LAY
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LAZ
LAW OF ARMS, is that which gives Precepts how rightly to proclaim War, to make and obferve Leagues, to attack the Enemy, and to punifh Offenders in the Camp.
LA WING OF DOGS, a Term ufed in our Law- Writers. Thus Mafliffs mutt be La-wed every three Years ; Crompton Juris, fol. 163. that is, three Claws of the Fore- Foot fliall be cut off by the Skin, or the Ball of the Fore- Foot cut out.
The Word Law is derived from the Saxon, Lag or Laugh.
LAWLESS COURT. OnKings-hillacRocbford in Effex every Wednefday Morning next after Michaelmas-Dmy, at Cock-Crowing, is held a Court vulgarly call'd the Lawlefs Court. They whifper, and have no Candle, nor any Pen and Ink but a Coal ; and he that owes Suit or Service there, forfeits double his Rent every hour he is miffing. This Court is call'd Lawlefs, becaufe held at an unlawful Hour, or quia diHa fine lege. It is mention'd by Camhden, who fays this fervile Attendance was impofed on the Te- nants for confpiring at the like unfeafonable Time to raife a Commotion.
LAWLESS MAN, Exlex. See Outlaw.
LAW OF MARQUE, from the German Word March, a Bound or Limit, is a Law fo call'd, by which thofe who are driven to make ufe of it, take the Goods or Shipping of the Party that has done 'em wrong, and of whom they cannot get ordinary Juftice whenever they can take them within their own Bounds or PrecinSs. See Reprifals.
LAW MERCHANT, is become a Part of the Laws of the Kingdom ; it confifls in this, that if there be two joint Merchants of Wares, and one of 'cm dies, his Exe- cutor fhall have the Moiety : which is not fo in the Cafe of others, not Merchants.
LAW OF THE STAPLE, the fame with Law Mer- chant.
LAWS OF MOLMUTIUS. SceMolmutianLaws.
LAWS OF MOTION, or of Nature (taken in a phy- lical Senfe.) See Motion.
LAWS OF OLERON. SceOleron.
LAW SPIRITUAL, is the Ecclefiaflical or Canon Law allow'd by the Laws of the Realm 5 fo far as it is not a- gainft the Common Law, nor againft the Statutes and Cuf- toms of the Kingdom. And regularly, according to fuch Ecclefiaflical Laws, the Ordinary and other Ecclefiaflical Judges do proceed in Cafes within their Cognizance. See Canon.'
LAXATIVE, in Medicine, is ufed to fignify a loofe State or Difpofition of the Body, fo as to go frequently to ftool. Hence laxative Medicines are fuch as promote that Difpofition, which they do by fome fmooth foftening Quality, taking away the Tenfity of the Fibres, and fa- cilitating the Paffage of the Contents of the inteftinal Tube thro it j for which Reafon all oily Subftances come under this Clafs. See Purgatives.
LAY, an old French Word, fignifying Moan, or Com- plaint. Lay is alfo the Name of a kind of antient Poe- try, confifting of very Ihort Verfes. There were two forts of Lays, the great and the little ; the great Lay was a Poem, confifting of twelve Couplets of Vetfes of diffe- rent Meafures ; the little Lay was a Poem confifting of fixteen or twenty Verfes, divided into four Couplets. Thefe Lays were the Lyric Poetry of the old French Poets, who were imitated by fome among the Englifi. They were principally ufed on melancholy Subjects, and are faid to have been formed on the Model of the Trochaic Verfes of the Greek and Latin Tragedies. Father Mor- gues givesus an extraordinary Inflance of one of thefe an- tient Lays in his Treatife of French Poetry : Sitr VAppui du Monde Que faut il tp y im funds V'EJfoir ; Cette Mer profonde, En Debris feconde Fait voir
Calme an Matin, VOndt Et VOrage y gronde Le Soir.
LAY THE LAND, a Sea-Phrafe, ufed for failing out of fight of Land, in which Cafe, they fay, they have laid the Land-, and if another Point of Land exclude the fight of the former, they fay, They havefiut thefirft Land in. Lay-Land in Husbandry is alfo Fallow Ground which lies untilled.
LAY-BROTHER, among the Romanifts, is a pious but illiterate Perfon, who devotes himfelf, in fome Con- vent, to the Service of the Religious. He wears a Habit different from theirs, nor ever enters into the Choir or the Chapter. He is not in any Orders, nor does he make any Vow, excepting of Conflancy and Obedience. A Lay-Brother is alfo ufed for an illiterate Religious, who takes care of fome of the temporal Concerns of the Con- vent, as the Kitchin, the Gate, ESfc, There are alfo Lay-
Brothers, who make the three Vows of Religion. In the Nunnetics are alfo Lay-Sijters, who never enter the Choir, fgc. and who are only retained for the Service of the Convent. The Inftitution of Lay-Brothers began in the eleventh Century. The Perfons on whom this Title was conferred, were fuch as were too ignorant to become Clerks, and who therefore applied themfelvcs wholly to bodily Work. It feems to have taken its Rife from hence, that the Laity in thofe Days had not, for the generality, the leaft Tinflute of Learning ; whence alfo thofe came to be called Clerks, by way of Diftinffion, who had flu- died a little, and were able to read. The word comes from the Latin Laicus, of the Greek AaSt, People.
LAYERS, ate the low Branches of Trees or Shrubs, which are covered with good Mould when you would raife their Kind from them, leaving out their' Ends till they are rooted ; when they are to be cut off.
LAYMAN, a Perfon not engaged in any Order of Ec- clefiaflicks.
Layman, among Painters, is a Statue of Wood, whofe Joints are fo made that it may be put into any Foliure. its chief Ufe is for the cafting and adjufling of Dra- peries for the clothing of Figures.
LAZARETTO, or LAZAR-HOUSE, a publick Building inform of an Hofpital, for the Reception of poor Sick. In fome Countries it is appointed for Perfons coming from Places fufpected of the Plague to quarantain in. This is ufually a large Building, at a diftance from any City, whofe Apartments fland at a diftance from each other, &c. where Ships are unladen, and their E- quipage is laid up for forty Days, more or lefs, according to the Time and Place of Departure.
St. LAZARUS, the Name of a military Order in- ftituted at Jerufalem by the Chriflians of the Weft , when
they became Matters of the Holy Land. They received
Pilgrims under their Care, guarded them on the Roads, and defended them frpm the Infults of the Mahometans. Some fay it was inftituted in 1 119. Pope Alexander IV. confirmed it by aBullin 1255, giving it the Rule of St. Auguftine, The Knights of this Order being driven out of the Holy Land, part of them retired into France, and were eftabliflied there under Louis the Hid, who be- llowed on them the Country of Boigny near Orleans. In- nocent VIII. fuppreffed the Order of St. Lazarus in Italy in 14.90, or rather united it to that of Maltha. Leo X. re- eftabliflieditin Italy in the beginning of the iSth Centu- ry. In 1572, Gregory XIII. united it in Savoy to that of St. Maurice, jufl inftituted by Duke Emanuel Fhililert. In France this Order was united to that of N. D. of Mount Carmel in io~o8, and had fome new Advantages conferred on it by the late King Louis XIV. The Knights of St. La- zarus ate allowed to marry, and yet have Penfions upon Benefices.
Fathers of St. Lazarus, or Lazarites, a Name given to certain Regular Clerks of a Congregation inflituted in France in the 17th Century by M. Vincent. They take their Name from a Houfe in the Fauxboarg of Paris. They have a Seminary in Paris, called The Seminary des Bans En- fants. The Vows they make are fimple, and on occafioa may be difpenfed withal.
LEAD, a coarfe, heavy, impure Metal, of all others the fofteft and mofl fufible, when purified ; called by the Chymifls Saturn. Thofe who have made an Analyfis of it, find it contains a little Mercury, fome Sulphur, and a great deal of bituminous Earth. Lead is found in va- rious Countries, but abounds particularly in England. 'Tis found, too, in feveral kinds of Soils and Stones, fome whereof, befides, contain Gold, fome Silver, others Tin, ES?c. 'Tis melted on a Furnace provided for the purpofe, with a flrong Coal-Fire upon it 5 as it melts, it runs thro' a Canal on one Side of it, leaving the Earth, Stone, and Scoria, with the A/hes of the Coals. 'Tis purified by skimming it e'er cold, and throwing Suet and other fat Bodies into it. Some very able Natutalifts obferve, that the Weight of Lead increafes, either in the open Air, or under Ground. Mr. Boyle obferves this particularly of the Lead of Churches, which, he fays, frequently grows both in Bulk and Weight, fo as to become too ponderous for the Timber that before fuftained it 5 which fome ac- count for from the Impurity, Heterogeneity, and loofe Texture of its Parts, by means whereof the Particles of the Air getting Admiffion within its Potes, are attracted, and eafily affimilated to it. But others, who rely wholly on Experience, abfolutely*deny the Effect, as alfo that it is reproduced in Mines before exhaufled, by letting them lie long open to the Air, which others affert. ienrfisfound of a lighter or deeper Colour, according us it is more or lefs purified, tho' fome make a difference in the Colour of the Ore, always efteeming that mofl which is the whitcfl. Lead is a Metal of much Ufe i it eafily melts, and mixes with Gold, Silver, and Copper, and communi- cates, as they talk, its Humidity to them j but not be- T t 1 1 t i„e
