LET 



glyphics of Egypt. But wheresoever the 

 Phoenicians learned this art, it is gene- 

 rally agreed, that Cadmus, the son of 

 Agenor, first brought letters into Greece; 

 whence, in the following ages, they 

 spread over the rest of Europe. 



Letters make the first part or elements 

 of grammar ; an assemblage of these com- 

 pose syllables and words, and these com- 

 pose sentences. The alphabet of every 

 language consists of a number of letters, 

 which ought each to have a different 

 sound, figure, and use. As the difference 

 of articulate sounds was intended to ex- 

 press the different ideas of the mind, so 

 one letter was originally intended to sig- 

 nify only one sound, and not, as at pre- 

 sent, to express sometimes one sound and 

 sometimes another; which practice has 

 brought a great deal of confusion into the 

 languages, and rendered the learning of 

 the modern tongues much more difficult 

 than it would otherwise have been. This 

 consideration, together with the deficien- 

 cy of all the known alphabets, from their 

 wanting some letters to express certain 

 sounds, has occasioned several attempts 

 towards an universal alphabet, to con- 

 tain an enumeration of all such single 

 sounds or letters as are used in any lan- 

 guage. See ALPHABET, and WRITING, 

 origin of. 



Grammarians distinguish letters into 

 vowels, consonants, mutes, liquids, diph- 

 thongs, and characteristics. They are 

 also divided into labial, dental, guttural, 

 and palatal, and into capital and small let- 

 ters. They are also denominated from 

 the shape and turn of the letters ; and in 

 writing are distinguished into different 

 hands, as round-text, German-text, round 

 hand, Italian, &c. and in printing, into 

 roman, italic, and black letter. The term 

 letter, or type, among printers, not only 

 includes the capitals, small capitals, and 

 small letters, but all the points, figures, 

 and other marks, cast and used in print- 

 ing; and also the large ornamental letters, 

 cut in wood or metal, which take place 

 of the illumined letters used in manu- 

 scripts. The letters used in printing 

 are cast at the ends of small pieces of 

 metal, about three quarters of an inch 

 in length ; and the letters being not in- 

 dented, but raised, easily give the im- 

 pression, when, after being blacked with 

 a glutinous ink, paper is closely pressed 

 upon it. 



A fount of letters includes small letters, 

 capitals, small capitals, points, figures, 

 spaces, &c. but besides these, they have 

 different kinds of two-lined letters, only 



LEU 



used for titles, and the beginnwi^ of 

 books, chapters, &c. See FOUNT. 



LETTER of attorney, a writing authoris- 

 ing another to do any lawful act instead 

 of the party himself, such as to su .* and 

 recover debts, to receive rents, seamen's 

 wages, to execute leases, to give livery of 

 seisin, &c. In all these cases the authori- 

 ty must be strictly pursued, and it is lia- 

 ble to be revoked by granting a new let- 

 ter of attorney, or by death of either par- 

 ty. In cases of seamen, there are certain 

 statute regulations for protecting them 

 from imposition. 



LETTKHS of marque, are extraordinary 

 commissions, granted to captains or mer- 

 chants for reprisals, in order to make a re- 

 paration for those damages they have 

 sustained, or the goods they have been 

 deprived of by strangers at sea. These 

 appear to be always joined to those of re- 

 prise for the reparation of a private inju- 

 ry ; but under a declared war the former 

 only are granted. 



LEVATOR, in anatomy, a name given 

 to several muscles. See AXATOMY. 



LEUCOIUM, in botany, mo-u^drop, a 

 genus of the Hexandria Monogynia class 

 and order. Natural order of Spathacex. 

 Narcissi, Jussieu. Essential character :. 

 corolla bell-shaped, six-parted, thicken- 

 ed at the tips ; stigma simple. There are 

 four species : these are all bulbous root- 

 ed plants ; the flowers, which at first 

 sight resemble those of the common 

 snow-drop, are easily distinguished by 

 the absence of the three-leaved nectary, 

 and they do not appear so soon by a 

 month. These plants being of a differ- 

 ent genus from the true snow-drop, ought 

 certainly to have another English name : 

 some botanists call it spring snow flake ; 

 others many-flowered bulbous violet. In 

 the gardens it is known by the name of 

 great summer snow-drop, and late or tall 

 snow-drop. They are natives of the south 

 of Europe. 



LEUCOPHRA, in natural history, a 

 genus of the Vermes Infusoria class and 

 order : worm invisible to the naked eye^, 

 every where ciliate. There are eight 

 species. L. cornuta : inversely conic, 

 green, opaque. This is found in marshy 

 grounds. Body broad, truncate on the 

 fore part, with a small spine on each side ; 

 the hind part pellucid and pointed, some- 

 times it appears oval or kidney-shaped, 

 and when the water which contains it 

 evaporates, it breaks into molecular vesi- 

 cles. L. nodulata ; ovate-oblong, de- 

 pressed, with a double row of tubercles. 

 This species is found in the intestines of 



