LIQUEUR LISBON. 



485 



manuscripts. On his return to the Netherlands, 

 after a short time spent at Louvain, he visited the 

 capital of the German empire, and then accepted a 

 professorship in the university of Jena. Here the 

 fickleness of his disposition, and the vacillating state 

 of his opinions respecting religious matters, which 

 eventually fixed the imputation of imbecility on a 

 character in other respects estimable, first became 

 apparent. He renounced the Romish church, and 

 became a Lutheran ; but, quitting Jena, at length, 

 with an avowed intention of spending the remainder 

 of his life in retirement in his native country, he re- 

 paired to Overysche, and, soon after, recanted his 

 supposed errors, and became reconciled to the see of 

 Rome. In 1577, however, he again removed to 

 Leyden, when he embraced the doctrines of Calvin, 

 and, during the thirteen years which he spent in that 

 university, gave to the world the most esteemed of 

 his works. In 1590, he returned finally to Louvain, 

 and once more became a Catholic, and that of the 

 most bigoted description. Many tempting and hon- 

 ourable offers were made him by various potentates, 

 to engage him in their service ; but he refused them 

 all ; and, at length, died at Louvain, in the spring of 

 1606. Superstition led him, a short time before his 

 death, to dedicate a silver pen, and his fur gown, to 

 the virgin Mary. His principal works are the Variae 

 Lectiones above-mentioned ; an excellent Commen- 

 tary on the Works of Tacitus ; treatises De Constan- 

 tia; DC Militia Romano, ; De Amphitheatris ; De 

 Pronunciatione recta Lingua Latince ; De Cruce ; 

 De una Religione ; De Bibliothecis ; Satira Menip- 

 paa ; Saturnalia ; and an Oration on the Death of 

 the Duke of Saxony. The best edition of them is 

 that printed at Antwerp, in 16:57. 



LIQUEUR (from the French) ; a palatable spiri- 

 tuous drink, composed of water, alcohol, sugar, and 

 some aromatic infusion, extracted from fruits, seeds, 

 &c. The great difference in the qualities of the dif- 

 ferent liqueurs is owing principally to a variation in 

 the proportions of the sugar and alcohol. The French 

 distinguish three qualities : the first are the ratafias, 

 or simple liqueurs, in which the sugar, the alcohol, 

 and the aromatic substance are in small quantities : 

 such are the anise-water (q. v.), noyau, the apricot, 

 cherry, &c. ratafias. The second are the oils, or the 

 fine liqueurs, with more saccharine and spirituous 

 matter ; as the anisette, curacao, &c., which are those 

 commonly found in the cafes. The third are the 

 creams, or superfine liqueurs, such as rosoglio, mar- 

 aschino, Dantzic water, &c. The same aromatic in- 

 fusion may, therefore, give its name to liqueurs of 

 different qualities, in which the materials are the 

 same, but the proportions different : thus one propor- 

 tion of ingredients gives eau-de-noyau ; another 

 creme de-noyau, &c. 



LIQUIDAMBAR STYRACIFLUA, or SWEET 

 GUM. This tree is widely diffused through America, 

 from lat. 43 to Florida, and along the shores of the 

 gulf into the provinces of Mexico. The leaves, 

 which somewhat resemble those of some maples, are 

 very regularly five-lobed, and the lobes are serrated 

 on the margin. The flowers are inconspicuous. 

 The fruit consists of a sort of bur, supported on a 

 long pedicle, and is somewhat similar to that of the 

 button- wood, or plane-tree, but is much less even on 

 the surface. It is abundant every where throughout 

 the Middle, Southern, and Western States, and some- 

 times has a trunk five feet in diameter, with a pro- 

 portional summit. The usual diameter, however, is 

 from one to three feet. The wood is compact, 

 capable of receiving a fine polish, and has been used 

 for articles of furniture ; but, for this purpose, it is 

 inferior to either the wild cherry or black walnut. It 

 Is, however, employed for lining mahogany, for bed- 



steads, and for a variety of purposes in the interior 

 of houses, possessing great strength but requiring 

 protection from the weather. The bark, on being 

 wounded, yields a small quantity of a fragrant resin. 



LIQUORICE (glycyrhiza) ; a genus of leguminous 

 plants containing eight species. They have pin- 

 nated leaves, and small, blue, violet, or white flowers, 

 which are disposed in heads or spikes, and are re- 

 markable for the sweetness of the roots. The com- 

 mon liquorice (G. glabra) grows wild in the south of 

 Europe, and is cultivated in many places, even in 

 Britain, for the sake of the root, which is much used 

 in pharmacy, and forms a considerable article of 

 commerce. More than 200 tons of the extract are 

 manufactured annually in Spain, a considerable por- 

 tion of which is sent to London, and employed in the 

 brewing of porter. It is often administered medicin- 

 ally, in coughs and pulmonary affections, and the 

 aqueous infusion is used as a refreshing beverage. 

 A deep, light and sandy soil is best adapted to its 

 culture. 



LIRIODENDRON. See Tulip-Tree. 



LISBON (Liaboa), the chief city of Portugal, and 

 the residence of the court, is situated in the province 

 of Estremadura, on the right bank of the Tagus, 

 which is here a mile and a half in width, and not far 

 from the mouth of the river. It is built on three 

 hills, in a romantic country, and exhibits a grand 

 appearance from the harbour. Including the suburbs 

 Junqueira and Alcantara, it is about five miles in 

 length, and a mile and a half in breadth. It contains 

 forty parish churches, seventy-five convents, and a 

 hundred chapels, 44,000 houses, and, before 1807, had 

 300,000 inhabitants, but, at present, has not more 

 than 200,000 ; among whom are 'many foreigners, 

 Negroes, Mulattoes, Creoles, and 30,000 Galicians, 

 who come from Spanish Galicia, and serve as porters 

 and water carriers, and perform other menial occupa- 

 tions. The town is open, without walls or gates. 

 The highest hill only has a castle, now in ruins; but 

 the harbour is beautiful, capacious, and safe, and is 

 defended by four strong forts on the banks of the 

 river (St Juliana, St Bugio, the tower of Belem, &c.). 

 Many of the streets are very uneven, on account of 

 the hilly situation of the city. The finest are on the 

 banks of the river. There are no elegant private 

 buildings. The houses of the nobility are distin- 

 guished only by their size. The western part has 

 been beautifully rebuilt since the dreadful earthquake 

 (Nov. 1, 1755) which destroyed half of the city, with 

 the loss of 30,000 lives,* the streets being straight, 

 and regularly laid out, with fine houses and squares. 

 The eastern part of the city, which was not affected 

 by the earthquake, has preserved its gloomy aspect 

 crooked streets and old-fashioned houses, six and 

 seven stories high. Lisbon was formerly known to 

 be extremely filthy and unsafe ; but, at present, regu- 

 lations have been made to provide for the public 

 security, and the streets are well lighted. Among 

 the squares, the principal are the Placa do Corwner- 

 cio and the Rocio. They are connected by handsome, 

 wide, straight streets. The former, on which the 

 royal palace, now in ruins, was situated, lies on the 

 bank of the Tagus, as the landing-place of the har- 

 bour, is an oblong square, of 615 paces in length and 

 550 in breadth, and is surrounded, on three sides, 

 with fine buildings (the fourth is open towards the 



* The city then contained about 150,000 inhabitants. The 

 shock was instantly followed by the fall of every church 

 and convent, almost all the large public building's, and 

 more than one fourth of the houses. In about two hours 

 after the shock, fires broke out in different quarters, and 

 raged with such violence, for the space of nearly three 

 days, that the city was completely rieoolated- The earth- 

 quake happened on a holiday, when the churches and con- 

 vents were full of people very few uf whom escaped. 



