LIT 



rafter of an amiable man, and very confiderable fcliolar. 

 He was converfant in the Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Arabic 

 lang^iiages ; and was converfant with the higher parts of 

 mathematics. He pubhihed many works in divinity and 

 philology, but is chiefly known for his " Latin Diftionary," 

 whicii was in general ufe in our fchoolp till that of Ainfworth 

 was pubhlhed. He had received a grant of king Char'es II. 

 to fucceed Dr. Bu(by, as head mealier of Weilminilcr 

 fchool ; but death prevented the execution of the king's in- 

 tention. 



Littleton, Sir Thomas, an Englifli lawyer and jndp-e, 

 who flourifhed in the fifteenth century, was elded fon of 

 Thomas Weftcote, cfq. of Devonfliire, by the hcirefs of 

 Littleton, of Frankley in Worcellerfliire, wliofe name he 

 affumed. He was reguhtrly educated for the law ; and, in 

 the reign of Henry VL, he was made judge of the niar- 

 fhalfea court and king's ferjeant, and in 145'5 went the 

 northern circuit as judge of the aflife. In 14O6 he was ap- 

 pointed one of the judges of the common pleas, and, a {hort 

 time after, was created a knight of the Bath. He died in 

 148 1, leaving three fons, from whom many confiderable 

 families are defcended. He was author of a valuable work, 

 entitled " Tenures and Titles by which Eftates were an- 

 ciently held in England." It was written in French, and 

 a tranilation of it, with a comir.entary, forms the firft book 

 of Coke's " Inftitutes." Sir Thomas, during the troubles 

 and confufions of the times, fo comported himfelf, as to 

 enjoy the favour of both the contending fovcreigns ; and, at 

 the fame time, acquired the efteem of all, for his great Ikill 

 in the laws of England. 



Littleton, Edward, dillinguifhed for lils great know- 

 ledge in tiie common law, fon of fir Edward, a WeKh judge, 

 was born in 1589, and purfued his college exercifes in Chrilt 

 church, Oxford, from whence he removed to the Inner 

 Temple, to purfue the fludy of the law. He was an adlive 

 member of parliament in the year 1628, and, together with 

 fir Edward Coke and fir Dudley Digges, carried up the 

 Petition of !vight from the Commons to the Lords. He was 

 alfo a leading manager in the accufation againil the duke of 

 Buckingham, in which his judicious conduft obtained for 

 him the good opinion of the prince and people. He fuc- 

 ceeded his father as WeKh judge, and was cbofcn recorder 

 of London. In 1634 he was made by Charles I. iblicitor- 

 general, and knighted; in 1639 he was fworn lord chief 

 juflice of the common picas; and, in the foliowing year, he 

 was advanced to be lord keeper of the great feal of England, 

 and called to the honfe of peerc by the title of lord Littleton. 

 He afterwards loft the favour of the king, though it is be- 

 lieved without reafo'i, which he could never after regain. 

 He died in Auguft 164J, at Oxford, where he was buried 

 on the north fide of the choir in the cathedral of Chrift 

 church, and had a funeral oration pronounced over him by 

 Dr. Henry Hrimmond. He publilhed a book of Reports 

 of Cafes in the Courts of Common Pleas and Exchequer, 

 from the fecond to the eighth of Charles I. ; fome fpeeches 

 in parfiament, feveral arguments and difcourfes. Biog. 

 Brit. 



Littleton, in Geography, a pnft-town of America, in 

 Middkfex county, Mafiachufetts, 28 miles N.W. of Bof- 

 ton ; containing 904 inhabitants. — Alfo, a poil-town in 

 Grafton county, New Hamplhire, incorporated in 1784, 

 and containing 381 inhabitants. — Alfo, a townfhip, now 

 called T.'aterford, in Caledonia coimty, Vermont, on the 

 weft fide of Connecticut river, containing 565 inhabitants. 



Littleton's IJland, a fmall ifland in the Florida ftream. 

 N. lat. 24 42'. W. long. 81 40'. 

 LITT08.AL Sheils, among writers of Natural HiJ- 



L I T 



tory, are fuch fea- (hells as are always found near the fliorcs, 

 and never far off in the deep. 



Thofe which are found in the bottom of the fea, remote 

 from the fliore, are called pcLigian. 



LITTORELLA, in Bolnny, the diminutive of ////«/, a 

 (hore, this plant being generally found in the neighbourhood 

 of lakes or pools. Indeed its Enghdi name, Sliore-weed, 

 is alfo cxprelfive of its place of growth. Linn. Mant. i6o. 

 Schreb. 629. VVilld. Sp. PI. v. 4. 330. Mart. Mill. Did. 

 V. 3. Sm. Fl. Brit. ion. Ait. Hort. Kew. ed. I. v. 3. 

 335. JuflT. 90. Lamarck lUuftr. t. 758 — Clafs and or- 

 der, Momec'iaTetrandria. Nat. Ord. Planlagiiies, JufT. 



Gen. Ch. Male, Cal. Perianth of four leaves, ereft. 

 Cor. of one petal ; tube the length of the calyx ; limb four- 

 cleft, creft, permanent. Slam. Filaments four, thread- 

 ftiapcd, very long, inferted into the receptacle ; anthers 

 heart-fhaped. 



Female on the fame plant. Cn!. none. Cor. of one 

 petal, conical, permanent, its mouth unequally three-cleft. 

 Pifi. Germen oblong ; ftyie thread-ftiaped, very long ; 

 ftigma acute. Pcric. none, except the permanent corolla. 

 Seed a nut of one cell. 



Eif. Ch. Male, Calyx four-leaved. Corolla of one petal, 

 four-cleft. Stamens very long. 



Female, Calyx none. Corolla of one petal, unequally 

 three-cleft. Style thread-like, very long. Nut of one 

 cell. 



I. L. lacnjlris. Plantain Shore-weed. Linn. Mant. 295. 

 Sm. Fl. Brit. ion. Engl. Bot. t. 468. (Plantago uai- 

 fiora; Linn. Sp. PI. 167. Fl. Dan. t. 170.) — A native 

 of the fhores of lakes in various parts of Europe, and of 

 marfliy fandy fpots in Great Britain, but not very common. 

 It flowers in June. Root perennial, fpindle-fliaped. Htrb 

 fmooth, (lemlcfs. Lta-ves linear, entire, convex underneatli. 

 Ma!c Jloiuers on ftalks, folitary, creft, whilifh, refembling 

 thofe of Plantain : female ones radical, feffile, having an 

 ereft, prominent, thn-ad-fhajied ftyle. 



The whole habit of this curious genus is that of a Plan- 

 tago, from which however it is fnfficiently diftinft on ac- 

 count of its fruit being a fingle feed or nut. It was ori- 

 ginally feparated from that genus, by Bergius, in the 

 Stockholm Tranfaftions for 1768. The Rev. Mr. Williams 

 of Shropfhire has found this plant occafionally to vary with 

 hairy leaves. 



LITURGY, denotes all the ceremonies in general be- 

 longing to divine fervice. 



The word comes from the Greek ^.ciTHoyix, fer-vice, pullic 

 m'mlfiry, formed of Xsilo;, pullic, and s^-'w, 'work," 



In a more reitrained fignification, liturgy is ufed among 

 the Romanills to fignify the mafs ; and among u.. the com- 

 mon-prayer. 



All who have written on liturgies agree, that in the pri- 

 mitive days, divine lervice was extremely fimple, only 

 clogged with very few ceremonies, and confifting of but a 

 fmall number of prayers; but, by degrees, they increafed 

 the number of external ceremonies, and added new prayers, 

 to make the office look more awful and venerable to the 

 people. At length thingo were carried to fuch a pitch, that 

 regulation became necefiary ; and it was found proper to put 

 the fervice, and the manner of performing u, into writing ; 

 and this was what they called a hturgy. 



Liturgies have been different at different times, and in 

 different countries. We have the liturgy of St. Chryfollom, 

 that of St. Peter, of St. James, the liturgy of St. Bafil, 

 the Armenian liturgy, the liturgy of the Maronites, ef the 

 Cophtsc, the Roman liturgy, the Galliijan liturgy, the 



EngliOi 



