540 
LET 
The Greeks ufed all the twenty-four letters of their al¬ 
phabet as mufical characters ; and thefe, not fufiicing for 
all their modes and genera in their natural date, were 
fometimes ufed as capitals, fometimes fmall; fome entire, 
fome mutilated ; fome doubled, and fome inverted ; to the 
amount of 1620 notes. See the article Music. They 
alfo ufed their letters for figures, and had two characters 
befides ; whereas the Roman numerals are only C, D, I, 
L, M, V, X ; which are all formed by defcribing a circle, 
and drawing two lines through it, eroding each other at 
right angles in the centre : thus, ©. 
LETTER, in geography. See Leitereach. 
To LETTER, v.a. To (tamp with letters.—I obferved 
one weight lettered, on both fides ; and I found on one fide, 
written in the dialed of men, and underneath it, calami¬ 
ties ; on the other fide was written, in the language of the 
gods, and underneath, bleffings. Addifon. 
LETTER of ATTORNEY, a writing, authorising 
another perfon, who, in fuch cafe, is called the attorney of 
the party appointing him, to do any lawful a£t in the dead 
of another; as to give feifin of lands; receive debts, or 
fue a third perfon, &c. A letter of attorney is either ge¬ 
neral or fpecial. The nature of this inftrument is to give 
the attorney the full power and authority of the maker, 
to accomplifii the ad intended to be performed ; and 
fometimes thefe writings are revocable, and fometimes not 
fo; but, when they are revocable, it is ufually a bare au¬ 
thority only ; they are irrevocable when debts, &c. are af- 
figned to another, in which cafe the word irrevocably is in¬ 
fected ; and the intention of them then is to enable the 
affignee to receive the debt, See. to his own ufe. 
LETTER-CASF,, f. A kind of pocket-book; a book 
to put letters in. 
LETTER-CARRIER, f. A poftman ; the bearer of 
a letter.—Afl'es will do very well'for trumpeters; and 
hares will make excellent letter-carriers. Li Ff range. 
LETTERS CLAU'SE, clofe letters, oppofed to letters 
patent ; being commonly fealed up with the king’s fignet 
or privy feal : whereas the letters patent are left open, and 
fealed with the broad feal. 
LETTER OF CRED'IT, is where a merchant or 
correfpondent writes a letter to another, requelling him 
to credit the bearer with a certain lum of money. 
LETTER-FOUNDER, f. One who calls types for 
printing.—The iron ladles that letter-founders ufe are kept 
conftantly in melting metal. Moxon's Mechanical Exercjes. 
LETTER-GO', J\ A fquanderer.—A carelefs letter-go 
of money. B. Jonfonis Horace. 
LETTER-LEARNED, adj. Skilled in that learning 
which is chiefly collefled from books. 
LETTER-LEARNING, /. That learning which is 
chiefly collected from books. 
LETTER of LI'CENCE, an inftrument or writing 
made by creditors to a man that hath failed in his trade, 
allowing him longer time for the payment of his debts, 
and protecting him from arrefts in going about his af¬ 
fairs. Thefe letters of licence give leave to the party to 
whom granted to refort freely to his creditors,-or any 
others, and to compound debts, See. And the creditors 
feveraliy covenant, that, if the debtor lhall receive any 
moleftation or hindrance from any of them, he lhall be 
acquitted and difeharged of his debt againlt fuch credi¬ 
tor, See. 
LETTERS OF MAR'QUE, commiffions for extra¬ 
ordinary reprifals for reparation to merchants taken and 
defpoiled by ltrangers at fea, grantnble by the fecretaries 
of Hate, with the approbation of the king and council; 
and ufually in time of war, &c. The words marque and 
reprifal are ufed as fynonytnous; and fignify, the latter a 
taking in return, the former the palling the frontiers in 
order to fuch taking. 
Thefe letters are grantable by the law' of nations, where- 
cver the fubjeCts of one Hate are opprefled and injured by 
thofe of another, and juftice is denied by that (fate to 
which the opprelfor belongs. In this cafe, letters of 
LET 
marque and reprifal may be obtained, in order to feize 
the bodies or goods of the fubjeftsofthe offending ftate, un¬ 
til fatisfaction be made, wherever they happen to be found ; 
and in fad this cutfom of reprifals feems dictated by nature. 
The neceflity, however, is obvious of calling in the fove- 
reign power to determine when reprifals may°bemade; elfe 
every private fufferer would be a judge in his own caufe. 
In purfuance of which principle it is declared by flat. 
4 Hen. V. c. 7, that it any fubjeCts of the realm are op¬ 
prefled, in the time of truce, by any foreigners, the king will 
grant marque in due form, to all that feel themlelves 
grieved ; which form is thus directed to be obferved : 
The fufferer mult firit apply to the lord privy-feal, and he 
lhall make out letters of rtqucjl under the privy-feal-, and, if 
after fuch requeft of fatisfaction made, the party required 
do not within convenient time make due latisfaCtion or 
reftitution to the party grieved, the lord chancellor lhall 
make him out letters of marque under the great feal-, and by 
virtue of thefe, he mayrnttack and feize the property of 
the aggreflbr nation, witho. t hazard of being condemned 
as robber and a pirate. 1 Comm. c. 7. p. 258, 9. See flat. 
14 Hen. VI. c. 7, that goods taken on-board enemies’ ihips 
illali be lawful prize, though belonging to foreigners in 
amity. "7 
It feems that the manner of granting letters of marque 
under this lfatute has been long difufed, as it could only 
be granted to perfons aChialiy grieved. But if, during a 
war, a fubject without any commifiion from the king 
fhould take an enemy’s fliip, the prize would not be the 
property of the captor, but would be one of the droits of 
admiralty, and would belong to the king, or his grantee the 
admiral. Therefore, to encourage merchants and others to 
lit out privateers, or armed (hips, in time of war, the lord 
high admiral or the comtniflioners of the admiralty are, 
from time to ti.me, empowered by various ads of parlia¬ 
ment to grant commiffions to the owners of fuch Ihips ; and 
the prizes captured are divided between the owners and 
the captain and crew of the privateer. But the owners, 
before the commilfion is granted, give fecurity to the ad¬ 
miralty, to make compenfation for any violation of trea¬ 
ties between thofe powers with whom the nation is at 
peace ; and that fuch armed (hip lhall not be employed 
in fmuggling. Thefe commiffions are now upon all oc- 
cafions, as well as in the ftatutes, called letters of marque. 
Sometimes the lords of the admiralty have this authority 
by a proclamation from the king in council. 
If a letter of marque wilfully and knowingly take a fliip 
and goods belonging to another nation, not of that ftate 
againlt whom the commilfion is awarded, but of fome 
other in amity, this amounts to a piracy. 
Muratori, in his “ Antichita Italiane,” has a curious 
chapter on llapprefaglie (Reprifals), from which fome ex¬ 
tracts may perhaps be interefting to an Englifti reader; 
for, although we are familiar enough with reprifals by 
fea, the notion of a limilar policy by land will probably 
be new to thofe who have not Itudied the hiftory of the 
dark ages in Europe. He begins with the following quo¬ 
tation from Malvezzi’s Chronicle of Brefcia. “About 
this time, (A. D. 1289,) reprifals were granted in the 
feveral dates of Lombardy; which pradtice prevailed fo 
far to the detriment of the public, that not only the con¬ 
veyance of merchandife from place to place was fufpended, 
but that no one undertook journeys to foreign dates. In 
fine, the abominable cuftom of reprifals occalioned difeord 
and many evils, not only throughout Lombardy, but all 
Italy, and even fome other countries.” An ancient writer 
thus defines the practice: “ Reprifals are faid to take 
place, when any native of one dill-riel is robbed or other- 
wife damnified by the native of another; or even if he is 
refufed payment of a debt; for then, the perfon aggrieved 
is empowered to fatisfy himfelf at the expenfe of any one 
belonging to the diftricl of the robber or debtor.” Thus 
(fays Muratori), if it fhould happen that any Modenefe 
were defpoiled by a Bolognefe,t and upon carrying his 
complaint to the magiftrates of Bologna could obtain np 
3 red refs, 
