556 L E V 
without children became the property of the brother-in- 
law, like any other chattel. Yet cuftom required that he 
fhould take her in the prefence of two vvitiieffes, and that 
the brother fhould give a piece of money to the widow; 
the nuptial bleffing was added, and a writing to fecure 
the wife’s dower. Some believe, that this law was not 
obferved after the Babylonifh captivity, becaufe fince that 
time there has been no diftinctian of the inheritances of 
the tribes. At any rate, the Jews of the prefent day do 
not pracftife this law, or at lead v,i ry rarely. 
Leo of Modena defcribes the ceremony of reffal in the 
following manner: Three rabbins and two other wit- 
neffes, the evening before, choofe a place where the cere¬ 
mony may be performed. The next day, when they come 
from morning prayers, they all follow the rabbins and 
witneffes, who meet in the appointed place, where they fit 
down, and order the widow and her brother-in-law to ap¬ 
pear before them. The principal rabbin propofes feveral 
queftions to the man, and exhorts hint to marry the wi¬ 
dow. If the man perfilts in his refufal, he, as a token of 
it, puts on one of the rabbin’s fhoes, which is fit for any 
foot; and the woman then approaches, and, affifted by 
the rabbin, fays to him in Hebrew; My hu/band's brother 
refufeth to raife up unto his brother a name in lfrael ; he will 
not perform the duty of my hnjband's brother. Gen. xxv. 7. 
The brother-in-law anfwers, / like not to take her. Here¬ 
upon the woman (loops down, loofens and pulls off the 
fhoe, throws it upon the ground, “(pits before him,” and 
leys in Hebrew, So fall it be done unto the man that will 
mt build up his brother's hoitft ; and his name fall be called in 
lfrael the houfe of him that hath his foe loofed. Ver. 8, 9. 
Thefe words (lie repeats three times; and they who are 
prefent anfwer as often, “He that hath his fhoe loofed.” 
Hereupon the rabbins immediately tell her that (lie may 
marry again ; and, if fhe requires any certificate of what 
is done, the rabbins deliver one to her. Leo of Modena, 
cap. 7. 
From this it appears, that the rabbins do not underfland 
Mofes’s words literally, that the woman fhall fpit in his 
face, (ver. 9 ) but explain it, “ fhe fhall fpit in his pre- 
fence, fhe fhall fpit on the ground before him;” but the 
text is exprefsly for the former meaning, and Jofephus 
underltood it literally in the hiftory of Ruth. Antiq. lib. v. 
cap. n. We hardly need obferve, that to fpit in any one’s 
face is a mark of the higheft contempt and infult. See 
2\ T umb. xii. 14. 
The precept in Deut. xxvi. 6. does not feem pofitively 
to require, that the eldeft fon of fttch marriages fhould 
abfolutely bear the name of the deceafed ; but merely that 
lie (hould/iicccM? in the name of the deceafed; pafs for his fon ; 
lupport his name and family, See. The inftance of Ruth, 
who called her fon by Boaz Obed, not Mahlon, the name 
of her firft hufband, proves, that it was not necefiary the 
child fhould receive the name of his mother’s firft huf¬ 
band. Leo of Modena obferves, that the Jews fometimes, 
from avarice, kept their fifters-in-law long in fufpenfe, 
without declaring whether they would marry them or not, 
to tire their patience, and extort money from them ; 
wherefore fome fathers, if they married their daughters 
to men who had feveral brothers, ftipulated, that they 
fhould fet the widow at liberty gratis. Others perfuaded 
the hufband, when fick, and in danger, to divorce his 
wife, that fhe might not come into the power of her bro¬ 
ther-in-law. The marrying a lifter-in-law the Jews call 
ibum ; and the pulling off the fhoe, and fetting a woman at 
liberty, chaleza. Calmd. 
LEVISA'NUS, or Lewisanus, [fo called by Petiver 
and Sherard, from the Rev. Mr. Lewis, who lent fome 
■fhells to Petiver from Fort St. George.] In botany, a 
eenus of the clafs pentandria, order monogynia. Tiie 
generic characters are—Calyx: perianthium common he- 
niifpheric, imbricated, many-flowered; leaflets linear. 
Perianthium proper, one-leafed, fuperior, five-toothed, 
ftiarp, upright, permanent. Corolla: petals five; claws 
(lender;'borders oblong, fhorter. Stamina ; filaments five, 
LEV 
capillary, inferted into the bottom of the perianthium ; 
antherae oblong. Piftillum : germ top-fhaped, inferior ; 
ftyles two, conjoined into one, or elfe diftinft and ap¬ 
proximated, capillary ; ftigmas fimple. Pericarpium : 
berry corticated, ovate, incrufted by the calyx : with the 
tip free, two-celled. Seeds : five or fix, oblong com- 
preffed ; receptacle of the feeds fungous, large, in the 
middle of the partition. Receptacle : common globofe, 
villofe, chaffy. The fruit of all the fpecies is not yet 
known. — EJenlial Charader. Flowers aggregate; calyx 
one-leafed, fuperior, five-cleft. Corolla five-petalled, fu¬ 
perior; filaments inferted into the bafe of the perianthium ; 
ftyles two, conjoined. Berry two-celled ; feeds five or 
fix, comprefled. 
Species. 1. Levifanus nodiflorus, or knotted levifanus : 
leaves imbricate; three-fided, acute. ?.. Levifanus pa- 
leaceus, or chaffy levifanus : leaves in five rows, imbri¬ 
cate, pfefied clofe, corymb terminating; chaffs of the 
heads (landing out. 3. Levifanus abrotanoides : leaves 
linear-lanceolate fpreading, three-fided, callous at the tip. 
4. Levifanus radiatus, or rayed levifanus : leaves linear, 
three-fided; calyx rayed, the inner leaflets coloured. 
5. Levifanus glutinofus, or glutinous levifanus : leaves 
linear, three-fided, calyx rayed ; all the leaflets coloured. 
Thefe are all flirubs, and natives of the Cape of Good 
Hope. 
LEVISOM'NOUS, adj. [from the Lat. levis, light, and 
fomnus, deep.] Sleeping lightly ; watchful. 
LEVIS'TICUM, f. in botany. See Ligusticum. 
LEVI'TA, an iflandin the Grecian Archipelago, about 
eight miles in circumference. Lat. 37. N. Ion. 26. 14. E. 
LEVI'TA (Elias). See Elias Levita,vo 1 . vi. p. 4.72. 
LEVITA'TION,yi [from the Lat. levis, light.] Light- 
nefs; the property which ftands oppofed to'gravitation. 
Scott. 
LE'VITE,/. \_levita, Lat. from Levi .] One of the tribe 
of Levi ; one born to the office of prielthood among the 
Jews.—In the Chriftian church, the office of deacons 
fucceeded in the place of the levites among the Jews, who 
were as minifters and fervants to the prielts. Aylijfe's Pa- 
rergon.— A prieft : ufed in contempt. 
Levite, in a general fenfe, means all the defeendants 
of Levi, among whom were the Jewiffi priells themfelves, 
who, being defeended from Aaron, w-ere likewife of the 
race of Levi. In a more particular fenfe, levite is ufed 
for an order of officers in that church, who were employed 
in performing the manual fervice of the temple. They 
were obedient to the priefts in their rr.iniftration ; and 
brought them wood, water, and other neceil’aries for the 
facrifice. They fang and played upon inftruments in the 
temple and in other places. They applied themfelves to 
the ftudv of the law, and were the ordinary judges of the 
country, but always fubordinate to the priefts. Their 
fubfillence was the tithe of corn, fruit, and cattle, 
throughout lfrael; but the priefts were entitled to a tenth 
of their tithes, by way of firft fruits to the Lord. Eight 
and forty cities were affigned for the refidence of the^le- 
vites, of which the priefts claimed thirteen, fix whereof 
were chofen for cities of refuge. They were confecrated, 
before they entered upon their minillry, by (having their 
flefh, waffiing their clothes, and fprinkling with the wa¬ 
ter of expiation. Impofition of hands was ufed in con- 
fecration ; and two bullocks were offered at the door of 
the tabernacle. They waited weekly, and by turns, in 
the temple, beginning their attendance on one fabbath, 
and ending the next: during this time they were main¬ 
tained out of the offerings, &c. In the time of Solomon, 
the number of levites, from the age of twenty, and ca¬ 
pable of ferving, was thirty thoufand. 
LEVIT'ICAL, adj. Belonging to the levites ; making 
part of the religion of the Jews.—By the levitical law, 
both the man and the woman were Itoned to death ; fo 
heinous a crime was adultery. Aylijfe. 
LEVITI'CI, in church-liiftory, a fedt of heretics, who 
fpruog from the Gnoltics and Nicolaitans. 
LEVITICUS, 
