* 
is 4 LAN 
and once more hailed all cheering day-light, we could 
not but admire the uncouth manner in which nature has 
thrown together thofe huge rocks which compofe the arch 
over the entrance; but, as if confcious of its rudenefs, fhe 
lias clothed it with trees and fhrubs of the moll various 
and beautiful verdure, which bend downwards, and with 
their leaves cover all the rugged parts of the rock. 
At the foot of a high hill called Warton-cragg, men¬ 
tioned before, hands an agreeable little obfcure town 
named Warton, upon the fide of a lake, where is a good 
grammar-fc’nool, with accommodations, and a library for 
the benefit of the mailers ; which, together with an hof- 
pital for fix poor men, was founded and endowed by Dr. 
Hutton, then bifhop of Durham, in 1549, who was after¬ 
wards tranflated to York ; which certainly mult have been 
then a lee of very great value, to have induced him to quit 
Durham for it, nctwithftanding its being an archbilliop- 
ric, and the title of grace annexed to its prelate. Here 
is alfo a very neat-built church. Guide to the Lakes. Briti/h 
DireElory. Monthly Mag. Account of the Town of Lancafer,\%o-j. 
LAN'CASTER, a populous and wealthy county of the 
American States, in the inteiior part of Pennfylvania, ex¬ 
tending fouth to the Maryland line. It is about forty- 
two miles fquare, is divided into 25 town (hips, and con¬ 
tains 566,240 acres of land, and 36,147 inhabitants, in¬ 
cluding 348 Haves. The lands in this county are rich 
and well cultivated. The hills in the northern parts 
abound with iron ore; for the manufacturing which, two 
furnaces and eight forges have been ereCted. The fur¬ 
naces manufacture about 1200 tons of pigs and nearly 
that number of bar-iron annually. Copper and lead have 
alfo been found here. Chief town, LancaJler. 
LAN'CASTER, a county of Virginia, bounded eall by 
Chefapeak Bay, and fouth-weft by Rappahannock river. 
It is about forty miles long, and fifteen broad, and con¬ 
tains 5638 inhabitants, of whom 3336 are Haves. 
LAN'CASTER, a county of Camden diftriCt, fouth 
Carolina, lying on Lynche’s Creek and Wateree River. 
It'contains 6302 inhabitants, of whom 4684 are whites, 
and 1370 Haves. 
LAN'CASTER, a town of United America, in the 
ftate of Pennfylvania, containing upwards of 900 houfes, 
a court-houfe, feveral churches, and about 5000 fouls; 
the trade is confiderable : fifty-three miles weft of Phila¬ 
delphia. Lat. 40. 4. N. Ion. 76. 20. W. 
LAN'CASTER, a very pleafant poft-town in Worcef- 
ter county, Maffachufetts, the oldeft in the county, hav¬ 
ing been fettled in 1645, and incorporated in 1653. It is 
fituated on a branch of Naftiua River, which empties into 
the Merrimack. It is thirty-five miles weft-north-welt of 
Bofton, four miles weft of Bolton, and fourteen north-by- 
eaft of Worcefter. The lands of the townlhip of Lancaf- 
ter, and thofe of Sterling on the fouth-weft, are part of 
the traCl called Najkawogg by the Indians. In the north- 
eafterly part of Lancalter there is a valuable, and perhaps 
inexhauftible. Hate-pit, furnilhing Hates for houfes, and 
excellent Hones for tombs and graves. No Hates equal 
to thefe have yet been difeovered in the United States : 
they are fent to Bofton, and exported to New York, Vir¬ 
ginia, &c. Two principal branches of Naftiua river, over 
which are nine large bridges, water this town, and have 
on the banks excellent intervale-land. Cumbery-pond 
in this town is obferved to rife as much as two feet juft 
before a florin ; and Sandy-pond rifes in a dry feafon. 
LAN'CASTER, a townlhip in Grafton county, New 
Hamplhire, on the eaft bank of Connecticut river, about 
forty-one miles above Hanover. It was incorporated in 
1763. 
LAN'CASTER, a poft-town of South Carolina, thirty- 
fix miles from Camden, and forty-feven from Charlotte, 
North Carolina. 
LAN'CASTER, a bay or found on the weftern coaft 
of Sir Thomas Smith’s Bay, in North America. The fouth- 
ernmoft part lies in lat. 74. 20. N. The molt northerly is 
{jailed Alderman Jonas’s Sound, and lies in lat. 76. N. 
LAN'CAT, a river on the north-eaft coaft of Sumatra, 
1 
LAN 
which runs into the Ealtern Indian Sea in lat. 4. 5. N. 
Ion. 98. 2. E. 
LANCA'VY, Lancahu'y, or Pu'lo La'da, an ifland 
in the Eaftern Indian Sea, near the coaft of Queda ; about 
lixteen miles long, and from three to eight broad, iat. 
6. 19. N. Ion. 99. 40. E. 
LANCAYAN', a fmall ifland in the Eaftern Indian Sea, 
near the north coaft of Borneo. Lat. 6.25. N. Ion. 118.9. E. 
LANCE, f. [Fr. fromlancea, Lat.] A long fpear, which, 
in the heroic ages, feems to have been generally thrown 
from the hand, as by the Indians at this day. In later 
times the combatants thruft them againlt each other on 
horfeback. Spear; javelin.—He carried his lances , which, 
were llrong, to give a lancely blow. Sidney. 
Hector beholds his jav’lin fall in vain, 
Nor other lance nor other hope remain ; 
He calls Deiphobus, demands a fpear; 
In vain, for no Deiphobus was there. Pope. 
The lance, or pike, is among the oldeft weapons record¬ 
ed in hiftory. It probably originated in a pole or Hake, 
fharpened at one or both ends, afterwards armed with a 
head of flint, and in procefs of time, on the difeovery and 
ufe of metals, with copper, brafs, or iron. Flint-heads, 
for both fpears and arrows, are frequently found in Eng¬ 
land, Scotland, and Ireland ; and ib are alfo fpear, jave¬ 
lin, and arrow, heads, of a metal nearly refembling brafs. 
Long fpears and lances were ufed by the Saxons and Nor¬ 
mans, both horfe and foot, but particularly by the cavalry 
of the latter, who, in charging, refted the butt end of the 
lance againlt the ai-9011, or bow of their faddle; the mail- 
armour not admitting of the fixture of lance-refts, as was 
afterwards praCtifed on the cuirafs. A lance-rejl was a 
kind of moveable iron bracket, fixed to the right fide of 
the cuirafs, for the purpofe of fupporting the lance. It 
does not appear that there was any eftabliflied ftandard 
for the length or thicknefs of the ancient lances, or the 
fize or form of their heads; but it rather feems, that every 
military man had his lance, as well as his other arms, con- 
ltructed of the dimenfions that bell accorded with his 
ftrength and ftature. It is certain, however, that the 
heads of lances and fpears were always made of the beft 
tempered fteel, and their Haves of the founded afli, whence 
the writers of Latin verfe ufed the word fraxinus (Latin 
for alh) to exprefs a lance or fpear. Although lances and 
fpears were chiefly the weapons of horfemen, they were 
alfo ufed by the infantry and difmounted knights, to keep 
off the cavalry; for this purpofe they fixed the butts in 
the ground, their points Hoping towards the breads of the 
enemy’s horfes. In tournaments, the knights fometimes 
fought on foot with their lances; in which cafe it was 
cuftomary to fliorten them, by cutting off part of the ftaffi. 
Tilting-lances differed from thofe ufed in war, both in 
their heads and ftaves ; the heads of tilting-lances being 
blunt, or occafionally fitted with a contrivance to prevent 
penetration, called coronel, or cronel, from its refemblance 
to a crown. The ftaves were thick at the butt-end, taper¬ 
ing off gradually to the point, and generally fluted ; near 
the butt-end they had a cavity for the reception of the 
hand : the front of it was defended by an iron plate, call¬ 
ed a vam-plat , that is, an avant-plate, and behind it was a 
broad iron ring, called a burr. Thefe handles were not 
confined to the tilting-lance, but were made alfo on thofe 
defigned for war. Fauchet fays, that lances of this kind 
were notin ufe before theyear 1300. Grofe on Ancient Armour. 
To LANCE, v. a. To pierce; to cut.—In their cruel 
worfhip they lance themfelves with knives. Glanville, 
With his prepared fword he charges home 
My unprovided body, lanc'd my arm. Shakejpeare. 
To open chirurgically ; to cut in order to a cure.—‘That 
differs as far from our ufual feverities, as the lancings of a 
phyfician do from the wounds of an adverfary. Decay of 
Piety. 
Fell forrow’s tooth doth never rankle more 
Than when it bites, but lancith not the fore. Shakejpeare . 
LANCI 
