L A M 
fcepticifm ; nor his Hexameron Ruftique, a work contain¬ 
ing fame licentious thoughts and expreffions. 
His fon, the abbe Le Vayer, was the friend of Boileau, 
■who has infcribed to him his fourth fatire. He publiftied 
a tranflation of Florus, with a commentary. 
LAMO'TIS, in ancient geography, a fmall country of 
Afia, in Cilicia, which took its name from the town of 
Lamus. Ptolemy. 
LAMOT'TE (Antony Houdart de), an eminent and 
ingenious French writer, was born at Paris in 1672. His 
father, who was a rich hatter, fent him for education to 
a Jefuit feminary, and deftined him for the profeflion of 
the law. He purfued for fotne time the Undies proper for 
the bar, but loon deferred them in difguft, and devoted 
himfelf to polite literature. At the age of twenty-one he 
compofed a comedy, which was reprelented at the Italian 
theatre, but failed of fuccefs; and this difappointment fo 
much affected his fpirits, that he flew to the monaftery of 
La Trappe, with the intention of a Illuming the habit of 
that rigorous order. The celebrated abbe de Ranee, how¬ 
ever, finding him unable to fupport thefe rigours, and 
probably doubting the reality of his vocation, difmiffed 
him, after an abode of two or three months. Returning 
to Paris, he renewed his vifits to the theatres, and com¬ 
pofed an opera, entitled L'Europe Galante, which obtained 
great applaufe. It was fucceeded by the paftoral of IJJ'e, 
which he wrote in conjunction with Deftouches the muli- 
cian, and which was alfo fuccefsful. He afterwards com¬ 
pofed feveral other pieces of the opera-kind. He next at¬ 
tempted the higher fpecies of poetry ; and publiflied, in 
1707, a volume of Odes. Thefe obtained the character of 
being more philofophical than poetical; and, though they 
were read with pleafure, they added little to his reputa¬ 
tion. 
In 1710, Lamotte was admitted a member of the French 
Academy, in preference to Roufieau, a better poet, but 
much lefs amiable man. His difeourfe on reception was 
reckoned a model of the kind; and he adverted in it with 
elegance and pathos to the misfortune of an alrnoft total 
privation of fight, under which, from this period of his 
life, he continued to labour. Ambitious of acquiring a 
name in the fuperior walks of the drama, he next engaged 
in the compofition of tragedy, and produced The Macca¬ 
bees, which was afted at the Theatre Francois. He kept 
his name concealed till its fuccefs was certain ; and had 
the fatisfaClion of hearing it fuppofed a pofthumous work 
of Racine. Proceeding in the fame career, he gave to the 
public Romulus, and Ines de Caflro, both with fuccefs: 
the latter proved one of the moll interefting pieces on the 
French ftage, was a died a great number of times at its 
firlt appearance, and ftill draws a full audience. His 
CEdipus, which followed, met with little applaufe ; and 
the author terminated his tragic efforts with the publica¬ 
tion of an effay to prove that profe is better calculated 
than verfe for the vehicle of tragedy. To ffiow that no 
department of the drama was beyond his powers, he next 
compofed feveral comedies, which were favourably re¬ 
ceived : Le Magnifique, in particular, has retained a place 
among the molt popular of thefe performances. They 
are all written in profe. 
In 1714- he appeared before the public in anew charac¬ 
ter, that of a critic and tranflator of a work, of the ori¬ 
ginal language of which he was totally ignorant. He 
gave a tranflation in verfe of Homer’s Iliad, to which he 
prefixed a difeourfe containing a free cenfure of the en¬ 
tire plan of that celebrated poem, written indeed with ele¬ 
gance and ingenuity, but betraying a great want of feel¬ 
ing of the fublime beauties of poetry, as well as ignorance 
of the manners and character of antiquity. His verfion, 
•which might rather be called an imitation, or an abridg¬ 
ment accommodated to the French taffe, was Hill more 
injurious to Homer than his criticifm, and both excited 
high indignation in the paflionate admirers of that bard 
and of the ancients in general. Mad. Dacier took up the 
caufe, and wrote an efiay On the Caufes of the Corrup- 
Voi.XII. No. 81 5 . 
LAM 33.1 
tion of Taffe, in which flie handled Lamotte with great 
feverity, and difplayed as much pedantry and coarfenefs 
as erudition. It gave occaiion to a triumph on his part ; 
for nothing could furpafs in polifhed wit and elegance his 
reply, under the title of Refleilions fur la Critique . Many 
oilier pieces were publiftied on both Tides of the queffion, 
till the topic had loft the novelty which rendered it inter¬ 
efting. 
He gave additional proof of the variety and facility of 
his powers in 1719 by the publication of a volume of Fa¬ 
bles. This fpecies of compofition, which had been ren¬ 
dered fo popular, and had been elevated to a high poetical 
rank by La Fontaine, has never attained the fame confe- 
quence in the hands of his fucceftors and imitators. His 
charming natural fimplicity was but faintly and affectedly 
copied by Lamotte, who, however, deferved the praife of 
novelty and ingenuity in the contrivance of his fables, and 
of confiderable moral merit in the application. Though 
much criticifed, they were generally read, and feveral of 
their lines became proverbial. Some paftoral eclogues, 
cantatas, pfalms and hymns, and copies of verfes com¬ 
pofed on particular occafions, complete the lift of his re¬ 
maining poetical works, in all of which the fpirit of a true 
poet is wanting, nor is there any great excellence of ver- 
fification, though there are many neat and happy paffages. 
As a profe-writer, he attained a high degree of excellence. 
His academical difeourfes were particularly applauded ; 
and, befides their intrinfic merit, they were indebted to 
the admirable manner in which he read, or rather recited, 
them, and which is deferibed as having been uncommonly 
fafeinating. An eulogy which he pronounced on Louis 
XIV. though too much in the panegyrical ftrain, is laid 
by d’Alembert to be the only funeral tribute, among the 
many paid to that monarch, which is not entirely forgot¬ 
ten. His pen was borrowed for purpofes that were foreign 
from the general tenor of his writings, but which gave 
room for the difplay of his extraordinary verfatility. 
Thefe were the charges and paftoral addreffes of bifhops, 
feveral of which he compofed with fuccefs for particular 
friends. Nor was it on thofe occafions alone that he af- 
fumed the theologian; he drew up a Plan of Evidences of 
Religion, which is faid to be a mafter-piece of the kind. 
Although the novelty of his literary opinions brought 
upon him a hoft of opponents, many of whom treated him 
with great rudenefs, he always preferved perfeCt calmnefs 
and good temper in his replies, and frequently fuffered 
attacks upon him to remain unnoticed. He thus treated 
a fcurrilous poetafter named Gacon, who at length threat¬ 
ened to publilh a pamphlet with the title of “ Anfwer to 
the Silence of M. de Lamotte.’* The fame mildnefs of 
difpofition marked his conduft in all occurrences. Being 
once in a crowd, he chanced to tread on the foot of a 
young man, who immediately ftruck him a blow on the 
face. “ Sir, (faid Lamotte,) you will be very forry for what 
you have done : I am blind !” He bore with patience and 
refignation the painful fymptoms of a decline which 
brought his life to a clofe in December 1731, at the age 
of fifty-nine. His works were publiftied collectively at 
Paris, in 1754, in 11 vols. 8vo. Morcri. 
LAMOT'TE (William Mauqueft de), an eminent 
French furgeon and accoucheur. He ftudied at Paris, 
and paffed five years at the Hotel Dieu; after which he 
fettled at Valogne, in Lower Normandy, where he became 
eminent in practice during a long period. He publiftied, 
in 1715, the refult of an experience of thirty years, in a 
work entitled, Traitis des Accouchements, 4to. Of this feve¬ 
ral editions have been made, fome of the later of which 
have improved upon the original arrangement, and have 
added annotations and figures. The work is a valuable 
record of practice in the art of midwifery, which it Am¬ 
plifies, and enriches with a great number of valuable ob- 
fervations. Another of his works on this topic is, “ Dif- 
fertation fur la Generation, fur la Superfetation, et Re- 
ponfe au livre intitule, De l’lndecence aux Hommes d’ac- 
coucher ks Femmes,” 1718, umo. in the phyfiological 
G g part 
