before the finner's face; fo that he may run his courfe freely. South.

(2.)*LET, the termination of diminutive words, from lyte, Saxon, little, fmall; as, rivulet, a small Atream; hamlet, a little village. i

(1.) * To LET. v. a. [latan, Saxon.] 1. To allow; to fuffer; to permit.

Nay, nay, quoth he, let be your ftrife and doubt. Fairfax. -Where there is a certainty and an uncertainty, let the uncertainty go, and hold to that which is certain. Bp. Sanderfon.

Back on your lives, let be, faid he, my prey, And let my vengeance take the deftin'd way. Dryden. Remember me; fpeak, Raymond, will you let him?

Shall he remember Leonora ? Dryden. We must not let go manifeft truths, because we cannot answer all questions about them. Collier.One who fixes his thoughts intently on one thing, fo as to take but little notice of the fucceffion of ideas in his mind, lets flip out of his account a good part of that duration. Locke.-A folution of mercury in aquafortis being poured upon iron, copper, tin, or lead, diffolves the metal, and lets go the mercury. Newton. 2. A fign of the optative nood ufed before the firft, and imperative before the third perfon. Before the first perfon fingular it fignifies refolution, fixed purpofe, or ardent with. Let me die with the Philistines. Judges.Here let me fit,

And hold high converfe with the mighty dead. Thomson. 3. Before the first perfon plural, let implies exhortation.-Rife; let us go. Mark-Let us feck out fome defolate fhade. Shak. 4. Before the third perfon fingular or plural, let implies permiflion.

Let Euclid reft, and Archimedes paufe. Milt. 3. Or precept.—Let the foldiers feize him from one of the affaffinates. Dryden. 6. Sometimes it implies conceffion.

O'er golden fands let rich Pactolus flow. Pope. 7. Before a thing in the paffive voice, let implies command.-Let not the objects which ought to be contiguous be feparated, and let those which ought to be separated, be apparently so to us; but let this be done by a fmall and pleafing difference. Dryden. 8. Let has an infinitive mood after it without the particle to, as in the former examples.

But one fubmiffive word which you let fall, Will make him in good humour with us all. Dryden. The feventh year thou shalt let it reft, and lie fill. Exodus. 9. To leave: in this fenfe it is commonly followed by alone.

If it were fo, I might have let alone Th' infulting hand of Douglas over you. Shak. -The públic outrages of a destroying tyranny are but childish appetites, let alone till they are grown ungovernable. L'Eftrange.

Let me alone to accufe him afterwards. Dryd. -This is of no use, and had been better let alone. Locke.-Neftor, do not let us alone till you have fhortened our necks, and reduced them to their antient standard. Addifon.-This notion might be let alone and defpifed, as a piece of harmless un

intelligible enthusiasm. Rogers, 10. To more than permit; to give.-There's a letter for you, Sir, if your name be Horatio, as I am let to know it is. Shak. 11. To put to hire; to grant to a tenant, -Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon; he let the vineyard unto keepers. Cant. viii. 11-Nothing deadens fo much the compofition of a pic. ture, as figures which appertain not to the subject: we may call them figures to be let. Dryden.-She let her fecond floor to a very genteel man. Tatler.

A law was enacted, prohibiting all bishops, and other ecclefiaftical corporations, from letting their lands for above the term of 20 years. Swift. 12. To fuffer any thing to take a course which requires no impulfive violence. In this fenfe it is commonby joined with a particle.-She let them down by a cord through the window. Josh.-Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. Luke v. 4.-Let down thy pitcher, that I may drink. Gen. xxiv. 14.-The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water. Prov. xvii. 14.-As terebration doth meliorate fruit, fo doth pricking vines or trees after they be of some growth, and thereby letting forth gum or tears, Bacon.And if I knew which way to do't, Your honour fafe, I'd let you eut, The letting out our love to mutual objects doth but enlarge our hearts, and make them the wider marks for fortune to be wounded. Boyle.

Every flacken'd fibre drops its hold,

Hudibras.

Like nature letting down the fprings of life. Dryd. -From this point of the ftory, the poet is let down to his traditional poverty. Pepe. You muft let it down, that is, make it fofter by tempering it. Moxon. 13. To permit to take any ftate or courfe. He let loofe his thoughts wholly to pleafure. Sidney.-Let reafon teach impoffibility in any thing, and the will of man doth let it go. Hooker.

He was let loofe among the woods as soon as he was able to ride on horfeback, or carry a gun. Spectator. 14. To LET blood, is elliptical for to let out blood. To free it from confinement; to fuffer it to ftream out of the vein.—

Let's purge this choler without letting blood.

Shak.

His antient knot of dangerous adversaries To-morrow are let blood at Pomfret caftle. Shak. Hippocrates let great quantities of blood, and opened feveral veins at a time. Arbuthnot. 15. To LET blood, is ufed with a dative of the perfon whose blood is let.—As terebration doth meliorate fruit, fo doth letting plants blood, as pricking vines, thereby letting forth tears. Bacon. 16. TO LET in. To admit.

Let in your king, whofe labour'd fpirits Crave harbourage within your city walls. Sbak. -Rofcetes prefented his army before the gates of the city, in hopes that the citizens would raise fome tumult, and let him in. Knolles.

What boots it at one gate to make defence, And at another to let in the foe, Effeminately vanquish'd? Milton. The more tender our fpirits are made by religion, the more eafy we are to let in grief, if the caufe be innocent. Taylor.

They but preferve the afhes, thou the flame, True this fense, but truer to his fame,

Fording

Fording his current, where thou find❜ft it low Let'ft in thine own to make it rife and flow.

Denham. -To give a period to my life, and to his fears, you're welcome; here's a throat, a heart, or any other part, ready to let in death, and receive his commands. Denham. 17. If a noun follows, for let in, let into is required. It is the key that lets them into their very heart, and enables them to command all that is there. South.-There are pictures of fuch as have been diftinguished by their birth or miracles, with infcriptious, that let you into the name and hiftory of the perfon reprefented. Addifon. Moft hiftorians have fpoken of ill fuccefs, and terrible events, as if they had been let into the fecrets of Providence, and made acquainted with that private conduct by which the world is governed. Addison.-Thefe are not myfteries for ordinary readers to be let into. Addifon.

As we rode through the town, I was let into the characters of all the inhabitants; one was a dog, another a whelp, and another a cur. Addifon. 18. TO LET in, or into. To procure admiffion.They should speak properly and correctly, whereby they may let their thoughts into other men's minds the more eafily. Locke, As foon as they have hewn down any quantity of the rocks, they let in their fprings and refervoirs among their works. Addifon. 19. To LET off. To difcharge. Originally used of an arrow difmiffed from the gripe, and therefore fuffered to fly off the ftring: now applied to guns.-Charging my pistol with powder, I cautioned the emperor not to be afraid, and then let it off in the air. Swift. 20. To LET out. To leafe out; to give to hire or farm.

(2.) * To LET. v. a. [lettan. Sax.] 1. To hinder; to obftruct; to oppofe.-Their fenfes are not letted from enjoying their objects. Sidney.—To glorify him in all things, is to do nothing whereby the falvation of Jew or Grecian, or any in the church of Chrift, may be let or hindered. Hooker. Leave, ah, leave off, whatever wight thou be, To let a weary wretch from her due reft? Fairy Queen. -Wherefore do ye let the people from their works? Exod. v. 4.-The mystery of iniquity doth he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 2 Thef.—I will work, and who will let it? Ifa. xliii. 11.

And now no longer letted of his prey, He leaps up at it with enrag'd defire. Dryden. 2. To LET, when it fignifies to permit or leave, has let in the preterite and part. paffive; but when it fignifies to hinder, it has letted; as, multa me impedierunt, many things have letted me. Introd. to Grammar.

(3.) * To LET. v. n. To forbear; to withhold himself.-After king Ferdinando had taken upon him the person of a fraternal ally to the king, he would not let to counsel the king. Bacon.

LETAC, a cape on the W. coaft of Jersey. LETAN, a river of Sweden, in Warmland. LETCHLADE. See LEACHLADE. This town is feated at the junction of 4 rivers, which here form the THAMES. Lon. 2. 15. W. Lat. 51. 42. N. LETHAM, a thriving village of Scotland, in Angus fhire, in the parish of Dunnichen, on the N. bank of the Vinny; begun to be built in 1788,

by Geo. Dempster, Efq; and containing 20 families in 1790. It has a market once a fortnight on Thursday, for cloth, flax, and yarn.

* LETHARGICK. adj. [lethargique, Fr. from lethargy.] Sleepy by disease, beyond the natural power of fleep.-Vengeance is as if minutely proclaimed by thunder from heaven, to give men no reft from their fins, till they awake from the lethargick fleep, and arise from so dead, so mortiferous a ftate. Hammond.

Let me but try if I can wake his pity From his lethargick fleep.

Denham. -A lethargy demands the fame cure and diet as an apoplexy from a phlegmatic cafe, fuch being the conftitution of the lethargick. Arbuthnot. * LETHARGICKNESS. n. f. [from lethargick.] Morbid fleepinefs; drowfinefs to a difeafe.A grain of glory mixt with humbleness, Cures both a fever and lethargickness. Herbert. * LETHARGIED. adj. [from the noun.] Laid afleep; entranced.

His motion weakens, or his discernings
Are lethargied.

Shak. (1.)* LETHARGY. n. f. [Anagyia; lethargie, Fr.] A morbid drowfinefs; a fleep from which one cannot be kept awake.

Shak.

The lethargy muft have his quiet course.'
So faft a lethargy

Has feiz'd his pow'rs towards public cares and dangers,

He fleeps like death. Denham. -Europe lay then under a deep lethargy; and was no otherwife to be refcued from it, but by one that would cry mightily. Atterbury.-A lethargy is a lighter fort of apoplexy, and demands the fame cure and diet. Arbuthnot.

(2.) LETHARGY is derived from aren, oblivion, and aga, numbnefs, or laziness. In this disease, the patient, if awaked, remains ftupid, without fenfe or memory, and presently finks again into his former fleep. See MEDICINE, $ 765.

(3.) LETHARGY. See FARRIERY, Part III. Sect. X.

(1.) LETHE, in the ancient mythology, one of the rivers of hell, fignifying oblivion or forgetfulnefs; its waters having, according to poetic fic. tion, the peculiar quality of making thofe who drank them forget every thing that was paft. (2.) LETHE. n. f. [ann.] Oblivion; a draught of oblivion.

The conquering wine hath steept our sense In foft and delicate lethe.

Lethe, the river of oblivion, rolls
Her wat❜ry labyrinth, which whofo drinks
Forgets both joy and grief.

Shak.

Milton.

(1.) LETHENDY, a parish of Perthshire, 5 miles long from E. to W. and 14 broad. The climate is mild, the foil fertile, and husbandry much improved. The annual produce is about 1614 bolls of oats, 1100 of barley, 100 of wheat, 100 of pease, 225 of potatoes, and 250 ftones of lint. About 60 acres are under wood. The population, in 1795, was 367: increase 21. roads were bad, the fchool in ruins, and the parish ten years without a teacher. But the leafes are long, the rents moderate, and the tenants almoft independent. The number of horses in 1795

The

was

or metal, which took place of the illuminated let ters ufed in manufcripts. The letters used in printing are caft at the ends of small pieces of metal, about three quarters of an inch in length; and the letter being not indented, but raised, eafily gives the impreffion, when, after being blacked with a glutinous ink, paper is closely preffed upon it. See the articles PRINTING and TYPE. A fount of letters includes fmall letters, capitals, fmall capitals, points, figures, spaces, &c.; but befides, they have different kinds of two-line letters, only used for titles, and the beginning of books, chapters, &c.

Pomponius Mela, Herodian, Rufus, Feftus, Pliny, Lucan, &c. to the Phoenicians; St Cyprian, to Saturn; Tacitus, to the Egyptians; fome, to the Ethiopians; and others, to the Chinese; but, with refpect to these last, they can never be entitled to this honour, fince all their characters are the figns of words, formed without the use of letters; which renders it impoffible to read and write their language without the vaft expenfe of time and trouble; and abfolutely impoffible to print it by the help of types, or any other manner but by engraving, or cutting in wood. See PRINTING. There have been alfo various conjectures about the different kinds of letters used in different languages: thus, according to Crinitus, Mofes invented the Hebrew letters; Abraham, the Syriac and Chaldee; the Phoenicians, thofe of Attica, brought into Greece by Cadmus, thence into Italy by the Pelafgians; Nicoftrata, the Roman; Ifis, the Egyptian; and Vulfilas, thofe of the Goths. It is probable, that the Egyptian hieroglyphics were the first manner of writing; but whether Cadmus and the Phoenicians learned the use of letters from the Egyptians, or from their neighbours of Judea or Samaria, need hardly be a quef. tion; for as fome of the books of the Old Teftament were then written, they are more likely to have given them the hint of letters than the hieroglyphics of Egypt. But wherefoever the Phænicians learned this art, it is generally agreed, that Cadmus the fon of Agenor firft brought letters into Greece; whence, in following ages, they fpread over the rest of Europe. See ALPHABET, ALPHABETICAL CHARACTERS, and WRITING. Letters make the first part or elements of grammar; an affemblage of thefe compofe fyllables and words, and thefe compofe fentences. The alphabet of every language consists of a number of letters, which ought each to have a different found, figure, and use. As the difference of articulate founds was intended to express the different ideas of the mind, fo one letter was originally intended to fignify only one found, and not, as at prefent, to exprefs fometimes one found and fometimes another; which practice has brought a great deal of confufion into the languages, and rendered the learning of the modern tongues much more difficult than it would otherwife have been. This confideration, together with the deficiency of all the known alphabets, from their wanting fome letters to exprefs certain founds, has occafioned several attempts towards an univerfal alphabet, to contain an enumeration of all such fingle founds or letters as are used in any language. See ALPHABETS, 2, 3. Grammarians diftinguish letters into vowels, confonants, mutes, liquids, diphthongs, and characteristics. They are likewife divided into capital and small letters. They are alfo denominated from the shape and turn of the letters; and in writing are diftinguished into different hands, as round text, German text, round hand, Italian, &c. and in printing, Roman, Italic, and black letter.

(4.) LETTER, or TYPE, among printers, is not only used to fignify the CAPITALS, SMALL CAPITALS, and small letters, but all the points, figures, and other marks cast and used in printing; and alfo the large ornamental letters, cut in wood

(5.) A LETTER is alfo a writing addreffed and fent to a perfon. Epiftle is feldom ufed but in poetry. (See EPISTLE, 1, 2.) Letter-writing was efteemed a liberal art by the Romans, and Ci. cero mentions with pleasure, in his epistles to Atticus, the elegant fpecimen he had received from his fon of his genius in this way. Mr Locke thinks it ought to form a particular branch of education. But no man who has got a liberal education, can be at any loss to write a good letter. It has been faid, that “a fine letter does not consist in saying fine things, but in expreffing ordinary ones in an uncommon manner. It is the proprie communia dicere, the art of giving grace and elegance to familiar occurrences, that conftitutes the merit of this kind of writing." This is very juft, but if laid down as a general rule, will lead a young perfon, whofe tafte is not properly formed, to write his letters in a ftyle of the moft ridiculous and affected bombaft. Purity in the choice of words, and juftnefs of conftruction, joined with perfpicuity, are the chief properties of the Epistolary flyle. Seneca lays down a good general rule: "I would have my letters (fays he) to be like my dif courses, when we either fit or walk together, unftudied and easy." And what wife man, in common difcourfe, aims at bright figures, beautiful turns of lauguage, or laboured periods? It is not even always requifite to attend to exact order and method. He that is mafter of what he writes, will naturally exprefs his thoughts without perplexity and confufion; and more than this is feldom neceffary, efpecially in familiar letters. But as the fubjects of letters are exceedingly various, the ftyle ought to be accommodated to the particular fubject about which the letter is wrote. All fuch words and expreffions, as are unbecoming in converfation, fhould be avoided in letters; and a manly fimplicity, free of all affectation, plain, but decent and agreeable, should run through the whole.

(6.) LETTER OF ATTORNEY, in law, is a writ ing by which one perfon authorises another to do fome lawful act in his tead; as to give feifin of lands, to receive debts, fue a third perfon, &c. The nature of this inftrument is to transfer to the perfon to whom it is given, the power of the maker, to enable him to accomplish the act intended. to be performed. It is either general or fpecial; and fometimes it it is made recoverable, which is when, a bare authority is only given; and fometimes it is irrevocable, as where debts, &c. are affigned from one person to another. It is generally held, that the power granted to the attorney must be ftrictly pursued; and that where it is made to three perfons; two cannot execute

it.

LEVADA, a market town of Italy, in the dep. of the Mincio, in the diftrict and late duchy of Mantua; feated on the Po.

LEVALZUI, a river of Servia.

it. In most cafes, the power given by a letter of attorney determines upon the death of a perfon who gave it. No letter of attorney made by any feamen, &c. in any ship of war, or having letters of marque, or by their executors, &c. in order to empower any perfon to receive any fhare of prizes or bounty money, shall be valid, unless the fame be made revocably, and for the use of fuch feamen, and be figned and executed before, and attefted by, the captain and one other of the figning officers of the ship, or the mayor or chief magiftrate of some corporation.

(7.) LETTER OF MARQUE, OF MART. See MARQUE.

(8.) LETTERS, PATENT, or OVERT, are writings fealed with the great feal of England, where. by a man is authorised to do, or enjoy any thing, which, of himself, he could not do. See PATENT. They are fo called, by reafon of their form; as being open with the feal affixed, ready to be fhewn for the confirmation of the authority given by them.

*To LETTER. v. a: [from letter.] To stamp with letters.-I obferve one weight lettered on both fides; and I found on one fide, written in the dialect of men, and underneath it, calamities; on the other fide was written, in the language of the gods, and underneath, bleffings. Addifon. LETTERE, a town of Naples, in the prov. of Principato Citra; 12 miles WNW. of Salerno.

* LETTERED. adj. [from lietter.] Literate; educated to learning.-A martial man, not fweetened by a lettered education, is apt to have a tinc ture of fournefs. Collier.

LETTERHOUT, a town of France, in the dept. of the Scheldt, and ci-devant prov. of Auftrian Flanders; 6 miles W. of Aloft.

(1.) LETTERKENNY, a town of Ireland, in Donegal, Ulfter, on the Swilly; 15 miles SW. of Londonderry, 20 NNE. of Donegal, and 113 from Dublin.

(2.) LETTERKENNY, a township of Pennsylvania, in Franklin County.

LETTON, 3 villages in Herefordshire, and one in Norfolkfhire.

LETTRES, BELLES. See BELLES Lettres. LETTRES DE CACHET. See CACHET, N° 2. (1.) * LETTUCE. n. f. [laduca, Latin.] The fpecies are, common or garden lettuce; cabbage lettuce; Silefia lettuce; white and black cos; white cos; red capuchin lettuce. Miller

Fat colworts, and comforting purfeline, Cold lettuce, and refreshing rofemarine. Spenfer -Lettuce is thought to be poisonous, when it is fo old as to have milk. Bacon's Nat. Hift.-The medicaments proper to diminish milk, are lettuce, purЛlane, endive. Wifeman.

(2.) LETTUCE, in botany. See LACTUCA. (3.) LETTUCE, HARES. See SONCHUS. (4.) LETTUCE, WILD See PRENANTHES. LÉTUS, a mountain of Liguria. Liv. 41. 18. LETWELL, a fmall town of Yorkshire, between Rotheram and Nottinghamshire. LETZ, a river of France, which runs into the Rhone, below Point St Efprit.

LETZNIG, a town of Holstein.

LEVA, a river of Sicily, which runs into the Mediterranean : 11 miles NW. of Sacca.

LEVAN, ST, a village of Cornwall, at the SW. point of the Land's End; near the tin mines. (1.) * LEVANT. adj. [levant, Fr.] Eaftern. Thwart of thofe, as fierce,

Forth rush the levant, and the ponent winds, Eurus and Zephyr. Milton. (2.) LEVANT. n. The eaft, particularly thofe coafts of the Mediterranean eaft of Italy.

(3.) LEVANT, in commerce and geography, is generally used for Turkey in Afia, comprehending Natolia, Syria, Paleftine, Egypt, Barca, Candia, &c. The word literally fignifies rifing, and hence is used for the Eaft, from the rifing Sun.

(4.) LEVANT, or TITAN, one of the HIERES. (5.) LEVANT SEA, the eastern part of the Mediterranean, bounded by Leffer Afia on the N. by Syria and Palestine on the E. by Egypt and Barca on the S. and by Candia and the other ports of the Mediterranean on the W.

LEVANTINA, VAL, or the a populous val. LEVANTINE VALLEY, Sley of Switzerland, between Mount St Gothard and Lake Mag. giore, on the borders of Italy, belonging to the canton of Uri. It is about 24 miles long, but of no great breadth. The Tefino runs through it, and renders it fertile in corn, hemp, flax, and paf. turage. Offogna is the chief town.

(1.) LEVANTO, a town of Liguria, 6 miles S. of Brugnetto, and 8 W. of Spezza.

(2.) LEVANTO, an ifland on the W. coaft of Sicily, 9 miles W. of Trapani.

LEVARLOW, a town of Poland, in Lublin.

LEUBITZ, a town of Hungary.

LEUBUS, a town of Silefia, on the Oder.

LEUCA, in antiquity, a geographical measure of length, in ufe among the later Gauls; which, according to Jornandes, who calls it lenga, contained 1500 paces, or one mile and a half. Hence the word LEAGUE, now reckoned at 3 miles; in the lower age, called leuva.

LEUCADENDRON, in botany, a genus of the monogynia order, in the tetrandria clafs of plants; in the natural method ranking under the 48th order, Aggregata. The florets are tripetalous, with one petal of each trifid; the receptacle is a little villous; there is no proper calyx; the antheræ are almoft coalited.

LEUCADIA, formerly called NERITIS, a peninfula of Acarnania; (Homer.) but afterwards, by cutting through the peninfula, made an ifland, as it is at this day, called ST MAURA. It is 48 m. in circumference, and lies 15 miles NE. of Cephalonia. Lon. 20. 46. E. Lat. 39. 4. N. ·

(1.) LEUCAS, in ancient geography, a city of Leucada, formerly called NERITOS and NERI