pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
LATITUDINARIAN, a person of moderation respecting religious opinions, who believes there is a latitude in the road to heaven, which may admit people of different persuasions.
LATIUM, in Ancient Geography, the country of the Latins, at first contained within very narrow bounds, but afterwards increased by the accession of various tribes and races. The appellation, according to Virgil, is a latendo, from Saturn’s lying hid there from the hostile pursuit of his son Jupiter; and from Latium comes Latini, the name of the people, though Dionysius of Halicarnassus derives it from King Latinus, who reigned about the time of the Trojan war. But, be this as it may, it is certain, that Latium, when under Aeneas and his descendants, or the Alban kings, contained only the Latins, exclusive of the Aequi, Volsci, Hernici, and other people; but that Aeneas reckoned the Rutulians, after their conquest, amongst the Latins. And this constituted the ancien X Latium, confined to the Latins; but afterwards, under the kings, and subsequently, it reached from the Tiber to Circeii. Under the consuls, the country of the Aequi, Volsci, Hernici, and others, after long and bloody wars, was added to Latium, under the appellation of adjectitious or super added Latium, as far as the river Liris, the eastern boundary, and to the north as far as the Marsi and Sabines. The various people which in succession occupied Latium, were the aborigines, the Pelasgi, the Arcades, the Siculi, the Arunci, the Rutuli; and beyond Circeii, the Volsci, the Osci, and the Ausones; but the question as to who first, and who next, occupied the country, it is exceedingly difficult to resolve.
LATMUS, in Ancient Geography, a mountain of Ionia, or on the confines of Caria, famous for the fable of Endymion, of whom the Moon was said to be enamoured: hence called Latmius Heros, and Latmius Venator.
LATOMIA properly signifies a stone quarry ; but the places whence stones had been dug having been made use of sometimes as dungeons, jails, or prisons for criminals, it is often applied as a name for a prison. There was a place of confinement of this sort at Rome, near the Tullianum, and another at Syracuse, in which Cicero says Verres had shut up Roman citizens.
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LATONA, in Mythology, a goddess, whose history is very obscure. Hesiod makes her the daughter∙ of Titan Coeus, and Phoebe his sister. She was admired for her beauty, and celebrated for the favours which she granted to Jupiter. Juno, always jealous of her husband’s amours, made Latona the object of her vengeance, and sent the serpent Python to disturb her peace and persecute her. Latona wandered from place to place during the time of her pregnancy, continually alarmed for fear of Python. She was driven from heaven; and Terra, influenced by Juno, refused to give her a place where she might rest and bring forth. Neptune, moved with compassion, struck with his trident and made immoveable the island of Delos, which had before wandered in the Aegean, appearing sometimes above and sometimes below the surface of the sea. Latona, changed into a quail by Jupiter, came to Delos, where she resumed her original shape, and gave birth to Apollo and Diana, leaning against a palm tree or an olive. But her repose was of short duration. Juno discovered the place of her retreat, and obliged her to fly from Delos. She wandered over the greater part of the world; and in Caria, where her fatigue compelled her to stop, she was insulted and ridiculed by the peasants, of whom she asked for water whilst they were weeding a marsh. Their refusal and insolence provoked her, and she entreated Jupiter to punish their barbarity. They were all changed into frogs. She was also insulted by Niobe, who boasted herself greater than the mother of Apollo and Diana, and ridiculed the presents which the piety of her neighbours had offered to Latona. At last, Latona, though persecuted and exposed to the resentment of Juno, became a powerful deity, and saw her children receive divine honours. Her worship was generally established where her children received adoration; particularly at Argos, Delos, and other places, where she had temples. She had an oracle in Egypt, celebrated for the true and decisive answers which it gave. Latona, Venus, and Diana, were the three goddesses most in veneration amongst the Roman women.
LA TOUR DU PIN, an arrondissement of the department of the Isère, in France, 556 square miles in extent. It comprehends eight cantons, divided into 125 communes, and contains 106,500 inhabitants. The capital is the city of the same name, situated in a pleasant valley on the river Bourbon, but containing only 1550 inhabitants.
LATRINAE were public houses, or necessaries, amongst the Romans. We do not find, in the writings or buildings that remain of antiquity, that they had any such in their dwellings.
LATRUNCULI, a game amongst the Romans, of much the same nature with our chess. The latrunculi were properly the chess-men, called also latrones and calculi. They were usually made of glass, and distinguished by black and white colours; but sometimes they were made of wax or other convenient substances. The invention of this game is by some ascribed to Palamedes when at the siege of Troy; Seneca attributes it to Chilon, one of the seven Grecian sages; others honour Pyrrhus with the invention; and others again contend that it is of Persian origin. But is not this lis de lana caprina ? Frequent allusions to this game are met with in the Roman classics; and a little poem was written upon it, addressed to Piso, which some say was the work of Ovid, others of Lucan, in the end of some editions of whose works it is to be found, and to which we refer for a fuller account of the game. This game expresses so well the chance and order of war, that it is, with great appearance of probability, attributed to some military officer as the inventor. One Canius Julius was so exceedingly fond of chess, that after he was sentenced to death by Caligula, he was found playing, and was interrupted in his game by a call to execution; he obeyed the summons, but first desired the centurion who brought the fatal order, to bear witness that he had one man upon the board more than his antagonist, that he might not falsely brag of victory when he should be no more.
LATTALATTA, one of the small islands adjacent to Gilolo, and about twenty-five miles in circumference. It is separated from the island of Jappa by a strait above a mile and a half in length, and in some places not above forty-six yards broad, in others eight miles. There is also a cluster of small islands lying off the west coast of Gilolo, a few minutes to the north of the equinoctial line, and about the 127th degree of east longitude.
LAUBAN, a city, the capital of a circle of the same name, in Prussian Silesia, within the government of Liegnitz. It stands on the Queis, is walled, and contains four churches and 784 houses, inhabited by 4560 persons. Many are employed in making linen and woollen goods and hosiery. A celebrated convent of St Mary Magdalen existed here till 1817, when it was dissolved; its estates comprised six large villages, and 8800 inhabitants.
LAUDATIO, in a legal sense, was anciently the testimony delivered in court, to the good behaviour and integrity of life of the person accused. It resembled the custom which prevails in our trials, of calling persons to speak to the character of the prisoner. The least number of the laudatores amongst the Romans was ten.
LAUDER, William, a native of Scotland, was educated at the University of Edinburgh, where he finished his studies with great reputation, and acquired a considerable knowledge of the Latin tongue. On the 22d of May 1734, he received a testimonial from the heads of the university, certifying that he was a fit person to teach humanity in any school or college whatsoever. In 1739 he published at Edinburgh an edition of Johnston’s Psalms. In 1742, he was recommended by Mr Patrick Cumming and Mr Colin Maclaurin, the professors of church history and mathematics, to the mastership of the grammar school at Dundee, then vacant. Whether he succeeded in his application or not, is uncertain; but a few years afterwards we find him in London, contriving to ruin the reputation of Milton, by an attempt which ended in the destruction of' his own. His reason for the attack probably sprung from the virulence of party-spirit, which triumphed over every principle of honour and honesty. He began, in 1747, to retail part of his design in the Gentleman’s Magazine; and, finding that his forgeries were not detected, he was encouraged in 1751 to collect them, with additions, into a volume, entitled An Essay on Milton’s Use and Imitation of the Moderns in his Paradise Lost, in 8vo. But the fidelity of his quotations had been doubted by several people; and the falsehood of them was soon afterwards demonstrated by Dr Douglas, in a pamphlet entitled Milton Vindicated from the Charge of Plagiarism brought against him by Lauder, and Lauder himself convicted of several Forgeries and gross Impositions on the Public, in a Letter humbly addressed to the Right Honourable the Earl of Bath, 1751, in 8vo. The appearance of this detection overwhelmed Lauder with confusion. He subscribed a confession, dictated by a learned friend, in which be ingenuously acknowledged his offence, which he professed to have been occasioned by the injury he had received from the disappointment of his expectations of profit from the publication of Johnston’s Psalms. This misfortune he ascribed to a couplet in Mr Pope’s Dunciad (book iv. ver. 3), and thence originated his rancour against Milton. But he afterwards imputed his conduct to other motives, abused the few friends who continued to countenance him, and, finding that his character was not to be retrieved, quitted the kingdom, and went to Barbadoes, where for some time he taught a school. FIis behaviour there, however, was mean and despicable. He passed the remainder of his life in universal contempt; and died unregretted by any one, some time about the year 1771.
LAUDICOENI, amongst the Romans, applauders, who [7:13:121] for reward entered the rehearsal-rooms, attended the repetition of plays, and were in waiting when orations were pronounced, to raise or increase the acclamation and applause.
LAUDOHN, Field-Marshal, a celebrated general in the imperial service, born in 1716, was a native of Livonia, and descended from a Scotch family. He made his first campaigns under Marshal Munich, in the war of 1738, between the Russians and Turks, and was present at the taking of Oczakow, as well as at Choczim, and Sta-wutzchane, where the Turks were entirely defeated. In 1741 Frederick the Great refused to take young Laudohn into his service, saying he did not like his countenance; but this monarch, who was considered as the greatest general of his age, afterwards observed that he had often admired the positions of other generals, but that he had ever dreaded the battles of Laudohn. In 1756, when but just entered into the service of the house of Austria, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, he made such rapid progress, that within less than a year he became a general of artillery, and within three years commander-in-chief of the army. He rescued Olmutz when besieged by the Prussians, beat the king himself at Frankfort-on-the-Oder, took General Fouquet prisoner at Zorndorf, carried Glatz and Schweidnitz by assault, and stopped the progress of Frederick in a war which might have proved fatal to the house of Austria. In 1778, when elevated to the rank of field-marshal, at the head of sixty thousand men, he prevented Henry, brother to the king of Prussia, from joining his army to that of the king. At Dubicza, Novi, Grandisea, and Belgrade, in the war between the emperor and the Turks, he had but to present himself before the enemy, and say with Caesar, Veni, vidi, vici. But at his head-quarters in Moravia he was seized with a fever, in consequence of an operation he underwent for an obstruction in the urethra. His impatience under the medical applications, the impetuous ardour of his character, and, above all, the knowledge of his importance in the war, contributed to irritate his mind, and promote the violence of the fever. He resisted the application of cataplasms, before and after the incisions were made, with a fatal obstinacy, which raised the inflammation to such a height, that he expired under an access of fever, on the 14th of July 1790, in the seventy-fourth year of his age.
LAUDS, Laudes, the second part of the ordinary office of the breviary, said after matins, though heretofore it ended the office of the night. The laudes consist principally of psalms, hymns, and the like, and hence they took their name from laus, laudis, praise.
LAUENBURG, a duchy in Germany, formerly a part of Hanover, but at the congress of Vienna transferred to Denmark. It extends in longitude from 9. 56. to 10. 37. E. and in latitude from 53. 21. to 53. 48. N., and contains 443 square miles, with one city, one town, and 123 villages, with 34,650 inhabitants. It borders on the Elbe, where there are some rich meadows; but the greater part of the duchy is a poor and sandy soil, yielding little grain excepting rye. There are some extensive woods in the western parts, which afford good oak and beech timber. There are few even of domestic manufactures beyond the spinning of flax, and very little commerce of any kind; and the roads are in the present day by far the worst which are to be met with in Germany. The capital is a city of the same name, situated on the river Elbe, where the Stecnitz falls into that stream. It is an ancient town, with pleasant walks on the side of the smaller river, and contains 460 houses, with 2980 inhabitants. It was built in the year 1157, by Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, and was the residence of a member of that family till 1697. The church contains many monuments of that race, and has a lofty tower visible over a large circle. Long. 10. 17. 10. Ľ. Lat. 53. 21. 5. N.
LAUFFEN, a city of the kingdom of Wirtemberg, in the circle of the Neckar. It stands on the river of the same name, and contains three churches, 600 houses, and 3630 inhabitants, who grow wine, and have some manufactures.
LAUGHARNE, a market-town of South Wales, in the county of Carmarthen, and hundred of Derlis, 223 miles from London. It stands at the mouth of the river Towy. The market is held on Saturday. The population amounted in 1801 to 1484, in 1811 to 1561, in 1821 to 1953, and in 1831 to 2020.
LAUINGEN, a city of Bavaria, in the circle of the Upper Danube, the capital of a bailiwick of the same name. It is walled, and has 733 houses, with 3530 inhabitants, who make linen and woollen cloths, and have much trade by the Danube, on which it is situated.
LAUNCESTON, a borough town of the hundred of East, in the county of Cornwall, 213 miles from London. It is pleasantly situated on a gentle elevation overlooking the river Tamer. It has good markets, which are held on Wednesday and Saturday. It is one of the county towns, in which the assizes are held in the spring, as they are at Bodmin in the summer. The corporation consists of a [7:13:125]mayor, a recorder, and twelve aidermen. The population amounted in 1801 to 1483, in 1811 to 1758, in 1821 to 2183, and in 1831 to 2231. It formerly returned two members to the House of Commons, but by the reform act elects now only one.
LAUNCH, in the sea language, signifies to put out; as, launch the ship, that is, put her out of dock; launch aft, or forward, speaking of things that are stowed in the hold, is, put them more forward. Launch, ho! is a term used when a yard is hoisted high enough, and signifies hoist no more. See also Lancn.
LAUNDER, in Mineralogy, a name given in Devonshire, and other places, to a long and shallow trough, which receives the powdered ore after it comes out of the box or coffer, a sort of mortar, in which it is powdered with iron pestles. The powdered ore, which is washed into the launder by the water from the coffer, is always finest nearest the grate, and coarser all the way down.
LAUFEN, a town of the canton of Berne, in Switzerland, the capital of a bailiwick of the same name, situated at the junction of the rivers Sense and Laane. It is celebrated for the victory gained by the confederated states in 1339, and contains 1230 inhabitants.
LAURENTALIA, or Larentalia, called also Lau-rrntinalia, Laurentales, and Larentales, feasts celebrated amongst the Romans on the tenth of the kalends of January, or twenty-third of December, in memory of Acca Laurentia, wife of the shepherd Faustulus, and nurse of Romulus and Remus. Acca Laurentia, from whom the solemnity took its name, is represented as no less remarkable for the beauty of her person than her lasciviousness, on account of which she was nick-named by her neighbours lupa, or she-wolf, which is said to have given rise to the tradition of Romulus and Remus being suckled by a she-wolf. She afterwards married a very rich man, [7:13:126] who brought her great wealth, which, at her death, she left to the Roman people; in consideration of which they performed these rites in honour of her, though others represent the feast as held in honour of Jupiter Latiaris.
LAURENTIUM, or Laurens Castra, in Ancient Geography, a town of Latium, supposed to have been the royal residence of those most ancient kings Latinus, Picus, and Faunus. Hither the Emperor Commodus retired during a pestilence. Its name was derived from an adjoining grove of bay trees, midway between Ostia and Antium, and it is supposed to have stood in the place now called San Lorenzo, which seems to be confirmed from the Via Laurentina leading to Rome.
LAURO, Philippo, a celebrated painter, was born at Rome in 1623. He learned the first rudiments of the art from his father Balthasar, who was himself a good painter; but he afterwards studied under Angelo Carosello, his brother-in-law, and proved so great a proficient, that in a short time he far surpassed his tutors in design, colouring, and elegance of taste. He applied himself to painting historical subjects in a small size, enriching the backgrounds with lively landscapes, that afforded the eye and the judgment equal gratification; but though his small paintings are most approved, he finished several grand compositions for altar-pieces which were highly esteemed. He died in 1694; and his works are eagerly bought up at high prices all over Europe.
LAUSANNE, a city, the capital of the canton of Vaud, in Switzerland, in the circle of the same name. It is built on five hills, near the lake of Geneva. The situation is fine, though it is an irregularly built place. There is a fine Gothic cathedral, a council-house, a hospital, and some other public buildings, with 1060 dwelling-houses, and 10,200 inhabitants. The situation is healthy, though cold in winter, from its elevation being 1570 feet above the level of the sea. There is a college with fourteen professors, and a good library. A few manufactures are carried on, chiefly for articles of luxury or ornament. Some good wine is grown near the city. Long. 6. 40. 10. E. Lat. 46. 31. 5. N. t
LAUSATIA, one of the circles into which the present kingdom of Saxony is divided. It touches on the south the Austrian kingdom of Bohemia, and on the north and the east the Prussian provinces of Brandenburg and of Silesia. It is extended over 1650 square miles, comprehends sixteen cities and towns, 458 villages, and. 336,500 inhabitants, of whom one fifth are of the ancient race of Wenden or Vandals, and still retain their primitive language and manners. The northern portion of the circle is mountainous, but the southern division is more level, and is fertile and well cultivated. The chief city is Bautzen.
LAUTERBACH, a town of Hesse-Darmstadt, in the canton of Upper Hesse. It is the capital of the bailiwick of its name, is situated on the river Altfell, is walled, and contains 538 houses, with 3050 inhabitants, who are employed in linen and woollen manufactures, and in tanneries.
LAVA, a stream of melted minerals, which runs out of the mouths, or bursts out through the sides, of burning mountains, during the time of an eruption. See Aetna and Vesuvius, also Volcano.
LAVAL, an arrondissement of the department of the Mayenne, in France, extending over 715 square miles. It is divided into nine cantons and ninety-three communes, and contains a population of 108,600 persons. ∙ The chief place is the city of the same name, which is also the capital of the department. It is finely situated on both sides of the Mayenne, but is ill built, with narrow and crooked streets and antique houses, and only agreeable from the walks that surround it. It contains 3520 houses, with 15,500 inhabitants, who are chiefly employed in making linens, which, [7:13:127]under the name toiles de Laval, have great celebrity throughout the kingdom. There are also some serges and thin stuffs of worsted made. Long. 0. 52. W. Lat. 48. 4. N.
LAVATORY, or Lavadero, a name given to certain places in Chili and Peru, where gold is obtained from earth by washing.
LAVAUR, an arrondissement of the department of the Tarn, in France, 316 square miles in extent. It consists of five cantons, divided into sixty-one communes, and contains 47,800 inhabitants. The capital is the city of the same name, situated on the left bank of the river Agout. It contains 850 houses, and 6600 inhabitants employed in making silk goods. Long. 1. 47. E. Lat. 43. 42. N.
LAVENHAM, a town of the hundred of Baberg, in the county of Suffolk, sixty-two miles from London. It is governed by a corporation of six capital burgesses, chosen for life. It had once a cloth manufactory, which has disappeared, and now only carries on some trade in hempen goods. The population amounted in 1801 to 1776, in 1811 to 1711, in 1821 to 1898, and in 1831 to 2107.
LAVER, in scripture history, a sacred utensil placed in the court of the Jewish tabernacle, consisting of a bason, whence water was drawn by cocks, for washing the hands and feet of the officiating priests, and also the entrails and legs of the victims.
LAVERNA, in Antiquity, the goddess of thieves and cheats amongst the Romans, who honoured her with public worship, because she was supposed to favour those who wished that their designs might not be discovered. Varro says that she had an altar near one of the gates of Rome, which was hence called porta lavernalis.
LAVINIUM, in Ancient Geography, a town of Latium, six miles to the east of Laurentum, according to an ancient map; so named from Lavinia, consort of Aeneas, and daughter of King Latinus, and built by the Trojans.
LAWLESS Court, a court said to have been held annually on the King’s Hill at Rochford, in Essex, on the Wednesday morning after Michaelmas day, at cock-crowing, where they whispered, and had no candle, nor any pen and ink, but only a coal. Persons who owed suit or service, and did not appear, forfeited double their rent every hour they were missing. This servile attendance, Camden informs us, was imposed on the tenants for conspiring at the like unseasonable hour to raise a commotion. The court belonged to the honour of Raleigh, and to the Earl of Warwick, and was called lawless, from its being held at an unlawful hour.

Lawn, in manufactures, a fine sort of linen, remarkable for being used in the sleeves of the clerical dress of bishops.