L l L 
which, however, are not very plentifully produced 5 nor 
will it grow in perfection without great cares the roots in 
particular are to be guarded againft froft. The foil and 
fituation may be the fame as recommended for Cyclamen 
coum, vol. v. p. 507. See Agapanthus, Amaryllis, 
Crinum, Fritillaria, Gloriosa, Hjemanthus, He- 
merocallis, Medeola, and Pancratium. 
To LILL, v. a. [ufed by Spenfer for] To loll.—And 
tilled forth his flaming bloody tong. Fairy Queen. 
LIL'LE. See Lisle. 
LILLEBON'NE, a town of France, in the department 
of the Lower Seine : fixteen miles eaft of Havre, and feven 
Vveft of Caudebec. 
LIL'LECHURCH, a hamlet in the parilh of Higham, 
near Gravefend. Lillechurch and Higham have often 
been improperly confounded together 5 Higham indeed 
has by fome writers been ftyled Lillechurche ; but Lille- 
ehurche was a diftinSt parifh. About a mile and a half 
from Higham church, and near the road to Cliffe, is a 
farm-houfe that ftill retains the name of Lillechurche; 
and, there being behind the garden of the houfe a field 
called Church-place, in which human bones have been 
found, there can hardly be a doubt but this is the fpot 
where the church was fituated. The time of the union 
of the two parifhes of Higham and Lillechurche is not 
known ; but molt probably it was after Henry III. had 
granted the manor of Lillechurche, with all its liberties 
and cuftoms, to a nunnery of the benediftine order in 
Higham. This convent was founded before the year 
1151, by king Stephen, whofe daughter Mary feems to 
have prefided over it before (he became abbefs of Romfey. 
For fome time the fociety confifted of fixteen nuns, but 
had been by degrees reduced to three or four. In the 
year 1513, bifhop Fiffier vifited them in the chapter-room 
of their convent; and the perfons who appeared before 
him were the fub-priorefs, two more of the nuns, and the 
old priorefs. They were accufed of fcandalous behaviour, 
nor did they deny the charge; but, with the molt humble 
fubmiflion, repeatedly prayed that confinement within 
their houfe might be the punilhment inflicted upon them; 
and, “for certain juft and lawful caufes,” they entreated 
his lordlhip to direft that their nunnery fliouid be fur- 
rounded with a ftone wall. The reafons why this precau¬ 
tion was thought needful may be eafily furmifed ; and it 
was probably owing to the want of it that the conduct of 
the members of this filterhood had become notorioufly 
abandoned. The wall, however, if indeed it was ever 
built, did not anfwer its intent; and thefe nuns had ren¬ 
dered themfelves fo infamous, that in the year 1521 it 
was judged neceffary to fupprefs the community. Oppo- 
fite the eaft end of the church there is a farm-houfe, of 
which the fides and back part are of ftone, and difcover 
marks of antiquity, having Gothic windows. This is 
thought to be only a fmall portion of one of the offices 
belonging to the nunnery, there being in the great field, 
on the fouth fide, many veltiges of foundations. Plates 
of the north-weft and fouth views of the remains are pub- 
liflied in Mr. Thorpe’s Antiquities. There is alfo ftill 
lubfifling, contiguous to the farm-yard, fome part of the 
thick ftone wall, mantled with ivy, which enclofed the ab¬ 
bey, and was carried quite round the yard. Biffiop Fiffier, 
after the fuppreflion of this religious houfe, obtained from 
the crown, for the lately-founded college of St. John’s in 
Cambridge, a grant of the manor of Higham, the fcite of 
the nunnery, the appropriation of the reftory of that pa- 
riffi, and the advowfon of the vicarage ; and all of them 
are ftill poflefled by that learned body. By a final len¬ 
ience of confolidation, dated in May 1523, the college 
were always to provide a prieft to officiate daily in the 
chapel of the convent, and to celebrate, on the four chief 
quarter-days of every- year, exequies and a mafs of re¬ 
quiem for the fouls of their founders and benefactors; 
and, left the needyanc! infirm might feemto be negledted 
in this folemn aft of union, it was decreed, with the con- 
fent of the mafter, fellows, and fcholar 3 , of the college, 
L I L 107 
that twelve pence fliould be by them diftributed on every 
Michaelmas-day in the laid priory to the poor of Higham. 
The church is much larger than is neceflary for the ac¬ 
commodation of the parilhioners, there not being above 
forty families in the diftrift ; there is, however, little 
doubt that formerly the inhabitants were more numerous, 
LIL'LENFELD, a village and rich convent of Auftria, 
on theTrafen : fourteen miles fouth of St. Polten. 
LIL'LERS, a town of France, in the department of the 
Straits of Calais; ceded to France by Spain at the peace 
of the Pyrenees. The fortifications are deftroyed : fix 
miles weft-north-weft of Bethune. 
LIL'LESHUL, or Lillies-hall, a village near New¬ 
port in Shropshire, noted for its abbey, the ruins of which 
are fituated in a retired and folitary polition, and partly 
enveloped in trees. A large portion of the abbey-church 
remains; but fo mutilated, as to render it difficult to form ■ 
a juft idea of its original archite&ure, except from the 
ftrufture of its doors and windows. A fine Norman arch, 
highly recefled, with ribs and running foliage, forms the 
weftern entrance, and feems to have alfo conltituted the 
bafis of a tower. The fouth door, which communicated 
with the cloifter, is one of the molt enriched early Nor¬ 
man arches in the kingdom. The eaft window is of large 
dimenfions, with a beautiful pointed arch of the four¬ 
teenth century ; but the windows of the choir are narrow, 
plain, and round-headed. The whole meafures 228 feet 
in length, and 36 in breadth, exclulive of the fide-aifles. 
The other buildings are in a much more-ruinous condi¬ 
tion than the church, though, from what yet exifts of 
them, they appear to have evidently been of very confider- 
able extent. Beauties of England and Wales, vol. xiii. 
LIL'LIES-LEAF, a town of Scotland, in the county of 
Roxburgh : eight miles north-weft of Jedburgh. 
LIL'LO, a town of Spain, in New Caftile j twenty-eight 
miles eaft-fouth-eaft'of Toledo. 
LIL'LO, a fortrefs of Brabant, on the eaft fide cf the 
Scheldt, built by the Dutch in the year 1584, from which- 
time it has always had a garrifon. Its fortifications are 
very regular, and its ramparts were lined with cannon, to 
prevent veflels of too large a fize going up to Antwerp, 
according to the treaty entered into at Munfter, in the 
year 1648, between Spain and Holland. It was taken by 
the French in the year 1794: nine miles north-weft of 
Antwerp, and twelve fouth of Berg-op-Zoom-, 
LIL'LO (George), a dramatic writer, born in London 
in 1693, was the Ion of a Dutch jeweller, who married an 
Englilh woman. He was brought up to his father’s trade, 
and in the religious principles of the proteftant diflenters. 
What was the occalion of his becoming a writer for the 
ftage we are not informed ; but he appears not to have 
forlaken his mercantile occupation, and to have main¬ 
tained the-character of an amiable, worthy, and virtuous, 
man. His firlt production was Sylvia, a ballad-opera; 
which is faid to have poflefled merit. Is was, however, 
by tragedy that he acquired his fame; and the particular 
walk that he purfued was that of domeftic diftrels in com¬ 
mon life, exhibited for a moral purpofe. By the choice 
and judicious management of his ltories, he fucceeded in 
rendering them eminently pathetic ; and lie difplayed no 
inconfiderable knowledge of the human heart. To the 
higher qualities of dramatic writing he has indeed no pre¬ 
tention ; he has neither fancy nor elevation ; and, when 
he attempts to raife his fiyle, he produces only frigid 
bombaft. The compofition by which lie i? molt known 
is George Barnwell, or the London Apprentice, founded 
on a popular ballad. A murder and an execution are the 
incidents employed for tragic effeft; but the author is 
much to be commended for the moral ufe he has made of 
the ftory, which has configned the work to an annual ho¬ 
liday-performance for the edification of youth in the fame 
clafs with the hero. His play of Fatal Curiofity, which 
had difappeared from the ftage, was recommended to pub¬ 
lic notice with extraordinary praifes in the Philological 
Inquiries of the late James Harris, elq. who inltanced it 
1 as 
