LEGACY. Fr. Legz; It. Legato; Sp. LeLEGATE'E. gacia; Lat. Legatum, from Legae. quasi lege quadam in testamento statuendo ac decernendo, (Vossius.)

For legacy by Will or Testament, see the quotation from Blackstone. Stow uses it as a derivative from Legate, (qv.)

Whan he had heard her great infirmite
Her legacie and lamentacioun.

Chaucer. The Complaint of Creseide.

Now haue ye yt summe of this my doctrine eue my very gospel yt whole tale of all my legacy and message wherfore I am sent into the world.-Tyndall. Workes, p. 459.

Yea, begge a haire of him for memory
And dying, mention it within their willes,
Bequeathing it as a rich legacie

Vnto their issue.-Shakespeare. Julius Cæsar, Act iii. sc.2.

A legacy is a bequest, or gift of goods and chattels by testament; and the person to whom it was given is stiled the legatee.-Blackstone. Commentaries, b. ii. c. 32.

"Sir:" queth I, "I know not the law." "Yes, marry do you," quoth he, and laughed. "Nay in good faith," quoth I, "I am no legist."

Wyatt to Cromwell, 12 April, (1540.) He was a good clerke and conuynge in bothe lawes, he was a great iuryst and legust.

Berners. Froissart. Cronycle, vol. ii. c. 210.

Who made our laws to bind us, not himself
And hath full right to exempt

Whom so it pleases him by choice
From national obstruction, without taint
Of sin, or legal debt.

Milton. Samson Agonistes.

The presbytery of Glascow, and many other places protested against the legality thereof, because of the admission of lay-elders, a thing scarce before heard of in that Church. Baker. Charles I. an. 1638.

I know, Mr. Speaker, there is in Parliament a double power of life and death by bill, a judicial power, and a legislative; the measure of the one is what's legally just, and the other what is prudentially and politickly fit for the good and preservation of the whole.

Id. Ib. an. 1641. Speech of Lord Digby. Though there should be emulation between them, yet as legists, they will agree in magnifying that wherein they are best-Bacon. Works, vol. iii. Let. 127. To the King.

In which you do but that over again, that you have from the very beginning of your discourse, and which some silly leguleians now and then do, to argue unawares, against their own clients.-Milton. A Defence of the People of England.

But if you lessen the rate of use, the lender, whose interest it is to keep up the rate of money, will rather lend it to the banker, at the legal interest, than to the tradesman or gentleman, who when the law is broken, shall be sure to pay the full natural interest, or more.

Locke. Of Lowering of Interest.

Nor would the banker venture to borrow, where his gains would be but one per cent. nor the money'd man lend him, what he could make better profit of legally at home.-Id. Ib.

That is by signifying their approbation, or satisfaction concerning the orthodoxy of their faith, the attestation of their manners, the legality of their ordination, &c.

Barrow. Of the Pope's Supremacy. An officer, though he had passed his life in the field, was able to determine all legal controversies which could occur within the district committed to his charge.

Hume. Hist. of England, vol. ii. App. 2. What do you think were the feelings of every man, who looks upon Parliament in an higher light, than that of a market-overt for legalizing a base traffick of votes and pensions, when he saw you employ such means of coercion to the Crown, in order to coerce our Parliament through that medium?-Burke. Letter to Thomas Burgh, Esq.

LEGATE.
LEGACY.

LE'GATESHIP.

LEGA'TION.

LEGATINE, Or

Tweye men, Legates of Rome, Pandulf & Duraund, & to Engelonde come.

R. Gloucester, p. 499. The Pape sent his bulle with a Legate.-R. Brunne, p.131. The Pope's Legate I shall honorablye entreate, both goyng and comyng, & in his necessities I shall helpe him. Barnes. Workes, p. 195. And thys busynesse was farre dyuerse from worldlye affaires; euen so was this kind of ambassade or Legatyon new, and such a one as had not bene vsed before. Udal. Marke, c. 6. It was first ruled by a seuerall King, and afterwards wonne from the Britons by Vespasian the Legat, at such time as he made a voiage into the West countrie Holinshed. The Description of Britaine, c. 10. Thus by the chance and change of Popes, the Legalship of Anselme could take no place.-Id. Henrie I. an. 1116. Then hee [Cardinall Poole] declared the cause of his Legacie, first exhorting them to returne to the comunion of the Church and restore to the Pope his due authoritie. Stow. Q. Mary, an. 1554. [The Bishop of Norwich] shewed those Buls in open Parliament, and caused copies to be written forth, and sent into euerie quarter, that his authoritie and power Legantine might be notified to all men.-Holinshed. Rich. II. an. 1383.

འ

Because all those things you haue done of late By your power Legatiue [line] within this kingdome, Fall into th' compasse of a premunire. Shakespeare. Hen. VIII. Act iii. sc. 2. Upon pretence of his Legantine power, he [Wolsey] assumed the managery of all ecclesiastical matters whatsoever.-Strype. Memorials. Hen. VIII. an. 1530.

The Legates a latere, as they were called, were a kind of delegates who possessed the full power of the Pope in all the Provinces committed to their charge, and were very busy in extending as well as exercising it.

Hume. History of England, vol. i. Note N. LEGE, i. e. to allege, (qv.) Also, to allay. See LEG.

And so he hath begon To reason fast, and ledge auctoritie.

LEGEND, n. LEGEND, v. LEGENDARY, adj. LEGENDARY, n. LE'GIBLE.

Chancer. The Court of Loue. Fr. Legend; It. and Sp. Legenda, from legendum, to be read; from legere, to read. For the literal mean

tion of the word, see the quotation from Tooke. Applied to

A narrative or relation, a record or register, any thing told; from the abuse in the lives of saints, any fictitious or incredible story. Also specially used in Numismatics for the inscription placed on the edge of a coin or medal; it differs from an inscription, which occupies the place of a head or device on the face of the coin. Legible, Fr. and Sp. Legible; It. Leggibile, that can or may be read.

My name yenterede

In the legende of lif. longe er ich were.

Piers Plouhman, p. 194.
Thou shalt while that thou livest yere by yere,
The most partie of thy time spende
In making of a glorious legende

Of good women, and maidens, and wiues,
That weren trewe in loving all her liues.

Chaucer. The Legend of Good Women, Prol.
Nor ladie's wonton love, nor wand'ring knight,
Legend I out in rhimes all richly dight.
Bp. Hall, b. i. Sat. 1.

Wee are not to maruaile, that afterwards legends being growne in a manner to bee nothing else but heapes of friuolous and scandalous vanities, they haue beene euen with disdaine throwne out, the very nests which bred them abhorring them.-Hooker. Ecclesiasticall Politie, b. v. s. 20. Expert proficients, that have far out-done Your tutors' presidents, and have out-run The practice of all times, whose acts will be Thought legendary by posterity.

Brome. Upon the King's Imprisonment. The deep mysteries of godlinesse, which to the great

clerks of the world are as a book clasped and sealed up, lye

open before him [the christian] fair and legible; and whiles those book-men know whom they have heard of, he knows whom he hath beleeved.-Bp. Hall. The Christian, s. 1.

Addison. Dialogues on Ancient Medals, Dial. 3.

Legend, which means-That which ought to be read-is from the early misapplication of the term by impostors, now used by us as if it meant-That which ought to be laughed at: and so it is explained in our dictionaries.

Tooke. Diversions of Purley, vol. ii. c. 8 Ye tragic tales of legendary lore, That draw devotion's ready tear no more. Warton. On Sir J. Keynolds's Painted Window at Oxford. LE'GER. Dut. Legger; A. S. Lec-gan, jacere, to lie, to stay, or remain.

A leger ambassador,-one sent to remain, or continue.

--

A leger-book, a book that lies; for immediate entries.

Chaucer renders the Lat. Sedes,-liege.

Is this the librarie that thou haddest chosen for a right certain liege to thee in mine hous, (certissimam tibi sedem nostris in laribus ]-Chaucer. Boecius, b. i.

All which particulars doe most evidently appeare out of certaine auncient ligier books of the R. W. Sir William Locke, mercer of London, &c, and others.

Hackluyt. Voyages, vol. ii. p. 96.

This ledger-book lies in the brain behind,
Like Janus eye, which in his poll was set.

Davies. The Immortality of the Soul, s. 21. For Gundamore, the Spanish leiger, did so aggravate this fact of his to the king against him, that it seemed nothing would give satisfaction but Raleigh's head -Baker, an.1617.

7. Lieger ambassadors or agents were sent to remain in or near the courts of those princes or states, to observe their motions, and to hold correspondence with them. Bacon. Advice to Sir George Villiers.

It happened that a stage player borrowed a rusty musket, which had lien long leger in his shop. Fuller. Worthies. London And you are to note, that I call that a ledger-bait which is fixed, or made to rest in one certain place when you shall be absent from it.- Walton. Angler, pt. i. c. 8.

Francis Little, in the year 1627, wrote a leiger-book containing a short account of the Monastery of Abington. Wood. Fusti, vol. i. an. 1618.

Many leiger-books of the monasteries [are] still remaining, wherein they registered all their leases and that for their own private use.

H. Warton. On Burnet's Hist. of the Reformation, p. 42.

Here you a muckworm of the town might see,
At his dull desk, amid his legers stall'd,
Eat up with carking care and penurie.

Thomson. Castle of Indolence, c. 1. LEGER-DE-MAIN, Fr.-Light of hand. Applied to the tricks of, or tricks resembling those of, jugglers; who perform them by lightness or quickness of hand.

Perceive theyr leygier demaine, wyth which they would iugle forth thir falshood and shift the trouth asyde. Sir T. More. Workes, p. 813

For he in slights and ingling feates did flow, And of legierdemayne the mysteries did know. Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. v. c. 9. LEGE'RITY. "Fr. Légiereté. Lightness, fleetnesse, swiftinesse, &c." (Cotgrave.) And when the mind is quickered, out of doubt The organs, though defunct and dead before. Break vp their drowsie graue, and newly moue With casted slough, and fresh legeritie,

Shakespeare. Hen. V. Act iv. sc. 1. LEGGE, orĮ i. e. to lay. A. S. Lec-gan. LIG, v. Legginge the foundament of penaunce fro deede werkis. Wiclif. Hebruis, c. 6. Ther dorste no wight hond upon him legge. Chaucer. The Reves Tale, v. 3935.

LEGGEN, i. e. to lay or allay, (qv.) To

ease.

That but aforne her she may se
In the future some socour
To leggen her of her dolour

To graunt her time of repentaunce.

Chaucer. Rom. of the Rose LEGGIADROUS. It. Leggiadro, leggiardo from It. Leggiero; Fr. Légier, light, graceful.

Yet this Retirement's cloud ne'r overcast
Those beams of leggiadrous courtesy
Which smild in her deportment.-Beaumont. Pysche, c.18
And prove

Herself the queen of soft leggiadrous love —Id. Ib. o, 19

Thus a lemon, quince, or sharp apple cut with a knife becomes immediately black.

Brown. Vulgar Errours, b. vi. c. 12.

Bear me, Pomona! to thy citron groves; To where the lemon and the piercing lime,

With the deep orange, glowing through the green, Their lighter glories blend.

Thomson. Summer.

Observer, No. 15.

For Saresyns mowe be saved so. yf the [they] so by leyvede In the lengthynge of here lyf.—Piers Plouhman, p. 292. He was man of brede and length, Of wyt, of manhode, and of strength. Gewer. Con. A. b. iii. His body was 8 foote long, and his armes and legges well They pay well for what they have, says a boat-man, I lengthed and strengthed after the proportion of his body. am going on board her with a cargo of lemons. Fabyan, vol. i. c. 156. And if thou wilt walke in my wayes and keep myne ordinaunces and comaundemet as Dauid thy father did walke, 1 wyll lengthen thy dayes also.—Bible, 1551. 3 Kinges, c. 3. He desireth not the lengthenyng of his lyfe for any other cause, then to restoare and set forth the thynges that make for the glorie of God and profyt of the saincts. Id. Psalme, c. 30. Note. Our Lord of his high pitie condyscended and graunted hym the lengthyng of his lyf for xv. yeares. Sir T. More. Workes, p. 316. And knowes ful wel life doth but length his paine.

LEND, v. LE'NDER.

Goth. Leigan, leicwan, leihwan; A. S. Læn-an, lihan, lendLE'NDING, n. an, alend-an; Dut. Leen-an; Ger. Leihen; Sw. Laena; mutuare; fænerari; mutuò dare, et mutuò accipere,-to give or receive one thing in exchange for another. It is now

more restricted.

To give, or grant, or transfer, something, any thing, or the use of any thing, to, or to the use of, another, upon condition of return or repayment; to give or grant, confer or bestow,-generally-yet still with an implication that what is granted or lent remains the property of the lender; or inay either itself, or an equivalent, at another time be granted or lent in return. See LOAN.

Fifty thousand marcs had he lent abbeis
That wer in pouerte, vp tham forto reise.

R. Brunne, p. 185. And if ye leenen to hem of whiche ye hopen to take agen: what thanke is it to you?-Wiclif. Luke, c. 6.

If ye lende to them of whome ye hope to receaue, what thancke shall ye haue.-Bible, 1551. 1b.

Mirrour for Magistrates, p. 264. Then Agricola perceiuing the enemie to exceed him in number, and fearing, lest he should be assayled on the front and flankes both at one instant, displayed his army in length.-Savile. Tacitus. Agricola, p. 198.

Why do I overlive,

Why am I mockt with death, and length'n'd out
To deathles pain?
Milton. Paradise Lost, b. x.
Behold him sitting in his Western skies,
The shadows lengthening as the vapours rise.
Dryden. Absalom & Achitophel.
The driver whirls his lengthful thong;
The horses fly, the chariot smokes along.
Pope. Homer. Iliad, b. xi.
Steeds of hardier kind,
And cool, tho' sprightly, to the travell'd road
He destines; sure of foot, of steady pace,
Active, and persevering, uncompell'd,
The tedious length of many a beaten mile.
Dodsley. Agriculture, c. 3.
Should it be said, that by continual endeavours to shoot
out the tongue to the stretch, the woodpecker's species may
by degrees have lengthened the organ itself, beyond that of
other birds, what account can be given of its form, of its
Milton. Paradise Lost, b. ix. tip? how, in particular, did it get its barb, its dentation?
Paley. Natural Theology, c. 13.
But this objection comes to me with an ill grace from you,
who have expressed such frequent nausea and disgust at
the any-lengthian Lord with his numerous strings.
Tooke. Div. of Purley, pt. ii. c. 8.

And he answerde, tweye dettouris weren to oo lener.
Wiclif. Luke, c. 7.
There was a certaine lender which had two detters.
Bible, 1551. Ib.

Watches no doubt, with greedy hope to find
His wish and best advantage, us asunder,
Hopeless to circumvent us joyn'd, where each
To other speedy aide might lend at need.

Neither a borrower, nor a lender be;
For lone oft loses both itself and friend:
And borrowing duls the edge of husbandry.
Shakespeare. Hamlet, Act i. sc. 3.
Off, off you lendings: come, vnbutton heere.
Id. Lear, Act iii. sc. 4.

What then will be the unavoidable consequences of such a law? i. It will make the difficulty of borrowing and lending much greater; whereby trade (the foundation of riches) will be obstructed.-Locke. Of lowering of Interest.

So that the rate you set profits not the lenders, and very few borrowers, who are fain to pay the price for money, that commodity would bear, were it left free.-Id. Ib.

The stock which is lent at interest is always considered as a capital by the lender. Smith. Wealth of Nations, b. ii. c. 4. There exists no reason in the law of nature, why a man should not be paid for the lending of his money, as well as any other property into which the money might be converted.-Paley. Philosophy, b. iii. pt. i. c. 10. See LOINS.

LENDS, n.

LENGTH, v.

LENGTH, n.

A. S. Lang-ian; Dut. Langhen; Ger. Langen; LENGTHEN, v. extendere, porrigere, proLENGTHENING, n. trahere, to extend or stretch LENGTHFUL. out, to draw out, to inLENGTHYNG, N. crease the (linear) dimensions. Length,-the noun, (Tooke,) is the third pers. sing. of the A. S. verb. Length,-applied strictly as denoting measurement, (sc. from end to end,) is distinguished from width and breadth ;the length of a line; the breadth or width of a surface; but the popular usage is vague.

To length or lengthen,-to extend or stretch out, to reach out, to draw out or protract, to increase or enlarge the extent.

Length-y, adj.-has lately been introduced: (from America?) it is regularly formed, but not wanted: our word is-Long-some. See LONG. Tooke coins the adj. any-length-ian. See the quotation from him.

And robbede Wurcestre ssyre in lengthe & in brede.
R. Gloucester, p. 385.
& cleymed him for ther chefe of West and of Est,
Of North & of South in length & in brede.

LENIENT, adj. LE'NIENT, n. LE'NIFY, U. LE'NITIVE, adj. LE'NITIVE, n. LE'NITY.

Fr. Lenir; It. Lenire; Sp. Lenizar; Lat. Lenire, (pres. part. leniens, It. and Sp. Leniente,) to soften, to soothe. (A. S. Hlan-an, to lean, bend, yield:) Softening, soothing; mild, gentle; (met.) opposed to austere or severe, harsh or rigid.

But they now made worse through his lenilie & gentlenes, cast stones at him & brake his head.-Udal. Mark, c. 12. Glaucias was of opinion, That Colocasia was good to benifie or mitigat the acrimonie of humors within the bodie; and withall, to helpe the stomache. Holland. Plinie, b. xxi. c. 28. Consolatories writ With studied argument, and much perswasion sought, Lenient of grief and anxious thought. Milton. Samson Agonistes. Those milks have all an acrimony; though one would think they should be lenilive.-Bacon. Nat. Hist. § 639.

Nay what shall the Scripture itself? which is like an apothecarie's shop, wherein are all remedies for all infirmities of minde, purgatives, cordialls, alteratives, corroboratives, lenitives, &c.—Burton. Anat. of Melancholy, p. 280.

- Address Some lenitives, tallay the fi'riness Of this disease. Daniel. Civil Wars, b. viii. Hee shewed himselfe a true king and kind father, preferring lenity and suppressing seuerity. Stow. Queen Elizabeth, an. 1589. Therefore I do advise the use of lenients, not only by the authority of those ancient and modern chirurgeons, but by my own practice.-Wiseman. Surgery, b. v. c. 9.

Me, let the tender office long engage,
To rock the cradle of reposing age,
With lenient arts extend a mother's breath
Make languor smile, and smooth the bed of death.
Pope. Prologue to the Satires.
But we allow lenitives, as cassia, tamarinds, manna.
Wiseman. Surgery, b. v. c. 1.
Their pain, soft arts of pharmacy can ease,
Thy breast alone no lenitives appease.

Pope. Homer. Iliad, b. xvi.

O think what transports must thy bosom feel,
Thy Tancred's wounds, with lenient hand to heal i
Hoole. Jerusalem Delivered, b. vi

Say, that my lenity shall grant your prayer, How, for the future, shall I rest assur'd Of your allegiance.-Smollett. The Regicide, Act ii. sc. 8. LENS. Lat. Lens, (perhaps quod LENTILE. humida et lenta est, vel dorus,) see Vossius,) is a pulse, a lentile, Fr. LenLENTICULAR, adj. quod adhæret humi, (Isitille; and from the shape of its seed, somewhat convex on both sides, a glass, so formed, (for a telescope, a burning glass, ) is called. Lentils, Fr. Lentilles, are also red specks, red pimples, wan, small, and lentill resembling freckles on the face or hands."

The best lentils be they that are most tender, and aske least seathing; also such as drink much water. Id. Ib. b. xxii. c. 24.

In which this is remarkable, that every foramen is of a lenticular nature; so that we see objects through them topsey-turvey, as through so many convex glasses: yea, they become a sinal telescope, when there is a due focal distance between them and the lens of the microscope Derham. Physico-Theology, h. viii. c. 3. Note 1.

I have sometimes, for trial sake, brought by a lenticular glass the image of a river, shined upon by the sun, into an upper room darkened, and distant about a quarter of a mile from the river.-Boyle. Works, vol. i. p. 700.

The perforation made in cranio, and the bone taken out, you are to smooth away the asperity which remains in the lower table, by the lenticular instrument made for that purpose.-Wiseman. Surgery, b. v. c. 9.

Vile vetches would you sow, or lentils lean,
The growth of Egypt, or the kidney bean.

Dryden. Virgil. Georgies, b. i.

LENT, n. _ Dut. Lent; Ger. Lenz; A. S. LENTEN.Leneten, lengten, ver, the spring. Minshew says, from Ger. Glentz; and Camden,that our ancestors, the Germans, used glent for spring. Wachter notices no such word, but in v. Lenz, (from which (with the common prefix ge-) glentz might be formed,) he enumerates four dif ferent etymologies: 1st, from length, because at the season of spring the days lengthen; 2dly, from lenitas, because then the air becomes mild cr lenient; 3dly, glentzen, to shine or glisten, because it is the most brilliant or beautiful season; 4thly, from the Dut. Lenten, to dissolve, because the severity of winter is then dissolved.

As Lent is or was a season of fasting, lenten is abstemious, sparing.

And suththe about Leynte toward thys lond drou.
R. Gloucester, p. 187
Sithhen in the Lenten tide he went to Saynt Andrew.
R. Brunne, p. 325

Thilke penance, that is solempne, is in two maneres: as to be put out of holy chirche in Lenton for slaughter of children, and swhiche maner thing.-Chaucer. The Persones Tale.

All were served with covered messes of silver, but all the feast was fish, in observation of the Lent season.

It may be also, that some bodies have a kinde of lentour, and are of a more depertible nature than others; as we see It evident in colouration; for a small quantity of saffron will tinct more, than a very great quantity of brasil or wine. Bacon. Naturall Historie, s. 857.

By reason of their clamminess and lentor they [arborescent boli hocks) are banished from our sallet.-Evelyn. Acetaria. In this spawn [frog's) of a lentous and transparent body, are to be discerned many specks. Brown. Vulgar Errours, b. iii. c. 13.

LENTISCK. Fr. Lentisque; Lat. Lentiscus, quod ipsa lentescat arbor, dum resinam fundit, (Vossius.)

Who courteous bad us on soft beds recline
Of lenstiscks, and young branches of the vine.
Fawkes. Theocritus, Idyl. 7.

LE'ONINE, i. e. lion-like.
So was he ful of leonin corage.

Chaucer. The Monkes Tale, v. 14,563. LEOPARD. Formerly (sometimes) written Libbard. Fr. Léopard; It. and Sp. Leonpardo, eo-pardo; Lat. of the Lower Ages, Leopardus. Tiny speaks of leones, quos pardi generavere, 、lib. viii. c. 16.)

Thei sauh kynge's banere, raumpand thre lebardes.
R. Brunne, p. 305.

About this king ther ran on every part
Ful many a tame leon and leopart.

Chaucer. The Knightes Tale, v. 2188.

Within a large wyldernesse,
Where was lyon and leonesse,
The leparde, and the tygre also.-Gower. Con. A. b. iv

It fortuned Belphebe with her peares
The woody nimphs, and with that lovely boy,
Was hunting then the libbards and the beares.

Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iv. c. 7.
His prescient mind

The certain issue of the strife divin'd,
As sure a prize, as when the leopard draws
The fearful hare within his ravenous paws.

LEPER. LE PEROUS. LEPRO'SITY. LE PROSY. LE PROUS.

Hoole. Orlando Furioso, b. xxvi. Fr. Lèpre; It. Lebbra; Sp. Lepra; Lat. Lepra; Gr. Aempа, from Aeros, or Aemis, a scale.

Leprosy, -see the quotation from Wiseman. Applied met. Leper (usually the person diseased) is in Wiclif-the disease itself.

LE PROUSLY.

And lo a leprous man cam and worschipide him, and seid, Lord, if thou wilt, thou maist make me clene-And anoon the lepre of him was clensid.-Wiclif. Matthew, c. 8.

And lo, there came a leper, and worshipped him saying: Master, yf thou wylt, thou canst make me clene. And immediately his leprosye was clensed.-Bible, 1551. Ib.

He looked on her ugly lepers face

The which before was white as lely floure,
Wringing his hands.-Chaucer. Complaint of Creseide.
Lying emong the leper-folke alas.-Id. Ib.

A leper-lady rose, and to her wend.-Id. Ib.

This leper-loge take for thy goodly boure,

And for thy bed take now a bounche of stro.-Id. Ib.
And soone a leaper-man toke off the ring.-Id. Ib.
Whan he was in his lustie age

The lepre caught in his visage.-Gower. Con. A. b. ii. 37. Therefore also he healed all that had faith to be healed, both good men and bad. The ten lepers; though bat one returned, to give glory to God. That no man, never so bad, should doubt of his salvation, upon believing. Grew. Cosmo. Sacra, b. v. c. 3. s. 37.

Vpon my secure hower thy vncle stole
With inyce of cursed hebenon in a violl,
And in the porches of mine eares did poure

The leperous distilment.-Shakespeare. Hamlet, Act i. sc.5.
By thee the silly amorous sucks his death,
By drawing in a leprous harlot's breath.

Donne. The Perfume, Elegy 4. For to say, that Nature hath an intention to make all metals gold and that, if the crudities, impurities, and leprosities of metals were cured, they would become gold, all these are but dreames.-Bacon. Naturall Historie, § 326.

O you of easy wax! do but imagine,

Now the disease has left you, how leprously
That office would have cling'd unto your forehead.

Tourneur. The Revenger's Tragedy, Act v. The leprosy of the Arabians was a quite other disease [from the itch] which by the Greeks is called elephantiasis, and is nothing else but an universal cancer of the whole body, black, and indeed a most miserable disease; but I thank scarce known in England.

Wiseman. Surgery. b. 1. c. 25.

If he was of such tenderness and compassion as to heal the leprosy and distemper of the body upon asking, do we not think that he will be much redier to commiserate and

heal the dangerous, loathsome leprosy of the soul, which is sin, upon the vehement entreaties of a sincere heart. South, vol. vi. Ser. 12. This pleasing fruit [the cashew] if turtle join its aid, Removes that worst of ails, disgrace of art, The lothsome leprosy's infectious bane.

LE PID.

Grainger. The Sugar Cane, b. iv. Lat. Lepidus, from Lepos, applied (met.) to a polished wit or humour,-from Gr. Λεπις, a scale.

Having a polished wit or humour, a graceful or agreeable pleasantry or facetiousness; pleasant, facetious.

Some elegant figures and tropes of rhetorike frequently used by the best speakers, and not seldome even by sacred writers, do lie very near upon the confines of jocularity, and are not easily differenced from those sallies of wit, wherein the lepid way doth consist.-Barrow, vol. i. Ser. 14.

LERE, v.
LERE, n.
LE'RING, n.
Lore.
LO'RING, n.
LO'RESMAN.
Constantyn lette also in Jerusalem chirches rere,
And wyde aboute elles wer, Christendom to lere.
R. Gloucester, p. 87.
The lerid & the lewid, that wouned in the South.
R. Brunne, p. 38,
What tyme I left this lore the day is for to witen.
Id. p. 341.
Bote thei goure lore folweten.
Piers Ploukman, p. 277.
Bote as his loresman lereth hym. he by leyveth and
Id. p. 236.
Id. p. 294.

i. e. to Learn, (qv.)

To learn or teach; to instruct. And Lore, learning; teaching, doctrine, instruction.

troweth.

And after hus lerynge thei lyven.
And he had lever talken with a page,
Than to commune with any gentil wight,
Ther he might leren gentillesse aright.

Chaucer. The Frankeleines Tale, v. 11,006.
But, lordes, wol ye maken assurance,
As I shall say, assenting to my lore.

Id. The Man of Lawes Tule, v. 4762.
He waited after no pompe ne reverence,
Ne maked him no spiced conscience.
But Christes lore, and his apostles twelve,
He taught, but first he followed it himself.

Id. Prol. to the Canterbury Tales, v. 729.

My fader but I were inspired
Through lore of you, I wot no waye
What gentilnesse is for to seye.-Gower. Con. A. b. vi.
The loresman of the shepeherdes,
And eke of hem that netherdes

Was of Arcade, and hyght Pan.-Id. Ib. b. v.

In many secret skills she had been conn'd her lere.

To diminish, to decrease, to reduce.

Lest,-(see the quotation from Gower) and leasi (see the quotation from Bale's Votaries) are used as the regular past tense, contracted from les-ed or leas-ed, of the A. S. verb L.-an; and whether used as adjective or conjunction, are considered by Tooke to be this same past tense or past part. and, with the article that (either expressed or understood,) mean no more than-hoc dimisso or quo dimisso. He produces two instances of the improper use of them, there being nothing expressed or understood in either sentence, quo dimisso, something else would follow.

Less.--Our ancestors the A. S. instead of eighteen, nineteen, said, An læs twentig, twa las twentig; i. e. twenty dismiss (or take away) (he should perhaps rather have said withhhold) one, two, &c. We also say, He demanded twenty, I gave him two less, i.e. I gave him twenty, dismiss two and in every use of less or least, the signification of dismissing, separating, or taking away, (again add, of withholding) is conveyed. Les, then, he pronounces to be the imperative of the same A. S. verb, Les-an, and to signify-dimitte or hoc dimisso, dismiss this, or this being dismissed. It is sometimes used for unless, (qv.) In confirmation, he remarks, that the Gr. E un, the Lat. Nisi, (ne sit,) It. Se non, Sp. Si no, Fr. Si non, all mean, be it not.

Though Tooke may be right in his etymology, (and indeed he appears to have fully established that he is so,) his mode of interpretation will not immediately suit in all cases, as that cannot be with propriety said to be dismissed, separated, or taken away, which was never united to, or possessed by, that from which it shall be so said to be dismissed, &c.; the word with-held may supply the deficiency; or a consequential usage must be introduced, e. g.—

Goldsmith was less in size than Johnson. As he never was equal, it was not by the privation, loss, or taking away of bulk once possessed that he became less or minor; it was by the absence or negation of that, which had been withheld in his formation; or by a consequential usage, (from instances where a minority or inferiority had been produced by an act of taking away, &c. to instances where that minority or inferiority existed without such act,) less became employed to denote immediately an inferiority or minority, whether resulting from privation or negation. The like may be said of the adjective least. As now used

To less or lessen, is to diminish, to decrease; to cause to be smaller or more minute; to lower, to

Drayton. Poly-Olbion, s. 12. degrade, to impair, to weaken.

The gentle shepheard sat beside a springe,

"He lest," (Gower,) he lost. "He least," (Bale,) he dismissed, he put away, he relinquished. "Lessed of his care;" (written by Tyrwhitt as in the second quotation from Gower-lissed, qv.) "of his Spenser. Shepheard's Calender. December. ¦ wound ylessed;" i. e. loosened, freed, relieved from.

All in the shadowe of a bushye brere,
That Colin hight, which well coulde pype and singe,
For hee of Tityrus his songes did lere.

Thereto she learned was in magicke leare.
Id. Faerie Queene, b. iv. c. 3.

But these conditions doe to him propound;
That, if I vanquishe him, he shall obey
My law, and ever to my lore be bound.
Id. Ib. b. v. c. 5.
Most men admire
Virtue, who follow not her lore.

Milton. Paradise Regained, b. i.
That all they, as a goddess her adoring.
Hir wisdome did admire, and hearkned to her loring.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. v. c. 8.

He, with Palemon, oft recounted o'er
The tales of hapless love in ancient lore,
Recall'd to memory by th' adjacent shore.

LERE, n. See LEER.

LESS, or LE'SSEN, v. LESS, adj. LE'SSER. LE'SSNESS. LEST, or LEAST. dismiss or put tially

Falconer. Shipwreck, c. 1.

Also anciently written lass, and liss. (See To LOSE, and To LEASE.) A. S. Les-an, leos-an, lys-an, alysan, (see ELSE,) solvere, dimittere, remittere, liberare; to loose, to dismiss or put away, to free or discharge; to away, (sc.) part; and, consequen

Less, adj.-equivalent to the Lat. Minor, inferior, smaller, more minute. It is still used, compared, (sc.) lesser.

Lest, or least,-smallest, minutest; than which not any thing is smaller or more minute.

So that to the lasse Briteyne ther ne com aliue non.
R. Gloucester, p. 96.
Id. p. 26.

Me schulde fynde the les such spouse bruche do.

And wo so here ys aslawe, ys deth hym sal be
In lesnesse of al ys synnys, & ys soule salle fle.
And be ybrogt by vore God, ar that body be cold.
For ten mark men solde a littille bulchyn,
Litille lesse men told a bouke of a moutoun.

Id. p. 173.

R. Brunne, p. 174. than he.-Wiclif. Matt. c. 11. But he that is lesse in the kyngdom of heavenes: is more

Notwithstandyng he yt is lesse [Modern Version, least) in the kingdom of heauen is greater than he.

Bible, 1551. Matt. c. 11. Therefore wake ye for ye witen not whanne the Lord of crowyng or the mornyng lest whan he come sodeynly he the house cometh in the eventide or at mydnight or at cockis finde you sleeping.-Wiclif. Mark, c. 13.

Watch therefore for ye know not when the master of the house wyll come, whether at euen or at mydnyght, whether at the cocke crowing or in the daunynge: least yf he come solenlye he should fynd you slepyng. Bible, 1551. Mark, c. 13. Therefore he that brekith non of these leeste maundementis, and techith thus men, shal be clepid the leest in the rewme of hevenes.-Wiclif. Matt. c. 5.

Whosoeuer breaketh one of these lest commaundementes, and teacheth men so, he shall be called the least in the kyngdome of heauen.-Bible, 1551. Ib.

But yet lesse thou do worse, take a wyfe,
Bet is to wedde than brenne in worse wyse.

And on his way than is he forth yfare, In hope to ben lessed of his care.

Chaucer. Dreame.

Id The Frankeleines Tale.
Now let us stynt of Troylus a stounde
That fareth lyke a man, that hurt is sore,
And is some dele of akyng of his wounde
Ytessed well, but heled no dele more.-Id. Troilus, b. i.
Men seyn [the world] is now lassed
In wers plight than it was tho-Gower. Con. A. Prol.
Hei by all waies seche

How that thei might winne a speche
Her wofull peine for to lisse.

As for the time yet it lesseth

Id. Ib. b. iii.

To hym, whiche other ioye misseth.-Id. Ib. b. vi.
In an houre

He lest all that he may laboure
The longe yere.

Id. Ib. b. iv.

They [the companyōs of Gascoyn] became all frèche, wherof the englisshmen were sore displeased, for their strēgth dayly lassed.-Berners. Froissart. Cron. vol. i. c. 249.

[He-Becket] least well his accustomed embracinges after the rules of loue, and became in life relygious.

Bale. English Votaries, pt. ii. And at the lest wayes, if you feare not ye terrible vengeaŭce of God, remeber the shame of ye world.

Barnes. Workes, p. 237. Margaret tell me this, wouldest thou wishe thy poore father. being at the lest wise somewhat lerned, lesse to regard the peril of his soule than did there yt honest unlearned mā? Sir T. More. Workes, p. 1438. They brought the sycke into the stretes, and laide them on beddes and palettes, yt at the lest way ye shadowe of Peter whe he came by might shadow some of the. Bible, 1551. Acts, c. 5. In the original it hath no such relation to lessness or greatness of person.-Sir T. Wyatt. To the King, 3 Feb.1540.

By little and little he began to be in lesse credit, and lightlier esteemed of the prince, notwithstanding outwardly he countenanced him as before.-Savile. Tacitus. Hist. p. 180. Make greater states upon the lesser seize.

Daniel. Civil Wars, b. vi. "Less learn'd Trebatius Censure disagree." B. Jonson. Puelaster. "But will not bide there, less yourself do bring him." Id. The Sad Shepherd.

And the mute Silence hist along, 'Less Philomel will deign a song, In her sweetest, saddest plight,

Smoothing the rugged brow of night.-Millon. Il Penser.

The best part of it was, that the tribute which had been pay'd unto the kings, was lessened by half.

Ralegh. History of the World, b. v. c. 6. s. 10.

So without least impulse or shadow of fate,
Or aught by me immutablie foreseen,
They trespass, authors to themselves in all
Both what they judge and what they chose.

Milton. Paradise Lost, b. iii.
Words which no eare ever to hear in heav'n
Expected, least of all from thee, ingrate,
In place thyself so high above thy peeres.-Id. Ib. b. v.

Hauing doubled the Willocke point, we thought it not good altogether to leaue that baie vnsearched, at lestwise to see what islands might there be found.

Holinshed. The Description of Britaine, c. 14. Juba. Cato, thou hast a daughter. Cato. Adieu, young prince; I would not hear a word Should lessen thee in my esteem.

Addison. Cato, Act ii. sc. 1. If it be possible to interest the imagination and the heart in favour of errour, it is at least, no less possible to interest them in favour of truth.

Stewart. Of the Human Mind, Introd. pt. ii. s. 1.

LESS, ter. The imperative les, (see Less, ante,) placed at the end of nouns and coalescing with them, has given us such adjectives as hopeless, restless, deathless, motionless, &c. i. e. dismiss hope, rest, death, motion, &c. Our language has received a great accession lately of words in this

1

termination, and will allow of more: and also of the additional adverbial termination ly, and the nominal, ness.

LE'SSON, v. Fr. Leçon; It. Lettione; Sp. LE'SSON, n. Lecion; Lat. Lectio, from legSee LECTURE. ere, to read. A reading, a sermon or discourse read; (sc.) to And teach, to instruct, to improve; to reprove. the verb,

To leave, to relinquish, to resign, to yield or give up, to concede, to desist. To give or grant, (sc. the possession or occupation;) to give cr grant, to allow, to permit, to authorize, to give permission or authority.

Y buryed he was at London, that he letle first rere.
R. Gloucester, p. 23.

And Ethelbert in the felde his fader lete he se,
How Dardan for his lance doun to the erth went.
And smote his hede of, his fader to present.

R. Brunne, p. 18 Lete the dede men birie her dede men. Wiclif. Matthew, c. 8. Folowe me, & let the deade burye their dead.

To teach, to improve, to reprove.
Now salle we turne ageyn tille our owen lessoun.
R. Brunne, p. 31.
Ich lerned among Lombardes. a lesson.
Bille, 1551. Ib.
⚫ Piers Plouhman, p. 99.
Sothly, if I coude, I wold tell you the ten commandments,
Emprinteth wel this lesson in your minde.
but so high doctrine I lete to divines.
Chaucer. The Clerkes Tale, v. 9069.
Chaucer. The Persones Tale.
Let bee therefore my vengeaunce to disswade,
And read, where I that faytour false may find.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iii. c. 2.
Loe, we! how brave she decks her bounteous bowre,
With silken curtens, and gold coverletts,
Therein to shrowd her sumptuous belamour!
Yet neither spinnes nor cards, ne cares, nor fretts,
But to her mother nature all her care she letts.
Thus it shall befall
Him who to worth in woman overtrusting
Lets her will rule.
Milton. Paradise Lost, b. ix.
But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,
Th' associates and copartners of our loss,
Lye thus astonisht on th' oblivious pool.
High are thy thoughts
O Son. but nourish them and let them soar
To what highth sacred vertue and true worth
Can raise them, though above example high.

And so recorde I my lesson. Gower. Con. A. b. iv. Brut. Could you not haue told him As you were lesson'd.-Shakes. Coriolanus, Act ii. sc. 3. Ophe. I shall th' effect of this good lesson keepe, As watchmen to my heart.-Id. Hamlet, Act i. sc. 3. The Jews read the law in their synagogues however on the sabbath, and on other days they tasted no food, till they had read a section of it either in publick or private; and every man knows how solemnly and constantly this hath ever been done in all the assemblies of the Christian church. For hence they confirmed their opinions in doctrine, and learned lessons of holiness in conversation.

Comber. Companion to the Temple, pt. i. s. 9. Let me take warning, lesson'd to distill, And, imitating Heav'n, draw good from ill.

LET, v. LET, n. LETTER.

Churchill. Gotham, b. iii. See LATE. Goth. Lat-yan; A. S. Lat-ian, læt-an; Ger. and Dut. Letten; tardare, morari, impedire; to retard, to delay, to hinder, keep back or behind. It is still a common word in legal conveyances.

LETTING, n.

To hinder, keep back or behind; to impede, to obstruct, to withhold.

Whiche raftours, for lettyng of men in the way, were kut of by the earthe. for other wyse myght no man haue hem a way.-R. Gloucester, p. 415. Note.

His dede ne wille we lette, be the martir Saynt Denys. R. Brunne, p.

He ys a lettare of loue. and lieth all tymes.

87.

Piers Plouhman, p. 16. Not that I caste to ghou a snare, but to that that is onest and that ghyueth esynesse without letting to make preieris to the Lord.Wiclif. 1 Corynth. c. 7.

Wo is me that so many let games, and purpose breakers been marked waiters, soche prisoners as I am euermore, to ouerlooke and to hinder, and for soche lettours, it is harde any soche iewell to winne. Chaucer. The Testament of Loue, b. i. There was no stone, there was no roote, Whiche might letten hem the weie, But all was voide and take a waie.-Gower. Con. A. b. iv. There ben other vices slowe, Whiche vnto loue do great lette, If thou thyn herte vpon them sette.

If there ne were no lettynge.

Id. Ib. b. iv. Id. Ib.

And all the while their malice they did whet
With cruell threats his passage through the ford to let.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iii. c. 5.
Wherto when as my presence he did spy
To be a let, he bad me by and by
For to alight.

Id. Ib. b. vi. c. 2.
And my speach entreats,
That I may know the let, why gentle Peace
Should not expell these inconueniencies.
And blesse vs with her former qualities.

Shakespeare. Hen. V. Aet v. sc. 2. All lets thrown behind me, Or fears that may deter me, say, this morning I mean to visit her. Massinger. The Virgin-Martyr, Act i. sc. 1. The Duchesse Dowager was absolute in the lands of her dowrie, and hee could not let her to dispose of her own. Bacon. Hen. VII. P. 129. After King Ferdinando had taken upon him the person of a fraternal ally to the king, he would not let to council the king.-Id. lb.

Id. Ib. b. ii. c. 6

Id. Ib. b. i.

Id. Paradise Regained, b. i.

The stairs were then let down, whether to dare
The Fiend by easy ascent, or aggravate
His sad exclusion from the dores of blis.

Id. Paradise Lost, b. iii. Making great spoyle, and letting them out to farme to such as would giue most for them.

Gon.

Slow. William Rufus, an. 1088. Mean you to enjoy him? Alb. The let-alone lies not in your good will. Shakespeare. Lear, Act v. sc. 3. Then let the moon usurp the rule of day, And winking tapers show the sun his way.

Dryden. The Hind and the Panther, pt. i.
The soul's dark cottage, battered and decay'd,
Lets in new light, through chinks that time has made.
Waller. On his Divine Poems.

Self-love thus push'd to social, to divine,
Gives thee to make thy neighbour's blessing thine.
Is this too little for thy boundless heart?
Extend it, let thy enemies have part.

Pope. Essay on Man, Epist. 4. The horn-gate, plain, homely, and transparent, lets out true dreams.-Jortin, Dis. 6.

By the common law, all persons seised of any estate might let leases to endure so long as their own interest lasted, but no longer.-Blackstone. Commentaries, b. ii. s. 20.

LET, ter. Lye remarks that the A. S. Lyt-el, diminutionis gratia, ex more A. Saxonum præpositum, as Lytel æcer, agellus; lytel boc, libellus; and the same lyt-post-positum, may have furnished our diminutive termination-let.

A sluggish, drowsy forgetfulness, or state of forgetfulness; drowsiness or sleepiness to an excess. Do's Lear, walke thus? speake thus? Where are his eies? either his notion weakens, or his discernings are lethargied.-Shakespeare. Lear, Act i. sc. 4.

So thou, sick world, mistak'st thyself to be
Well, when, alas! thou'rt in a lethargy.

Donne. An Anatomy of the World. First Anniversary.
Forget this world, and scarce think of it so,
As of old clothes cast off a year ago.
To be thus stupid is alacrity;

Men thus lethargic have best memory.

LET, v. Goth. Let-an; A. S. Læt-an: Dut. Laten; linquere, sinere, permittere; pati; to leave, to give leave, to permit or suffer. (It is in Ger. Lassen; Dut. Laten; Fr. Laisser; It. Lasciare, and perhaps the same word as Les-an, to lease, human nature than any of your lethargical morals. qv.)

1208

Id. Of the Progress of the Soul. Second Anniversary. Sure I am it [the desire of rule] is more imprinted in

Cowley, On the Government of Oliver Cromwell.