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LETTERS PATENT, a doc.u.ment under seal of the government granting some special privilege to a person.
LETTRES DE CACHET (i. e. sealed letters), warrants of imprisonment, issued prior to the Revolution, sealed with the private seal of the king, in contradistinction from _lettres patentees_, which were sealed by the Great Seal of the kingdom. See CACHET, LETTRE DE.
LEUCIPPUS, a Greek philosopher of the 6th century B.C., the founder of the Atomic theory of things, of which DEMOCRITUS (q. v.) was the chief expounder.
LEUCTRA, a village in Boeotia, to the S. of Thebes, where in 371 B.C. Epaminondas and his Thebans overthrew the ascendency of Sparta.
LEUTHEN, a village in the W. of Breslau, in Silesia, where Frederick the Great defeated the Austrians with great loss in 1757.
LEVANA, the t.i.tle of a book by Jean Paul on the education of children; t.i.tle from the name of a Roman G.o.ddess, the protectress of foundlings.
LEVANT (i. e. the Rising), a name given to the E. of the Mediterranean and the regions adjoining by the western peoples of the Mediterranean.
LEVEE, a morning reception held by the sovereign or some one of high rank.
LEVELLERS, a party of violent red-hot Republicans, led on by John Lilburne, who appeared in the time of the Commonwealth, but were suppressed by Cromwell.
LEVER, CHARLES JAMES, a novelist, born at Dublin, was by profession a physician; author of a numerous series of Irish stories written in a rollicking humour, ”Harry Lorrequer” and ”Charles O'Malley” among the chief; was a contributor to and for some time editor of _Dublin University Magazine_; held ultimately various consular appointments abroad, and after that wrote with success in a more sober style (1806-1872).
LEVERRIER, URBAN JEAN JOSEPH, French astronomer, born at St. Lo; distinguished in chemistry before he devoted himself to astronomy; rose to eminence in the latter science by a paper on the variations in the orbits of the planets, and was led to the discovery of the planet Neptune from perturbations in the orbit of the planet Ura.n.u.s; he indicated the spot where the planet would be found, and it was actually discovered a few days after by Galle at Berlin (1811-1877).
LEVI, LEON, commercial economist, born at Ancona; settled in England and was naturalised; drew attention to the want of commercial organisation, and to whose pleading the first chamber of commerce, that of Liverpool, owes its existence; became professor of Commercial Law in King's College, London (1821-1888).
LEVIRITE LAW, a law among the Jews which ordained if a husband died without issue that his brother should take his widow to wife and raise up seed to him (Deut. xxv. 5-10).
LEVITES, a body of men divided into courses, the servants of the priests in the wors.h.i.+p of the Temple of Jerusalem; they were not permitted to enter the sanctuary or serve at the altar, their duties being limited to keeping watch over the Temple, slaying the victims, and making other preparations for the sacred services.
LEVITICAL DEGREES, relations.h.i.+ps that preclude marriage, so called as presumably fixed by the Levitical priesthood of the Jews.
LEVITICUS, the third book of the Pentateuch, so called as containing the laws and ordinances appointed to regulate the services of the sanctuary as conducted by a priesthood of the tribe of Levi, the narrative portion of it recording the consecration of Aaron and his sons, the death of Nadab and Abihu, and the stoning of the blasphemer, embracing a period of only one year, and the legislation of it no longer issuing from Mount Sinai, but from the door of the Tabernacle.
LEWALD, f.a.n.n.y, an eminent German novelist, born at Konigsberg, of Jewish parents; professed Christianity and was married to Adolf Stahr; was a realist in art and a zealous woman's rights advocate (1811-1889).
LEWES (11), the county town of Suss.e.x, finely situated on a slope of the South Downs, 10 m. NE. of Brighton; was the scene of a victory of Simon de Montfort in 1264 over the forces of Henry III.; has a trade in corn and malt, and tanneries.