LABYRINTH
A building said to have been constructed with many winding passages by Daedalus
near Gnossus in Crete for the safe confinement of the Minotaur. Theseus penetrated
the L. by the aid of a clue supplied to him by Ariadne and killed the monster.
The word came to be applied to any tortuous maze. In H6
A. v. 3, 188, Suffolk soliloquizes: "Suffolk, stay! Thou mayst not wander
in that 1.; There Minotaurs and ugly treasons lurk.." In Venus and Adonis 684,
the windings of a hare "Are like a l. to amaze his foes." In Troil.
ii. 3, 2, Thersites exclaims, "How now, Thersites! What, lost in the 1. of thy
fury?" In Milton's Comus 277, when Comus asks, "What chance, good Lady, hath bereft
you thus?" she replies, "Dim darkness and this leafy L." In Dekker's Westward
iv, 2, Justiniano says, "You swore you would keep me in a l. as Harry kept Rosamond,
where the Minotaur, my husband, should not enter." Henry II was said to have kept
Rosamund Clifford in a maze or 1. at Woodstock, to protect her from the jealousy
of his Queen. In T. Heywood's Ed.
IV B., the Q. says, "There was once a K., Henry the Second, who did keep his
Q. Caged up at Woodstock in a L" Spencer, in Ruines Rome ii., says, "Crete will
boast the L. now raced." In Webster's Cuckold
v. 1, Clare says, "I'll be the clue To lead you forth this 1."
LACEDAEMON
(Lian. = Lacedaemonian). Either (1) Sparta itself, or (2) the territory (Laconia) of which Sparta was the capital, i.e. the S.E. province of the Peloponnesus. It was inhabited by the Dorians, who in the 7th cent. B.C. subjugated the neighbouring dist. of Messene. The constitution was fixed by Lycurgus in the 9th cent. B.C., and continued with little change down to the close of its history. In Homer, Menelaus is the King of L., and it was from his Court there that Paris ran away with Helen.
In Ford's Heart, the scene of
which is laid at Sparta (i. 2), Amyclas says, "Messene bows her neck To L.'s
royalty." This fixes the supposed date of the play to 668 B.C., the year when
the 2nd Messenian war came to an end. In iv. 1, Tecnicus exclaims, "O Sparta,
O L., double-named, but one In fate!" In Marmion's Companion
iii. 5, Dotario says to AEmilia, "Bright Helen, I will be thy Paris, And fetch
thee, though thou wert at L." Spencer, F. Q. iii. 9, 34, says, "Sir Paris .
. . From L. fetched the fairest dame That ever Greece did boast." In Tim.
ii. 2, 160, Timon says, "To L. did my land extend." In iii. 5, 60, Alcibiades,
pleading for his old friend, says, "His service done At L. and Byzantium Were
a sufficient briber for his life." Alcibiades marched into L. at the head of
an Athenian force in 419 B.C. In Gascoigne's Government ii. 1, Gnomaticus relates
how Lycurgus went to Delphi, "requiring of the Lacedemonianes that they would
observe those laws until his return." In Greene's Orlando
i. 1, 330, Sacrepant says, "Saluting me by that which I am not, he presageth
what I shall be; for so did the Lians. by Agathocles, who of a base potter wore
the kingly diadem." Agathocles was a potter who became Tyrant of Syracuse about
317 B.C., but he had nothing to do with the Lians., except in so far as Syracuse
was a Dorian colony; and the story seems to be Greene's own invention. In Edwardes'
Damon x., Eubulus says, "Upon what
fickle ground all tyrants do stand Athenes and L. can teach you." Lian. is used
in the sense of a complaisant woman, with reference to Helen's readiness to
desert her husband for Paris. In Middleton's Changeling
iii. 3, Lollio says to Isabella, "Come sweet rogue; kiss me, my little Lian."
In Dekker's Hon. Wh. A. iii. 1,
when Fustigo asks Viola, "When shah's laugh again?" and she replies, "When you
will, cousin," he says, "Spoke like a kind Lian." In Marston's Malcontent
iii. 3, Mendozo says, "My project is to banish the Duchess, that I might be
rid of a cunning Lian." The Lian. boys were taught to steal without being caught,
but if caught they were severely punished. In Marmion's Leaguer
i. 5, Agurtes says, "Steal Eke a Lian." See also LACONIA, SPARTA.
LACONIA
(= LACEDAEMON, q.v.). In Ford's Heart
i. 2, Amyclas, after the conquest of Messene, says, "L. is a monarchy at length."
This was in 668 B.C., at the end of the 2nd Messenian war. In Glapthorne's Argalus
i. 1, Demagoras boasts, "I, to whose very name Ln. matrons have paid tributary
vows." In Chapman's Caesar iii. 1,
123, Pompey says that the Genius of Rome is not "by land great only, like Lns."
The terse method of speech affected by the Spartans gave rise to the word laconic,
meaning terse, brief. In B. & F. French
Law. v. 1, Cleremont says, "If thou wilt needs know How we are freed, I will
discover it, And with laconic brevity." Davenant, in Man's Master ii. 1, says,
"This laconic fool makes brevity ridiculous."
LADAMA
See under SAMARIA.
LADON
R. in N. Arcadia, flowing S. into the Alpheius. In Glapthorne's Argalus
i. 2, Clitophon says, "Virgin, Pleasing as L. that does coolly flow Through our
green meadows." In Milton's Arcades 97, the song begins: "Nymphs and shepherds,
dance no more By sandy L.'s lilied banks." Barnfield, in Affectionate Shepherd
(1594) 131, says, "We'll go to L, whose still trickling noise Will lull thee fast
asleep amids thy joys."
LAETHE
See LETHE.
LAHORE
The capital of the Punjaub, in N.W. India, 280 m. N.W. of Delhi, on the Ravi. Its history goes back to the most ancient times, but it came to the zenith of its glory in the 16th cent, under Akhbar (1556-1605), who rebuilt the walls and erected many of its most famous mosques and other buildings. Milton, P. L. xi. 391, mentions amongst the great capitals of the world, "Agra and L. of Great Mogul."
LAMB
A London sign. Used by Veale's bookshop in St. Paul's Churchyard. New Custom was
"Imprinted for Abraham Veale dwelling in Paul's Churchyard at the sign of the
L. 1573." An edition of Colin Clout was also printed here. "The L. in Lombard
St." was the sign of Water-Camlet, the mercer's shop, in Middleton's Anything
for a Quiet Life ii. 2.
LAMBECHIA
See LAMBETH.
LAMBERT HILL
St. in Lond. running N. from Thames St. to the W. end of Old Fish St. It was also
called Lambeth H., by which name it is now known. In Yarrington's One
of the Two Tragedies i. 4, a neighbour says, "Bring the body unto L. H. Where
Beech did dwell."
LAMBETH
Dist. on the S. side of the Thames, between Battersea and Southwark. Now densely
populated, but in the 16th and 17th cents. it was a low swampy tract of open country,
and was known as L. Marsh. The only buildings of any importance were the palaces
of the Archbp. of Canterbury and the Bp. of Rochester. The former, L. Palace,
stands a little S. of St. Thomas's Hospital, just below L. Bdge. It became the
residence of the Archbps. at the beginning of the 13th cent., but nothing of the
original building remains. The Chapel, the oldest of the present buildings, was
erected by Boniface about 1250. The so-called Lollards Tower was built by Chicheley
1434-1445, and had an image of Thomas à Becket in a niche facing the Thames. The
fine Gate-house dates from about 1500. The Hall is due to Juxon, and bears the
date 1663. The residential portion was built by Howley 1829-1834. In Marlowe's
Ed. II i. 1, the Archbp. of Canterbury
entreats the company "To cross to L. and there stay with me." L. Place, the residence
of the Bps. of Rochester, stood in what is now Carlisle St. It was built about
1200: one of its last occupants was Bp. Fisher. Henry VIII gave it to the Bps.
of Carlisle, and it was thenceforward known as Carlisle House, though none of
them ever resided there. It was pulled down in 1827.
The streets known as L. Upper and Lower Marsh preserve the name of L. Marsh
and indicate its central point. It was notorious as a haunt of thieves, prostitutes,
and other bad characters. Jonson, in Epigram xii., calls Shift "not meanest
among squires That haunt Pickt-hatch, Marsh-L., and Whitefriars." In Fortun.
Isles, Westminster Meg "goes to the stew, And turns home merry By L. Ferry."
In Alchemist i. 1, Doll mentions the
"bawd of L." as one of Subtle's clients. In Barnes' Charter
iii. 5, Bagnioli says of certain disreputable characters: "They, transported
from Lambechia land, Fall anchor at the Stilliard tavern." In Middleton's Roaring
Girl v. 2, Greene says, "That L. Joins more mad matches than your 6 wet
towns 'Twixt that and Windsor Bdge." In Dekker's Westward
iv. 1, Birdlime says, "I'll down to Queenhive, and the watermen which were wont
to carry you to L. Marsh shall carry me thither [to Brentford]." In Massinger's
Madam v. 2, Luke says of the gentlemen's
sons who have turned prentices: "When we look To have our business done at home,
they are Abroad in the tennis court, or in Partridge Alley, In L. Marsh, or
a cheating ordinary." In Glapthorne's Hollander
i. 1, Popingate says to Artless, the brothel-keeper, "L. Marsh is held a nunnery
to your college"; and in iii. 1, Sconce speaks of prostitutes as "maids of L.
Marsh." In Field's Woman is a Weathercock,
iv. 2 is laid in L. Fields. It was customary to fire a salute on the L. bank
of the river when the Lord Mayor came to Westminster on the day after SS. Simon
and Jude to pay his respects to the K. In Sharpham's The
Fleire iii. 350, Fleire speaks of "the gunners that make 'em fly off with
a train at L. when the Mayor and aldermen land at Westminster."
LAMBETH HOUSE
The palace of the Archbp. of Canterbury at Lambeth, q.v. Puritans were
often imprisoned there. In Cowley's Cutter [a.k.a. The
Guardian] iii. 6, Cutter tells of a fifth-Monarchy man, Mr. Feak, who "was
prisoner in L.-H."
LANCASHIRE
A county on the N.W. coast of England. In Oldcastle
v. 1, Sir John, the highwayman-priest, finding Kent too hot for him, says, "Farewell,
Kent; come, for L.": where he would be out of the way. In v. 8, Lord Cobham comes
in disguised as a carrier, and the Mayor of St. Albans says, "O, 'tis L. carrier;
let them pass." In B.&F. Woman's Prize
i. 3, Maria vows she would marry Petruchio "Before the best man living or the
ablest That e'er leaped out of L.; and they Are right ones." In Dekker's Northward
Hoe i. 3, Philip says, "The L. man [loves] an egg-pie," i.e. a light
woman. Drayton, in Polyolb. xxvii. 68, mentions the L. egg-pie. Markham, in Country
Gentleman (1611), says that "your W.-country, Cheshire, and L. dogs" have the
greatest mouths and deepest flews. Drayton, in Polyolb. iii. 37, says that the
western dogs are "Not heavy as that hound which L. doth breed." L. bagpipes and
hornpipes (pipes with a horn bell and mouthpiece) were famous. T. Heywood, in
Witches iii. 1, says, "No witchcraft
can take hold of a L. bag-pipe." In Dekker's Witch
of Edmonton iv. 1, Ann says, "There's a L. hornpipe in my throat; hark, how
it tickles it, with doodle, doodle, doodle, doodle." Hornpipe comes to be used
of a kind of dance. In his News from Hell, Dekker says, "Lucifer himself danced
a L. horn-pipe." In Northward Hoe
i. 3, Bellamont says, "O Master Mayberry! before your servant to dance a L. horn-pipe!"
i.e. to play the fool. Drayton, in Polyolb. xxvii. 22, says that the L.
nymphs "For the horn-pipe round do bear away the bell." In Old Meg, p. 1, L. is
said to be famous "for Horne-pypes." After the Reformation L. remained a stronghold
of Roman Catholicism. In Dekker's Westward
iii. 2, Monopoly says, "Catchpoles are as necessary in a city as sumners [i.e.
officers of the ecclesiastical courts whose duty was to detect Roman Catholics]
in L." In Middleton's Inner Temp. 129, Dr. Almanac says that Fasting Day "would
try awhile how well he should be used in L." King James, in Book of Sports (1618),
says, "Our County of L. abounded more in Popish Recusants than any county in England."
T. Heywood's Witches was based
on an account of the trial and execution of 12 witches in L. in 1612, There
was another prosecution of L. witches in 1634, the year in which the play was
published. The play was popular, and there are several references to it. In
Kirke's Champions i. 1, the Clown
says, "Mother, were you not one of the cats that drank up the miller's ale in
L. windmills?" In Field's Woman is
a Weathercock v. 2, Nevil says to Sir Abraham, "O thou beyond Lawrence of
L.!" He was a noisy clown in the play, which must therefore have been performed
before it was printed. In Puritan
iii. 5, the Capt. says, "I sent a spirit into Lankishire t'other day to fetch
back a knave drover." In Nabbes' Totenham
Court i. 2, one of the tenants says, "He thought it in his conscience she
was a L. witch." In Jonson's Devil
is an Ass i. 1, Satan, twitting Pug, says, "You would make, I think, An
agent to be sent for L. Proper enough." In v. 3, Meercraft asks: "Did you ne'er
read, Sir, little barrel's tricks With the boy of Burton, and the seven in L.?"
These were 7 members of the family of one Starkey, for bewitching whom Edmund
Hartley was executed at Lancaster in 1597. In Cowley's Cutter [a.k.a. The
Guardian] iii. 5, Puny asks, "How came you to know all this, my little pretty
witch of L.?"
LANCASTER
The county town of Lancashire, on the left bank of the Lune, 7 m. from its mouth, 240 m. N.W. of Lond. The castle dates from Roman days, and the S.W. tower is said to have been built in the reign of Hadrian. It was much damaged in 1322 by Robert Bruce, but was restored by John of Gaunt, who erected the Gateway Tower, and added to the Lungess Tower the turrets which have caused it to be called John of Gaunt's Chair. It is now (in 1925) used as the county gaol. It gave its title to the House of L., which has played such an important part in English history.
The 1st Earl of L. was Edmund Crouchback (i.e. the Crusader), the 2nd
son of Henry III, who received the title in 1267. He appears in Peele's Edward
I as the D. of L.; and in i. 1, contributes "Out of the dutchy of rich L.
£3000" for Edward's proposed hospital for old soldiers. In x., "Mary, duchess
of L.," is mentioned as one of those attending on Q. Elinor, but the context
shows that "Mary, Mayoress of Lond." is meant. Edmund of L.'s wives were (1)
Aveline; (2) Blanche. His son Thomas succeeded to the title, and was one of
the leading opponents of Gaveston in the reign of Edward II. He is one of the
characters in Marlowe's Ed. II; in i.
1, Gaveston says, "That Earl of L. do I abhor." In ii. 2, he announces as his
device a flying fish with the motto "Undique Mors Est": the allusion
being to Gaveston, whose death he has determined on "whether he rise or fall."
In ii. 5, he takes part in the arrest of Gaveston. In iii. 3, he is himself
captured by the K. and executed at Pontefract (q.v.). His brother Henry
was restored to the earldom at the beginning of the reign of Edward III, and,
dying in 1345, was succeeded by his son Henry Wryneck, who served valiantly
in the French wars and was made D. of L., the only previous D. in England having
been Edward the Black Prince, who was created D. of Cornwall some 14 years before.
His 2nd daughter, Blanche, married John of Gaunt, 4th son of Edward III, who
was created D. of L. in 1362. In Span.
Trag. i., Hieronimo says, "Brave John of Gaunt, the D. of L., With a puissant
army came to Spain, And took our K. of Castile prisoner."
The 2nd wife of John of Gaunt was Constance, the widow of Pedro the Cruel,
and in her right he took the title of K. of Castile, but his attempts to eject
Henry of Estramadura from the throne were futile, and he never took him prisoner.
He did, however, go to Spain early in the reign of Richd. II, and made a treaty
with Henry's son John, by virtue of which his daughter Catherine became Q. of
Castile and the ancestress of Isabella of Castile and the succeeding Spanish
monarchs until 1700. Through his eldest daughter, Philippa, who married John
I of Portugal, he became the ancestor of all the subsequent kings of that country.
In 1396 he married his mistress, Catherine Swynford, and his children by her
were legitimized under the name of Beaufort, q.v. He was the patron of
WycIif and of Chaucer, whose wife was a sister of Catherine Swynford's. He is
one of the characters in R2. In
i. 1, 1, the K. addresses him, "Old John of Gaunt, time-honoured L." He is present
at Coventry in i. 3, and hears the sentence of banishment pronounced on his
son Henry Bolingbroke. In ii. 1, the K. visits him on his death-bed in Ely House,
where he died in 1399. He plays a prominent part in Trag.
Richd. II. In R2 ii. 3, Henry
Bolingbroke returns to claim his father's title: "If that my cousin king be
King of England," he says (ii. 3, 124), "It must be granted I am D. of L.";
and in 70, he refuses to answer to any other name. In iv, 1, Richd. abdicates
and L. is made K. In v. 5, Richard is murdered, exclaiming, "The devil take
Henry of L.!" In H4 A. iv. 2,
61, Hotspur recalls "He came but to be D. of L."; and in v. 1, Worcester reminds
him, "You swore That you did nothing purpose 'gainst the State, Nor claim no
further than your new-fall'n right, The seat of Gaunt, dukedom of L." In H6
B., ii. 2, York claims the throne on the ground that John of Gaunt was the
4th son of Edward III, whereas his ancestor Lionel, D. of Clarence, was the
3rd, and vows that his sword shall be stained "With heart-blood of the house
of L." The Prince John of L. whose name occurs frequently in H4
A. & H4 B. was the 3rd son
of Henry IV, and was created Earl of Bedford at the accession of Henry V. With
the death of Henry VI the male line of L. became extinct. In R3
i. 2, 6, Anne addresses his corpse, "Pale ashes of the house of L.!" In R3
v. 5, 27, Richmond says, "All this divided York and L., O now let Richmond and
Elizabeth, The true succeeders of each royal house, By God's fair ordinance
conjoin together!" Henry VII was the great-great-grandson of John of Gaunt through
John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset; Elizabeth was the daughter of Edward IV. Jonson,
in Ev. Man I., prol., speaks of the
Wars of the Roses as "York and L.'s long jars." In T. Heywood's Witches
ii. 1, Generous orders Robert, "Take the grey nag and those bottles fill at
L. there where you use to fetch it."
LANDAFFE
See LLANDAFF.
LANDERSEY
Town in France in the department of Le Nord, 110 m. N.E. of Paris. In S. Rowley's
When you G. 1, Brandon reports: "The
Emperor is marching now to L. There to invade the towns of Burgundy." The reference
appears to be to the invasion of Burgundy by Charles V in 1544.
LANE, THE
See CHANCERY LANE.
LANERCHY, or LANERGH
(now LANER). A vill. in the parish of St. Allen in S. Cornwall. In Cornish M. P. i. 2400, K. Solomon says to the Messenger, "My a re thyugh Bosuene, Lostuthyel, ha L.." i.e. "I will give you Bosvene, Lostwitheil, and L."
LANGLEY
(now KING'S LANGLEY). A vill. in W. Hertfordshire, abt. 20 m. from Lond., on the
Birmingham road. The scene of R2
iii. 4 is laid at the D. of York's palace at L. In Trag.
Richd. II ii. 3, 109, the Duchess of Ireland says, "I'll home to Langly with
my uncle York."
LANGTON, or LANGDON
A vill. in Essex, 20 m. E. of Lond. In Day's B.
Beggar iii., Canby says to young Strowd, "Haste away with the reprieve, take
horse at L., and make speed." Strowd objects: "Why, I was robbed too last night
thyself at L."
LANGUEDOC
A large province in S.E. France, on the Gulf of Lyons, W. of the Rhone. It was
so called from the fact that the people used "Oc" as the affirmative, whereas
further north they used "Oui," or "Ouil": hence the language was called "Langue
d'Oc." and the name was later transferred to the province. In Brome's Sparagus
iii. 4, Wat speaks of the wonders which the precious plant Asparagus "hath wrought
In Burgundy, Almaine, Italy, and L., Before the herborists had found the skill
To plant it here."
LANKISHIRE
See LANCASHIRE.
LANTCHIDOL
The part of the Indian Ocean between Java and New Guinea. In Marlowe's Tamb.
B. i. 1, Orcanes speaks of "the oriental plage Of India where raging L. Beats
on the regions with his boisterous blows."
LAODICEA
A city in S.W. Phrygia, near the r. Lycus, 100 m. E. of Ephesus. One of the most
important cities in Asia Minor in the 1st cents. B.C. and A.D., it is now a heap
of ruins. In Caesar's Rev. v. 1,
Cassius says, "L., whose high-reared walls Fair Lyeas washeth with her silver
wave, With Tursos, wailed to us her vaunting pride." This was in 42 B.C., when
Cassius captured these cities. Lyeas is a misprint for Lycus. In Mason's Mulleasses
1701, Mulleasses asks: "Do you Christians . . . like the Lns. unto Pallas, offer
The blood of virgins?" Suidas records that virgins were annually offered in sacrifice
to Pallas in Ilion. In Revelation iii. 15, the Lns. are said to be "lukewarm and
neither cold nor hot": hence Ln. was used to mean a person who is indifferent
in matters of religion. Bacon, in Essay iii., says, "Certain Lns. and lukewarm
persons think they may accommodate points of religion by middle ways." Fuller,
Church History (1655) i. 3, 2, says, "That the first professors in Christianity
were but lukewarm in religion will . . . be easily believed by such who have felt
the temper of the English Lns. now-a-days."
LAPANTHÆ
(possibly LAPATHUS, spt. on N. coast of Cyprus, is intended; or more likely it
is a variant for LEPANTO: certainly "the Lepanthean battle" appears for the battle
of Lepanto in Swetnam i. 1). In Thracian
i. 2, Tityrus says, "Lovers are like the winds Upon L.'s shore that still are
changing." The passage is copied from Greene's Menaphon, where Menaphon says,
"As upon the shores of Lapanthe the winds continue never one day in one quarter,
so the thoughts of a lover never continue scarce a minute in one passion." Brereton,
in article in Mod. Lang. Review Oct. 1906, has given several other similar examples,
which prove the dependence of Thracian on Menaphon.
LAPLAND
(or LAPPIA, as Heylyn calls it). The country of the Lapps, in N.W. Europe: the
W. portion belonging to Norway and Sweden and the E. to Russia. The Lapps are
short of stature, the average height of the men being 5 ft. Their speech is akin
to the Finnish. They had a great reputation for skill in magic, especially in
the raising of winds. Eden, in Hist. of Travayle (1577), says, "They tie 3 knots
on a string hanging at a whip. When they loose one of these they raise tolerable
winds; when they loose another the wind is more vehement; but, by loosing the
3rd they raise plain tempests." The men were really the sorcerers, but in England
L. witches are more commonly spoken of, and they are described as preternaturally
ugly. In Err. iv. 3, ii, Antipholus
of Syracuse, bewildered by his adventures in Ephesus, says, "Sure L. sorcerers
inhabit here." In Look about xxvii., John says, "3 times, like the northern Laplanders,
He backward circled the sacred font, And 9 times backwards said his orisons."
In Glapthorne's Hollander ii. 1,
Sconce says of the inventor of an ointment: "He's reported to have achieved the
salve in L. among the witches." In Shirley's Admiral
iv. 1, Didimo addresses a supposed witch as "Great Lady of the Laplanders." In
his Duke's Mist. ii., Horatio says,
"I dare encounter with an army [of witches] out of L." In Habington's Arragon
i. 1, we have: "Your Lordship Shall walk as safe as if a L. witch Preserved you
shot-free." In T. Heywood's Witches
v., we have: "Then to work, my pretty Ls.; pinch here, scratch." In Webster's
Cuckold iv. 2, Lessingham says, "I
will rather trust The winds which L. witches sell to men." In B.&F. Fair Maid I. iv. 2, the Clown says of Forobosco: "Now for his conjuring, the witches
of L. are the devil's chair-women to him, for they will sell a man a wind to some
purpose; he sells wind and tells you 40 lies over and over." In T. Heywood's Witches
v., after the discovery of the Witches, Bantam says, "I'll out of the country
and as soon live in L. as Lancashire hereafter." Dekker, in his Dream (1620),
speaks of "The Laplandian witch." Giles Fletcher, in his treatise Of the Russe
Commonwealth (1591), says of the Laplanders that "for practice of witchcraft and
sorcery they pass all nations in the world." Milton, P. L. ii. 665, compares Sin
to "the nighthag . . . riding through the air . . . to dance With L. witches."
Burton, A.M. i. 2, 1, 2, says, "Nothing so familiar as for witches and sorcerers
in L. . . . to sell winds to mariners and cause tempests." In B.&F. Chances
v. 3, John says, "Sure his devil Comes out of L., where they sell men wind For
dead drink and old doublets." In Middleton's Gipsy
iv. 3, Roderigo, looking at the picture of the woman they want him to marry, cries:
"Marry a witch! have you fetched a wife for me out of L.?" In Davenant's U.
Lovers iv. 1, Heildebrand says, "The nicest maid in Lombardy, strictly compared
[with Arthiopa] Looks like a withered L. nurse." W. Rowley, in Search 13, calls
the keeper of a bawdy house "an old Laplander." There were also supposed to be
giants in L., which is curious, considering the diminutive size of the Lapps.
In Marlowe's Faustus i. 125, Valdes promises
Faust that the spirits. "shall guard us, Like L. giants, trotting by our sides."
In Tamb. B. i. 1, Orcanes speaks of
"Giants as big as hugy Polypheme" in Grantland, i.e. Greenland. In Underwoods
xvi., Jonson says of Drayton's Mooncalf: "Give me leave to wonder, as to us Thou
hadst brought L. or . . . some monster more Than Afric knew."
LARASSA
(= EL-ARAISCH, or LARASHE). A city on the W. coast of Morocco, near the mouth
of the Wad-al-Khos, some 40 m. W. of Alcazar. It was a flourishing port, and was
strongly fortified. In Stucley
2506, Stucley says, "We have L. and Morocco, both Strong towns of succour, to
retire unto."
LARISSA
An important town in Thessaly, on the S. bank of the Peneius, some 25 m. N. of
Pharsalus. It is still a considerable place under the name of Yenisheher. In Caesar's
Rev. i. 3, Caesar says, "The flying Pompey to L. hastes And to Thessalian
Tempe shapes his course, Where fair Peneus tumbles up his waves." This was after
the battle of Pharsalia. In Marlowe's Tamb.
B. i. 3, Tamburlaine says to Zenocrate, "Now rest thee here on fair L. plains."
LATARAN
See JOHN (Saint) LATERAN.
LATIN (1)
Properly an inhabitant of Latium (q.v.), but used as a synonym for Roman.
In Fisher's Fuimus iii. 5, Belinus
says, "Thick lay the Ls., scattered on the shore." The word is used in its proper
sense in Kyd's Cornelia iii., where Cicero speaks of "This stately town, so often
hazarded Against the Samnites, Sabins, and fierce Ls."
LATIN (2)
Properly the language of Latium (q.v.), but used for the language spoken
in ancient Rome, and embodied in its literature. After the break-up of the Empire
of the West it formed the basis from which were developed the vernacular languages
of Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France. Roumansch (spoken in parts of the Grisons)
and, in the main, Roumanian are also based upon it. The classical L., however,
continued to be used as the common language of learned men in all the countries
of Europe, and it was the chief subject of instruction in the grammar schools.
It still remains the language of the services of the Roman Ch., and was employed
in diplomacy till the end of the 17th cent. Every educated man in England in the
16th cent. knew some L., and the L. phrases which are frequently introduced into
the plays of this period show that at any rate a large part of the audience knew
enough of the language to appreciate their meaning. Jonson, in the verses prefixed
to the 1st folio of Shakespeare, says that Shakespeare had "small L. and less
Greek," but he certainly learned his L. grammar at the Stratford Grammar School,
and could probably read Ovid and Vergil, Plautus and Terence for himself. In M.W.W.
iv. 1, the catechism on his L. declensions to which little William Page is subjected
is doubtless a transcript from little William Shakespeare's experience. Slender
knew little L., for in the same play (i. 1, 185), when Bardolph says, "Conclusions
passed the careires," he says, "Ay, you spake in L. then." Quickly, of course,
knew nothing of it: in iv. 1, 51, she suggests that "Hang-hog [i.e. hunc,
hoc] is L. for bacon." But there were no grammar schools for girls, and only a
few ladies, like Lady Jane Grey, were in any sense scholars. In L.L.L.,
Costard has evidently got some smattering of L. at the school of Holofernes; in
iii. 1, 140, he reflects: "Remuneration! O, that's the L. word for 3 farthings";
and in v. 1. 83, he says, "Thou hast it ad dunghill, at the fingers' ends, as
they say": to which the schoolmaster, "I smell false L.: dunghill for unguem."
In Merch. i. 2, 75, Portia, who could
evidently talk L. herself, complains that the young English lord "hath neither
L., French, nor Italian." In Shrew
i. 2, 29, when Hortensio uses an Italian sentence, Grumio says, "Nay, 'tis no
matter, Sir, what he 'leges in L." In ii. 1, 81, Lucentio is presented as a student
from Rheims, "cunning in Greek, L., and other languages." In H6
B. iv. 7, 63, when Lord Say speaks of Kent as "bona terra, mala gens," Cade
shouts, "Away with him! he speaks L." Even Cade knew L. when he heard it. In H8
iii. 1, 42, Q. Katharine protests against Wolsey's using L. in his address to
her: "O good my lord, no L.": not that she did not understand it, but that her
poor friends and attendants may hear her wrongs. In Killigrew's Parson's
Wedding iii. 2, Careless says that "they say there are other gentlemen poets
without land or L.; this was not ordinary." In iv. 2, the Capt. says, "I betake
me to my constable's staff, till you subscribe, 'Cedunt arma togae'; and if it
be false L., parson, you must pardon that too." In Goosecap
i. 4, Fowlewether says that women are as subtle "as the L. dialect, where the
nominative case and the verb, the substantive and the adjective, the verb and
the adverb, stand as far asunder as if they were perfect strangers one to another."
In i. 4, Momford says, "There is not one woman amongst one thousand but will speak
false L. and break Priscian's head." In Alimony ii. 2, Hoy says of the lady: "For
the L., she makes herself as familiar with the breach of Priscian's head as if
it were her husband's." In Mankind, p. 8, New Guise says, "Ay, ay, your body is
full of English-L.," i.e. dog-L. In Fulwell's Like, Dods., iii. 328, Hance
the Dutchman says, "Ich le-le-learned some La-la-Latin when Ich was a la-la-lad."
In Chapman's Hum. Day ii., Lemot
says, "Now must I say, 'Lupus est in fabula,' for these L. ends are part of a
gentleman and a good scholar." In Preface to Tarlton's Purgatory, the author says
of Tarlton: "He was only superficially seen in learning, having no more but a
bare insight into the L. tongue." In Middleton's Roaring
Girl ii . 1, Mrs. Openwork says, "I had my L. tongue and a spice of the French
before I came to him." In Cooke's Greene's
Tu Quoque, p. 548, Bubble says, "It is needful a gentleman should speak L.
sometimes, is it not, Gervase?" "O, very graceful, Sir," is the reply. On p. 565,
Staines says, "I can speak Greek and L. as promptly as my own natural language."
In Randolph's Muses' iii. 4, Eiron,
whilst denying any knowledge of other languages, says, "Indeed the L. I was whipt
into." In W. Rowley's Match Mid.
i. 1, we find young Tim, an ignorant fellow, acquainted with several L. words.
In Marston's Malcontent iii. 1, Bilioso
says to the fool, "I'll salute her in L."; Passarello retorts, "O, your fool can
understand no L."; to which Bilioso replies, "Aye, but your lady can."
One of the objects of the Reformers was to substitute English for L. in the
services of the Roman Church. In Bale's Laws
iii., Avarice says, "Let them have their creed and service all in L. that a
L. belief may make a L. soul." There is probably a pun here on the word latten,
which means a base metal like brass. The same pun occurs in Goosecap
v., where Sir Gyles says, "There was a 1. candlestick here, and that had the
languages, I am sure." In Wit Woman
1550, the Priest says, "A Priest without L. may turn him to the belfry and make
him a sexton." In Chapman's Bussy
v. 1, Monsieur says, "Illiterate men say L. prayers by rote, Not knowing what
they say." In As You Like It iii. 2, 337, Rosalind says that Time ambles "with a priest
that lacks L.; for he sleeps easily because he cannot study." In Cockayne's
Trapolin ii. 1, Trapolin says,
"I'd to Rome and turn friar if I had any L. in me." In B.&F. Elder
B. ii. 1, Miramont scoffs at "Thy dapper clerk, larded with ends of L.,
And he no more than custom of his office."
From its ecclesiastical use L. was supposed to be specially efficacious in
dealing with the devil and other spirits. In Webster's White
Devil ii. 3, the Conjurer says that certain impostors in his profession
would "make men think the devil were fast and loose, With speaking fustian L."
The conjuration in Marlowe's Faustus
iii. is in L. In Ham. i. 1, 42,
when the Ghost appears, Marcellus says, "Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio,"
i.e. in L. In B.&F. Nightwalker
ii. 1, Toby says, "Let's call the butler up, for he speaks L., and that will
daunt the devil." In Ret. Pernass.
ii. 4, Academico says, "This honest man could never abide this popish tongue
of Latine."
L. was used in legal documents. In H5
v. 2, 369, Exeter quotes from the treaty: "Thus in L., 'Praeclarissimus filius
poster Henricus, Rex Angliae, et hires Franciae.'" In Tourneur's [ed. note:
anonymous, probably Middleton's] Revenger
iv. 2, Vendice says, "There are old men that are so poisoned with the affectation
of law-words that their common talk is nothing but Barbary-L.," i.e.
the barbarous L. of the Law. In B.&F. Philaster
v. 3, Dion says of the merchants: "They know no language but that gibberish
they prattle to their parcels, unless it be the goatish L. they write in their
bonds": where goatish means Gothic, barbarous. When Chaucer's Somnour was drunk,
"Than wolde he speke no word but Latyn" (C. T. Prol. 638). In T. Heywood's Witches
i. 1, Whetstone quotes a few L. tags and Shakstone thinks "he's piece of a scholar.""What,"
says Arthur, "because he hath read a little scrivener's L.?" In Cowley's Riddle
i. 1, Callidora says that Law is of no use "but to undo men and the L. tongue."
Good wine was said to make a man talk L., i.e. gabble unintelligibly.
In Nabbes' Bride i. 4, Rhenish
says of his wine: "There's that will make the crookedest horner in the lane
speak L. with the Beadle of Vintners hall."
Medical men use L. in their prescriptions to-day. In Ibid. v. 4, the Servant
introduces "Mr. Plaster, the learned surgeon, that speaks nothing but L., because
either he would not be understood or not contradicted." In Cowley's Cutter [a.k.a.
The Guardian] i. 4, Jolly says,
"He . . . spoke false L., which becomes a Doctor worse than a beating." In Prologue
to Tomkis' Albumazar, written to
be played at Cambridge, we have "L. is our mother-tongue," i.e. in the
University.
L. is used as a general term for language. In Kirke's Champions
i. 1, the Clown says, "A soldier's L. for the lie is the stab."
LATIUM
A dist. in ancient Italy, stretching along the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea from
the Tiber to Campania, and from the sea to the Apennines. Here Æneas was said
to have landed and founded Alba Longa, the mother city of Rome. L. was naturally
the 1st part of Italy to become subject to Rome; and it is hence used as equivalent
to the imperial city. In Caesar's Rev.
v. i. Antony swears "by the gods that brought the brave Trojan to old L." In Fisher's
Fuimus iv. 4, Caesar says, "Had Britain
nursed but such another champion [as Nennius] L. might have trembled with contrary
fates." In Kyd's Cornelia i., Chor., the song ends: "If Peace descend not soon,
L. will be destroyed." In May's Agrippina
iii. 209, Seneca says, "Now armies are afoot To stain with Latian blood Phillipi
plains." The reference is to the battle of Philippi in which Octavian defeated
Brutus and Cassius. Spencer, F. Q. iii. 9, 42, says of Æneas: "At last in L. he
did arrive."
LATMOS
(generally in the Latin form, LATMUS). A mtn. near the W. coast of Asia Minor
in Caria, at the head of the Latmic Gulf, near Miletus. It is noted in mythology
as the place where the Moon came down to meet her lover Endymion. In Fisher's
Fuimus ii. 6, Hulacus says, "So may
Endymion snort on Latmian bed." In Thracian
i. 2, Palaemon speaks of "jolly swains Such as was Luna's love on Latmus Hill."
In Shirley's Riches ii., the Courtier
says, "Thus looked the Moon when she went to the mountain L. to visit her Endymion."
In B.&F. Valentinian iv. 4, Maximus
will erect a pyre for Æcius "which will be more and greater Than green Olympus,
Ida, or old Latmus Can feed with cedar." In Massinger's Actor
ii. 1, Caesar says, "On L.' Hill Fair-haired Calliope on her ivory lute Sung Ceres'
praises." In Brome's Court Beggar
iv. 2, Frederick, in his mad fit, says, "Set me upon Mt. Lathmos, where I may
see and contemplate the beauty of my adored Diana." In B.&F. Maid's
Trag. i. 2, Night says to Cynthia, "Or, if thou woo't, then call thine own
Endymion From the sweet flowery bed he lies upon On Latmus' top." Weelkes, in
Morley's Triumphs of Oriana (1601), begins his madrigal, "As Vesta was from L.
hill descending." E.D., in trans. of Theocritus' Idyl xxi., says, "The Moon .
. . came to L. grove, wherewith the dainty lad she lay." In B.&F. Shepherdess
i. 3, Cloe tells how Phoebe conveyed Endymion "to the steep head of old Latmus."
LAURENCE (SAINT) PORT
Spoken of as one of the gates of Verona. I have not been able to find any such
gate. In Davenant's U. Lovers i.
1, Brusco says, "Away! Let's to St. Laurence Port." The scene of the play is Verona.
LAURENTUM
An ancient town in Latium, near the coast, between Ostia and Lavinium, 16 m. S.W.
of Rome. It was represented as the ancient capital of Latium and the residence
of K. Latinos. In Richards' Misogonus,
the Prologue states, "Whilom there in L. dwelt a gentleman."
LAURETTA
See LORETTO.
LAVINIA
(either a misprint for LAVINIAN or a mistake for LAVINIUM). An ancient town in
Latium, 1 m. from the sea-coast and 17 m. S. of Rome. It was said to have been
founded by Æneas on his arrival in Italy, and named by him after his wife L.,
daughter of K. Latinos. To the last its Penates were regarded with peculiar reverence
by the Romans as those of their mother-city. In Marlowe's Dido
iii., Venus says of Æneas: "His armed soul, already on the sea, Darts forth her
light to L.'s shore." Probably we should read "unto" and "Ln." In Act v. 1, Æneas
says, "Now will I haste unto Ln. shore."
LAWER COUNTRIES
See Low COUNTRIES. In Dekker's Northward
Hoe iv. 1, the Capt. says he was never so cozened "since I came out of the
L. C."
LAWRENCE LANE
A narrow st. in Lond. running N. from Cheapside, W. of King St., to Gresham St., formerly Cateaton St. It was named from the Ch. of St. L. Jewry at its N. end. Here was the well-known Bosom's, or Blossom's, Inn, q.v. It was the way from Cheapside to the Guildhall before King St. was opened out in 1667. In Middleton's Triumphs of Truth, the direction for the procession is: "It goes on from the Standard till it comes to St. L. L. end." In the Triumph of King Charles (1641), "They all entered the city at Moorgate; from which place to Bishopsgate, and so through Cornhill, to St. L.'s L. end in Cheapside."
LAWRENCE (SAINT) JEWRY
A ch. in Lond. at the corner of Gresham St. and King St. It was so called from
the number of Jews that lived in the neighbourhood. It was destroyed in the Gt.
Fire, and rebuilt by Wren in the Corinthian style with a tower and short spire.
It was the most costly of his city churches. Sir T. More delivered a series of
lectures in the old ch., to which "resorted all the chief learned of the City
of Lond." Here Sir Rd. Gresham was buried. "Robert Wombewell, vicar of St. Laurence
in the J.," was one of the Commissioners who tried Sir John Oldcastle. In Sir
Thomas More v. 4, Sir Thomas, at his execution, reminds the Sheriff, "You
were a patient auditor of mine when I read the Divinity Lecture at St. Laurances."
LAWRENCE (SAINT) POULTNEY
(now POUNTNEY). A ch. in Lond. at the corner of Candlewick St. and L. P. Lane.
It was called after Sir John P., Mayor of Lond. in the reign of Edward III, who
built a chantry chapel in the ch., and in his mansion adjoining founded the College
of Corpus Christi. Latimer was at one time priest of St. L. P. It was destroyed
in the Gt. Fire, the flames bursting out first in the steeple, and was not rebuilt.
In H8 i. 2, 153, the Surveyor
says, "The D. [of Suffolk] being at the Rose within the parish St. L. P., did
of me demand What was the speech among the Londoners Concerning the French journey."
The Crypt of the Rose still remains between Duck's Foot Lane and St. L. P. Hill.
In Middleton's Aries, it is stated, "Sir J. P. founded a College in the parish
of St. L. P. by Candlewick St."
LAXFIELD
A vill. in Suffolk, near the source of the Blythe, 6 m. N. of Framlingham. In
Greene's Friar x. 7, Lambert, one of
the suitors for Margaret's hand, says, "In L. here my land and living lies"; and
in 41, Serlsby, another of her suitors, says, "L. here is mine, Of ancient rent
£700 a year."
LAYTON BUSSARD
See LEIGHTON-BUZZARD.
LAZARETTO
The quarantine station at Venice, on a small island near the city, founded in
1403. It was the first quarantine station in Europe. In Fynes Moryson's Map, the
old L. is shown on an island S.E. of San Giorgio, and the new one on an island
N.E. of the city. In Jonson's Volpone
iv. 1, Sir Politick has a scheme for ascertaining by present demonstration whether
any ship from Soria or the Levant is guilty of the plague; "and where they use
To lie out 40, 50 days sometimes, About the L. for their trial, Ill save that
charge . . . and in an hour clear the doubt." According to Fynes Moryson i. 1,
74, all travellers from the East had to present a Bolletion della Sanita, or be
shut up in the L. 40 days.
LEADENHALL
Originally a mansion belonging to Sir Hugh Nevill, standing at the intersection of Gracechurch St. and Cornhill at the S.E. corner. It came into the possession of the City of Lond, during the 14th cent. It was used sometimes as a Court of Justice, and once, in 1326, the Commons met there. The wholesale poultry market was held in the Carfax, or meeting of the 4 sts., just opposite, where stood a conduit with 4 spouts.
In 1445 Simon Eyres erected on its site a hall for a granary, with a chapel
on the E. dedicated to the Holy Trinity: it was taken down in 1812. It was roofed
with lead, which according to one legend was dug up in making the foundations.
During the 16th cent. it became a market for meat, poultry, wool, vegetables,
leather, cutlery, and other commodities. It was burnt down in the Gt. Fire,
but speedily rebuilt. In 1730 it was largely rebuilt again, and in 1812 many
of the older parts, including the chapel, were removed. The present market was
commenced in 1881. In Three Lords,
Dods., vi. 412, Dissimulation says, "Once in a month I stole in o' th' market-day
to L. and about." Greene, in Quip (Harl. Misc. v. 411), says, "Did you not grease
the sealers of L. thoroughly in the fiste [i.e. bribe them] they would
never be sealed but turned away." The sealers were the inspectors who certified
to the quality of hides and leather by affixing a seal to them. In Dekker's
Shoemaker's v. 5, the King says
to Simon Eyre, "That new building Which at thy cost in Cornhill is erected,
Shall take a name from us; we'll have it called The L., because, in digging,
You found the lead that covereth the same." In Sir
Thomas More iii. 1, Doll says that but for Master More "We would have locked
us up in L. And there been burnt to ashes with the roof." In Haughton's Englishmen
iv. 1, when Alvaro asks, "What do ye call dis street?" Heigham informs him,
"Why, L., Could you not see the 4 spouts as you came along?" The st. from the
corner, running E. to Aldgate, was, and is, called L. St., and originally L.
had an opening into it, though it now opens into Gracechurch St. only. In W.
Rowley's Match Mid. iv. 2, Sim
arranges with Randall to meet Moll "just at the great crossway, by the Nag's
Head Tavern at L.," and Randall interrupts: "Was high, high pump there as hur
turn into Grace's St.?""There's the very place," says Sim. In Shirley's
Honoria and Mammon ii. 1, Phantasm
promises to transmute "dull L. to gold." Greene, in Quip, speaks of leather
being sold there; and Gosson, in Players confuted (1581), says, "This argument
cuts like a L. knife, where, if one pour on steel with a ladle, another comes
and wipes it off with a feather." The Groundwork of Coney-catching was "Printed
at Lond. by John Danter for William Barley, and are to be sold at his shop at
the upper end of Gracious st. over against L. 1592." Straw
was published at the same place in 1593. In T. Heywood's Ed.
IV A. i. 1, Falconbridge, the rebel, says, "At L. we'll sell pearls by the
peck As now the mealmen use to sell their meal."
LEATHERHEAD
Vill. in Surrey on the Mole, 18 m. S.W. of London. Elynour Rummin, the heroine of Skelton's poem, "dwelt in Sothray, In a certain stead, Beside Lederhede." It is stated by Dalloway that the house still exists near the bridge.
LEBANON
Mtn. range in N. Syria. It has been famous from the earliest times for its noble
cedars and pines. The cedars were used in the building of the temple of Solomon,
and are often referred to in the O.T. In Locrine
i. 1, the dying Brutus compares himself to "a lusty cedar worn with years That
far abroad her dainty odour throws 'Mongst all the daughters of proud L." In Chapman's
Trag. Byron v. 1, Byron says of
his trial: "Like a cedar on Mount L. I grew and made my judges show like box-trees."
In Greene's Friar viii., Prince Edward
promises Margaret that she shall wanton on the waves "in frigates Topt with the
lofty firs of L." In Greene and Lodge's Looking
Glass i. 1, Remilia speaks of "the mustering breath of Æolus That overturns
the pines of Libanon." In Dekker's Babylon
i. 1, the Empress speaks of "cedars Uprising from the breast of Lybanus." In Peele's
Bethsabe ii. 1, David, being told
that his son must die, exclaims: "Wither, ye cedar trees of L." In Mason's Mulleasses
1734, the hero speaks of "curled cedars . . . on Syrian Lybanus." Milton, P. L.
i. 447, says, "Thammuz came next behind, Whose annual wound in L. allured The
Syrian damsels to lament his fate." Thammuz, the Greek Adonis, was said to have
been killed by a boar in L., and annual festivals were held in his honour at Antioch.
LEE (1), or LEA
River in England, rising in Beds. and flowing S. between Middlesex and Essex into
the Thames at Blackwall. In Locrine
iv. 3, Locrine tells of a secret chamber he has built for Estrild "Nigh Deurolitum
by the pleasant L. Where brackish Thamis slides with silver streams." Deurolitum
is Romford, which is not actually on the L., but a few miles E. of it. Spenser,
F. Q iv. i 1, 29, speaks of "The wanton L., that oft doth lose his way." In his
Ruines of Time 135, he speaks of the Thames sliding "in silver channel, down along
the L." Milton, in Vac. Ex. 97, calls it "sedgy L." Drayton, in Odes (1594) xxxii.
12, says, "The old L. brags of the Danish blood." The reference is to Alfred's
defeat of the Danes on the L. A.D. 896.
LEE (2)
(probably LEIGH is intended). A town in Essex on the N. bank of the Thames estuary,
near its mouth. In Webster's Cuckold
ii. 4, Woodroff says, "I should by promise see the sea to-morrow As low [i.e.
as far south] as L. or Margate."
LEEDS
City in Yorks., on the Aire, 185 m. N. of Lond, It was a Roman settlement, and
formerly possessed a castle on Mill Hill, built by Ilbert de Laci in the reign
of William I. In Downfall Huntington
iii. 2, Robin Hood says, "Sharpe of L. sharp arrows for us made"; and later the
Prior says, "We'll frolic with the nuns of L."
LEENE
A tributary of the Trent, flowing into it about 1 m. beyond Nottingham. In Sampson's
Vow iii. 2, 55. we are told how Cratch
was condemned by Abolt Cabbidge to "cool his proud flesh in the L. for making
insurrection on the High-day," i.e. Sunday. In v. i. 71, Ball says, "See,
Joshua is entered; one cup of brisk Orleance Makes him i' th' temper he was when
he leaped into L."
LEG
A common hosiers' and bootsellers' sign in Lond. There was also a Leg Tavern in
King St., Westminster. In H4 B.
ii. 4, 271, Falstaff says that the Prince loves Poins because "he wears his boots
very smooth like unto the sign of the Leg." We find the same sign at Foy. In T.
Heywood's Maid of West A. ii. 1,
Clem says, "My father was a baker; [he dwelt] in the next crooked st. at the sign
of the Leg."
LEGHORN, or LIVORNO
A port on the Ligurian Sea, on the W. coast of Italy, 160 m. N.W. of Rome. In
1421 it came under the dominion of Florence, and by the encouragement of the Medici
rose to be one of the most important mercantile cities of Italy. Its original
name was Ligorno, whence the Hobson-Jobson Leghorn. In Davenant's Wits
iv. 1, the elder Palatine says sarcastically to the younger, "Why, sure you have
no factors, Sir, in Delph, L., Aleppo, or the Venetian isles." In T. Heywood's
Captives v. 1, Thomas says,
"His last letters were dated from Leagahorne." In Ford's 'Tis
Pity ii. 2, Hippolita charges Soranzo with having caused her to counsel her
husband "To undertake a voyage to Ligorne," on which he died. In his Fancies i.
1, Troylo says, "Well he merited The intendments o'er the gallies at L." In Day's
Travails (Bullen, p. 40), the Chorus
informs us "Sir Thomas is come unto the Streights of Gibralter, then to Legorne."
In Day's Law Tricks i. 1, Polymetis
speaks of a temple "decked With all the relics and the choicest gems Marcellis,
Pisa, or Ligorne could yield." In Cockayne's Trapolin
iv. 1, Mattemores says, "The butcher doth very well deserve to be sent into the
galleys at Ligorn," i.e. as a prisoner.
LEICESTER
(pronounced and often spelt LESTER). The county-town of Leicestersh., on the Soar, 97 m. N.W. of Lond. It was a British town and the site of a Roman station called Rata, or Ratiscorion. Two of the gateways and part of the Hall of the old castle are still standing. The earldom was at first in the Beaumont family; it then passed to the Montforts, and Simon, the Great Earl, conferred lustre on the title. Robert Dudley was created Earl of L. by Elizabeth in 1563. The present Earl holds the title in descent from Thomas William Coke, created 1837.
In the Abbey adjacent to the old ch. of St. Margaret, Wolsey died and was
buried. Richard III passed a night here (at the Blue Boar Inn in High-cross
St.) on his way to Bosworth, and was buried in the Franciscan convent near the
present St. Martin's Ch., though the local legend maintains that his body was
thrown off Bow Bridge into the Soar. In Bristowe, one of the Lords who return
with Richd. from the Crusades is the Earl of L.: this was the gallant Robert
of L., who took the command in Rouen in the absence of the K. and drove back
the forces of Philip of France, who had treacherously invaded Normandy. There
is an Earl of L. in Davenport's Matilda;
he is opposed to the K., and in i. 1, is branded by Oxford as "imperious Leister."
This was Simon de Montfort, the father of the Gt. Earl. The great Simon is mentioned
in Chapman's Alphonsus i. 2, 204,
where Bohemia suggests that Richd. of Cornwall should "hie him home to help
the k. his brother Against the Earl of L. and the barons." The date of the scene
is 1257, before the struggle between Henry III and the Barons had begun. In
Peele's Edward I, p. 31, David
of Wales says, "Might I see the star of L.'s loins, It were enough to darken
and obscure This Edward's glory." This was the Lady Elinor, daughter of Simon
de Montfort, who on her way from France to marry Llewellyn of Wales was captured
by Edward and detained at the English Court. In Marlowe's Ed.
II i. 1, Lancaster says, "4 Earldoms have I besides Lancaster: Derby, Salisbury,
Lincoln, L." This was Thomas of Lancaster, who was created Earl of L. in 1301.
His brother Henry succeeded him in 1324, and perpetuated his memory by founding
in L. a hospital for old men in 1330. It was called Trinity Hospital, and still
remains. In Jonson's Owls, presented at Kenilworth, Capt. Cox says of his hobby-horse:
"He was foaled in Q. Elizabeth's time When the great Earl of Lester In this
castle did feast her." This was Robert Dudley (see KILLINGWORTH). In R3
v. 2, 12, Richmond says of Richd.: "This foul swine Lies now even in the centre
of this isle Near to the town of L." In v. 5, 10, Derby announces that young
George Stanley is "safe in L. town." In True
Trag., p. 116, Stanley tells Richmond, "The K. is now come to Lester, and
means to-morrow to bid thee battle in Bosworth." In verses prefixed to Coryat's
Crudities (1611), Peacham mentions amongst the curiosities of England "K. Richd.'s
bed-sled i' Leyster." In H8
iv. 2, 16, Griffith relates to the Q., of Wolsey: "At last, with easy roads
he came to L., Lodged in the Abbey," and there died.
LEICESTERSHIRE
A county in the centre of England. In Trag.
Richd. II iv. 1, 234, "Lester-shere" is one of the counties granted by the
K. to Greene. In H6 C. iv. 8,
15, Warwick sends Montagu to Buckingham, Northampton, and L., where "thou shall
find Men well inclined to hear what thou commandest." In Middleton's Trick
to Catch ii. 1, when Lucre hears that Witgood is "a L. gentleman," he says,
"A simple country fellow, I'll work it out of him."
LEIGHTON-BUZZARD
A town in Bedfordsh., 18 m. S.W. of Bedford, and 5 W. of Hockliffe. It has a fine
old market-cross. In Trag. Richd.
II iii. 3, 53, the Bailiff of Dunstable informs Nimble, "His name is Cowetayle,
a rich grazier, and dwells here hard by, at Layton-Bussard." In Merlin
iii. 4, 127, the Clown says, "Our standing-house is at Hocklye i' th' Hole and
Layton-b." A buzzard is often used for a foolish person, and the Clown means that
his ancestors were thieves and blockheads.
LEIPSIC
The most important commercial city in Saxony, 65 m. N.W. of Dresden and 90 m.
S.W. of Berlin. The University was founded in 1409, and was the largest in Germany
until quite recent years, when Berlin outstripped it in numbers. It is a centre
of the book-trade. In Jonson's Staple
of News iii. 1, one of the items of sensational intelligence is "They write
from Libtzig The art of drawing farts out of dead bodies Is by the brotherhood
of the Rosie Cross Produced unto perfection." In 1614, 11 years before the production
of this play, the fabulous Society of the Rosy Cross was introduced to the world
in a pamphlet published at Cassel; it was really an elaborate joke, but it was
taken seriously, and a great controversy raged on the subject for many years.
Cassel is 120 m. W. of L., and the L. scholars were involved in the discussion
of the alleged powers of the Rosicrucians. Dallington, in Method of Travel (1598),
says that for those who wish to learn German "Lipsick is the best "place to visit.
LEITH
(since 1920 a part of the city of Edinburgh). Formerly an independent burgh on
the Firth of Forth, it was besieged by the English in 1560, and recovered from
the French, who had held it since 1549 in the interest of Mary of Guise. The siege
of L. forms the historical background of Sampson's Vow.
LEMNOS
(Ln. = Lemnian), now STALIMENE. An island in the N. of the Ægean, abt. 40 m. W.
of the mouth of the Hellespont. Its volcanic character is perhaps the origin of
the legend that when Hephaestus (Vulcan), the god of fire, was thrown from heaven
by Zeus he fell on the island of L. and was picked up and cared for by its inhabitants.
In Thersites 196, when the hero wants
a suit of armour made for him by Vulcan he says, "I would have some help Of Land
Ithalia": Ithalia being another name for L., or more probably here for Elba, q.v.
In Alimony ii. 5, Tilly-vally speaks of "Vulcan's smutted look, Blackened with
Ln. sea-coal." Jonson says, in his Execration upon Vulcan, "No marle the clowns
of L. took thee up; For none but smiths would have made thee a god." In Massinger's
Virgin iii. 1, Dorothea, deriding
the ancient gods, says, "The Ln. smith sweats at the forge for hire." Hence Ln.
is used of alchemists. In Jonson's Mercury, Mercury says, "I will stand close
up, anywhere, to escape this poll-footed philosopher, old Smug here of L., and
his smoky family." Vulcan was lamed by his fall: hence poll-footed. In Fisher's
Fuimus iv. 1, Caesar asks, "What
Ln. chain shackles our mounting eagle?" i.e. forged of iron, as by Vulcan.
In Lyly's Sapho iv. 4, Vulcan sings,
"My shaghaired Cyclops, come, Let's ply our Ln. hammers lustily." In T. Heywood's
S. Age ii., Hercules speaks of "The
best Vulcanian armour L. yields." In his B.
Age v., Vulcan says, "I fell down from the moon into L. isle, where I still
live." In Middleton's Tennis 227, Pallas says, "'Tis Pallas calls, thy daughter,
Jupiter, Ta'en from thee by the Ln. Mulciber." Mulciber, or Vulcan, broke open
the head of Jupiter with his sledgehammer, when Pallas sprang forth from it in
full armour. Spencer, F. Q iv. 5, 4, says that the girdle of Florimell was made
by Vulcan for Venus, "And wrought in Lemno with unquenched fire." Milton, P. L.
i. 746, tells how Mulciber (Vulcan) "Dropt from the zenith, like a falling star,
On L., the Ægean isle." Barnes, in Parthenophil, Canzon xv. 1, says, "Vulcan in
L. isle Did golden shafts compile For Cupid's bow." Vulcan made an invisible net
in which he caught his wife, Venus, along with Mars, and so exposed them to the
mockery of the gods. Zouche, in his Dove (1613), speaks of Mars and Venus hanging
"in Ln. net."
LEMSTER, LEMPSTER, or LEMNSTER
(now spelt LEOMINSTER). A town in Herefordsh. on the Lugg, 12 m. N. of Hereford.
It was famous for the quality of its wool. Drayton, in Polyolb. vii. 145, says
that the L. wool "seems to overmatch The golden Phrygian fell," and adds: "Where
lives the man so dull . . . To whom did never sound the name of L. ore?" L. ore
is the usual name for L. wool: the origin of the word is doubtful, but it seems
to have left a trace of itself in Orleton, a vill. 8 m. N. of L. In Greene's Friar
x. 61, Serlsby says his flocks yield forth "fleeces stapled with such wool As
L. cannot yield more finer stuff." In Skelton's Elynour Rumming iii., we read
that some of the ale-wife's customers pay her with "a bag full Of good L. wool."
In Jonson's Wales, the Chorus sings: "But then the ore of L., By Got, is never
a sempster, That, when he is spun, e'er did Yet match him with her thrid." Herrick,
in Oberon's Palace (1647), speaks of a bank of moss "far more Soft than the finest
L. ore." In Drayton's Dowsabel, the skin of that maiden is "as soft as L. wool."
Moryson, in Itinerary iii. 3, 142, says, "L. justly boasteth of the sheep's wool
. . . with which no part of Europe can compare, excepting Apulia and Tarentum."
He also praises "the bread of L."
LENINGBERGE
See LUNINGBERGE.
LEO, CASTEL DI SAN
A fortress in Italy, near the coast of the Adriatic, 18 m. S.W. of Rimini and
120 m. S.E. of Mantua. In Massinger's Lover
ii. 4., Gonzaga, D. of Mantua, finding that Mantua is going to be taken by the
Florentines, says to Uberti, "Raise new forces And meet me at St. L.'s fort."
LEON
A dist. in N.W. Spain. It was one of the kingdoms which sprang up in the 10th
cent. after the withdrawal of the Saracens, the 1st K. being Ordono (1013). It
was ultimately united to Castile in 1230. In Devonshire
v. 1, Henrico says, "The K. of Spain's 7 kingdoms, Gallicia, Navarre, the 2 Castiles,
L., Aragon, Valentia, Granada, and Portugal to make up 8." In T. Heywood's I.
K. M. A. 202, Philip and Mary are proclaimed "K. and Q. of Naples, Cicilia,
L., and Aragon."
LEONARD, SAINT, CHAPEL OF
The shrine and tomb of St. L. were at Corbigny, near Autun, to which his body
was removed from its original tomb at St. L.-des-bois in 887. He died during the
last quarter of the 6th cent. In J. Heywood's Pardoner
206, the Pardoner appeals for money for "the holy chapel of sweet St. Leonarde
Which late by fire was destroyed and marred."
LEONARD'S (SAINT)
The parish ch. of Shoreditch at the corner of High St. and Hackney Rd. The old
ch., with its square tower and fine peal of bells, was taken down in 1736, and
the present one built on its site. The Theatre and Curtain were in the neighbourhood,
and many actors were buried at the ch., amongst them Will Somers, the fool of
Henry VIII; Richard Tarleton; James Burbage and his son Richard Burbage; Gabriel
Spencer, who was killed in a duel by Ben Jonson; William Sly, and Richard Cowley.
In Wilkins' Enforced Marriage ii.
1, the Clown says, when he starts from Lond. for Yorkshire, "I will cry, and every
town between Shoreditch ch. and York bdge. shall bear me witness."
LEPANTO
(the ancient NAUPACTUS). A port on the N. shore of the Gulf of Corinth, some 20
m. from its entrance, at the head of the Bay of Lepanto. It belonged to the Venetians
in the Middle Ages, but was taken by Bajazet II in 1499. The bay was the scene
of one of the most famous seafights in the 16th cent., when the united Papal,
Spanish, and Venetian forces destroyed the naval power of the Turks on 7th Oct.,
1571. In Jonson's Cynthia iv: 1,
Philautia says that Amorphus "looks like the Venetian trumpeter in the battle
of L. in the gallery yonder": a painting or tapestry of the battle is meant. In
Randolph's Muses' iii. 4, Eiron says,
"The last valour shewn in Christendom was in L." Alazon mistakes L. for the name
of a man, and Eiron explains, "L. was no man, Sir, but the place made famous by
the so-much mentioned battle betwixt the Turks and Christians." In Alimony iii.
1, the Citizen says, "Never was fleet better prepared since the battle of L."
In Davenant's Siege i. 1, Ariotto
says, "I saw Piracco do good service at the battle of L." In his Courtier iv.
1, Giotto says, "Perhaps in a skirmish at L. some Turk circumcised you with his
scimitar." In Swetnam i. 1, the Capt.
tells of the death of Lorenzo "In the Lepanthean battle not long since"; and in
i. 3, Iago speaks of "That still memorable battle of L." In Nabbes' Unfort. Mother
ii. 1, Amanda says that "on my maidenhead [is] an oath of great antiquity; the
cavaliers used it before the battle of L." In Glapthorne's Privilege
i. 1, Trivulci says to Doria, "Thy father returned from the slaughter of Haly
Bassa at L." In Webster's Law Case
iv. 2, when Contilupo says that Romelio was born "in anno '71, my Lord"; Crispiano
says, "Very well, '71; the battle of L. was fought in it." Lodge, in Wits Miserie
(1596), makes Lying say that "in the battle of L. he only gave Don John de Austria
incouragement to charge afresh after the wind turned." Nash, in Lenten, p. 310,
describes the scene at the herring-fair at Yarmouth as "a confused stirring to
and fro of a L.-like host of unfatigable flood-bickerers and foam-curbers."
LEPHER
See SEPHER.
LERMA
City in Spain in Old Castile, on the S. bank of the Arlanza, 25 m. due S. of Burgos. It possesses a fine old palace built by the Cardinal-D. of Lerma, one of the leading figures in Gil Blas. A lost play of Henry Shirley's, registered in 1653, was entitled The Spanish Duke of Lerma.
LERNA
A marshy dist. at the head of the Argolic Gulf in the Peloponnesus, about 5 m.
S. of Argos. It was the haunt of the many-headed Hydra slain by Herakles, the
blood of which was a deadly poison. In Yarrington's One
of the Two Tragedies, Truth, as Epilogue, says, "Our play . . . must encounter
with a greater foe Than great Alcydes [i.e. Herakles] slew in L. lake."
In Fisher's Fuimus iv. 3, Cassius
says, "Their envy, Like the Lernaean adder, faster grows The more 'tis pruned."
The legend told that for every head that Herakles cut off 2 sprouted from the
Hydra's neck. In the old Timon v.
2, Timon says to Laches, "If thou wilt follow me, then change thy shape Into a
Hydra that's in L. bred." In Marlowe's Tamb.
A. iv. 4, Bajazeth prays: "Winged snakes of L., cast your stings, And leave
your venoms in this tyrant's dish." In Chapman's Bussy
iii. 1, Bussy says to the D. of Anjou, "Your foul body is a Lernaean fen Of all
the maladies breeding in all men." In B.&F. Friends
iv. 1, M. Tullius says of Armanus: "O see the spring from whence comes all
my woe, Whose flattering bubbles show like crystal streams, But I have found 'em
full of Lernaean poison." In Richards' Messallina
v. 2604, Messallina, dying, says, "A dim black fog raised from the Lernean fen
Obscures my sight." In Kyd's Cornelia ii., Cornelia says, "Would Death had steeped
his dart in L.'s blood!" Note that Lernaean is pronounced with the accent on the
1st syllable. In Tiberius 1696, Julia
asks, of the orchard of Tiberius: "What, doth the smoke of L. lurk thereby?":
where smoke is an obvious misprint for snake. In B.&F. Maid's
Trag. iv. 1, Evadne says, "I do present myself the foulest creature, Most
poisonous, dangerous, and despised of men L. e'er bred, or Nilus." Spenser, F.
Q. i. 7, 17, speaks of "That renouned snake Which great Alcides in Stremona slew
Long fostered in the filth of L. lake." But the Strymon, if that is what he means
by Stremona, is nowhere near L. In Mason's Mulleasses
2329, Borgias cries: "Up from the dark, earth's exhalations, Thicker than L.'s
foggy mists, and hide me."
LERNESSUS, or LYRNESSUS
A town in Mysia, some 10 m. S.E. of Adramyttium. One of the 12 Trojan towns taken
by Achilles. In T. Heywood's Iron Age
A. v., Ulisses claims all the conquests of Achilles as virtually his own:
"'Twas I sacked Thebes, Chriscis, and Scylla, with L. walls."
LESBONA
See LISBON.
LESBOS
(Ln. = Lesbian). Island off the N. W. coast of Asia Minor, just opposite to the
Gulf of Adramyttium, abt. 7 m. from the mainland. Its chief town was Mytilene.
It is chiefly famous for its school of Lyric Poetry, adorned by the names of Leches,
Arion of Methymna, Alcaeus, and, above all, Sappho. The dist. around Methymna
produced the highly esteemed wine which Horace, Od. 1, 17, 21, describes as "innocens,"
i.e. wholesome. In Lyly's Maid's
Meta. iv. 1, 71, Aramanthus says, "Sometime I was a prince of L. Isle." Chapman's
Caesar v. takes place partly at L.,
"compassed in with the Ægean Sea That doth divide Europe from Asia." In B.&F.
False One i. 1, Labienus tells how,
after Pharsalia, Pompey, "taking horse with some few of his friends, he came to
L." Of course, he went to L. by sea, taking ship at the mouth of the Peneus. Milton,
Lyc. 63, tells of Orpheus: "His gory visage down the stream was sent, Down the
swift Hebrus to the Ln. shore." This was after the Thracian women had torn him
to pieces. His head drifted over the sea to L. and was buried there.
In Nero iv. 7, Petronius says,
"The old Anacreon crowned with smiling flowers, And amorous Sappho on her Ln.
lute, Beauty's sweet scars and Cupid's godhead sing." In B.&F. Corinth
ii. 4, when Crates calls for wine, the vintner asks, "Chios or L., Greek?" In
their Bonduca i. 2. Petillius complains
that the soldiers will be satisfied with nothing but "wine from L." In Cartwright's
Slave iii. 1, a song occurs about
"This Ln. wine which, with its sparkling streams, Casts glories round our faces."
In Davenant's Rutland (Works iii. 205) Diogenes speaks of "pleasant vapours
of Ln. wine." In Histrio iv. 107,
Vourcher says, "The law shall stand like to a waxen nose Or Ln. rule, on whose
uncertainty Our certain ground shall stand invincible." The Ln. rule was a carpenter's
rule made of lead, which could be bent round an angle (see Aristotle Eth. Nic.
v. 10, 7). In Greville's Mustapha, Chor. i., the Bashas call laws "These Ln.
rules . . . Giving Right narrow, Will transcendent bounds." According to Lyly's
Midas, Midas tried to annex it
to his kingdom, but in vain. In iv. 2, Coryn says, "He that fishes for L. must
have such a wooden net as all the trees in Phrygia will not serve to make,"
i.e. a powerful fleet. In v. 3, Mydas says, "I perceive that L. Will
not be touched by gold, by force it cannot." L. here stands for England, and
Midas for Philip II of Spain. In Randolph's Muses'
iii. 3, Colax says, "The Ln. lions in their noble rage Will prey on bulls or
mate the unicorn." I suspect Ln. is a misprint for Libyan. There are no lions
in L. Lyly, in Euphues Anat. Wit, p. 74, refers to "the widow of L. which changed
all her old gold for new glass." No source has been found for this story.
LESSINGHAM
There is a small village of this name in Norfolk, but in the passage quoted below
it is obviously a mistake for Lusignan, a town in the department of Vienne, in
France, 14 m. S.W. of Poitiers, which gave his title to Guy of Lusignan, who was
made King of Jerusalem in 1186. In T. Heywood's Prentices,
p. 103, Robert proclaims that Guy is to be crowned King of Jerusalem, "and let
his name Be through the world call'd Guy of Lessingham." The date is nearly a
century too early; but the whole play is quite unhistorical.
LESTER-SHIRE
See LEICESTERSHIRE.
LESTRIGON
The country of the Laestrygonians, a fabulous race of giants mentioned in Homer,
Od. x. 80. Their supposed abode was in Sicily, and later writers fixed it as near
Leontini. In Locrine i. 1, 105, Brutus
says, "From Graecia through the boisterous Hellespont We came unto the fields
of L. Whereas our brother Corineius was." The route from Greece to Sicily by way
of the Hellespont is amusing.
LETHE
(more properly the river of L., i.e. forgetfulness). A mythical river in
the infernal regions, the drinking of the water of which produced forgetfulness.
In Ham. i. 5, 33, the Ghost says
to Hamlet, "Duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed That roots itself in ease
on L. wharf, Wouldst thou not stir in this." In Wilson's Cobler
677, Charon says that to accommodate the crowds that are now coming to hell,
"Cocytus, L., Phlegeton, shall all be digged into Styx." In T. Heywood's Gold.
Age v., Epil., it is announced: "Pluto's made Emperor of the ghosts below,
Commanding hell, where Styx and L. flow." In Locrine
iii. 6, 15, Humber invokes "You fearful dogs that in black Laethe howl": where
Laethe means simply Hell. Milton, P. L. ii. 583, makes "L., the river of oblivion,"
one of the rivers of Hell, but separate altogether from the 4 rivers, Styx, Acheron,
Cocytus, and Phlegiton. In 604, he makes it the boundary between the hot and the
cold regions of Hell; the spirits of the damned "ferry over this Lan. sound" to
get from one to the other. W. Smith, in Chloris (1596) xxxvii. 12, says, "My sad
soul . . . seems as a ghost to Styx and L. flying." In Mason's Mulleasses
1933, Ferrara says, "Drink L. freely, for thou art revenged." In Philotus 123,
Flavius conjures the spirits "By L., Stix, and Acherone."
Hence it is used for oblivion. In Tw.
N. iv. 1, 66, Sebastian, after his interview with Olivia, says, "Let fancy
still my sense in L. steep." In H4
B. v. 2, 72, Henry V, referring to his committal to prison by the Chief
justice, says, "May this be washed in L. and forgotten?" In R3
iv. 4. 250, Richd. says he will give all he has to Elizabeth's children, "So
in the L. of thy angry soul Thou drown the sad remembrance of those wrongs Which
thou supposest I have done to thee." In Ant.
ii. 7, 114, Antony says, "Come, let's all take hands, Till that the conquering
wine hath steeped our sense In soft and delicate L." In Selimus
1810, Baiazet, invoking Night, says, "Henceforth thy mantle in black L. steep
And clothe the world in darkness infernal." In B.&F. Sea
Voyage ii. 1, Aminta says, "Your goodness is the L. In which I drown your
injuries." In T. Heywood's Iron Age
ii., we have "The proudest nation that great Asia nursed Is now extinct in L."
In Gismond of Salerno ii., the
Chorus says, "The flood of L. cannot wash out thy fame." From L. is formed an
adjective: lethied, or leathy. In Ant.
ii. 1, 27, Pompey prays that "sleep and feeding may prorogue his [Antony's]
honour Even till a Lethied dulness." Marston, Insatiate
iv., says, "A devil has drowned thy soul In leathy faculties." L. is also used
as a translation of the Lat. letum = death. In J.
C. iii. 1, 206, Antony says to the corpse of Caesar, "Here thy hunters stand,
Signed in thy spoil and crimsoned in thy L." Lodge, in Phillis (1593) x. 3,
says of Swans: "When they feel themselves near L.'s brim They sing their fatal
dirge." Wilson apparently thought that Lethae, as he spells it, was the plural
of Letha, for in his Inconstant i. 2, Aramant says, "She's a sea of nectar To
which the Lethae of my cares do run And lose themselves for ever."
LEUCADIA
An island, about the same size and shape as the Isle of Man, lying off the coast of Acarnania in the Adriatic Sea. In T. Heywood's Dialogues iii. 1933, Lucretia says, "Who shall the Ln. sisters' beauty cite?" The note explains that the Leucades, who were ravished by Castor and Pollux, are intended. They were Phoebe and Hilaeira, and were the daughters of Leucippus. But they had nothing to do with L.: apparently the name Leucippus suggested the epithet Ln. Barnes, in Parthenophil, Elegy ix., says, "Let me . . . fling myself . . . Into the deep waves of the Ln. god." i.e. into the sea near L.
LEVANT
Originally used for the East in general: then specifically for the E. of the Mediterranean
and the countries and islands there. In Fisher's Fuimus
v. 6, Caesar speaks of "Rome's empire whose command encloses whole L." In Selimus
46, Baiazet says, "The Persian Sophi, mighty Ismael, Took the L. clean away from
me," where it is spelt and pronounced Levan-te. This was Ismail I (1499-1524).
In B.&F. Wit without Money ii. 4,
Valentine says, "Fright me the kingdom with a sharp prognostication that shall
scour them like L. taffaties," i.e. silk fabrics from the East, which were
very thin and glossy. Dekker, in Wonderful Year (1603), says, "Tailors with their
shears would have cut the seas, like L. taffaty, and sailed to the W. Indies for
no worse stuff to make hose and doublets of than beaten gold." In Jonson's Volpone
iv. 1, Sir Politick has a scheme for determining whether there is plague on any
ship "newly arrived from any suspected part of all the L."
LEVITE
A member of the Israelitish tribe of Levi, which was set apart for priestly functions.
Langland, in Piers B. xii. 115, says, "Archa Dei, in the old lawe Ls. it kepten."
In Scot. Presb. i. 2, Dipwell says, "Like to that river through which once Ls.
did bear the holy ark, New River flows" (see Joshua iii. 8). Hence it is used
for a clergyman, and particularly for a private chaplain. Glapthorne, in Wit
iv., says, "There shall a little L. meet you, and give you to the lawful bed,"
i.e. marry you to your lover. In B.&F. Scornful
Lady iv. 1, Abigail says of Sir Roger, the Chaplain: "My little L. hath forsaken
me." Hall, in Phariseeism (1608), p. 42, says, "They [the Jews] paid to their
Ls., your Ls. must pay to you; your cures must be purchased, your tithes abated
or compounded for."
LEWSOME
(= LEWISHAM). A vill. in Kent, 6 m. S.E. of Lond., of which it is now a suburb.
Here lived Sir L. Spurcock, one of the characters in the London
Prodigal. In i. 2, he says to Cyvet, "Please you come to L. To my poor house,
you shall be kindly welcome." Many of the following scenes are laid there.
LEYDEN, or LEYTE
A city in Holland 20 m. S.W. of Amsterdam. It took a prominent part in the War
of Liberation in the 16th and 17th cents. Its famous university was founded in
1575. In Shirley's Witty Fair One
iii. 4, Aimwell says to Manly, who is disguised as a physician, "Doctor! Art a
Parisian, a Paduan, or a L. doctor?" In Larum
A. 3, Danila announces, "From Leyte Both Julian de Romero bring 500 foot." In
Barnavelt iii. 5, Grotius says to
Hogerbeets, "Back you then to L." In v. 2, the hangmen of Harlem, L., and Utrecht
throw dice to decide which of them shall behead Barnavelt.
LEYMSTER
(= LEINSTER). The S.E. province of Ireland. In Jonson's Irish,. the Masquers say, "We be Irish men of Connough, L., Ulster, Munster."
LEBANON
See LEBANON.
LIBBARD'S HEAD
(i.e. LEOPARD'S HEAD). A sign in Lombard St., Lond. In H4
B. ii. 1, 30, Quickly says of Falstaff: "He is indited to dinner to the Lubber's
H. in Lumbert St., to Master Smooth's the silkman." Lubber's is Quickly's mistake
for L.
LIBURNIA
A dist. on the E. coast of the Adriatic, N. of Illyricum: now Croatia. The Ln.
galleys with their one large lateen sail were adopted by the Romans for naval
war, and supplanted the galleys with high bulwarks which they had previously used.
Ln. slaves were specially valued for their size and strength, and were used as
Lecticarii, or litter-bearers, at Rome in the early Empire. In Jonson's Sejanus
v. 8, Arruntius apostrophises Sanquinius, "Get thee Ln. porters, thou gross fool,
To bear thy obsequious fatness." In Massinger's Actor
i. i. Latinus speaks of "A litter borne by 8 Ln. slaves" at Rome.
LIBYA
The general name among the ancients for N. Africa from Egypt to the Atlantic.
In Marlowe's Dido i., Carthage is
called "The kingly seat of S. L.," i.e. L. S. of Europe. In iii., Dido
asks: "Am not I Q., of L.?" In Chettle's Hoffman,
i. 1, Martha says, "Dido, being driven into a Lybian cave, was there enticed By
Æneas." In Jonson's Poetaster v.
1, Vergil reads from his Aeneid: "Meanwhile, the bruit and fame [of Dido's love
for Æneas] Through all the greatest Ln. towns is gone." Cf. Æn. iv. 173: "Extemplo
Libyae magnas it Fama per urbes." The garden of the Hesperides was supposed
to be in the west of L., and Hercules, who brought away the golden apples thence,
is called the Ln. Hercules. In Greene's Friar
ix. 95, Bungay conjures up the tree of the Hesperides, and then says, "Jove's
bastard son, thou Ln. Hercules, Pull off the sprigs from off the Hesperian tree."
In T. Heywood's Dialogues 5558. Argus says, "Methinks I look like Ln. Hercules
Leading the dog of Hell." In Sampson's Vow.
iv. 1, 34, Clifton speaks of "the Libian Hercules." In B.&F. Hum.
Lieut. iv. 3, the lines occur in a song: "Omphale this spell put in When she
made the Ln. spin," i.e. Hercules. The shrine of Jupiter Amnion, or Amun,
was in the Ln. desert, 12 days' journey from Memphis. In May's Agrippina
iv. 474, Petronius speaks of "Ln. Amnion's farthest woods." Milton, in P. L. iv.
277, identifies Jupiter Amnion with "Ln. Jove," and both with "old Cham," the
son of Noah. In Nativity Ode 203, he says that at the birth of our Lord "The Libyc
Hammon shrinks his horn." In Caesar's
Rev. i. 1, Discord says, "Coal-black Libians shall manure the ground In thy
defence," i.e. Pompey's. After the death of Pompeius, his sons went to
Africa and were defeated there at Thapsus by Caesar. In Fisher's Fuimus
iii. 2, Laberius says, "A Roman never daunted was with looks, Else had not Samartanes
and Ln. bugbears Been captive led in chains." In Ant.
iii. 6, 69, Caesar mentions "Bocchus, k. of L.," amongst the allies of Antony.
In this Shakespeare follows Plutarch, but Bocchus, who was K. of Mauritania, was
faithful to Octavian, whilst Bogud, his brother, went over to Antony. Milton,
P. L. i. 355, referring to the conquest of N. Africa by the Vandals, says that
they "spread Beneath Gibraltar to the Ln. sands." In W.T.
v. 1, 157, Florizel pretends that Perdita "came from L.," and was daughter of
the warlike Smalus, K. of L.
L. was hot and sandy, and the Syrtes, or quicksands, of the coast were a well-known
terror to sailors. In Troil. i.
3, 328, Nestor speaks of the brains of Achilles being "as barren as banks of
L." In the old Shrew, Haz., p.
534, the D. says, "This angry sword [should] hew thee smaller than the Libian
sands." Milton, P. L. xii. 635, speaks of "vapour as the Ln. air adust." In
Caesar's Rev. i. 5, Cornelia says,
"Not Libian quicksands shall this union part." In Chapman's Bussy
v. 1, Monsieur says, "Not so the sea raves on the Ln. sands As Fortune swings
about the restless state Of virtue." L. was famous for its lions: the lions
of the Atlas ranges are the fiercest of their kind. In the old Timon
iv. 2, Timon prays: "Thou, Nature . . . me transform into a dire serpent
Or griesly lion, such a one as yet Ne'er L. or Africa hath seen." In Massinger's
New Way v. i. Overreach exclaims, "Like a Ln. lion in the toils, My fury
cannot reach the coward hunters." In Jonson's Catiline
v. 6, Petreius reports that Catiline "ran . . . Into our battle, like a Ln.
lion upon his hunters, scornful of our weapons." In his Epigram on Inigo Jones,
he says, "The Ln. lion hunts no butterflies." In Val.
Welsh. iv. 7, Caradoc says of himself: "Caradoc fought like a Ln. lion."
In Davenant's Plymouth ii. 1, Seawit
says, sarcastically, "Who hath chased my little Ln. lion thus into a foam?"
In T. Heywood's Gold. Age iii.,
Saturn, exhorted to be patient, cries: "Command the Libian lions abstinence!"
In Chapman's Caesar ii. 2, 20,
the Nuntius says of Pompey: "as in L. an aged lion, Urged from his peaceful
covert, fears the light . . . so Pompey." Linche, in Diella (1596) xxi. 11,
says, "So fierce a lion L. never bred." In Brandon's Octavia 1032, Octavia says,
"No fierce Hyrcanian forest doth possess So wild a tiger, nor no Ln. coast":
which is quite true, as there are no tigers in Africa. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2,
22, speaks of "a bear and tiger being met In cruel fight on Lybicke ocean wide,"
i.e. on the shores of the Ln. Ocean. In Kyd's Cornelia iv., Cassius says,
"The Ln. bears Devour the bodies of our citizens." Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8, 17,
describes a knight riding "a Ln. steed," i.e. an Arab horse or Barbary.
In May's Agrippina iii. 333, Montanus
asks, "Will it be lawful to eat Ln. mushrooms And British oysters without being
cited Before the censor?" In iv. 368, Petronius mentions "Ln. purple-wings"
amongst Roman table luxuries. The bird called Porphyrio, or the Purple Gallinule,
is meant.
LICHFIELD
Episcopal city in Staffs., 115 m. N.W. of Lond. Its cathedral, dating from the
12th and 13th cents., is of extreme beauty. In True
Trag., Haz., p. 113, Richmond says, "Therefore let us towards Aderstoe amain
. . . From thence towards L. we will march next day." Atherstone and L. are both
on Old Watling St. L. is about 20 m. W. of Bosworth, where Richmond defeated Richd.
In T. Heywood's Ed. IV A. 49,
the Tanner of Tamworth tells us that he gave his daughter Nell "a half year's
schooling at L."; and later he suggests to the disguised K. that he should bind
himself "to a shoemaker in Liechfield." L. is abt. 5 m. from Tamworth.
LICORIS
Another name for Mt. Parnassus, the highest peak of which is still called Lykeri by the inhabitants. In T. Heywood's Dialogues iv. 214, Timon recalls how, at the flood of Deucalion, "Scarce was one skiff saved on L. mt."
LIDIA
See LYDIA.
LIECHENSTEIN
The smallest of the old German principalities, abt. 15 m. long and on an average
5 broad: on the right bank of the Rhine, abt. 20 m. S. of the E. end of Lake Constance,
between Switzerland and the Tyrol. The Princes belong to the Este family. In Jonson's
Staple of News iii. 2, Fitton tells
of a letter from D. Maximilian of Bavaria to the Baron "of L., Lord Paul, I think."
LIGORNE
See LEGHORN.
LIGURIA
The dist. in N.W. Italy N. of the Gulf of Genoa, and extending thence to the Alps.
In Caesar's Rev. iii. 2, Caesar boasts:
"Proud Tiber and Ln. Poe, Bear my name's glory to the Ocean main." The headwaters
of the Po are in L. Amber was found in L., to which Lyly refers in Euphues. Anat.
Wit, p. 109: "The firestone in L., though it be quenched with milk, yet again
it is kindled with water." Cf. Erasmus, Similia 600 B.
LILIBY
(= LILYBÆUM). The promontory, now Cape Boco, at the extreme W. point of Sicily.
Near it was the famous city of Lilybaeum, now Marsala, which played an important
part in the Punic wars, and continued all through the Middle Ages to be one of
the most prominent cities of the island. In T. Heywood's S.
Age iii, Pluto directs that Typhon should be buried under Sicily: "Upon his
left spacious Pachinne lies, And on his legs the land of L."
LILLE
The former capital of Flanders, now capital of the French Department of Le Nord, 125 m. N. of Paris. It was chiefly engaged in the spinning of flax and the manufacture of various textile fabrics. In Lodge's Wits Miserie (1596), the Usurer is described as wearing a jacket of "Lisle grogram of the worst."
LIMBO
Properly the ablative of Limbos, generally used in the phrase "in limbo," but
used also as a nominative. It means a region on the outskirts of Hell, divided
into 2 parts: "Limbos patrum," where the saints of the O.T. were detained till
our Lord descended into Hades to release them, and "limbos infantum." where unbaptized
infants were bestowed. In York M. P. xxxvii. 198, when our Lord has "harrowed
Hell," it is said: "What thanne, is lymbus lorne, allas!" The same phrase occurs
in the Towneley M. P. xxv. 213. T. Heywood, in I.
K. M. A. (Works i. 221), says, "I am freed from l., to be sent to hell." It
is commonly used as a synonym for hell. In All's Well v. 3, 261, Parolles reports of
Bertram: "He was mad for her [Diana] and talked of Satan and of L. and of Furies,
and I know not what." In Tit. iii.
1, 149, Titus says, "O what a sympathy of woe is this, As far from help as L.
is from bliss." In Hughes's Misfort.
Arth. i. 1, Gorlois speaks of "channels black of L. lake." In Brome's Covent
Garden Weeded v. 1, Crossewill says, "My daughter is resolutely bent to be
an ape-leader in L.," i.e. to die unmarried. To lead apes in hell was the
proverbial doom of old maids. In Trag.
Richd. II i. 2, 8, Tressilian says of the Carmelite Friar, who has failed
to poison the King's Uncles: "A deeper hell than l. patrum hold him!" In Greene's
Alphonsus ii. 2, 594, Laelius says,
"This same martial knight . . . lent our k. then such a friendly blow As that
his gasping soul to Lymbo went." In Locrine
iii. 6, 51, Humber rants about "burning sulphur of the L.-lake." In Kirke's Champions
i. 1, Tarpax, the devil, calls his mistress Calib "Q. of Limbony." In Beguiled
1992, Dis is called "The Prince of L. lake."
It is also used for prison. In Err.
iv. 2, 32, Dromio says his master "is in Tartar l., worse than hell." In H8
v. 4, 67, the porter says of the unruly crowd: "I'll have some of 'em in L.
Patrum." In Never too Late (1590), 56, Greene says, "If coin want, then either
to L. or else clap up a commodity." In Day's Gulls
i. 3, Dametus says, "Such another word and I'll send you to l. instantly." Milton,
P. L. iii. 495, invents a new L., "The Paradise of Fools," which he places on
the outer shell of the stellar universe, beyond the Primum Mobile "o'er the
backside of the World far off." To be in "1. Patrum" is used in the sense of
to be drunk. In B.&F. Captain iv. 2, the boy says, "All the rest . . . are in
1. patrum Where they lie sod in sack."
LIMBOURG
A province in N.E. Belgium. In Tuke's Five Hours ii. 1, Don Antonio tells, "Some horse were sent from the army, under my command, to cover the L. frontiers, much exposed to the enemies' inroads." The date appears to be about 1572. L. was one of the Spanish provinces.
LIMEHOUSE
A dist. on the N. of the Thames, between Wapping and Poplar, opposite to Cuckold's
Haven It got its name from the Lime-kilns, which have been there for the last
6 cents. at least. In Dekker's Witch
of Edmonton iii. 1, Cuddy threatens the dog, "I'll throw you in at L. in some
tanner's pit or other." It was, and is; the theatre of a large shipping trade,
and riverside industries are extensively carried on. In Tarlton's Jests, it is
said that "at low fall, the watermen get afraid of the cross-cables by the L."
In Launching, it is said: "The E. Indian gates stand open wide to entertain the
needy and the poor; Lyme house speaks their liberality." In Dekker's Westward
ii. 3, when Sir Gosling proposes to go an excursion to Blackwall or L., Judith
declines: "every room there," she says, "smells too much of tar." Like all waterside
places, its morality was of a low order. In Middleton's Anything
for a Quiet Life ii. 1, Knavesby says, "We will be married again, wife; which
some say is the only supersedeas about L. to remove cuckoldry." In Webster's Cuckold
ii. 3, Compass, talking of the birth of children, says, "It varies again by that
time you come at Wapping, Radcliff, L., and here with us at Blackwall, our children
come uncertainly": the reason being the absence of the husbands on voyages. In
ii. 3, he mentions L. and Shadwell as amongst "the suburbs of Lond.": where suburb
is used in its common sense of a haunt of immoral women. In H8
v. 4, 63, the porter says of the young fellows who had been throwing stones at
his man: "These are the youths that thunder at a playhouse and fight for bitten
apples; that no audience, but the tribulation of Tower Hill, or the limbs of L.,
their dear brothers, are able to endure." The words "tribulation" and "dear brothers"
suggest a hit at the Puritans, but it is hard to see the relevance of such names
to a Puritan meeting. I am rather disposed to think that these were 2 gangs of
young hooligans which infested Tower Hill and L. respectively, and were known
by these titles, just as in Melbourne we have "pushes" of larrikins, called after
the localities they infest--the Bourke St. push, the Collingwood push, etc. An
audience composed of these fellows would welcome a disturbance.
LIME-STREET
In Lond., running at the back of Leadenhall market from Fenchurch St. to Leadenhall
St. It escaped the Gt. Fire, and the house numbered 46 had a pair of folding doors
dated 1631. It was pulled down in 1875. In S. Rowley's When
you D. 2, the Cobler speaks of himself as "the merry cobler of Limestreete."
In W. Rowley's Match Mid. iii., Alexander
says to Moll, "Meet this gentleman at the Nag's Head corner, just against Leadenhall;
we lie in L.-St., thither he shall carry thee." Middleton, in Black Book, p. 12,
says, "hold her that I had a warrant to search from the sheriff of Limbo.""
How? from the sheriff of L. st.?" replies Mrs. Wimblechin, for so she understood
the word Limbo, as if Limbo had been Latin for L. St. Dekker, in Jests, speaks
of "Milk st., Bread st., L. st., and S. Mary Axe" as the residential quarters
of the merchants of Lond.
LIMNASPHALTIS
See ASPHALTIS.
LINCOLN
County-town of Lincs., on the N. bank of the Witham, 132 m. N.W. of Lond. It is
one of the most ancient cities in England. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 9, 51, says that
"Fair L.," like Troynovant (Lond.), was the work of Brute, and he reckons these
2 the fairest cities in the world. The old British town was on the top of the
hill beyond the N. gate. The Roman town corresponded with the "above hill" portion
of the city. The castle was built by William the Conqueror in 1086, and the Minster,
most of which is of a much later date, was founded at the same time by the Bp.
Remigius and consecrated in 1092. Other interesting buildings are the Newport
or N. Gate, of Roman origin; the Exchequer Gate, Pottergate and Stonebow; the
old episcopal palace; and the Jews House, near which little St. Hugh of L. was
said to have been crucified by the Jews in 1255. This is the "yonge Hugh of Lyncoln,
slayn with cursed Jewes," of whom Chaucer's Prioress tells (C. T. B. 1874). The
city played a great part in earlier English history. The castle was often besieged
in the various civil wars: kings were crowned here and parliaments held in the
Chapter House. Hence the proverb, quoted by Greenshield in Dekker's Northward
Hoe i. 1, "L. was, Lond. is, and York shall be." An Earl of L. is one of the
characters in Dekker's Fortunatus,
which is dated in the reign of Athelstane. Henry de Lacy, Earl of L., is one of
the characters in Greene's Friar, in
the latter part of the reign of Henry III. He was a trusted counsellor of Edward
I and one of the Ordainers in the reign of his successor. By marriage with his
daughter, Thomas of Lancaster became Earl of L. In Marlowe's Ed.
II i. 1, he says, "4 Earldoms have I besides Lancaster: Derby, Salisbury,
L., Leicester." The title, however, returned to the Lacy family, and we find Sir
Hugh Lacy, Earl of L., as one of the characters in Dekker's Shoemaker's,
the date being 1445. In True Trag.,
p. 92, Morton says, "Who but K. Richd. bears sway, and hath proclaimed John Earl
of Linclone [misprint for L.] heir apparent to the Crown." He was the son of John
de la Pole, D. of Suffolk, and Elizabeth, sister of Edward IV. He was killed in
the battle of Stoke in 1487. In Ford's Perkin
Warbeck i. 1, he is spoken of as "The highborn L., son to de la Pole." The
title is now held by the D. of Newcastle, whose ancestor, Edward Clinton, was
created Earl of L. in 1572. The Bp. of L. who appears in H8
was John Longland, the King's confessor: he designed the Longland Chapel in L.
Cathedral. He died in 1547.
In K. J. v. 6, 41, the Bastard
says, "Half my power, Passing these fiats, are taken by the tide; These L. Washes
have devoured them." The Wash is the bay S.E. of L. It is full of dangerous
sandbanks. In Three Lords, the
Three Lords of L. are Desire, Delight, and Devotion. In Kn.Kn.Kn.,
Dods. vi. 533, Honesty says to Coney-catcher, "We are as near kin together as
the cates of Banbury be to the bells of L.": Banbury was notorious for its Puritanism,
with its opposition to bells, organs, etc.: hence the phrase means "we are as
far apart as possible." The bell in the central tower of the Minster is known
as "Great Tom." The original bell was cast in 1610, but was recast in 1834.
It weighs 5 tons 8 cwt. In B.&F. Woman's
Prize iii. 2, Petruchio, complains: "Had I not every morning a rare breakfast,
Mix'd with a learned lecture of ill language Louder than Tom o' L.?" In B.&F.
Nightwalker iii. 4., Toby says
of the women: "I have heard some of their tongues, like Tom-a-L., 3 m. off."
In verses prefixed to Coryat's Crudities (1611), Peacham mentions amongst the
sights of England "the skirts of old Tom a L." The proverb "Like as the Devil
looked over L." seems to refer to one of the grotesque gargoyles on the Cathedral.
It is quoted in J. Heywood's Proverbs (1562). In Shirley's Sisters,
the Prologue says, "Pox of him, say I, That looked o'er L." L. had a reputation
for the green dye used in the cloth made there, which was only rivalled by Kendal.
In Robin Hood's Garland, we are told "He clothed his men in L. green." Skelton
tells us that Elynour Rummin's huke, i.e. hood, was "of Lyncolne green."
Spenser, F. Q. vi. 2, 5, says of Sir Tristram: "All in a woodman's jacket was
he clad Of L. green." Drayton, in Polyolb. xxvi. 319, describes Robin Hood's
men as "all clad in L. green." Processional Plays were performed in L. on July
26th in honour of St. Anne. They were suppressed in the 1st year of Elizabeth's
reign.
LINCOLN COLLEGE
Oxford, founded in 1427 by Richard Flemmyng, Bp. of L. It stands on the E. side of Turl St., just S. of Exeter College. Sir William Davenant, the dramatist, was entered at L. C.
LINCOLNSHIRE
The county on the E. coast of England, S. of the Humber. About a third of it is
occupied by the Fens, which are artificially drained. The wide grazing lands of
the county have been long famous, and the breeds of bullocks and sheep are well
known. In Underwit v. 3; the Footman
states that "Sir Walter Littleland is well known in L, near the Fens." In Middleton's
Mad World ii. 2, when the masqued thieves
affirm that they are L. men, Sir Bounteous says, "O, the honestest thieves of
all come out of L.; the kindest natured gentlemen; they'll rob a man with conscience;
they have a feeling of what they go about, and will steal with tears in their
eyes." In B.&F. Fair Maid I. iv.
2, when the Muleteer asks Forobosco how much the ox will cost that he proposes
to roast whole in Madrid, he says, "A hundred French crowns, for it must be a
L. ox and a prime one." In Middleton's Roaring
Girl ii. 1, Trapdoor boasts, "I have kept a bridge myself and drove 7 at a
time before me," but adds, aside, "they were all L. bullocks." In H4
A. i. 2, 85, Falstaff complains that he is as melancholy "as the drone of
a L. bagpipe." In Armin's Ninnies, for a Christmas festivity, "a noise of minstrels
and a L. bagpipe was prepared." Drayton, in Polyolb. xxv., says of L.: "girls
in Lincoln green Whilst some the rings of bells and some the bagpipes ply, Dance
many a merry round." In Tarlton's Purgatory, we have: "This Stephano was the chief
gallant of all the parish for dancing of a L. hornpipe in the churchyard on Sundays."
Drayton, in Polyolb. xxiii. 266, says, "Bells and bagpipes next belong to Lincolneshire."
In Trag. Richd. II iv. 1, 233,
"Lyncolneshere "is one of the counties granted by the K. to Greene. The scene
of Lyly's Gallathea is laid in L.
LINCOLN'S INN
One of the Four Inns of Court in Lond. It stands between the N. end of Chancery
Lane and L. I. Fields, S. of Holborn. In 1221 the site was assigned to the Black
Friars on their arrival in England; from them it passed into the hands of the
De Lacies, Earls of Lincoln, hence the name. The lawyers obtained the use of it
about 1300, and in 1580 bought it outright. The gatehouse in Chancery Lane and
the old Hall were erected in the reign of Henry VII, and the buildings facing
into Chancery Lane a little later. The rest of the buildings are comparatively
modern. In Sir Thomas More v. 4.,
More, on the scaffold, reminds the Sheriff, "When I studied the law in L. I.,
I was of council with ye in a cause." Sir Thomas was a bencher of L. I. Richard
Edwards, the author of Damon, also
belonged to that honourable body. Fuller tells us that Ben Jonson helped in the
building "of the new structure of L. I.": probably the part in Chancery Lane.
Prynne's Histrio-Mastix is dedicated to "the students of the 4. famous Inns of
Court, and especially these of L. I." Prynne was buried in the vaults below the
old chapel. Jonson, in Devil is an Ass
i. 6, speaks of "The walks of L. I. Under the Elms." In Marston's What
you iii. 1, a lawyer is called "the glorious Ajax [quasi, a jakes] of L. I.,
laps up nought but filth and excrements." In Jonson's Devil
is an Ass ii. 2, Mrs. FitzDottrel sends word to Wittipol "to forbear his acting
to me At the gentleman's chamber-window in L. I. there, That opens to my gallery."
LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS
The square immediately W. of L. I., Lond. It was at first a mere open piece of waste ground, but it was laid out in 1618 by Inigo Jones, with - the Arch Row on the W.,
- Portugal Row on the S., and
- Holborn, or Newman's, Row on the N.;
- on the E. were the buildings of the Inn.
It was supposed to be the same size as the base of the Gt. Pyramid, but was actually
12 acres in extent11/2 acres less. About 1656 there were many proposals
to build the whole of the space over, but on the petition of the Society of L.
I. Cromwell stopped them. In Glapthorne's Wit
in a Constable i. 1, Thorowgood asks whether Valentine and Sir Timothy have
come to town "to see L. I. F. built." The date is 1639. A theatre was opened by
Davenant in Portugal Row in 1662, which is the scene of his Playhouse. In i.,
the Housekeeper says, "There are so many Tomtumblers [applying to take the theatre]
that you'd think L.-I.-F. a forest of wild apes." In Nabbes' Bride
ii. 1, Squirrell, the Vintner, says, "The errants of L. I. f. are the best maintainers
of my profit's occasion." In Deloney's Craft ii. 5, Peachy says, "Stutely and
Strangwidge, if you be men, meet me in Lincolnes Inne-f. presently." . . . "And
so into the f. they went" and fought.
LINE (the EQUATOR)
"Under the Line" means at the Equator. In B.&F. Corinth
iv. 1, Crates tells Onos that if his opponent accepts his challenge, "you may
crave To choose the place, which may be Calicut Or underneath the L." In H8
v. 4, 46, the Porter's Man says of a red-faced man: "All that stand about him
are under the L., they need no other penance." In Temp.
iv. 1, 237, Stephano, stealing a jerkin from the Lime or line-tree, where it is
hanging, says, "Now is the jerkin under the L.; now, jerkin, you are like to lose
your hair and prove a bald jerkin." Travellers crossing the Equator were liable
to contract fevers which caused them to lose their hair. In Milkmaids
i. 3, Runoff says, "'Tis very precious hot; I protest I have been cooler under
the L." In Webster's Law Case iii.
3, Romelio, who is going to ship the surgeons who know his crime to the E. Indies,
says, "Let them prate when they are beyond the L."
LINGEN
A town in Hanover, on the Ems, 100 m. E. of Amsterdam. In Barnavelt
iv. 5, Orange asks: "Who was the cause no greater power was sent against the enemy
when he took Oldensell, L., Groll?"
LINGIS (SAINT) PARK
In Kyd's Span. Trag. iii. 2, Lorenzo
says to Pedringano, "Meet Serberine at St. L.-P.; Thou know'st 'tis here, hard
by, behind the house." I have failed so far to discover either the saint or his
park. Various emendations have been suggested: as Liugis, Leugis, Leuges, Luges,
but Schick's Luigi's seems the most likely, though Luigi is Italian, not Spanish.
The traditional name of the centurion whose spear pierced our Lord's side on the
Cross was Longinus, which was shortened into Lungis. The word is used for a long,
awkward fellow, as in B.&F. Pestle
ii. 3, where the citizen's wife says, "The foul great lungies laid unmercifully
on thee." But he was not a saint.
LINLITHGOW
An ancient city in Scotland, capital of the county of the same name, 17 m. W. of Edinburgh. The ancient palace, now in ruins, was a favourite residence of the Kings of Scotland. Sir David Lyndsay's Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis was acted at L. in 1540 before James V and his court, in a jousting field near the town.
LINTERNUM, or LITERNUM
A vill. on the coast of Campania, between the mouth of the Vulturnus and Cumae:
its site is marked by Tor di Patria. It was at the mouth of a river of the same
name, the delta of which formed a marshy lagoon. It was chiefly famous because
Scipio Africanus retired there to die, in disgust at his treatment by the people
of Rome. In Nabbes' Hannibal v. 3,
Scipio says, "At L., My country villa, I will terminate My after life." Gascoigne,
in Steel Glas, p. 67 (Arber), says, "Scypio condemns the Roman rule Which suffered
him, that had so truly served, To lead poor life at his Lynternum farm."
LION
A tavern sign. In Dekker's Westward
ii. 2, Monopoly says, "I'm to sup this night at the L. in Shoreditch." Act iii.
2 is laid outside this Inn. Probably the Red L. is meant: it stood on the E. side
of Bishopsgate St. Without. In Feversham
ii. 1, Black Will says, "Canst thou remember since we trolled the bowl at Sittingburgh
[i.e. Sittingbourne] where I broke the tapster's head of the Lyon with
a cudgel-stick?" In Chapman's May Day
i. 1, Quintiliano says, "The hostess of the L. has a leg like a giant." The scene
is in Venice.
LION KEY
A wharf or landing-place on the N. side of the Thames in Lond., between Billingsgate
and Lond. Bdge. Stow says it was called after one Lion, owner thereof. In Fair
Women ii. 290, Roger relates that he followed Sanders "to L. quay; saw him
take boat, And, in a pair of oars, as soon as he, Landed at Greenwich." In Underwit
iii. 3, Engine suggests as a useful project "a bridge from L. k. to Flaunders."
In B.&F. Woman's Prize v. 2, Jaques
says, "We'll get us to Paris. Away to Lyon-k. and ship 'em presently." In T. Heywood's
Ed. IV A. 64, the disguised King
says, "At L. quay I landed in their view, Yet none of them took knowledge of the
King."
LIPSBURY
In Lear ii. 2, 9, Kent says to Oswald,
"If I had thee in L. pinfold, I would make thee care for me." No one has yet succeeded
in identifying L. I suggest that the phrase is a misprint for "Westbury Pen Hole."
The scene of the encounter between Kent and Oswald is in the courtyard before
Gloucester's castle, presumably near Gloucester. Now, Shakespeare knew Gloucestershire
minutely, as he knew no other county in England, except Warwick: the proof is
in H4 B. v. 1, and the references
to Greet, Tewkesbury, etc. Hence we should naturally look for L. in Gloucestershire.
The ending -bury is quite common there: we have, for example,
- Lantbury,
- Tetbury,
- Sodbury,
- Thornbury,
- Oldbury,
- Henbury,
- Tewkesbury,
- Westbury.
Of these Lantbury looks most like L. But what Kent wanted was a quiet place where
he could thrash Oswald without interruption, and a penfold, or pound, in the middle
of a village would not have served his turn: it would be altogether too public.
Now, in Pen Park, near Westbury, some 4 m. N. of Bristol, is a huge cavern, possibly
the remains of an old lead mine: it is known as Pen Park Hole, or Pen Hole. This
would be the very place for Kent's purpose. "W" with the first limb exaggerated
would not be unlike a capital "L," and the long "s" would be almost indistinguishable
from "p," so that a compositor might easily misread Westbury as L. Penhole he
would not understand, and would almost unconsciously change it to the familiar
pinfold: he retains, however, the capital "P," and so gives us "L. Pinfold." It
is true that in the only other passage in the 1st folio where pinfold occurs (Two
Gent. i. 1, 114) it is printed with a capital, so that that point does not
go for much. I make the suggestion for what it may be worth.
LISBON
The capital of Portugal, on the N. bank of the Tagus some 8 m. from the sea. It
was the last place in Portugal to be taken from the Moors. Alphonso I besieged
it for some months in 1147, and took it with the help of some English and French
crusaders who were on their way to Palestine. In Span.
Trag. i., Hieronimo says of Edmund, Earl of Kent: "When English Richard wore
the diadem, He came . . . and razed L. walls, And took the K. of Portingale in
fight." The reference is to the expedition of 1381, when Edmund, Earl of Cambridge
(not of Kent), came to help Ferdinand of Portugal against John of Castile. Ferdinand,
however, turned traitor to the English, with the result that in 1383 they ravaged
Portugal and dethroned Ferdinand. In the dying speech of Stucley, in Peele's Alcazar
v. 1, 164, he says, "My sails I spread and with these men of war In fatal hour
at L. we arrived": fatal because Stucley offered to help Sebastian against the
Moors and was killed at Alcazar. In B.&F. Custom
ii. 3, Rutilio says, "The ship that took us was of Portugal, And here in L.
we may hear of her." In Merch. iii.
2, 272, we learn that one of Antonio's ventures was to L., which had considerable
trade with England. In Bacchus, one of the worshippers of Bacchus is "David Driethroat,
from Lesbona in Portugale," who brought a cup of Canary as his offering. In Davenant's
Wits iv., among the delicacies enumerated
by Young Palatine is "Marmalade, made by the cleanly nuns of L." This would naturally
be orange marmalade: there were other marmalades made from quinces, cherries,
etc. These nuns came from Sion, in Middlesex, at the dissolution of the Monasteries
by Henry VIII, and after temporary sojourns in Zuruck see, Mechlin, and Rouen,
finally established themselves in L. B.&F. Four
Plays is supposed to be performed at L. on the occasion of the marriage of
K. Emmanuel the Fortunate to Isabella of Castile in 1497. The last 4 acts of their
Custom, and Shirley's Maid's Rev.
take place at L.
LISIMACHIUM
(i.e. LYSIMACHIA). A city at N.E. end of the Thracian Chersonese, just
where the Dardanelles open out into the Sea of Marmora. It was built by Lysimachus,
King of Thrace, 309 B.C., and made the capital of his kingdom. It was destroyed
by the Thracians in the war between Philip of Macedon and the Romans, but restored
by Antiochus the Gt. It has now disappeared except for some ruins near the village
of Baular. In Tiberius 1806, Vonones
reproaches the Romans because in the war against Mithridates they would not be
satisfied "Except he yield up L." In line 2154, we are told that Germanicus, in
his journey to Armenia, bent his course "from Ephesus To L."
LISLE
See LILLE.
LITHUANIA
The dist. lying S. of the Gulf of Finland and N. of Poland. It was a powerful
independent kingdom in the 14th cent., but in the 18th it was divided between
Russia and Prussia. Chaucer's Knight "In Lettowe hadde reysed and in Ruce "(C.
T. Prol. 54). In Suckling's Brennoralt
iii. 1, Brennoralt says, "The Lns. Are of the wilder sort of creatures, must
Be rid with cavezous and with harsh curbs." Cavezous is a misprint for cavesons
(French caveçons), a nose-band used for breaking-in horses. Burton, A. M. i. 2,
1, 2, says, "Nothing so familiar as for witches and sorcerers, in Lapland, L.,
and all over Scandia, to sell winds to mariners and cause tempests."
LITTLE BRITAIN
A st. in Lond. running W. from Aldersgate St. by St. Botolph's Ch., to the point
at the top of K. Edward St. where the pump used to stand; thence it turns N. along
what was originally called Duck Lane to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. It was named
from the City mansion of the D. of Bretagne, which was situated there. It was
a great st. for booksellers and publishers, especially in the part from the Pump
to St. Bartholomew's. Harman's Fraternitye of Vagabondes was "Imprinted at Lond.
by Iohn Awdeley dwelling in 1. Britayne strete without AIdersgate. 1575." He is
described in another imprint as "dwelling by Gt. St. Barthelmewes beyond Aldersgate."
Rawlins's Rebellion was "Printed
by I. Okes for Daniell Frere, and are to be sold at the sign of the Red Bull in
L. Brittaine. 1640." Middleton's Old
Law was "Printed for Edward Archer at the sign of the Adam and Eve in L. Britaine.
1656."
LIVONIA
Formerly one of the Baltic Provinces of Russia, lying S.W. of Petrograd, S. of
the Gulf of Finland, and E. of the Gulf of Riga. It was almost unknown to the
rest of Europe until 1158, when merchants from Bremen formed trading settlements
there. It was Christianized in 1186 by the monk Meinhard, and a bishopric was
founded soon after with Riga as its centre. For a time it was held by the Danes,
but at the end of the 12th cent. it became attached to Poland. From the middle
of the 16th cent. its possession was continually disputed between Russia, Poland,
and Sweden. In 1660 it was ceded to Sweden, and remained a Swedish province till
1721, when it was finally annexed to Russia. With Courland, it now (since 1919)
forms the Republic of Latvia. In Cuckqueans
iv. 8, Claribel says that, since he left Oxford, he has "visited Moldavia and
L., Pamphlagonia, and Silesia." Burton, A. M. 1, 2, 1, 2, tells of one who "sailed
to L. on set purpose to see those familiar spirits which are there said to be
conversant with men," and who was successful in getting information from them
by second-sight.
LIXA
An imaginary place in the altogether imaginary play Andromana. The background is a war between the Argives and the Iberians. In J. S.'s Andromana ii. 6, the Messenger relates: "'Tis scarce 3 hours since the brave Plangus marched from L. with an army."
LLANDAFF
An episcopal city in Glamorgansh. on the Taff, 2 m. N.W. of Cardiff and 163 m.
W. of Lond. In Bale's Johan 1363,
Private Wealth declares that the Pope's Interdict shall be published in Wales
and in Ireland by "The bp. of Landaffe, seynt Assys, and seynt Davy."
LO, SAINT
The capital of the Department of La Manche, France, on the Vire, 158 m. W. of Paris. In Ed. III iii. 3, Prince Edward announces: "Some of their strongest cities have we won, As Harflew, Lo, Crotay, and Carentigne." This was in 1346, just before the battle of Cressy.
LOCRI
(or, more fully, L. Epizephyrii). A Greek colony on the E. side of the Bruttian
peninsula, the "toe" of Italy. Its ruins are near the modern town of Gerace. It
was famous for the legislation of Zaleucus, who lived about 660 B.C., in which
careful provisions were made to prevent any innovation or change in the laws.
In Chapman's Rev. Bussy iii. 1,
Clermont says, "The Lan. Princes, therefore, were brave rulers: For whosoever
there came new from country And in the city asked, 'What new?' was punished."
In the 2nd Punic war it revolted to the Carthaginians, but was recaptured by Scipio
in 205 B.C. In Nabbes' Hannibal i.
5, a messenger announces: "New Carthage; Sagunt; Locris; Tarracon: All these are
re-o'ercome by Scipio."
LODI
A city in N. Italy on the right bank of the Adda, some 16 m. S. of Milan. It is
the centre of one of the richest dairying districts in Italy, and has an extensive
trade in cheese and other dairy-produce. It produces more Parmesan cheese than
Parma itself. In Davenant's Wits
iv. 1, young Palatine speaks of "Parmesan of Lodi" in a list of delicacies for
the table.
LOEGRIANS
(Britons = inhabitants of Logris). The form found in the French Arthurian romances.
In Fisher's Fuimus ii. 5, Belinus
says of part of his army: "All brave L., armed with pike and spear." In Chrétien
de Troyes' Chevalier de la Charrette, Lancelot says, "Unes chevaliers fut, ce
veez, Del réaume de Logres nez."
LOGIE
See LOWGAVE.
LOGRIS
An old name for England, derived from the name of Locrine, the mythical son of Brute. Spencer, F. Q. ii. 10, 14, makes the Severn the boundary between Cambric (Wales) and L. Milton, P. R. ii. 360, compares the women who wait on the banquet spread by the Tempter for our Lord to "faery damsels met in forest wide By knights of Logres, or of Lyones, Lancelot, or Pelleas, or Pellenore." Spencer, F. Q. iv. 11, 36, calls the Tweed "the limit betwixt L. land And Albany." The name is sometimes applied specifically to Kent. Deloney, in Craft i. 5, speaks of "the virtuous Q. of Logria which now is called Kent."
LOGRONO
A town in Spain on the N. bank of the Ebro, just at the junction of the provinces of Navarre, Alava, and Sori, 150 m. N.E. of Madrid. In Bacchus, one of the worshippers of Bacchus is "a Spaniard, of the city of Logronio, named Blayner Bloblip, who, gratifying his god with 2 limons and an orange pill, with a most lowly leg he leapt aside."
LOIRE, or LOYRE
One of the longest rivers in France, rising in the Cevennes and flowing in a general N.W. direction past Orleans and into the Bay of Biscay below Nantes. The Roman name was Liger. In Kyd's Cornelia iv., Caesar boasts, "The Gaols . . . Did live to see my soldiers drink at L." See also LOYCE.
LOLLARDS' TOWER
A tower at the S.W. corner of Old St. Paul's, Lond., which was used as the Bp.
of Lond.'s prison. It was here that Richard Hunne was murdered by the officers
in charge of him in 1514. There was another L. T. at the W. end of the chapel
of Lambeth Palace, but it is doubtful whether this was ever used for the confinement
of Lollards. In Jonson's Staple of News
v. 1, Pennyboy, the usurer, goes mad, and arrests and imprisons his 2 dogs in
a couple of closets, "the one of which he calls his Lollard's T., t'other his
Blockhouse, 'cause his 2 dogs' names are Block and Lollard."
LOMBARD STREET
Lond., running from the Mansion House, on the S. of the Royal Exchange, to Gracechurch
St. It took its name from the, L. merchants who settled there in the 13th cent.:
in 1318 a grant to them of a messuage abutting on Lombard St. on the S. and toward
Cornhill on the N. was confirmed by Edward II. They were money-changers, bankers,
agents for foreign traders, and money-lenders. The meetings of the merchants were
held in the st. until the building of the Burse, afterwards the Royal Exchange,
by Gresham. Gresham lived at No. 68, now Martin and Co.'s; the Goldsmiths Company
were at No. 67. The Cardinal's Cap and the Salutation Taverns were in the st.
On the S. side is the noble ch. of St. Mary Wolnooth, on the N. Allhallows and
St. Edmund King and Martyr. In Davenant's Wits
ii. 4, Palatine says, "All gold? the stalls of L. st. poured into a purse?" In
T. Heywood's I. K. M., B. i. 264,
Ramsie, meeting Dr. Nowell, exclaims: "Master Dean of Paul's, 'Tis strange to
see you here in Lumber st, This place of traffic, whereon merchants meet." In
Fair Women ii., Sanders, coming
home late, explains that he has been at a friend's "in Lumberd St. at sypper."
Mercers as well as bankers lived in the st. in H4
B. ii. 1, 31, the Hostess informs Snare that Falstaff "is indited to dinner
to the Lubber's Head in Lumbert st., to Master Smooth's the silkman." The Lubber's
Head is Quickly's way of saying the Libbard's, or Leopard's, Head. In Middleton's
Anything for a Quiet Life ii. 2,
we learn that Water-Camlet, the mercer's, shop is "the Lamb in L. st." In T.
Heywood's Ed. IV, A. i. 64,
2 other signs are mentioned: the K. says, "Here's L. st., and here's the Pelican;
And there's the Phoenix in the Pelican's nest." The Phoenix Fire Office is still
there at No. 19, and the Pelican at No. 70--next to Change Alley. In Ibid. B.
145, Jane Shore orders her trunks to be conveyed "To Mrs. Blage, an Inn in L.
St., The Flower-de Luce." In Deloney's Craft i. 10, Mrs. Eyre speaks of "the
George in Lumbard st. where the merchant strangers lie." In Brome's Mad
Couple ii. 1, Alicia says, "All Cheapside and L. st. could not have furnished
you with a more complete bargain, you will find it in the wearing." In T. Heywood's
Ed. IV A. 26, Falconbridge cries
to the rebels, "The Mint is ours, Cheape, L. St., our own." Thersites
was "Imprinted at London by John Tysdale and are to be sold at his shop in the
upper end of L. St. in Alhallowes ch. yard near unto Grace ch." In T. Heywood's
I. K. M., B. 295, one of the Lords
says that the Exchanges of Frankford and Embden "have sts. and penthouses Like
Lumber St. before this Burse [Gresham's] was built." The Lumbard is used for
the Exchange. In Ibid. B. 269, Gresham says, "We'll stay here on the Lumbard
till thou com'st." From Tarlton's Jests we learn that Armin's master was "a
goldsmith in L. st."
LOMBARDY
(Ld. = Lombard). The dist. in N. Italy included in the kingdom of the Lds. They
were a Teutonic tribe who under their K. Alboin, or Albovin, descended in A.D.
568 into Italy and took possession of the valley of the Po, where they established
a kingdom which lasted over 200 years. They were finally subdued by Charles the
Gt. in 774. Meanwhile they had adopted the language and religion of their subjects,
though in the Arian, rather than the orthodox, form of Christianity; and the race
which resulted from their fusion with the Italians proved itself to be of great
vigour and ability. L. was joined to the kingdom of Piedmont, the germ of United
Italy, by the Peace of Villafranca after the campaign of 1859. During the 13th
cent. many of the Lds. went to England to escape the troubles between the Guelfs
and Ghibellines, and became the leading merchants and bankers in Lond. They had
a messuage assigned to them is Ld. St., which still perpetuates their name; but
by the end of the reign of Elizabeth they had all left Lond. In J. Heywood's Weather,
p. 100, Merry Report claims to have visited "Louvain, London, and L." In Shrew
i. 1, 3, Lucentio says, "To see fair Padua, nursery of arts, I am arrived for
fruitful L., The pleasant garden of great Italy." In Cockayne's Trapolin
i. 1, Mattemores says, "I'll fight for Florence; Nor shall the Longobardy Mantuans
E'er win a flag while I am in the field." In B.&F. Prophetess
v. 1, the Chorus announces: "Good Dioclesian, Weary of pomp and state, retires
himself To a most private grange in L." Scene 3 takes place in L. before the farm
of Dioclesian. This is a curious mistake: in A.D. 305 Diocletian resigned the
purple and retired to a farm in Dalmatia. The Lds. were in Pannonia before they
invaded Italy, but were never as far south as Dalmatia. Davenant's Albovine deals
with the reign of Alboin. In his U. Lovers
iii. 1, Rampino says, "Galeotto . . Sold us to Heildebrand, the Lds.' K." He reigned,
for 6 months only, in 744. In Barnes's Charter
i. 4, Alexander, the Pope, allots to the D. of Gandy "all the signories in L.,
From Ports di Volane to Savona." This was Alexander VI (1492-1503). In T. Heywood's
Prentices, p. 85, Robert says, "We
have entered Even to the midst of fertile L., By writers termed the garden of
the world." The scene of Wilson's Swisser is laid in L. in the 7th century.
The wines of L. were of inferior quality. In Jonson's Volpone
i. 1, Mosca speaks of "the merchant, who hath filled his vaults With Romagnia,
and rich Candian wines, Yet drinks the lees of Ld.'s vinegar." In Laelia iii.
2, 17, on the contrary, Brulio appeals to Stragalcius: "Ut tibi arridet vinum
Lombardium."
In T. Heywood's Lucrece iii.
5, Valerius, in his song about the dress of the various nations, says, "The
Spaniard loves his ancient slop, The Ld. his Venetian": which was a tight-fitting
pair of breeches. Ld. is used for a moneylender or pawnbroker. In Langland's
Piers C. v. 194, he speaks of "other Lumbardes of Lukes [i.e. Lucca]
that liven by lone as Jewes"; and in C. vii. 249, Avarice confesses: "Ich lerned
among Lumbardes a lesson, and of Jewes, To weie pans with a peis, and pared
the hevyeste," and in 244, "with Lumbardes letters ich lenede gold at Rome."
In Roister ii. 2, Dobinet says, "If
he have not one Lumbardes touch [i.e. touchstone, to distinguish good
money from bad] my luck is bad." In Day's Gulls
ii. 1, the Page says, "I have seen much gold lying upon Lds.' stalls, and could
never finger penny of it." So B.&F., in Candy
iv. 2, speak of "an usurer or Ld. Jew." In Sir
Thomas More, two of the characters, Francis de Barde and Caveler, are described
as Lds. Ld. came to be used in the sense of a pawnbroker's shop. In Dekker's
Northward Hoe v. 1, Kate says,
"His apparel lies i' th' Lumbard." In Shirley's Lady
of Pleasure iv. 2, the Steward says to Littleworth, "Your coat and cloak's
a brushing in LongLane L." Long Lane was full of pawnbrokers' shops. Nash, in
Lenten, p. 325, tells how Madam Cornificia "sent all her jewels to the Jewish
Ld. to pawn." Fuller, in Church History (1656) iii. 13, 10, says, "A Ld. unto
this day signifieth a bank for usury or pawns." In Jonson's Volpone
ii. 1, Volpone, disguised as a mountebank, says, "I am not, as your Ld. proverb
saith, cold on my feet; or content to part with my commodities at a cheaper
rate than I am accustomed: look not for it." L. is used in the sense of Italy
as a whole. In T. Heywood's Iron
Age B. ii., Hector predicts that the glories of Troy shall be revived in
"Lumbardies Rome, great Britain's Troynovant." Rabelais, in Gargantua 1, 3,
says that Grangousier would not eat Bolonia sausages, "for he feared the Ld.
bit," i.e. poison.
LONDON
(Ler. = Londoner). The capital of England, on the Thames, some 50 m. from its mouth. The original site was on the N. bank of the river, but it gradually extended to the S., or Surrey, side. No attempt will be made to give any account of the history of L., but some points may be set down to help the student to form a correct idea of the city in which Shakespeare and his fellow-dramatists lived and worked. The old Roman city was surrounded by a wall, stretching like a bow from the Tower to a point near Blackfriars Bdge., and along the r. side back again. The r. wall had completely disappeared by Shakespeare's time, but Billingsgate and Dowgate still indicate where entrance was gained to the city from the r. On the land side the gates ran in order, E. to W.: - the Tower Postern,
- Aldgate,
- Bishopsgate,
- Moorgate,
- Cripplegate,
- Aldersgate,
- Newgate,
- Ludgate.
All these gates have now disappeared, but a correct idea of their form may be gained from St. John's Gate, Clerkenwell, which happily still remains, or from the gates of York. In Shakespeare's time they were used both as dwelling-houses and as prisons. The establishment of the Inns of Court in the 14th cent. led to the extension of the city westward along Fleet St. and Holborn, and Temple Bar indicated its new limit, so that the phrase "from Tower to Temple" was used for the whole town. The Strand was, as the name implies, near the river, with the houses of the great nobles on its S. side. From Charing Cross, King St. led down to the quite separate city of Westminster. On the E. and N., too, there had been some extension beyond the walls, but the modern suburbs of Bromley, Bow, Hackney, Islington, and Kensington were still a ring of separate villages, and beyond them again lay Barking, Tottenham, Highgate, Hornsey, Hampstead, and Hammersmith. Crossing the r. by the Bdge., a little E. of the present L. Bdge., we find the Ch. of St. Mary Overy, the palace of the Bp. of Winchester, and stretching W. the houses of the Bankside, the Theatres and Paris Garden, and little more.
Within the city everything has to be reconstructed, for the Gt. Fire swept it from Pudding Lane to Pie Corner, and hardly anything of Shakespeare's L. remains except the old lines of the sts., which, luckily for the antiquarian, were not altered in the rebuilding. The sts. must be imagined lined with gabled and timbered houses, like Staples Inn or Crosby Hall (now re-erected at Chelsea). For Wren's churches we must substitute Gothic buildings, and we must almost double the number, for 89 were destroyed by the Fire and only 45 were rebuilt. Fortunately the old type of ch. is still represented by the Savoy Chapel, All Hallows Barking, St. Andrew's Undershaft, St. Giles Cripplegate, St. Helen's Bishopsgate, St. Margaret's Westminster, St. Saviour's Southwark, and the noble conventual ch. of St. Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield, all of which escaped the Fire. The dome of St. Paul's must be replaced by a gothic tower, which formerly had a lofty steeple, destroyed by lightning in 1561 and not rebuilt. Altogether there were about 109 churches within the city area, and the air must have been continually throbbing with the sound of their bells. Old L. was a city of running waters. In almost every st. of importance there was a conduit, or water-standard, and on these the citizens were dependent for their water supply. All these have disappeared. There were, of course, no trams or cabs or omnibuses: only a few private carriages, drawn by heavy Flanders mares. The sts. were badly paved, and consequently the river was the pleasantest and most-frequented thoroughfare from one part of the city to another, as well as to Greenwich and Westminster. The houses and shops were distinguished not by numbers, but by signs, which must have added much to the picturesqueness of the sts. The houses were all inhabited, the shopkeepers living at their shops and the merchants at mansions in the city. It must be remembered that the city was hardly lighted at all at night, and that there was no system of drainage: all the sewage of the town ran down the st. channels into the Fleet Ditch or the Thames.
The principal buildings of Shakespeare's time which still remain, apart from the churches mentioned above, are the Tower, the Temple with its church and hall, Lincoln's Inn and Gray's Inn, the Guildhall, Staples Inn, Crosby House, the Charterhouse, St. John's Gate; and, further afield, Westminster Hall, parts of St. James's Palace, and Lambeth Palace. The main thoroughfares into L. were Oxford Rd. from the W., the Gt. North Road from the N., and the Old Kent Rd., or Pilgrims Rd., from Kent and the Continent. According to Heylyn, the city in 1621 was "wondrous populous, containing well nigh 400,000 people, which number is much augmented in the Term time." Shakespeare never mentions L. outside of his historical plays, and even in them there is very little specific notice of L. streets or buildings. On the other hand, Jonson, Massinger, Beaumont and Fletcher, Field, Middleton, Shirley, Dekker, Nash, Haughton, Marmion, Heywood, Barry, Rowley, and Glapthorne place the scenes of many of their comedies in L., and show a minute knowledge of every detail of its topography. There is hardly a st. or ch. or public building or tavern which is not mentioned in one or other of their plays.
General references
In Ret. Pernass. v. 4, Furor exclaims:
"Farewell, musty, dusty, rusty, fusty L. That cheatest virtue of her due desert
And sufferest great Apollo's son to want." In York.
Tragedy i., Samuel, the serving man, says, "Anything is good here that
comes from L." In Sir Thomas More
iii. 3, More says, "Of all people that the earth affords, The Lers. fare richest
at their boards." In Greene and Lodge's Looking
Glass, Oseas proclaims, at the end of Act I: "Sin reigns in thee, O L.,
every hour." The whole play is an attempted parallel between Nineveh and L.
In Three Ladies (which is also
a satire on L. manners) ii., Simplicity says, "No biding in L. for Conscience
and Love." In World Child 180,
Folly says; "In L. is my chief dwelling." In J. Heywood's Weather,
p. 100, Report claims to have been "at Louvain, at L., and in Lombardy." In
Davenant's Rutland iii. 214, the Parisian says, "A Ler.'s opinion of himself
is no less noted than his opinion of his beef before the veal of Italy." The
whole description of L. by the Parisian in this Masque should be read. In T.
Heywood's Captives v. 3, Ashburne
says, "You shall see what welcome Our L., so much spoke of here in France, Can
give to worthy strangers." In Wager's The Longer, D. 5, Discipline prays: "God
preserve L., that noble city, where they have taken a godly order for a truth."
London as the capital of England
In R2 iii. 4, 97, the Q. says, "Come,
ladies, go To meet at L. L.'s King in woe." In R3
iii. 1, 1, Buckingham says to young K. Edward, "Welcome, sweet Prince, to L.,
to your chamber." In H4 B. v.
3, 64, Davy says, "I hope to see L. once ere I die." In Dekker's Northward
Hoe i. 1, Greenshield quotes a proverb: "Lincoln was, L. is, and York shall
be." Nash, in Pierce, D. 3, says, "The poets have cleansed our language from
barbarism and made the vulgar sort here in L. (which is the fountain whose rivers
flow round about England) to aspire to a richer purity of speech than is communicated
with the communality of any nation under heaven."
London as the centre of trade
In H4 A. i. 2, 140, Poins tells
of "traders riding to L. with fat purses." In Marlowe's Jew
iv. 1, Barabas has debts owing in "Florence, Venice, Antwerp, L., Xeville."
In T. Heywood's I. K. M. B. 301,
Gresham boasts of the wealth of the L. merchants: he drinks a pearl to the health
of the Q., and says, "A L. merchant thus treads on a K.'s present." In Dekker's
Northward Hoe v. 1, Kate says, "[I travel] to L., Sir, as the old tale goes, to seek my fortune." The sub-title
of B.&F. Pestle is "The L. Merchant."
The 12 principal City Companies or Trade-guilds, with the date of the
foundation of each and the location of its Hall, are as follows:
- Mercers (1393), Cheapside;
- Grocers (1345), Poultry;
- Drapers (1374), Throgmorton St.;
- Fishmongers (1363), Upper Thames St.;
- Goldsmiths (1327). Foster Lane;
- Skinners (1327), Dowgate Hill;
- Merchant-Taylors (1466), Threadneedle St.;
- Haberdashers (1448), Gresham St.;
- Salters (1530), St. Swithins Lane;
- Ironmongers (1464), Fenchurch St.;
- Vintners (1363). Upper Thames St.;
- Clothworkers (1480), Mincing Lane.
In B.&F. Pestle ii. 3, the Citizen's
Wife says of Ralph: "The 12 Companies of L. cannot match him."
London measure
= full measure with a little over, as the L. mercers used to give. In Middleton,
Anything for a Quiet Life iii.
2, George says to Water-Camlet, "Your wife says that you give not L. measure."
Brome, in Prol. to Covent Garden Weeded,
says, "'Tis not in book as cloth; we never say, 'Make L. measure' when we buy
a play." Suckling, in Aglaura,
Prol., says, "Men ever get All they can in; will have L. measure." In Cartwright's
Ordinary iii. 5, Rimewell says
to Catchmey, with his long beard, "I say you are too forward By the length of
your L.-measure beard." In Middleton's Roaring
Girl ii. 1, when Moll asks, "Was he any more than a man?" Laxton replies:
"No, nor so much by a yard and a handful, L. measure." The Author of Reasons
in a Hollow Tree (Harl. Misc., iv. 179) thinks that the Lord's Prayer "should
have been two yards and a half longer, by L. measure."
London pins
In Skelton's Elynour Rummin vii., Sibbill gives Elynour "a clout of L. pins in payment for her quart of ale": the clout being a definite measure for pins and needles.
London roads
(i.e. roads to London). In H4
A. ii. 1, 16, the carrier complains of the inn in Rochester: "I think this
be the most villainous house in all L. road for fleas." This is the Old Kent
Rd. In H4 B. ii. 2, 184, Poins
says that Doll Tearsheet is "as common as the way between St. Albans and L.,"
i.e. the Gt. North Road. In Eastward
ii. 2, Quicksilver says that villainy is "the L. highway to thrift," i.e.
the common and easy way. In Wilkins' Enforced
Marriage ii. 2, Robin says, "The dust upon L. way was so great that not
a lord, gentleman, knight, or knave could travel, lest his eyes should be blown
out."
London pageants, festivals, etc.
The Chorus, in H5 v. 24, tells how,
on Henry's return, "L. doth pour out her citizens, The mayor and all his brethren
in best sort, With the plebeians swarming at their heels, Go forth and fetch
their conquering Caesar in." In R2
v. 5, 77, the Groom says, "O how it yearned my heart when I beheld In L. sts.,
that coronation day, When Bolingbroke rode on roan Barbary."
London atmosphere
In Davenant's Rutland, p. 228, there is a song: "L. is smothered with sulphurous fires; Still she wears a black hood and cloak Of sea-coal smoke."
London churches
In Abington i. 2, Coomes says that
Francis has as many whores as there are churches in L.: "Why," says Philip,
"that's a hundred and nine." Stow reckons 114 parish churches in L. and Southwark:
5 of these are in Southwark, so that Philip's count exactly agrees with Stow.
London gates
In H6 B. iv. 8, 24, Cade asks,
"Hath my sword therefore broke through L. gates, that you should leave me at
the White Hart in Southwark?"
London prisons
Taylor, in Works, says, "In L. and within a mile, I ween, There are of jails or prisons full 18, And 60 whipping-posts, and stocks and cages."
London taverns
In R2 v. 3, 6, Bolingbroke directs
the lords to "Inquire at L., 'mongst the taverns there," for his unthrifty son
Henry. In H5 iii. 2, 12, the Boy,
at the siege of Harfleur, says, "Would I were in an ale-house in L."
London walls
In Fair Women i. 169, Drury says
that "Roger is trusty As any fellow within L. walls." In Brome's Mad
Couple ii. 1, Alicia says to her customer, "You could not have been so fitted
on the sudden else within L. walls." In B.&F. Pestle
ii. 1, the Citizen's Wife says of Humphrey: "I believe thou hast not thy fellow
within the walls of L.; an I should say the suburbs too I should not lie."
The Bishop
In H8 iv. 1, 102, the 2 prelates
who walk on each side of the Q. are "Stokesly and Gardiner: the one of Winchester,
the other L." John Stokesly was Bp from 1529 to 1539.
The Lord Mayor
In Trag. Richd. II i. 1, 113,
Woodstock says, "Me thee, good Exton: Good Lord Mayor, I do beseech ye, prosecute
With your best care a means for all our safeties." The date is 1387, as stated
in ii. 1, iii. Nicholas Exton was Lord Mayor in 1386 and 1387, so that "Good
Lord Mayor" must be taken as addressed to him. In Famous
Vict. of H5, Haz., p. 331, the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs commit Prince Henry
to prison for rioting in Eastcheap. The date is given as the 14th year of Henry
IV (p. 333) i.e. 1412. The Mayor that year was William Waldren, mercer;
the Sheriffs, Ralph Lovenhinde and William Sevenocks. The Mayor of L. comes
to welcome Henry V on his return from Agincourt (H5
v. Chorus 25). This was Nicholas Wotton. In H6
A. i. 3, 57, the Mayor enters to stop the fight between Gloucester and Winchester,
and humorously remarks: "Good God, these nobles should such stomachs bear! I
myself fight not once in 40 year." This was probably John Coventrie, a mercer,
who was Mayor in 1425. In H6 B.
iv. 5, 4, the Lord Mayor craves aid from Lord Scales to defend the city from
Cade. His name was Thomas Chalton, also a mercer. In R3
iii., the Mayor is cajoled by Buckingham into coming in deputation with the
citizens to ask Richd. to accept the crown. He was Edmond Sha, a goldsmith.
In H8 ii. 1, 15 1, we are told
that the K. has directed the Lord Mayor to stop the rumour about his intended
divorce from Catherine of Arragon. But this is a slight anachronism: the scene
takes place in 1521; and it was not till 1527 that there was any thought of
the divorce. The Mayor comes 5th in the coronation procession of Anne Boleyn
(H8 iv. 1, "bearing the mace."
This was Sir Stephen Pecocke, haberdasher. The Lord Mayor is also present at
the christening of Elizabeth (H8
v. 5) in the same year. In Peele's Edward
I, the Mayoress of L. is poisoned by Q. Elinor by means of a snake: in dying
she calls on her husband, "John Bearmber, Mayor of L." There is no such name
in Stow's list; indeed, the whole story is an absurd legend. In Sir
Thomas More i. and ii., the Mayor plays a considerable part: it was in the
year when More was under-sheriff and the May Day riots took place, i.e.
1517. The Mayor was John Rest, a grocer. In Youth.
ii. 100, Riot says, "The Mayor of L. sent for me forth of Newgate for to come
for to preach at Tyburn." In Bale's Johan
272, Verity says, "The City of L. through his [John's] mere grant and premiss
was first privileged to have both Mayor and Shrieve, where before his time it
had but bailiffs only." The 1st Mayor was Henry Fitz Alwin, elected in 1189,
in the reign of Richard I, but John granted several charters to the city confirming
its right of self-government. Donne, Elegy i. 34 (1633), says, "We will scorn
his household policies . . . As the inhabitants of Thames' right side Do L.'s
Mayor." There was considerable rivalry between the citizens of the borough of
Southwark and the city of L.
London citizens
In Massinger's New Way iv. 1, Lord
Lovell says he will not marry Margaret and so leave his issue "made up of several
pieces, one part scarlet, And the other L. blue." L. blue was a particular dye
for cloth: here it is used depreciatingly of the L. citizen's blood as compared
with the scarlet of the aristocracy. In Eastward
i. 2, Girtred says to her sister, "Do you wear your quoiff with a L. licket;
I must be a lady, and I will be a lady." N.E.D. does not contain licket: it
is clearly some appendage to a lady's headdress which distinguished a citizeness.
London cooks
A cook, evidently of L., is one of the pilgrims in Chaucer's C. T. In Jonson's
Epicoene iii. 1, Clerimont says, "there's
good correspondence between [the musicians] and the L. cooks." The musicians
learned from the cooks where there was a feast going on, and came to offer their
services.
London prentices
The apprentices of the tradesmen in Cheapside and elsewhere: they were a picturesque
feature in the life of the city, and at the cry of "Clubs" swarmed out of the
shops to protect any of their number who had got into trouble. Chaucer sketches
one of them in the fragment of the Cook's Tale. His name was Perkyn Revelour.
He was a lover of dancing and pageants and dicing, and occasionally found himself
in Newgate. In Scott's Fortunes of Nigel, there is a vivid picture of the life
of these young fellows. There is a contemporary picture, still more vivid, in
Eastward. T. Heywood's Prentices,
he tells how Godfrey of Bulloign apprenticed his 4 sons in L., and how they
went to Jerusalem and helped to take it, and each received as his reward a royal
crown. The hero of B.&F. Pestle is
a L. grocer's apprentice. In Merry
Devil i. 4, Faber speaks of "The frank and merry L. prentices." In Massinger's
Renegado i. 3, when Grimaldi strikes
Gazet the shopkeeper, Gazet exclaims: "The devil gnaw off his fingers! If he
were In L., among the clubs, up went his heels For striking of a Prentice."
In Dekker's Hon. Wh. A. iii. 1,
when Fustigo insults Candido, the mercer, the prentices rush in and belabour
him with their clubs. In iv. 3, when Crambo strikes Candido, George, the prentice,
cries: "'Sfoot, clubs, clubs! Prentices, down with 'em!" and a number of prentices
rush in and disarm Crambo. In T. Heywood's Ed.
IV A. 17, a prentice cries: "L. prentices, be ruled by me; Die, ere ye lose
fair L.'s liberty."
London waits
A body of wind-instrument players, appointed by the city authorities, who played
during the night, especially in the weeks immediately preceding Christmas. In
Jonson's Epicoene i. 1, Cleremont says
of Morose: "The waights of the City have a pension of him, not to come nigh
that ward." The name seems to be connected with the root of watch, and implies
that they kept awake during the night, but it came to be used as a synonym for
the Hautboys, which were their chief instruments. In Famous History of Dr. Faustus
(E. E. Prose Rom. iii. 178), we have "Lastly was heard by Faustus all manner
of instruments of musicas lutes, viols, waits, hornpipes." Butler, in
Principles of Music (1636) ii. 1, 93, speaks of "the waits or hoboys." These
town musicians were hired to play at weddings and other festivities: thus, in
Armin's Moreclacke i. 1, at the
wedding of Sir William at Mortlake, Humil asks, "What, are the waits of L. come?"
and goes on: "Play in their highest key then." Whereupon the serving-man says,
"Sound, Hoboyes," and the direction is "Hoboyes play."
London's Joy
The name of a pudding. In Vox Borealis (1641), Jamie says, "They call a bag-pudding L.'s Joy."
London Lavender
(= a pawnshop). Lavender used to be placed amongst clothes which were stored away;
hence to lay in lavender meant to put away for a time: the transition to putting
into pawn is obvious. In Shirley's C.
Maid iii. 1, the Player says, "He wore them [a uniform] that day and sent
them up to taste our L. lavender."
The following is a list of plays the scene of which is laid in London:
Shakespeare: parts of all the English History plays;
Jonson: Ev. Man in Humour , Epicoene,
Alchemist, Bartholomew
Fair , Devil is an Ass, Staple
of News, Magnetic Lady, Tale
of Tub (in northern suburbs);
Beaumont and Fletcher: Scornful Lady,
Wit without Money, Monsieur
Thomas, Knight of Burning Pestle
, Woman's Prize, Coxcomb,
Wit at Several Weapons [ed note:
now ascribed to Middleton and perhaps Rowley], Night
walker;
Massinger: City Madam;
Marlowe: Edward II (in part);
Peele: Edward I (in part);
Field: Woman is a Weathercock,
Amends for Ladies;
Ford: Perkin Warbeck (in part);
Middleton: Trick to Catch the Old One,
Chaste Maid in Cheapside, Roaring
Girl, Fair Quarrel, Michaelmas
Term, Family of Love, Your
Five Gallants, Anything for a Quiet
Life, No Wit, No Help Like a Woman's;
T. Heywood: English Traveller,
Fair Maid of the Exchange, Wise
Woman of Hogsdon, Edward IV
(in part), If You Know not Me ;
Dekker: Shoemaker's Holiday,
Witch of Edmonton, Westward
Hoe , Northward Hoe;
Chapman, Jonson, Maston: Eastward Hoe;
Marston: Dutch Courtesan;
Webster: Sir Thomas Wyatt,
Cure for a Cuckold;
Cowley: The Cutter of Coleman Street [ed note: the title of this play during
the Renaissance was The Guardian];
Shirley: Witty Fair One, Hyde
Park, Lady of Pleasure, Wedding,
Love in a Maze, Ball,
Gamester, Example,
Constant Maid, Honoria
and Mammon;
Haughton: Englishmen for my Money;
Marmion: Fine Companion;
Davenant: Wits, Playhouse to
Let [ed note: Playhouse to Let is from the Restoration];
Barry: Ram Alley;
Mayne: City Match;
Cooke: Greene's Tu Quoque;
Cartwright: Ordinary;
Rowley: New Wonder;
Glapthorne: Hollander, Wit
in a Constable;
Killigrew: Parson's Wedding;
Brome: Northern Lass, City
Wit, Sparagus Garden, Covent
Garden Weeded, Mad Couple,
Court Beggar, Damoiselle,
English-Moor,
New Academy, Antipodes;
Nabbes: Bride, Covent
Garden, Totenham Court;
Sharpham: The Fleire, Cupid's
Whirligig;
Anon: Arden of Feversham, London
Prodigal, Puritan, Sir
Thomas More, Thomas Lord Cromwell
(in part), London Chaunticleers[ed. note: a play from 1659], Warning
for Fair Women[ed note: a play now ascribed to Thomas Heywood], Nobody
(in part);
Yarrington: One of the Two Tragedies.
The Old Chronicle Plays in large part: Trag.
of R3, Famous Vict. of H5,
King John, Contention
of York and Lancaster, Trag.
of R2, etc.
LONDON BRIDGE
The only b. over the Thames in L. in the Elizabethan period. Dion Cassius speaks of a b. over the Thames in the reign of the Emperor Claudius: it is certain, at any rate, that there was a b. in 1008 which was pulled down by the ships of Olaf the Norwegian. It was at once replaced, but was washed away by a flood in 1090, and its successor, also of wood, was burnt down in the reign of Stephen. The first stone b. was begun by Peter, chaplain of St. Mary Colechurch, a true Pontifex Maximus, in 1176. The legend runs that he founded the arches upon woolsacks, which has been rationalistically explained to mean that the money for the work was raised by a tax on wool. The b. was 33 years in building, had 19 stone arches with a wooden drawbridge to admit of the passage of ships, and was 236 ft. long and 40 wide. There was a chapel to St. Thomas à Becket upon it, and there the builder was buried. Another fire did great damage in 1212, and an order of "Brethren of L. B." was instituted in 1252 to raise money for repairs.
There was a gate at each end over which the heads of traitors were exhibited in terrorem. During Elizabeth's reign a new gate and tower were erected at the Southwark end, and the famous Nonsuch House, 4 stories high, over the 11th and 12th arches. Houses and shops ran along the whole length of the B. on each side. The B. gradually became unsafe, and, after many attempts at repairing it, was replaced in 1824 by the present structure, which is 100 ft. W. of its predecessor. Hentzner, in his Travels (1612), describes it as follows: "On the S. is a b. of stone 800 ft. in length of wonderful work; it is supported upon 20 piers of square stone, 60 ft. high and 30 broad, joined by arches of about 20 ft. diameter. The whole is covered on each side with houses so disposed as to have the appearance of a continued st., not at all of a b. Upon this is built a tower on whose top the heads of such as have been executed for high treason are placed on iron spikes: we counted above 30." Fynes Moryson, in Itinerary (1617), says, "The B. at L. is worthily to be numbered among the miracles of the world . . . The houses built upon the B. [are] as great and high as those of the firm land, so as a man cannot know that he passeth a b., save that the houses on both sides are combined in the top, making the passage somewhat dark, and that in some few open places the r. of Thames may be seen on both sides." Lupton, in London and the Country Carbonadoed (1632), says, "It may be said to be polypus, because it is so well furnished with legs: every mouth is 4 times filled in eight-and-forty hours, and then as a child it is still, but, as soon as they be empty, like a lion it roars and is wondrous impatient . . . . It is some prejudice to the water-man's gains: many go over here which otherwise should row or sail." Spenser, F. Q. iii. 9, 45, says of Troynovant (L.): "that with the waves Of wealthy Thamis washed is along, Upon whose stubborn neck (whereat he raves With roaring rage and sore himself does throng) . . . She fastened hath her foot, which stands so high That it a wonder of the world is song In foreign lands; and all which passen by, Beholding it from far, do think it threats the sky." Boorde, in Intro. of Knowledge i. 119, says of L.: "There is such a b. of pulchritudeness that in all the world there is none like."
In Jonson's Tub i. 2, To-Pan
boasts that his ancestors came over with Julius Caesar, "vore either L., ay,
or Kingston B., I doubt, were kursin'd." In Bale's Johan
292, Verity says of John: "In his days the B. the citizens did contrive." In
B.&F. Pestle, Ind., the Citizen suggests,
as subjects for a play, "The story of Q. Elinor; or, The Rearing of L. B. upon
woolsacks." In Chaunticleers viii., Curds recalls the days "when we danced The
building of L. B. upon woolpacks." In H6
B. iv. 4, 49, it is reported: "Jack Cade hath gotten L. B.," and in iv.
5, 3, "They have won the b., killing all those that withstand them." This was
in 1450. In T. Heywood's Ed. IV
A. i., the Recorder says, "The rebels will either make assault at L. B.
or else at Aldgate, both of which entrances should be strongly fortified."
The arches often needed repairing. In Jonson's Staple
of News ii. 4, Shunfield says that old Pennyboy "minds a courtesy no more
Than L. B. what arch was mended last." In Dekker's Satiromastix
iii. 1, 278, Tucca says to Mrs. Miniver, "Thy teeth stand like the arches under
L. b.," i.e. there are frequent gaps between them. Dekker speaks of "your
stiff-necked rebatoes [ie. ruffs] that have more arches for pride to row under
than can stand under 5 L. Bs." The gates were seldom free from the ghastly ornaments
of traitors' heads. In R3 iii.
2, 72, Catesby affirms that the princes make high account of Lord Hastings:
"For they account his head upon the B." In B.&F. Pestle
ii. 8, Merrythought soliloquizes: "I have seen a man come by my door with a
serious face, in a black cloak, without a hatband, carrying his head as though
he looked for pins in the st.; I have looked out of my window half a year after,
and have spied that man's head upon L. B." In Wilkins' Enforced
Marriage ii. 1, Word tells Wentloe that his face looks "worse than a knave's
head shook 7 years in the weather upon L. B." Lyly, in Pappe with an Hatchet
(Eliz. Pamphlets, p. 73), hopes to see Martin Marprelate "look over all the
city at L. B." In Bale's Johan
289, Imperial Majesty orders Sedition to be executed, "And on L. B. look ye
bestow his head." In Nash's Wilton A. 2. the Hero says, "In a camp be many quarters,
and yet not so many as on L. B." B.&F., in Corinth
iv. 1, transfer the B. to Corinth and speak of "the poles on Corinth b. That
bear the traitors' heads." In Trag.
Richd. II i. 2, 115, Nimble hopes "that when I have passed the L. B. of
affliction I may arrive . . . at the Westminster Hall of promotion."
As the piers occupied quite one-half of the breadth of the r., the banking
up of the tide caused a difference of level on the 2 sides of the B. of as much
as 4 ft.: hence there was great danger in trying to "shoot the b.," and the
noise of the rushing water was loud. The figure in Cor.
v. 4, 50 was no doubt suggested to the poet by what he had often seen as he
crossed the B. on his way to the Bankside theatres: "Ne'er through an arch so
hurried the blown tide As the recomforted through the gates." There is a similar
allusion in Lucr. 1667: "As through an arch the violent roaring tide Outruns
the eye that doth behold his haste, Yet in the eddy boundeth in his pride Back
to the strait that forced him on so fast: In rage sent out, recalled in, rage
being past." Shirley, in Brothers,
Prol., appeals to his audience: "As you were shooting the B., let no man shift
or stir." In his Gamester iii.
3, the Gamester "desperately will shoot the B. at midnight Without a waterman."
In Jonson's Devil is an Ass i.
1, Iniquity promises to take Pug to Billingsgate: "From thence shoot the B.,
child, to the Cranes in the Vintry." In Eastward
iv. 1, Slitgut, watching the r. from Cuckolds Haven, exclaims: "Lord, what a
coil the Thames keeps! it runs against L: b., as it were, even full-but." Trimtram,
in Middleton's Quarrel iv. 4, says,
"I'll practise to swim too, Sir, and then I may roar with the water at L. B.:
he that roars by land and by water both is the perfect roarer." In Shirley's
Lady of Pleasure iv. 2, Fred,
who is going to the Bear at the B.-foot, says, "We'll have music; I love noise.
We will outroar the Thames and shake the B., boy." Morose, in Jonson's Epicoene
iv. 2, mentions L. B., along with Paris Garden, Billingsgate, and other places,
as a locality "where the noises are at their height and loudest." In B.&F. Woman's
Prize i. 3, Sophocles says that Maria is such a talker that "The noise of
L. B. is nothing near her." In Middleton's Anything
for a Quiet Life iv. 1, George says, "There is such a noise as if it were
a tenement upon L. B. and built upon the Arches": with a pun upon the Court
of Arches, where divorce cases were tried. In Nabbes' Totenham
Court i. 1, Worthgood, approaching London, says, "Sure I hear the B.'s cataracts."
People crossed the river to Southwark by the B. instead of taking the ferry.
Overbury, in his Character of a Waterman (1614), says, "L. B. is the most terrible
eyesore to him that can be." In World
Child p. 180, Folly says, "Over L. B. I ran And the straight way to the
Stews I came." The Stews were on the Bankside, Southwark. Suicides were sometimes
committed from the B. True-wit, in Jonson's Epicoene
ii. 1, wonders that Morose is still alive when there is "L. B. at a low fall
with a fine leap to hurry you down the stream." In Davenant's Wits
iii. 1, the elder Palatine says, "You may as soon Take me for a whale, which
is something rare, you know, o' this side of the B." Whales were occasionally
stranded below the B., but not above it. In Jonson's Volpone
ii. 1, Sir Politick regards the appearance of "3 porpoises above the B." as
a serious portent. This was on January 19th, 1605. But in Eastward
iii. 3, the Drawer takes the fact that "there was a porpoise even now seen at
L.-B." as merely an indication of a coming tempest. In Middleton's Quarrel
ii. 2, "as long as the water runs under L. B." is used to mean "for ever." In
Gamester iii. 3, Dwindle says
of a great glutton: "Would he had L. B. in his belly too!" In Nash's Lenten,
p. 326, mention is made of a "Bedlam hatmaker's wife by L. B.," who claimed
to be the Messiah. The Bear at the Bridgefoot was a famous tavern (see under
BEAR). During the reign of Elizabeth a Dutchman, Peter Morris, set up waterworks
at the N. end of the B. for the pumping up of the river-water and the supplying
of it to the citizens' houses. In Nash's Wilton, A. 4, Jack says, "The wheel
under our city b. carries not so much water over the city as my brain hath welled
forth in gushing streams of sorrow." So much for "that brave B., the bar that
thwarts the Thames," as it is called in Peele's Alcazar.
LONDON STONE
One of the most venerable relics in L. It was probably the Roman miliarium, which
stood in the centre of the city, and from which the miles on the roads out of
L. were numbered. It used to stand on the S. side of Canwick (now Cannon) St.,
but was shifted to the N. side in 1742; and again in 1792 it was removed as an
obstruction, and would have been destroyed but for the exertions of Mr. Thomas
Maldon. It was then built into the wall of St. Swithin's Ch. in Cannon St., set
in stone and protected by an iron cage, where it may still be seen[ed. note:
the stone and iron cage may still be seen, though Swithins is now gone.].
The original position was 35 ft. S.W. of its present location. In H6
B. iv. 6, the direction is: "Enter Jack Cade and the rest, and strikes his
staff on L. S." Then he says, "Now is Mortimer Lord of this city. And here, sitting
upon L. S., I charge and command that the Pissing Conduit run nothing but claret
wine this first year of our reign." According to Hall, he struck it with his sword.
Lydgate, in Lickpenny 71, says, "Then went I forth by L. S., Throughout all Canwick
St., Drapers much cloth me offered anon." In T. Heywood's Prentices,
p. 82, Eustace says, "Oh that I had with me As many good lads, honest prentices,
From East Cheap, Canwick-st., and L. S." In Middleton's Aries, one of the worthies
celebrated is "John Hinde, a re-edifier of the parish ch. of S. Swithin by L.
S." In Glapthorne's Wit in a Constable
ii. 1, Valentine speaks of "Torn, the draper's man at L. S." In Dekker's Shoemaker's
iv. 5, Firk, being asked if he is sure of his news, replies: "Am I sure that Paul's
steeple is a handful higher than L. S.?" In Haughton's Englishmen
iv. 1, Frisco, leading the unhappy foreigners round L. in the night, says, "I
have the scent of L. S. as full in my nose as Abchurch Lane of Mother Wall's pasties."
In the list of Taverns in News Barthol. Fair, we have "the Bores Head near L.
S." This is the famous Boar's Head in Eastcheap, a few yards E. of L. S.
LONDON WALL
The old wall of the city of L. ran in a circle from the Tower, by way of Aldgate,
Bishopsgate, Aldersgate, Newgate, and Ludgate, to the Bridgegate at the entrance
to L. Bdge. Posterns were afterwards broken through at Moorgate and Cripplegate,
and at Christ's Hospital. Water-gates at Dowgate and Billingsgate gave admission
to the city from the r. The circuit was a little over 2 m. The wall, built in
Roman times, was from 9 to 12 ft. thick, and 20 ft. high. The portion along the
river-side from the Fleet R. to L. Bdge. had been subverted long before the reign
of Henry II, according to William Fitzstephen's evidence, but the part on the
land side, with its gates and ditch, was kept in repair, and the gates closed
at night, until the 17th cent. Since then it has gradually disappeared until none
of the gates are now left, and the only fragments of the wall still visible are
in the churchyard of St. Alphege, L. Wall; a bastion at St. Giles, Cripplegate;
a small portion in St. Martin's Court, Ludgate Hill; and another in George St.,
Trinity Sq., Tower Hill. The st. called L. Wall runs W. from Bishopsgate St. to
Wood St., along the S. side of the wall, which was still standing in a ruinous
condition along the N. side of the st. in 1761. In Shirley's Riches
iii., Gettings swears, "By the Hall ycleped Guild, and L. Wall." In Brome's City
Wit iii. 3, Crasy says he met Dol Tryman "about L. Wall." In Jonson's Ev.
Man I. iv. 4, Brainworm tells us that Cob, the water-bearer, "dwells by the
Wall."
LONG ACRE
A st. in Lond. running N.E. from St. Martin's Lane to Drury Lane. It was first called the Elms, then Seven Acres, and finally L. A. from a narrow strip of land on the N. side, which belonged to the Abbot of Westminster. The name occurs as early as 1556, when Machyn relates in his Diary that one Rechard Eggylston was killed "in the L. Acurs, the back side of Charyng Cross." It seems to have been from the time of Charles I a favourite haunt of coachmakers, but it shared the bad reputation of its neighbours, Drury Lane and Covent Garden. In Spiritual Courts Epitomized (1641), Scrape-all, the proctor, says, "All Bloomsbury, Covent-Garden, L.-a., and Beechlane were as fearful of me as of a constable." In St. Hilary's Tears (1642), the author speaks of "CoventGarden, L.-a., and Drury-Lane, where those doves of Venus, those birds of youth and beauty (the wanton ladies) do build their nests." In Alimony ii. 1, the Boy says, "She [Lady Alimony] will make a quick despatch of all his L.-a.," i.e. of his estate.
LONGAVILLE
(= LONGUEVILLE). A town in Normandy, 27 m. N. of Rouen. It gave their title to
the Ducs de L., one of whom was prominently engaged in the wars of Henry of Navarre
against the League. Probably the name of L. in L.L.L.
was suggested to Shakespeare through this fact. There are French lords of L. in
Dekker's Fortunatus, and in B.&F.
Gentleman and Hon.
Man.
LONG LANE
A st. in Lond. running E. from W. Smithfield to Aldersgate St. on the N. side
of the old Priory of St. Bartholomew. It was chiefly occupied by pawnbrokers and
old-clothes dealers. In Val. Welsh.
v. 4, Morgan says, "Cornwall, you are as arrant a knave as any Proker in Longlanes."
This was in the time of Caractacus! In Dekker's Northward
Hoe ii, 1, Doll says to Jack Hornet, "If all the brokers in L.l. had rifled
their wardrobe, they would ha' been damned before they had fitted thee thus."
In Dekker's Westward ii, 2, Birdlime
says, "She searched the middle aisle in Paul's and pressed 3 knaves, hired 3 liveries
in L. L., to man her." In Shirley's Lady
of Pleasure iv. 2, the Steward says to Littleworth, "Your coat and cloak's
a brushing In L.-l. Lombard": where Lombard means pawnshop. Nash, in Pierce, C.
3, laments that "swords and bucklers go to pawn apace in L. L."
In 1634, Cromes, a broker of L. L., was imprisoned for lending a ch. robe
with the name of Jesus upon it to the players in Salisbury Court. Taylor (Works
ii. 3) couples L. L. with Houndsditch and Bridewell as places of ill-fame. In
Shrew iv. 3, 187, Petruchio, after
dwelling on the poor clothes that he and his wife are wearing, says, "Bring
our horses unto L. L. End." The scene is in N. Italy, but probably the mention
of the old clothes suggested to Shakespeare the name of the lane: certainly
an Elizabethan audience would not be slow to take the point. In Nabbes' Covent
Garden i. 1, Ralph says of the players at the Cockpit: "They are men of
credit; they make no yearly progress with the anatomy of a sumpter horse, laded
with the sweepings of L.-L., purchased at the exchange of their own whole wardrobes."
In ii. 1, Warrant says to Spruce, "Thou buyest thy laundry in L.-l. or Hounsditch."
In Dekker's Last Will, the Devil writes: "Item, my will is that all the brokers
in L.-l. be sent to me with all speed possible, because I have much of them
laid to pawn to me." In Puritan
i. 2, Pyebord says, "Where be your muskets, calivers, and hot-shots? In L. L.,
at pawn, at pawn." Fuller, Church Hist. (1656) vi. 1, 5, speaking of his work,
says, "My wardrobe . . . will be but as from the second hand fetched from L.-l.,"
and in vi. 4, 2, he says, "Brokers in L.-L, when they buy an old suit, buy the
linings together with the outside." Richard Olive, the printer, dwelt in L.
L. and published, for Thomas Creede, Lyly's Maid's
Meta. and Greene's Groatsworth of Wit (1596). The imprint of the latter
describes Richard Olive as "dwelling in long l. L.": the repetition is probably
a misprint, not a description.
LONGOBARDS
See LOMBARDY.
LORD MAYOR'S BANQUETING HOUSE
A house erected near the Tyburn conduit-head in Lond. for the entertainment of
the Lord Mayor and Aldermen when they came out to inspect the source of their
water-supply. It stood N. of Oxford St., where Stratford Pl. is now. It was a
rustic building with gables and a thatched roof, and was taken down about 1750.
In Jonson's Devil is an Ass v. 1,
Ambler tells, "I got the gentlewoman to go with me And carry her bedding to a
conduit-head, Hard by the place toward Tyburn, which they call My Lord Mayor's
banqueting house."
LORENZO'S (SAINT) MONASTERY
There is a ch. of San L. in Venice, in the E. part of the city, in the Rio di
San L., a little W. of the Arsenal: this may be the place intended. In Middleton's
Blurt iii. 1, the scene of which
is laid in Venice, Fontanelle writes to Violette: "Meet me at the end of the old
chapel next St. L. m." The next scene is laid there.
LORETTO
A city in Italy, 15 m. S.W. of Ancona and 120 m. N.E. of Rome. It derives its
fame from the presence there of the Santa Casa, or Holy House: this is said to
be the house in which our Lord lived at Nazareth. When it was in danger of being
destroyed by the Turks the angels carried it through the air and set it down at
Tersato in Dalmatia. This was in 1291; in 1294 they shifted it to a laurel grove
near Recanati, and the next year brought it to its present site. It is a brick
building 28 ft. by 121/2, and 131/2 ft. high. It contains a small black cedar-wood
image of the Virgin and Child, said to have been carved by St. Luke.: it is enclosed
in the cathedral, and has been for centuries a most popular resort of pilgrims,
and is still visited by half a million annually. In Webster's Malfi
iii. 2, Bosola suggests to the Duchess "to feign a pilgrimage To our Lady of L.,
scarce 7 leagues From fair Ancona": it is really only 15 m. away. In Chapman's
Trag. Byron i. 1, Vidame says that
La Fin is near arriving: "For his particular journey and devotion Vowed to the
holy Lady of L. Was long since past." In Davenport's Nightcap
iii. 3, Dorothea, being asked to deny the paternity of her son, says, "Enjoin
me first upon my knees to creep From Verona to L.": which would be about 200 m.
Burton, A.M. Intro., satirizes those who run "to our lady of Sichem or Lauretta,
to seek for help." Montaigne (Florin's Trans. 1603) ii. 15, says that "those of
Galicia [go on pilgrimage] rather unto our Lady of Loreto" than to their own shrine
of Santiago.
LORNE
An ancient name for a dist. in Argyleshire, Scotland, the chief town of which
is Oban. The eldest son of the D. of Argyle bears the title of Marquis of L. In
B.&F. Gentleman v. 1, his wife calls
Marine, who has been gulled into the belief that he is the D. of Burgundy, "This
gentleman, the Lord of L., my husband," i.e. the lest or forlorn lord.
Mr. Oliphant thinks the reference is to some ballad.
LORRAINE
A dist. on the N.E. boundary between France and Germany, W. of Alsace. It took
its name Lotharingia from Lothair II (855-869), and then included almost the whole
of Holland and Belgium. The name was subsequently restricted to Upper L. In the
11th cent. it was conferred on Gerard of Alsace, whose descendants held the dukedom
until the death of the last D., Stanislas, titular K. of Poland, in 1766, when
it was united with France. In 1871 a large part of it was annexed to the German
Empire, but restored to France in 1919. In H5
i. 2, 70, the Archbp. of Canterbury says that "Hugh Capet usurped the crown of
Charles, the d. of Loraine, sole heir male Of the true line and stock of Charles
the Gt."; further, he says that Isabel, the grandmother of Lewis X (it should
be IX) was "Lineal of the Lady Ermengare, daughter to Charles, the foresaid d.
of Loraine." Hugh Capet was elected K. of France in 987: Charles of L., the heir
of the Carolings, opposed him, but was taken prisoner and died in prison at Orleans.
Lewis IX is St. Lewis: his grandmother was Isabel, niece of the Count of Flanders
and wife of Philip II (Dieudonné). The point of the Archbp.'s argument is that
the French kings claimed the crown through the female line, and therefore could
not logically plead the Salic Law against the claim of Henry V. In Ed. III, the
D. of L. appears as the ambassador from France to demand homage from Edward (i.
1), and at the battle of Creçy, where, as a matter of fact, he was slain (iii.
3 and 4). This was D. Rudolph. In Chapman's Trag.
Byron iv. 1, the Capt. tells Byron, "The horse the D. of L. Sent you at Vimie
. . . pined away and died." This is Charles, who was D. from 1545 to 1608. Probably
the same D. is referred to in B.&F. Chances
iii. 1, where Peter brings word "The D. of L. now Is 7000 strong; I heard it of
a fish-wife." In Marlowe's Faustus vii.,
the Cardinal of L, is present at the Pope's banquet. He was John, brother to D.
Claude, who died in 1550. In Marlowe's Massacre
v., a friar brings word to Dumaine: "Your brother, the Cardinal of L., by the
K.'s consent, is lately strangled unto death." This was the brother of D. Henry,
and the 3rd Cardinal of L. In Devonshire
iv. 1, Manuel pretends that he "left his father at Nancy in L." In T. Heywood's
Ed. IV B. 100, Edward complains
of Burgundy's breach of faith: "the place appointed [for our meeting] Was Cales,
not L.." he says.
LOSTRIGON
(i.e. LÆSTRYGON). The Lastrygones were a race of cannibal giants visited
by Odysseus (see Od. x.). They were supposed to have lived near Leontini, in Sicily.
In Mason's Mulleasses 1863, Timoclea
says, "I am no Lamia nor L.." i.e. not an unnatural monster.
LOSTWITHEIL
Ancient town in Cornwall on the Fowey, 5 m. S. of Bodmin. In Cornish M. P. i. 2400, K. Solomon says to the Messenger, "My a re thyugh Bosuene, Lostuthyel, ha Lanerchy," i.e. "I will give you Bosvene, L., and Lanerchy."
LOTHBURY
A st. in Lond., N. of the Bank of England, running E. from the corner of Moorgate
St to Throgmorton St. Stow says, "This st. is possessed for the most part by founders
that cast candlesticks, chafing dishes, spice mortars, and suchlike copper or
laton works, and do afterwards turn them with the foot, making. a loathsome noise
to the by-passers, and therefore by them disdainfully called Lothberie." One can
hardly believe that this derivation was seriously suggested. When Hotspur, in
H4 A. iii. 1, 131, says he "had
rather hear a brazen canstick turned" than a ballad-singer, he was probably thinking
of a L. experience. In Jonson's Alchemist
ii. 1, Mammon, in the expectation of getting the philosopher's stone, says, "I
will send to L. for all the copper." In Gipsies, Patrico prays that the K. may
be delivered "from the candlesticks of L.." amongst other disagreeable noises.
In Davenport's New Trick ii. 1,
Mrs. Changable threatens to make her husband's house as noisy "As if you were
to lodge in L., Where they turn brazen candlesticks." Amongst the taverns mentioned
in News Barthol. Fair is "the Windmill in Lothburry." There were also booksellers
in the st. Youth was "Imprinted in
L. over against St. Margaretes Ch. by me Willyam Copland." He also printed an
edition of Howleglas in 1548. Abington
was "Imprinted for Joseph Hunt and William Ferbrand and are to be sold at the
corner of Coleman st. near Loathburie." There was a conduit at the corner of L.
and Coleman St. In Armin's Moreclacke,
C.3, Ferris says to John,"Your nose is like L. conduit that always runs waste."
LOTTERY HOUSE
The first English public lottery was drawn on 11 January 1569, in a wooden shed
at the W. door of St. Paul's. Wager's The Longer was "Imprinted at Lond. by Wyllyam
How for Richarde Johnes, and are to be sold at his shop under the Lotterie H."
It is undated, but was published just about 1569. In The Great Frost (1608), the
Countryman speaks of the L. "in the 11th year of Q. Elizabeth. It was held at
the W. door of St. Paul's Ch." In Induction to Jonson's Barthol,
the Book-holder says of the would-be critic of the Play: "He shall put in for
censures here, as they do for lots in the L.; marry, if he drop but 6d. at the
door, and will censure a crowns-worth, it is thought there is no conscience or
justice in that."
LOUNDRES
Flemish for Lond.; Cf. French Londres. In Webster's Weakest
iii. 4, Jacob van Smelt says, "For England, for L., they segt."
LOUVAINE, or LOVAINE
A town in Belgium, 18 m. E. of Brussels. The University, founded in 1425, had
no fewer than 6,000 students annually during the 16th cent. It was one of the
chief strongholds of the Roman Catholic faith. L. is one of the places visited
by Merry Report in J. Heywood's Weather,
p. 100. In Greene's Friar ix. 113, Vandermast
claims to have given the non-plus to them of "Rheims, L., and fair Rotterdam."
Ascham, in Scholemaster (1570), says, "More Papists be made by your merry books
of Italy than by your earnest books of L." In B.&F. Elder
B. ii. 1, Miramont says to Charles, "The University L. for thy sake Hath tasted
of my bounty." He had paid for Charles as a student there. In Massinger's Madam
iii. 2, Frugal is reported by Lacy to have retired into a monastery: "I saw him,"
he says, "take post for Dover . . . and by this he's safe at Calais, And ere long
will be at L." Dekker, in Double P. P. (1606), says of the Papist volant: "Better
does he thrive at Louayne than in Lond., for Rome lends him a free tongue there."
In Davenant's Plymouth iv. 1, one
of Trifle's ridiculous reports is: "Antwerp is plundered, the cannon brought before
L."
LOUVRE
A palace in Paris on the N. bank of the Seine, S. of the Rue de Rivoli and E.
of the Tuileries. The site was chosen and the building begun by Philip Augustus.
It was rebuilt by Francis I, and the work was continued by Charles IX, Henri III,
Henri IV, and Louis XIII: it was not completed, however, until the time of Napoleon
III. It was originally a royal palace, but in 1793 was converted into a National
Museum and Art Gallery. In H5 ii.
3, 132, Exeter says to the Dauphin, "He [Henry] Will make your Paris L. shake
for it, Were it the mistress-court of mighty Europe." In H8
i. 3, 23, the Lord Chamberlain says, "I would pray our monsieurs To think an English
courtier may be wise And never see the L." In Middleton's Blurt
i. 1, Fontinelle says, "The darkest dungeon her eyes can make as lightsome as
the fairest chamber in Paris L." In B.&F. French
Law. iii. 2, Cleremont promises La Writ to meet him "to-morrow morning in
the L." In Davenant's Rutland, p. 223, the Londoner says, "I point not with great
wonder at the L., the fame of the palace consisting more in the vast design of
what it was meant to be than in the largeness of what it is."
LOVE LANE
A st. in Lond. running S. from Eastcheap to Lower Thames St., a little E. of Pudding Lane. There is also a L. L. running from Wood St. to Aldermanbury, but in the following passage the mention of Pudding L. would seem to indicate that the former is intended. In Jonson's Christmas, Venus says, "I am Cupid's own mother: I dwell in Pudding L. ay, forsooth, he is prentice in L. L., with a bugle-maker, that makes of your bobs, and birdbolts for ladies."
LOW COUNTRIES
(Cs. = Countries, Cy. = Country). Properly, countries on the seashore, but specially
applied to the Netherlands, including Holland and Belgium. In Dekker's Northward
Hoe iv. a, Jenkin speaks of "all the L. Cs. in Christendom, as Holland and
Zealand and Netherland and Cleveland." Most of the references are to the wars
in the Netherlands between the United Provinces and the K. of Spain; in the late
16th and early 17th cents. Large numbers of Englishmen served in these wars against
the Spaniards as volunteers, amongst them Ben Jonson, who was there about 1595.
In Chapman's Rev. Bussy i. 1, Monsieur,
the D. of Anjou, is taking his leave for Brabant, where he is going professedly
to help the Dutch against the Spaniards, and Clermont speaks of him as "The toward
victor of the whole L. Cs." The prophecy was not fulfilled, for the expedition
was a complete failure. In Shirley's C.
Maid iii. 1, Clement says, "If the K. of Spain had but that politick head,
I know who might go fish for the L. Cs.," i.e. no one could successfully
oppose him. In Jonson's Volpone ii.
1, Sir Politick says that Stone, the Fool, "received weekly intelligence . . .
out of the L. Cs., in cabbages." Cabbages were first brought into England from
Holland about the beginning of the 17th cent. Evelyn, in Acetaria 11 (1699), says, "'Tis scarce a hundred years since we first had cabbages out of Holland." In Massinger's
New Way i. 2. Furnace, the cook, says
that he raises "fortifications in the pastry such as might serve for models in
the L. Cs." In Jonson's Staple of News
v. 1, Picklock says that the deed he possesses "is a thing of greater consequence
than to be borne about in a black box like a L. Cy. vorloffe," i.e. furlough.
In Brome's Covent Garden Weeded iii.
1, Cockbrain boasts, "I have seen the face of war and served in the L. Cs., though
I say it, on both sides." Dekker, in Bellman, says of certain beggars: "These
carry the shapes of soldiers, and can talk of the L. Cs., though they never were
beyond Dover." In T. Heywood's English
Traveller ii. 2, Reginald promises to make young Lionel as safe from his father
"as you were now in the L. Cs., Virginia, or the Indies": all of which were used
as places of refuge by people in difficulties. Earle, in Microcosmog. viii., says
of the Younger Brother: "His last refuge is the L. Cs., where rags and lice are
no scandal." Jonson, in Underwoods lxi. 203, wishes that Vulcan had been "fixt
in the L.Cs. where you might On both sides do your mischief with delight."
There are many complaints about the low rate of the soldiers' pay.
In Shirley's Riches, sc. 2, the
Courtier says to the Soldier,"You have 12 pence for your service in the L. Cs."
In Dekker's Witch of Edmonton
iii. 1, Cuddy says, "Ask any soldier that ever received his pay but in the L.
Cs., and he'll tell thee there are 8 days in the week there hard by." In Kirke's
Champions iii. 1, the Clown says,
"They that in the L. Cy. garrisons kill men for 3/- a week are punies to us."
Consequently the soldiers were not good payers. In Glapthorne's Hollander
iv. 1, Sconce says, "'Tis hereditary to L. Cy. soldiers to wear off reckonings."
There was naturally a good deal of loose living in the camps. In Dekker's Northward
Hoe iii. 1, Philip asks: "Would not this woman deceive a whole camp in the
L. Cs.?" In Glapthorne's Hollander
i. 1, Sconce compains of "the gentle itch which I obtained In the L. Cs." In
Middleton's Blurt i. 2, Lasarillo
says, "The commodities which are sent out of the L. Cs. and put in mother Cornelius'
dry-fats are most common in France." These dry-fats, or tubs, were used in the
treatment of syphilis. In Tuke's Five Hours iv. 1, Sancho says, "I shall soon
forget my damsels in the L. Cs." There was plenty of hanging done in the wars.
In Webster's White Devil ii.
1, Flamineo says, "When knaves come to preferment, they rise as gallowses are
raised in the L. Cs., one upon another's shoulders." The imposts in the L. Cs.
were very heavy. In the same play (iii. 1) Monticelso says that whores are "Worse
than those tributes i' the L. cs. paid Exactions upon meat, drink, garments,
sleep."
The Dutch had the reputation of being fond of beer, and of butter, cheese, and greasy foods in general.
In B.&F. Fair Maid I. iv. 2, the
Clown, acting as Zany for Forobosco, says, "When he was in the L. Cs. he used
nothing but buttered beer, coloured with alligant, for all kinds of maladies;
and that he called his catholic medicine. Sure the Dutch smelt out it was buttered
beer, else they would never have endured it, for the name's sake": the Dutch
being Protestants, and therefore hating the name Catholic. In Ford's Sun ii.
1, Folly says, "Another stept but into the L. Cs. and was drunk dead under the
table." In iv. 11, he avers that drinking is "a humour in fashion with gallants
and brought out of the L. Cs." Nash, in Pierce, E. 3, says, "Let me descend
to superfluity in drink, a sin that, ever since we have mixed ourselves with
the L. Cs., is counted honourable." In Lawyer
iv., Vaster says, "A piece of cheese of the L.-Cy. dairies, This is the usual
diet of the fairies." In Three Lords,
Dods. vi., .413, Simony says, "In Scotland and the L. Cs. where they are reformed,
they cannot abide me." Dekker, in Catchpol, says, "Hypocrisy came into the L.
Cs. where he would not talk unless he drank with you and called you Myn Leeuin
Broder, only to overreach you of your bargain."
The L. Cs. is often used for the lower parts of the body, especially the sexual organs.
In Middleton's Quarrel iv. 4., Trimtram
says of the pander, bawd, and whore: "The L. Cs. did ever find them bread."
In Underwit v. 4, Underwit says,
"She will do you service in a L. Cy. leaguer," i.e. a brothel. In Middleton's
Roaring Girl v. 1, when Trapdoor
is asked where he has served, he says, "Not in the L. Cs., if it please your
manhood, but in Hungary." In H4
B. ii. 2, 26, the Prince says to Poins, "The rest of thy L. Cs. have made
a shift to eat up thy Holland, and God knows whether those that bawl out the
ruins of thy linen shall inherit his kingdom." In other words, Poins has sat
through the tail of his shirt: note the puns on Holland (i.e. linen)
and shift, and the allusion in the last sentence to the revolt of the Netherlands.
In Dekker's Northward Hoe v.
1, Bellamont talks of a citizen lying "in his own L. Cy. of Holland, his own
linen I mean." In his Satiromastix
ii. 1, 28, Mrs. Miniver says, "I ha' some things that were fetched as far as
some of the L. Cs., and I paid sweetly for them, too." In Middleton's Roaring
Girl ii. 1, Mrs. Openwork says to her husband, who has just spoken to Moll,
"How now? Greetings? Love-terms? I send you for Hollands, and you're i' the
L. Cs. with a mischief!" In B.&F. Wild
Goose v. 6, Belleur, who has decided to give up travel in order to be married,
says, "No more for Italy; for the L. Cs. I."
The L. Cs. is also used for Hell.
In Noble Soldier v. 2, Baltasar
says, "You were better sail to Bantam in the W. Indies than to Barathrum in
the L. Cs." In Brewer's Lovesick King
iv., Grim says, "If you would rake hell and Phlegitan, Acaron and Barrathrum,
all those L. Cs. cannot yield you such a company" as his colliers. See also
HOLLAND, FLANDERS, NETHERLANDS, DUTCH.
LOWESTOFT
A spt. in Suffolk, 23 m. S.W. of Norwich, on the most easterly point of England. The birthplace of Thomas Nash.
LOWGAVE
In B.&F. Pestle ii.8, Merrythought
sings, "She is my Lord of Lowgave's lassie." Motherwell, in his Minstrelsy, Ancient
and Modern (Glasgow 1827), p. xi, says, ". . . Old Merrythought gives this verse,
evidently a portion of a Scottish song, both in subject and style; perhaps it
may have belonged to some edition of the popular ballad of 'The Laird of Logie.'"
LOW PROVINCES
(= Low COUNTRIES, q.v.). In B.&F. Cure
i. 1, Lamoral speaks of "Holland, with those L. P. that hold out against the
arch-duke."
LOYCE
(a misprint for LOYRE = LOIRE, q.v.). Daniel, in Epist. Ded. to Cleopatra, says that English poetry ought "to Iberus, L., and Arve to teach That we part glory with them."
LUBBER'S HEAD
See LIBBARD'S HEAD.
LÜBECK
One of the Free Cities of Germany, at the confluence of the Wackenitz and the
Trave, 10 m. from the Gulf of Lübeck, 150 m. N.W. of Berlin. It was the principal
emporium of the Baltic, and carried on an extensive trade. In Chettle's Hoffman
H. 3, Hoffman says of Prince Charles: "He did perish in the wrack When he came
first by sea from L. haven." In Faire
Em i. 3, the Marques of L. is present in the Danish court. He is an entirely
imaginary personage. In Marlowe's Jew
iv. 1, Barabas talks of debts owing to him "In Frankfort, L., Moscow, and where
not." The beer of L. was noted for its strength. Nash, in Wilton, E. 1, says,
"Thy horses shall kneel up to their knees in spruce beer and L. liquor." In T.
Heywood's Lucrece iii. 3, Brutus
professes, "Were it in L. or double-double beer, I'd pledge it," and in iii. 5,
Valerius sings, "The Russ drinks quass: Dutch, L. beer, And that is strong and
mighty." In Glapthorne's Wallenstein
iii. 3, Newman says, "I think you're drunk with Ls. beer."
LUCANIA
A dist. in ancient Italy in the S. of the peninsula, on the Gulf of Tarentum,
lying W. of Apulia and N. of Bruttium. Venusium, the birthplace of Horace, was
on the borders of Apulia and L. In Jonson's Poetaster
iii. 2, Horace says, "Ln. or Apulian, I not [i.e. know not] whether, For
the Venusian colony ploughs either": a translation of Hor., Sat. ii. 1, 35.
LUCAR'S (SAINT)
SANLUCAR-DE-BARRAMEDA . A spt. in Spain, at the mouth of the Guadalquiver, 18
m. N. of Cadiz. It was here that Columbus started for his 3rd voyage in 1498,
and Magellan for his circumnavigation of the world in 1519. In B.&F. Cure
i. 1, Lamoral tells that he saw Alvarez "land at S. L." on his return to Seville
from banishment.
LUCCA
City in N. Italy, near the coast, 40 m. W. of Florence. During the Middle Ages
it was constantly at war with Pisa and Florence. In Davenant's Siege
i. 1, the Pisan Colonel says, "Twice have we sent to Florence for redress Of injuries
received from those of L." In his Cr.
Brother iii. 4, the scene of which is Sienna, Foreste says to Lucio, "The
sun will fail ye Ere ye reach L." In Oth.
i. 3, 44, the D. asks: "Marcus Luccicos, is not he in town?" and is answered:
"He's now in Florence." Probably Luccicos means "of L." some editors would read
Lucchese. He was, it may be guessed, one of the military officers in the pay of
Venice. In Langland's Piers C. v. 194, he speaks of "Lumbardes of Lukes that liven
by lone as Jewes."
In the shrine in the nave of St. Martin's Cathedral is preserved a cedar-wood
crucifix, said to have been carved by Nicodemus. In Langland's Piers C. ix.
109, Piers swears "by the rode of Lukes." The staple manufacture was silk, but
L. olive oil was also celebrated. In Davenant's Wits
iv. 1, Engine enumerates amongst other dainties "snails soused in L. oil." In
the neighbourhood of L. there are several mineral springs which have long had
a reputation for the cure of various ailments. In Webster's Malfi
ii. 1, Bosola advises Castruccio and the old Lady, "Get you to the wells of
L. to recover your aches." In Ford's Sacrifice
iv. 2, the D. of Pavia says, "I mean To speed me straight to L. where perhaps
Absence and bathing in those healthful springs May soon recover me." In B.&F.
Fair Maid I. v. 3, Juliana being
ill, the physicians "Prescribed the baths of L. as a means For her recovery."
In Webster's Malfi iii. 2, Cariola
advises the Duchess to "progress to the baths of L. Or go visit the Spa In Germany."
Montaigne (Florin's Trans. 1603) ii. 15, satirizes the men of Liege for preferring
"the Bathes of Luca" to their own Spawe. In Cockayne's Trapolin
ii. 3, Horatio characterizes it as "industrious L."
LUCERA
(the ancient LUCERIA). A city and the seat of a bp. in S. Italy, 65 m. N.E. of
Naples. The cathedral and bp.'s palace are noteworthy buildings. In Brome's Concubine
v. 9, Alinda says, "I beg my father's aid to be removed Back to my country
Naples; and, in that, Into the Magdalene nunnery at L."
LUCRECE
A bookseller's sign in Lond. The Trial of Treasure was "Imprinted in Paules churchyard at the sign of the Lucrece by Thomas Purfoote. 1567."
LUCRINE LAKE
A salt-water lagoon at the head of the bay in the Gulf of Naples, between Baiae
and Puteoli. It was separated from the sea by a broad sandbank and from Lake Avernus
by a sandy fiat. It was used for the cultivation of oysters, which had a great
reputation. In May's Agrippina v.
476, Anicetus tells how Agrippina escaped from Nero's plot to drown her in the
Bay of Baiae and "through L.1. To her own house was carried at the last." In Jonson's
Catiline i. 1, Catiline, inveighing
against the aristocrats, says, "The r. Phasis Cannot afford them fowl, nor L.
L. Oysters enow." In Nabbes' Microcosmus iii., Sensuality promises Physander "cockles
of L.": no doubt he means oysters. Drayton, in Polyolb. xix. 118, says that the
oysters of Walfleet excel those "on the Lucrinian coast." Milton, P. R. ii. 347
speaks of "all fish . . . of shell or fin, And exquisitest name, for which was
drained Pontus, and L. bay, and Afric coast."
LUDGATE
One of the old gates of the City of Lond., overstriding L. Hill just W. of St. Martin's Ch. Tradition assigned its building to a fabulous K. Lud in the year 66 B.C. The old wall came down from New-gate to L., and went on to the Thames. The gate was rebuilt by the Barons, who were opposed to K. John, in 1215, the stones being taken from the Jews' houses which they had pulled down. In 1260 it was repaired and adorned with statues of K. Lud and his sons: the heads of the statues were knocked off by the Puritans in the reign of Edward VI, but replaced by Q. Mary. In 1586 the old gate was taken down and a new one erected with K. Lud and his sons on one side and Q. Elizabeth on the other. It was gutted, but not destroyed, in the Gt. Fire. In 1760 the materials were sold to a certain Blagden, a carpenter, and the venerable building was removed. The statue of Elizabeth was placed on the tower of St. Dunstan's in Fleet St., and when the ch. was rebuilt in 1830 was let into the wall over the vestry porch, where it still stands [ed. note: it is still to be seen there in 2001]. K. Lud and his sons were stored away in the bone-house, but in 1830 they were bought, along with the old church clock, and set up by Lord Hertford on his new house in Regent's Park, which he called St. Dunstan's. The gate was guarded by a Watch and closed every night: it was not till 1753 that the postern was allowed to be kept open all night.
In the 1st year of Richd. II Ludgate was made into a prison for debtors and bankrupts.
In 1419 it was disqualified as a prison and the inmates were removed to Newgate,
but so many of them died there of gaol-fever that those who survived were brought
back to L. a few months later by order of Sir Richard Whittington and the debtors'
prison re-established. According to the story, which was dramatized in W. Rowley's
New Wonder, a certain Stephen Forster
was in his youth confined is L., but was released by the generosity of a rich
widow whom he afterwards married. He became Lord Mayor in 1454, and his widow
in 1463 enlarged the prison by adding a quadrangle and a chapel, and also laid
on water for the prisoners and had the roof leaded. It remained a prison to
the end, when the prisoners were removed to the Lond. workhouse. In Sir
Thomas More ii. 2, Williamson reports, "Shreve More an hour ago received
Some of the Privy Council in at L." This was on the occasion of the prentices'
riot. In Webster's Sir Thomas Wyatt,
p. 47, Wyat says, "Soft, this is L.: stand aloof! I'll knock." This was in the
rebellion of 1554, when Wyat led his followers up Fleet St. to L., but Lord
William Howard closed the gate against him and answered his knock with "Avaunt
thee, traitor, thou shalt not come in here." He then fell back to Temple Bar,
where he was arrested.
"From Aldgate to L." is used, like "from the Tower to the Temple," for the whole of the city.
Lyly, in Pappe with an Hatchet (Eliz. Pamphlets, p. 73), says, "We hope to see
him (Martin] stride from Aldgate to L. and look over all the city at Lond. Bdge."
In Dekker's Shoemaker's i. 1,
Eyre adjures his prentices, "Fight, by the Lord of L.!" i.e. K. Lud.
In Mayne's City Match i. 4, Newcut,
the Templar, says, in reference to Plotwell, the mercer, "Sirrah Bright, Didst
look to hear such language beyond L.?" and Bright rejoins: "I thought all wit
had ended at Fleet-Bdge." The Fleet St. lawyers and wits regarded the citizens
beyond (i.e. to the east of) L. with contempt. In Puritan
i. 3, Frailty, catching a whiff of the Corporal's breath, exclaims, "Foh! I
warrant, if the wind stood right, a man might smell him from the top of Newgate
to the leads of L.," i.e. a furlong off. There appears to have been a
clock on the gate, for, in Middleton's Roaring
Girl ii. 2. Sebastian says, "The clock at L., Sir, it ne'er goes true."
In B.&F. Pestle iii. 2, the Citizen's
wife cries, "Away, George, away! raise the watch at L.!" In Glapthorne's Wit
in a Constable iv. 1, Busie says, "A sedan shall carry them unseen through
the watch at L. into Whitefriars."
Allusions to L. as a debtors' prison are numerous.
In Jonson's Ev. Man O. v. 7, Fallace
says her husband "kept a poor man in L. once 12 years for 16 shillings." In
Rowley's New Wonder i. 1, Brewen
says of Forster: "He's now in L., Sir, and part of your treasure lies buried
with him." In Act V we have the account of Stephen Forster's purpose to enlarge
the prison. He gives directions that the prisoners should be conveyed "From
L. unto Newgate and the Counters," in order that he may "take the prison down
and build it new, With leads to walk on, chambers large and fair"; and later
he says, "The plumbers and the workmen have surveyed The ground from Paddington;
whence I'll have laid pipes To Lond. to convey sweet water into L."
In Massinger's Madam i. 3, Frugal
says that to borrow money at interest is "The certain road to L. in a citizen."
Taylor (Works ii. 38) calls it "K. Lud's unlucky gate," and (ii. 91) he says,
"The ocean that Suretyship sails in is the spacious Marshalsea; sometimes she
anchors at Newgate rd., sometimes at L. Bay." In Dekker's Westward
iii. 2, Monopoly says, "If I could meet one of those sergeants I would make
them scud so fast from me, that they should think it a shorter way between this
[Shoreditch] and L. than a condemned cut-purse thinks it between Newgate and
Tyburn." In Glapthorne's Wit in a Constable
ii. 1, Valentine says that wives, by their extravagance, "see their husbands
lodged in L." In Dekker's Satiromastix
iv. 3, 107, it is said of Horace (Ben Jonson): "He talks and rants for all the
world like the poor fellow under L.," i.e. the prisoner who clapped his
dish and kept up a monotonous cry of "Pity the poor prisoners," in order to
get alms from the passers-by. In Jonson's Ev.
Man O. i. 1, Cordatus says, "Beware you commerce not with bankrupts or poor
needy Ludgathians," i.e. people who have been in L. for debt. In Brome's
Northern Lass iii. 3, Luckless
says, "If she be not mistress of her art, there is no bankrupt out of L. nor
whore out of Bridewell."
In Hycke, p. 99, Frewyll tells
how Imagynacioun "to L. took the way," and there went into an apothecary's shop
and stole a bag of gold. In Nabbes' Covent
Garden iv. 3, Dasher says, "A country gentleman to sell his land is, as
it were, to change his copy; which changing of copy ends many times in the city
freehold at L." Dekker, in Seven Sins, makes Politicke Bankruptism enter the
City by L. and receive a welcome "by a bird picked out of purpose amongst the
Ludgathians." In Bellman, he speaks of "Citizens that have been blown up [i.e.
made bankrupt] without gunpowder, and by that means have been free of the Grate
at L." The grate was the opening through which the prisoners solicited alms
from the passers-by. In verses prefixed to Coryat's Crudities (1611), Vadianus
says of the author: "L., the floodgate of great Lond.'s people, With double
doors receives a Wight so dapper."
LUDGATE HILL
Originally L. stood across the st. just W. of St. Martin's, Lond.: the st. as far as L. was called Fleet St., and that from L. to St. Paul's Bowyer Row or L. St. Later, the part between the Fleet Bdge. and L. was called L. Hill, and when the gate was removed the whole st. from the Fleet Bdge. to St. Paul's took that name. Barclays Lost Lady was "Imprinted at Lond. by Jo. Okes for John Colby and are to be sold at his shop at the sign of the Holy Lamb on L. H." The date is 1639.
LUDLOW
A town in Shropshire on the Teme, 143 m. W. of Lond. The castle, the ruins of
which are in a fair state of preservation, was repaired by Edward IV and made
the court of the Prince of Wales. In R3
ii. 2, 121, after the death of Edward IV, Buckingham suggests that "Forthwith
from L. the young prince be fetched Hither to Lond.": which is accordingly done.
During the reign of Henry VIII, and subsequently, the Lords Presidents of the
Marches held their courts there, and during the Presidency of the Earl of Bridgewater
in 1634 Miltons Comus was "presented at L. Castle." In B.&F. Nightwalker
iii. 4, Alathe, disguised as a pedlar, offers for sale "a Ballad of the witches
hanged at L.": no doubt in one or other of the British Solomon's witch-hunts.
LUD'S TOWN
An affected archaism for Lond., in reference to the legend that a mythical king,
Lud, repaired the city, which had been built by Brute under the name of Troynovant
(i.e. New Troy), and gave it his own name, L. T., which was also preserved
in Ludgate, q.v. In Cym. iii.
1, 32, the Q. recalls how Cassibelaun "Made L. T. with rejoicing fires bright."
In iv. 2, 99, Cloten threatens to set the head of Guiderius "on the gates of L.
T.": referring to the practice of fixing the heads of traitors on the gates of
Lond. In v. 5, 481, Cymbeline gives order to "march through L. T." to ratify the
peace with the Romans.
LUDUGORY, CAPE
Probably Cape Caccia on the W. coast of Sardinia in the dist. of Logudoro is intended.
In Ford's Trial iii. 4, Banatzi says,
"I was born at sea, as my mother was in passage from C. L. to C. Cagliari, toward
Afric, in Sardinia."
LUGG
A river on the borders of England and Wales, rising in Radnorsh., and after a
course of about 40 m. falling into the Wye a little S. of Hereford. In Death
Huntington ii, 2, Young Brian speaks of the "Lord of the March That lies on
Wye, Lug, and the Severn streams."
LUKE'S (SAINT)
The parish ch. of Chelsea, near the Thames. Here Sir Thomas More was buried, also the mother of the poet John Fletcher. It dates from the 14th cent.: the chapel in the S. aisle was added by Sir Thomas More about 1530.
LUKE'S, SAINT
A ch. in Padua. In Shrew iv. 4,
88 and 103, Biondello tells Lucentio, "The old priest of St. L. ch. is at your
command," and later: "My master hath appointed me to go to St. L. to bid the priest
be ready." I can find no such ch. in Padua, nor was there any ch. of St. Luke
in Lond.
Also a country suburb of Vienna. In Meas.
iii. 1, 276, the D. says, "I will presently to St. L.: there, at the moated
grange, resides this dejected Mariana." I can find no S. L. at Vienna: was Shakespeare
thinking of Chelsea, the old parish ch. of which was dedicated to St. Luke?
It was a country vill., where there were no doubt moated granges.
LUMBARDY
See LOMBARDY.
LUMBER, or LUMBERT, STREET
See LOMBARD STREET.
LUNINGBERGE
(= LUNEBURG). A town in Hanover, 28 m. S.E. of Hamburg. In Chettle's Hoffman
B. 1, Lorrique says, "Were I at L. and you catched me thus, I should go near
to ask you 'At whose suit?'" and again, "Here is the Duke's heir of Leningberge."
LUSITANIA
One of the 3 Roman provinces in the Iberian peninsula, roughly corresponding to
the modern Portugal. In Caesar's Rev.
iv. 1, Cassius says, "Brutus, thou hast commanded The feared Celts and Ln. horse."
In Nero iv. 5, Poppaea speaks of
"Otho, who is now under pretext of governing exiled to L." Otho was sent as governor
of L. because Nero was jealous of his attractions for Poppaea. In May's Agrippina
v. 245, Otho announces: "The government of L. By Nero's grace and favour is bestowed
On me." This was in A.D. 58. In Jonson's Blackness, Niger, having been told to
seek for freedom in a land ending in -tania, tries Mauritania, then "swarth L.."
then Aquitania, and finally Brittania. In B.&F. Bonduca
i. 2, Petillius complains that the soldiers are so fastidious that "No oil but
Candy, Ln. figs, And wine from Lesbos now can satisfy 'em."
LUTETIA
(more fully, L. PARISIORUM). The Roman name for what afterwards became Paris.
In Greene's Friar ix. 114, the quartos
represent Vandermast as boasting that he "has given the non-plus To them of Frankfort,
Lutrecht, and Orleans." Fleny conjectures "L." for the unintelligible "Lutrecht."
and Ward accepts it. In iv. 50, the Emperor mentions Paris as one of the universities
that had been visited by Vandermast: which seems to demand that it should be in
this list. In Marlowe's Massacre
v., Henri says, "Here we'll lie before L.-walls Girting this strumpet city with
our siege." This was in 1589, after the murder of the D. of Guise. In Shirley's
Ball v. 1, Freshwater says, "Paris
was built by the youngest son of Priam, and was called by his name; yet some call
it L. because the gentlewomen there play so well upon the lute": a truly ingenious
derivation! In T. Heywood's Dialogues 1, 414, Adolphos says of St. Christopher:
"He in the chief ch. of L. stands." There was a colossal wooden statue of the
Saint in Notre Dame at Paris, erected in 1413 and destroyed in 1785.
LUTRECHT
There is no such place as Lutrecht, and the obvious correction to Utrecht can hardly be maintained, because the University of Utrecht was not founded till 1636. See, however, under LUTETIA.
LUX
(= LUXEUIL, or LUXEN). A town in France in the Department of Haute-Saône, abt.
200 m. S.E. of Paris. In Chapman's Consp.
Byron ii. 1, Savoy, speaking of the battle at Fontaine Françoise, says, "The
Baron of Lux Set on their charge so hotly, that his horse Was slain." This was
Edmé de Malain, who afterwards joined in Biron's conspiracy.
LUXEMBOURG
A public garden in Paris, on the S. of the Seine in the angle formed by the Boulevards St. Germain and St. Michel. The Palais de L. was built at its N. end in the beginning of the 17th cent. as the residence of Marie de Medici, and was converted by Napoleon I into a hall for the meetings of the Chamber of Peers. The picture galleries are famous in the artistic world. In Davenant's Rutland, p. 221, the Parisian says, "L. and the Tuileries no ill accommodations for the citizens of Paris" (as compared with Moorfields is London).
LUZ
The old name of Bethel, q.v. (see Gen. xxviii. 19). Milton, P. L. iii. 513, tells of Jacob "in the field of Luz Dreaming by night under the open sky."
LYBANUS
See LEBANON.
LYBIA
See LIBYA.
LYCÆUS
A lofty mtn. in Arcadia from which a magnificent view of a large part of the Peloponnesus is obtained. It was the seat of the worship of Zeus, and Pan was supposed to have been born there and had a temple on the mountain. In Milton's Arcades 98, the song begins: "Nymphs and shepherds, dance no more; On old L. or Cyllene hoar Trip no more in twilight ranks." In Nabbes' Microcosmus iii., Sensuality promises Physander, "From some height we'll number The pines that crown L."
LYCAONIA
A dist. in the centre of Asia Minor. After the fall of the Persian Empire it came
successively under the dominion of the Seleucidae at Antioch and Eumenes of Pergamos.
Under a local chieftain named Amyntas during the 1st cent. B.C., it became an
important independent kingdom, and Amyntas was one of the allies of Antony in
his war with Octavian. After his murder L. became part of the Roman Empire. In
Ant. iii. 6, 75, Caesar enumerates
"Polemon and Amyntas, The Kings of Mede and L.," amongst the allies of Antony.
It was part of the kingdom of Midas. In Lyly's Midas
iii. 1, Midas says, "I call to mind My cruelties in L." Barnes, in Parthenophil
xi. 8, asks: "Was it concluded . . . that . . . Beneath the Ln. axle-tree Where
ceaseless snows and frost's extremity Hold jurisdiction, should remain my Fear?
"
LYCEUM
A garden, E. of ancient Athens, used as a gymnasium, and dedicated to Apollo Lyceius, a little way outside the city walls. It was the place where Aristotle taught as he walked about in the grounds, whence his school was called the Peripatetic school. Milton, P. R. iv. 253, makes Satan say to our Lord, "Within the walls then view The schools of ancient sageshis who bred Great Alexander to subdue the world, L. there." Satan is wrong: the L. was not within the walls.
LYCIA
The dist. in S.W. Asia Minor between Caria and Pamphylia, extending from the Taurus
range to the coast. It was inhabited by a people distinct from the Greeks, whose
federal constitution was the admiration of Strabo and Montesquieu. They preserved
their independence until 546 B.C., when they were conquered by the Persians, and
henceforward fell under the sway of the successive empires of the East, retaining,
however, much of their primitive constitution. L. became part of the Roman Empire.
With the rest of Asia Minor it came under the rule of the Turks. In Davenant's
Rhodes A. ii., "Pioneers from L. brought" are in the army of Solyman, the Turkish
emperor. The country was mountainous and well watered, and became a sort of Arcadia
in Asia Minor. In Shirley's Arcadia v.
2, Pyrocles chooses as his champion "Daiphantus of L." L. is the scene of B.&F.
Cupid's Rev., which is based on Sidney's
Arcadia, Bk. II, and in i. 1, it is stated that the Lns. were the inventors of
the worship of Cupid. A K. of L. is one of the characters in T. D.'s Banquet.
In Apius & V. 426, Apius prays: "O gods above, bend down to hear my cry As once he
did to Salmasis, in pond hard Lyzia by." See SALMACIS.
LYCUS
(the name given by Polybius to the ZABATUS, or GREATER ZAB). A r. of Assyria,
rising in the mtns. of Armenia and flowing into the Tigris a little S. of the
mounds of Nimroud, the site of the ancient Calah, a few m. S. of Nineveh. In Greene
and Lodge's Looking Glass iv. 1,
Jonah says, "Behold sweet L. streaming in his bounds, Bearing the walls of haughty
Nineveh"; and in i. 1, 10, Rasni speaks of "great Ninivie, Rounded with L. silver
flowing streams." Nineveh was actually on the Tigris.
LYDFORD
A vill. in Devonsh. on the borders of Dartmoor, 31 m. W. of Exeter. It has an ancient castle which was formerly used as the prison for the tin-mining districts. The summary administration of justice there gave rise to the phrase "L. law"; which means hanging a man first and trying him afterwards. Langland, in Rich. Redeless (1399) iii. 145, says, "Now, be the lawe of lydfford, . . . thilke lewde ladde ought evyll to thryve" Jewell, Repl. to Harding (1565), 356, says, "Heere he thought . . . to charge us with the Law of L." W. Browne (1645) is the reputed author of a verse "I oft have heard of L. law, How in the morn they hang and draw, And sit in judgement after." Blount, Glossogr s.v. (1656), defines L. law "to hang men first and indite them afterwards."
LYDIA
A dist. on W. coast of Asia Minor, between Mysia on the N. and Caria on the S.
Under the rule of Croesus (560-546 B.C.) it became the dominant state of Asia
Minor. Croesus had the reputation of fabulous wealth, and the tragedy of his fall
impressed the mediaeval imagination. His story is told by the Monk in Chaucer's
C. T. B. 3917. In Cyrus, Cyrus says, "Cresus is foiled and fled to L." In Massinger's
Actor ii. 1, Latinus says, in the
play within the play, "I have hoarded A mass of treasure, which, had Solon seen,
The Ln. Croesus had appeared to him Poor as the beggar Irus." Solon was reported
to have visited Croesus and, after being shown his treasures, to have advised
him to call no man happy till his death. It was said that Croesus had a son who
was dumb from his birth, but who suddenly gained the power to speak when he saw
his father's life in peril at the taking of Sardis. In Tiberius
1328, Germanicus says, "Speak to my joy, More joy unto joy-robbed Germanicus Than
was the Lidian Cressus' dumb-born son, Stopping his father's execution." Surrey,
in Eng. Helicon (1614), p. 68, asks, "When Croesus, King of Lyde, was cast in
cruel bands, . . . What tongue could tell his woe?" In Ant.
i. 2, 107, the Messenger reports of Labienus: "His conquering banner shook from
Syria To L. and to Ionia." This was in 41 B.C., when Labienus, who had taken refuge
after the battle of Philippi with Orodes, K. of Parthia, overran all Asia Minor
and routed Antony's lieutenant. In iii. 6, 10, Caesar reports that Antony has
made Cleopatra "Of lower Syria, Cyprus, L., Absolute queen." The Ff. have Libya,
but the correction was made by Johnson from North's Plutarch. This was in 34 B.C.
In Massinger's Actor v. 1, Caesar
says to Domitia, "Ln. Omphale had less command O'er Hercules than you usurp o'er
me." Omphale was the daughter of Jardanus, King of L.: Hercules was sold to her
by Hermes, and she divested him of his lion skin and made him spin amongst her
maids. In T. Heywood's B. Age v.,
Omphale says, "We are Queen of L. And this our vassal."
After their conquest by Cyrus the Lns. were forbidden to bear arms, and devoted
their energies to music and dancing. Their music was of an effeminate type,
contrasted with the severe martial strains of the Dorians, and the wild orgiastic
dithyrambs of the Phrygians. In Middleton's Quarrel
i. 1, Russell says, "Most unpleasing shows to the beholders A Ln. ditty to a
Doric note." In T. Heywood's Mistress
i. 1, Admetus says, "Change your Arcadian tunes to Lidian sounds, Sad notes
are sweetest where deep woe confounds." In Marmion's Leaguer
i. 4, Fidelio tells of a lady with "a voice sweeter than the Ln. tunes." Spencer,
F. Q. iii. 1, 40, says, "Sweet Music did divide Her looser notes with Ln. harmony."
Milton, L'Allegro 136, asks: "Ever against eating cares Lap me in soft Ln. airs."
In Massinger's Actor i. 3, Paris
says of the actors: "We show no arts of Ln. panderism." A King of L. is one
of the characters in T. D.'s Banquet.
Mt. Tmolus (S. of Sardis) was named after a Ln. King, and was famous for its
wine. In Ford's Sun iv. 1, Autumn says, "Thou shalt command The Ln. Tmolus and
Campanian mts. To nod their grape-crowned heads into thy bowls." In Mason's
Mulleasses 2381, Mulleasses, dying,
says, "Stoop down, thou Ln. mount, bend thy cold head." Probably Mt. Tmolus
is intended. In Lyly's Sapho v.
1, Venus says, "This shaft is headed with Ln. steel, which striketh a deep disdain
of that which we most desire." In Brome's Court
Beggar iv. 3, Ferdinand, affecting to be mad, says, "I would but live to
subdue the Pisidians and so to bring the Lns. under tribute." In T. Heywood's
Challenge i. 1, Bonavida says,
"For wisdom, Rome presented a Cornelia and Lidia a Sosipatra." I have not been
able to identify this wise lady. In Tiberius
3001, Macro says, "What Lidian desert, Indian vastacy, So hateful monster ever
nourished?" Probably he is thinking of the Chimera, whose home was in Lycia,
near to L., but possibly Lidian is a misprint for Lician, or for Libyan, the
deserts of Africa being notorious for producing savage monsters. Donne, Elegy
ix. (1633) 29, says, "Xerxes' strange Ln. love, the platane tree, Was loved
for age, none being so large as she." See Pliny Hist. Nat. xii. 1-3.
LYEAS
(a misprint for LYCUS). A river in Phrygia, now Tchoruk-Su, flowing into the Maeander.
Laodicea lay about a mile from the Lycus. In Caesar's
Rev. v. 1, Cassius speaks of his conquest in 42 B.C. of "Laodicea, whose high-reared
walls Fair L. washeth with her silver wave."
LYMBO
See LIMBO.
LYMOGES
A city in France in the department of Haute-Vienne on the Vienne, 236 m. S. of
Paris. It was an ancient Roman town: Vidomar, Viscount of L., having found some
golden statues of a Roman emperor and his wife, refused to give them up to Richd.
Coeur-de-lion, who was his suzerain. Richd. consequently besieged him at Chaluz-Chabrol,
and was killed by a poisoned arrow from the castle in 1199. L. was himself killed
by Faulconbridge in 1200. He is one of the characters in K.
J., where he is called Archduke of Austria, as in Trouble.
Reign . This is an absurd mistake. The Archduke of Austria was Leopold VI,
who succeeded in 1184. But he had nothing whatever to do with the death of Richd.
LYNCOLNESHERE
See LINCOLNSHIRE.
LYNN
(LYNN REGIS, or KING'S LYNN). A port in Norfolk, on the estuary of the Ouse, 96
m. N. of Lond. It was first called Bishop's L., but the name was changed to King's
L. by Henry VIII. In H6 C. iv.
5, 21, after the defeat and capture of Edward in 1470, he asks of his friends
who are arranging for his escape from Middleham Castle: "Whither shall we then?"
and Hastings replies: "To L., my Lord; and ship from thence to Flanders." In Fair
Women ii. 1079, James tells the story of a woman who, "sitting to behold a
tragedy At Linne, a town in Norfolk," was so moved that she confessed to having
murdered her husband. In Day's B. Beggar
ii., Young Strowd, who is a Norfolk man, says of his 2 companions: "They can talk
of nothing but how they sell a score of cow-hides at Lynmarte," i.e. L.
market. In Brewer's Lovesick King
ii., Randolfe orders his coal-ships from Newcastle to "put in at Lyn and Yarmouth
and let Lond. be the farthest of their journey." In Hall's Characters (1608),
one of the topics of the Busybody's conversation is "the report of the great fish
taken up at Linne." In verses prefixed to Coryat's Crudities (1611), Peacham mentions
amongst the sights of England "K. John's sword at Linne, with the cup the Fraternity
drink in."
LYNTERNUM
See LINTERNUM.
LYONES
The old name in the Arthurian romances for Cornwall. Milton, P. R. ii. 360, compares the attendants at the banquet spread for our Lord by the Tempter to "Faery damsels met in forest wide By knights of Logres or of L., Lancelot, or Pelleas, or Pellenore."
LYONS
The second city in France, at the junction of the Rhône and Saône, 240 m. S.E.
of Paris. Its archbp. is the metropolitan of all Gaul. In Bale's Laws
iv., Hypocrisy says, "As for L., there is the length of our Lord in a great pillar.
She that will with a cord be fast bound to it shall sure have child, for within
it is hollow all." This was a hollow pillar said to be of the exact height of
our Lord. In Chapman's Rev. Bussy
v. 1, when Clermont advises Guise to retire, he says, "The Archbp. of L. tells
me plain I shall be said then to abandon France In so important an occasion."
In Consp. Byron iii. 1, Roncas
says that "the archbp. of L., Pierce Pinac," said that he had never seen a face
of worse presage than that of Byron. In Chivalry, the servant of the D. of Bourbon
is "Peter de Lions." In Middleton's Anything
for a Quiet Life iii. 2, Franklin junior professes to be a Frenchman "de L."
A lost play, Raymond Duke of Lyons, was acted in 1613
LYON'S INN
An Inn of Chancery in Lond., belonging to the Inner Temple. It was originally
a tavern with the sign of the Lion, and was converted into an Inn of Chancery
in the reign of Henry VIII. It stood on the site of the [later] Globe Theatre
in Newcastle St., off the Strand: it was sold by the members in 1863, and the
theatre was erected in 1868. The now defunct Opéra Comique occupied a part of
the site. In a letter from W. Fleetwood to Lord Burghley in 1584, he relates how
a tailor, having quarrelled with a clerk, raised the prentices, and "thinking
that the clerk was run into L. I., brake down the windows of the house." In Brome's
English-Moor iii. 1, Phillis says,
"I have a cousin that is a Retorney of L. I., that will not see me wronged."
LYZIA
See LYCIA.