L I T 



I. I T 



LITERjE Commun'ICATORI.-f,, in Church Hi/lory, lotteri 

 granted by the bilhops to penitents, when the timt- of tlicir 

 penance was nnifhed, by which they were again received 

 into the communion of the faithful. 



LITERAL Algebra. See Algebra. 



Literal Characier. ' See Character. 



LiTERALis Caku'us. See Calculus. 



LITERARY Property, is that property wliich an 

 author, or his afllgnee, mav be luppofed to have in his own 

 literary compofitions ; fo that no other perfon without his 

 leave may publilli or make profit of the copies. Tlie 

 Roman law adjudged, that if one man wrote any thing on 

 the paper or parchment of anatlier, the writing iliould be- 

 long to the owner of the blank materials (.lull. 2. i. 33.) ; 

 meaning thereby the mechanical operation of writing, for 

 which It directed, the fcribe to receive a fatisfaftion ; for, 

 in works of genius and invention, as in painting on another 

 man's canvas, the fame law gave the canvas to the painter. 

 As to any other property in the works ot the underllanding, 

 the law is filcnt ; though the fale of literary copies, for the 

 purpofes of recital or multiplication, is certainly as ancient 

 as the times of Terence (Prolog, in Eunuch. :o.). Martial 

 (Epigr. i. 67. iv. 72. xiii. 3. xiv. 194.), and Statius (Juv. 

 vii. 8j.) Neither with us in England hath there been, till 

 fome few years ago, any final determination upon the right 

 of authors at the common law. In cafe of a bargain for a 

 fmgle impreffion, or a lale or gift of the copy-right, the 

 reverfion is plainly contmued in the original proprietor, or 

 the whole property is transferred to another. It has been a 

 queftion much agitated in our iuperior courts of judica- 

 ture, and at length determined by the houfe of lords againll 

 authors and their alTigns, whether the copy-right of a book 

 belongs to the author by common law. But, exclufive of 

 fuch copy-right as may fubiill by the rules of the common 

 law, the ilatute S Ann. cap. 19, amended by ftatute i, Geo. 

 III. c. 53, has protected, bv additional penalties, the pro- 

 perty ot authors and their afligns for the term of fourteen 

 years, and hath directed, that if, at the end of that term 

 the author himfelf be living, the right (hall then return to 

 him for another term of the fame duration ; and this is the 

 fole right now velted in the proprietors of copies. By the 

 ftatute ij Geo. Ill c. J3, iome additional privileges in this 

 refpeft are granted to the univerfities, and certain other 

 learned focieiies. A fimilar privilege is extended to the in- 

 ventors of prints and engravings, for the term of twenty- 

 eight years, by S Geo. II. cap. 13. and 7 Gee. III. cap. 38. 

 befides an action for damages, with double colls, by Ilatute 

 J7 Geo. III. c. y". All which parliamentary protections 

 appear to have been fnggellcd by the exception in the ftatute 

 of monopolies, ;i Jac. I. c. 3, which allows a royal patent 

 of privilege to be granted for fourteen years to any inventor 

 of a new manufacture, for the fole working or making of 

 the fame ; by virtue whereof it is held, that a temporary 

 property tlierein becomes veiled in the king's patentee. 

 I Vern. 62. 



LiTEiiARY Critleifm. See Critici.sm. 



LITERATI, Letrados, lettered, an epithet given to 

 fuch perfons, among the Chinefe, as are able to read and 

 write their language. 



The literati alone are capable of hei,ig made mandiiriiis. 



Tiie literati form the moll diftinguillied part of the 

 Chinefe nation. Since the dynafty of Han, i e. for more 

 than 2000 years, they have conftantly held the chief rank 

 in the empire ; and it is always from among them that 

 mafters are chofen for the education of youth ; minifters, 

 for the adminiftration of public affairs ; and magiftrates. 

 Tor judging the people : in a word, the fiterati arc, in fomc 



mcjifure, the foul of the Chinefe nation, fmce it is from 

 them that it receives its moral cxillence, and its civil and 

 political being. The literati muft therefore be very nume- 

 rous in a Hate, where they enjoy every diltinction attached 

 to pre-eminence, and where every thing favours their increale. 

 Since learning is the only means that conduct to honours, it 

 is nccciTary that tliofe who alpire to them Ihould cultivate 

 letters ; and they mull malcc it appear, that they have cul- 

 tivated them with fuccefs, before they can obtain any civil 

 employment. To guard againil impolition, government has 

 fixed for every city of the firll, fccoiid, and tliird clafs the 

 number of literati who can be legally promoted every year 

 to the firft degree of literature, which is that of " fieou- 

 tfai,'' and which anfwers to bachelor of arts in our univer- 

 fities. Every " ficou-llai" is accounted noble, and is 

 never enrolled among the taxables. Of thefe there are 

 reckoned to be in Chin.: 24,701 individuals, who are an- 

 nually introduced to the firll degree of literati ; ar.d the 

 number of thofe admitted before may be fuppol'cd to le at 

 leall 20 times as great. According to this elliinate there 

 are always in China 494,020 liter.iti, who liave taken de- 

 grees, and who are, coufequently, not included among the 

 taxables. See Mandarins. 



Literati is alio the name of a particular feet, either in 

 religion, pliilofophy, or politics; confiding principally of ' 

 thelearned men of that country : among wlium it is called 

 Juki JO, i. e. learned. 



It had its rife in the year of Chrift 1400, when the em- 

 peror, to awaken the native affection of the people for 

 knowledge, wriich had been quite banifhed by the preceding 

 civil wars among them, and to llir up emulation among tlis 

 mandarins, chofe out forty-two of the ablelt among their 

 doctors, to whom he gave a commilhon to compofc a body 

 of doctrine, agreeable to that of the ancients, which was 

 then become the rule, or ilandard, of the learned. The 

 delegates applied themfelves to the bufinefs with very great 

 attention ; but fome fancied them rather to have wrelted the 

 doctrine of the ancients, to make it confitl with their"s, than 

 to have built up their's on the model of the ancients. 



They fpeak of the Deity, as if it were no more than 

 mere nature, or the natural power or virtue, that produces, 

 difpofe.s, and preferves the feveral parts ot the uni\erfe. It 

 is, fay they, a pure, perfect principle, without beginning 

 or end ; it is the fource of all tilings, the ctience of every 

 being, and that whicli determines it to be what it is. They 

 make God the I'oul of the world : they lay he is ditfufed 

 throughout all matter, and produces all tlie changes that 

 happen there. In (hort, it is not caly to determine, whe- 

 ther thev refolve God into nature, or litt up nature into 

 God ; for they alcrlbc to it many of thole things which we 

 attribute to God. 



This doctrine, iu lieu of tlie idolatry that prevailed be- 

 fore, introdueet! a refined kind of atheifm. The work, 

 being compoied by fo many [jerlons of learning and parts, 

 and approved by the emperor liimlelf, was received with in- 

 finite applaufe by all the people. Many were plealed with 

 it, becaufe it teemed to fubvert all religion; others approved 

 it, becaufe the bttle religion that is left them, could not 

 give them miicii trouble. And thus was formed the left of 

 the Literati ; which confifts of the maintainers and adherents 

 to this doctrine. 



The court, the mandarins, and the perfons of fortune 

 and quahty, <xc. are generally retainers to it ; but a great 

 part of the common people llill hold to their worlhip of 

 idols. 



The literati freely tolerate the Mahometans, becaufe they 

 adore, with them, the king of heaven, and authvr of 



caiure ; 



