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to the wind; to be under the lee is to be under the wind or shelter from it; the lee-shore, on the contrary, appears to be the shore on, or opposed to, the lee-side of the ship, as she sails along; and consequently exposed to the wind. In Dutch, De loef hebben, to sail before the wind; Loeven, to ply to windward, (to luff';) Loef, the weathergage. The Dut. and the Eng. Luff, lee, leeward, Tooke considers to be from the same root; the A. S. Lyft; the air or the clouds; the wind. See Loor, and Luff.

As sca-men tell,

With fixed anchor in his skaly rind
Moores by his side under the ice.-Millon. Par. Lost, b. i.

Thus they generally reason; Barbadoes is the Easter-most of the Carribbe Islands, therefore the rest are said to be lee. ward of it, and so of any other island; as indeed it usually holds true, because the winds there are commonly at East. Dampier. Voyages, vol. ii. pt. iii. c. 2.

Which just like ours, how rigg'd and mann'd,
And got about a league from land

By change of wind to leeward side,

The pilot knew not how to guide.-Swift. On the Union.

Though sorely buffeted by ev'ry sea,
Our hull unbroken long may try a lee.

Falconer. Shipwreck, c. 2.
Then might I with unrivall'd straines, deplore
Th' impervious horrours of a leeward shore.--Id. Io. c. 3.

LEECH, v. A. S. Lace, from Lacn-ian, læcnLEECII, n. Sian, curare, mederi, sanari, to cure, to heal. The Dut. Lacche, hirudo, a horse leech, is derived by Kilian from Laecken, to lack or want; because it occasions a lack of blood, or from Lacus, because found in lakes or standing waters. It is probably the same word, (A. S. Lace,) and so applied, because the animal heals by withdrawing unwholesome blood.

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but see LOUR.

Lere, in Chaucer, is explained by Mr. Tyrwhitt to intend-the skin. In Holland, it is applied to the general colour, complexion, or appearance. To leer may be→

To look with the eye or eye-lid, somewhat down-cast, or lowering; as if to attract or invite attention or favour; and, thus, to assume or put on an alluring look; to allure, to attract, by the looks.

A lovelicho lady of lere in linnen y clothid
Cam down fro that Castel and calde me by name.
Piers Plouhman, p. 13.
IIis face frounsed, his lere was like the lede.

Chaucer. The Testament of Creseide, p. 295.
You leere vpon me, do you? There's an cie
Wounds like a leaden sword.

Shakespeare. Love's Labour Lost, Act v. sc. 2.
Each eye through divers optics slily leers.

P. Fletcher. The Purple Island, c. 7.
No ladie (quoth the earle with a loud voice, and the tears
trilling down his leeres,) saic not so.
Holinshed. Ireland, an. 1546.

She giues the leere of inuitation.
Shakespeare. Merry Wives of Windsor, Act i. sc. 3.
The same Theophrastus hath left in writing, That in some
and duskish, insomuch as not only the cattel is all of that
leere, but also the corne upon the ground, and other fruits
of the earth.-Holland. Plinic, b. xxxi. c, 2.

To cure, to heal; to practise the art of healing, places there are no other thing bred or growing but brown

the medicinal art.

Hys lechys loked hys stat, as her rygt was to done.

R. Gloucester, p. 380.
Ne non so faithfol fysician. for alle that by souhte
He lechede hem of here langour.-Picrs Plouhman, p.311.
Ihesus seide to hem hoole man han no neode to a leche.
Wiclif. Mark, c. 2.
Chaucer. Dreame.

And purpose you to heare his speech
Fully auised him to leech.

Well wist that lord that I was seke
And would be leched wonder faine.
The clotered blood, for any leche-craft,
Corrumpetli.

Id. Ib.

Id. The Knightes Tale, v. 2747.

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Home is he brought; and laid in sumptuous bed
Where many skillful leaches him abide
To salve his hurts, that yet still freshly bled.

Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. i. c. 5.

The hors-leeches which we call in Latine sanguisugus, (bloud-suckers) are used for to draw blood. Holland. Plinie, b. xxiii. c. 10.

So arc leeches destructive, and by some accounted poison; because being inwardly taken they fasten upon the veins, and occasion an effusion of blood which cannot be easily stanched.-Brown. Vulgar Errours, b. ii. c. 5.

Yet he [M. Cato] omitted not the leech-craft belonging also to kine and oxen.-Holland. Plinie, b. xxv. c. 2. Beldame, by that ye tell

More neede of leach-craft hath yon damozell
Then of my skill.-Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iii. c. 3.
But like a leech well fix't, he'll suck what's good,
And never part till satisfied with blood.

King. Art of Cookery. Leeches are good barometers when preserved in glasses, and predict bad weather by their great restlessness and change of place.-Pennant. Zoology, vol. iv. The Leech.

LEEK, n. A. S. Lec, leac; Dut. Look; Ger. Lauch; Sw. Loek. A. S. "Leac. Allium porrum, a leak, a general name of a certain kind of hearbs," (Somner.), The etymology is unknown.

Vor yt wolde fynde hem lek worten y now by the gere.
R. Gloucester, p. 341.
Thou fisshes not worth a leke, rise & go thi ways.
204.

R. Brunne, p.
As lynne seed and lik seed.-Piers Plouhman, p. 211.
I hold a mouse's wit not worth a leke.

Chaucer. The Wif of Bathes Prologue, v. 6154.

Footra for leers, and learings; O the noise,
The noise we made.

Beaum. & Fletch. Monsieur Thomas, Act iv. sc. 2.
But Bertran has been taught the arts of court,
To gild a face with smiles; and leer a man to ruin.
Dryden. The Spanish Fryar, Act i..
Hero Fannia, leering on her own good man.
Pope. Moral Essays, Epist. 2.
The proud Parnassian sneer
The conscious simper, and the jealous leer
Mix in his look.
Id. The Dunciad, b. ii.
The clerk's head is admirably well painted and with great
force; but he is dozing not leering at the young woman
near him as in the print.
Walpole. Anecdotes of Painting, vol. iv. c. 1.
While brooding storms the gath'ring ruin rein,
Her son with dire dissembling leer she seeks,
And in the depth of smiling malice speaks.

Brooke. Constantia. LEER. A. S. Ge-lær; Gcr. Lær, vacans, iners, which Wachter derives from lieren, perdere, omittere, and this by a common change of s into r, from lics-en, to lose. And, thus,

A leer drunkard, will be a loose drunkard, a dissolute, profligate drunkard; "The horse runs lere," i. c. loose, away. A leer stomach may be, conscquentially, an empty stomach; because loose, slack, not well filled out. See Gifford on the passage quoted from Jonson, and Nares, in v.

Love. Laugh on, sir, I'll to bed and sleep, And dream away the vapour of love, if the house And your leer drunkards let me. B. Jonson. The New Inn, Act iv. sc. 3. The horse runnes leere away without the man, But noble Bradamant, the horse doth stay, And backe restore.

Harrington. Orlando Furioso, b. xvi. s. 64.

LEES. Fr. Lie, from the A. S. Lic-gan, to lay or ly, that which lies, (sc.) at the bottom. Sec the quotation from Holinshed in v. Liquid. That which lies or settles at the bottom; the sediment.

Verely the lees of wine are so strong, that oftentimes it overcommeth and killeth those, who go down into the vats and vessels wherein the wine is made.

Holland. Plinie, b. xxiii. c. 11.

Rivers, whose depth no sharp beholder sees,
Drunk at an army's dinner, to the lees.

Dryden. Juvenal, Sat. 10,

Spoil'd of its limpid vehicle, the blood
A mass of lees remains, a drossy tide
That slow as Lethe wanders thro' the veins.

Armstrong. The Art of Preserving Health, b. i. LEESE. See Lose.

LEET, n. Spelman rejects the A. S. Lath, from Lath-ian, ge-lathian, congregare, q.d. the assembly or assize, because equally applicable to any other court, which seems scarcely a sufficient reason; priority of appropriation might decide the distinction. He further suggests let, pars, parvus, or lat, censura, arbitrium. See his Gloss. in v. Leta.

For whether in leles they may or not, yt he saith he douteth. Sir T. More. Workes, p. 1012.

M. Lambert seemeth to be of the opinion, that the leets of our time doo yeeld some shadow of the politike institution of Alfred.-Holinshed. Description of England, b. ii. c. 4.

The jurisdiction of these leets is either remaining in the king, and in that case exercised by the sheriff in his turn, which is the grand leet, or granted over to subjects, but yet it is still the king's court.-Bacon. The Office of Constable.

The other general business of the leet and tourn was to present by jury all crimes whatsoever that happened within their jurisdiction; and not only to present, but also to punish, all trivial misdemesnors. Blackstone. Commentaries, b. iv. c. 19.

LEFE. See LIEF.

stra.

LEFT, adj. Dut. Lufte hand, luchte hand, siniThe left hand is that which is leaved, leav'd, left; ; or which we are taught to leave out of use when one hand only is employed, (Tooke, vol. ii, p. 10.)

In the rigt syd two, and in the lift syde on. R. Gloucester, p. 22. But to sitte at my right half or left-half is not myn to gyve to you but to which it is maad redy.-Wiclif. Mark, c. 10. Ant. Octauius, leade your battaile softly on Vpon the left hand of the euen field.

Octa. Vpon the right hand I, keepe thou the left. Ant. Why do you crosse me in this exigent? Shakespeare. Julius Cæsar, Act v. sc. 1. But as although a squint left-handedness B' ungracious, yet we cannot want that hand. Donne. To the Countess of Bedford. I remember to have read in a voyage of De Gama's to Kalekut (the first made by the Portuguese round Africa) that the people of Melinda, a polished and flourishing people, are all left-handed. Tooke. Diversions of Purley, vol. ii. c. 1. LEG, n. Skinner, from the Dut. Leegh, LEGGED. humilis, infra positus, low, placed below. Junius, from A. S Under-lec-gan, supponere, suffulcire, to support or sustain; and it is probably from the A. S. Lec-gan, ponere, meaning,Any thing placed, (sc.) as a support, to stand

upon.

To make a leg,-a common expression, intending-to bow with the leg drawn or thrown backwards.

The legges bare bynethe the kne, that me mygte echo stape yse. R. Gloucester, p. 388.

Hire shoon were laced on hire legges hie.

Chaucer. The Milleres Tale, v. 3268.

But when they came to Jesus, and sawe that he was deade alreadye they breake not his legges.-Bible, 1551. John, c.19. But the sea keeping hir course, rose still higher and higher, and ouerflowed not onlie the king's feet, but also flashed vp vnto his legs and knees.

Holinshed. History of England, b. vii. c. 13.

He knew how many leggs a knight letts fall
Betwixt the king, the offering and his stall.

Corbet. To the Lord Mordant.
They be clothed with a mantell and shirte saffroned after
the Irish manner going bare legged to the knee.
Slow. Briefe Description of England.

How the pale primrose and blue violet spring,
And birds essay their throats, disus'd to sing:
All these are ours; and I with pleasure see
Men strutting on two legs, and aping me.

Dryden. The Cock and the Fox;
The shapeless pair,

As they design'd to mock me, at my side
Take step for step, and, as I near approach
The cottage, walk along the plaster'd wall,
Prepost'rous sight! the legs without the man.

Cowper. Task, b. v.

LEGACY. Fr. Legz; It. Legato; Sp.LeLEGATE'E. gacia; Lat. Legatum, from Legare, i.e. 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 euĕ 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.

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"Sir," quoth 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 connynge in bothe lawes, he was a great iuryst and legyst.

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.

Millon. 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.

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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.

Tweye men, Legales 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 Legatship
of Anselme could take no place.-Id. Henrie 1. an. 1116.
Then hee [Cardinall Poole] declared the cause of his Lega-
cie, 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 Par-
liament, 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.
Because all those things you haue done of late
By your power Legaliue [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 whatso-
ever.-Strype. Memorials. Hen. VIII. an. 1530.

The Legales 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. c. to allege, (qv.) Also, to allay.
See LEG.
And so he hath begon
To reason fast, and ledge auctoritie.

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

Chaucer. The Court of Loue.

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.

certain liege to thee in mine hous, [certissimam tibi sedem

Is this the librarie that thou haddest chosen for a right

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 con-
Wood. Fasti, vol. i. an. 1618.

Fr. Légend; It. and Sp. taining a short account of the Monastery of Abington.
Leyenda, from legendum, to

be read; from legere, to
read. For the literal mean-
ing, and frequent applica-
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.

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Wee are not to maruaile, that afterwards legends being
growne in a manner to bee nothing else but heapes of friuo-
lous and scandalous vanities, they haue beene euen with
disdaine throwne out, the very nests which bred them ab-
horring 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 belceved.-Bp. Hall. The Christian, s. 1.

LE GATE. Fr. Légat; It. Legato; Sp. LEGACY. Legado; Lat. Legatus, from LE GATESHIP. leg-are, i. e. lege mittere, to LEGA'TION. send by law. See DELEGATE. LE/GATINE, or Any one sent, (sc.) to act LE'GANTINE. for or according to the directions of another; one deputed, appointed, authorized, or empowered, to act for another; a deputy, an ambassador, and, as in the quotation from legend is its diffusiveness; you have sometimes the whole Holinshed, a lieutenant.

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- MA'IN, Fr.-Light of hand. Applied to the tricks of, or tricks resembling those of, jugglers; who perform them by lightness or quickness of hand.

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

For he in slights and iugling 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 quickened, out of doubt
The organs, though defunct and dead before,
Break vp their drowsie graue, and newly moue
With casted slough, and fresh legeritie.

or}

Shakespeare. Hen. V. Act iv. sc. 1.

LEGGE, or
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. c. 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

It was pleasant to see, how divers of the letters of several of these papers, being placed within some convenient dis- from It. Leggiero; Fr. Légier, light, graceful. tance of the phial would be made plainly legible. Boyle. Works, vol. iii. p. 705. The first fault therefore which I shall find with a modern side of a medal overrun with it.

Addison. Dialogues on Ancient Medals, Dial. 3.

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. a. 19.

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LEGIBLE. See LEGEND.

LEGION. Fr. Légion; It. Legione; Sp. LEGIONARY.Legion; Lat. Legio, quod leguntur milites in delectu, (Var. lib. iv.) The Roman legion is fully described by Polybius, and from his description the passage translated by Hampton is quoted. And see also the quotation from Melmoth. That Saynt Morice in battaile, befor the legioun.

R. Brunne, p. 30. Wher gessist thou that I may not preie to my Fadir, and he schal give to me mo than twelve legiouns of aungels. Wiclif. Matthew, c. 26. Either thynkest thou that I cannot nowe praye to my Father, and he shall geue me moo than xii legions of angels. Bible, 1551. Ib.

It happened that two souldiers, one of the fift legion, another a French auxiliary, vpo a iolity challenged one another to wrestle: and when as the legionary was throwen, the French man insulting ouer him, and they which lookt on diuiding themselues into sides, the legionary souldiers taking themselves to their weapons made hauocke of the auxiliaries, and slew two cohorts of them.

Savile. Tacitus. Historie, p. 84. When the enrolments are in this manner finished, the tribunes, having assembled together in separate bodies the soldiers of their respective legions, choose out a man that seems most proper for the purpose, and making him swear in the following words: "that he will be obedient to his commanders, and execute all the orders that he shall receive from them, to the utmost of his power." The rest of the soldiers of the legion, advancing one by one, swear also, that they will perform what the first has sworn.

Hampton. Polybius, vol. iii. b. vi. Ex. 2.

9. The number of horse and foot in a Roman legion varied in different periods of the republic. In its lowest computation it appears to have amounted to 3000 foot and 200 horse; and, in its highest, to have risen to 6000 of the former, and 400 of the latter.-Melmoth. Cicero, b. x. Let. 15. Note 9.

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Many of the legislators themselves had taken an oath of abjuration of his Majesty's person and family. Id. E. Philips, To the Reader.

The first and fundamental positive law of all commonwealths, is the establishing of the legislative power; as the first and fundamental natural law, which is to govern even the legislative itself, is the preservation of the society, and (as far as it will consist with the public good) of every person in it.-Locke. Of Civil Government, c. 11._

The power of the legislative being derived from the people by a positive voluntary grant and institution, can be no other than what that positive grant conveyed, which being only to make laws and not to make legislators, the legislative can have no power to transfer their authority of making laws, and place it in other hands.-Id. Ib.

See what that country of the mind will produce, when by the wholesome laws of this legislatress it has obtained its liberty.-Shaftesbury. Moral. pt. iv. s. 2.

But there is nevertheless a science of legislation, which the details of office, and the intrigues of popular assemblies, will never communicate; a science, of which the principles must be sought for in the constitution of human nature, and in the general laws which regulate the course of human affairs. Stewart. Of the Human Mind, Introd. pt. il. s. 2.

The supreme legislative power of England was lodged in the King and great council, or what was afterwards called the parliament.-Hume. History of England, vol. ii. App. 2. In the legislature, the people are a check on the nobility, and the nobility a check upon the people; by mutual privilege of rejecting what the other had resolved, while the King is a check upon both, which preserves the executive power from encroachments.-Blackstone. Commentaries, b. i. c. 2.

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usage; applied to children born in lawful matrithus,) from a lawful or pure source; genuine. mony; (consequentially, opposed to spurious; and

Men that buth by getyn Out of matrimonie mowe nat have the grace That leele legitime by lawe may cleyme. Piers Plouhman, p. 176. They are not receiued nor taken as legitimate and leafull, as well of the Hebrues as of the whole churche. Bible, 1551. Esdras, Pref.

And whan they were come the Pope made Henry the bastarde legitiue, and lawfull to obtayne the realme of Castell.-Berners. Froissart. Cronycle, c. 229.

On the two and twentieth of Januarie a parlement begun at Westminster, in which the Duke of Lancaster caused to be legitimated the issue which he had begot of Katherine Swinfort before she was his wife. Holinshed. Rich. II. an. 1397.

This doubt was kept long open, in respect to the two Queenes that succeeded, Marie and Elizabeth; whose legitimations were incompatible one with another, though the ́succession was settled by act of parliament. Bacon. Hen. VII. p. 206.

The act that legitimated the Queen, making her [Elizabeth] most certainly a bastard in law, the Queen might think it now too much to use her as she had done formerly. Burnet. History of the Reformation, an. 1553.

By degrees he rose to Jove's imperial seat,
Thus difficulties prove a soul legitimately great.

Dryden.

Before this opposition of Flavianus, the Fathers of Constantinople had in their letter to Pope Damasus and the Occidental Bishops approved, and commended him to them; highly asserting the legitimateness of his ordination. Barrow. Of the Pope's Supremacy.

By the canon law they [who were born, before wedlock] were legitimate; and when any dispute of inheritance arose, it had formerly been usual for the civil courts to issue writs to the spiritual, directing them to enquire into the legilimacy of the person.

Hume. History of England. Hen. III. an. 1272.

Every such process of reasoning, it is well known, may be resolved into a series of legitimate syllogisms, exhibiting separately and distinctly, in a light as clear and strong as language can afford, each successive link of the demonstration.-Stewart. Human Mind, vol. ii. c. 3. s. 1.

LEGUME. ? Fr. and It. Legume; Sp. LEGUMINOUS. Legumbre; Lat. Legumen, quia legatur; because gathered by the hand, not cut. See the quotation from Miller.

An instance of this may be afforded us by some legumens, as peas, or beans; which if they be newly gathered and distilled in a retort, it will, I presume, be easily granted, that they will, like many other green vegetables, afford, besides a great deal of phlegm, an acid spirit.

Boyle. Works, vol. i. p. 613. Legumes or Legumens, are a species of plants which are call'd pulse, such as pease, beans, &c., and are so call'd be cause they may be gather'd by the hand without culling. Miller. Gardener's Dictionary.

Leguminous plants, are such as bear pulse, with a papilionaceous flower.-Id. Ib.

Now flow'rs dispos'd in various groupes,
Dislodge these honours of your soups,
The tasteful rich legumes.-Cambridge. To Ld. Bathurst.

LEISURE, n.
Fr. Loisir, said to be
LEISURE, adj. either from the Lat. Otiari,
LE'ISURABLE. ( prefixed,) or from licere.
LE'ISURABLY. (See Menage.) Lye de
LE'ISURELY, adj. cides for the Goth. Laus,
LEISURELY, að. liber, solutus, vacuus; free,
loose. The Fr. Loisir, is perhaps Laisser, to loose.
And Leisure is--

Looseness, or relaxation from labour or employment; liberty or freedom from business; and, consequentially, to use or abuse time as we please. Leisurely,

With free use of time; not hurriedly, or hastily & whan thou sees leysere, that he ne perceyue thi witte. R. Brunne, p. 229. Wherfore we axen leiser and space to have deliberation in this cas to deem.-Chaucer. The Tale of Melibeus.

Egistus drough his Quene nere,

And with the leisere which he had,

This ladie at his wille he ladde.-Gower. Con. A. b. iil.

But what shall bee their glory and reward thou shalt sec, if thou wilt leasurably lysten and beholde to the ende of the tragedye.-Barnes. Workes, p. 358.

Sometime he sheweth it leysourly, suffering hys flocke to comen & dispute therupon.-Sir T. More. Workes, p. 456. And how his limbs, resolv'd through idle leisour Unto sweet sleepe he may securely lend.

Spenser. Virgil. Gnat And as our bodies waxe and gather strength by leysure, perish in a moment; so good wits and good learning are sooner cut downe then raised againe. Savile. Tacitus. Agricola, p. 184.

And because the nearer wee draw unto God, the more we are oftentimes inlightned with the shining beames of his glorious presence as being then euen almost in sight, a leisurable departure may in that case bring forth for the good of such as are present, that which shall cause them for euer after from the bottom of their hearts to pray, O let vs dye the death of the righteous, and let our last end be like theirs. Hooker. Ecclesiasticall Politie, b. v. § 46.

Let vs beg of God that when the houre of our rest is come the patternes of our dissolution may be Jacob, Moses, Josua, Dauid, who leisureably ending their liues in peace, prayed for the mercies of God to come vpon their posteritie.-Id. Ib. With leisurely delight she by degrees Lifts ev'ry till, does ev'ry drawer draw.

Davenant. Gondibert, b. iii. c. 1.

But Eumenes, meeting with the news, began to hearten his affrighted companions, promising to make Antigonus march leisurely.—Ralegh. Hist. of the World, b. iv. c. 4. s. 4. Full leisurely he rose, but conscious shame Of honour lost his failing strength renew'd. Somervile. Hobbinol, c. 2. Cicero knew not which of the two he preferred, but complained that the crowd of visitors that interrupted his leisure

in these retreats contributed not a little to counterbalance their attractions.-Eustace. Italy, vol. ii. c. 11.

Beneath whose shade the lusty steers repose
Their cumbrous limbs, mix'd with the woolly tribes,
And leisurely concoct their grassy meal.

LEME, v.

LEME, n.

Jago. Edge-Hill, b. iv. A. S. Leom-an, liom-an; to shine. See GLEAM.

To shine, to lighten, to flame.

And clere leme of the sterre, that ouer France drou.
R. Gloucester, p. 186.
The lyght that lemed out of the.-Piers Plouhman, p. 117.
The while this light and this leom. shal Lucifer ableynde.
Id. p. 346.

Which causeth folk to dreden in hir dreames
Of arwes, and of fire with red lemes.

Chaucer. The Nonnes Preestes Tale, v. 14,836. Thereby [i. e. by order] the incomprehensible majestye of God, as it were by a bryght leme of a torche or candell, is declared to the blynd inhabitantes of this worlde. Sir T. Elyol. The Governour, b. i. c. 1. LEMMAN, or Minshew, from the Fr. Le LE'MAN. mignon. Dr. T. H. (in Skinner), from L'aimant, l'aimante. Tyrwhitt calls it Saxon: and Junius forms it of Leof, i. e. loved, and man, applied generally to male or female. Lye remarks that Semisaxonice the word was written Leuemon; and in the quotation from Robert of Gloucester it will be found lef-mon.

Any one loved; it is frequently applicd-to one loved illicitly, or with mere gallantry.,

Thys mayde hym payde suythe wel, myd God wille be hyr R. Gloucester, p. 344.

nom

And huld hyre as a lefmon.

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LEN

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

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

LEN

For Saresyns mowe be saved so. yf the [they] so by leyvede In the lengthynge of here lyf.-Piers Ploulman, p. 292. He was man of brede and length, Of wyt, of manhode, and of strength. Gower. 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.

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.

LEND, v. LE'NDER.

Thomson. Summer.

Observer, No. 15.

Goth. Leigan, leicwan, leihwan; A. S. Lan-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 See LOAN. granted or lent in return.

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

R. Brunne, p. 185. And if ye lecnen 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 receauc, what thancke shall ye hauc.-Bible, 1551. lb.

Fabyan, vol. i. c. 156. And if thou wilt walke in my wayes and keep myne ordinaunces and cōmaundemēt as Dauid thy father dyd walke, I wyll lengthen thy dayes also.-Bible, 1551. 3 Kinges, c. 3. He desireth not the lengthening of his lyfe for any other cause, then to restoare and set forth the thynges that make Id. Psalme, c. 30. Note. for the gloric of God and profyt of the saincts. 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.

Mirrour for Magistrates, p. 264. Then Agricola perceiving 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
Millon. 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. IIamlet, Acti. 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.

LENDS, n. See LOINS.

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.

R. Brunne, p. 19.

LENIENT, adj. Fr. Lenir; It. Lenire; LE'NIENT, n. Sp. Lenizar; Lat. Lenire, LE/NIFY, U. (pres. part. leniens, It. and LE'NITIVE, adj. Sp. Leniente,) to soften, to LE'NITIVE, n. soothe. (A. S. Hlan-an, LE'NITY. 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 lenific or mitigat the acrimonie of humors within the bodic; 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 Agonisles.

Those milks have all an acrimony; though one would think they should be lenitive.-Bacon. Nat. Hist. § 639.

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

Address

Some lenitives, tallay the fi'riness
Of this discase.
Daniel. Civil Wars, b. viii.
Hee shewed himselfe a true king and kind father, pre-
ferring lenity and suppressing seuerity..
Slow. 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 Salires.
But we allow lenitives, as cassia, tamarinds, manua.
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!
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,
Lat. Lens, (perhaps quod
humida et lenta est, vel
quod adhæret humi, (Isi-
-is a pulse, a lentile, Fr. Len-

LENS.
LENTILE.
LENTICULAR, adj.
dorus,) see Vossius,).

tille; 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."

Lenticular instrument, (in Wiseman,) Fr. Len"an instrument wherewith surgeons ticulaire, plane and cut away the broken bones of a wounded skull," (Cotgrave.)

The root brought into a liniment cureth the lentils or red spots.-Holland. Plinie, b. xxii. c. 21.

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 small 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 pur pose.-Wiseman. Surgery, b. v. c. 9.

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

}

Dryden. Virgil. Georgics, b. 1.

!

LENT, n. Dut. Lent; Ger. Lenz; A. S. L 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 fercnt etymologies: 1st, from length, because at the season of spring the days lengthen; 2dly, from lenitas, because then the air becomes mild or 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 Žent 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.

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

Baker. Hen. V. an. 1421.

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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 holi-hocks are banished from our sallet.-Evelyn. Acctaria.

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, (Vossias.)

Who courteous bad us on soft beds recline

Of lensliseks, and young branches of the vine.

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.

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

LE'PID.

AETIS, a scale.

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

Fawkes. Theocritus, Idyl. 7. facetious.

LEONINE, i. c. 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. liny speaks of leones, quos pardi gencraverc, (lib. viii. c. 16.)

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

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

Chaucer. The Knightes Tale, v. 2188.

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He looked on her ugly lepers face

The which before was white as lely floure,

Wringing his hands.--Chaucer. Complaint of Crescide.

Lying emong the leper-folke alas.-1d. Ib.

A leper-lady rase, 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 cares 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 prosities of metals were cured, they would become gold, all these are but dreames.-Bacon. Naturall Historie, § 320.

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
on the itch] which by the Greeks is called elephantiasis,
and is nothing else but an universal cancer of the whole
ba, black, and indeed a most miserable disease; but I
that scarce known in England.
Wiseman. Surgery, b. i. c. 25.

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.

To diminish, to decrease, to reduce.

Lest, (see the quotation from Gower) and least (sce the quotation from Bale's Votaries) are used as the regular past tense, contracted from les-cd or leas-ed, of the A. S. verb Les-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. all R. Gloucester, p. 87. Nisi, (ne sit,) It. Se non, Sp. Si no, Fr. Si non, mean, be it not.

i. c. to Learn, (qv.)
To learn or teach; to instruct.
And Lore, learning; teaching,
doctrine, instruction.

Constantyn lette also in Jerusalem chirches rere,
And wyde aboute elles wer, Christendom to lere.

The lerid & the lewid, that wonned in the South.

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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, c. g.– As

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.
Goldsmith was less in size than Johnson.
Chaucer. The Frankeleines Tale, v. 11,006. he never was equal, it was not by the privation,

But, lordes, wol ye maken assurance,
As I shall say, assenting to my lore.

Id. The Man of Lawes Tale, 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 genti!nesse 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.
Drayton. Poly-Olbion, s. 12.

The gentle shepheard sat beside a springe,
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.

Spenser. Shepheard's Calender. December.
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.
See LEER.

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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 degrade, to impair, to weaken.

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"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 wound ylessed;" i. c. loosened, freed, relieved from.

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. But he that is lesse in the kyngdom of heavenes; is more than he.-Wiclif. Matt. c. 11.

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 the house cometh in the eventide or at mydnight or at cockis finde you sleeping.-Wiclif. Mark, c. 13.

crowyng or the mornyng lest whan he come sodeynly he

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