pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
LAPITHUS, in fabulous history, a son of Apollo by Stilbe. He was brother to Centaurus, and married Orsi-nome, daughter of Euronymus, by whom he had Phorbas and Periphas. The name of Lapithae was given to the numerous children of Phorbas and Periphas, or rather to the inhabitants of the country of which they had obtained the sovereignty. The chief of the Lapithae assembled to celebrate the nuptials of Perithous, one of their number. Amongst them were Theseus, Dryas, Hopleus, Mopsus, Phalerus, Exadius, Prolochus, Titaresius, and others. The Centaurs were also invited to partake of the common festivity; and the amusements would have been harmless and innocent, had not one of the intoxicated Centaurs offered violence to Hippodamia, the wife of Perithous. The Lapithae resented the injury, and the Centaurs supported their companions; upon which the quarrel became universal, and ended in blows and slaughter. Many of the Centaurs were slain, and they were at last obliged to retire. Theseus amongst the Lapithae showed himself brave and intrepid in supporting the cause of his friends; and Nestor also was not less active in the protection of chastity and innocence. Hesiod has described the battle of the Centaurs and Lapithae; as has also Ovid, in a more copious manner. The invention of bits and bridles for horses is attributed to the Lapithae.
LAPSE, in ecclesiastical law, a slip or omission of a patron to present a clerk to a benefice within six months after it becomes void, in which case the benefice is said to be in lapse, or lapsed, and the right of presentation devolves on the ordinary.
LAQUEARIUS, a kind of athlete amongst the ancients, who in one hand held a laqueus, or sort of snare, wherewith to embarrass and entangle his antagonist, and in the other a poniard to stab him.
LAR, the capital of the province of Laristan, in Persia, once a magnificent city, but now in ruins. It is situated at the foot of a range of hills in an extensive plain, which is covered with palm trees. The houses are commodious and neatly furnished, each having a badgeer and surdαb ; the former to cool the inner apartments, and the latter to retire to in the summer season, in order to avoid the intolerable heat of the climate. The residence of the khan, or governor, is in the middle of the city, and is surrounded by a strong wall flanked with towers. The celebrated castle of Lar, now in ruins, is situated on the summit of a hill, immediately behind the town, and is said by the Persians to have been impregnable. The city is decorated with many handsome buildings; and the bazaar, which is in good repair, is said to be the noblest structure of the kind in Persia. It is very ancient, and is built in the same manner as that of Shiraz, but on a much grander scale, the arches being lofty, the breadth and length greater, and the workmanship in every way superior. It still contains 12,000 inhabitants, and is celebrated for the manufacture of muskets and of cotton cloth. Long. 52. 45. E. Lat. 27. 30. N. (Kinneir’s Geographical Memoir of the Persian Empire?)
LARACHE, or El Arache, a seaport town of the kingdom of Morocco, in Northern Africa, is situated at the mouth of the Luccos, a river which anciently bore the name of Lixus. This town, which formerly belonged to the Spaniards, has some neat buildings; and, though not regularly fortified, possesses a fort and two batteries in good repair. It has been made the imperial arsenal, and is very strong towards the sea. The town contains about four hundred houses, which extend from the banks of the river up the steep declivity of a hill facing the north. It was built, as well as the principal fortifications, by Christians. The streets are paved; there are several mosques, and a deeent bazaar, surrounded with very handsome stone piazzas; but there is a great deficiency of water. The depth and security of the river, which is about half a mile across at the ferry, render it the best port which the emperor possesses for his larger vessels; but ships exceeding two hundred tons burden cannot get in, on account of the bar, which is continually on the increase. The road is not secure in winter during the prevalence of southerly and westerly winds, but from April to September inclusive it affords a safe anchorage. The climate is mild, and the same as in Andalusia. Larache is situated in long. 6. 1. 30. W. and lat. 35. 13. 15. N.
LARARIUM was a chapel which the Romans frequently had in their houses for the household gods, called lares. Spartian informs us, that Alexander the son ofMam-meus kept in his lararium the /gure of our Saviour, together with his other idols.
LARBOARD, amongst seamen, the left-hand side of the ship when you stand with your face towards the head.
LARCENY, or Theft, by contraction for lątrociny, latrocinium, is distinguished by the law into two sorts; the one called simple larceny, t or plain theft, unaccompanied with any other atrocious circumstance; and the other, mixed or compound larceny, which also includes in it the aggravation of a taking from one’s house or person.

Simple lareeny, when it is the stealing of goods above the value of twelvepence, is called grand larceny, but when of goods to that value, or under, is petit larceny ; offences which are considerably distinguished in their punishment, but not otherwise. Mixed or compound larceny is such as [7:13:114]has all the properties of the former, but is accompanied with either one or both of the aggravations of a taking from the house or Me person.
LARENTINALIA, in Antiquity, a feast held amongst the Romans on the 23d day of December, but ordered to be observed twice a year by Augustus. It was supposed by some to have been instituted in honour of the Lares, but by others, with more probability, in honour of Acca Laurentia, and to have been the same with Laurentalia.
LARGE, a nautical term applied to the wind when it crosses the line of a ship’s course in a favourable direction, particularly on the beam or quarter. Thus, if a ship steers west, then the wind in any point of the compass to the eastward of the south or north may be called large, unless when it is directly east, and then it is said to be right aft. Sailing large is, therefore, advancing with a large wind, so as that the sheets are slackened and flowing, and the bowlines entirely disused. This phrase is generally opposed to sailing close-hauled.
LARGITIO, in Roman antiquity, was a distribution of corn, provision, clothes, money, and the like, amongst the people. Gracchus, when tribune, in order to render himself popular, passed a law for supplying the Roman citizens with corn out of the public granaries at a very low rate. Claudius, another tribune, with the same view to popular applause, procured it to be distributed gratis. Cato, to win the common people from Caesar, persuaded the senate to do the same; and three hundred thousand citizens shared in the distribution. Caesar, after his triumph, extended his bounty to a hundred and fifty thousand, giving them each a mina. The Roman emperors enlarged still further the list of those who were to partake of their distributions. Largitio is frequently taken in a bad sense, to signify masked .or secret bribery, by which candidates purchased votes when they stood for places of honour or trust in the state. The distribution of money was called congiarium, and the distributors divisores and sequestres.
LARGO, Upper and Nether, is the name of two small villages of Fifeshire, situated near the shore of the Frith of Forth. The former is a very agreeable place, about a mile from the sea, on the road between Leven and Anstruther. It has a parish church, an ancient Gothic fabric, with a spire rising from the middle. Nether Largo is an extensive fishing village, much resorted to as summer quarters. This was the birth-place of Alexander Selkirk, the accredited prototype of the fictitious Robinson Crusoe. The weaving of linen is a source of emolument both here and at Upper Largo.
LARGS, a small village on the west coast of Scotland, opposite to the island of Bute. It contains only about 500 inhabitants, but is rendered memorable by the defeat which the Norwegians sustained here, in their last invasion of Scotland.
LARISSA, a city of ancient Thessaly, in the Turkish province of Tirhala. It is situated on the river Salam-bria, the ancient Peneus, over which is a fine bridge of ten arches. It is surrounded with walls, and contains two large and twenty smaller mosques, several Greek churches, and 4000 houses, with 25,000 inhabitants. It is the greatest manufacturing town in the Turkish empire, producing silk and cotton goods, leather, and ironmongery. The environs arc pleasant and fertile, yielding abundance of grapes, figs, raisins, and excellent corn and pulse; but the situation is marshy, and somewhat unhealthy. It is in long. 22. 46. E. and lat. 39. 48. N.
LARISTAN, a province of Persia, which extends along the northern shore of the Persian Gulf, from the fifty-fifth to the fifty-eighth degree of east longitude. It is bounded by Fars on the north-west, and Kerman on the north-east, and is the poorest and least productive province of Persia. The country is arid, and so destitute of wholesome water, that it would be uninhabitable were it not for the periodical rains, which fill the cisterns of the natives, and enable them to cultivate the date tree, together with a small quantity of wheat and barley. The coast is in possession of the different Arab tribes, who, under the government of their own sheiks, maintain their independence, and pay a trifling tribute to the king. They subsist chiefly by piracy, and reside in small towns or mud forts scattered along the shore of the gulf. The chief town, besides Lar, the capital, is Congoon, containing 6000 or 7000 inhabitants.
LARK. See Ornithology.
LARMIER, in Architecture, a flat square member of [7:13:116]the cornice, below the cimasium, and jetting out farthest. It is so called from its use, which is to disperse the water, and cause it to fall at a distance from the wall, drop by drop, or as if by tears, the French word larme signifying a tear.
LARREK, a small island in the Persian Gulf, about fifteen miles in circumference, with a little conical hill in its centre. It has no harbour, and is destitute both of water and vegetation. It is ten miles south-west of Ormuz.
LARVA, in Natural History, a name given by Linnaeus to insects in that state which is called by other writers cruca or caterpillar.
LARVAE, in Antiquity, derived from the Etruscan word lax or lars, signifying “prince or lord,” denoted the ghosts of the deceased, considered as wicked and mischievous. Hence is formed the term larvatus, that is, larva indutus or demoniac. The ingenious Mr Farmer urges the etymology and use of this term to prove that the heathen demons were human ghosts. The larvae were also called lemures.
LARUS, the gull. See Ornithology.
LASH, or Lace, in nautical language, signifies to bind or make fast; as, to lash the bonnet to the course, or the drabbler to the bonnets. The carpenter takes care that the spare yards are lashed fast to the ship’s side; and in a rolling sea, the gunners mind that the guns are well lashed, lest they should break loose. Lashers are properly those ropes which bind fast the tackles and the breechings of the ordnance, when hauled or made fast within board.
LASPHE, a town of Prussian Westphalia, in the go [7:13:117] vernment of Arensburg, and circle of Witgenstein. It stands on the river Lahn, and contains 160 houses, with 1720 inhabitants, who are chiefly occupied in making iron wares. Adjoining to the city is the palace of Prince Witgenstein, whose dominions, now mediatised, extended over 170 square miles, and comprehended two towns, twenty-eight villages, and 120 houses, with 8800 inhabitants.
LASSA, a town of Thibet, and capital of a province of the same name. It is the capital of the country, and the seat of the Delai Lama. It belongs, however, to the Chinese, who have a viceroy here, with a garrison, commanded by a general officer, whose influence is superior to that of the lamas. It has been visited by few Europeans, and only by Catholic missionaries, who have left no very accurate or satisfactory description of it. The territory extends as far west as Kheroo, distant 350 miles west-southwest, which is within its limits. The city of Lassa is usually crowded with royal and noble personages from all parts of Asia, who come to present their homage, with splendid offerings, to the Delai Lama. His temple is crowned with a gilded dome, and adorned with numerous pyramids, either gilt or crowned with silver. Long. 91. 25. E. Lat. 29. 3Ò. N.
LAST, in general, signifies the burden or load of a ship. It signifies also a certain measure of fish, corn, wool, leather, and the like. A last of cod-fish, white herrings, meal, and ashes for soap, is twelve barrels; of corn or rapeseed, ten quarters; of gunpowder, twenty-four barrels; of red herrings, twenty cades; of hides, twelve dozen; of leather, twenty dickers; of pitch and tar, fourteen barrels; of wool, twelve sacks; of stock fish, one thousand; of flax or feathers, 1700 lbs.
LASTAGE, or Lestage, a duty exacted in some fairs and markets, for carrying things bought whithersoever one pleases to order. It signifies also the ballast or lading of a ship, and is sometimes used for garbage, rubbish, or such like filth.
LASUS, or Lassus, a Greek poet and musician, respecting whom only a few facts have been transmitted to us. He was the son of Charbinus, a native of Hermione, in Argolis, and flourished about the sixty-ninth olympiad (b. c. 504), during the reign of Darius I. king of Persia. Some of the ancients put Lasus in the number of the seven wise men of Greece, to the exclusion of Periander of Corinth. He was the first who wrote on the theory of music, and joined example to precept, being also an excellent musician. According to Clemens of Alexandria, he was the inventor of dithyrambic verse; he was at least the first to introduce it at the public games, and instituted prizes for the successful candidates. (Suidas, Aristoph. Scliol. Vesp. 1401.) We are informed by Herodotus (vii. 6), that Lasus caused the poet Onomacritus to be banished from Athens by Hipparchus, because he interpolated the poetry of Musaeus with false prophecies. He was the contemporary of Simonides, and the instructor of Pindar. (Thom. Mag. Vit. Pi nd.) Athenaeus (viii. 20) has preserved some witticisms of Lasus, which do not tend to raise him in our estimation. He quotes also a hymn to Ceres of Hermione, and an ode entitled the Centaurs, in neither of which he had made use of the letter S (x.455; xiv. 624). (See Les Remarques de Burette sur le Dialogue du Plutarque touchant la Musique, in the Mem. de l’Acad, des Inscrip. XV. p. 324.)
LASWAREE, a small village of Hindustan, in the province of Delhi, the scene of a desperate battle fought between the British army and Scindia, in which the former obtained a complete victory.
LATERAN was originally the proper name of a man, from whom it descended to an ancient palace in Rome, and to the buildings since erected in its place, particularly a church called St John of Lateran.

Councils of the Lατeran are those which were held in the basilica of the Lateran. Of these there have been five, which were held in 1123, 1139, 1179, 1215, and 1513, respectively.

Canons Regular of the Congregation of the Lateran is a congregation of regular canons, of which that church is the principal place or seat.

It is pretended that there has been an uninterrupted succession of clerks, living in community, from the time of the apostles; and that a number of these were established in the Lateran in the time of Constantine. But the canons were not introduced till the time of Leo I.; and these held the church eight hundred years, till the reign of Boniface, who took it from them, and placed secular canons in their room. A century and a half thereafter, the regulars were reinstated.
LATERE, a term used to denote the qualifications of the cardinals whom the pope sends as legates into foreign countries. They are called “legates a latere," as being his holiness’s assistants and counsellors in ordinary. They are the most considerable of all the legates, being such as the pope commissions to take his place in councils; and they are so called because he never confers this office on any but his favourites and confidants, who are always a latere, at his side. A legate a latere has the power of conferring benefices without a mandate, and of legitimating bastards; and a cross is carried before him as the ensign of his authority.

De Latere, legates who are not cardinals, but yet are intrusted with an apostolic legation.
LATEEN Sail, a long triangular sail extended by a lateen yard, and frequently used in xebecs, polacres, se-tees, and other vessels which navigate in the Mediterranean Sea.
LATH, in building, a long, thin, and narrow slip of wood nailed to the rafters of a roof or ceiling, in order to sustain the covering.
LATHAM, a township in the parish of Ormskirk, in the hundred of West Derby, in the county of Lancaster, 210 miles from London. The castle here formerly belonged to the Earls of Derby, and was boldly defended against the parliament forces in the civil war in 1648. There is a mineral spring, from which Epsom salt is made. The population amounted in 1801 to 2179, in 1811 to 2514, in 1821 to 2997, and in 1831 to 3272.
LATHE, a very useful engine for the turning of wood, ivory, metals, and other materials. The invention of the lathe is very ancient. According to Diodorus Siculus, the first who used it was a grandson of Daedalus, named Talus. Pliny ascribes it to Theodore of Samos, and mentions one Thericles, who rendered himself famous by his dexterity in managing the lathe. With this instrument the ancients turned all kinds of vases, many of which they enriched with figures and ornaments in bas-relief. The Greek and Latin authers make frequent mention of the lathe; and Cicero calls the workmen who used it vascularii. It was a proverb amongst the ancients, to say a thing wa3 formed in the lathe, in order to express its delicacy and justness. The lathe is composed of two wooden cheeks or sides, parallel to the horizon, having a groove or opening between, and perpendicular to these are two other pieces called puppets, made to slide between the cheeks, and to be fixed down at any point at pleasure. These have two points, between which the piece to be turned is sustained. The piece is turned round backwards and forwards by means of a string put round it, and fastened above to the end of a pliable pole, and underneath to a treadle or board moved with the toot. There is also a rest which bears up the tool, and keeps it steady. As it is the use and application of this instrument that forms the greatest part of the art of turning, we refer for the particular description of it, as well as [7:13:118] the manner of applying it in various works, to that head. See Turning.
LATHREVE, Leidgreve, or Trithengreve, was an officer under the Saxon government, who had authority over a third part of the county, and whose territory was therefore called trithing, otherwise a leid or leithin, in which manner the county of Kent is still divided. As to the jurisdiction of this officer, those matters which could not be determined in the hundred court were thence brought to the trithing, where all the principal men of the three or more hundreds being assembled by the lathreve or trithin-greve, debated and decided it; or if they could not, then the lathreve sent it up to the county court, to be there finally determined.
LATIAR, in Roman antiquity, a feast or ceremony instituted by Tarquinius Superbus, in honour of Jupiter Latiaris or Latialis.
LATICLAVE {Laticlavium), in Roman antiquity, was an honourable distinction, peculiar, in the times of the republic, to the senators; but whether it was a particular kind of garment, or only an ornament upon ’it, the critics are not agreed. The more general opinion, however, is, that it was a broad stripe of purple sewed upon the fore part of the tunic, and round the middle of the breast. There were buttons set on the latus clavus or lαticlave, which appeared like the heads of large nails, from which some think it derived its name. The senators, praetors, and chief magistrates of colonies and municipal cities, had a right to wear it. The praetexta was always worn over it; but when the praetor pronounced sentence of death, the praetexta was then put off, and the laticlave retained. The laticlavium differed from the angusticlavium ; but authors do not agree in what this difference consisted. The most general opinion, however, seems to be, that the slips or stripes of purple were narrower in the angusticlave.
LATIMER, Hugh, bishop of Worcester, was born about the year 1480, at Thurcaston, in Leicestershire. He was the only son of a yeoman of that village. At the age of fourteen he was sent to Christ’s College, Cambridge, where he applied himself to the study of divinity, and in proper time took the degree of bachelor in that science. At this time he was a zealous Catholic, and was honoured with the office of keeper of the cross to the university; but when he was about thirty years of age, he became a convert to the Protestant religion; and being then one of the twelve licensed preachers of Cambridge, he promulgated his opinions with great freedom. It was not long before he was accused of heresy; and being summoned before Cardinal Wolsey, he was obliged to subscribe certain articles of faith, which he certainly did not believe. About the year 1529 he was presented by the king to the rectory of Westkinton, in Wiltshire, to which place, after residing some time at court with his friend and patron Dr Butts, he retired; but having resumed his former invectives against the Catholic doctrines, he was again summoned to answer certain interrogatories, and again obliged to subscribe a recantation. In 1535, he was promoted to the bishopric of Worcester, a dignity which he continued to enjoy till the year 1539, when, rather than assent to the act of the six articles, he resigned his mitre, and retired into the country; but in a short time he was accused of speaking against the six articles, and committed to the Tower, where he continued prisoner till the death of Henry VIII. which happened in January 1547. On the accession of Edward VI. Latimer was released, but not restored to his bishopric, though he had preached several times before the king, and continued to exercise his ministerial functions with unremitting zeal and resolution. But young Edward finished his short reign in the year 1553; and Mary having ascended the throne, Latimer was immediately doomed to destruction, and, together with Cranmer and Ridley, confined in the Tower. In April 1554, they were removed to Oxford, that they might dispute with the learned doctors of both universities. Latimer declined the disputation on account of his great age and infirmities, but delivered his opinion in writing; and, having refused to subscribe the Romish creed, was condemned for heresy, and, in the October following, burned alive, along with Bishop Ridley. He behaved with uncommon fortitude on the occasion, and died a real martyr to the Reformation. His general character is that of a learned, virtuous, and brave man. His works are, 1. Sermons, 1635, in folio; 2. Letters in Fox’s Acts and Monuments (vol. ii.), 1580; 3. An Injunction to the Prior and Convent of St Mary’s in Worcestershire.
LATIN, a dead language, first spoken in Latium, and afterwards at Rome. See Language and Philology.
LATINUS, king of the Latins in Italy, was the son of Faunus, and, it is said, began to reign about 1216 years before the Christian era. Lavinia, his only daughter, married Aeneas, after that Trojan prince had killed Turnus king of the Rutułians.
LATISANA, a town of Italy, the capital of a district in the Austrian delegation of Frioul, on the river Tagliamento. There is a fine palace belonging to the Mocenego family. It contains 3890 inhabitants, whose trade is chiefly in timber. Long. 13. 8. 40. E. Lat. 45. 54. 10. N.
LATITUDE, in Astronomy, is the distance of a star north or south from the ecliptic. In geography it signifies the distance of any place north or south from the equator. See Astronomy, and Geography, passim.