LEW 
So thefe great clerks their little wifdom (how 
To mock the lewd , as learn’d in this as they. Davies. 
LEW'DLY, adv. Wickedly ; naughtily : 
A fort of naughty perfons, lewdly bent, 
Have practis’d dangeroufly againlt your Hate. Shahcjpeare. 
Libidinoufly ; luftfully : 
Ke lov’d fair lady Eltred, lewdly lov’d, 
Whofe wanton pleafures him too much did pleafe. 
That quite his heart from Guendeline remov’d. Spenfer. 
In a ftate of ignorance: 
All which my daies I have not lewdly fpent. 
Nor fpilt the bloffom of my tender yeares 
In ydleffe. Fairy Queen. 
LEW'DNESS, J. Luftful licentioufnefs.— Daraianus’s 
letter to Nicholas is an authentic record of the lewdnejfes 
committed under the reign of celibacy. Alterbury. 
Suffer no lewdnefs, nor indecent fpeech, 
Th’ apartment of the tender youth to reach. Dryden. 
Open and notorious lewdnefs, being contrary to reli¬ 
gion and morality, as by frequenting houfes of ill fame, 
is an indiftable offence, Poph. 208. or by fome grofsly 
fcandalous and public indecency, for which the punifh- 
ment is fine and imprifonment. A temporal puniihment 
may in certain circumftances be inflifted for having baf- 
tard children. By ftat. 18 Eliz. c. 3, two juftices may 
take order for the punifhment of the mother, and reputed 
father ; but what that punifhment fhall be, is not therein 
ascertained, though the contemporary expofition was that 
a corporal puniihment was intended. Dalt. J. c. ji. By 
ftat. 7 Jac. I. c. 4, a Specific punifhment, commitment to the 
houfe of correction, is inflifted on the woman only. But 
in both cafes it feems that the penalty can only be in¬ 
flicted if the baftard becomes chargeable to the parifli; for 
otherwife the very maintenance of the child is confidered 
as a degree of punifhment. Many offences of the incon¬ 
tinent kind fall properly under the jurisdiction of the ec- 
clefiaftical court; and are appropriated to it. But, except 
thofe appropriated cafes, the court of king’s bench is the 
cujlos morum of the people; and has the fuperintendency 
of offences contra bones mores. But aCts of indecency and 
immorality are punifhable by indictment in any criminal 
court, as public mifdemeanors. 4 Comm. c. 4. p. 64. in n. 
LEW'DSTER, J. A lecher; one given to criminal 
pleafures: 
Againft fuch lewdjlers, and their lechery, 
Thofe that betray them do no treachery. Skake/peare. 
LEW'EHAGEN, a town of Pruffia, in the circle of 
Natangen : eight miles eaft-fouth-eaft of Konigfberg. 
LEW'ELL, a village in Dorfetlhire, between Stafford 
and Woodford. 
LEWEL'LIN, f. [Welch.] A man’s name. 
LEW'EN, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of Leit- 
ineritz: eight miles north-eaft of Leitmeritz. 
LEW'EN. See LSwen. 
LEWEN'TZ. See Levens, p. 553. 
LEW'ES, a market and borough town in Suffex, fitu- 
ated about fifty miles fouth from London, and fix from 
the fea. It is by fome writers laid to have derived its 
name from lewfa , which in the Saxon tongue Signifies paf- 
tures. Two mints were eftablilhed hereby Athelftan 5 
and, in the reign of .Edward the Confeffor, this town had 
a hundred and twenty-feven burgeffes. It now fends two 
members to parliament, and the right of voting is in the 
reiident inhabitants paying fcot and lot. 
This town was never incorporated. The borough was 
formerly under the abfolute controul of the late duke of 
Newcaftle. This influence his grace acquired from the 
weight of property which he poffeffed here, and from the 
diftribution of fome employments under government, of 
which he was at that time foie manager. In 1768 the late 
colonel Hay, of Glynde Bourne, near Lewes., was recom- 
L E W 559 
mended by the duke as one of the candidates for its re¬ 
presentation ; in confequence of which he obtained from 
the voters a promife of their Suffrages. Immediately af¬ 
ter this tranfaClion, the duke thought proper to counter¬ 
mand his former recommendation ; and accordingly with¬ 
drew his far.dtion from colonel Hay, and gave it to fir 
Thomas Miller. The people however thought themfelves 
bound in honour to abide by their promifes ; and colonel 
Hay, conceiving himfelf ill-treated, refolved to ftand the 
poll. Upon the day of election he was firmly Supported 
by his friends, who gave him Sixty tingle votes, and ob¬ 
tained for him fo great a majority over his opponent, as 
to make him finally fuccefsfui. In 1780 there was a crofs- 
poll, when the Hon. Henry Pelham, colonel Hay, and 
Thomas Kemp, efq. were candidates, each of whom flood 
upon his own Separate intereft. In this conteft Mr. Hay 
was unfuccefsful ; and Mr. Kemp was returned by the 
intereft which had always fliown itfelf hoflile to that of 
lord Pelham. In 1784, fir Henry Blackman was put in 
nomination by the famous Mr. Harben, who, notwith¬ 
standing this profeflion of friendfhip, on the day of elec¬ 
tion deferted and betrayed him : upon which fir Henry 
reprefented to the people the Situation into which he had 
been led by the artifices of this man, in fo pathetic and 
convincing a manner, that Mr. Harben was obliged in- 
llantly to quit the hall, amidft the hiffes and murmurs of 
his fellow-townfmen. At length there was an union be¬ 
tween the leading men in the independent party and thofe 
in the intereft of lord Pelham, which Mr. Shelly, who W’as 
countenanced by adminiltration, oppofed ; but the Hon. 
Henry Pelham and Mr. Kemp Succeeded. Mr. Kemp,, 
when he firft offered himfelf a candidate, pledged himfelf, 
that he would accept of neither place, penfion, gratuity,, 
nor reward of any kind, from any adminiftration, while 
he fhould have the honour of reprefenting them in parlia¬ 
ment. His fon, Thomas Read Kemp, is the prefent mem¬ 
ber, in conjunction with George Shiffner, efq. Lewes is 
a borough by prefeription, governed by two conftables, 
annually chofen at the court-leet. It fent to parliament 
23 Edw. I. The returning-officers are the conftables; the 
number of voters about 240. 
Here William de Warren earl of Surrey, and the lady 
Gundreda his wife, in the year 1073, founded a priory of 
Cluniac monks, which was the firft and principal houfe 
of the order in England ; in after-times it had many no¬ 
ble benefaftors, namely, the Succeeding earls of Surrey 
and others, Several of whom, with their ladies, were in¬ 
terred here. It continued a cell to the abbey of Cluny in 
Burgundy, till king Edward III. made it independent. 
At the general dillolution its revenues were valued by 
Dugdale at 920I. 4s. 6d. a-year, and at 1091I. 9s. 6d. by 
Speed. It was granted, with all its appendages, to Tho¬ 
mas lord Cromwell ; Since which time it has been in the 
poffeffion of the dukes of Dorfet and earls of Thanet; 
and fome remains of the priory are to be feen at this day. 
It had alfo a priory of grey friars; a monaftery dedicated 
to St. James, for thirteen poor brethren and fillers; and 
an hofpital dedicated to St. Nicholas, which at the time 
of the diffolution had thirteen poor brothers and fillers. 
The earls of Surrey were for Several centuries ltyled Lords 
of Lewes ; and we may mention the Spirited behaviour, 
known indeed to many readers, of John de Warren, Seventh 
earl of Surrey. In the year 1280, Edward I. ilfned writs 
of quo warranto , inquiring by what right the nobility and 
others held their lands. The delign was infidious, and 
many were glad to compound by advancing considerable 
fums ; but, when this earl of Surrey was questioned, he 
drew a rulty fvvord, declaring that this was his warrantry 
for all he poffeffed : “By that old Servant (fays he) my 
anceftors won their lands, as well as the conqueror himfelf 5. 
and with the fame, their undegenerate descendant is re¬ 
folved to maintain them.” Such a declaration, from fo 
refolute a baron, it is obferved, might have been the lig- 
nai for civil war, had not the king prudently given tip 
the Scheme, though exceedingly productive, This no 
doubtt 
