L A U 
sre betrayed to laugh at themfelves ; and upon reflection 
find, that they are merry at their own expenfe. Addijon. 
No wit to flatter, left of all his ftore; 
No fool to laugh at , which he valued more. Pope. 
To LAUGH, v. a. To deride; to fcorn.—-A wicked 
foul (hall make him to be laughed to fcorn of his enemies. 
Ecclus. vi. 4. 
Be bloody, bold, and refolute; laugh to fcorn 
The pow’r of man. Shakefpeare's Macbeth. 
Laugh and lie down. The name of a certain game 
at cards, alluded to in the following paflage : As apt to 
laugh, as we to lie dozun. Broome's 'Jovial Crew. 
LAUGH, f. [from the verb.] The convulfion caufed 
by merriment; an inarticulate expreflion of fudden mer¬ 
riment : 
She feigns a laugh, to fee me fearch around, 
And by that laugh the willing fair is found. Pope. 
LAUGHABLE, adj. Such as may properly excite 
laughter.—Cafaubon confeffes Perfius was not good at 
turning things into a pleafant ridicule ; or, in other words, 
that he was not a laughable writer. Dryden. 
Nature hath fram’d ((range fellows in her time : 
Some that will evermore peep through their eye. 
And laugh like parrots at a bagpiper; 
And others of fuch vinegar afpeCf, 
That they’ll not (how their teeth in way of fmile, 
Though Neftor fwear the jeft be laughable. Shakefpeare. 
LAUGHABLY, adv. So as to excite merriment. 
LAUGH'ER, f. A man fond of merriment.—Some fo- 
ber men cannot be of the general opinion ; but the laughers 
are much the majority. Pope. 
LAU'GHI, a fief of Piedmont, which takes its name 
from a mountain ; formerly held immediately from the 
empire, but, in the year 1736, ceded to the king of Sardi¬ 
nia, as duke of Savoy ; and now' annexed to France. 
LAUGH'ING, f The noife occafioned by fudden mer- 
inent.— Laughing caufeth a continued expulfion of the 
breath with the loud noife, which maketh the interjection 
laughing, (baking of the bread and (ides, running of the 
eyes witli water, if it be violent. Bacon's Natural Hi/lory. 
LAUGH'ING-STOCK, /. A butt; an objeCt of ridi¬ 
cule.—Pray you, let us not be laughing-flocks to other men’s 
humours. Shakefpeare. 
The forlorn maiden, whom your eyes have feen 
The laughing-flock of fortune’s mockerie. L'Eflrange. 
LAUGH'INGLY, adv. In a merry way 3 merrily. 
LAUGIPTER,y. Convullive merriment; an inarticu¬ 
late expreflion of fudden merriment.—The aft of laughter , 
■which is a fw’eet contraction of the mufcles of the face, 
and a pleafant agitation of the vocal organs, is not merely 
voluntary, or totally within the jurifdictioa of ourfelves. 
Brown. 
We find not that the laughter-]o\]ng dame 
Mourn’d for Anchifes. Waller. 
Laughter is an afreftion peculiar to mankind. In laugh¬ 
ter, the eyebrows are raifed about the middle, and drawn 
down next the nofe ; the eyes are almofi: (hut; the mouth 
opens and (hows the teeth, the corners of the mouth be¬ 
ing drawn back and raifed up; the cheeks feem puffed 
Lip, and almoft hide the eyes ; the face is ufually red 5 the 
noflrils are open; and the eyes wet. 
Authors attribute laughter to the fifth pair of nerves, 
which fending branches to the eye, ear, lips, tongue, pa¬ 
late, and mufcles ef the cheek, parts of the mouth, prte- 
cordia, See. there hence arifes afympathy, or confent, be¬ 
tween all thefe parts; fo that when one of them is afted 
upon, the others are proportionably afteCled. Hence a fa- 
voury thing feen, or fmelt, afteCls the glands, and parts 
of the mouth ; a thing feen, or heard, that is (hameful, af- 
feCIs die cheeks with bluflies ; on the contrary, if it pleafe 
and tickle the fancy, it nffeCls the pracordia, and mufcle® 
Vol. XIL.No, 230, 
L A V 29 ? 
of the mouth and face, with laughter; if it caufe fadnefs 
and melancholy, it likewife aft’eCts the prsecordia, and de- 
monftrates itfelf by caufing the glands of the eyes to emit 
tears. 
The affeCtion of the mind by which laughter is pro¬ 
duced is feemingly fo very different from the other paf- 
fions with which we are endowed, that it hath engaged the 
attention of very eminent perfons to find it out: but thefe 
perfons differ fo exceedingly in their definitions of it, that 
we (hould make the reader yawn were we to enter into 
the arguments by which every fucceeding philofopher has 
laboured to refute his predeceflor. Indeed the pleafing 
emotion, arifing from the view of ludicrous ideas, is 
known to every one by experience; but, being a fimple 
feeling, admits not of definition. It is to be diftinguiftied 
from the laughter that generally attends it, as forrow is 
to be diftinguiftied from tears; for it is often felt in a 
high degree by thofe who are remarkable for gravity of 
countenance. Swift feldom laughed, notwithftanding his 
uncommon talents in wit and humour, and the extraor¬ 
dinary delight he feems to have had in furveying the ri¬ 
diculous fide of things. Why this agreeable emotion 
(hould be accompanied with laughter as its outward fign, 
or forrow exprefs itfelf by tears, or fear by trembling or 
palenefs, we cannot ultimately explain, otherwife than by 
faying, that fuch is the appointment of the Author of 
nature. 
We (hall conclude this fhort article with inftances of 
two perfons in whom laughter appears to have been ex¬ 
cited by caufes certainly not within the calculation of 
any of the philofophers we have alluded to. In one of 
Congreve’s letters, printed in Berkeley’s Literary Relics, 
we have the following paflage : “ One thing I muft tell 
you, which gave me much pieafnre. Whenever we have 
feen any thing extremely furprifing, chiefly in painting, 
though the picture has been the molt folemn, the molt de¬ 
vout, the moft moving, both in the fubjefl and the ex- 
preflions of the paflion ; as foon as our Charles began to 
be touched with it, he always burlt out a-laughing, which 
I like mightily; and fo he did the firlt time he heard 
Abell fing.” The other inftance, dill more extraordinary, 
is from the Monthly Review, vol. iii. “A boy, about ten 
years old, was obliged, for fome furgical complaint, to fufi¬ 
ler the application of a cauftic. On queftioning the mo¬ 
ther, whether the lad had felt much pain from it, (lie re¬ 
plied, that he would not own it, but (lie was Cure he had, 
from his laughing immoderately during the whole time of 
the application; which he always did when he was in 
pain.” 
LAU'GHTON, a village near Roclie-abbey, in the 
North Riding of Yorkfliire. It has a church, whofe tower 
and fpire, for their delicacy and juft proportion, are not 
excelled by any Gothic piece of the kind. The height of 
the fteeple to the weather-cock is 195 feet; and it is feen 
from many places forty, fifty, and fixty, miles diftant. 
LAUGIE'RIA, f. in botany. See Laugeria, p. 296. 
LAVIA'NA, in ancient geography, a province of Ar¬ 
menia Minor. 
LAVIA'NO, a town of Naples, in Principato Citra : 
twenty-feven miles eaft of Salerno. 
LAU'JAR, a town of Spain, in the province of Gre¬ 
nada : eighteen miles north-weft of Almeria. 
LAVI'GEN, a town of Norway, in the diocefe of 
Drontheim : twenty-four miles north of Drontbeim. 
LAUIN'GEN, a town of Bavaria, in the principality 
of Neuburg, on the Danube. This is fuppofed to have 
been a Roman colony. A (hoe-maker of this town hav¬ 
ing killed a celebrated Hungarian champion, the.emperor 
Otho I. gave it for its arms a Moor’s head crowned, with 
a gold chain about its neck. I11 the year 1632 this town 
was taken by the Swedes. It is fix miles above Hochftet, 
and twenty-two north-eaft of Ulm. Lat. 48. 32. N. Ion. 
10. 22. E. 
LAV'INGTON (Eaft), or Market Lavington, a 
market-town and pari (It in the hundred of Swunborough,, 
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