l a r 
[From lea, Sax. a field.] Paflure; the ground.—More 
hard for hungry fteed t’abftaine from pleafant fare. Spenfir. 
Have the winters been fo fet 
To raine and fnow, they have wet 
A }1 his drielt laire ? W. Browne. 
LA'IR-WITE, f. [a law term .] A fine for adultery or 
fornication anciently paid to the lords of fome manors. 
LAIRD, f. [hlapopb, Sax.] The lord of a manor in 
the Scottifli dialed!: 
Shrive but their title, and their moneys poife, 
A laird and twenty pence pronounc’d with noife, 
When conftru’d but for a plain yeoman go, 
And a good fober two-pence, and well fo. Cleaveland. 
LAIRE (Francis Xavier), born at Vadans in France in 
3739, and died at Sens in the year 1800, was celebrated 
for his knowledge of bibliography. He publithed, 1. Me¬ 
moirs towards the Hiltory of Great Men of the fifteenth 
and fixteenth Centuries ; with a Supplement to Mattaire’s 
Annals of Typography. 2. Specimen Hifioricum Typo¬ 
graphy Romanae. 3. Epiftola ad Abbate Ugolini. 4. 
On the Origin and Progrefs of Printing in Franche Compte; 
and fome other pieces. 
LAIRES'SE (Gerard), an eminent painter, was born 
at Liege in 1640. His father, who was a painter, gave 
him inftruftions in his ait, and he was alfo a difciple of 
Bartolet, whom he clofely imitated. From him, and from 
the works of Tefta and Nicholas Pouflin, he derived that 
tafte for the antique which appears extraordinary in one 
who never vifited Italy. He began to paint portraits at 
the age of fifteen, and alfo made himfelf known by fome 
hiftory-pieces. The money he gained was fquandered in 
idle expence 5 for, although remarkably ugly, he was fond 
of drefs, and afpired to pleafe the fair fex. He married, 
and fettled at Utrecht ; where he was reduced to very dif- 
trefled circumftances. A piflui'e which he offered to fale 
for prefent fupport made him known to a Dutch pifture- 
merchant, who invited him to Amfterdam. On coming 
thither, a canvas was prefented to him for proof of his 
abilities; and, before fitting down, he furprifed the by- 
ftanders by drawing out a violin, and playing a tune: he 
then made a (ketch of a nativity, with feveral figures ; re¬ 
fumed his violin, and finilhed his picture the fame day. 
This anecdote fuffices to give an idea of his fingularities, 
and of that aftonilhing facility of invention and quick- 
nefs of hand for which he was remarkable. Of the latter 
he once gave an extraordinary proof, by Sniffling, for a 
wager, in a fingle day, a picture of Parnaflus, with Apollo 
and the nine mufes, as large as life ; of which the face of 
Apollo was a Itriking portrait of a perfon u’ho was ob- 
ferving his labour. Laireffe was not, however, only com¬ 
mendable for expedition : he was a real genius in his art. 
His taffe in defign was grand and poetical, his expreffion 
lively, his colouring true and glowing, his touch light and 
firm, his draperies difpofed in broad and natural folds. 
His figures were fomewhat too flrort, and deficient in 
grace, though not univerfally fo. The reputation he ac¬ 
quired gave him much employment; but want of eco¬ 
nomy made him needy. In his latter years he was afflict¬ 
ed with blindnefs; but was (till reforted to by artifts and 
amateurs, on account of his inftruftions, of which he 
was remarkably communicative. The treatifes on defign 
and colouring which pafs under his name were collected 
from his detached obfervations. He died at Amiterdam 
in 1711, and was buried by the fociety of artifts in that 
city. His pictures are met with in molt great collections, 
and fome of them are highly valued. Several have been 
engraved. He himfelf etched a great deal; and the plates 
from his defigns amount to two hundred and fifty-fix, of- 
which more than half are by his own hand. 
There were feveral artifts of this family. Befides the 
father, Gerard had three brothers, of whom Erncjl and 
Joint excelled in painting animals, and James in flowers. 
Two of Gerard’s fons were his own pupils, D'A'gcnvilU . 
Pilkington's Dicl. 
Vox. XII. No. 813. 
LAI 89 
LA'IS, a celebrated courtefan, daughter of Timandra 
the miftrefs of Alcibiades, born at Hyccara in Sicily. She 
was carried away from her native place, when Nicias the 
Athenian general invaded Sicily. She firft began to fell 
her favours at Corinth for 10,000 drachmas; and the im- 
nienfe number of princes, noblemen, philofophers, orators, 
and plebeians, which courted her embraces, (how how 
much commendation is owed to her perfonal charms. 
The expences which attended her pleafures gave rife to 
the proverb of Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum. 
Even Demofthenes himfelf vifited Corinth for the fake of 
Lais; but, when he was informed by the courtefan, that 
admittance to her bed was to be bought at the enormous 
fum of about 200I. Englifti money, the orator departed, 
and obferved that he would not buy repentance at fo dear 
a price. The charms which had attracted Demofthenes to 
Corinth had no influence upon Xenocrates: when Lais 
law the philofopher unmoved by her beauty, (he vifited 
his houfe herfelf; but there (he had no reafon to boaft of 
the licentioulhefs or eafy fubmiffion of Xenocrate$. Dio¬ 
genes the cynic was one of her warmed admirers; and, 
though filthy in his drefs and manners, yet he gained her, 
and enjoyed her moft unbounded favours. The fculptor 
Mycon alfo folicited the favours of Lais, but he met with 
coldnefs: he, however, attributed the caule of his ill re¬ 
ception to the whitenefs of his hair, and dyed it of a 
brown colour, but to no purpofe : “Fool that thou art 
(faid the courtefan) to a(k what I refufed yefterday to thy 
father.” Lais ridiculed the aufterity of philofophers, and 
laughed at the weaknefs of thofe who pretend to have 
gained a fuperiority over their paflions, by obferving that 
the fages and philofophers of the age were not above the 
reft of mankind, for (lie found them at her door as often 
as the reft of the Athenians. The fuccefs which her de¬ 
baucheries met at Corinth encouraged Lais to pafs into 
Theflaly, and more particularly to enjoy the company of 
a favourite youth called Hippoftratus. She was however 
difappointed : the women of the place, jealous of her 
charms, and apprehenfive of her corrupting the fidelity of 
their hulbands, affafllnated her in the temple of Venus, 
about 340 years before the Chriftian era. Some fuppofe 
that there w f ere two perfons of this name, a mother and 
her daughter. 
LA'ISBY, a town of Swedilh Lapland, in the Lapmark 
of Umea : 100 miles north-weft of Urnea. 
LAIS'CHEV, a town of Rufiia, in the government of 
Kazan, at the union of the Kama and Volga: twenty 
miles fouth of Kazan. Lat. 55.20. N. Ion. 49. 14. E. 
LA'ISH, / [Heb. a lion.] The name of a man j the 
name of a country. 
LAI'SON, a river of France, which runs into the Dive, 
three miles eaft-fouth-eaft of Troarn, in the department 
of the Calvados. 
LAIS'SAC, a town of France, in the department of 
Aveyron, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrift of 
Milhau. The place contains 1083, and the canton 7453, 
inhabitants, on a territory of 172! kiliometres, in 12 com¬ 
munes. 
LAIS'SE, a town of France, in the department of Mont 
Blanc : three miles eaft of Chambery. 
LAIS'SE, a river of France, which pnfles through lake 
Bourget, and runs into the Rhone near Chanas. 
LA'ITY,/! [*«©-, Gr. ] The people, as diftinguifhed 
from the clergy.—An humble clergy is a very good one ; 
and an humble laity too, fince humility is a virtue that 
equally adorns every ftation in life. Swift. —The ftate of 
a layman.—The more ufual caufe of this deprivation is 
a mere laity, or want of holy orders. Ay life's Par ergon. 
LA'IUS, fon of Labdacus, who fucceeded to the throne 
of Thebes, which his grandfather Nyfteus had left to the 
care of his brother Lycus till his grandfon came of age. 
He was driven from his kingdom by Amphion and Ze- 
thus, who were incenfed againft Lycus for the indignities 
which Antiope had fuffered. He was afterwards reltored, 
and married Jocafta the daughter of Creon. An oracle 
A a informed 
