OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Lachish

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​LACHISH, a town of great importance in S. Palestine, often mentioned in the Tell el-Amarna tablets. It was destroyed by Joshua for joining the league against the Gibeonites (Joshua x. 31-33) and assigned to the tribe of Judah (xv. 39). Rehoboam fortified it (2 Chron. xi. 9). King Amaziah having fled hither, was here murdered by conspirators (2 Kings xiv. 19). Sennacherib here conducted a campaign (2 Kings xviii. 13) during which Hezekiah endeavoured to make terms with him: the campaign is commemorated by bas-reliefs found in Nineveh, now in the British Museum (see G. Smith’s History of Sennacherib, p. 69). It was one of the last cities that resisted Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. xxxiv. 7). The meaning of Micah’s denunciation (i. 13) of the city is unknown. The Onomasticon places it 7 m. from Eleutheropolis on the S. road, which agrees with the generally received identification, Tell el-Ḥesi, an important mound excavated for the Palestine Exploration Fund by Petrie and Bliss, 1890–1893. The name is preserved in a small Roman site in the neighbourhood, Umm Lakis, which probably represents a later dwelling-place of the descendants of the ancient inhabitants of the city.
See W. M. Flinders Petrie, Tell el-Hesy, and F. J. Bliss, A Mound of many Cities, both published by the Palestine Exploration Fund.  (R. A. S. M.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Lacedaemon

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​LACEDAEMON, in historical times an alternative name of Laconia (q.v.). Homer uses only the former, and in some passages seems to denote by it the Achaean citadel, the Therapnae of later times, in contrast to the lower town Sparta (G. Gilbert, Studien zur altspartanischen Geschichte, Göttingen, 1872, p. 34 foll.). It is described by the epithets κοίλη (hollow) and κητώεσσα (spacious or hollow), and is probably connected etymologically with λάκκος, lacus, any hollow place. Lacedaemon is now the name of a separate department, which had in 1907 a population of 87,106.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Laches

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​LACHES (from Anglo-French lachesse, negligence, from lasche, modern lâche, unloosed, slack), a term for slackness or negligence, used particularly in law to signify negligence on the part of a person in doing that which he is by law bound to do, or unreasonable lapse of time in asserting a right, seeking relief, or claiming a privilege. Laches is frequently a bar to a remedy which might have been had if prosecuted in proper time. Statutes of limitation specify the time within which various classes of actions may be brought. Apart from statutes of limitation courts of equity will often refuse relief to those ​who have allowed unreasonable time to elapse in seeking it, on the principle vigilantibus ac non dormientibus jura subveniunt.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Lacinium, Promunturium

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​LACINIUM, PROMUNTURIUM (mod. Capo delle Colonne), 7 m S.E. of Crotona (mod. Cotrone); the easternmost point of Bruttii (mod. Calabria). On the cape still stands a single column of the temple erected to Hera Lacinia, which is said to have been fairly complete in the 16th century, but to have been destroyed to build the episcopal palace at Cotrone. It is a Doric column with capital, about 27 ft. in height. Remains of marble roof-tiles have been seen on the spot (Livy xlii. 3) and architectural fragments were excavated in 1886–1887 by the Archaeological Institute of America. The sculptures found were mostly buried again, but a few fragments, some decorative terra-cottas and a dedicatory inscription to Hera of the 6th century B.C., in private possession at Cotrone, are described by F. von Duhn in Notizie degli scavi, 1897, 343 seq. The date of the erection of the temple may be given as 480–440 B.C.; it is not recorded by any ancient writer.
See R. Koldewey and O. Puchstein, Die griechischen Tempel in Unteritalien und Sicilien (Berlin 1899, 41).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Laconia (New Hampshire)

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​LACONIA, a city and the county-seat of Belknap county, New Hampshire, U.S.A., on both sides of the Winnepesaukee river, 28 m. N.N.E. of Concord. Pop. (1900) 8042 (1770 foreign-born); (1910) 10,183. Laconia is served by two divisions of the Boston & Maine railway, which has a very handsome granite passenger station (1892) and repair shops here. It is pleasantly situated in the lake district of central New Hampshire, and in the summer season Lake Winnisquam on the S. and W. and Lake Winnepesaukee on the N.E. attract many visitors. The city covers an area of 24.65 sq. m. (5.47 sq. m. annexed since 1890). Within the city limits, and about 6 m. from its centre, are the grounds of the Winnepesaukee Camp-Meeting Association, and the camping place for the annual reunions of the New Hampshire Veterans of the Civil War, both at The Weirs, the northernmost point in the territory claimed by colonial Massachusetts; about 2 m. from the centre of Laconia is Lakeport (pop. 1900, 2137), which, like The Weirs, is a summer resort and a ward in the city of Laconia. Among the public institutions are the State School for Feeble-minded Children, a cottage hospital and the Laconia Public Library, lodged in the Gale Memorial Library building (1903). Another fine building is the Congregational Church (1906). The New Hampshire State Fish Hatchery is in Laconia. Water-power is furnished by the river. In 1905 Laconia ranked first among the cities of the state in the manufacture of hosiery and knit goods, and the value of these products for the year was 48.4% of the total value of the city’s factory product; among its other manufactures are yarn, knitting machines, needles, sashes and blinds, axles, paper boxes, boats, gas and gasolene engines, and freight, passenger and electric cars. The total value of the factory products increased from $2,152,379 in 1900 to $3,096,878 in 1905, or 43.9%. The portion of the city N. of the river, formerly known as Meredith Bridge, was set apart from the township of Meredith and incorporated as a township under the name of Laconia in 1855; a section S. of the river was taken from the township of Gilford in 1874; and Lakeport was added in 1893, when Laconia was chartered as a city. The name Laconia was first applied in New England to the region granted in 1629 to Mason and Gorges (see Mason, John).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Imphal

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​IMPHAL, the capital of the state of Manipur (q.v.) in eastern Bengal and Assam, on the north-east frontier of India, situated at the confluence of three rivers. Pop. (1901) 67,903. It is really only a collection of villages buried amid trees, with a clearing containing the palace of the raja, the cantonments, and the houses of the few European residents.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Imposition

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​IMPOSITION (from Lat. imponere, to place or lay upon), in ecclesiastical usage, the “laying on” of hands by a bishop at the services of confirmation and ordination as a sign that some special spiritual gift is conferred, or that the recipient is set apart for some special service or work. The word is also used of the levying of a burdensome or unfair tax or duty, and of a penalty, and hence is applied to a punishment task given to a schoolboy. From “impose” in the sense of “to pass off” on some one, imposition means also a trick or deception. In the printing trade the term is used of the arrangement of pages of type in the “forme,” being one of the stages between composing and printing.
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# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Impost

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​IMPOST (through the O. Fr. from Lat. impositum, a thing laid upon another; the modern French is impôt), a tax or tribute, and particularly a duty levied on imported or exported merchandise (see Taxation, Customs Duties, Excise, &c.). In architecture, “impost” (in German Kaempfer) is a term applied in Italian to the doorpost, but in English restricted to the upper member of the same, from which the arch springs. This may either be in the same plane as the arch mould or projecting and forming a plain band or elaborately moulded, in which case the mouldings are known as impost mouldings. Sometimes the complete entablature of a smaller order is employed, as in the case of the Venetian or Palladian window, where the central opening has an arch resting on the entablature of the pilasters which flank the smaller window on each side. In Romanesque and Gothic work the capitals with their abaci take the place of the impost mouldings.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Impotence

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​IMPOTENCE (Lat. impotentia, want of power), the term used in law for the inability of a husband or wife to have marital intercourse. In English matrimonial law if impotence exists in either of the parties to a marriage at the time of its solemnization the marriage is voidable ab initio. A suit for nullity on the ground of impotence can only be brought by the party who suffers the injury. Third persons—however great their interest—cannot sue for a decree on this ground, nor can a marriage be impeached after the death of one of the parties. The old rule of the ecclesiastical courts was to require a triennial cohabitation between the parties prior to the institution of the suit, but this has been practically abrogated (G. v. G., 1871, L.R. 2 P.C.D. 287). In suits for nullity on the ground of impotence, medical evidence as to the condition of the parties is necessary and a commission of two medical inspectors is usually appointed by the registrar of the court for the purpose of examining the parties; such cases are heard in camera. In the United States impotence is a ground for nullity in most states. In Germany it is recognized as a ground for annulment, but not so in France.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Impromptu

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​IMPROMPTU (from in promptu, on the spur of the moment), a short literary composition which has not been, or is not supposed to have been, prepared beforehand, but owes its merit to the ready skill which produces it without premeditation. The word seems to have been introduced from the French language in the middle of the 17th century. Without question, the poets have, from earliest ages, made impromptus, and the very art of poetry, in its lyric form, is of the nature of a modified improvisation. It is supposed that many of the epigrams of the Greeks, and still more probably those of the Roman satirists, particularly Martial, were delivered on the moment, and gained a great part, at least, of their success from the evidence which they gave of rapidity of invention. But it must have been difficult then, as it has been since, to be convinced of the value of that evidence. Who is to be sure that, like Mascarille in Les Précieuses ridicules, the impromptu-writer has not employed his leisure in sharpening his arrows? James Smith received the highest praise for his compliment to Miss Tree, the cantatrice:—
* On this tree when a nightingale settles and sings,
* The Tree will return him as good as he brings.
This was extremely neat, but who is to say that James Smith had not polished it as he dressed for dinner? One writer owed all his fame, and a seat among the Forty Immortals of the French Academy, to the reputation of his impromptus. This was the Marquis François Joseph de St Aulaire (1643–1742). The piece which threw open the doors of the Academy to him in 1706 was composed at Sceaux, where he was staying with the duchess of Maine, who was guessing secrets, and who called him Apollo. St Aulaire instantly responded:—
* La divinité qui s’amuse
* A me demander mon secret,
* Si j’étais Apollon, ne serait pas ma muse,
* Elle serait Thétis—et le jour finirait.
This is undoubtedly as neat as it is impertinent, and if the duchess had given him no ground for preparation, this is typical of the impromptu at its best. Voltaire was celebrated for the savage wit of his impromptus, and was himself the subject of a famous one by Young. Less well known but more certainly extemporaneous is the couplet by the last-mentioned poet, who being asked to put something amusing in an album, and being obliged to borrow from Lord Chesterfield a pencil for the purpose, wrote:—
* Accept a miracle instead of wit,—
* See two dull lines with Stanhope’s pencil writ.
The word “impromptu” is sometimes used to designate a short dramatic sketch, the type of which is Molière’s famous Impromptu du Versailles (1663), a miniature comedy in prose.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Implement

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​IMPLEMENT (Lat. implementum, a filling up, from implere, to fill), in ordinary usage, a tool, especially in the plural for the set of tools necessary for a particular trade or for completing a particular piece of work (see Tools). It is also the most general term applied to the weapons and tools that remain of those used by primitive man. The Late Lat. implementum, more usually in the plural, implementa, was used for all the objects necessary to stock or “fill up” a house, farm, &c.; it was thus applied to furniture of a house, the vestments and sacred vessels of a church, and to articles of clothing, &c. The transition to the necessary outfit of a trade, &c., is easy. In its original Latin sense of “filling up,” the term survives in Scots law, meaning full performance or “fulfilment” of a contract, agreement, &c.; “to implement” is thus also used in Scots law for to carry out, perform.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Impluvium

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​IMPLUVIUM, the Latin term for the sunk part of the floor in the atrium of a Greek or Roman house, which was contrived to receive the water passing through the compluvium (q.v.) of the roof. The impluvium was generally in marble and sunk about a foot below the floor of the atrium.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Magic/The Magic of Names

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​The Magic of Names.—For primitive peoples the name is as much a part of the person as a limb; consequently the magical use of names is in some of its aspects assimilable to the processes dependent on the law of sympathy. In some cases the name must be withheld from any one who is likely to make a wrong use of it, and in some parts of the world people have secret names which are never used. Elsewhere the name must not be told by the bearer of it, but any other person may communicate it without giving an opening for the magical use of it. Not only human beings but also spirits can be coerced by the use of their names; hence the names of the dead are forbidden, lest the mention of them act as an evocation, unintentional though it be. Even among more advanced nations it has been the practice to conceal the real name of supreme gods; we may probably explain this as due to the fear that an enemy might by the use of them turn the gods away from those to whom they originally belonged. For the same reason ancient Rome had a secret name.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Magic/Talismans and Amulets

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Talismans and Amulets.—Inanimate objects as well as living beings are credited with stores of magical force; when they are regarded as bringing good, i.e. are positive in their action, they may be termed “talismans”; “amulets” are protective or negative in their action, and their function is to avert evil; a single object may serve both purposes. Broadly speaking, the fetish, whose “magical” properties are due to association with a spirit, tends to become a talisman or amulet. The “medicine” of the Red Indian, originally carried as means of union between him and his manito, is perhaps the prototype of many European charms. In other cases it is some specific quality of the object or animal which is desired; the boar’s tusk is worn on the Papuan Gulf as a means of imparting courage to the wearer; the Lukungen Indians of Vancouver Island rub the ashes of wasps on the faces of their warriors, in order that they may be pugnacious. Some Bechuanas wear a ferret as a charm, in the belief that it will make them difficult to kill, the animal being very tenacious of life. Among amulets may be mentioned horns and crescents, eyes or their representations, and grotesque figures, all of which are supposed to be powerful against the Evil Eye (q.v.). ​Tylor has shown that the brass objects so often seen on harness were originally amuletic in purpose, and can be traced back to Roman times. Some amulets are supposed to protect from the evil eye simply by attracting the glance from the wearer to themselves, but, as a rule, magical power is ascribed to them.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Magliani, Agostino

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​MAGLIANI, AGOSTINO (1824–1891), Italian financier, was a native of Lanzino, near Salerno. He studied at Naples, and a book on the philosophy of law based on Liberal principles won for him a post in the Neapolitan treasury. He entered the Italian Senate in 1871, and had already secured a reputation as a financial expert before his Questione monetaria appeared in 1874. In December 1877 he became minister of finance in the reconstructed Depretis ministry, and he subsequently held the same office in three other Liberal cabinets. In his second tenure he carried through (1880) the abolition of the grist tax, to take effect in 1884. Having to face an increased expenditure without offending the Radical electorate by unpopular taxes, he had recourse to unsound methods of finance, which seriously embarrassed Italian credit for some years after he finally laid down office in 1888. He died in Rome on the 22nd of February 1891. He was one of the founders of the anti-socialistic “Adam Smith Society” at Florence.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Maginn, William

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​MAGINN, WILLIAM (1793–1842), Irish poet and journalist, was born at Cork on the 10th of July 1793. The son of a schoolmaster, he graduated at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1811, and after his father’s death in 1813 succeeded him in the school. In 1819 he began to contribute to the Literary Gazette and to Blackwood’s Magazine, writing as “R. T. Scott” and “Morgan O’Doherty.” He first made his mark as a parodist and a writer of humorous Latin verse. In 1821 he visited Edinburgh, where he made acquaintance with the Blackwood circle. He is credited with having originated the idea of the Noctes ambrosianae, of which some of the most brilliant chapters were his. His connexion with Blackwood lasted, with a short interval, almost to the end of his life. His best story was “Bob Burke’s Duel with Ensign Brady.” In 1823 he removed to London. He was employed by John Murray on the short-lived Representative, and was for a short time joint-editor of the Standard. But his intemperate habits and his imperfect journalistic morality prevented any permanent success. In connexion with Hugh Fraser he established Fraser’s Magazine (1830), in which appeared his “Homeric Ballads.” Maginn was the original of Captain Shandon in Pendennis. In spite of his inexhaustible wit and brilliant scholarship, most of his friends were eventually alienated by his obvious failings, and his persistent insolvency. He died at Walton-on-Thames on the 21st of August 1842.
His Miscellanies were edited (5 vols., New York, 1855–1857) by R. Shelton Mackenzie and (2 vols., London, 1885) by R. W. Montagu [Johnson].
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Magliabechi, Antonio Da Marco

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​MAGLIABECHI, ANTONIO DA MARCO (1633–1714), Italian bibliophile, was born at Florence on the 28th of October 1633. He followed the trade of a goldsmith until 1673, when he received the appointment of librarian to the grand-duke of Tuscany, a post for which he had qualified himself by his vast stores of self-acquired learning. He died on the 4th of July 1714, bequeathing his large private library to the grand-duke, who in turn handed it over to the city.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Jamieson, John

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​JAMIESON, JOHN (1759–1838), Scottish lexicographer, son of a minister, was born in Glasgow, on the 3rd of March 1759. He was educated at Glasgow University, and subsequently attended classes in Edinburgh. After six years’ theological study, Jamieson was licensed to preach in 1789 and became pastor of an Anti-burgher congregation in Forfar; and in 1797 he was called to the Anti-burgher church in Nicolson Street, Edinburgh. The union of the Burgher and Anti-burgher sections of the Secession Church in 1820 was largely due to his exertions. He retired from the ministry in 1830 and died in Edinburgh on the 12th of July 1838.
Jamieson’s name stands at the head of a tolerably long list of works in the Bibliotheca britannica; but by far his most important book is the laborious and erudite compilation, best described by its own title-page: An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language; illustrating the words in their different significations by examples from Ancient and Modern Writers; shewing their Affinity to those of other Languages, and especially the Northern; explaining many terms which though now obsolete in England were formerly common to both countries; and elucidating National Rites, Customs and Institutions in their Analogy to those of other nations; to which is prefixed a Dissertation on the Origin of the Scottish Language. This appeared in 2 vols., 4to, at Edinburgh in 1808, followed in 1825 by a Supplement, in 2 vols., 4to, in which he was assisted by scholars in all parts of the country. A revised edition by Longmuir and Donaldson was issued in 1879–1887.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Jamieson, Robert

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​JAMIESON, ROBERT (c. 1780–1844), Scottish antiquary, was born in Morayshire. In 1806 he published a collection of Popular Ballads and Songs from Tradition, Manuscript and Scarce Editions. Two pleasing lyrics of his own were included. Scott, through whose assistance he received a government post at Edinburgh, held Jamieson in high esteem and pointed out his skill in discovering the connexion between Scandinavian and Scottish legends. Jamieson’s work preserved much oral tradition which might otherwise have been lost. He was associated with Henry Weber and Scott in Illustrations of Northern Antiquities (1814). He died on the 24th of September 1844.