pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
LERIDA, a city of Spain, in the province of Catalonia. It is strongly fortified, and in a situation favourable for defence. It was the brilliant theatre of one of the campaigns of Julius Caesar, and continued to be a place of military importance down to the war of the succession, when it supported the Austrian family; but, after the battle of Almanza, it submitted to the Bourbons. It is situated near the junction of the river Cinca with the Ebro, in a rich and well-cultivated plain. It is the see of a bishop, has a university, and a strong citadel; four parish churches, sixteen monasteries, one hospital, and 16,818 inhabitants.
LERWICK, the principal, and, indeed, with the exception of Scalloway, a village containing a few scattered cottages, the only town in the Zetland Islands. It is situated [7:13:233]on the east side of Mainland, the largest island of the group, in latitude 60. north, and longitude 1. west. It consists of one irregular, ill-paved street, with several lanes branching off. The town is of comparatively modern date. Captain Smith, who visited the islands in 1633, describes the harbour, but makes no allusion to any town, which he would have done had it then existed. In 1700, Brand speaks of it as containing between two and three hundred families. A century afterward^, it is described as having a population of about 1000. By the census of 1821 the inhabitants amounted to 2224, and by that of 1831 to 2750. The only public buildings are, the town-house, which unites under one roof the court-room, the prison, the custom-house, and masonic lodge; the parish church; and a dissenting meeting-house. To the south of the town stands Fort-Charlotte, a citadel, first erected during the protectorate, and rebuilt by the second Charles in 1665; but having been burned in 1673 by the Dutch, it lay in ruins till 1781, when it was re-modelled, mounted with twelve guns, and named after the queen of George III. The harbour of Lerwick, called Bressa Sound, is large and most secure, the depth of water varying from five to sixteen fathoms. Two thousand busses from Holland, it is asserted, have found accommodation in it during the fishing season; and Sir Robert Sibbald says that, in 1653, the English fleet, consisting of ninety-four men of war, lay some days in the harbour, and that in 1665, another fleet, to the number of ninety-two sail, were there for some time. The only manufactory in Lerwick is one of straw-plait; still there is a considerable trade carried on with Leith and other towns. The exports are chiefly fish, butter, hides, tallow, calf and rabbit skins, stockings, and, till lately, kelp; the imports are, coals, cloths, groceries, and grain, Zetland not producing a sufficient quantity of the last for the consumption of the inhabitants. Few strangers have visited Lerwick without being delighted with the kindness and hospitality of the inhabitants; and all agree in praising the morals and intelligence of the common people. From the statistical returns made to the General Assembly in 1833, by the committee for increasing the means of education and religious instruction in Scotland, it appears that in the parish of Lerwick, containing a population of 3194 (viz. 2750 in the town, and 444 in the landward part of the parish), there are six schools, the parochial, and five on the teachers’ own adventure; 201 scholars, of whom sixty-five attend the parochial, and 136 the other schools; and that, of the whole number of scholars, sixty-one are learning Latin, and twenty-five mathematics. The same document states, that all the inhabitants above six years of age are able to read; but this statement must be received with some grains of allowance.
LESBOS, a large island in the Aegean Sea, on the coast of Aetolia, about 168 miles in circumference. It has been successively called Pelasgia, from the Pelasgi,ļby whom it was first peopled; Macaria, from Macareus, who settled in it; and Lesbos, from the son-in-law and successor of Macareus, who bore the same name. The chief towns of Lesbos were Methymna and Mitylene. It was originally governed by kings, but they were afterwards subjected to the neighbouring powers. The wine which it produced was greatly esteemed by the ancients, and is still held in the .same repute amongst the moderns. The Lesbians were so debauched and dissipated, that the epithet of Lesbian was often employed to signify debauchery and extravagance. Lesbos has given birth to many illustrious persons, such as Arion, Terpander, Sappho, and others.
LESCAILLE, James, a Dutch poet and printer, was born at Geneva. He and his daughter Catherine Lescaille excelled most of the Dutch poets. But the latter, who was surnamed the Sappho of Holland, and the tenth muse, died in 1711. A collection of her poems has been printed, in which are the tragedies of Genseric Wenceslaus, Herod and Mariamne, Hercules and Dejaneira, Nicoedes, Ariadne, Cassandra, and others. James Lescaille, her father, deserved the poet’s crown, with which the Emperor Leopold honoured him in the year 1603. He died about the year 1677, aged sixty-seven.
LESGHISTAN, a territory of the Caucasus, bounded on the north by Circassia, and on the east by Daghestan. It is a stupendous range of mountains running in a south-easterly direction, of great length, but of inconsiderable breadth, and forming the whole north-eastern frontier of Georgia. Dr Reineggs describes this mountainous tract as broken by innumerable and frightful gulfs. These, he says, are united by strong stone or wooden bridges, by roads carried over impracticable rocks; streams are confined to a particular course, and wholesome spring-water is carried everywhere by pipes and canals cut out of the rock. The soil being scanty, and the level ground insufficient to enable the proprietor to raise the means of subsistence, he ingeniously contrives to increase the surface to the very summit of the heights, by graduated terraces, filling the intermediate spaces with rubbish, and covering them with earth. The houses of the inhabitants, seen from a distance, have an awful appearance, being situated on the loftiest summits of the mountain, and on the most frightful precipices. The Lesghaes are the bravest, as they are the most turbulent, of all the nations of the Caucasus, being the terror and scourge of all the neighbouring tribes, whose villages they lay waste, and whose inhabitants they carry into servitude. They are partly Mahommedans and partly idolaters, the few tribes who yet remain in ignorance never changing the object of their veneration, which is either the sun, moon, or stars, or any other grand object that has made an impression on their minds. They have from time immemorial maintained their independence, partly by their own valour, and partly owing to the inaccessible nature of their country. They are accustomed to hire themselves out to fight the battles of their neighbours; their pay is twelve roubles the campaign, which must not last above three months. In these wars they often take opposite sides, to which they remain faithful, so that it frequently happens that a Lesghae falls by the hand of his brother or intimate friend. They are lightly dressed, according to the custom of the Tartars; and are armed with a gun, pistols, dagger, and sabre. Their women are distinguished for their beauty, surpassing even the females of Mount Caucasus; and they bring the largest prices in the markets of Constantinople.
LESKARD, a market and borough town of Cornwall, in the hundred of West, 237 miles from London. It was incorporated by Queen Elizabeth, and is governed by a mayor, recorder, and twelve capital burgesses. Upon the hills to the north are many tin mines at work, and the country surrounding feeds many sheep, so that the chief trade consists of tin and wool. The population of the town amounted in 1801 to 1860, in 1811 to 1975, in 1821 to 2423, and in 1831 to 2853; but the whole parish at the last census contained 4042 inhabitants.
LESNAIA Reka, a river of Asiatic Russia, which flows through the government of Tobolsk, in Russia. Its course is towards the north, and it flows into the Frozen Ocean.
LESPARRE, an arrondissement of the department of the Gironde, in France, 742 square miles in extent. It contains four cantons, which are divided into thirty-seven communes, and it is peopled by 32,500 inhabitants. The capital is a town of the same name, situated on a swampy spot, whence a brook runs to the Gironde. It has 200 houses, and 1050 inhabitants.
LESSER Tone, in Music. See Tone.
LESSINA, a large island in the Adriatic Sea, being a part of the Austrian province of Dalmatia. It extends over 396 square miles, and contains one city, three market-towns, and thirty villages, with 8819 inhabitants. Although the surface is both woody and mountainous, it has some beautiful and productive valleys, yielding in abundance wine, olives, figs, and almonds, and an adequate supply of corn. Much of the wine is exported. The Sardinia fishery is a profitable branch of industry. The capital is a town of the same name, containing a castle, a cathedral, and 1237 inhabitants.
LESSINES, a city of the Netherlands, in the province of Hennegau, and arrondissement of Tournay, situated on the left bank of the Dender. It contains 3800 inhabitants, and has several breweries, distilleries, tanneries, and oil-mills. Long. 3. 43. E. Lat. 51. 4L N.
LESSOE, an island belonging to the Danish province of Aaland. It is situated in the Cattegat, and contains, in three parishes, 1570 inhabitants, who subsist partly by fisheries and by pilotage. Long. 10. 45. E. Lat. 57. 23. N.
LESSONS, amongst ecclesiastical writers, portions of the Holy Scripture, which were read in Christian churches at the time of divine service.

In the ancient church, reading the Scriptures was one part of the service of the catechumens, at which all persons were allowed to be present, in order to obtain instruction.

L’ESTRANGE, Sir Roger, a well-known writer of the seventeenth century, was descended from an ancient family of Hunstanton Hall, in the county of Norfolk, where he was born in 1616, being the youngest son of Sir Hammond 1’Estraııge, a zealous royalist. Having in 1644 obtained a commission from Charles I. for reducing Lynn in Norfolk, then in possession of the parliament, his design was discovered, and his person seized. He was tried by a court-martial at Guildhall in London, and condemned to death as a spy; but he was subsequently reprieved, and continued in Newgate for some time. He afterwards went beyond sea; but in August 1653 returned to England, where he applied himself to the protector, Cromwell, and having once played before him on the bass-viol, he was by some nicknamed “Oliver’s fiddler.” Being a man of parts, master of an easy, humorous style, and withal in narrow circumstances, he established a newspaper, under the title of The Public Intelligencer, in 1663; but upon the publication of the first London Gazette in 1665, he discontinued it, having been allowed a compensation by government. Some time after the Popish plot, when the Tories began to gain the ascendency over the Whigs, he, in a paper called the Observator, became a zealous champion of the former. He was afterwards knighted, and served in the parliament called by James 11. in 1685. But things taking a different turn in that prince’s reign, in point of liberty of conscience, from what most people had expected, his Observators were discontinued, as not being at all suited to the times. However, he continued licenser of the press until the accession of King William III., in whose reign he met with some trouble, from being considered a disaffected person. , However, he went down to his grave in peace, after he had in a manner survived his intellects. He published a great many political tracts, and translated from the Greek, Latin, and Spanish, the works of Josephus, Cicero’s Offices, Seneca’s Morals, Erasmus’s Colloquies, Aesop’s Fables, and Bonas’s Guide to Eternity. The character of his style has been variously represented; his language being considered by some as easy and humorous, whilst others conceive that his productions are not fit to be read by any who have pretensions to taste or good breeding.
LETCHLADE, a market-town in the hundred of Brightwells Barron, in Gloucestershire, seventy-six miles from London. It has some trade, from standing on the canal which joins the Thames with the Severn. There is a market on Tuesday. The population amounted in 1801 to 917, in 1811 to 993, in 1821 to 1154, and in 1831 to 1244.
LETHARGY, in Medicine (from oblivion, and agy∕α, numbness, laziness'), a disease consisting of a profound drowsiness or sleepiness, from which the patient can scarcely be awaked; or, if awaked, he remains stupid, without sense or memory, and presently sinks again into his former sleep.
LETHE (from λαvdavω, to hide or conceaD, in the ancient mythology, one of the rivers of hell, signifying oblivion or forgetfulness; its waters, according, to poetic fiction, having the peculiar quality of making those who drank them forget everything that was past.
LETT, Gregorio, an eminent Italian writer, was descended of a family which once made a considerable figure at Bologna. Jerom, his father, was page to Prince Charles de’ Medicis; served some time in the troops of the grand duke as captain of foot; and married at Milan, where lie settled in 1628. He was afterwards governor of Almantea in Calabria, and died at Salerno in the year 1639. Gregorio was born at Milan in 1630, studied under the Jesuits at Cosenza, and was afterwards sent to Rome by an uncle, who wished him to enter the church; but he being averse to this, proceeded to Geneva, where he studied the principles of religion and government. Thence he went to Lausanne; and having contracted an acquaintance with John Anthony Guérin, an eminent physician, lodged at his house, made profession of the Calvinist religion, and married his daughter. He settled at Geneva, where he spent nearly twenty years, carrying on a correspondence with learned men, especially with those of Italy. Some contests obliged him to leave that city in 1679; upon which he went to France, and then to England, where he was received with great civility by Charles II. who, after his first audience, made him a present of a thousand crowns, and promised him the place of historiographer. Whilst in England, he wrote a history of that country; but as this work displeased the court, on account of his too great liberty in writing, he was ordered to leave the kingdom. He went to Amsterdam in 1682, and was honoured with the place of historiographer to that city. Leti died suddenly in 1701. He was a man of indefatigable application, as is evinced by the multiplicity of his works. The principal of these are, 1. The Universal Mo [7:13:253]narchy of Louis XIV.; 2. The’ Life of Pope Sixtus V.; 3. The Life of Philip II. King of Spain; 4. The Life of the Emperor Charles V.; 5. The Life of Elizabeth, Queen of England; 6. The History of Oliver Cromwell; 7. The History of Great Britain, in five vols. 12mo; 8. The History of Geneva; besides other works.
LETRIM, a county of Ireland. See Leitrim.
LETTITSCHEW, a circle of the province Podolia, in Russia. It extends in north latitude from 49. 6. to 49. 37. and in east longitude from 25. 9. to 27. 52. It is well watered by the Bug and the Wotschik, and has many extensive forests, with some fertile soil. The capital, a city of the same name, is 950 miles from Petersburg; it is situated on the Wotschik, and has one Catholic and two Greek churches, 380 houses, and 1860 inhabitants. Long. 27. 39. E. Lat. 40. 22. 30. N.
LEUCA, in Antiquity, a geographical measure of length, in use amongst the later Gauls, and which, according to Jornandes, who calls it leuga, contained fifteen hundred paces, or one mile and a half. Hence the name of league, in the lower age called leuva, and now reckoned at about threejŉfiles.
LEUCATA, or Leucate, in Ancient Geography, a promontory of Leucadia, being a white rock projecting into the sea towards Cephalonia, on which stood a temple of Apollo surnamed Leucadius. At the festival which was annually celebrated here, the people were accustomed to offer an expiatory sacrifice to the god, to avert all the calamities with which they might be threatened. For this purpose they made choice of a criminal condemned to death, whom, having conducted to the brink of the promontory, they precipitated into the sea amidst the loud shouts of the spectators. The criminal, however, seldom perished in the water; for it was the custom to cover him with feathers, and to fasten birds to his body, which by spreading their wings served to break his fall. No sooner did he touch the sea, than a number of boats stationed for the purpose flew to his assistance, and drew him out; but after being thus saved, he was banished for ever from the territory of Leucadia.

According to ancient authors, a strange opinion concerning this promontory prevailed for some time amongst the Greeks. They imagined that the leap of Leucate was a potent remedy against the violence of love. Hence disappointed or despairing lovers, it is said, were often known to go to Leucadia, and, having ascended the promontory, and offered sacrifices in the temple, and engaged by a formal vow to perform the desperate act, to precipitate themselves into the sea. Some are reported to have recovered from the effects of the fall; and, amongst these, mention is made of a citizen of Buthroton, in Epirus (Butrinto, in Albania), whose passions always taking fire at new objects, had four times recourse to the same remedy, and always with success. As those who made the trial, however; seldom took any precaution to render their fall less rapid, they were generally destroyed; and women often fell victims to this act of superstitious desperation. At [7:13:255]Leucate was shown the tomb of Artemisia, the celebrated queen of Caria, who gave so many proofs of courage at the battle of Salamis. Inflamed with a violent passion for a young man who inflexibly refused her love, she surprised him in his sleep, and put out his eyes. But regret and despair soon drove her to Leucate, where she perished in the waves, notwithstanding that every effort was made to save her. Such likewise was the end of the unhappy Sappho. Forsaken by her lover Phaon, she went thither to seek relief from her sufferings, and found it in destruction.
LEUCIPPUS, a celebrated Greek philosopher, respecting the exact period of whose birth and death we are ignorant. Neither is his birth-place known; but Diogenes Laertius, who furnishes us with a few facts respecting him, states that he was a native either of Velia in Italy, Abdera, or Miletus. According to Jamblichus, he had in his youth attended Pythagoras; he was the disciple of Melissus, and of Zeno of Velia, which confirms the supposition that he must have flourished about b. c. 430. He was the first who invented the system of atoms, which was afterwards more fully explained by Democritus and Epicurus. Posidonius (Strab. xvi. 512) ascribed the honour of this invention to Moschus, a Phoenician philosopher, who lived, it is said, before the siege of Troy; but there seems little reason to believe that this statement is correct. Several other philosophers had, before the time of Leucippus, considered matter as divisible into indefinitely small particles; but Leucippus and Democritus were the first who taught that these particles were originally destitute of all qualities except figure and motion. According to this theory, the universe, which is infinite, is in part ⅛, plenum and in part a vacuum. The plenum contained innumerable corpuscles or atoms of various figures, which, falling into the vacuum, struck against each other; and hence arose a variety of curvilinear motions, which continued, till at length atoms of similar forms met together, and bodies were produced. The primary atoms being specifically of equal weight, and not being able, on account of their multitude, to move in circles, the smaller rose to the exterior parts of the vacuum, whilst the larger, entangling themselves, formed a spherical shell, which revolved about its centre, and which included within itself all kinds of bodies. The central mass was gradually increased by a perpetual accession of particles from the surrounding shell, till at last the earth was formed. Lactantius has ably refuted the hypothesis of Leucippus (Instit. Divin. iii. 17.) (See a Memoir of Batteux on the Active Principle of the Universe, Mém. de ιAcad, des Inscrip, xxix.; also Montucla, Hist, des Math. i. 147; and Bayle, Dic-tionαire. y )
LEUCOMA, in Antiquity, was a public register amongst the Athenians, in which were inserted the names of all the citizens as soon as they were of age to enter upon their paternal inheritance.
LEUCOPETRIANS, in Ecclesiastical History, the name of a fanatical sect which sprang up in the Greek and eastern churches towards the close of the twelfth century. The fanatics of this denomination professed to believe in a double trinity; rejected wedlock; abstained from flesh; treat- -ed with the utmost contempt the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s supper, with all the various branches of external worship; placed the essence of religion in internal prayer alone; and maintained that an evil being or genius dwelt in the breast of every mortal, and could be expelled thence by no other method than by perpetual supplication to the Supreme Being. The founder of. this sect of enthusiasts is said to have been a person called Leucopetrus, and his chief disciple Tychicus, who corrupted, by fanatical interpretations, several books of Scripture, particularly St Matthew’s Gospel.
LEUCOTHOE, or Leucothea, in fabulous history, the wife of Athamas, who was changed into a sea deity. She was the Matuta of the Romans, and had a temple at Rome, where all the people, particularly women, offered vows for their brothers’ children. They did not entreat the deity to protect their own children, because Ino had been unfortunate in hers. No female slaves were permitted to enter the temple; or if curiosity tempted them to transgress this rule, they were beaten with the greatest severity.
LEUCTRA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Boeotia, to the west of Thebes, situated between Plataea and Thespia, where the Lacedaemonians sustained a terrible defeat by the Thebans under Epaminondas and Pelopidas. See Sparta.
LEUSDEN, John, a celebrated philologist, born in 1624. He studied the learned languages and mathematics at Utrecht, and then went to Amsterdam to converse with the rabbin, and perfect himself in the Hebrew tongue; after which he became professor of Hebrew at Utrecht, where he acquired a great reputation, and died in the year 1699. He wrote many valuable works, the principal of which are, 1. Onomasticum Sacrum, 8vo; 2. Clavis Hebraica et Philologica Veteris Testamenti, 4to; 3. Novi Testamenti Clavis Graeca, cum Annotationibus Philologicis, 8vo; 4. Compendium Biblicum Veteris Testamenti, 8vo; 5. Compendium Graecum Novi Testamenti, the best edition of which is that of London, in 1668, 12mo; 6. Philologus Hebraeus, 4to; 7. Philologus Hebraeo-mixtus, 4to; 8. Philologus Hebraeo-Graecus, 4to; 9. Notes on Jonas, Joel, Hosea, and other books. He also gave correct editions of several learned works.
LEUTMERITZ, a circle in the Austrian kingdom of Bohemia, extending over 1394 square miles, containing forty-two cities and towns, 942 villages, and 54,060 houses, inhabited by 300,711 individuals. It is a romantic district of hills, covered with wood, and narrow valleys of considerable natural fertility. The Elbe carries off the waters of the many small streams which run through the valleys. It is productive of corn, flax, hops, fruit, and yields some wine, and may be considered as a granary for part of the kingdom of Saxony. The capital, from which the circle derives its name, is a city situated on the Elbe, and surrounded with walls and ditches. It has a magnificent cathedral and eleven other churches, a town-hall, 565 houses, and 3950 inhabitants. Long. 13. 1. 33. E. Lat. 50. 31. 38. N.