L I E 
LTE'CHEN, oi'-Lychen, a town of Brandenburg, in 
the Ucker Mark : eighteen miles weft-fouth-weft of Pren- 
zlow, and forty north of Berlin. Lat. 53. 12. N. Ion. 13. 
24.. E. 
LIE'CHSTAL, a town of Swiflerland, in the canton of 
Bale, and capital of a bailiwic of the fame name: feven 
miles fouth-eaft of Bale. 
LIE'DBERG, or Lie'erich, a citadel of France, in 
the department of the Roer: live miles weft-fouth-weft of 
Nuys. 
LIE'DERBACH, a river of Germany, which runs into 
the Fulda four miies north-weft of Fulda. 
LIEF, adj. [Hop, Sax, lief, Dut.] Dear; beloved. 
ObJoUte: 
My liefejl lord flie thus beguiled had, 
For he was flefli ; all ftefh doth frailty breed. Fairy Queen. 
LIEF, adv. Willingly: now ufed only in familiar 
fpeech.—If I could fpeak fo wifely under an arreft, I would 
fend for certain of my creditors ; and yet, to fay the truth, 
I had as lief have the foppery of freedom as the morality 
of imprifonment. Skakefpeare. 
LIEF'DE BA'Y, a bay on the north coaft of Spitzber- 
gen. Lat. 79. 32. N. Ion. ia. 30. E. 
LIE'FKENSHOECK, a fort of France, on the left bank 
of the Scheldt: ten miles below Antwerp. 
LIEGE, late a biihopric and eleftorate of Germany; 
bounded on the north by Brabant; on the eaft by Lim¬ 
burg, Juliers, and Luxemburg; on the fouth by Luxem¬ 
burg and the French department of the Ardennes; and 
on the weft by Brabant, Namur, and Hainaut; about 
eighty miles in length from north to fouth; its breadth is 
■very irregular. The foil is fertile in corn and pafturage, 
and yields wine, which refembles the middling wines of 
Burgundy and Champaigne; together with very confider- 
able forelts, and mine-works of copper, lead, iron, and 
coal; alfo many good ftone-quarries, and among them 
likewife fome of marble. Alfo celebrated for its mineral 
waters, namely, thofe at Spa and Chaude-fontaine. The 
principal rivers are the Meufe and Sambre. It is now 
united to France, and forms the department of the Ourthe. 
The principal exports conlifted of beer, arms, nails, ferge, 
leather, and coal. This bifhopric contained twenty-fix 
towns, divided into Walloon and Flemifh; it was fir ft 
founded in the towm of Tongern, and Servatius was the 
far It bifhop that can be afeertained. This prelate quitted 
Tcngern, and went to Maeftricht, in which alfo was the 
fee of his fuccefTors in the bifhopric, till St. Hubert betook 
himfeif in the beginning of the eighth century to Liege, 
where alfo all his fuccefTors took up their place of refi- 
der.ee, though the bifhops were ftill for a long time after 
ftyled bifhops of Tongern ; and Heraclius, or Eberhard, 
was the firft who aflumed the title of bifhop of Liege. In 
the council of the princes of the empire, Liege took rank 
alternately with Munfter, but fo that Ofnabruck always 
fat between them. The evaluation of the empire for the 
bifhopric was fifty horfe and 170 foot, or monthly 1280 
florins; but, complaining of this high evaluation, it was 
reduced to 826 florins: to the chamber-court it was rated 
at 240 rix-dollnrs 41 kruitzers. 
LIEGE, a city of France, and capital of the depart¬ 
ment of the Ourthe, and a bifhopric. It is a large, popu¬ 
lous, and rich, city, fituated on the Meufe, in a valley 
furrounded by hills, with agreeable and fertile meadows 
between, watered by the rivers Loofe, Ourte, and Amb- 
leve, which empty themfelves into the Meufe as it enters 
this city. It is called the hell of women, the purgatory 
of men, and the paradife of priefts. It was firft encom- 
pafled with walls by St. Hubert, in the beginning of the 
eighth century; but fuffered much in the ninth from 
the incurfions of the Normans. Henry duke of Brabant 
took it in the year 1212, and pillaged it fix days. In the 
37th century it fuffered feverely on account of the elec¬ 
tions of the bifhops. John of Bavaria governed it a long¬ 
time, although lie was not a prieft 3 and, as he treated the 
LIE 627 
citizens ill, they drove him from the palace, and befieged 
him in Maeftricht; but his brother-in-law, John duke of 
Burgundy, and comte of Flanders, coming to his aififtance, 
a battle was fought in the year 1409, in which 6000 of the 
Liegeois were killed, and the reft compelled to lubmit. 
Some of the moft culpable were tied two together, and 
thrown into the Meufe. Not long after, Charles the 
Bold, duke of Burgundy, taking part with Louis of Bur¬ 
gundy, the bifhop, againft whom the inhabitants had rifen, 
befieged the city, with fuccours from France, and took it 
by ailault the 30th of October, 1468 ; he then let it on 
fire and facked it, without fparingeven the churches. 
In the beginning of the 17th century, a difpute relative 
to the election of the btirgomafters occafioneci great trou¬ 
bles. Anciently twenty-two judges, who formed a cele¬ 
brated tribunal at Liege, had a cuftom of appointing thirty 
perfons to eleft the new burgomafters. In the year 1603, 
the bifhop, Erneft of Bavaria, transferred this right to 
the citizens, who were divided into fixteen chambers; 
but, as that gave rife to many great diforders, prince Fer¬ 
dinand, who l'ucceeded Erneft, fupported by the emperor, 
changed the right again in favour of the twenty-two. In 
1629, the populace rofe, and elected the new burgomaf¬ 
ters, contrary to the direction of the prince, whence came 
the divifion of parties, the Chiroux and the Grignoux; 
the firft was of the ancient patrician families, for the moffc 
part men of letters; the other took the part of the popu¬ 
lace, and was the more numerous. In the year 1636, the 
troubles increafed ; the comte Warfufe, who had been 
chief of the finances to the king of Spain at Brufiels, had 
been accufed of mal-praCtices, and condemned by the 
grand council of Malines, and was hung in effigy ; but, 
elcaping to Liege, he formed a black confpiracy, think¬ 
ing by that means to obtain the favour of the king. On 
the 16th of April he invited Sebaftian de Ruelle, burgo- 
mafter of Liege, to dine with him; during the repaft, a 
troop of foldiers entered, and, drawing the burgomafter 
afide, they killed him on the l'pot, under pretence that he 
was engaged in the intereft of France. This horrid mur¬ 
der did not long remain unpunifhed ; for the populace,, 
hearing of it, flew to the houle, dragged the comte along 
the ftreets, and hung him up by the feet to a poft; they 
then cut off - his head and arms, which they expoled at 
the gates of Liege, burned his body, and threw the allies 
into the Meufe; they likewife put to death his fervants, 
and the foldiers who had been the agents of this treachery; 
they then took the echevin Theodore Fleron, whom they 
fufpefted as the accomplice of Warfufe, and, without any 
trial, hung him in the grand market. The body of Ru¬ 
elle was interred with great magnificence; arid the burgo¬ 
mafters were afterwards accompanied by a body-guard of 
thirty men, when they appeared in public. In 1648, the 
prince bifhop Ferdinand returned to Vifet with fome troops, 
with a defign to come to Liege, and put a (top to the dis¬ 
turbances and feditious factions between the Chiroux 
and the Grignoux; but the citizens refufed him entrance, 
and the burgomafter Hennet ordered the cannon to be 
placed agninlt his troops’.. The prince on this retired 
to Huy, to wait for fuccours from the emperor; who lent 
fome Weftphalian foldiers, under the command of gene¬ 
ral Sparr, to whom the citizens opened their gates, on the 
28th of Augult, and the prince returned to Liege on the 
16th of October following. Hennet and Roland, a former 
burgomafter, who had been principally concerned in the 
troubles, were beheaded, and their heads expoled on the 
gates of the city. In the year 1650, prince Maximilian, 
w'ho fucceeded his uncle Ferdinand, built a regular citadel 
on the mount of Ste. Walburg, which had two commu¬ 
nications with the city, one of which is by fix hundred 
fteps. On this occafion the citizens tefiified their dilcon- 
tenr, by affixing to it the name of Aceldama, or Field of '• 
Blood, in allufion to the death of their burgomafters. In 
the war with France againft the empire, Spain, and Hol¬ 
land, the government of the citadel was entrufted to the 
baron de Yierfet, who, on the 28th of March, 1675, ad- 
milled 
