786 L U T 
turyj and Congreve, at the end of the fevenfeenth, ftSS 
celebrated the performance of Mrs. Arabella Hunt on 
that inftrument. The earlieft mention of the lute that we 
have found ainongthe moderns is in Boccaccio, Giornata 
pTima , where the tinging is generally faid to have been ac¬ 
companied by the lute. In Chaucer’s Pardoner’s Tale, 
we are told : 
In Flanders whilom was a compagnie 
Of younge folke that haunted in folie, 
As hazard, riot, ftewes and tavernes 
Whereas with harpes, lutes, and guiterne's 
They daunce and play. 
In Shakefpeare’s Firft Part of Henry IV. Mortimer tells his 
lady, who can fpeak no Englith, that her tongue 
Makes Weltli as fweetas ditties highly penn’d, 
Sung by a fair queen in a fummer’s bower. 
With ravithing divifion, to her lute* 
And in lord-commitlioner Whitelocke’s manufcript nar¬ 
rative of a ntafque given in 1633, to Charles I. and his 
queen, by the four inns of court, he fays, that “he en¬ 
gaged forty lutes, befides other inftruments, and voyces of 
the mod excellent kind in cJJrfifarte.” 
There was a lute at the Italian opera in England to 
the end of Handel’s regency ; and the place of lutenift 
in the king’s chapel was continued till the death of Gig- 
lier, about the middle of the laid century. It feems as if 
in France there had been a time when there were no other 
inftruments in ufe than lutes, as luthier not only implies 
the maker of lutes, but violins, violoncellos, and other 
inftruments of the fame kind. 
The ftringed inftruments of the ancients were fo nu¬ 
merous, and fo various in their forms, that we know not 
the precife difference between the lyre and cithara. The 
teftudo, among poets, not only implies the lyre, faid to 
have been originally made by Mercury of the back or 
hollow (hell of the Teftudo aquatica, or fea-tortoife, but 
Inufic itfelf. 
Vincenzo Galileo (Dial.) fays the beft lutes were made 
in England ; but thole of Bologna are molt famous. This 
inftrument confifts of four parts, the table, the body or 
belly, which has nine or ten Tides, the neck or finger¬ 
board, which has nine or ten frets or divifions marked 
with catgut or bowel-ftrings, and the head orcrof's, where 
the fcrews or pins for tightening or relaxing the firings 
in tuning are faftened. This is called the lute with two 
necks, or the theorbo, which has fometimes only one firing 
to each note. In the middle of the belly, or table, there 
is a rofe, or paflage for the found. There is alfo a bridge, 
to which the firings are faftened ; and a piece of ivory be¬ 
tween the head and the neck, to which the other extre¬ 
mities of the ltrings are fitted. In performing on the lute, 
the ltrings are (truck with the right hand, and preffed 
upon the frets with the left. 
The inhabitants of Congo have a lute of a lingular kind. 
The body and neck of this inftrument refemible ours; 
but the belly, that is, the place where the rofe or found- 
hole has place in our lutes, is of very thin parchment; 
which probably implies that the whole table or belly of 
this inftrument is covered with parchment inftead of 
wood. It is ftrung with the hair of an elephant’s tail, 
the ftrongeft and the beft that can be chofen j or elfe with 
the bark of the palm-tree. The firings reach from one 
end of rhe inftrument to the other, and are faftened to 
lings fixed at different places of the lute one above the 
other. To thefe rings are fufpended fmall plates of iron 
and filver of different lizes and different tones. In thrum¬ 
ming the firings, thefe rings are put in motion, which 
likewife move the little metal plates, and the whole forms 
a kind of murmuring harmony, or rather a coufufed noife, 
which is not dilagreeable. Indeed, the inhabitants add, 
that by means of this inftrument the mufician expreffes 
his thoughts as clearly as if he were fpeaking. 
LUTE, J. flutum, Lat. clay.] In chemiftry, a compo- 
fction of certain tenacious fubftances, wherewith to clofe 
L U T 
the apertures and junctures of veffels in diftillation, &c» 
See Luting. 
Some temper lute, fome fpacious veffels move; 
Thefe furnaces erect, and thofe approve. Garth. 
To LUTE, v. a. To clofe with lute, orchemifts’ clay_- 
Iron may be fo heated, that, being clofely luted in a glafs, 
it (hall conflantly retain the fire. Wilkins's Math. Magick. 
LU'TE-CASE, f. A cafe for a lute.—Bardolph ltole a 
lute-cafe, bore it twelve leagues, and fold it for three half¬ 
pence. Shakefp. Hen. V. 
LU'TE-RESOUNDING, adj. Refponfive to the found 
of a lute» 
In lands of (ingingor of dancing (laves, 
Love-whifp’ring woods, and lute-refounding waves. Pope. 
LU'TE-STRING, f. The firing of a lute.—Nay, but 
his jelling fpirit; which is now crept into a lute firing, 
and now governed by (tops. Shakefp. Muck Ado. 
LUTEEFGUR', or Lutteef-ghur, a town of Hin- 
dooftan, fttuated in a pafs between the mountains of Be¬ 
nares. The air is very unwholefome. It is fifteen miles 
fouth-eaft of Chunar. 
LUTEO'LA,/. in botany. See Datisca and Resede. 
LU'TEOUS, adj. [from Air.] Full of clay; refembling 
clay. 
LUTEREE', a town of Hindooftan, in Lahore: thirty- 
three miles north of Jummoo. 
LUTE'TIA, in ancient geography, a town of the Pa- 
rifii, in Gallia Celtica, fituated in an ifland in the Se~ 
quana, or Seine. It received its name, as fome fuppofe, 
from the quantity of clay, lutum, in its neighbourhood. 
Julius Caelar fortified and embellifhed it ; from which cir- 
cumftance fome authors call it Julii Civitas . It is now 
Paris, the capital of France. 
LU'THER (Martin), the illuftrious author of the re¬ 
formation in Germany, was defeended from parents in 
humble circumftances and born at Eilleben in Saxony, in 
the year 1483. Having difeovered an early inclination 
for learning, he was initiated in the rudiments of gram¬ 
mar while he continued at his father’s houfe ; and, when 
he had entered on his fourteenth year, was fent to a fchool 
at Magdeburg. Owing to the poverty of his parents,, 
however, he was not able to remain there more than one 
year; and during that time was obliged, like many other 
poor German fchplars to fupport himfelf by begging 
his bread. From Magdeburg he was fent to Eyfenach in 
Thuringia, where he was amongft the relations of his mo¬ 
ther, who was defeended from an ancient and reputable 
family in that place. Here he attended a celebrated fchool 
for four years, and diftinguifhed himfelf by his diligence 
and proficiency, while he afforded many indications of 
uncommon vigour and acutenefs of genius. In the year 
1501, he went to the univerfity of Erfurt, where he 
paffed through the courfesof logic and philofophy, accord¬ 
ing to the fciiolaflic methods then in vogue, under very 
able mailers ; and wanted not penetration to comprehend 
all the niceties and diftinflions with which they abounded ; 
but his underltanding, naturally found, and fuperior to 
every thing frivolous, foon became difgufted with thofe 
fubtileand uninftruclive fciences. He therefore Itudied 
with great aftiduity the works of the ancient Latin wri¬ 
ters, fiich as Cicero, Virgil, Livy, &c. and, as he poffeffed 
a vvonderfully-retentive memory, laid in from them luch 
a fund of knowledge and goodlenfe, as rendered him the 
o'ojefl of admiration to the whole univerfity. Having 
obtained the degree of M. A. when he was only twenty 
years of age, lie afterwards read lectures on Ariftotle’s 
phyfics, on ethics, and other branches of philofophy ; and 
acquired no little reputation for eloquence, as well as learn¬ 
ing, acutenefs, and vigour of mind. As he was thus pof- 
feifed of talents and acquirements which would appeas 
with eminent advantage in the legal profeffion, by the ad¬ 
vice of bis relations he applied to the Itudy of jurifpru- 
dence: but he was foon diverted from this purfuit, and 
led entirely to change his views in life, by an accident. 
While walking oi)t one day with a friend into the fields, 
