255 
LAS 
fUl-bom fubjefts were harraffed and perlecuted, by the 
Council and hierarchy, on account of the confcientious 
fcruples which they avowed relating to rites and ceremo¬ 
nies, and popilh garments, thefe foreigners were allowed 
to worfhip God after the manner of their own country ; 
and that the patent of their incorporation, after fetting 
forth in the preamble, that the German church made pro- 
feflion of pure and uncorrupted religion, and was in- 
ftrucled in truly Chriftian and apoftolical opinions and 
rites, permitted them to enjoy and exercife their own pro- 
{ >er rites and ceremonies, and their own proper and pecu- 
iar ecclelialtical difcipline, though differing from the rites 
and ceremonies ufed in this kingdom. 
Upon the acceffion of queen Mary, in 1553, the foreign 
proteftants we’re deprived of their churches as well as 
their privileges; and John a Lafco, with his congregation, 
were ordered to leave the kingdom. A confiderable num¬ 
ber of them having embarked with him, together with 
their families and property, in the month of September, 
and arrived on the coaft of Denmark, at the commence¬ 
ment of a fevere winter, were not permitted to land, on 
account of their being known to entertain the doftrine of 
the reformed church in Swifferland, on the fubjeCt of the 
Lord’s fupper. For the fame reafon they were refufed a 
fettlement at Lubec, Hamburg, and fbme of the cities of 
Saxony; till at length, after being cruelly driven from 
place to place, they were hofpitably received at Embden, 
where they did not arrive before March 1554. Here they 
were permitted to fettle under the protection of the coun- 
tefs Anne of Oldenburgh, and met with every friendly 
affiftance from the inhabitants of the city. In the year 
1555, Lafco went to Frankfort upon the Maine, and ob¬ 
tained leave from the fenate to build a church for foreign 
proteftants, and particularly thofe of the Low Countries. 
In the year 1557, he publiflied an apology for the church 
of the reformed proteftants at Frankfort, on the fubject 
of the variation in their creed from that of the Confeilion 
of Auglburg, with refpeift to the eucharift. This piece 
v/as attempted to be anfwered in a moft intemperate reply 
by Weftphalus, addrefled to the fenate, in which he 
called upon them to withdraw their protection from thofe 
Zuinglians ; and maintained, that the fufferers for the 
protellant caufe in England, the Low Countries, France, 
and elfewhere, who had imbibed their heretical notion, 
were the devil’s martyrs. 
At length, after a long abfence, Lafco returned to his 
native country; where he died in the year 1560. He is 
highly commended for his virtues, and his piety, by the 
hiltorians of the time; and was greatly efteemed by Eraf- 
mus, who fays that, though an old man, he had profited 
much by his converlation. And Peter Martyr calls him 
his moft learned patron. He was alio a favourite with Si- 
gifmund king of Poland, who had great confidence in his 
talents and integrity, and on more than one occafion em¬ 
ployed him in the moft important affairs. He was the au¬ 
thor of, 1. De Ccena Domini Liber. 2. Epiftola ad Bre- 
menfis Ecclefiae Miniftros. 3. De recta Ecclefiarum In- 
ftituendarum Ratione, Epift. III. 4. Forma et Ratio to- 
tius Ecclefiaftici Minifterii Edwardi VI. in Peregrinorum 
maxime Germanorum Ecclefia; and numerous contro- 
verfial treatifes. Melck. Adam. Vit. T/ieolog. Extcr. Fuller's 
Abel Redivivus. 
LASCO'RIA, in ancient geography, a town of Afia, 
in Galatia, belonging to the Trocmi. Ptolemy. 
LASDIPE'LEN, a town of Prufiian Lithuania : nine 
miles north of Pilkallen. 
LASE'A, the name of a city mentioned in the Afts of 
the Apoltles. 
LA'SER-WORT. See Laserpitium. 
L ASERPI'TIUM, J. [_q. lac Jerpitium, Lat. juice ex- 
preffed from the root of filphium.] Laser-wort ; in bo¬ 
tany, a genus of the clafs pentandria, order digynia, na¬ 
tural order of umbellatas or umhelliferae. The generic 
characters are.—Calyx : umbel univerfal, very large, with 
from twenty to forty rays; partial with a great many rays, 
LAS 
flat. Involucre! univerfal, many-leaved, fmall; partial, 
many-leaved, fmall. Perianth proper, five-toothed, ob- 
feure. Corolla : univerfal, uniform ; flofcules all fertile. 
Proper of five petals, which are inflex-emarginated, almoft 
equal, fpreading. Stamina: filaments five, briftly, the 
length of the corolla ; antherae fimple. Piftillum : germ 
roundifh, inferior; ftyles two, thickifh, acuminated, cl if— 
tant; ftigmas obtufe, fpreading. Pericarpium : none; 
fruit oblong, angulated with eight longitudinal mem¬ 
branes, bipartile. Seeds two, very large, oblong, femi- 
cylindric, flat on one fide, on the other furnifhed at the 
back and margins with membranes, four in all: (the feed 
of L. Jiler is furrowed, and without membranes.)— EJfen- 
tial Charafter. Petals bent in, emarginate, fpreading ; fruit 
oblong, with eight membranaceous angles. 
Species. 1. Laferpitium latifolium, or broad-leaved la- 
fer-wort: leaflets cordate, gafh-ferrate. Root the thick- 
nefs of the finger or more, ftriking two feet into the 
ground, pale brown on the outfide, white within, fome- 
what flefhy, fcarcely fibrous, perennial, having a very bit¬ 
ter fubacrid unpleafant tafle, and crowned with briftles. 
Stem round, ftriated, green, with a glaucous bloom on it, 
fmooth, filled with white pith. Leaves twice-pinnate ; 
leaflets entire or with few lobes, tooth-ferrate, obtufe or 
acute, the lower petioled, the upper often feffile, very 
fmooth on both fides or rough on the back only, firm, 
deep green on the upper furface, more glaucous and veined 
on the lower. Umbel upright, flat or fomewhat convex* 
in the largeft half a foot in diameter, compofed of very 
many round ftriated rays; leaflets of the involucre acumi¬ 
nate, fpreading very much or reflex, pale green with fome- 
times a purple edge, from five to ten in number. Partial 
umbel convex and clofer, with a fimilar involucre or none. 
Flowers white; petals inflex, obcordate, almoft equal. 
Seeds fmooth, flat on one fide, having four membrana¬ 
ceous, thin, fubpellucid wings on the other, the outermoft 
on each fide broader ; they have but little firnell, and an 
unpleafant fubacrid tafte. It flowers in July, and the- 
feeds are ripe in September. It varies fo much from iitu- 
ation, that it might be miftaken for different lpecies; and 
feveral varieties are mentioned by authors. In the Alps 
it is only a foot or two in height, and fometimes even 
fliorter, with a ftem entirely fimple, terminated by a fingl& 
umbel; it is alfo extremely fmooth; more or lels afperity 
may however be obferved on the leaflets, and efpecially on 
the ribs of fome individuals; which is lb remarkable in 
the large, lofty, branched, plants of the lower regions. 
Thefe however become fmooth when tranfplanted into a- 
garden ; and fome leaves of the fmooth alpine plants be¬ 
come hairy. Native of many parts of Europe. Culti¬ 
vated here in 1640, according to Parkinfon. This acrid 
aromatic plant with fomething of bitternefs, feems to me¬ 
rit a place among the aromatic ftimulants,- emmenagogues, 
and aperient fudorifics. It is ufed by the peafants for 
themlelves, and by farriers for horfes, in fome countries; 
but not by regular practitioners. The root is the hotteft 
part of the plant. Miller has made feveral lpecies out of* 
this, but has not defcribed any. 
2. Laferpitium trilobum, or columbine-leaved lafer- 
wort: leaflets three-lobed, galhed. The L. trilobum is- 
diltinguifhed from L. aquilegitefolium by Murray and 
Jacquin. The leaflets of the former 3re cordate at the 
bafe, acute, and acutely ferrate ; whereas in the latter 
they are blunt. Haller’s fynonyms of N° 793 belong to- 
this fpecies ; but he has defcribed a variety of L. latifo¬ 
lium. 
Jacquin thus deferibes his plant. The whole of it is very 
fmooth. Root perennial, round, a foot or more in length, 
with abundance of fibres at top, blackifh on the outiide, 
white within, with a yellowifh pith in the middle, fmelling 
when bruifed, and having a bitter unpleafant tafte. Stem, 
round, from four to fix feet in height, marked with lines 
but not grooved, firm, upright, Alining, glaucous-green, 
becoming dark purple with age,.having brachiate branches, 
and an aromatic fvveetilh tafte. Sheath of the leaves long, 
concave^, 
