pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
LAY, a kind of ancient poem amongst the French, consisting of very short verses.

There were two sorts of lays, the great and the little. The first was a poem consisting of twelve couplets of verses, of different measures. The second was a poem consisting of sixteen or twenty verses, divided into four couplets. These lays were the lyric poetry of the old French poets, and were imitated by some of the English. They were principally used on melancholy subjects, and are said to have been formed on the model of the trochaic verses of the Greek and Latin tragedies.

LAY-Brothers, amongst the Catholics, those pious but illiterate persons who at some convent devote themselves to the service of the religious. They wear a different habit from that of the religious, but never enter into the choir, nor are present at the chapters; nor do they make any vow except those of constancy and obedience. In the nunneries there are also lay-sisters.

LsY-Man, one who follows a secular employment, and has not entered into holy orders.
LAYERS, in Gardening, are tender shoots or twigs of trees, laid or buried in the ground, till, having struck root, they are separated from the parent tree, and become distinct plants. The propagating of trees by layers is done in the following manner: The branches of the trees are slit a little way, and laid under the mould for about half a foot; the ground should first be made very light, and after they are laid they should be gently watered. If they do not remain easily in the position they are put in, they should be pegged down with wooden hooks. The best season for doing this is, for evergreens, towards the end of August, and, Tor other trees, in the beginning of February. If they be found to have taken root, they are then cut off from the main plant the succeeding winter, and planted out. If the branch be too high from the ground, a tub of earth is raised to a proper height for it. Some pare off the rind, and others twist the branch, before they lay it; but this is not necessary. The end of the layer should be about a foot out of the ground; and the branch may either be tied tightly round with a wire, or cut upwards from a joint, or cut round for an inch or two at the place; and it is a good method to pierce several holes through it with an awl above the part tied with the wire.

LAZAR-House, or Lazaretto, a public building, of the nature of an hospital, to receive the poor, and those afflicted with contagious distempers. In some places, lazarettos are appointed for the performance of quarantine; in which case those only are confined in them who have come from places suspected of being infected with the plague.
LEAD, a metal of a white colour, inclining to blue, and the least ductile, the least elastic, and the least sonorous of all the metals, but possessing a considerable degree of specific gravity.

The lead mines of Great Britain have been wrought from a very remote era. Previously to 1289, however, it would seem that those of Derbyshire only had been explored. But in the year now mentioned lead mines were discovered in Wales; and traces of silver having also been found in them, they were wrought with increased assiduity and attention. The present produce of the lead mines of Great Britain cannot be ascertained with any degree of accuracy. The lead mines of Derbyshire have been supposed to yield 5000 or 6000 tons annually; but they are said to be on the decline. Those upon the borders of Cumberland and Northumberland are supposed to yield, at an average, from 11,000 to 12,000 tons. The total produce of the Scotch mines is estimated at above 4000 tons. Subjoined is a table showing the past and present state of the trade in this article.
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More than a third part of the whole lead sent out of the country in 1833 went to the United States, about 3000 tons to the East Indies and China, 1483 tons to Russia, and the remainder, in comparatively insignificant quantities, to various other countries. The decline of trade which has taken place since 1821 has been attributed to the opening of very rich mines in Spain; whilst the cheapness and facility with which they can be wrought enables the Spaniards to undersell every other country. The price of lead has fluctuated very much. The average price from 1800 to 1810 was L.27. 14s. 6d. per ton; from 1811 to 1821, L.23. 6s. 6d. per ton; and from 1822 to 1832, L.20. 7s. per ton. In 1832 the price had sunk as low as L.13. 10s. per ton, but it has since risen; indeed there is scarcely any article the price of which is subject to such variations. In France the consumption is rapidly increasing, and it is nearly all imported from Spain. The importations have increased from 6,211,500 kilogrammes, at an average of the four years ending 1822, to 15,742,192 kilogrammes, at an average of the two years ending with 1830. The lead-mines of the United States are as productive as any in the world, and have recently become of considerable importance. Those on Fever River produced in 1832 about 1412 tons. American manufactures of white and red lead, as well as shot, now nearly supply the domestic market.
LEAF, a part of a plant extended into length and breadth in such a manner as to have one side distinguishable from the other. This is Miller’s definition. Linnaeus denominates leaves the organs of motion, or muscles of the plant. See Physiology, Vegetable. Leaf- Skeletons. One help for acquiring a knowledge of the anatomy of plants, is the art of reducing leaves to skeletons, which may be done by exposing the leaves to decay' for some time soaked in water, by which means the softer parts will be separated from the internal and harder. By carefully wiping, pressing, and rinsing them, the harder parts may be obtained from the rest quite entire. Some have been able to separate the outer covering on both sides from the woody net, and even to split the latter into two. A naturalist in the year 1645 first conceived the idea of making leaf-skeletons by employing decomposition for that purpose, assisting it by several ingenious operations of art. When the method of producing these skeletons was publicly known, numberless preparations of them were everywhere attempted. So much did leaf-skeletons afterwards engage the attention of philosophers, that one Seligmann wrote a treatise on the various methods which might be employed in their preparation.

Leaf, in clocks and watches, is an appellation given to the notches of their pinions.
LEAK, at sea, is a hole in the ship, through which the water comes in. A ship is said to spring a leak when she begins to leak, or to let in the water. The manner of stopping a leak is to put into it a plug wrapped in oakum and well tarred, or to insert a tarpawling clout, which keeps out the water, or to nail a piece of sheet-lead on the place. Seamen sometimes stop a leak by thrusting a piece of salt beef into it. The sea-water, says Mr Boyle, being fresher than the brine imbibed by the beef, penetrates into its body, and causes it to sv√ell so as to bear strongly against the edges of the broken plank, and thereby stops the influx of the water. A ready way to find a leak in a ship is to apply the narrower end of a speaking trumpet to the ear, and the other to the side of the ship where the leak is supposed to be; then the noise of the water rushing in at the leak will be distinctly heard, and thereby discovered.
LEAKAGE, the state of a vessel that leaks, or lets in or out water or other liquid.
LEANDER, in poetical history, a young man of Abydos, in Asia. He used to swim across the Hellespont by night to visit Hero, his mistress, who set forth a light to guide him; but in a tempestuous winter night he was drowned; upon which Hero seeing him dead on the shore, cast herself headlong from the tower, and perished.
LEAO, a mineral substance approaching to the nature of lapis lazuli, found in the East Indies, and of great use in the Chinese porcelain manufactures, as it affords the finest blue they are possessed of.

Leao, a river of Chinese Tartary, which traverses the greater part of the province of Cheng-yang or Leao-tong, and falls into the head of the Gulf of Leao-tong.
LEAO-TONG, Gulf of, a considerable gulf, connected with that of Pe-tche-lee, and extending along the coast of the province of the same name in Chinese Tartary. It is 120 miles in length by eighty in breadth.
LEAP, in Music, is when the song does not proceed by conjoint degrees, as in the case where between each note there is an interval of a third, a fourth, a fifth, and the like.
LEAPING, or Vaultiñg, was an exercise much used both amongst the Greeks and Romans. The former called it άλμα., and performed it with weights upon their heads and shoulders. Sometimes they carried the weights in their hands, which were of different figures, but generally oval, and made with holes or covered with thongs, through which the leapers put their fingers. These weights were called aλτr i pς. The contest was who could leap the highest and farthest. The place whence they jumped was called βamg, and that to which they leaped t<5κaμμtva, because the ground was there dug up. This exercise was performed in the seme manner by the Romans.
LEAR, the name of a British king, said in old chronicles to have succeeded his father Bladud, about the year of the world 3160. The story of this king and his three daughters is well known, from Shakspeare’s tragedy founded upon it.
LEARCHUS, a celebrated Greek sculptor of Rhegium, in the south of Italy, who seems to have flourished at a very early period, before 620 b. c. He made a statue of Jupiter in bronze, which was seen at Sparta, and which was regarded as the most ancient work of its kind. It was not of one piece, but was made of pieces worked separately, and fixed to one another by means of nails and large hooks, so that the parts could not be separated. It is this species of work which Quatremère de Quincy has perfectly explained under the name of Sphurelaton in his Jupiter Olympien. (Pausanias, iii. 17. See Winckelmann, Op. vi.1,7.)
LEASE, from the French leiser, demittere, to let, in law, a demise, or letting of lands, tenements, or hereditaments, unto another for life, a term of years, or at will, for a rent reserved. A lease is either written, called an indenture, deed-roll, or lease in writing; or by word of mouth, called lease parole. Lease and Release, a species of conveyance used in the English law, first invented by Serjeant Moore, soon after the statute of uses, and now the most common of any, and therefore not to be shaken; though very great lawyers formerly doubted its validity. A lease, or rather bargain and sale, upon some pecuniary consideration, for one year, is made by the tenant of the freehold to the lessee or bargainee. Now this, without any enrolment, makes the bargainer stand seised to the use of the bargainee, and vests in the bargainee the use of the term for a year; and then the statute immediately annexes the possession. He therefore, being thus in possession, is capable of receiving a release of the freehold and reversion, which must be made to a tenant in possession; and accordingly, the next day, a release is granted to him. This is held to supply the place of livery of seisin; and so a conveyance by lease and release is said to amount to a feoffment.
LEASH, amongst sportsmen, denotes three creatures of any kind, but chiefly greyhounds, foxes, bucks, and hares. The term leash also signifies a line to hold in a hunting dog; and a small long thong of leather, by which a falconer holds his hawk.
LEAVEN, a piece of sour dough, used to ferment and render light a much larger quantity of dough or paste.

Leaven was strictly forbidden by the law of Moses during the seven days of the passover; and the Jews, in obedience to this law, carefully purified their houses from all leaven, as soon as the vigil of the feast began. Nothing of honey or leaven was to have place in any thing presented to the Lord, upon his altar, during this solemnity. If, during the feast, the least particle of leaven was found in their houses, they imagined that the whole was polluted, for a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Leaven, in its figurative sense, signifies the bad passions of envy, and malice, and rancour, which sour the temper, and extend their fermentinginfluence over the social affections; whereas unleavened bread implies sincerity and truth. It is frequently used for any kind of moral contagion.
LEAVES of Plants. See Leaf.
LEBADEA, or Lebadia, an ancient town of Boeotia, on the borders of Phocis, situated between FIelicon and Chaeronea, near Coronaea. In it stood the oracle of Jupiter Trophonius, which whoever went to consult descended into a subterraneous gulf.
LEBEDAN, a circle in the Russian province of Tambow, extending from north latitude 52. 37. to 53. 9. and in east longitude from 38. 33. to 40. 13. It contains 1210 square miles, and a population of 67,260 persons. It is chiefly watered by the Don, and is of somewhat more than moderate fertility. The capital is the city of the same name, 680 miles from Petersburg, situated on the river Don. It contains seven churches, 604 houses, and 3540 inhabitants. Long. 39. 3. E. Lat. 53. 5. N.
LEBEDJAN, a circle of the Russian province of Ukraine, extending in north latitude from 50. 20. to 50. 60. and in east longitude from 34. 13. to 34. 59. It contains 1366 square miles, with a population of 136,000 persons, inhabiting two cities, and 218 villages. The capital is a city situated on the river Atschonaja, 945 miles from Petersburg. It contains thirteen churches, all of wood, 1207 houses, and 8971 inhabitants. Long. 34. 35. E. Lat. 50. 30. N.
LEBRIJA, or Lebrixa, a town of Spain, in the province of Andalusia, about three leagues north of Xeres, and on the road by the plain from that city to Seville. It was a plain of great celebrity during the contests between Caesar and Pompey. It was the head-quarters of the latter, and the place where three Roman knights had formed a conspiracy to desert, with all the cavalry, and join Caesar, a few days before the decisive battle of Meenda. A Roman camp, near the town, with a magnificent castle in the centre, is still remaining. The lower part is Roman bricks, the upper part is of Moorish erection. It is partly n ruins, but a large portion is converted into a monastery, and the whole has a most imposing effect. The country aiound is very fertile, abounding in corn, wine, and oil, in the cultivation of which the inhabitants find employment. It contains 6000 inhabitants.
LECCE, a city of the kingdom of Naples, the capital of the province of Otranto. It stands on an extensive and fertile plain between Bari and Otranto, is surrounded with walls, and is the most regular and one of the most beautiful cities of the south of Italy. The great square contains some magnificent edifices, adorned with valuable statues. It is the seat of a bishop, and of the several provincial courts of law. It contains a cathedral and thirty-two churches, twenty-eight religious houses for both sexes, two Latin schools, and a college for nobles. It has a population of 14,100 persons, some of whom are engaged in cotton manufactures from cotton-wool grown in the vicinity, which is of an excellent quality. Good wine and tobacco are also raised around it. Long. 18. 30. E. Lat. 40. 38. N.
LE CROIFIC, a sea-port of France, in the department of the Lower Loire, and arrondissement of Savenay. It is situated on a tongue of land which forms the harbour, and has near it some extensive marshes, on which salt is made. It contains 320 houses, and 2450 inhabitants, who are chiefly employed in the herring and Sardinia fishery. Long. 2. 37. W. Lat. 47. 17. N.
LECTI, beds or couches, were of two kinds amongst the Romans, as being destined to two different uses, viz. to lie upon at entertainments, and to repose upon for nightly rest. The first was called lecti tricliniares, the other lecti cubicularii.
LECTICA was a litter or vehicle in which the Romans were carried. It was of two kinds, covered and uncovered. The covered lectica is called by Pliny cubiculum viatorum, a traveller’s bed-chamber. And indeed we are informed that Augustus frequently ordered his servants to stop his litter that he might sleep upon the road. This vehicle was carried by six or eight men called lecticarii. The lectica differed from the sella in this, that in the one the traveller could recline himself for sleep, whereas in the other he was obliged to sit. The lectica was invented in Bithynia; the sella was a Roman machine, and esteemed the more honourable of the two. Lectica was also the name of the funeral bed or bier for carrying out the dead.
LECTICARII, amongst the Romans, servants who carried the lectica.
LECTICARIUS was also an officer in the Greek church, whose business it was to bear off the bodies of those who had died, and to bury them. They were otherwise de-nominated decani and copiatoe.
LECTISTERNIUM, a solemn ceremony observed by the Romans in times of public danger, when an entertainment was prepared with great magnificence, and served up in the temples. The gods were invited to partake of the good cheer, and their statues were placed upon couches round the table, in the same manner as men used to sit at meat. The first lectisternium held at Rome was in honour of Apollo, Latona, Diana, Hercules, Mercury, and Neptune, to put a stop to a contagious distemper which raged amongst the cattle, in the year of Rome 354. At these feasts the Epulones presided, and the sacred banquet was called epulum. Something like the lectisternium was occasionally observed amongst the Greeks, according to Casaubon.
LECTORES, amongst the Romans, servants in great men’s houses, who were employed in reading whilst their masters were at supper. They were called by the Greeks Anagnostoe.
LECTOURE, an arrondissement of the department of Gers, in France. It extends over 427 square miles, comprehends five cantons, divided into ninety-three communes, and contains 58,500 inhabitants-The capital, the city of the same name, is situated on a hill, at the foot of [7:13:160]which the Gers flows. It contains 940 houses, and 6600 inhabitants, who tan leather, and carry on considerable traffic in wine and brandy. Long. 0. 31. 48. E. Lat. 43. 56. 2. N.
LECTURERS, in England, are an order of preachers in parish churches, distinct from the rector, vicar, and curate. They are chosen by the vestry, or chief inhabitants of the parish, supported by voluntary subscriptions and legacies, and are usually the afternoon preachers in the Sunday service.
LEDA, in fabulous history, a daughter of Thespius and Eurythemis, who married Tyndarus, king of Sparta. She was seen by Jupiter bathing in the river Eurotas when she was some few days advanced in her pregnancy, and the god, struck with her beauty, resolved to deceive her. He persuaded Venus to change herself into an eagle, whilst he assumed the form of a swan; and after this metamorphosis, Jupiter, as if fearful of the tyrannical cruelty of the bird of prey, fled through the air into the arms of Leda, who willingly sheltered the trembling swan from the assaults of his superior enemy. The caresses with which the naked Leda received the swan enabled Jupiter to avail himself of his situation, and nine months after this adventure the wife of Tyndarus brought forth two eggs, from one of which sprung Pollux and Helena, and from the other Castor and Clytemnestra. The two former were deemed the offspring of Jupiter, and the latter were claimed by Tyndarus. Some mythologists attribute this amour to Nemesis, and not to Leda; and they further mention, that Leda was intrusted with the education of the children which sprung from the eggs brought forth by Nemesis. To reconcile this diversity of opinions, others maintain that Leda received the name of Nemesis after her death. Homer and Hesiod make no mention of the metamorphosis of Jupiter into a swan, and hence some have imagined that the fable was unknown to these ancient poets, and probably invented since their age.
LEDBURY, a market-town of Herefordshire, in the hundred of Radlow, 121 miles from London, not far from the foot of the Malvern Hills. It is situated on the river Leden, and on the side of a canal from Gloucester to Hereford. There are some remains of a woollen manufacture, which was formerly considerable. The market is held on Tuesday. The population amounted in 1801 to 3058, in 1811 to 3136, in 1821 to 3421, and in 1831 to 3852.
LEDGER, the principal book in which merchants enter their accounts. See Book-keeping.
LEE, an epithet used by seamen to distinguish that part of the hemisphere to which the wind is directed, from the other part whence it blows, and which is accordingly called to windward. This expression is chiefly used when the wind crosses the line of a ship’s course, so that all on one side of her is called to windward, and all on the other side to leeward. Hence, Under the Lee, implies farther to the leeward, or farther from that part of the horizon whence the wind blows.

Under the Lee of the shore, means at a short distance from the shore which lies to windward. This phrase is commonly understood to express the situation of a vessel anchored, or sailing under the weather-shore, where there is always smoother water, and less danger of heavy seas, than at a great distance from it.

Lee Lurches, the sudden and violent rolls which a ship often takes to the leeward in a high sea, particularly when a large wave strikes her on the weather-side.

LEE-Side, all that part of a ship or boat which lies between the mast and the side farthest from the direction of the wind; or otherwise, that half of a ship which is pressed down towards the water by the effort of the sails, as separated from the other half by a line drawn through the middle of her length. That part of the ship which lies to windward of this line is accordingly called the weather-side. Thus, admit a ship to be sailing southward, with the wind at east, then is her starboard or right side the lee-side, and the larboard or left the weather-side.
LEE, Nathaniel, a dramatic poet of the eighteenth century, was the son of a clergyman, who gave him a liberal education. He received the rudiments of learning at Westminster School, from which he went to Trinity College, Cambridge. Coming to London, however, his inclination prompted him to appear on the stage; but he was not more successful in representing the thoughts of other men than many a genius besides, who has been equally unfortunate in treading the stage, although he perhaps knew well enough how to write for it. He produced eleven tragedies, all of which contain a very great portion of true poetical enthusiasm. His Rival .Queens, his Theo-docius, and his Alexander the Great, are those which longest kept possession of the stage. None, perhaps, ever felt the passion of love more truly, nor could any one describe it with more tenderness. Addison commends his genius highly, observing, that none of our English poets had a happier turn for tragedy, although his natural fire and unbridled impetuosity hurried him beyond all bounds of probability, and sometimes were quite out of nature. The truth is, this poet’s imagination ran away with his reason; so that he at length became quite crazy, and grew so mad that his friends were obliged to confine him in bedlam. Here he made the famous reply to a coxcomb scribbler, who had the cruelty to jeer him with his misfortune, by observing that it was an easy thing to write like a madman. “No,” said Lee, “it is not an easy thing to write like a madman; but it is very easy to write like a fool.” Lee had the good fortune to recover the use of his reason so far as to be discharged from his melancholy confinement; but he did not long survive his enlargement, and died at the early age of thirty-four. Cibber, in his Lives of the Poets, states that he perished unfortunately in a night ramble in London streets.