pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
LANGBAINE, Dr Gerard, a learned English writer, was born in 1608. He was educated at Queen’s College, Oxford, and became keeper of the archives of that university, and provost of his college. He was highly esteemed by Usher, Selden, and other learned men; and he died in 1657. He published an edition of Longinus, in Greek and Latin, with notes; and other works.

Langbaine, Gerard, the son of the former, was born in 1656. He was put as apprentice to Mr Symonds, bookseller in St Paul’s Churchyard; but was soon afterwards called thence by his mother, upon the death of his eldest brother, and by her entered as a gentleman commoner of University College, Oxford, in 1672. Here he squandered a good part of his estate; but afterwards corrected his manner of living, and for some years lived in retirement near Oxford. During this time he improved his taste for dramatic poetry; and at first wrote some small pieces without his name, but afterwards published several works which he publicly owned. In 1690 he was elected infe rior beadle of arts in the university of Oxford; and, in January following, was chosen superior beadle of law; but he died in 1692. He wrote, 1. The Hunter, a Discourse on Horsemanship; 2. A new Catalogue of English Plays, with their best editions, and divers remarks on the originals of most plays, and on the plagiarisms of several authors; 3. An ∕∖ccount of the English Dramatic Poets.
LANGELAND, an island in the Baltic Sea, a portion of the division of Funen, separated from it by a narrow strait, over which there is a ferry. It is about thirty miles in length and four miles and three fourths in medium breadth, and extends over 106 square miles, comprising one city or town, and fourteen parishes, with 12,300 inhabitants. It is merely an agricultural spot, of moderate fertility, yielding a surplus of about 14,000 quarters of corn beyond the consumption of the population. The capital is Rudkiobing, a place of 1200 inhabitants, situated in longitude 10. 42. E. and latitude 54. 55. N.
LANGENBERG, a town of Prussian Westphalia, in the government of Minden and circle of Reckenberg, containing 321 houses, and 1956 inhabitants.
LANGENBRUCKEN, a market-town of the duchy of Baden, in Germany, in-the bailiwick of Brucksal, containing 190 houses, and 1275 inhabitants.
LANGENDIELAN, a very large straggling town in the government of Reichenbach, in Prussian Silesia, which extends to the frontier of Glatz. It contains 575 houses, with 6780 inhabitants. There are nearly 1000 looms at work on cloth and plushes.
LANGENSCHWALBACH, a city of the duchy of Nassau, in Germany, the capital of the bailiwick of that name. It is celebrated for its various medicinal springs, which are much resorted to in the summer, both for health and pleasure. The vicinity presents some most picturesque scenery and beautiful promenades, and every accommodation for visitors. It contains a Lutheran, Calvinist, and Catholic church, 260 houses, and 1640 resident inhabitants.
LANGENTHAL, a large market-town of the canton of Berne, in Switzerland. It is a manufacturing place for linen and cotton, and for silk and mixed silk goods, with considerable bleaching grounds and dye-houses. It stands on the river Langentann, whose waters move machinery.
LANGESALZA, a city, the capital of a circle of the same name, in the Prussian government of Erfurt. It stands on a gentle elevation above the river Salza, is fortified, and defended by a castle, and contains iour churches, four hospitals, with 940 dwelling-houses, and 6840 inhabitants. It is the most considerable manufacturing city in the Prussian part of Thuringia, making goods of silk and linen, both cloth and hosiery, and having powerful mills for spinning cotton twist. It is also a place of great commerce in corn, and the other products of the fertile soil around it. Long. 10. 33. 25. E. Lat. 51. 6. 59. N.
LANGHEMARK, a market-town of the Netherlands, in the province of West Flanders, and arrondissement of Ypres, containing 540 houses, and 4600 inhabitants.
LANGLAND, or Longlande, Robert, an old English poet, who flourished about 1350, He was a secular priest, and a fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. He is said to have been born in Shropshire. He wrote the Visions of Pierce Plowman, a piece which abounds with imagination and humour, though dressed to great disadvantage in very uncouth versification and obsolete language. It is written without rhyme, an ornament which the poet has endeavoured to supply by making every verse begin with the same letter. Dr Hickes observes, that this kind of alliterative versification was adopted by Langland from the practice of the Saxon poets, and that these Visions abound with Saxonisms; he styles him celeberrimus ille satirographus, morum vindex accrrimus. Several poets attempted imitations of his visions, and the learned Selden mentions him with honour.
LANGLEY, a town and parish in the hundred of Stoke, in the county of Buckingham, eighteen miles from London. The Grand Junction Canal passes by it, and, besides the trade from that circumstance, it has some in making lace and straw-hats. Near to it are several fine seats of noblemen and gentlemen. The population amounted in 1801 to 1215, in 1811 to 1571, in 1821 to 1616, and in 1831 to 1797.
LANGPORT, a market-town of the hundred of Pitney, in the county of Somerset, 131 miles from London. It stands at the junction of the river Ivell with the Paret, which latter is navigable to the port of Bridgewater, and by which coals, iron, and other heavy goods are dispersed over a great tract of country. The market is held on Saturday. It is an ancient borough, governed by a portreeve and bailiffs; but has not returned members to parliament, as it did in ancient times. It is situated in a fertile division of the county. The population amounted in 1801 to 754, in 1811 to 861, in 1821 to 1004, and in 1831 to 1245.
LANGREL Shot, at sea, that which consists of two bars of iron joined by a chain or shackel, with half a ball of iron fixed on each end; by means of which apparatus it does great execution amongst the enemy’s rigging.
LANGRES, an arrondissement of the department of the Upper Marne, in France. It extends over 926 square miles, is divided into ten cantons, and these into 209 communes, containing 92,500 inhabitants. The capital is the city of the same name near the Marne, and 1370 feet above the level of the sea. It contains 1800 houses, and 6500 inhabitants, who are chiefly employed in making cutlery and other hardwares. Long. 5. 14. 45. E. Lat. 47. 51. 59. N.
LANGTON, Stephen, was born in England, but educated at Paris, and was greatly esteemed for his learning, both by the king and the nobility of France. He was chancellor of Paris, a cardinal of Rome, and in the reign of King John was made archbishop of Canterbury by Innocent III. in opposition both to the monks of Canterbury and to the king. Langton was one of the most illustrious men of his age for learning, and continued as archbishoo for twenty-two years. He died in 1228.
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LANGUED, in Heraldry, expresses such animals whose tongue, appearing out of the mouth, is borne of a different colour from the rest of the body.
LANGUEDOC was, previously to the revolution, the nameof a large province of France, twohundredand twenty miles in length, by one hundred and twenty in breadth. It was divided into Upper and Lower Languedoc, Toulouse being the capital of the former, and Montpellier, so celebrated for the salubrity of its climate, the capital of the latter. Languedoc is now divided into the departments of Gard, Hérault, Ardèche, Lozère, Tarn, Upper Garonne, Aude, and Upper Laine. These will be found described in their regular alphabetical order,
LANGUOR, amongst physicians, signifies great weakness and loss of strength, attended with a dejection of mind, so that the patients can scarcely walk or even stand upright, but are apt to faint away.
LANHAM. See Lavenham.
LANIARD, or Lanyard (from Lanier, Fr.), a short piece of cord or line fastened to several machines in a ship, and serving to secure them in a particular place, or to manage them more conveniently. Such are the lanyards of the gun-port, the lanyard of the buoy, the lanyard of the cat-hook, and others. The principal lanyards used in a ship, however, are those employed to extend the shrouds and stays of the masts by their communication with the dead eyes, so as to form a sort of mechanical power resembling that of a tackle. These lanyards are fixed in the dead eyes as follows: One end of the lanyards is thrust through one of the holes of the upper dead eye, and then knotted to prevent it from drawing out; the other is then passed through one of the holes in the lower dead eye, whence, returning upwards, it is inserted through the second hole in the upper dead eye, and next through the second in the lower dead eye, and finally through the third holes in both dead eyes. The end of the lanyard being then directed upwards from the lowest dead eye, is stretched as stiff’ as possible by the application of tackles; and, that the several parts of it may slide with more facility through the holes of the dead eyes, it is well smeared with hog’s lard or tallow, so that the strain is immediately communicated to all the turns at once.
LANIGEROUS, an appellation given towhatever bears wool.
LANISTA, in Antiquity, is sometimes used to signify an executioner, but more frequently a master gladiator, who taught the use of arms, and had always people under him ready to exhibit shows of that kind. For this purpose they either purchased gladiators, or educated in that art children who had been exposed.
LANJANG, or Lantchang, a city of Laos, situated on the river Mecon, of which we have no very exact accounts. It is said to be extensive and splendid. The palace of the sovereign is equal in extent to a city, while those of the grandees are large and elegant. The dwellings of the lower orders are, as usual in the East, mere huts. Long. 104. 38. E. Lat. 18. 30. N.
LANNION, an arrondissement of France, in the department of the Northern Coasts, extending over 403 square miles, and containing a population of 90,500 persons. It is divided into seven cantons and fifty-nine communes. The capital is a city of the same name, situated on the river Guer, about two miles from the sea, and contains 3200 inhabitants. In the neighbourhood are some mines, which yield some iron and a little silver.
LANSQUENET, the name of a game at cards, which is of French origin. It may be played at by any number er people, though a single pack of cards is used during the deal. The dealer, who possesses an advantage, shuffles the cards, and, after they have been'cut by another of the party, deals out two cards on his left hand, turning them up, then one for himself, and a fourth which he places on the table for the company, and which is called the réjouissance. On this card any or all of the company, the dealer excepted, may put their money, which the dealer is compelled to answer. The dealer continues turning the cards upwards, one by one, till two of a sort come up, that is to say, two aces, two deuces, or the like, which, to prevent mistakes, or their being considered as single cards, he places on each side of his own card; and as often as two, three, or the fourth sort of a card comes up, he invariably places, as before mentioned, on each side of his own card. The company has a right to take and put money upon any single card, unless the dealer’s card should happen to be double, which is often the case, by his card being the same as one of the two hand-cards which he first dealt out on his left hand. Thus he continues dealing till he brings either their cards or his own. Whilst the dealer’s own card remains undrawn, he wins; and whichever card is turned up first, loses. If he deals out the two cards on his left hand, which are styled the [7:13:96]hand-cards, before his own, he is entitled to deal again. This advantage amounts to no more than his being exempted from losing, when he turns up a similar card to his own, immediately after he has turned up one for himself. Lansquinct is often played without the rejouissance, the dealer giving every one of the party a card to put his money upon. It is often played also by dealing only two cards, one for the company and the other for the dealer. It should be observed, that a limitation is generally fixed for the sum to be placed upon any card or number of cards, either in gold or silver, beyond which the dealer is not obliged to answer.
LANTERN, or Lanthorn, a device to carry a candle in, being a kind of cover usually made of tinned iron, with sashes of some transparent matter, as glass, horn, or the like, to transmit the light.

Dark Lantern, one with only one opening, which may also be closed up when the light is to be entirely hid, or opened when there is occasion for the assistance of the light to discover some object.

Magic Lantern, an optical machine, by which little painted images are represented so much magnified, as to be accounted the effect of magic by the ignorant.

Lantern, in Architecture, a little dome raised over the roof of a building, to give light, and serve as a crowning to the fabric. x

The term lantern is also used to signify a square cage of carpentry placed over the ridge of a corridor or gallery, between two rows of shops, to illuminate them.

Lantern, on board of ship, a well-known machine, of which there are many in a ship, particularly for the purpose of directing the course of other ships in a fleet or convoy; as the poop and top lanterns, &c.

Feast of Lanterns, in China, is a celebrated feast held on the fifteenth day of the first month, and so called from the infinite number of lanterns which are hung out of the houses and streets. On this day are exposed lanterns of all prices, some of them very costly.
LAOCOON, in fabulous history, a son of Priam and Hecuba, or, according to others, of Antenor or of Capys. Being priest of Apollo, he was commissioned by the Trojans to offer a bullock to Neptune, in order to render him propitious. During the sacrifice two enormous serpents issued from the sea, and attacked Laocoon’s two sons who stood next to the altar. The father immediately attempted to defend his sons; but the serpents falling upon him, squeezed him in their complicated coils, and he died in the greatest agony. This punishment was said to have been inflicted upon him for dissuading the Trojans from bringing into the city the fatal wooden horse which the Greeks had consecrated to Minerva, as also for his impiety in hurling a javelin against the sides of the horse as it entered within the walls. According to Hyginus, be suffered this punishment for his marriage against the consent of Apollo, or, according to others, for his polluting the temple, by his commerce with his wife Antiope before the statue of the god.

Laocoon, in the history of the arts, is a celebrated monument of Greek sculpture, executed in marble by Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus, the three famous artists of Rhodes. Agesander is supposed to have been the father of the two latter. This remain of antiquity was found at Rome in the ruins of the palace of Titus, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, under the pontificate of Julius II. and afterwards deposited in the Farnese Palace. Laocoon, the priest of Apollo and Neptune, is here represented, along with his two sons, with two hideous serpents clinging round his body, gnawing it, and injecting their poison. This statue exhihits the most astonishing dignity and tranquillity of mind in the midst of the most excruciating torments. Pliny 1 says of it, that it is Opus omnibus pictoreae ex statuariae artis, praeferendum.
LAODICAEA on the Lycus, in Ancient Geography, a town of Phrygia, at first called Diospolis, then l~thoas. It was built by Antiochus, son of Stratonice, and called after his consort Laodice. Laodicaea on the Sea, in Ancient Geography, according to Strabo, was a town of Seleucis in Syria, extremely well built, with a commodious harbour. The country about it yielded great quantities of wine. The city took its name from Laodice, mother of Seleucus, the founder of it.
LAOMEDON, a king of Troy, whose history is involved in fables. He was son of Ilus king of Troy, and married Strymo, called by some Placia, or Leucippe, by whom he had Podarces, afterwards known by the name of Priam, and Hesione. He built the walls of Troy, and was assisted by Apollo and Neptune, whom Jupiter had banished from heaven, and condemned to be subservient to the will of Laomedon for one year. When the walls were finished, Laomedon refused to reward the labours of the gods, and soon afterwards his territories were laid waste by the sea or Neptune, whilst his subjects were visited by a pestilence sent by Apollo. Sacrifices were offered to the offended divinities; but the calamities of the Trojans increased, and nothing could appease the gods, according to the words of the oraclc, but annually to expose to a sea monster a Trojan virgin. Whenever the monster appeared, the marriageable maidens were assembled, and the lot decided which of them was doomed to death for the good of her country. When this calamity had continued for five or six years, the lot fell upon Hesione, Laomedon’s daughter. The king was unwilling to part with his daughter, whom he loved with uncommon tenderness, yet conscious that his refusal would greatly irritate the wrath of the gods. In the midst of his fear and hesitation, Hercules came and offered to deliver the Trojans from this public calamity, if Laomedon would promise to reward him with a number of fine horses. The king consented; but when the monster was destroyed, he refused to fulfil his engagements, and Hercules was obliged to besiege Troy and take it by force of arms. Laomedon was put to death, after a reign of twenty-nine years; his daughter Hesione was given in marriage to Telamon, one of the conqueror’s attendants; and Podarces was ransomed to the Trojans, and placed upon his father’s throne. According to Hyginus, the wrath of Neptune and Apollo was kindled against Laomedon because he had refused to offer as a sacrifice on their altars all the first-born of his cattle, according to a vow which he had made.
LAON, an arrondissement in the department of the Aisne, in France. It is 960 square miles in extent, is divided into eleven cantons, and these into 291 communes; and contains 141,650 inhabitants. The capital is the city of the same name, situated on a hill in an extensive plain. The ancient cathedral is the only remarkable edifice. It contains 1600 houses, and 7000 inhabitants, who are employed in preparing hosiery and leather, and in trading in corn and wine. In this plain the army of Marmont was defeated by Blucher on the 9th of March 1814, and that commanded by Bonaparte on the two following days, which led to the capture of Paris. Long. 3. 32. 7. E-Lat. 49. 33. 54. N.
LAOS, a kingdom of India beyond the Ganges, extending from the twelfth to the eighteenth degrees of north latitude, and having Tonquin and Cochin-China on the east, Cambodia on the south, Siam on the west, and an 1 Lib. xxxvi. c. 5.
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unexplored region on the north. Of this extensive country all the knowledge which we possess is derived chiefly from Portuguese writers, andfrom the report of traders; and the accounts are frequently contradictory. All accounts agree, however, that the country is in general poorly cultivated, and thinly inhabited; the smaller villages consisting of collections of huts, and a great part of the population being merely erratic hordes, who live in a migratory state. These tribes are of very warlike habits, and wage almost constant war with each other. They are accustomed to the use of fire-arms. In their persons they resemble the southern Chinese, being of an olive complexion, and in their dispositions are frank and honest. This country carries on commerce with Tonquin and Cochin-China, to which it sends elephants, precious stones, gold, musk, ivory, wax, bamboos, and cotton; and in exchange receives salt, salt-fish, oil, silken stuffs, fire-arms, and gunpowder. This trade is'chiefly carried on by the Chinese and Tonquinese merchants, and a caravan occasionally comes from Siam. The people of this country arc only nominally subject to the Cochin-Chinese, their independence being secured partly by the insalubrity, and partly by the inaccessible nature, of their country. There is a tradition of a higher state of knowledge among the people in former times; and a considerable number of books is said to have been written in the Bali language. But there are no longer any traces of this high civilization. The people are ignorant and superstitious. The belief in magic is general; and the physician exercises the double profession of doctor and conjuror, and by the latter trade makes considerable gains.
LAPA Isle, one of the Sooloo Isles, situated due south from the island of Sooloo. The land is high and woody, and forms good shelter from the south-west and north-west winds.
LAPATHUS, Lapethus, or Lepithus, in Ancient Geography, a town of Cyprus, with a port or station for ships, and a cognominal river. It was built by a colony of Phoenicians, according to Scylax; by Belus king of Tyre, according to Alexander Ephesus. According to Strabo, it was built by a colony of Spartans; and one of the nine kings resided here, the last of whom was Pisistratus, who commanded the naval force of Alexander the Great. There was a temple here dedicated to Venus.
LAPIDARY, an artificer who cuts precious stones. The art of cutting precious stones is of great antiquity. The French have carried it to high perfection, but they are not in any degree superior to the British. There are various machines employed in the cutting of precious stones, according to their quality. The diamond, which is extremely hard, is cut on a wheel of soft steel, turned by a mill, [7:13:98]with diamond dust tempered with olive oil, which also serves to polish it. The oriental ruby, sapphire, and topaz, are cut on a copper wheel, with diamond dust tem-pered with olive oil, and are polished on another copper wheel with tripoli and water. The hyacinth, emerald, amethyst, garnets, agates, and other stones not of an equal degree of hardness with the other, are cut on a leaden wheel with smalt and water, and polished on a tin wheel with tripoli. The turquoise of the old and new rock, girasol, and opal, are cut and polished on a wooden wheel with tripoli also.

Lapidary is also used for a virtuoso skilled in the nature, kinds, and values of precious stones; or a merchant who deals in them.

Lapidary Style denotes the style proper for monumental or other inscriptions. This is a kind of medium between prose and verse; the jejune and the brilliant are here equally to be avoided. Cicero has prescribed the rules of it: Accedat oportet oratio varia, vehemens, plena spiritus. Omnium sententiarum gravitate, omnium verborum ponderibus, est utendum.
LAPIDESCENT, any thing which has the faculty of petrifying, or turning bodies to a stony nature. The older naturalists speak of a lapidescent principle, a lapidescent spirit, a lapidescent juice, and so on.
LAPIS, in general, is used to denote a stone of any kind or description.

Lapis, in Roman antiquity, a geographical measure denoting a mile, because miles were distinguished by erecting a stone at the end of each; from the number marked on which, the length of way to or from Rome might be known. This device is ascribed by Plutarch to Caius Gracchus; but it was more accurately executed by Augustus, who erected a gilt pillar in the forum, at which all the public ways of Italy, distinguished by stones, were terminated. The same thing was done in the Roman provinces. Hence the phrases tertius lapis, centesimus lapis, for three or a hundred miles; and sometimes the ordinal number, without lapis, as ad duodecimum, at twelve miles distance.
LAPITHAE, in Ancient Geography, a people of Thessaly. See the next article.