LEE 



423 



LEG 



for conducting water for the working of 

 waterwheeis and other purposes. 



LEATH'ER,Ger.and But. leder. The skin 

 of animals, so modified by chemical means 

 as to remain unaltered in circumstances 

 where it would be decomposed if in its 

 natural state. The chemical process em- 

 ployed is tanning ; and tanning consists 

 in bringing tannin to act upon the gela- 

 tinous substance of the skin with which 

 it forms really a compound, and in some 

 measure a new substance, and this sub- 

 stance is leather. 



LEG'TIONARY, from lectio, a reading ; the 

 Romish service-book. 



LECTISTER'NIUM, Lat. lectus, a couch, and 

 sternere, to prepare. A religious cere- 

 mony among the ancient Romans, cele- 

 brated in times of public calamity. 



LEC'TOB. In the early church, one who 

 read the Bible and other religious wri- 

 tings to the people. 



LEDGE, LEDGE'MENT, a longitudinal pro- 

 jection from a plane. 2. A small piece 



of timber placed athwart ships under the 



deck between the beams. 3. A ridge 



of rocks near the surface of the sea. 



LEDGER 1. From leger (q.v.),the prin- 

 cipal book of accounts kept by merchants 

 and tradesmen, wherein each person's ac- 

 count is placed by itself, from the journal. 



2. In architecture, &c., the horizontal 



pieces fastened to the standard poles or 

 timbers of scaffolding, raised around 

 buildings during their erection, are 

 termed, ledgers ; and those which rest 

 upon the ledgers are called putlogs ; and 

 on these the boards for working upon are 



laid. 3. In music, ledger-lines, (from 



the Dutch, legger, to lie,} are short lines ; 

 placed above or below the staff, to indi- 

 cate the higher and lower notes. 



LE'DPM, a genus of shrubby plants. 

 Decandria Monogynia. The Labrador 

 tea (L. latifolium) is a species ; and the 

 marsh ledum (L. palustre) is extensively j 

 used in Prussia to tan the skins of goats, ' 

 calves, and sheep, into a reddish leather j 

 of an agreeable smell ; also in the pre- 

 paration of the oil of birch, for making 

 Kussia leather. The species are all hardy. 



LEE In nautical language, the side op- 

 posite to the wind. The lee-shore is that 

 on which the wind blows. A lee-tide runs 

 in the same direction that the wind 

 blows. 



LEE-BOARD, a frame of timber fixed to i 

 the side of a flat-bottomed vessel, to pre- 

 vent it from falling to leeward when 

 close hauled. 



LEET. Court Leet. A court of record 

 ordained for punishing offences against J 

 the Crown, and said to be the oldest in 

 the land. 



LEE'WARD, in the direction towards 

 which the wind blows. 



LEX' WAT, the lateral movement of a ship 



to the leeward of her course, or the angle 

 which the line of her way makes with 

 her keel. 



LEG'ACY (Lat. Icgatum, from lego, to be- 

 queath) ; a bequest or gift by will. The 

 person bequeathing is the testator; and 

 he to whom the effects are bequeathed is 

 the legatee. When no time is specified, 

 legacies are payable one year after the 

 death of the testator. 



LEQA'LIS HO'MO (Lat.), a lawful man, or 

 one who stands rectus in curia, not out- 

 lawed, excommunicated, or infamous. 



LEG'ATE (Lat. legatus, from lego, to 

 send) ; a kind of spiritual ambassador 

 from the pope. 



LEGA'TION (Lat. legatio, from lego, to 

 send) ; an embassy or deputation. 



LEGA'TO. In music, an Italian word, 

 used in an opposite sense to staccato, and 

 implying that the notes of a movement 

 or passage, to which it is affixed, are to be 

 performed in a close, smooth, and gliding 

 manner. 



LE'GEND (Lat. Icgtnda), primarily, a 

 chronicle or register of the lives of saints, 

 formerly read at matins and at the re- 

 fectories of religious houses. Hence any 

 extravagant story or unauthentic narra- 

 tive. 2. In numismatics, &e., that which 



is written round the field of a medal, the 

 inscription being written across. 



LE'GER (Dut. logger) ; anything that 

 lies in a place. Thus leger ambassador is 

 a resident one. A leger-line in music is a 



ne added to the staff of five lines, when 

 more are wanted to designate notes either 

 ascending or descending. A leger-book is 

 now usually called a ledger (q.v.)- 



LEG'GERS, men employed in conveying 

 a barge through a canal tunnel, by means 

 of pushing with their legs against the 

 side walls. 



LEGGIADRO. In music, an Italian term 

 signifying lively, gaily, &c. 



LEGION OF HONOUR. An order institu- 

 ted for merit, both civil and military, by 

 Napoleon, when first consul of France. 



LE'GION. In Roman antiquity, a body 

 of infantry, consisting of different num- 

 bers of men at different periods, from 3000 

 to 5000. Each legion consisted of 10 

 cohorts, each cohort of 3 maniples, and 

 each maniple of 2 centuries. 



LEGISLATURE, the supreme power of a 

 state. The legislature of Great Britain 

 consists of the Lords and House of Com- 

 mons, with the Sovereign, whose sanction 

 is necessary to every bill before it be- 

 comes a law. 



LEG'UME, (Lat. legumen, from lego, to 

 gather) ; seeds not reaped but gathered by 

 the hand : in general all large seeds. The 

 term is used by botanists to denote a 

 peculiar solitary kind of fructification, 

 formed by two oblong valves, without 

 any longitudinal partition, and bearing 



