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colour, being only of ayellowifli hue : on theouter edge of 
the wing there is no fpot, which is uncommon in this genus. 
The abdomen, long, cylindric, and confifting of nine or 
ten legments, is of a blue colour, fometimes bordering 
on green, and very bright. This beautiful infedl is met 
with iii meadows on the banks of ponds. See fig. 16. 
53. Libellula puella, the damfel dragon-fly. The wings 
of this infect are whitilh, nicely veined, with a black fpot 
on the exterior edge towards the extremity. The colour 
of the head is a leaden blue, with brown eyes. The tho¬ 
rax, which is blue, is adorned with three brown longitu¬ 
dinal bands, one on the middle and two narrower ones 
on the fides. The fegments of the abdomen are blue, 
with a black ring towards their poiterior extremity. 
Th.ey are nine in number, the two laft larger than the 
reft, and entirely brown. This infeCt is found in mea¬ 
dows. See fig. 17. Fig. 18 is a variety of the fame, the 
body being of a fine red. 
54.. Libellula ciliata, the hairy dragon-fly: green- 
bronzed ; abdomen brown ; legs fringed black. Head and 
thorax bronzed ; abdomen cylindrical. Inhabits Coro¬ 
mandel. 
55. Libellula nobilitata, the noble dragon-fly : upper- 
wings diiflcy; lower-ones filky-green tipt with black. 
Body glofly green ; lower-wings beneath black. Inha¬ 
bits South America. 
56. Libellula linearis, the long-bellied dragon-fly. 
The exotic libelluke are very numerous ; among the molt 
remarkable may be numbered this Ipecies, which is 
figured in the elegant entomological work of Mr. Drury. 
It is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, and is diftin- 
guilhed by the exceflive length of its flender body, which 
meafures not lefs than five inches and a half in length, 
though fcarcely exceeding the tenth of an inch in diame¬ 
ter. The wings are tranfparent, of a flender or narrow 
lhape, as in the puella , to which this fpecies is allied in 
form ; and meafures five inches and a half in extent from 
tip to tip. The colour of the head and thorax is brown, 
with a yellowilh ftripe on each fide ; and the body is of a 
deep mazarine blue. 
LIBEL'LUS,/. [Lat. a little book.] The name given 
to the bills which were put up amonglt the Romans, giv¬ 
ing notice of the time when a (how of gladiators would 
be exhibited, with the number of combatants, and other 
circumftances. Thefe bills were fometimes termed edi&a ; 
and were frequently attended with pictures reprefenting 
the engagement of fome celebrated gladiators. This cul- 
tom is alluded to by Horace, lib. ii. Sat. vii, 96. &c. 
There was alfo the famofus libellus, a defamatory libel. 
Seneca calls them contumelioji libelli, infamous rhymes, 
which by a Roman ordinance were punifliable with death. 
Libellus alfo in the civil-law fignifies the declaration, or 
ftate of the prolecutor’s charge againlt the defendant; 
and it has the like fignification in our fpiritual courts. 
See Libel. 
LI'BEN, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of Leitme- 
ritz : eleven miles north of Leitmeritz. 
LI'BEN, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of Kaurzim : 
five miles north-eaft of Prague. 
LI'BENAU, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of Bolef- 
law : four miles eaft of Aycha. 
LPBENAU. See Lubbenau. 
LIBENTI'NA, a furname of Venus, who had a temple 
at Rome, where the young women ufed to dedicate the 
toys and childifli amufements of'their youth, when ar¬ 
rived at nubile years. Varro. 
LI'BER, a furname of Bacchus, which fignifies free. 
He received this name from his delivering fome cities of 
Bceotia from flavery ; or, according to others, becaule wine, 
of which he was the patron, delivered mankind from their 
cares, and made them lpeak with freedom and unconcern. 
The word is often ufed for wine itfelf. Stneca de Tranq. 
LI'BER,y". An ancient Latin word for the thin inner 
bark or rind of a tree ; which, being ufed to write upon 
before the invention of parchment or paper, is luppofed 
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to have given its name to a book. For the nature and 
functions of the liber, fee Bark, vol. ii. 
LI BER NFGER. See Black Books, vol. iii. p. 76. 
LEBER NI'GER DO'MUS RE'GIS, the title of a 
book in which there is an account of the houfehold efta- 
blifhment of king EdwaVd IV. and of the feveral mufi- 
cians retained in his fervice, as well for his private amufe- 
men't as for the fervice of his chapel. 
LIB'ERA, in my thology, the name of a goddefs, which 
Cicero, in his book of the Gods, reprefer.ts as the daugh¬ 
ter of Jupiter and Ceres. Ovid in his Fafti (ays, that the 
name was given by Bacchus to Ariadne. Libera is ex¬ 
hibited on medals, as a kind of female Bacchus, crowned 
with vine-leaves. 
LIB'ERA, f. in law, a livery or delivery of fo much corn 
or grafs to a cuftomary tenant, who cut do\yn or prepared 
the faid grafs or corn, and received fome part or fmall 
portion of it as a reward or gratuity. Cowell. 
LIB'ERA CHASE'A HABEN'DA, a judicial writ 
granted to a perfon for a free chale belonging to his ma¬ 
nor, after proof made by inquiry of a jury, that the lame 
of right belongs to him. Reg. Orig.^G. 
LIB'ERA PISCA'RIA, a free filhery, which being 
granted to a perfon, gives him a property in the fifli. See. 
2 Salk. 637. 
LIB'ERAL, adj. [Fr. from liberalis, Lnt.J Not low in 
birth ; not low in mind : 
Where gentle court and gracious delight 
She to them made, with mildnefie virginall 
Shewing herfelfe both wife and liberall. Fairy Queen. 
Becoming a gentleman. Munificent; generous; bounti¬ 
ful ; not parlimonious : 
The liberal are fecure alone. 
For what we frankly give, for ever is our own. Granville. 
It has of before the thing, and to before the perfon.— 
There is no art better than to be liberal of praife and com¬ 
mendation to others, in that wherein a man’s felf hath 
any perfection. Bacon's Efays. —Several clergymen, other- 
wife little fond of obfeure terms, are, in their fermons, 
very liberal of all thofe which they find in ecclefiaftical 
writers, as if it were our duty to underltand them. Swift .— 
[Sometimes in Shakefpeare and his cotemporarjes] Licen¬ 
tious.—Is he not a molt profane and liberal counfellor? 
Othello. 
I might, if it pleas’d me, (tand (till, and hear 
My lifter made a may-game, might I not? 
And give allowance to your liberal jells 
Upon his perfon, whole lead anger would 
jConfumea legion of fuch wretched people. Bean, and Fletcher. 
Exalted ; not mean, not mechanical; as, the liberal arts. 
LIB'ERAL ARTS, fuch as depend more on the la¬ 
bour of the mind than on that of the hands; or, that con- 
fift more in fpeculation than operation ; and have a greater 
regard to amufement and curiofity than to neceflity. 
When we interrogate Nature, (ays M. Watelet, (an ex¬ 
cellent French writer de l'origins des arts liberaux,) we are 
in the road to fcience; if we feek to imitate her, we are 
in that of the arts. If the arts employ our attention, and 
vve enquire into their origin, like an illuftrious race, their 
generation is confounded with that of men. If we fol¬ 
low man in his progrefs through life, we (hall find him 
animated with a defire of exprelfing what he feels, of imi¬ 
tating what he fees. If we follow him by the help of hif- 
tory, in his progreflive ftudy of the arts, we (hall find him 
varying his modes of imitation ; that his reprelentations 
at firlt are fiinple, afterwards complex ; that is, having 
firft drawn an outline or (liape only, he has next attempted 
to give the relief of colour and of (hade. 
In confidering what connexion the liberal arts hav.e 
with our wants, the fame writer confiders them as fo many 
languages, or improvements of exprefiion. The 1110ft fim- 
ple as well as the molt ancient was the language of aJtion, 
