533 



LONGITS LOPE DE VEGA. 



Longitude in the heavens, as that of a star, &c., is 

 an arc of the ecliptic comprehended between the first 

 of Aries, and a circle perpendicular to the ecliptic, 

 passing through the place of the star. The compu- 

 tation is made according to the signs of the ecliptic. 

 The longitude of a star is found by means of its right 

 ascension and declination. It changes on account of 

 the precession of the equinoxes. See Equinox, and 

 Precession. 



LONG US, author of a Greek pastoral romance, 

 the subject of which is the loves of Daphnis and 

 Chloe probably lived in the time of Theodosius the 

 Great. Nothing is known of the circumstances of 

 his life, nor is he mentioned by any of the ancients. 

 His work is interesting by its poetical spirit, graphic 

 description, and style. The earlier editions, of which 

 Villoison's is the best, do not contain the work in so 

 complete a state as that of Courier (Paris, 1810). He 

 supplied, from a Florentine manuscript, an important 

 chasm, but, having taken a copy of it, was careless 

 or mean enough to render the page of the manuscript 

 which contained that narration, illegible by an enor- 

 mous ink-spot. This spot, the librarian, Del Furia, 

 justly indignant, has laid before the eyes of the 

 public in an engraving, with an account of the whole 

 a flair. 



LONGWOOD. See St Helena. 



LOO-CHOO, or LIEOU-KIEOU, or LEW- 

 CHEW ; a group of islands in the Pacific ocean to 

 the south of Japan and east of China, to which they 

 are tributary. Lat. 26 to 27 4(X N. ; Ion. 127 

 10 to 129 E. But little was known to us of these 

 islands until they were visited by Maxwell and Hall, 

 on their return from the embassy to China. (See 

 Hall's P'oyage to Cored and Loo-CAoo.) They are 

 represented as having a mild climate and an excellent 

 soil, abounding in fruits and vegetables. The voy- 

 agers who have touched have been allowed to land 

 only under the most jealous precautions, and have 

 never been permitted to enter the country. In other 

 respects, they have been kindly treated and supplied 

 with provisions, for which the islanders have uni- 

 formly refused to receive pay. Captain Hall paints 

 the islands as a new Arcadia, in which the use of 

 arms, money, and punishments is unknown. It is 

 manifest that little reliance is to be placed on the 

 accounts of travellers, who were ignorant of the 

 language of the Loo-Chooans, and whose intercourse 

 with them was evidently subject to all the restraints 

 of a most vigilant, and despotic police. In fact, the 

 statements of Captain Hall on several points have 

 been contradicted by the last voyager who has vis- 

 ited these islands (Beechey, Voyage in the Pacific, 

 London, 1831), who asserts that the Loo-Chooans 

 have arms and money, and inflict the most severe and 

 cruel punishments. As for the supplies, they appear 

 to have been furnished by authority, and not by in- 

 dividuals, and the refusal to receive compensation is 

 easily accounted for, on the ground that the govern- 

 ment which shows such an aversion to strangers, is 

 unwilling to suffer any traffic between them and its 

 subjects. They were for some time subject to Japan, 

 but, in 1372, were conquered by China. 



LOOK-OUT ; a cape on the coast of North Car- 

 olina, in lat. 34 34' N. : N. E. of cape Fear, and 

 S. W. of cape Hatteras. 



LOON (colymbus) ; large aquatic birds, common 

 to both Europe and America. They seldom visit 

 Britain, but are met with in the north of Europe and 

 Asia. In America, they are most numerous about 

 Hudson's bay, but are also found farther south. In 

 Pennsylvania, they are migratory, making their ap- 

 pearance in the autumn. They are commonly seen 

 in pairs, and procure their food, which is fish, by 

 diving and continuing under water for a length of 



time. They are very wary, and are seldom killed, 

 eluding their pursuers by their great dexterity in 

 plunging beneath the water. They are very restless 

 before a storm, always uttering loud cries on the 

 approach of a tempest. They are not eaten, the 

 flesh being rank and fishy. Some of the tribes in the 

 Russian empire tan the skin which covers the breast 

 of this fowl, and form dresses, &c. of it, which are 

 very warm, and imbibe no moisture. The Green- 

 landers also make the same use of them. The loon 

 measures two feet ten inches from the tip of the bill 

 to the end of the tail, and four feet six inches in 

 breadth : the bill is strong, of a glossy black, and 

 four inches and three quarters long, to the corner of 

 the mouth. The head and half of the length of the 

 neck are of a deep black, with a green gloss, and 

 purple reflections; this is succeeded by a band con- 

 sisting of interrupted white and black lateral stripes, 

 which encompasses the neck, and tapers to a point on 

 its fore part, without joining ; below this is a broad 

 band of dark glossy green and violet, which is 

 blended behind with the plumage of the back ; the 

 whole of the upper parts are of a deep black, slightly 

 glossed with green, and thickly spotted with white, 

 in regular transverse or semicircular rows, two spots 

 on the end of each feather; the lower parts are pure 

 white, with a slight dusky line across the vent. The 

 outside of the legs and feet is black, the inside lead 

 colour. The leg is four inches in length ; both legs 

 and feet are marked with five-sided polygons; weight 

 about eight to ten pounds. The female is somewhat 

 smaller than the male, and differs in her colours. The 

 young do not attain their perfect plumage until the 

 second or third year. It should be mentioned, how- 

 ever, that Temminck and the prince of Musignano 

 state that the two sexes are alike in plumage: sports- 

 men who reside on the coast where these birds are 

 plenty, insist, on the contrary, that the adults of both 

 sexes may always be distinguished by their plumage. 

 The female lays two large, brownish eggs, and gen- 

 erally builds at the edge of small islands or the mar- 

 gins of lakes and ponds. In swimming and diving, 

 the logs only are used, and not the wings, as in the 

 guillemot and auk tribes ; and, from their being 

 situated far behind, and their slight deviation from 

 the line of the body, the bird is enabled to propel 

 itself through the water with great velocity. 



LOOS, DANIEL FREDERIC, a distinguished die- 

 sinker, was born at Altenburg, in Saxony, in 1735. 

 Stieler, the royal die-cutter, took him as an appren- 

 tice, but kept him back from jealousy. Loos, how- 

 ever, finally went to Dresden, where he worked at 

 the mint, but his merits were here also kept secret 

 by his employer. After many vicissitudes, Loos was 

 employed in the Prussian service at Magdeburg, but 

 was unable to maintain his family, and lived for 

 some time in poverty, in Berlin. His merit was at 

 last acknowledged. In 1787, he became member of 

 the academy of fine arts, and produced a great num- 

 ber of medals. Purity of style and drawing were 

 not so much required in medals as at present in 

 Germany, but his successors have hardly surpassed 

 him in technical skill. Loos died in 1818. His son 

 is one of the chief officers of the Berlin mint. 



LOPE DE VEGA (Don Lope Felix de Vega Car- 

 pio ; Frey, as he is often called, signifies friar), & 

 celebrated dramatic poet, was born at Madrid, Sep- 

 tember 25, 1562. While a child, he displayed a 

 lively taste for poetry, made verses before he knew 

 how to write, and, as he himself avers, had composed 

 several theatrical pieces, when scarcely twelve years 

 of age. About this time, he ran away from school 

 with a comrade, for the purpose of seeing the world, 

 but was stopped in Astorga and sent back , by the 

 authorities of the place, to Madrid. Lope early lost 



