LEW 
feet high, and almoft as much in breadth. Three ftones, 
about twelve feet high each, are ("een (landing on the north 
fide of Loch Carlvay ; and many others (landing fingle at 
great diftances, and in remote parts of the ifland. But 
the mod remarkable monument of this kind appears by 
the village of Claflernifs. Here we find thirty-nine pyra¬ 
midal ftones (landing upright, about fix or feven feet high 
from the furface, each about two feet in breadth. They 
are placed in form of an avenue, eight feet wide; the dis¬ 
tance between every (lone amounting to fix feet, and a 
(ingle-piece (lands at the entrance. This avenue leads to 
a circle of twelve ftones of the fame dimenfions, with one 
in the centre thirteen feet in length, and (liaped like a 
rudder; on the eaft, fouth, and weft, fides of this circle, 
are four ftones, fuch as thofe that compofe this round and 
avenue, forming three lines, or as it were rays from the 
body of the circle. This is fuppofed to have been a Druid 
temple ; and tradition reports, that the chief Druid 
flood by the large (lone in the centre, and harangued the 
audience. At the diftance of a quarter of a mile there is 
another circle of the fame nature ; but without the range 
and avenue. The chief town in Lewis is Stornaway, 
which fee. 
There is a confiderable number of inferior adjacent ides 
and rocks, fomeof which hardly deferve to be mentioned ; 
fuch as the fmall ifland of Garve at the mouth of Loch 
Carlvay, Berinfay, Fladda, Bernera Minor and Bernera 
Major, Kialifay, Cavav, Carvay, Grenim, Pabay, Shirem, 
Vexay, Wuya the Larger and the Lefs, and the Flannan 
iflands, which the leamen denominate the Hunters. Thefe 
are vifited every fummer by the inhabitants of the Lewis, 
who go thither in queft of fowls, eggs, down, quills, and 
feathers, as well as to (hear or kill the (heep that are kept 
here forpafture. As thefe idands are very deep and rocky, 
the vifitors, after having landed and climbed up the rock 
by a ladder, uncover their heads, and, making a turn fun- 
ways, thank God for having efcaped the danger they have 
undergone. In the larged idand are the ruins of a chapel 
dedicated to St. Flannan, from whom the ides derive their 
name. Thither the fowlers repairing, (trip themfelves of 
their upper garments, which being laid upon a (lone, they 
advance towards the altar, and repeat three prayers; an 
exercife which is performed every morning and evening. 
They obferve many other fuperftitious cuftoms during 
their refidence on thefe rocks. Amoog the idands belong¬ 
ing to the Lewis, we may likewife take notice of the fmall 
Ide of Pigmies, fo called, becaufe, it is (aid, bones refem- 
bling thofe of human creatures, but of very fmall dimen¬ 
fions, have been dug out of the ground. 
The idand of Lewis is divided into the two parifhes of 
Barvas and Eye, and in each of thefe a minifter is fettled ; 
but there is a great number of churches and chapels dedi¬ 
cated to different faints, in the different ides which com¬ 
pofe this clufter. All thefe were fanctuaries before the 
reformation, but now they are diverted of that privilege. 
The people of thefe idands are prefbyterians, with a few 
proteftants of the Englirti communion, and a (till fmaller 
number of Roman catholics. How happy a change has 
been brought about in the idand of Lewis dnce the reign 
of James VI. of Scotland, and I. of England, a period 
of lefs than two centuries! That prince, w:ho was a great 
encourager of all the arts of peace, fent a colony of in- 
dultrious fifhermen from the (hire of Fife, in Scotland, 
with feveral Danes and Dutchmen, to teach and to exhi¬ 
bit an example of ufeful induftry to the natives, with the 
encouragement of large allotments of bays and lands, in- 
difputably in the gift of the crown. The heir to Mac- 
leod, the chieftain of Lewis, together with his neighbours, 
fell upon the unfortunate ftrangers from the low lands, 
and maffacred them, to the number of many hundreds, in 
one night. Lat. 58. 8.N. Ion. 6. 35. W. 
LEW'IS, a town of America, in Eflex county, fouth- 
weft of Lemington adjoining, in Vermont; about eight 
miles fouth of the Canada line. 
LEW'IS, a Chriftian name. See Louis. 
Vol. XII. No. 852. 
LEW 561 
LEW'IS (John), a learned Englifh divine, liiftorian, 
and antiquary, was born at Briftol in the year 1675. He 
was educated in grammar-learning at the free-fchool of 
Winbourn, in Dorfetlhire ; and was fent from thence to 
the univerfity of Oxford, where he was admitted a fcholar 
in Exeter-college. After having taken one degree, he 
was ordained by the biftiop of London, and officiated for 
fome time as curate of St. John’s in Wapping. In the 
year 1699, lord-chancellor Somers prefented him to the 
reiSlory of Acris, in Kent; and, in 1705, he was appoint¬ 
ed minifter of Margate. In 1719, archbiffiop Wake con- 
(lituted him mafter of Ealtbridge-hofpital, in the city of 
Canterbury. He redded at Margate from the time of his 
being appointed minifter of that place till his death, in 
January 1746-7, when he was in the feventy-fecond year 
of his age. He was the author of various publications, 
which refledt credit on his induftry and learning. His 
productions were, 1. A Companion for the Afffidted, 
1706, Svo. 2. An Apology for the Clergy of the Church 
of England, 1711, 8vo. 3. The Church Catechifm ex¬ 
plained, by w'.ay of Queftion and Anfwer, and confirmed 
by Scripture Proofs, 1712, i2ino. extrafted chiefly from 
bifhop Williams’s Expofition of the Church Catechifm. 
4. Two Letters in Defence of the Englith Liturgy and 
Reformation, 1717, 8vo. 5. The Hiftory of the Life and 
Sufferings of the Rev. John Wicklift’e, D.D.. Warden of 
Canterbury-hall, and Public Profeffor of Divinity in Ox¬ 
ford, &c. together with a Collection of Papers relating to 
the faid Hiftory, never before printed, Sec. Svo. 6. The 
New Teftament, tranllated out of the Latin Vulgate, by 
John Wickliffe; to which is prefixed,.! Hiftory of the fe¬ 
veral Tranflations of the Holy Bible, and New Teftament, 
See. into Englifh, both in MS. and Print, and of the 
mod remarkable Editions of them, fince the Invention of 
Printing, in folio. Some time afterwards he reviled and 
enlarged the preface, and publifhed it by itfelf, under the 
title of A complete Hiftory of the feveral Tranflations of 
the Holy Bible and New Teftament into Englifh, 1739, 
8vo. 7. The Hiftory and Antiquities of the Ide of Tha- 
net, or Tenet, &c. 8. The Hiftory of the Abbey and 
Church of Faverfliam, &c. 1727, 4to. 9. The Lyfe of 
Mayfter Wyllyam Caxton, of the Weald of Kent, the firft 
Printer in England, Sec. 1737, 8vo. 10. Hiftory of the 
Rife and Progrefs of Anabaptifm in England, 173S, 8vo. 
11. A Diftertation on the Ule and Antiquity of Seals in 
England, 1740, 8vo. 12. A Defence of the Communion 
Office and Catechifm of the Church of England, from the 
falfe and groundlefs Charge of their favouring the Doc¬ 
trine of Tranfubftantiation, brought againflrthem by two 
of the prefent Popifh Mifiionaries, Sec. 1742, 8vo. 13. 
The Life of Dr. Reynold Pecock, Lord Bifhop of St. Afaph 
and Chichefter, in the Reign of King Henry VI. being a 
Sequel to the Life of Wickliffe, 1744, 8vo. 14. A brief 
Difcovery of fome of the Arts of the Popifh Proteftant 
Miflioners in England, 1750, 8vo. And he left behind 
him feveral pieces in ntanufeript, the fubjefts of which 
may be feen in the Biog. Brit. 
LEW'IS (William-Thomas), a theatrical performer of 
confiderable eminence, who enjoyed the fmiles of a Lon¬ 
don audience for thirty-fix years. As a comic aitor, he 
was certainly at the head of his profeflion for the whole 
of the period of which he was on the London ftage. He 
had acquired confiderable fame as a comedian before 
he ventured on the boards of the great metropolis of the 
Britilh empire. He made his firft appearance in London 
at Covent-Garden Theatre, about the year 1774, in the 
part of the Weft Indian, which he reprefer.ted with fo 
much eafe, fprightlinefs, and humour, that he fixed his 
reputation on his firft appearance ; and made fuch a pro¬ 
grefs in public favour, that he was, during the whole of 
his career, the popular comedian of his day. From the 
characters which he generally affumed, and from his well- 
bred manners in private life, he foon acquired the defig- 
nation of Gentleman Lewis, to diltinguiih him from Lee 
Lewis, who generally reprelented parts of a lefs elegant 
7 D defeription. 
