle massed together by good Lord James Douglas, in 1307.

“He caused all the barrels containing flour, meat, wheat, and malt to be knocked in pieces and their contents mixed on the floor; then he staved the great hogsheads of wine and ale, and mixed the liquor with the stores; and last of all, he killed the prisoners, and flung the dead bodies among this disgusting heap, which his men called, in decision of the English `The Douglas Larder.”— Sir Walter Scott Tales of a Grandfather, ix.

Wallace's Larder is very similar. It consisted of the dead bodies of the garrison of Ardrossan, in Ayrshire, cast into the dungeon keep. The castle was surprised by Wallace in the reign of Edward I.

Lares

The Etruscan lar (lord or hero). Among the Romans lares were either domestic or public. Domestic lares were the souls of virtuous ancestors exalted to the rank of protectors. Public lares were the protectors of roads and streets. Domestic lares were images, like dogs, set behind the “hall” door, or in the lararium or shrine. Wicked souls became lemures or ghosts that made night hideous. Penates were the natural powers personified, and their office was to bring wealth and plenty, rather than to protect and avert danger. (See Fairy

.)

Large

To sail large is to sail on a large wind— i.e. with the wind not straight astern, but what sailors call “abaft the beam.”

Set at large, i.e. at liberty. It is a French phrase; prendre le large is to stand out at sea, or occupy the main ocean, so as to be free to move. Similarly, to be set at large is to be placed free in the wide world.

Larigot

Boire à tire larigot. To tope, to bouse. Larigot is a corruption of “l'arigot ” (a limb), and boire a tire l'arigot means simply “to drink with all your might,” as jouer de l'arigot means “to play your best”— i.e. “with all your power.” It is absurd to derive the word larigot from “la Rigaud,” according to Noel Taillepied, who says (Rouen xlv.): “Au xiii. siècle, l'archevèque Eudes Rigaud fit présent à la ville de Rouen d'une cloche à laquelle resta son nom. Cette cloche était d'une grandeur et d'une grosseur, telles que ceux qui la mettaient en mouvement ne manquaient pas de boire abondamment pour reprendre des forces. De là l'habitude de comparer ceux qui buvaient beaucoup aux sonneurs chargés de tirer la Rigaud,” i.e. the bell so called.

Lark

A spree; a corruption of the Anglo—Saxon lác (play, fun). (See Skylark .)

Larks

When the sky falls we shall catch larks. A way of stating to a person that his scheme or proposal is absurd or ridiculous.

French: “Si le ciel tombait, il y aurait bien des alouettes.” Latin: “Quid, si redio ad illes, qui alunt, quid si nunc coelum ruat?”

Larry Dugan's Eye—water

Blacking; so called from Larry Dugan, a noted shoeblack of Dublin, whose face was always smudged with his blacking.

Lars

The overking of the ancient Etruscans, like the Welsh “pendragon.” A satrap, or under—king, was a lucumo. Thus the king of Prussia is the German lars, and the king of Bavaria is a lucumo.

There be thirty chosen prophets,

The wisest of the land,

Who always by Lars Porsena

, Both morn and evening stand.”

Macauldy: Lays of Ancient Rome, (Horatius, ix.)

Larvae

Mischievous spectres. The larva or ghost of Caligula was often seen (according to Suetonius) in his palace.

Lascar

A native East Indian sailor in the British service. The natives of the East Indies call camp—followers lascars. (Hindu, lash—kar, a soldier.)

Last

(Anglo—Saxon lást, a footstep, a shoemaker's last.) The cobbler should stick to his last (“Ne sutor ultra cre&pacute;idam"). Apelles having executed a famous painting, exposed it to public view, when a cobbler found fault because the painter had made too few latchets to the goloshes. Apelles amended the fault, and set out his picture again. Next day the cobbler complained of the legs, when Apelles retorted, “Keep to the shop, friend, but do not attempt to criticise what you do not understand.” (See Wigs .)

Last Man

(The) Charles I. was so called by the Parliamentarians, meaning that he would be the last king of Great Britain. His son, Charles II., was called The Son of the Last Man.

Last Man

A weirdly grotesque poem by Thomas Hood.

“So there he hung, and there I stood,

The last man left alive.”

Last Words

(See Ding Syings .)

Last of the Fathers

St. Bernard, Abbot of Clarivaux. (1091—1153.)

Last of the Goths

Roderick, who reigned in Spain from 414 to 711. Southey has an historic tale in blank verse on this subject.

Last of the Greeks Philopæoemen of Arcadia. (B.C. 253—183.)

Last of the Knights

(See Knights .)

Last of the Mohicans

The Indian chief, Uncas, is so called by Cooper, in his novel of that title.

Last of the Romans

Marcus Junius Brutus, one of the murderers of Caesar. (B.C. 85—42.) Caius Cassius Longinus, so called by Brutus. (Died. B.C. 42.)

Stilicho, the Roman general under Theodosius. (The Nineteenth Century, September, 1892.) Aetius, a general who defended the Gauls against the Franks and other barbarians, and defeated Attila in the Champs Catalaumques, near Chálons, in 451. So called by Procopius.

Francois Joseph Terasse Desbillons; so called from the elegance and purity of his Latin. (1751—1789.) Pope calls Congreve Ultimus Romanorum. (1670—1729.) (See Ultimus.)

Last of the Tribunes

(The). Cola di Rienzi (1314—1354). Lord Lytton has a novel so called.

Last of the Troubadours

Jacques Jasmin, of Gascony (1798—1864).

Lat

(El). A female idol made of stone, and said to be inspired with life; the chief object of adoration by the Arabs before their conversion.

Lat, at Somanat in India, was a single stone fifty fathoms high, placed in the midst of a temple supported by

fifty—six pillars of massive gold. This idol was broken in pieces by Mahmood Ibn—Sabuktigeen, who conquered that part of India. The granite Lat, facing a Jain temple at Mudubidery, near Mangalore, in India, is fifty—two feet high.

“The granite lat of Mudubidery, in India, is fifty—two feet high.”

Lateran

The ancient palace of the Laterani, given by the Emperor Constantine to the popes. Lateran, from lateo, to hide, and rana, a frog. It is said that Nero ... on one occasion vomited a frog covered with blood, which he believed to be his own progeny, and had it hidden in a vault. The palace which was built on the site of this vault was called the “Lateran,” or the palace of the hidden frog. (Buckle: History of Civilisation.)

The locality in Rome so called contains the Lateran palace, the Piazza, and the Basilica of St. John Lateran. The Basilica is the Pope's cathedral church. The palace (once a residence of the popes) is now a museum.

Lath

or Lathe. A division of a county. Sometimes it was an intermediate division between a hundred and a shire, as the lathes of Kent and rapes of Sussex, each of which contained three or four “hundreds” apiece. In Ireland the arrangement was different. The officer over a lath was called a lathreeve. (Anglo—Saxon læth, a canton.)

“If all that tything failed, then all that lath was charged for that tything; and if the lath failed, then all that hundred was demanded for them [i.e. turbulent fellows], and if the hundred, then the shire.— Spenser: Ireland.

Lather A good lather is half a shave. This is the French proverb, “Barbe bien savonné est á moitié faite. “

Latin

The language spoken by the people of Latium, in Italy. The Latins are called aborigines of Italy. Alba Longa was head of the Latin League, and, as Rome was a colony of Alba Longa, it is plain to see how the Roman tongue was Latin. x

“The earliest extant specimen of the Latin language is a fragment of the hymn of the Fratres Arvales (3 syl.). a'priestly brotherhood, which offered, every 10th of May, a public sacrifice for the fertility of the fields.” Sellar: Roman Poets of the Republic, chap. ii. p. 34.

Classical Latin. The Latin of the best authors about the time of Augustus, as Livy, Tacitus, and Cicero (prose), Horace, Virgil, and Ovid (poets).

Late Latin. The period which followed the Augustan age. This period contains the Church Fathers. Low Latin. Mediæval Latin, mainly bastard German, French, Italian, Spanish, and so on.

Middle Latin. Latin from the sixth to the sixteenth century A.D., both inclusive. In this Latin, prepositions frequently supply the cases of nouns.

New Latin. That which followed the revival of letters in the sixteenth century.

“Latium. The tale is that this word is from lateo, to lie hid, and was so called because Saturn lay hid there, when he was driven out of heaven by the gods.”

The Latin Church. The Western Church, in contradistinction to the Greek or Eastern Church. The Latin cross. Formed thus:

The Greek cross has four equal arms, thus: +

Latin Learning

properly so called, terminated with Boethius, but continued to be used in literary compositions and in the services of the church.

Latinus

King of the Laurentians, a people of Latium. According to Virgil, Latinus opposed Æneas on his first landing, but subsequently formed an alliance with him, and gave him Lavinia in marriage. Turnus, King of the Rutuli, declared that Lavinia had been betrothed to him, and prepared to support his claim by arms. It was agreed to decide the rival claims by single combat, and Æneas being victor, obtained Lavinia for his wife.

Latinus (in Jerusalem Delivered), an Italian, went with his five sons to the Holy War. His eldest son was slain by Solyman; Aramantes, going to his brother's aid, was also slain; then Sabinus; and lastly, Picus and Laurente, twins. The father now rushed on the soldan, and was slain also. In one hour the father and his five sons were all slain.

Latitudinarians

A sect of divines in the time of Charles II., opposed both to the High Church party and to the Puritans. The term is now applied to those persons who hold very loose views of Divine inspiration and what are called orthodox doctrines.

Latona

Mother of Apollo and Diana. When she knelt by a fountain in Delos (infants in arms) to quench her thirst at a small lake, some Lycian clowns insulted her and were turned into frogs.

“As when those binds that were transformed to frogs

Railed at Latona's twin—born progeny,

Which after held the sun and moon in fee.”

Milton: Sonnets.

Latri'a and Duli'a. Greek words adopted by the Roman Catholics; the former to express that supreme reverence and adoration which is offered to God alone; and the latter, that secondary reverence and adoration which is offered to saints. (Latria is the reverence of a latris, or hired servant, who receives wages; dulia is the reverence of a doulos or slave.)

Lattice

or Chequers. A public—house sign, the arms of Fitzwarren, the head of which house, in the days of the Henrys, was invested with the power of licensing the establishments of vintners and publicans. Houses licensed notified the same by displaying the Fitzwarren arms. (The Times, April 29, 1869.)

The Fitzwarren arms were chequy or and gules, hence public—houses and their signs are still frequently called the “Red Lattices.”

“A' calls me e'en now, my lord, through a red lattice.”— Shakespeare: 2 Henry IV., ii. 2.

Laugh in One's Sleeve

(To). The French is: “Rire sous cape, ” or “Rire sous son bonnet. ” The German is: “Ins faüstchen lachen. ” The Latin is: “In stomacho ridere. ” These expressions indicate secret derision: laughing at one, not with one. But such phrases as “In sinu gaudere ” mean to feel secret joy, to rejoice in one's heart of hearts.

Laugh on the Other Side of Your Mouth

To make a person laugh on the other side of his mouth is to make him cry, or to cause him annoyance. To “laugh on the wrong side of one's face” is to be humiliated, or to lament from annoyance.

“Thou laughest there by—and—by thou wilt laugh on the wrong side of thy face.”— Carlyle: The Diamond Necklace, chap. iii.

Laughing Philosopher

Democritos of Abdera, who viewed with supreme contempt the feeble powers of man. (B.C. 460—357.) (See Weeping Philosopher .)

Laughing—stock

A butt for jokes.

Laughter

We are told that Jupiter, after his birth, laughed incessantly for seven days. Calchas, the Homeric soothsayer, died of laughter. The tale is that a fellow in rags told him he would never drink of the grapes growing in his vineyard, and added, if his words did not come true he would be the soothsayer's slave. When the wine was made, Calchas, at a great feast, sent for the fellow, and laughed so incessantly at the non—fulfilment of the prophecy that he died. (E. Bulwer Lytton: Tales of Miletus, iv.)

(See Ancaeus and Death From Strange Causes.)

Launce

The clownish serving—man of Proteus, famous for his soliloquies to his dog Crab. (Shakespeare: Two Gentlemen of Verona. )

Launcelet

(See Lancelot .)

Launched into Eternity

Hanged.

“He ate several oranges on his passage, inquired if his lordship was ready, and then, as old Rowe used to say, `was launched into eternity.'— Gilly Williams to Lord Harrington. (This man was his lordship's servant, hanged for robbery.)

Launfal

(Sir). Steward of King Arthur. He so greatly disliked Queen Gwennere, daughter of Ryon, King of Ireland, that he feigned illness and retired to Carlyoun, where he lived in great poverty. Having obtained the loan of a horse, he rode into a forest, and while he rested himself on the grass two damsels came to him, who invited him to rest in their lady's bower hard by. Sir Launfal accepted the invitation, and fell in love with the lady, whose name was Tryamour. Tryamour gave the knight an unfailing purse, and when he left told him if he ever wished to see her all he had to do was to retire into a private room, and she would instantly be with him. Sir Launfal now returned to court, and excited much attention by his great wealth; but having told Gwennere, who solicited his love, that she was not worthy to kiss the feet of his lady—love, the queen accused him to Arthur of insulting her person. Thereupon Arthur told him, unless he made good his word by

producing this paragon of women, he should be burned alive. On the day appointed, Tryamour arrived; Launfal was set at liberty and accompanied his mistress to the isle of Oleron, and no man ever saw him more. (Thomas Chester: Sir Launfal, a metrical romance of Henry VI.'s time.)

Laura

the name immortalised by Petrarch, was either the wife of Hugues de Sade, of Avignon, or a fictitious name used by him on which to hang incidents of his life and love. If the former, her maiden name was Laura de Noves.

Laura. Beppo's wife. (See Beppo.)

Lauras

(Greek, laura.) An aggregation of separate cells under the control of a superior. In monasteries the monks live under one roof; in lauras they live each in his own cell apart; but on certain occasions they assemble and meet together, sometimes for a meal, and sometimes for a religious service.

Laureate

Poets so called from an ancient custom in our universities of presenting a laurel wreath to graduates in rhetoric and poetry. Young aspirants were wreathed with laurels in berry (orné de baies de laurier). Authors are still so “crowned” in France. The poets laureate of the two last centuries have been—

Ben Jonson, 1615, appointed by King James.

Sir William Davenant. 1637.

John Dryden, 1670.

Thomas Shadwell, 1688.

Nahum Tate, 1692.

Nicholas Rowe, 1715.

Laurence Eusden, 1718.

Colley Cibber, 1730.

William Whitehead, 1757

Thomas Warton, 1783.

Henry James Pye, 1790.

Robert Southey, 1813.

William Wordsworth, 1844.

Alfred Tennyson, 1850.

Alfred Austin, 1896.

Six or seven of these are almost unknown, and their productions are seldom read.

Laurel

The Greeks gave a wreath of laurels to the victor in the Pythian games, but the victor in the Olympic games had a wreath of wild olives, the victor in the Nemean games a wreath of green parsley, and the victor in the Isthmian games a wreath of dry parsley or green pine—leaves. (See Crown .)

Laurel. The ancients believed that laurel communicated the spirit of prophecy and poetry. Hence the custom of crowning the pythoness and poets, and of putting laurel leaves under one's pillow to acquire inspiration. Another superstition was that the bay laurel was antagonistic to the stroke of lightning; but Sir Thomas Browne, in his Vulgar Errors, tells us that Vicomereatus proves from personal knowledge that this is by no means true.

Laurel, in modern times, is a symbol of victory and peace. St. Gudule, in Christian art, carries a laurel crown.

Laurence

(Friar). The Franciscan friar who undertakes to marry Romeo and Juliet. To save Juliet from a second marriage he gives her a sleeping draught, and she is carried to the family vault as dead. Romeo finds her there, and believing her sleep to be the sleep of death, kills himself. On waking, Juliet discovers Romeo dead at her side, and kills herself also. (Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet.) (See Lawrence .)

Lavaine'

Sir (2 syl.). Brother of Elaine', and son of the lord of Astolat. He accompanied Sir Lancelot when he went, incognito, to tilt for the ninth diamond. Lavaine is described as young, brave, and a true knight.

(Tennyson Idylls of the King, Elaine.)

Lavalette

(Marquis de), à French statesman who was condemned to death for sending secret despatches to Napoleon, was set at liberty by his wife, who took his place in the prison.

Lord Nithsdale escaped in a similar way from the Tower of London. His wife disguised him as her maid, and with her he passed the sentries and made good his escape.

Lavender

From the Spanish lavandera (a laundress), the plant used by laundresses for scenting linen. The botanical name is Lavandula, from the Latin lavo, to wash. It is a token of affection.

“He from his lass him lavender hath sent.

Showing his love, and doth requital crave.

Him rosemary his sweetheart, whose intent

Is that he should her in remembrance have.”

Drayton. Eclogue, IX.

Laid up in lavender— i.e. taken great care of, laid away, as women put things away in lavender to keep off moths. Persons who are in hiding are said to be in lavender. The French have the phrase “Elever dans du coton, “ referring to the custom of wrapping up things precious in cotton wool.

“Je veux que tu sois chez moi, commc dans du coton.”— La Muscotte, i. 2.

In lavender. In pawn. In Latin, pignori opponere

“The poor gentleman paies so deare for the lavender it is laid up in, that if it lies long at the broker's house he seems to buy his apparel twice.”— Greenc: Imp. Har. Misc., v. 405.

Lavinia

Daughter of Latinus, betrothed to Turnus, King of the Rutuli. When Æneas landed in Italy, Latinus made an alliance with the Trojan hero, and promised to give him Lavinia to wife. This brought on a war between Turnus and Æneas, which was decided by single combat, in which Æneas was victor. (Virgil Æneid.)

Lavinia. The daughter of Titus Andronicus, bride of Bassianus, brother of the Emperor of Rome. Being grossly abused by Chiron and Demetrius, sons of Tamora, Queen of the Goths, the savage wantons cut off her hands and pluck out her tongue, that she may not reveal their names Lavinia, guiding a stick with her stumps, makes her tale known to her father and brothers; whereupon Titus murders the two Moorish princes and serves their heads in a pasty to their mother, whom he afterwards slays, together with the Emperor Saturninus her husband. (Titus Andronicus, a play published with those of Shakespeare.)

In the play the word is accented Andronicus not Andronicus.

Lavinia. Italy; so called from Lavinia, daughter of Latinus and wife of Ænes. Ænes built a town which he called Lavinium, capital of Latium.

“From the rich Lavinian shore

I your market coine to store.”

A well—known Gloe

Lavinia and Palemon A free poetical version of Ruth and Boaz, by Thomson in his Autumn.

Lavolt

or Lavolta. (French, la volte.) A lively dance, in which was a good deal of jumping or capering, whence its name. Troilus says, “I cannot sing, nor heel the high lavolt” (iv. 4). It is thus described:—

“A lofty jumping or a leaping round,

Where arm in arm two dancers are entwined.

And whirl themselves with strict embracements bound.

And still their feet an anapest do sound”

Sir John Davies

Law To give one law. A sporting term, meaning the chance of saving oneself. Thus a hare or a stag is allowed “law”— i.e. a certain start before any bound is permitted to attack it; and a tradesman allowed law is one to whom time is given to “find his legs.”

Quips of the law, called “devices of Cépola,” from Bartholemew Cépola, whose law—quirks, teaching how to elude the most express law, and to perpetuate lawsuits ad infinitum, have been frequently reprinted — once in octavo, in black letter, by John Petit, in 1503.

The Man of Lawes Tale, by Chaucer. This story is found in Gower, who probably took it from the French chronicle of Nicholas Trivet. A similar story forms the plot of Emare, a romance printed in Ritson's collection. The treason of the knight who murders Hermengilde resembles an incident in the French Roman de la Violette, the English metrical romance of Le bone Florence of Rome (in Ritson), and a tale in the Gesta Romanorum, c. 69 (Madden's edition). (See Constance.)

Law Latin

(See Dog Latin .)

Law's Bubble

The famous Mississippi scheme, devised by John Law, for paying off the national debt of France (1716—1720). By this “French South—Sea Bubble” the nation was almost ruined. It was called Mississippi because the company was granted the “exclusive trade of Louisiana on the banks of the Mississippi.”

Laws of the Medes and Persians

Unalterable laws.

“Now, O king, ... sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians which altereth not.”— Daniel vi. 8.

The Laws of Howel Dha, who reigned in South Wales in the tenth century, printed with a Latin translation by Wotton, in his Leges Wallicie (1841).

Lawing

(Scots.) A tavern reckoning.

Lawsuits

Miles d'Illiers, Bishop of Chartres (1459—1493), was so litigious, that when Louis XI. gave him a pension to clear off old scores, and told him in future to live in peace and goodwill with his neighbours, the bishop earnestly entreated the king to leave him some three or four to keep his mind in good exercise. Similarly Panurge entreated Pantagruel not to pay off all his debts, but to leave some centimes at least, that he might not feel altogether a stranger to his own self. (Rabelais: Pantagruel, iii. 5.) (See Lilburn .)

Lawn

Fine, thin cambric bleached on a lawn, instead of the ordinary bleaching grounds. It is used for the sleeves of bishops, and sometimes for ladies' handkerchiefs.

Lawn—market

(The). To go up the Lawn—market, in Scotch parlance, means to go to be hanged.

“Up the Lawn—market, down the West Bow,

Up the lang ladder, down the short low.”

Schoolboy Rhyme (Scotland).

“They [the stolen clothes] may serve him to gang up the Lawn—market in, the scoundrel.”— Sir W. Scott: Guy Mannering, chap. xxxii.

Lawrence

(St.). Patron saint of curriers, because his skin was broiled on a gridiron. In the pontificate of Sextus I. he was charged with the care of the poor, the orphans, and the widows. In the persecution of Valerian, being summoned to deliver up the treasures of the church, he produced the poor, etc., under his charge, and said to the praetor, “These are the church's treasures.” In Christian art he is generally represented

as holding a gridiron in his hand. He is the subject of one of the principal hymns of Prudentius. (See Laurence

.)

St. Lawrence's tears or The fiery tears of St. Lawrence. Meteoric or shooting stars, which generally make a great display on the anniversary of this saint (August 10th).

The great periods of shooting stars are between the 9th and 14th of August, from the 12th to the 14th of November, and from 6th to 12th December.

Tom Lawrence, alias “Tyburn Tom” or “Tuck.” A highwayman. (Sir Walter Scott: Heart of Mid—Lothian.

Lawyer's Bags

Some red, some blue. In the Common Law, red bags are reserved for Q.C.'s and Sergeants; but a stuff—gownsman may carry one “if presented with it by a silk.” Only red bags may be taken into Common Law Courts, blue must be carried no farther than the robing—room. In Chancery Courts the etiquette is not so strict.

Lay Brothers

Men not in orders received into the convents and bound by vows. (Greek, laos, people.)

Lay Figures

Wooden figures with free joints, used by artists chiefly for the study of drapery. This is a metaphorical use of lay. As divines divide the world into two parties, the ecclesiastics and the laity, so artists divide their models into two classes, the living and the lay.

Lay Out

(To). (a) To disburse: Il dépensa de grandes sommes d'argent. (b To display goods Mettre des marchandises en montre. To place in convenient order what is required for wear: Préparer ses beaux habits. (c To prepare a corpse for the coffin, by placing the limbs in order, and dressing the body in its

grave—clothes.

Lay about One

(To). To strike on all sides.

“Hell they about him to—day.”— Shakespeare: Trolius and Cressida, i. 2.

Lay by the Heels

(To). To render powerless. The allusion is to the stocks, in which vagrants and other petty offenders were confined by the ankles, locked in what was called the stocks, common, at one time, to well—nigh every village in the land.

Lay of the Last Minstrel

(For plot see Margaret .)

Lay to One's Charge

(To). To attribute an offence to a person.

“And he [Stephen] kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord lay not this sin to their charge.”— Acts vii. 60. The phrase occurs again in the Bible, e.g. Deut. xxi. 8; Rom. viii. 33, etc.

Layamon

who wrote a translation in Saxon of the Brut of Wace, in the twelfth century, is called The English Ennius. (See Ennius .)

Layers—over for Meddlers

Nothing that concerns you. A reproof to inquisitive children who want to know what a person is doing or making, when the person so engaged does not think proper to inform them. A

“layer—over” is a whip or slap. And a “layer—over for meddlers” is a whip or chastise—for those who meddle with what does not concern them.

Lazar House

or Lazaretto. A house for poor persons affected with contagious diseases. So called from the beggar Lazarus (q.v.).

Lazarists A body of missionaries founded by St. Vincent de Paul in 1624, and so termed from the priory of St. Lazare, at Paris, which was their head—quarters from 1632 to 1792.

Lazarillo de Tormes

(1553). A comic romance, something in the Gil Blas style, the object being to satirise all classes of society. Lazarillo, a light, jovial, audacious man—servant, sees his masters in their undress, and exposes their foibles. This work was written by Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, general and statesman of Spain, author of War against the Moors.

Lazarone

(3 syl.); Italian Lazzaro, plu. Lazzaroni. The mob. Originally applied to all those people of Naples who lived in the streets, not having any habitation of their own. So called from the hospital of St. Lazarns, which served as a refuge for the destitute of that city. Every year they elected a chief, called the Capo Lazzaro. Masaniello, in 1647, with these vagabonds accomplished the revolution of Naples. In 1798 Michele Sforza, at the head of the Lazzaroni, successfully resisted Etienne Championnet, the French general.

Lazarus

Any poor beggar; so called from the Lazarus of the parable, who was laid daily at the rich man's gate (St. Luke xvi.).

Lazy

Lazy as David Lawrence's dog. Here Lawrence is a corruption of Larrence, an imaginary being supposed by Scottish peasantry to preside over the lazy and indolent. Laziness is called “Larrence.” (See and compare Davy Jones.)

Lazy as Joe, the marine, who laid down has musket to sneeze. (Sailor's proverb.) Lazy as Ludlam's dog, which leaned has head against the wall to bark. This Ludlam was the famous sorceress of Surrey, who lived in a cave near Farnham, called “Ludlam's Cave.” She kept a dog, noted for its laziness, so that when the rustics came to consult the witch, it would hardly condescend to give notice of their approach, even with the ghost of a bark. (Ray: Proverbs.

Lazy Lawrence of Lubberland

The hero of a popular tale. He served the schoolmaster, the squire's cook, the farmer, and his own wife, which was accounted high treason in Lubberland. One of Miss Edgeworth's tales, in the Parents' Assistant, is called Lazy Lawrence.

Lazy Lobkin

(A). A lob (says Halliwell) is “the last person in a race.” (Somersetshire). (Welsh llob, a dolt, our “lubber.”)

“A lazy lobkin, like an idle loute.”

Breton: Olde Madcappes, etc. (1602).

Lazy Man's Load

One too heavy to be carried; so called because lazy people, to save themselves the trouble of coming a second time, are apt to over—load themselves.

Lazyland

(Gone to). Given up to indolence and idleness.

Lazzaroni

(See Lazarone .)

L'Etat c'est Moi

(I am the State). The saying and belief of Louis XIV. On this principle he acted with tolerable consistency.

Le Roi le Veut

(French, The king wills it.) The form of royal assent made by the clerk of parliament to bills submitted to the Crown. The dissent is expressed by Le roi s'avisera (the king will give it his consideration).

Le'a One of the “daughters of men,” beloved by one of the “sons of God.” The angel who loved her ranked with the least of the spirits of light, whose post around the throne was in the uttermost circle. Sent to earth on a message, he saw Lea bathing and fell in love with her; but Lea was so heavenly—minded that her only wish was to “dwell in purity, and serve God in singleness of heart.” Her angel lover, in the madness of his passion, told Lea the spellword that gave him admittance into heaven. The moment Lea uttered that word her body became spiritual, rose through the air, and vanished from his sight. On the other hand, the angel lost his ethereal nature, and became altogether earthy, like a child of clay” (Moore Loves of the Angels, story 1.)

Leaba na Feine

[Beds of the Feïne ]. The name of several large piles of stones in Ireland. The ancient Irish warriors were called Fe'—i—ne, which some mistake for Phoeni (Garthaginians), but which means hunters.

Leach, Leachcraft

A leach is one skilled in medicine, and “leach—craft” is the profession of a medical man. (Anglo—Saxon, laece, one who relieves pain, leachcraft.)

“And straight way sent, with carefull diligence.

To fetch a leach the which had great insight

In that disease.”

Spenser: Faërie Queene, book i canto x line 23

Lead

(pronounced lêd), the metal, was, by the ancient alchemists, called Saturn. (Anglo—Saxon, lead.)

To strike lead. To make a good hit.

“That, after the failure of the king, he should `strike lead' in his own house seemed ... an inevitable law”— Bret Harte Foot of Five Forks

Lead (pronounce leed). (Anglo—Saxon laed—an.)

To lead apes in hell. (See Apes.) To lead by the nose. (See under Nose.) To lead one a pretty dance. (See under Dance.)

Leaden Hail

(Showers of). That of artillery in the battlefield.

Leaden Hall

(pronounce leden), so named from the ancient manor of Sir Hugh Neville, whose mansion or hall was roofed with lead, a notable thing in his days. “Leadenhall Street” and “Leadenhall Market,” London, are on the site of Sir Hugh's manor.

Leader

(A) or a leading article. A newspaper article in large type, by the editor or one of the editorial staff. So called because it takes the lead or chief place in the summary of current topics, or because it is meant to lead public opinion.

The first fiddle of an orchestra and the first cornet—a—piston of a military band is called the leader.

Leading Case (A). A lawsuit settle others of a similar kind.

Leading Note

in music. The sharp seventh of the diatonic scale, which leads to the octave, only half a tone higher.

Leading Question

A question so worded as to suggest an answer. “Was he dressed in a black coat?” leads to the answer “Yes.” In cross—examining a witness, leading questions are permitted, because the chief object of a cross—examination is to obtain contradictions.

Leading Strings

To be in leading—strings is to be under the control of another. Leading—strings are those strings used for holding up infants just learning to walk.

Leaf

Before the invention of paper one of the substances employed for writing was the leaves of certain plants. In the British Museum are some writings on leaves from the Malabar coast, and several copies of the Bible written on palm—leaves. The reverse and obverse pages of a book are still called leaves: and the double page of a ledger is termed a “folio,” from folium (a leaf).

Leaf

(Anglo—Saxon ieaf.)

To take a leaf out of [my] book. To imitate me; to do as I do. The allusion is to literary plagiarisms. To turn over a new leaf. To amend one's ways. The French equivalent is “Je lia ferai chanter une autre chanson. “ But in English, “To make a person sing another tune,” means to make him eat his words, or change his note for one he will not like so well.

League

The Grey League [lia grischa ]. 15th century. So called from the grey homespun dress adopted by the leaguers.

The Holy League. Several leagues are so denominated. The three following are the most important, 1511, by Pope Julius II.: Ferdinand the Catholic, Henry VIII, the Venetians, and the Swise against Louis XII.: and that of 1576, founded at Péronne for the maintenance of the Catholic faith and the exclusion of Protestant princes from the throne of France. This league was organised by the Guises to keep Henri IV. from the throne.

Leak Out

(To). To come clandestinely to public knowledge. As a liquid leaks out of an unsound vessel, so the secret oozes out unawares.

Leal

Loyal, trusty, law—abiding. Norman—French, leyale, modern French, loyale; Latin, legalis.)

Land of the leal. (See Land ...)

Leander

(3 syl.) A young man of Abydos, who swam nightly across the Hellespont to visit his lady—love, Hero, a priestess of Sestos. One night he was drowned in his attempt, and Hero leaped into the Hellespont also. This story is told in one of the poems of Musaeus, entitled Hero and Leander. (See Marlowe's poem.) (See Hero .)

Lord Byron and Lieutenant Ekenhead repeated the experiment of Leander and accomplished it in 1 hour 10 minutes. The distance, allowing for drifting, would be about four miles. A young man of St. Croix, in 1817, swam over the Sound from Croneuburgh, in 2 hours 40 minutes, the distance being six miles.

Leaning Tower

The one at Pisa, in Italy, is 178 feet in height, and leans about 14 feet. At Caerphilly, in Glamorganshire, there is a tower which leans eleven feet in eighty.

“The Leaning Tower of Pisa continues to stand because the vertical line drawn through its centre of gravity passes within its base.”— Ganot: Physics.

Leap Year Every year divisible by four. Such years occur every fourth year. In ordinary years the day of the month which falls on Monday this year, will fall on Tuesday next year, and Wednesday the year after; but the fourth year will leap over Thursday to Friday. This is because a day is added to February, which, of course, affects every subsequent day of the year. (See Bissextile .)

The ladies propose, and, if not accepted, claim a silk gown. St. Patrick, having “driven the frogs out of the bogs,” was walking along the shores of Lough Neagh, when he was accosted by St. Bridget in tears, and was told that a mutiny had broken out in the nunnery over which she presided, the ladies claiming the right of

“popping the question.” St. Patrick said he would concede them the right every seventh year, when St. Bridget threw her arms round his neck, and exclaimed, “Arrah, Pathrick, jewel, I daurn't go back to the girls wid such a proposal. Make it one year in four.” St. Patrick replied, “Bridget, acushla, squeeze me that way again, an' I'll give ye leap—year, the longest of the lot.” St. Bridget, upon this, popped the question to St. Patrick himself, who, of course, could not marry: so he patched up the difficulty as best he could with a kiss and a silk gown.

The story told above is of no historic value, for an Act of the Scottish Parliament, passed in the year 1228, has been unearthed which runs thus:—

“Ordonit that during ye reign of her maist blessed maiestie, Margaret, ilka maiden, ladee of baith high and lowe estait, shall hae libertie to speak ye man she likes. Gif he refuses to tak hir to bee his wyf, he shale be mulct in the sum of ane hundridty pundes, or less, as his estait may bee, except and alwais gif he can make it appeare that he is betrothit to anither woman, then he: schal be free.”

N.B. The year 1228 was, of course, a leap—year.

Leap in the Dark

(A). Thomas Hobbes is reported to have said on his death—bed, “Now am I about to take my last voyage— a great leap in the dark.” Rabelais, in his last moments, said, “I am going to the Great Perhaps.” Lord Derby, in 1868, applied the words, “We are about to take a leap in the dark,” to the Reform Bill.

Lear

(King). A legendary king of Britain, who in his old age divided his kingdom between Goneril and Regan, two of his daughters, who professed great love for him. These two daughters drove the old man mad by their unnatural conduct. (Shakespeare. King Lear.)

Percy, in his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, has a ballad about King Leir and his Three Daughters (series i. book 2).

Camden tells a similar story of Ina, King of the West Saxons (see Remains, p. 306, edition 1674). The story of King Lear is given by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Chronicles, whence Holinshed transcribed it. Spenser has introduced the same story into his Faërie Queene, book ii. canto 10.

Learn

(1 syl.). Live and learn.

Cato, the censor, was an old man when he taught himself Greek. Michael Angelo, at seventy years of age, said, “I am still learning.” John Kemble wrote out Hamlet thirty times, and said, on quitting the stage, “I am now beginning to understand my art.”

Mrs. Siddons, after she left the stage, was found studying Lady Macbeth, and said, “I am amazed to discover some new points in the character which I never found out while acting it.”

Milton, in his blindness, when past fifty, sat down to complete his Paradise Lost Scott, at fifty—five, took up his pen to redeem an enormous liability.

Richardson was above fifty when he published his first novel, Pamela. Benjamin West was sixty—four when be commenced his series of paintings, one of which is Christ Healing

the Sick.

Learn by Heart

(To). The heart is the seat of understanding; thus the Scripture speaks of men “wise in heart;” and “slow of heart” means dull of understanding. To learn by heart is to learn and understand, to learn by rote is to learn so as to be able to repeat; to learn by memory is to commit to memory without reference to understanding what is so learnt. However, we employ the phrase commonly as a synonym for committing to memory.

Learned

(2 syl.). Coloman, king of Hungary, was called The Learned (1095—1114). (See Beauclerc .)

The Learned Blacksmith. Elihu Burritt, the linguist, who was at one time a blacksmith (1811—1879). The Eearned Painter. Charles Lebrun, so called from the great accuracy of his costumes (1619—1690). The Learned Tailor. Henry Wild, of Norwich, who mastered, while he worked at his trade, the Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Chaldaic, Syriac, Persian, and Arabic languages (1684—1734).

Least Said the soonest Mended

(The) or The Less Said ... Explanations and apologies are quite useless, and only make bad worse.

Leather

Nothing like leather My interest is the best nostrum. A town, in danger of a siege, called together a council of the chief inhabitants to know what defence they recommended. A mason suggested a strong wall, a shipbuilder advised “wooden walls,” and when others had spoken, a currier arose and said, “There's nothing like leather.”

In Botallack, Cornwall, a standing toast is Tin and Pilchards, the staples of the town. Another version is. “Nothing like leather to administer a thrashing”

Leather or Prunella

It is all leather or prunella. Nothing of any moment, all rubbish. Prunella is a woollen stuff, used for the uppers of ladies' boots and shoes. (See Salt .)

“Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow,

The rest is all but leather or prunella.”

Pope: Essay on Man.

Leathering To give one a leathering is to beat him with a leather belt, such as policemen wear, and boys used to wear. (The Welsh lathen is a rod.)

Leatherstocking

(Natty). The nickname of Natty Bumpo (q.v.), in Cooper's novel, called The Pioneers. A half—savage and half—Christian hero of American wild life.

Leave in the Lurch

(To). (See Left In The Lurch .)

Leave out in the Cold

(To). To slight, to take little or no interest in a person; to pass by unnoticed. The allusion is to a person calling at a house with a friend and the friend not being asked to come in.

Leave some for Manners In Ecclesiasticus it is written:

“Leave off first for manners' sake: and be not unsatiable, lest thou offend.”— Chap. xxxi. 17.

Leaves without Figs

Show of promise without fulfilment. Words without deeds. Keeping the promise to the ear and breaking it to the sense. Of course, the allusion is to the barren figtree referred to in Luke xiii.

Led Captain

(A). An obsequious person, who dances attendance on the master and mistress of a house, for which service he has a knife and fork at the dinner table. He is led like a dog, and always graced with the title of captain.

Leda and the Swan

This has been a favourite subject with artists. In the Orléans gallery is the chef—d'—oeuvre of Paul Veronese. Correggio and Michael Angelo have both left paintings of the same subject.

Ledger

(A). A book “laid up” in the counting—house, and containing the debits and credits of the merchant or tradesman, arranged under “heads.” (Dutch legen, to lay, whence legger. )

Ledger—lines

in music, are lines which lie above or below the staff. (Dutch, legger, to lie.)

Lee

Under the lee of the land. Under the shelter of the cliffs which break the force of the winds. (Anglo—Saxon, hleo, a shelter.)

Under the lee of a ship. On the side

opposite to the wind, so that the ship shelters or wards it off.

To lay a ship by the lee, or, in modern nautical phraseology, to heave—to, is to arrange the sails of a ship so that they may lie flat against the masts and shrouds, that the wind may strike the vessel broadside so that she will make little or no headway.

Lee Hatch

Take care of the lee hatch. Take care, helmsman, that the ship goes not to the leeward of her course— i.e. the part towards which the wind blows.

Lee Shore

is the shore under the lee of a ship, or that towards which the wind blows. (See Lee .)

Lee—side

and Weather—side. (See Leeward .)

Lee Tide

or Leeward Tide, is a tide running in the same direction as the wind blows. A tide in the opposite direction is called a tide under the lee.

Leeds

(a Stock Exchange term). Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Ordinary Stock. It is the Leeds line.

The Austrian Leeds. Brunn, in Moravia, noted for its woollen cloth. So it was called in the palmy days of Austria.

Leek

Wearing the leek on St. David's day. Mr. Brady says St. David caused the Britons under King Cadwallader to distinguish themselves by a leek in their caps. They conquered the Saxons, and recall their victory by adopting the leek on every anniversary (March 1st). (Clavis Calendaria.) Wearing the leek is obsolete. (Anglo—Saxon leac.)

Shakespeare makes out that the Welsh wore leeks at the battle of Poitiers, for Fluelleu says:—

“If your majesties is remembered of it, the Welshmen did good service in a garden where leeks did grow, wearing leeks in their Monmouth caps, which, your majesty know, to this

hour is an honourable badge of the service, and I do believe your majesty takes no scorn to wear the leek upon St. Tavy's Day”— Henry V. iv 7.

To eat the leek. To be compelled to eat your own words, or retract what you have said. Fluellen (in Shakespeare's Henry V.) is taunted by Pistol for wearing a leek in his hat. “Hence,” says Pistol, “I am qualmish at the smell of leek.” Fluellen replies, “I peseech you, at my desire to eat this leek.” The ancient answers, “Not for Cadwallader and all his goats.” Then the peppery Welshman beats him, nor desists till Pistol has swallowed the entire abhorrence.

Lees

There are lees to every wine. The best things have some defect. A French proverb.

“Doubt is the lees of thought.”

Boker: Doubt, etc., i. 11.

Settling on the lees. Making the best of a bad job; settling down on what is left, after having squandered the main part of one's fortune.

Leet

(A). A manor—court for petty offences; the day on which such a court was held. (Anglo—Saxon, lethe, a law—court superior to the wapentake.)

“Who has a breast so pure,

But some uncleanly apprehensions

Keep leets and law—days and in session sit

With meditations lawful?”

Shakespeare: Othello, iii. 3.

Leeward

and Windward. Leeward is toward the lee, or that part towards which the wind blows, windward is in the opposite direction, viz. in the teeth of the wind. “Leeward,” pronounced lew—ard. (See Lee .)

Lefevre

The poor lieutenant whose story is so touchingly told in Sterne's Tristram Shandy book vi. chap. 6).

Left

unlucky, Right lucky. The augur among the Romans having taken his stand on the Capitoline Hill, and marked out with his wand the space of the heavens to be the field of observation, divided the space into two from top to bottom. If the birds appeared on the left side of the division, the augury was unlucky, but if the birds appeared on the right side the augury was pronounced to be favourable.

“Hail, gentle bird, turn thy wings and fly on my right hand” but the bird flew on the left side. Then the cat grew very heavy, for he knew the omen to be unlucky.”— Reynard the Fox, iii.

The Left, in the Legislative Assembly of France, meant the Girondists; it was famous for its orators. In the House of Commons the Opposition occupies the left—hand side of the Speaker. In the Austrian Assembly the democratic party is called The Left.

Over the left. A way of expressing disbelief, incredulity, or a negative. The allusion is to morganatic marriages (q.v.). When a woman so married claimed to be a wedded wife, she was told that such was the case “over the left.” (See below.

Sinister (the left hand), meaning not straightforward, dishonest, is far older than morganatic marriages. The ancient Greek augurs considered all signs seen by them over the left shoulder to be unlucky, and foreboding evil to come Plutarch, following Plato and Aristotle, gives as the reason; that the west (or left side of the augur) was towards the setting or departing sun.

Left—handed Compliment (A). A compliment which insinuates a reproach. (See below.)

Left—handed Marriage

A morganatic marriage (q.v.). In these marriages the husband gives his left hand to the bride, instead of the right, when he says, “I take thee for my wedded wife.” George William, Duke of Zell, married Eleanora d'Esmiers in this way, and the lady took the name and title of Lady of Harburg; her daughter was Sophia Dorothe'a, the wife of George I.

Left—handed Oath

(A). An oath not intended to be binding. (See above.)

Left in the Lurch

Left to face a great perplexity. In cribbage a lurch is when a player has scored only thirty holes, while his opponent has made sixty—one, and thus won a double.

Leg

(A), that is, a blackleg (q.v.). To make a leg, is to make a bow.

“The pursuivant smiled at their simplicitye,

And making many leggs, tooke their reward.” The King and Miller of Mansfield.

Leg—bail A runaway. To give leg—bail, to cut and run.

Leg—bye

(A), in cricket, is a run scored from a ball which has glanced off any part of a batsman's person except his hand.

Leg of Mutton School

(The). So Eckhart called those authors who lauded their patrons in prose or verse, under the hope of gaining a commission, a living, or, at the very least, a dinner for their pains.

Legs

On his legs. Mr. So—and—So is on his legs, has risen to make a speech.

On its last legs. Moribund; obsolete; ready to fall out of cognisance. To set on his legs. So to provide for one that he is able to earn his living without further help. To stand on one's own legs. To be independent: to be earning one's own living. Of course, the allusion is to being nursed, and standing “alone.” (See Bottom.)

Legal Tender

(A). The circulating medium of a nation, according to a standard fixed by the government of that nation. It may be in metal, in paper, or anything else that the government may choose to sanction. In England, at present (1895), the standard is a gold sovereign, guaranteed of a fixed purity. In some countries it is silver, and in some countries the two precious metals are made to bear a relative value, say twenty silver shillings (or their equivalents) shall equal in commercial value a gold sovereign. In Germany, before 1872, a very base silver was a legal tender, and in Ireland James II. made a farthing the legal tender represented by an English shilling, so that 5d. was really a legal tender for a sovereign. Of course, export and import trade would

not be possible under such conditions.

Legem Pone

Money paid down on the nail; ready money. The first of the psalms appointed to be read on the twenty—fifth morning of the month is entitled Legem pone, and March 25th is the great pay—day; in this way the phrase “Legem pone” became associated with cash down.

“In this there is nothing to be abated; all their speech is legem pone.”— Minshall: Essayes Prison, p. 26.

“They were all in our service for the legem pone. “

Ozell: Rabelais.

Legend means simply “something to be read” as part of the divine service. The narratives of the lives of saints and martyrs were so termed from their being read, especially at matins, and after dinner in the refectories. Exaggeration and a love for the wonderful so predominated in these readings, that the word came to signify the untrue, or rather, an event based on tradition.

“A myth is a pure and absolute imagination; a legend has a basis of fact, but amplifies, a bridges, or modifies that basis at pleasure.”— Rawlinson: Historic Evidences, lecture i. p. 231, note 2.

Legend of a Coin

is that which is written round the face of a coin. Thus, on a shilling, the legend is round the head of the reigning sovereign; as, “VICTORIA DEI GRATIA BRITT: REGINA F: D:” (or “BRITANNIAR: REG: F: D:). The words “ONE SHILLING” on the other side of the coin, written across it, we denominate the “inscription.”

Legenda Aurea

by Jacques de Voragine. A collection of monkish legends in Latin. (1230—1298.)

The Golden Legend. of Longfellow, is a semi—dramatic poem taken from an old German tale by Hartmann von der Aur, called Poor Henry. (Twelfth century.)

Leger

St. Leger Stakes (Doncaster): so called from Colonel Anthony St. Leger, who founded them in 1776. The colonel was governor of St. Lucia, and cousin of the Hon. Elizabeth St. Leger (the lady Freemason).

The St. Leger Stakes are for both colts and mares. Those which have run in the Derby or Oaks are eligible.

Leger—de—Main

Sleight of hand; conjuring which depends chiefly on lightness of hand, or dexterity.

Legion

“My name is Legion: for we are many” (St. Mark v. 9). A proverbial expression somewhat similar to hydraheaded. Thus, speaking of the houseless poor we should say, “Their name is Legion;” so also we should say of the diseases arising from want of cleanliness, the evils of ignorance, and so on.

The Thundering Legion. The Roman legion that discomfited the Marcomanni in 179 is so called, because (as the legend informs us) a thunderstorm was sent in answer to the prayers of certain Christians; this storm relieved the thirst of the legion. In like manner a hail—storm was sent to the aid of Joshua, at the time when he commanded the sun to stay its course, and assisted the Israelites to their victory. (Dion Cassius, lxxi. 8. (See Joshua x. 10—12.)

Legion of Honour

An order of merit instituted by the First Consul in 1802, for either military or civil merit. In 1843 there were 49,417 members, but in 1851 one new member was elected for every two extinct ones, so that the honour was no longer a mere farce.

Napoleon III. added a lower order of this Legion, called the Médarille Militaire, the ribbon of which was yellow, not red. The old Legion consisted of Grand Cross, Grand Officers, Commanders, Officers, and Chevaliers, and the ribbon of the order was red.

“The Legion of Honour gives pensions to its military members, and free education to some four hundred of the daughters, sisters, and nieces of its members.”

Legislator

or Solon of Parnassus. Boileau was so called by Voltaire, because of his Art of Poetry, a production unequalled in the whole range of didactic poetry. (1636—1711.)

Leglin—girth

To cast a leglin—girth. To have “a screw loose;” to have made a faux pas; to have one's reputation blown upon. A legin—girth is the lowest hoop of a leglin or milk—pail. (See Sir Walter Scott: Fortunes of Nigel, chap. xxii.)

Legree

A slave—dealer in Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Mrs, Beecher Stowe.

Leibnitz—ism

or Leibnitzian—ism. The doctrines taught by G. W. von Leibnitz, the German philosopher (1646—1716). The opposite of Spinosa—ism. Spinosa taught that whatever is, is God manifested by phenomena. The light and warmth of the sun, the refreshing breeze, space, and every visible object, is only diety in detail. That God, in fact, is one and all.

Leibnitz, on the other hand, taught that phenomena are separate from deity, as body is from soul; but although separate, that there is between them a pre—established harmony. The electricity which runs along a telegraph wire is not the message, but it gives birth to the message by pre—established harmony. So all things obey God's will, not because they are identical, but on account of this pre—established harmony.

Leicester

(pron. Lester) is the camptown on the river Leire, which is now called the Soar

Leicester Square

(London). So called from a family mansion of the Sydneys, Earls of Leicester, which stood on the north—east side.

“The Earl of Leicester, father of Algernon Sidney the patriot ... built for himself a stately house at the north—east corner of a square plot of `Lammas Land.' belonging to the parish of St. Martin's which plot henceforth became known to Londoners as Leicester Fields. A square gradually grew up on the spot, and was completed in 1671.”— Cassell's Magazine, London Legends, x

Leigh

(Aurora) (pron. Lee). The heroine of Mrs. Browning's poem so called, designed to show the noble aim of true art.

Leilah

[Li—lah]. A beautiful young slave, the concubine of Hassan, Caliph of the Ottoman Empire. She falls in love with the Giaour, flees from the seraglio, is overtaken by an emir, and cast into the sea. (Byron: The Giaour.)

Lely

(Sir Peter), the painter, was the son of Vander Vaas or Faes, of Westphalia, whose house had a lily for its sign. Both father and son went by the nickname of Le—lys (the Lily), a sobriquet which Peter afterwards adopted as his cognomen.

Leman

(Lake). Geneva, called in Latin Lemannus.

“Lake Leman woos me with its crystal face.”

Lord Byron: Childe Harold, iii. 68.

Lemnian Deed

(A). One of unusual barbarity and cruelty. The phrase arose from two horrible massacres perpetrated by the Lemnians: the first was the murder of all the men and male children on the island by the women; and the other was the murder by the men of all the children born in the island of Athenian parents.

Lemnian Earth A species of earth of a yellowish—grey colour, found in the island of Lemnos, said to cure the bites of serpents and other wounds. It was called terra sigillata, because it was sealed by the priest before being vended. Philoctetes was left at Lemnos when wounded in the foot by Hercules.

Lemnian Women

(The). A somewhat similar story is told of these women to that of the Danaides (q.v.). When they found that their husbands liked the Thracian women better than themselves, they agreed together to murder every man in the island. Hypsiphyle saved her father, and was sold to some pirates as a slave.

Lemnos

The island where Vulcan fell when Jupiter flung him out of heaven. Probably it was at one time volcanic, though not so now.

Lemon Soles

which abound on the south coast of England and about Marseilles. Lemon is a corruption of the French limande, a dab or flat—fish. The “flounder—sole.” There are several varieties. (Latin lima, mud.)

Lemster Ore

Fine wool, of which Leominster carpets are made.

“A bank of moss,

Spongy and swelling, and far more

Soft, than the finest Lemster ore.”

Herrick: Oberon's Palace.

Lemures (3 syl.). The spirits of the dead. Good lemures were called Lares, but bad ones Larvae, spectres who wandered about at night—time to terrify the living. (Ovid. Fasti, v.)

“The lars and lemures moan with midnight plaint.” Milton: Ode on the Nativity.

Lend a Hand (See Hand .)

Length

(A). Forty—two lines. This is a theatrical term; an actor says he has one, two, or more lengths in his part, and, if written out for him, the scribe is paid by the length.

Length—month

(See Lent .)

Lens

(Latin, a lentil or bean). Glasses used in mathematical instruments are so called because the double convex one, which may be termed the perfect lens, is of a bean shape.

Lenson

As much akin as Lenson hill to Pilsen pin; i.e. not at all. Lenson hill and Pilsen pin are two high hills in Dorsetshire, called by sailors the Cow and Calf. Out at sea they look like one elevation, though in reality several hills separate them.

Lent (Anglo—Saxon, lencten). Lenctentid (spring—tide) was the Saxon name for March, because in this month there is a manifest lengthening of the days. As the chief part of the great fast falls in March, this period of fast received the name of the Lencten—fæsten, or Lent. It is from Ash Wednesday to Easter.

The Fast of thirty—six days was introduced in the fourth century. Felix III. added four more days in 487, to make it correspond with our Lord's fast in the wilderness.

Galeazzo's Lent. A form of torture devised by Galeazzo Visconti, calculated to prolong the unfortunate victim's life for forty days.

Lent Lily

(The). The daffodil, which blooms in Lent.

Lenten

Frugal, stinted, as food in Lent. Shakespeare has “lenten entertainment” (Hamlet, ii. 2); “a lenten answer” (Twelfth Night, i. 5); “a lenten pye” (Romeo and Juliet, ii. 4).

“And with a lenten salad cooled her blood.”

Dryden: Hind and Panther, iii. 27.

Leodogrance

of Camiliard, the father of Guinevere, wife of King Arthur.

Leon

(in Orlando Furioso), son of Constantine, the Greek emperor, is promised Bradamant in marriage by her parents. Amon and Beatrice; but Bradamant loves Rogero. By—and—by a friendship springs up between Leon and Rogero, and when the prince learns that Bradamant and Rogero are betrothed to each other, he nobly withdraws his suit, and Rogero marries Bradamant.

Leonard

A real scholar, forced for daily bread to keep a common school. (Crabbe: Borough, letter xxiv.)

St. Leonard is usually represented in a deacon's dress, and holding chains or broken fetters in his hand, in allusion to his untiring zeal in releasing prisoners. Contemporary with Clovis.

Leonidas of Modern Greece

Marco Bozzars, who with 1,200 men put to rout 4,000 Turco—Albanians, at Kerpenisi, but was killed in the attack (1823). He was buried at Missolonghi.

Leonine Contract

A one—sided agreement; so called in allusion to the fable of The Lion and his Fellow Hunters, (See Glaucus .)

Leonine Verses

properly speaking, are either hexameter verses, or alternate hexameter and pentameter verses, rhyming at the middle and end of each respective line. These fancies were common in the 12th century, and were so called from Leoninus, a canon of the Church of St. Victor, in Paris, the inventor. In English verse, any metre which rhymes middle and end is called a Leonine verse. One of the most noted specimens celebrates the tale of a Jew, who fell into a pit on Saturday and refused to be helped out because it was his Sabbath. His comrade, being a Christian, refused to aid him the day following, because it was Sunday:—

“Tende manus, Salomon, ego te de stercore tollam.

Sabbata nostra colo, de stercore surgere nolo, Sabbata nostra quidem Salomon celebrabis ibideri. '

Hexameters and pentameters.

“Help for you out of this mire; here, give me your hand, Hezekiah.”

“Ho! tis the Sabbath, a time labour's accounted a crime.

If on the morrow you've leisure, your aid I'll accept with much pleasure.”

“That will be my Sabbath, so, here I will leave you and go.”

E. C. B.

Leonnoys, Leonnesse or Lyonesse. A mythical country, contiguous to Cornwall.

Leonora

wife of Fernando Florestan, a state prisoner in Seville. (Beethoven: Fidelio, an opera.) (See Fernando .)

Leonora. A princess who fell in love with Manrico, the supposed son of Azucen'a the gipsy. The Conte di Luna was in love with her, and, happening to