LAM 
LAMENT, f. [ lamntum , Lat.] Sorrow audibly ex- 
prefled ; lamentation ; grief uttered in complaints or 
cries : 
We, long ere our approaching, heard within 
Noife, other than the found of dance, or fong! 
Torment, and loud lament , and furious rage. Milton. 
Exprefiion of forrow : 
To add to your laments. 
Wherewith you now bedew king Henry’s hearfe, 
I niuft inform you of a difinal fight. Shakefpeare. 
LAM'ENTABLE, adj. To be lamented ; caufing for¬ 
row : 
The lamentable change is from the beft ; 
The worlt returns to laughter. Shakefpeare. 
Mournful ; forrowful ; exprefiing forrow.—A lamentable 
tune is the fweeteft 'mufic to a woful mind. Sidney. 
The victors to their veflels bear the prize, 
And hear behind loud groans, and lamentable cries. Dryd. 
Miferable, in a ludicrous or low fenfe; pitiful; defpica- 
ble.—This bilhop, to make out the difparity between 
the heathens and them, flies to this lamentable refuge. 
Stilling fleet. 
LAM'ENTABLENESS, f. The ftate of being lamen¬ 
table. Scott- 
LAM'ENTABLY, .adv. With expreffions or tokens of 
forrow; mournfully.—The matter in itfelf lamentable, 
lamentably expreffed by the old prince, greatly moved 
the two princes to companion. Sidney. —So as to caufe 
forrow: i 
Our fortune on the fea is out of breath. 
And finks moft lamentably. Shakefpeare. 
Pitifully; defpicably. 
LAMENTATION, f Exprefiion of forrow ; audible 
grief.—His fons buried him, and all Ifrael made great la¬ 
mentations for him. 1 Maccabees. 
Be’t lawful that I invocate thy ghoft, 
To hear the lamentations of poor Anne. Shakefpeare. 
LAMENTATIONS, a canonical book of the Old 
Teftam’ent, written by the prophet Jeremiah, according 
to archbifhop Ufher and fome other learned men, (who 
follow the opinion of Jofephus and St. Jerome,) on occa- 
fion of Jofiah’s death. But this opinion does not feem to 
agree with the fubjeft of the book, the lamentation com- 
pofed by Jeremiah on that occafion being probably loft. 
The fifty-fecond chapter of the book of Jeremiah was 
probably added by Ezra, as a preface or introduction to 
the Lamentations : the two firft chapters are employed in 
defcribing the calamities of the fiege of Jerufalem ; in the 
third the author deplores the perfecutions he himfelf had 
fuffered; the fourth treats of the defolation of the city 
and temple, and the inisfortunes of Zedekiah ; the fifth 
chapter is a prayer for the Jews in their difperfion and 
captivity; and at the clofe of all he fpeaks of the cruelty 
of the Edomites, who had intuited Jerufalem in her mi- 
fery. All the chapters of this book, except the laft, are 
in metre, and digefted in the order of the alphabet; with 
this difference, that, in the firft, fecond, and fourth, chap¬ 
ters, the firft letter of every verfe follows the order of the 
alphabet; but in the third the fame initial letter is’conti¬ 
nued for three verfes together. This order was probably 
adopted, that the book might be more eafily. learnt and 
retained. The fubjeft of this book is of the moft moving 
kind ; and the ftyle throughout lively, pathetic, and af¬ 
fecting. 
LAMEN'TER, f. He who mourns or laments.—Such 
a complaint good company mult pity, whether they think 
the lamenter ill or not. Spectator. 
LAMENTIN', a town of the ifland of Martinico, on 
the welt coalt. Lat. 14. 36. N. Ion. 60. 57. W, 
L A M 107 
LAMENTING,/. The aft of exprefling grief; ala- 
mentation. 
LAM'ENTUNG, a town of Thibet: twenty-five miles 
eaft of Jhanfi Jeung. 
LA'MER, a village in Hertfordfliire, on the north fide 
of the river Lea, in the parifh of Wheat-Hampfted. Its 
church, thought to be the oldelt in the county, is built 
like a cathedral; and the rood feems to be left in it Hill, 
which ferves for the clerk’s delk. 
LAM'ERTON, or Lam'berton, a village in Devon- 
fhire, two miles from Taviftock. In its church are the ef¬ 
figies of Nicholas and Andrew Tremaine, twins, who 
were not only fo like as fcarcely to be diftinguifhed, but 
fuffered the fame pain, and had the fame appetites, though 
at a diftance, at the fame time ; and were killed together 
at Newhaven in France, in 1663. 
LA'MESLEY, a townlhip of England, in the county 
of Durham, with 1705 inhabitants: ten miles north of 
Durham. 
LA'METUK, a town of the ftate of New Jerfey : fif¬ 
teen miles north-weft of New Brunfwick. 
LAMETOU'NAH, a town of Africa, in Sahara, about 
feven days’journey foufh of Tripoli. 
LAMGAR'BEN, a town of Pruflia, in Bartenland : fix 
miles north-north-weft of Raftenburg. 
LAM'GI, a petty kingdom of Afia, lying to the well; 
of Nipal or Napaul. 
LA'MI (John), a celebrated Italian philologer of the 
eighteenth century, occupied the chair of ecclefiaftical 
hiltory at Florence, and was keeper of the Ricardi libra¬ 
ry. He was a man of Angularity in his tone of conven¬ 
tion and mode of life, well furnilhed with literary anec¬ 
dote of all kinds, and capable of keen obfervations. It 
was he who, once fhowing to fomeSwedifh gentlemen the 
old Medici palace, feparated only by the ftreet from the 
Jefuits’ college, laid to them, “ This was the cradle of let¬ 
ters, and this (turning to the college) is their grave.” 
His treatife, De reEla Chriflianorum circa Trinilatemjentcntia, 
brought upon him fome attacks in point of orthodoxy 
from the Jefuits. Thefe he repelled in a work De cruditi- 
one Apoflolorum, 1738. He gave an edition of the Works 
of Meurfius, Flor. 1741, 12 vols. folio. He was for leve- 
ral years the publilher of a literary journal at Florence ; 
and died, at a very advanced age, about the year 1765. 
LA'MI A, the moft celebrated female flute-player in 
antiquity. Her beauty, wit, and abilities in her profef- 
fion, made her regarded as a prodigy. The honours Ihe 
received, which are recorded by feveral authors, particu¬ 
larly by Plutarch and Athenaeus, are lufficient teftimonies 
of her great power over the paflions of her hearers. Her 
claim to admiration from her perfonal allurements does 
not entirely depend, at prefent, upon the fidelity of hifto- 
rians; fince an exquifite engraving of her head, upon an 
amethyft, with the veil and bandage of her profeflicn; is 
prelerved in the late king of France’s collection, which, 
in fome meafure, authenticates the account of her beauty. 
As (he was a great traveller, her reputation foon became 
very extenfive. Her firft journey from Athens, the place 
of her birth, was into Egypt, whither Ihe was drawn by 
the fame of the flute-players of that country. Her perfon 
and performance were not long unnoticed at the court of 
Alexandria; however, in the conflict between Ptolemy 
Soter and Demetrius, for the ifland of Cyprus, about 312 
years B. C. Ptolemy being defeated in a fea-engagement, 
his wives, domeftics, and military Itores, fell into the hands 
of Demetrius. Plutarch, in his life of this prince, tells us, 
that “ the celebrated Lamia was among the female cap¬ 
tives taken in this victory. She had been univerfally admir¬ 
ed, at firft, on account of her talents, for (he was a won¬ 
derful performer on the flute ; but, afterwards, her for¬ 
tune became more fplendid by the charms of her perfon, 
which procured her many admirers of great rank.” The 
prince whofe captive fhe became, and who, though a fuc- 
cefsful warrior, was (aid to have vanquithed as many hearts 
as cities, conceived fo violent a pallion for Lamia, that, 
from 
