34 
L O I 
LOHURDE'GA, a town cf Bengal, in the circar of 
Nagpour: twenty-two miles north-north-weft of Doefa. 
Lat. 23. 7.0. N. Ion. 84. 51. E. 
LOHUR'SEY, a town of Bengal. Here is a pafs acrofs 
mountains : eighteen miles north-north-eaft of Palamow. 
LO'JA. See Loxa. 
LOI'BERSTORFF, a town of Auftria : fourteen miles 
fouth of Vienna. 
LOI'BERSTORFFj a town of Auftria : ten miles fouth- 
weft of St. Pollen. 
LOI'BL, a range of mountains between Carinthia and 
Carniola. 
LOPCH-FISH, f. A clafs of fifti including the cod, 
ling, lob, and feme others ; mentioned in ftat. 31 Edw. III. 
LOIGNO'N, a river of France, which runs into the 
.Loire about twenty-four miles below le Puy. 
LOIMAjO'KI, a town of Sweden, in the government 
of Abo : thirty-two miles north-north-eaft of Abo. 
LOIMOG'R APHER,yi [fromtheGr. Miy.os, theplague, 
and to write.] A writer on the plague. 
LOJMOG'RAPRY, f. A treatife on the plague. 
LOI'MOS,/ [Greek.] The plague; the peftilence. 
LOIN, /. \_lhoyn, Welth.] The back of an animal 
carved out by the butcher : 
So have I feen in larder dark 
Of veal a lucid loin, 
Replete-with many a brilliant fpark. 
As wife philofophers remark. 
At once both ftink and (hine. Dorfet. 
Loins; the reins: 
My face I’ll grime with filth. 
Blanket my loins. Shakr/peare's King Lear. 
Thou flander of thy heavy mother’s womb ! 
Thou loathed iflue of thy father’s loins ! Shakefpeare. 
LOIN, a river of France, which runs into the Seine a 
little below Moret. 
LO'JO, a town of Sweden, in the province of Nyland : 
thirty miles weft of Helfingfors. 
LOJO'BI, a town of Servia : fixteen miles foutli-fouth- 
eaft of PalTarovitz. 
LOPPERSTORFF, a town of Auftria, on the Rufbach : 
fix miles eaft-north-eaft of EntzerftorfF. 
LOIR (Nicholas), a French painter, born at Paris in 
1624, was the fon of a goldfmith. He was placed as a pu¬ 
pil under Bourdon, but adopted the manner neither of 
that mafter nor of any other. Fie vifited Rome in 1637, 
where he laid in a large flock of ideas, fo lirongly irn- 
preffed upon his memory, that he could recall them at 
pleafure. A great abundance of thoughts upon any given 
fubjeft was therefore his charafteriftic, which gave faci¬ 
lity and variety to his works, though without any thing 
that indicated fuperior genius. As a proof of thefe qua¬ 
lities, it is related that he laid a wager with fome brother- 
artifts, that he would in one day defign twelve holy fa¬ 
milies, in which not one figure fhould refemble another; 
and won his bet. He drew correftly, grouped his pieces 
with elegance, was a good colourift, and painted all parts 
of his fubjefts equally well; figures, landfcapes, archi¬ 
tecture, and ornaments. He particularly excelled in his 
women and children. On his return from Rome, he was 
much employed at Paris, and became profeflbr and reCtor 
of the academy of painting. He painted feveral ceilings 
for the palaces of Louis XIV. in which he adopted that 
monarch’s favourite allegorical emblem of the fun, and 
gained a penfion for the adulation of his pencil. Many 
of his works were allegorical; but his invention in this 
walk does not feem to have feared very high, if we may 
judge from a piece in which, to illuftrate the maxim 
“ Sine Cerere & Baccho friget Venus,” he painted Venus 
warming lierfelf at a fire, and Ceres and Bacchus retiring. 
Loir made a number of etchings from his own deiigns; 
ajui about fourfeore engravings from his works by dit- 
L O I 
ferent mafters atteft the reputation he once pofleffed. lie- 
died in 1679. Pilkington. 
LOIR, a river of France, which rifes about fix miles 
north-north-weft from Illiers, in the department of the 
Eure and Loir; pafles by Bonneval, Chateaudun, Cloye, 
Moree, Freteval, Vendofme, Montoire, Chartres, LeLude, 
La Fleche, Durtal, &c. and joins the Sarte about five 
miles above Le Mans ; foon after which they both toge¬ 
ther join the Mayenne. 
LOIR and CHER, a department of France, fo called 
from the two rivers which crofs it; the former in the 
fouthern part, the other in the north. It is bounded on 
the north by the department of the Eure and Loir, on the 
north-eaft by the Loiret, on the eaft and fouth-eaft by the 
Cher, on the fouth by the Indre, and on the weft by the 
Indie and Loire, and Sarte. It is about fixty-fix miles in 
length, and from twenty-five to thirty broad. Blois is 
the capital. 
LOIRE, a river of France, which rifes about eighteen 
miles north-north-weft from Aubenas, in the department 
of the Ardeche, pafles by or near to Le Puy, Bas en Ballet, 
Aurec, St. Rambert, Feurs, Roanne, Marcigny, Les 
Nonains, Digoin, Decife, Nevers, Charite, Cofne, Cha- 
tillcn fur Loire, Gien, Jargeau, Orleans, Beaugency, St. 
Die, Blois, Amboife, Tours, Langeais, Saumur, Roche¬ 
fort, Chalonne, St. Florent, Ancenis, Nantes, &c. and 
runs into the fea about thirty miles weft from Nantes, in 
lat. 47.12. N. Ion. 2.10. W. 
_ We have the following more particular account of this 
river in Monf. Millin’s Voyage dans les Deparfements 
Meridionaux de la France. “The Loire, of which the 
Romans have preferved the Celtic name, Liger, has its 
fource in mount Gerbier-le-Joux, on the frontiers of Ve- 
lay; after having flowed through le Forez, its bulk in- 
creafes fo as to render it navigable ; it then traverles part 
of Burgundy and the Nivernais, where it receives the 
waters of the Allier; it runs from eaft to weft, from Or¬ 
leans to Nantes, where its bed is enlarged; and, eleven 
leagues lower down, it empties itfelf into the fea. The 
benefits which it renders to commerce and induftry are 
incalculable ; hence it is bordered by rich and populous 
cities, and its banks announce fertility and abundance. 
For a long time they who inhabit its ftrores have done all 
in their power to promote the fafety of its navigation ; 
but the quantity of loofe fand which it carries down, with 
fragments of quartz and coal, which are often mixed to¬ 
gether, renders its courfe uncertain and deceptive, efpe- 
cially from Orleans to the fea. To prevent the dangers 
which may arifefrom flioals, which fiiift with the frequent 
variations of the current, watermen are conftantly em¬ 
ployed in placing little branches of willows on thefe Ihoals, 
and in preceding large barges, which are commonly united 
to each other in numbers more or lefs confiderable : a lit¬ 
tle boat always attends them, with a pilot to lay down 
the buoys. As its courfe, though finuous, does not dou¬ 
ble on itfelf, the veflels afeending the river avail them- 
felves of thofe days in which the wind blows from the 
fea, and fills their large fails ; but the variablenefs of the 
winds precludes any calculation of the length of time 
which will be employed in this navigation. To confine 
this capacious river to its bed, a large dyke has been con- 
ftructed on both its hanks, from Elois to Angers; which 
immenfe work is called les levees, or the caufeways. Its 
origin is traced back to the time of Charlemagne; and 
from that period care has been taken to keep it in repair. 
The height of thefe caufeways is twenty-five feet, and 
their breadth is forty; the middle is paved or gravelled, 
and the fides are protected by parapets of earth, which 
are in feveral places fadly damaged. It is eafy to perceive 
that a road fo winding and narrow, continued to fo great 
an extent, mult be dangerous ; and it often happens that 
melancholy accidents occur in dark nights, during thick 
fogs, when the horfes are frightened, and when, among 
tire multitude of drivers with which the caufeway is co¬ 
vered. 
