L . E N 
L’ENCLO'S (Anne, or Ninon, de), one of the famous 
women of a licentious and frivolous age and country, 
was born at Paris in 1616. Her father, a gentleman of 
Touraine, had ferved with reputation in the army; her 
mother was a devotee. She loft both parents at the age 
of fifteen ; and, being left miftrefs of a good fortune, 
without anyone to controu! her, the determined to adopt 
a mode of life entirely fuited to her inclinations. She 
had derived her philofophy from the works of Charron 
and Montaigne, which (lie began to meditate at the age 
of ten. Nature had given her beauty; but this quality, 
without the graces, wqs, according to her, “ only a hook 
without a baft.” She therefore made herfelf miftrefs of 
all the accomplifhments proper to her fex ; file played 
well on the harpficord, fang with tafte, and danced with 
elegance. She likewife ftudied the art of converfation, 
and qualified herfelf for the company of the moft culti¬ 
vated perfons of her time. Amorous by conftitution, 
and licentious by principle, (lie refolved to give free in¬ 
dulgence to the tender paffion without the (hackles of a 
ferious engagement. She was not mercenary, and never 
fold her favours; her fugitive attachments feem partly to 
have been prompted by perfonal attractions, partly by 
vanity; for they included men of high rank and reputa¬ 
tion, as well as men of gallantry and fafhion. It is much 
lefs extraordinary, that fhe was complimented and con¬ 
futed by fome of the molt eminent writers of the time, 
than that her friendfhip was fought by fome of the moft 
refpeCtable of her own fex. She was long intimate with 
the celebrated madam? de Maintenon, when the wife and 
the widow of Scarron; and it is (aid, that this illuftrious 
lady, when a partner in the throne, wiftied to engage Ni¬ 
non, firft: reformed, to live with her, and clifpcl the dread¬ 
ful ennui which was the price of her elevation. Ninon, 
however, wifely preferred her liberty to the prifon of Ver- 
failles; and was proof againft all the efforts of direc¬ 
tors and devotees to bring her to fober reflections. As 
flte retained her perfonal charms to a late period, and her 
mental attractions to the clofe of life, fhe was long the 
object of admiration, and had the honour of forming more 
than one generation of young men of fafhion. Mothers 
were pleafed to fee their fons in her train, as file always 
promoted decorum, and the air of good company, and 
was capable of difinterefted friendfhip to thofe who con¬ 
fided in her. The power of her mature beauty was tra¬ 
gically illuftrated by the often-told adventure of one of 
her fons, who, being brought up in ignorance of his birth, 
fell defperately in love with his mother. It is faid that 
flie diftclofed the fecret at the moment when he thought 
himfelf at the point of obtaining his wiflies; and that the 
fliock fo overpowered him, that he threw' himfelf upon 
his fword. The credit and apparent fatisfaCIion in which 
flie palled her days could not but favour the prevailing 
diffolutenefs of manners, and forms a fatire on French 
morality; yet that flie was herfelf confcious of having 
miftaken the way to true happinefs appears from a paflage 
in one of her letters to St. Evremond : “ Every one tells 
me (fays fhe) that I have lefs caufe to complain of time 
than any other perfon. However that be, if fuch a life 
had been propofed to me, I would have hanged myfelf.” 
She died at the age of eighty. Whether her laft moments 
correfponded with the reft of her life, or whether file died 
as a good Chriftian, (for both have been aflerted,) is of 
very little confequence to mankind. A fet of fuppofiti- 
tious letters in her name to the marquis de Sevigne has 
been given to the public. Some of her real ones, con¬ 
tained in the works of St. Evremond, are written with 
more nature and delicacy. 
LENC'ZICZ, or Lent'schitz, a town of Warfaw, 
fome time fince capital of a palatinate of the fame name 
in Poland. It is furrounded with a wall and a moat, and 
defended by a cattle, which ftands on a rock. A pro¬ 
vincial diet, a court of judicature, and provincial fynods 
of the clergy, are held in this town. In 14.62, it was 
•burnt by an accidental fire ; in 1494, it was laid it) allies 
VOL XII. No. S45. 
L E N 47? 
by the Lithuanians; and, in 1656, when it was garrifoned 
by the Swedes, it was burned by the Poles, who put molt 
of the inhabitants, efpecially the Jews, to the fword. It 
is fixty miles vveft-fouth-wett of Warfaw, and 145 fouth 
of Dantzic. Lat. 51. 52. N. Ion. 19. 17. E. 
LENCZ'NA, a town of Poland, in the palatinate of 
Lublin : fixteen miles north-eaft of Lublin. 
To LEND, v. a. preterite and part. pafl". lent: [lamat!, 
Sax. leenen, Dut.] To afford or fupply, on condition of 
repayment.—Thou fnalt not give him thy money upon 
ufury, nor laid, him thy victuals for increale. Lev. xxv. 37. 
In common worldly things 'tis call'd ungrateful 
With dull unwillingnefs to pay a debt, 
Which, with a bounteous hand, was kindly lent-, 
Much more to be thus oppofite with Heav’n. Shakefpeare. 
To fuffer to be ufed on condition that it be reftored.—I'll 
lend it thee, iny dear ; but have no power to give it from 
me. Shakefpeare. 
The fair blefllng we vouchfafe to fend; 
Nor can we fpare you long, though often we may lend. 
Dry den. 
To afford ; to grant in general.—Covetoufnefs, like the 
fea, receives the tribute of all rivers, though far unlike it 
in lending any back again. Decay of Piety. —Painting and 
poefy are two fillers fo like, that they lend to each other 
their name and office: one is called a dumb poefy, and 
the other a fpeaking picture. Drydcn's Ditfefnoy. 
From thy new hope, and from thy growing ftore, 
Now lend affiftance, and relieve the poor. Drydcn. 
Cato, lend me for a while thy patience, 
And condefcend to hear a young man fpeak. Addifon. 
LENDAR', a town of Iftria: nineteen miles eaft of 
Capo d’lftria. 
LENDENA'RA, a town of Italy, in the Polife di Ro- 
vigo. It contains two churches and four convents. It is 
eight miles weft of Rovigo. 
LEN'DER, f. One who lends any thing. One who 
makes a trade of putting money to intereft.—Lee 
the ftate be anfwered fome fmall matter, and the reft 
left to the lender ; if the abatement be final!, it will not 
difeourage the lender-, he that took ten in the hundred 
will fooner defeend to eight than give over this trade. 
Bacon. 
Whole droves of lenders crowd the bankers’ doors 
To call in money. Drydcn's Spanijh Fryar. 
LEN'DING, f. The a£l of delivering to another on 
condition of repayment ; giving the ule for a time; 
granting. 
LEN'DING-HOUSE. See Pawnbroker. 
LENDO'RA, a town of Ruffia, in the government of 
Olonetz : 100 miles weft-north-weft of Povenetz. 
LENDSI'EDEL, a town of Germany, in the county of 
Hohenlohe: four miles of Kirchberg. 
LE'NE LO'UGH, a lake of Ireland, in the county of 
Weltmeath, near the fmall town of Fore. 
LE'NES, a fmall ifiand in the North Sea, near the coaft 
of Norway. Lat. 67. 40. N. 
L’ENFAN'T (David), a French Dominican monk and 
voluminous writer, was born at Paris in the year 1603. 
He embraced the ecclefiaftical life when he was about fe- 
venteen years of age ; and by his conduift and manners 
acquired the efteem of his fuperiors, while he fecured 
their applaufe by his uncommon literary induftry. He died 
in 1688, when about eighty-five years old. In 1655, fie 
publifhed SanEli Bernardi Abbatis Biblia, in 4to. containing 
a colleftion of all the illuttrations of texts of feripture dif- 
perfed thrqugh the works of that writer. In 1656 and 1665, 
lie publifhed Concordaniia Auguftinianae, in two vols. fo¬ 
lio, confiding of a concordance to all the opinions of that 
father; and, in 1661, a colleition of all the paiTages illuf- 
trative of texts of feripture in his works, under the title 
of Biblia Augujliniana, in 2 vols. folio. In 1657 and 1659, 
6 L he 
