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L A U 
this difcovery. That he was not privy to the impofture, 
I am well perfuaded; that he wiffied well to the argu¬ 
ment, may be inferred from the Preface, which indubita¬ 
bly was written by Johnfon.” Is it poffible for any man 
of clear judgment to fuppofe that Johnfon, who fo nobly 
praifed the poetical excellence of Milton in a Poftfcript 
to this very “difcovery,” as he then fuppofed it, could, 
at the fame time, exult in a perfuafion that the great 
poet’s reputation was likely to fuffer by it ? This is an 
inconfillency of which Johnfon was incapable; nor can any 
thing more be fairly inferred from the Preface, than that 
Johnfon, who was alike diltinguiffied for ardent curiofity 
and love of truth, was pleafed with an inveftigation by 
which both were gratified. That he was aftuated by thefe 
motives, and certainly by no unworthy defire to depre¬ 
ciate our great epic poet, is evident from his own words; 
for, after mentioning the general zeal of men of genius 
and literature, “to advance the honour, and diftinguifh 
the beauties, of Paradife Loft,” he fays, “Among the in¬ 
quiries to which this ardour of criticifm has naturally 
given occalion, none is more obfcure in itfelf, or more 
worthy of rational curiofity, than a retrofpeft of the pro- 
grefs of this mighty genius in the conftruclion of his 
work; a view of the fabric gradually rifing, perhaps, from 
fmall beginnings, till its foundation refts in the centre, 
and its turrets fparkle in the fkies ; to trace back the ftruc- 
ture through all its varieties, to the fimplicity of its firft 
plan ; to find what was firil: projected, whence the fcherae 
was taken, how it was improved, by what affiftance it was 
executed, and from what ftores the materials were collect¬ 
ed ; whether its founder dug them from the quarries of 
Nature, or demolillied other buildings to embellilh his 
own.” 
The fidelity of Lauder’s quotations foon began to be 
doubted by feveral people; and the falfehood of them was 
at length demonftrated by Dr. Douglas, in a pamphlet en¬ 
titled, “Milton vindicated from the Charge of Plagiarifm 
brought againft him by Lauder, and Lauder himfelf con¬ 
victed of feveral Forgeries and grofs Impofitions on the 
Public; in a Letter humbly addreffed to the Right Ho¬ 
nourable the Earl of Bath, 1751,” 8vo. The appearance 
of this detection overwhelmed Lauder with confufion. 
He fubfcribed a confeffion, dictated by Dr. Johnfon him¬ 
felf, and addreffed to Dr. Douglas, acknowledging his 
fraud in terms of fuitable contrition. Yet Lauder renewed 
his attempts on Milton’s character in 1754, in a pamph¬ 
let entitled, “The Grand Impoftor detected, or Milton 
convicted of forgery againlt King Charles I.” which was 
reviewed, probably by Johnfon, in the Gent. Mag. 1754, 
p. 97. Lauder afterwards went to Barbadoes, where he 
taught in a fchool, and at length died very miferably 
about the year 1771. Bofwell's Life of Johnfon. 
LAU'DICK, or Lauda, a town of the duchy of War- 
faw: twenty miles fouth-eaft of Gnefna. 
LAUDICCE'NI, f. [formed of the Lat. laus, praife ; 
and ccena, fupper or entertainment.] Among the Romans, 
applauders, or perfons who, for a reward, attended the ex¬ 
hibition of plays and orations, in order to raile, or join 
in, the acclamation. 
LAUDIM'IUM, f. in the civil law, the fiftieth part of 
the value of an eltate paid by a new proprietor to the te¬ 
nant for inveftiture or leave of poffellion. Scott. 
LAU'DOHN (Gideon Erneft), baron Laudohn, field- 
marfhal in the imperial army, and grand crofs of the mi¬ 
litary order of Thei’efa, was defcended from a refpeClable 
family, faid to have come originally from the county of 
Air, in Scotland, a branch of which fettled in Livonia, 
and there purchafed an eftate at Totzen, where the fub- 
jeCt of this article was born in 17:6. At an early period 
he conceived" a llrong inclination for a military life; and, 
after being inltrufted under proper makers in hiftory, geo¬ 
graphy, and the mathematics, he applied to the ftudy of 
taffies, both ancient and modern. At the age of fifteen 
lie entered into the Ruffian army as a cadet, and in 1733 
was at the taking of Dantzic, in which the king of Po« 
Vv.L.XII. No. S30. 
L A U 
land, Stanifiaus Lefczinfky, had fought refuge in confe- 
quence of the diiturbances which then prevailed in that 
country. He afterwards accompanied the troops lent to 
fubdue the rebellious Tartars, and from 1736 to 1739 
ferved three campaigns under count Munich againft the 
Turks, and was prelent at the taking of Azof, Oczakow, 
and Cliozim. On the reftoration of peace, he ftaid fome 
time at Peterfburgh, with a view of obtaining redrefs for 
certain grievances which he had fuifered, and to folicit 
further promotion. Failing in this, he went to Vienna, 
and was foon appointed by the emprefs-queen to a com¬ 
mand in the corps of Pandours, then raifed by baron 
Trenck, and with them proceeded to Bavaria. While he 
belonged to this corps, he was feverely wounded, and 
taken prifonerby the French ; but foon after the Pandours 
attacked the village, difcovered their commander, and 
conveyed him back in triumph. After this, he was en¬ 
gaged much in active fervice; but he employed every lei- 
lure moment in the ltudy of the military art, and in pre¬ 
paring himfelf for the aflive fituation in which he was af¬ 
terwards placed in the feven-years’ war. In 1754, he was 
employed to reduce to obedience the rebellious Croats, 
whicli he did rather by his judicious conduct than by 
force of arms. During the feven-years’ war, which com¬ 
menced in 1756, he performed the molt noble exploits, 
which belong to the articles Germany and Russia re- 
fpeCtively. Towards the clofe of that war, he determined 
to make an attack on Schweidnitz. The night appointed 
for the execution of this plan was the 30th of September. 
Every preparation being made, Laudohn harangued his 
foldiers; forbade them, under the fevereft penalties, to 
plunder the town ; and promifed, in cafe of their obedi¬ 
ence, to dirtribute among them the fum of 100,000 rix- 
dollars. The guards exclaimed with one voice, “No, ge¬ 
neral, lead us on to glory ; we do not want money.” At 
two in the morning the iignal was given, and the firft af- 
fault made, and in four hours Laudohn was in poffeffion 
of the whole fortrefs. Although this achievement had 
been undertaken without the order of the aulic council, 
the emprefs congratulated the vifilor in a letter written 
by her own hand, and fent him her picture fet round with 
diamonds. On the conclulion of peace in 1763, the ge¬ 
neral retired to his eftates in Bohemia; but in 1766 the 
emprefs appointed him a member of the aulic council of 
war, and in the following year he was elected a member 
of the equeftrian order of the empire, and in 1769 he was 
made commander-in-chief in Moravia. In 1770, when 
Frederic the Great paid a vilit to the emperor Joleph at 
Neuftadt, the principal officers were invited to dine with 
the two monarchs. As the company were about to place 
themfelves at table, his Pruffian majefty faid to Laudohn, 
“Come, general, and lit near me; I would rather have 
you by my fide than oppofite to me.” In the war of Ba¬ 
varia, in 1778, he was promoted by the emperor to-be 
field-marfhal, and entrufted with the command of the Aus¬ 
trian army, which amounted to 50,000 men. The plans 
which he formed to counteract the defigns of the enemy 
were worthy the reputation which he had before acquir¬ 
ed. After the peace, Laudohn again retired to his eftates ; 
from whence he was again called, on the breaking out of 
the Turkifh war, in 178S. He had the command of the 
grand army when it was refolved to reduce Belgrade; the 
archduke Francis was to be prefent at the frege ; and the 
emperor, in a letter to Laudohn', faid, that “ his nephew 
could not be in a better fchool than under his Gideon.” 
The attack commenced on the 15th of September, and on 
the 30th it was determined that the place Ihould be car¬ 
ried by ftorm. The aflault began about nine in the morn¬ 
ing, and at one the outworks were in poifeffion of the be- 
iiegers. The fortrefs Hill refufed to capitulate ; but, af¬ 
ter a dreadful bombardment, by which mod of the enemy’s 
cannon were lilenced, the place Surrendered. In conse¬ 
quence of this achievement, lie was appointed generalillimo 
of the whole Auftrian army, an office which had been con¬ 
ferred on no perfon knee the time of prince Eugene, and 
4 F which. 
