l a n 
LARD'ING-MONEY. In the manor of Bradford, *n 
the county of Wilts, the tenants pay to their lord a fmall 
yearly rent by this name; which is faid to be for liberty 
to feed their hogs with the malt of the lord’s woods, the 
fat of a hog being called lard. Or it may be a commuta¬ 
tion for fome cultomary lervice of carrying fait or meat 
to the lord’s larder. 
LARDIZABA'LA,yi in botany, a genus of plants be¬ 
longing to the clafis dicecia, order hexandria. There is 
but one fpecies, which is a native of Chili, and is thus 
defcribed from the drawings of La Martiniere, the natu- 
ralilt who accompanied La Peroufe in his voyage of dil- 
covery. I. Male flower. Calyx formed of fix expanding 
leaves, oblong, oval, and obtule; the three outermolt be¬ 
ing larged. Corolla compofed of fix lharp petals, ihorter 
than the leaves of the calyx. II. Female flower. Calyx 
fimilar to that of the male, but larger. Corolla compoled 
of fix petals, rarely entire, but commonly trifid at their 
top. Stamina fix; filaments diftintl; antherae fix, oblong, 
barren. Seed-bud : cells from three to fix, oblong, nearly 
the length of the corolla; flylesnone; Aigmata fitting, 
permanent. Berries equal in number to the cells, oblong, 
acuminated, divided into fix cells, containing feveral an¬ 
gular feeds. 
LARDNER (Nathaniel), a very learned Englifli non- 
conformiA divine, was born at Hawkherft, near Wye, 
in Kent, on the 6th ot June, 1684. He probably received 
his grammatical learning at Deal, which was his father’s 
reiidence, and where he was paltor of a congregation of 
proteflant dilfenters ; and from ichool he was removed to 
a diflenting academy in London, under the care of the 
Rev. Dr. Oldfield ; but, after flaying here a lhort time, he 
was fent, in the year 1699, and when he was only in his 
fixteenth year, to profecute his ftudies at Utrecht, under 
profeflors d’Uries, Grasvius, and Burman. After fpend- 
ing fomewhat more than three years at Utrecht, Mr. Lard¬ 
ner removed to Leyden, where he ftudied about fix months. 
In 1703 he returned to England; and from this time to 
1709 we have no memorials concerning him. In the lafi- 
mentioned year he preached, for the firfl time, at Stoke 
Newington, from the words of the apoltle Paul, For I am 
■not ajhamcd of the gofpel of Chrijl. “ There could not,” lays 
Dr. Kippis, “ have been a more proper text, for a man 
who was deAined, in theorderof divine Providence, to be 
one of the ableA advocates for the authenticity and truth 
of the Chrifiian revelation that ever exifled.” In 1713, 
Mr. Lardner went to relide at the houfe of lady Treby, 
the widow of lord-chief-juflice Treby, in the capacity of 
domeflic chaplain, and tutor to her ladylhip’s youngefl 
fon ; and, after having conducted this young gentleman’s 
ftudies three years, Mr. Lardner accompanied him in an 
excurfion into France, the Aultrian Netherlands, and the 
United Provinces. From a journal which Mr. Lardner 
kept of this tour, it was evident that he did not lofe the 
opportunity which it afforded, him of making exaCt and 
judicious oblervations on the manners and cuftoms of 
the inhabitants whom he law and vifited, and on the edi¬ 
fices and curiofities of the countries through which he 
pafled. It does not appear how long his connection, in 
lady Treby’s family, as tutor, lalted, but he continued to 
relide in the houfe till Ihe died, in 1721. 
In 1723, Mr. Lardner was engaged with a number of 
minifters, in carrying on a courle of lectures, on a Tuef- 
day evening, at the Old Jewry. The gentlemen who 
conducted thele leCtures preached a courle of lermons on 
the evidences of natural and revealed religion. The proof 
of the credibility of the gofpel-hiftory wasafligned to Mr. 
Lardner; and he delivered three lermons on this fubjeCt, 
which probably laid the foundation of his great work, as 
from that period he was diligently engaged in writing the 
firfl part of the Credibility. In 1727, he publillied, in 
two volumes octavo, the firfl part of “The Credibility of 
the Gofpel Hiltory; or the faCts occafionally mentioned 
jn the New Teftament, confirmed by paflages of ancient 
authors who were contemporary with our Saviour, or his 
L A R 245 
Apoflles, or lived near their time.” This has been ef- 
teemed by perlons of all parties an invaluable perform¬ 
ance, that has rendered the molt eflential lervice to the 
caule ot Chriftianity. With all his great merit, Mr. Gard¬ 
ner, defirous of a lettlement as a diflenting minuter, did 
not receive an invitation tor this purpole till he was torty- 
five years of age. It was in 1729 he became aliiltant to 
Dr. Harris, minilter at Cl utched Friars. About this pe¬ 
riod he publilhed “A Vindication of three of our blelled 
Saviour’s Miracles; viz. the Railing of Jairus’s Daughter, 
the Widow of Nairn’s Son, and Lazarus,’’ in anlwer to 
Mr. Woollton’s attack on the fcripture-account ot'Chrift’s 
miracles. In 1733 appeared the flrlt volume of the lecond 
part of The Credibility of the Gofpel Hiltory; this vo¬ 
lume comes down to the year 178, and is preraced by an 
introduction, giving a clear and very luminous hiltory of 
the New Teftament. It was immediately tranllated into 
the Low-Dutch and Latin languages. The lecond vo¬ 
lume was publilhed in 1735, and concludes the author’s 
remarks out of Chriftian writers of the lecond century. 
In 1738, Mr. Lardner publilhed the third volume of the 
lecond part of the Credibility, ending with the year 233 ; 
in 1740, the fourth volume, which comes down to the 
year 248 ; and, in 1743, he publilhed the fifth volume, 
which concludes with the year 306. About the fame pe¬ 
riod he fent into the world another performance, entitled 
“ The Circumltances of the jewilh People, an Argument 
for the Truth of the Chriltian Religion, in three Difi- 
courles.” He brought out the remaining volumes of the 
Credibility, at intervals between this period and the year 
1755, and in the next two years he added to this great 
and valuable work a lupplement, in three volumes, coin- 
prifing a hiltory of the apoflles and evangelilts, with re¬ 
marks and obfervations upon every book of the New Tef¬ 
tament. Our author, on account of his very high merit 
as a writer, had, in 1745, received a diploma, conferring; 
upon him the degree of doCtor of divinity. I11 the year 
1751, he religned the office of preacher at Cl utched Friars, 
(where his auditory had always been very fmall,) having, 
during the preceding year, publilhed a volume of Ser¬ 
mons, the lubjeCts ot which are entirely of a practical na¬ 
ture ; and, in 1760, he gave to the world a lecond volume 
of tnele Sermons. He had alio publilhed many other 
lmailer pieces, which were well received by the public ; 
fiuch was a lermon entitled, The Counlels of Prudence, 
for the Ule of young People ; for which he was thanked 
by Dr. Seeker, at that time bilhop of Oxford. The dif- 
courfe has been very frequently printed, and has at the 
prelent moment a large iale. Lardner had alfo publilhed 
A Diflertation upon the two Epiltles aferibed to Clement 
of Rome, &c. An Elfay on the Moiaic Account ot the 
C eation and Fall of Man; The Cafe of the Demoniacs 
mentioned in the New Tefiament; and A Letter to Jonas 
Hanway, efq. to fhow that Mary Magdalen was not the 
iinner mentioned in the feventh chapter of St. Luke’s gof¬ 
pel, but a woman of diltinCtion and excellent character, 
who fora while laboured under bodiiy indilpoiition, which 
our Lord miraculoufly healed ; and that, therefore, houfes 
intended for the reception of penitent proltitutes ought 
not to be denominated Magdalen-houles. In 1762, he 
publilhed Remarks on the late Dr. Ward’s Dillertations 
on feveral Paflages of the lacred Scriptures; to which 
fucceeded, in 1764, Obfervations upon Dr. Macknight’s 
Harmony, lo far as related to our Saviour’s ReiurreCtion. 
Amidlt thele various productions of a iinaller nature, Dr. 
■Lardner continued the prolecution of Jus grand objeCt, 
and in the lalt-mentionea year he gave the world the flrlt 
volume of “ A large Collection of ancient Jewilh and Hea¬ 
then Teltimonies to the Truth of the Chriltian Religion,” 
compriling the Jewilh and Heathen authors of the firlt 
century. The remaining three volumes were publilhed 
in intervals between this and the dole of the year 1767, 
and in them the biblical Itudent is prefented with a no¬ 
ble treafure of curious and valuable information, and o£ 
able and judicious criticifm, lor which the Chriltian world 
» is 
