LIMIT LINCOLNSHIRE. 



475 



unsuccessfully besieged by king William in person, 

 'n 1691, it surrendered to general Ginkle, afterwards 

 earl of Athlone. Population in 1841, 48,391, a 

 very small portion of whom are Protestants. 



LIMIT, in a restrained sense, is used by mathe- 

 maticians for a determinate quantity, to which a 

 variable one continually approaches ; in which sense, 

 the circle may be said to be the limit of its circum- 

 scribed and inscribed polygons. In algebra, the 

 term limit is applied to two quantities, one of which 

 is greater, and the other less, than another quantity; 

 and, in this sense, it is used in speaking of the limits 

 of equations, whereby their solution is much facili- 

 tated. 



LIMNING (from enluminer, French, to adorn 

 books with paintings). As these paintings or illu- 

 minations were always executed in water-colours, 

 Urn ning properly designates that species of art which 

 is now known by the name of miniature painting, 

 though it is sometimes used to signify the art of 

 painting generally, and particularly portrait painting. 



LIMOGES (Augustoritum, or Lemovicum) ; a city 

 of France, capital of the department of the Haute- 

 Vienne, and formerly of the province of Limousin ; 

 lat. 45 50' N.; Ion. 1 Q 16' E.; episcopal see ; 25,612 

 inhabitants. It is an ancient place, and contains 

 some Gaulish and Roman remains. The hotel de 

 ville, cathedral, and episcopal palace, are the princi- 

 pal public buildings. It is also the seat of several 

 literary establishments, and has woollen, linen and 

 cotton manufactures, with paper works, tanneries 

 and iron forges. Several fairs are held here. Birth- 

 place of the chancellor D'Aguesseau. 



LIMONADE; a place and plantation in Hayti, 

 very rich in sugar. It was elevated to a lordship by 

 king Christophe, and bestowed upon his minister for 

 foreign affairs, whom he made count de Limonade. 

 With the death of Christophe, the count de Limon- 

 ade returned to obscurity. Though ridiculed by 

 whites, on account of his title, he showed talents in 

 the conduct of his office. It is not true that Chris- 

 tophe killed him in 1817, as has been said. 



LIMONADIERE ; a very essential personage in 

 a French cafe. See Coffee-Houses, under Coffee, 



LIMOUSIN, or LIMOSIN ; an ancient province 

 in the centre of France. Limoges was the capital. 

 It forms at present the chief part of the departments 

 of Haute-Vienne and of Correze. See Department. 



LINCOLN, (the Lindum Colonia of the Romans), 

 an ancient and once distinguished city of England, 

 situated 132 miles N. W. from London. It is the 

 capital of the county to which it gives name, but 

 under a separate jurisdiction, as forming with the 

 surrounding district a distinct county, between the 

 parts of Lindsey and Kesteven. It occupies the sum- 

 mit and side of a hill, at the base of which flows the 

 river Witham, in three channels, crossed by several 

 bridges; and from the level nature of the surrounding 

 country, its buildings, and especially the cathedral 

 church, are advantageously seen in several directions 

 at a considerable distance. Lincoln was at one time 

 a place of great ecclesiastical importance; but of its 

 fifty churches, eleven only, besides the cathedral, 

 remain. The cathedral, a magnificent structure, is 

 still in good preservation; but of the castle, built by 

 William I., only a few ruins remain. Lincoln has an 

 extensive trade in corn and wool. Population in 1831, 

 11,892; in 1841, 16,172. 



LINCOLNSHIRE, a county of England, which 

 extends along the German ocean from the Humber, 

 its northern boundary, to the arm of the sea, called 

 the Wash, that runs up between the coasts of Lincoln 

 and Norfolk. It is bounded on the south by the 

 counties of Cambridge and Northampton, and on the 

 west by those of Rutland, Leicester, Nottingham, 



and York. It extends seventy-seven miles from 

 north to south, and about forty-eight from east to 

 west, being with the exception of Yorkshire, the 

 largest county in England. It is divided into three 

 districts Lindsey, Kesteven, and Holland. The 

 district of Lindsey is the most extensive, comprehend- 

 ing the whole of the county, north of the Foscdike 

 and the river Witham. Towards the north-east is a 

 large tract of heathy land, called the Wolds, extend- 

 ing from Barton-on-the-H umber to Spilsby, consist- 

 ing principally of sandy loam and flint; and on the 

 western side the substratum is a sandy rock. 

 Throughout this tract are bred large flocks of sheep, 

 of a kind distinguished for their long thick wool, 

 much used in the manufacture of worsted stuff's and 

 coarse woollens. Here also were formerly kept a 

 great number of rabbits, their skins and fur being 

 valuable articles of commerce; but the rabbit- warrens 

 in many places have been destroyed of late years, 

 and the ground broken up for tillage. The north- 

 western part of Lindsey includes the river island of 

 Axholme, formed by branches of the Trent, the Dun, 

 and the Idle, a low fertile tract, in which flax is 

 much cultivated, as also hemp, rape, and turnip-seed. 

 The district of Kesteven contains the western part 

 of the county, from near the centre to the southern 

 extremity. Its soil exhibits considerable diversity; 

 but though some tracts of heath occur, it is on the 

 whole a fruitful country; the heaths, particularly 

 those of Ancaster and Lincoln, having been enclosed 

 and cultivated. The principal river of Kesteven is 

 the Witham, which rises nearGrantham, and flowing 

 north-east to Lincoln, makes a semicircular sweep, 

 and taking its course south-eastward, falls into the 

 German Ocean, below Boston. It is in the former 

 part of its channel a shallow stream, but becomes 

 navigable at Lincoln, where it communicates with 

 the Fossdike. The jack, or pike, is a fish said to be 

 very abundant in this river. The fens, for which 

 Lincolnshire is noted, are partly in the district of 

 Kesteven, but by far the larger portion of them 

 belongs to the district of Holland, so called from its 

 characteristic feature, being hollow or low land, like 

 the province of the Dutcli Netherlands bearing a 

 similar appellation. This part of the county is 

 smaller than either of the two preceding, occupying 

 the south-eastern quarter, bordered on one side by 

 the shallow inlet of the sea, called the Wash. Hol- 

 land consists of two divisions, upper and lower, both 

 composed of fens and marshes, many of which have 

 been reclaimed, and converted to the purposes of 

 agriculture by the construction of numerous drains 

 and canals, together with raised causeys. The 

 lower, or southern division, is the most watery, and 

 is only protected from the devastating effects of inun- 

 dations by immense embankments on the sea-coasts 

 and the borders of the rivers. W r here the operations 

 of draining have been carried into effect, the air 

 though damp, is not unwholesome, and hence inter- 

 mittent fevers, rheumatism, and other diseases of 

 marshy countries, have become comparatively 

 unusual. Among the undrained fens are bred vast 

 flocks of geese, which form a considerable source of 

 commerce, on account of their quills and feathers, 

 and also as an article of provision. The principal 

 decoys in England for wild ducks, teal, widgeon, aud 

 other water-fowl, are in this district; and hence the 

 London markets are chiefly supplied. Wild geese, 

 grebes, godwits, wimbrels, coots, and a numerous 

 variety of other aquatic birds, breed here abundantly, 

 and obtain a plentiful supply of food from the fishy 

 pools and streams. Stares or starlings resort hither 

 during the winter to roost in their reeds, and in such 

 vast multitudes as to crush the stalks by their weight. 

 Near Spalding is said to be the greatest heronry in 



