LARDNER LARK. 



333 



it covers the animal all over, and forms a thick, dis- 

 tinct, and continued layer betwixt the flesh and the 

 skin, somewhat like the blubber in whales, applica- 

 ble to various purposes, both culinary and medicinal, 

 and particularly to the composition of ointments. 

 The usual mode of preparation is, to melt it in a jar 

 placed in a kettle of water, and in this state to boil it, 

 and run it into bladders that have been cleaned with 

 great care. The smaller the bladders are, the better 

 the lard will keep. The fat which adheres to the parts 

 connected with the intestines, differs from common lard, 

 and is preferable for the greasing of carriage wheels. 

 LARDNER, NATHANIEL ; a learned divine, born 

 1684, at Hawkhurst, in Kent. At the age of six- 

 teen, he was sent to the university of Utrecht, and 

 afterwards to that of Leyden. He returned to Eng- 

 land in 1703, and commenced a preacher about the 

 age of twenty-five. In 1713, he went to reside in 

 the family of lady Treby, as domestic chaplain, and 

 tutor to her son, whom he afterwards accompanied 

 on a tour through part of France and the Netherlands. 

 In 1723, lie was engaged, in conjunction with other 

 ministers, in carrying on a course of lectures at a 

 chapel in the old Jewry, London. In 1727, he pub- 

 lished in 2 vols., 8vo, the first part of the Credibility 

 of the Gospel History: the twelfth part appeared in 

 1755, and was followed by three supplementary 

 volumes, comprising a history of the apostles and 

 evangelists, with observations on the New Testament. 

 The university of Aberdeen, in 1745, conferred on 

 him the degree of D. D. In the latter part of his 

 life, he retired to Hawkhurst, where he died, July 

 24, 1768, at the age of eighty-four. Besides his 

 principal work, he was the author of Jewish and 

 Heathen Testimonies to the Truth of the Christian 

 Religion (1764 67, 4 vols., 4to); the History of the 

 Heretics of the two first Centuries (4to, 1780) ; a 

 Vindication of three of our Saviour's Miracles, and 

 other theological compositions. A collective edition 

 of his works, with his life by doctor Kippis, was pub- 

 lished in 1788 (11 vols., 8vo.) 



LARES (familiares) were the domestic and family 

 tutelary gods among the Romans. They were 

 images of wood, stone and metal, and generally stood 

 upon the hearth in a kind of shrine (lararium). The 

 higher classes had them also in their bedchambers or 

 private lararia (domestic chapels). On important 

 occasions, a young pig, a lamb, or a calf, was sacri- 

 ficed to them. From these domestic lares must be dis- 

 tinguished those which were publicly worshipped by 

 the whole state, by a city or class of men. Silvanus 

 was the general lar of the peasants, and Mars of the 

 soldiery. The public lares were twin sons of Mercury 

 and the nymph Lara. At Rome, in the beginning 

 of May, a festival was solemnized in honour of them, 

 and* of the reigning emperor, who was considered a 

 public lar. See Penates. 



LAR1SSA, a city of Thessaly, on the Peneus, 

 celebrated in ancient times for its bull-fights, which 

 were conducted in the same manner as they are at 

 present in Madrid, was the rendezvous place of 

 Julius Caesar's army before the battle of Pharsalia. 

 It is now the largest, richest, and most populous city 

 in Thessaly, and the seat of a Greek archbishopric, 

 with 4000 houses, and 25,000 inhabitants, of whom 

 about one fourth are Greeks. It lias houses for dyeing 

 yarn, manufactories of morocco leather, considerable 

 commerce, and some attention is paid to the cultiva- 

 tion of the vine. It was the head quarters and centre 

 of the military operations of the Turks against the 

 Greeks from the time of AH Pacha, who laid the 

 foundation of his power in Larissa. From this city 

 also, Kourschid Pacha, and all the other seraskiers 

 who succeeded him, commenced their campaigns 

 against Livadi;; and Epirus. 



LARIVE, J. MAUDFIT DE, one of the most dis- 

 tinguished tragic actors of France, after Lekain and 

 Talma, was born in 1749, at La Kochelle. Having 

 made his debut in Lyons, he appeared in Paris, in 1771. 

 He was particularly distinguished in heroic parts. 

 During the reign of terror, he was arrested, and 

 saved only by a secretary of the committee of public 

 safety, who destroyed the proofs against him and the 

 other actors. Before new documents could be col- 

 lected, Robespierre was overthrown. Geoffroy's cri- 

 tiques, and Talma's rising fame induced him to leave 

 the stage rather early. He bought a country-seat in 

 the valley of Montmorency, and was elected mayor 

 of the place. In 1806, he went, for a short time, to 

 the court of Joseph Bonaparte then king of Naples, 

 to establish a French theatre in his capital. In 1816, 

 he appeared once more in the part of Tancrede, 

 though sixty-seven years old, for a charitable purpose, 

 with great success. Larive died in 1822. Of his 

 several works, the most important is his Cours de 

 Declamation (3 vols., Paris, 18041810). 



LARK (alaudd). In this genus of birds, the bill 

 is straight, slender, bending a little towards the end, 

 and sharp-pointed ; the nostrils are covered with 

 feathers, and the tongue bifid. The toes are free, 

 the hinder one thickest, and nearly equal to the 

 outer. There are several species which deserve 

 notice. 



The sky-lark (A. arvensis), which is the most har- 

 monious of this musical family, is almost universally 

 diffused throughout Europe, is every where extremely 

 prolific, and sought for. These birds are easily 

 tamed, and become so familiar as to eat from the 

 hand. The sky-lark commences his song early in 

 the spring, and continues it during the whole sum- 

 mer, and is one of those few birds that chant whilst 

 on the wing. When it first rises from the earth, its 

 notes are feeble and interrupted ; as it ascends, how- 

 ever, they gradually swell to their full tone, and, long 

 after the bird has reached a height where it is lost to 

 the eye, it still continues to charm the ear with its 

 melody. It mounts almost perpendicularly, and by 

 successive springs, and descends in an oblique direc- 

 tion, unless threatened with danger, when it drops 

 like a stone. The female forms her nest on the 

 ground, generally between two clods of earth, and 

 lines it with dry grass. She lays four or five eggs, 

 which are hatched in about a fortnight, and she 

 generally produces two broods in the year. In the 

 autumn, when these birds assemble in flocks, they 

 are taken in vast numbers. Pennant states that as 

 many as 4000 dozen have been caught near Dunstable 

 alone. 



The wood- lark (A. arborea) is distinguished by its 

 small size and less distinct colours. It is generally 

 found near the borders of woods, perches on trees, 

 and sings during the night, so as sometimes to be 

 mistaken for the nightingale. When kept in a cage, 

 near one of the latter birds, it often strives to excel 

 it, and, if not speedily removed, will fall a victim to 

 emulation. The female lays five eggs, of a dusky 

 colour, interspersed with deep brown spots, and like 

 the former species, raises two broods in the year. 



There is but one true lark, the shore-lark (A. 

 alpestris), found in America, and this is also an 

 inhabitant of Europe, though it is much more com- 

 mon, and migrates farther south, in America. It is of 

 a reddish drab colour, with a whitish tint beneath ; a 

 broad patch on the breast and under each eye, as 

 well as the lateral tail feathers black. 



The brown lark of Wilson properly belongs to the 

 genus anthus. This bird, however, possesses many 

 of the habits of the lark, as that of singing when ris- 

 ing on the wing, seldom perching on trees, building 

 on the ground, &c. The brown lurk is also an 



