L A R 



600 



L A R 



T,nplnd. 

 I arilner 



hospitality. On the otlier hand, their state and man- 

 ners have been pictured in the most pleasing colours, 

 ' as almost realizing the ancient descriptions of the gold- 

 en age ; as those of a people who enjoy undisturbed 

 the blessings of freedom, contentment, innocence, and 

 peace. There is good and grave authority, at least, for 

 saying, that they are very attentive to religious duHes, 

 particularly observant of the Salibath, and decently de- 

 vout during the performance of divine service; that 

 they are uniformly respectful towards their pastors and 

 missionaries ; chaste in their manners, and free from 

 every kind of profanity in their speech ; that beggars 

 are unknown among them, and the wants of the aged 

 and infirm duly supplied by their neighbours snd re- 

 lations ; that they are strangers to the vice of thieving, 

 never needing to use such things as locks or bolts, and 

 very generally sleeping with open doors in perfect seen 

 rity. See Lemmius tie Lapponi Finmanhice C'UMiien/a- 

 tio, a work which is held in Iiigh estimation for its ac- 

 curacy by the northern literati ; Acerbi's Travels in 

 Sweden and Lapland, where the substance of the last 

 mentioned work is contained ; Linnaeus Lachesis Lan- 

 ponica. or Tour in Lapland, translated by Dr. Smith ; 

 Baron Von Buch's Travels through Norway and Lapland; 

 Skioldebrand's Picturesque Journey to the North Ca/>e ; 

 Thomson's Travels in Sweden ; Wahlenberg's Introduc- 

 tio Geographica to his Flora Lapponica. (q) 

 LAR. See LARISTAN. 



LARCENY, (latrociiiiiim,) in the law of England, 

 signifies Ihrft. It is distinguished into two sorts : sim- 

 ple larceny, or plain theft, unaccompanied with any 

 other atrocious circumstance ; and mixed or compound 

 larceny, which includes the aggravation of a taking 

 from one's house or person. When simple larceny is 

 committed, by stealing goods above the value of twelve- 

 pence, it is called grand larceny ; when of that value, 

 or under, it is petit larceny. These offences are consi- 

 derably distinguished in their punishment, but not 

 otherwise. See Blackstone's Comment, b. iv. ch. 17; 

 and Jacob's Lam Diet, (z) , 



LARDNER, NATHANIEL, DR., was born at Hawk- 

 herst in the county of Kent, on the 6th of June 1HK4; 

 ^ind was the son of Mr. Richard Lardner, a respectable 

 minister among the Protestant dissenters. The place 

 where he received his grammatical education cannot 

 be ascertained ; but, after studying a short time at a 

 dissenting academy in London, under the care of 

 Dr. Joshua Oldfield, he was sent, in the sixteenth year 

 of his age, to prosecute his studies at Utrecht, under 

 professors Dr. Uries, Grosvius, and Burman. After 

 three years residence at Utrecht, he removed to Ley- 

 den, where he studied about six months ; and returned 

 to England in 1703, from which period there are no 

 memorials concerning him till the year 1 709, when he 

 preached his first sermon in the 26th year of his age. 

 In 1713, he was engaged as domestic chaplain in the 

 house of Lady Treby, widow of Sir George Treby, 

 Lord Chief Justice in the Court of Common Pleas; and 

 at the same time as tutor to her youngest son, Brindley 

 Treby. At the death of this lady in 1721, he seems 

 to have been thrown into considerable perplexity with 

 regard to his future plans, having now preached (to 

 use his own words) many years without being favour- 

 ed with the approbation and choice of any one congre- 

 gation; but, about the year 17'^3, he was engaged, in 

 conjunction with a number of ministers, in carrying on 



a course of lectures on a Tuesday evening in the Old 

 Jewry ; and the proof of the credibility of the Gospel 

 history having been assigned, to his department, he be- 

 came from that time busily occupied in preparing the 

 first part of his admirable work on that subject. It 

 was not till the year 1729, when he was forty-five years 

 of age, that he obtained a settlement among the dissen- 

 ters, as assistant minister at Crutched Friars. In this 

 situation, his time was chiefly employed in preparation 

 for the pulpit, and in the prosecution of his great work 

 already mentioned ; but he found leisure, nevertheless, 

 to publish several occasional pieces,* which not only 

 extended his reputation among the dissenting deno- 

 mination, but also attracted the regard of the most dis- 

 tinguished characters in the church oP England. In 

 the year 1740, upon the decease of his colleague, Dr. 

 William Harris, he was unanimously invited to under- 

 take the pastoral charge of the congregation at Crutched 

 Friars, in conjunction with some other minister of 

 whom they were to make choice ; but, in consequence 

 probably of an extreme deafness with which he had 

 long been afflicted, and it may be of some other rea- 

 sons, he declined taking any share in the pastoral of- 

 fice and continued to act in the capacity of assistant 

 preacher. In the beginning of the year 1745, he re- 

 ceived from the Marischal College of Aberdeen the de- 

 gree of doctor in divinity, a mark of respect which, be- 

 ing bestowed without solicitation, he did not think it 

 unbecoming in him to accept; and in die following 

 year he was appointed one of the corresponding mem- 

 bers in London of the Society in Scotland for propa- 

 gating Christian Knowledge. In 1751, he resigned the 

 office of morning preacher at Crutched Friars, chiefly 

 in consequence of his increasing deafness, and his ap- 

 plication to the important work in which he was en- 

 gaged on the credibility of the Gospel history. This 

 invaluable performance was finally completed in 1755, 

 the supplement in 1757, and the Jewish and Heathen 

 testimonies in 1767- Upon these works the labo- 

 rious and learned author had employed the greater 

 portion of his time during the space of forty- three years. 

 In pursuance of the same design, he next applied him- 

 self to give an account of the heretics of the first and 

 second centuries, but he did not live to complete his 

 intentions, though he left such materials on the subject, 

 as formed a posthumous publication of considerable va- 

 lue. It is rather remarkable that he experienced very 

 limited encouragement in the prosecution of his literary 

 labours ; that few men of the wealthy dissenters pur- 

 chased his volumes; that he incurred loss instead of ac- 

 quiring gain by the publication of most of them ; and 

 that lie finally sold the copy right of the Credibility for 

 the sum of <loO. In the summer of 1768, he was 

 seized with an affection of the lungs, and was removed 

 to Hawkherst, the place of his nativity, where he had 

 a small paternal estate, in the hopfe that a change of 

 air might recruit his strength. He died at this place 

 on the 24th day of July, at the advanced age 'of 85 

 years, retaining all his -faculties (with the exception of 

 his hearing) to the last in a remarkably perfect degree. 

 In consequence of his own particular request, no ser- 

 mon was preachtd on the occasion of his death ; but, 

 some time after his decease, a stone, with an English 

 inscription, was erected to his memory in Bunhill-fields, 

 where his remains had been deposited. 

 Dr. Lardner's mode of life was extremely retired, in 



* Particularly his " Vindication of the three Miracles, against Woolston ;" his " Counsels of Prudence for the use of Young People ;" 

 *nd his " Caution against Conformity to this World." 



