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793 
the detail of its pofitions for a treatife which he intended 
to publidi on this cornet, after he had himfelf made all the 
observations poffible, and collected thofe of others, dur¬ 
ing the time of its appearance. He alfo entertained the 
hope of being able to fugged new' confiderations on the 
theory ,of comets in general, fupplementary to what he 
had delivered in 1745 to the Academy of Petertburg; but 
thefe have not been published. 
One of the greated fervices which M. de Lifle rendered 
to aftronomevs, was his correction of the double error of 
Halley relating to the tranfrt of Venus, expeCted in 1761 ; 
by which means he prevented feveral men of fcience from 
undertaking long voyages for the fake of obferving it, 
whofe labours would have proved ufelefs with refpect to 
the principal objeCt in view. 
It was now high time that the long, laborious, and very 
lifeful, labours of M. de Lille (hould meet with fome re- 
compenfe from the Hate. There had been for a long time 
eftabiifhed at Paris a general depot for the marines, in 
which were collected memoirs relating to the colonies, the 
reports of intendants, the ordinances of the king,and the 
orders of his rninifters refpefting the marine, both in the 
civil and military departments. In this depot were nu¬ 
merous defigns, plans, and manufcript charts, both of the 
coafts of France, and of the colonies and edablifbments in 
different parts of the world, with memoirs relating to 
them. The number of thefe memoirs, plans, and charts, 
increafing every day, it was judged neceffary, in order 
that they might be conlulted with the greater facility, to 
create for them a particular department, in which they 
(hould be feparated from the other papers of the marine, 
which we have mentioned above. It was under the re¬ 
gency of the duke of Orleans in 1721, that this depart¬ 
ment was fird eltabliflied, and a naval captain placed at 
the head of it. In the year 1754, M. Rouille, minider of 
the marine, well knowing how valuahle the precious col¬ 
lections and the labours of M. de Lifle would prove to 
that inditution, fuggeded to the kirrg the benefit which 
the fervice would receive from giving him an appoint¬ 
ment in it. Accordingly, his tnajedy condituted him, 
by brevet, agronomical geographer to the marine, attaching to 
his office the collection of plans and journals of naval 
captains, to arrange them in regular order, and to extraCt 
from them whatever might be found beneficial to his fer¬ 
vice in this department. As foon as M. de Lifie had en¬ 
tered on his new pod, he received directions to draw up 
memoirs for the minider on the fubjeCts of his appoint¬ 
ment; which he prepared with equal celerity, knowledge, 
and judgment. As the king had now engaged him in 
his fervice, his majedy purchafed, with a penfion for life, 
his rich aflronomical and geographical collections, which 
were added to the manufcripts in the depot. Thefe were 
all arranged in regular order by M. de Lifie, who drew up 
a detailed and circumdantial inventory of them, making 
every perfon connected with his office acquainted with 
them, and fnowing the ufes to which they might be ap¬ 
plied for the benefit of the fervice and the advancement 
of fcience. 
M. de Lille's eye-fight was always excellent, and, like 
Newton, he was able to read without fpeCtacles, at night 
as well as in the day-tiine, when he was eighty years of 
age. He was more than feventy years old before his 
ftrength began fenfibly to be impaired, in 1758 ; from 
which time he devolved the care of his obfervations 
wholly on M. Meffier, and obtained from the minider the 
appointment of M. rle Lalande for his coadjutor at the 
college-royal. He now withdrew into quiet retreat at the 
abbey of St. Genevieve, where he fpent much of his time 
in devotional exercifes, and appropriated the greated part 
of his income to acts of oenevolence and charity. But 
in his retirement he was not the gloomy religionift, who 
confnlered himfelf dead to the world, and unintereded in 
its concerns ; for he dill cheridied his old tade for aftro- 
nomy and geography, correfponded with men of fcience, 
read the new works, and partook in the care with which 
LIS 
M. Meffier continued his obfervations, collections, and 
manufcripts. He even publilhed feveral memoirs, and 
maps of Georgia, Paleftine, and Pekin; he communicated 
his papers on Siberia to M. Querlon, who continued the 
Hiftory of Travels, and other manufcripts to M. Pingre, 
M. de Lalande, and other perfons to whom they were tie- 
ceffary ; and he delivered feveral memoirs to M. de La¬ 
lande, to be revifed by him, that they might be publidied 
in the volumes of the academy. That body, as an ex¬ 
traordinary mark of their refpect for his diftinguiflied me¬ 
rits, conferred on him the title of veteran penfionary, which 
the king confirmed. In the month of July, 1768, M. de 
Lifle was affiiCfed with a fcorbutic complaint, which his 
medical friends fucceeded in curing; hut in the Septem¬ 
ber following he was attacked by a kind of apopfcexy, and 
afterwards by the palfy, to which he fell a facrific'e on the 
nth day of that month, in the eighty-fird year of his age. 
Of his extraordinary merits as a man of fcience, the pre¬ 
ceding narrative will enable the reader to form a fufficient 
judgment. In private life he was didinguidied by unaf- 
feCted piety, pure morals, undeviating integrity, a gene¬ 
rous difintereded fpirit, and mod amiable manners. The 
only publication of M. de Lifie,.net already fpecified, con¬ 
fided of Memoirs ill u It rati ve of the Hidory of Adronomy, 
1733, in 2 vols. 4to. Eloge de M. de Li/le, par M. de Lalande. 
LPSLE de la DREVETIF.'RE (Louis-Francis de), a 
French dramatic writer, was defeended from a noble fa¬ 
mily of Perigord, and born at Suze-la-Rouffe in Dauphine. 
He was fent to Paris to finifh his education, and Itudied 
the law with the intention of being called to the bar; but 
a didipated turn prevented him from effecting his pur- 
pof'e. His father not being able to maintain him at Pa¬ 
ris, he was reduced to live by his talents, and began to 
write for the Italian theatre. In 1721 his comedy of 
Arlequin Sauvage was brought on the dage ; it was fuc- 
cefsful, and is dill feen with pleafure. His Timon leMi- 
fanthrope had (till greater fuccels. His Arlequin au Ban¬ 
quet des Sept S ages was fomewhat too phiiofophical for the 
tade of the times. It was followed by the Banquet Ri¬ 
dicule ; by Le Faucon, ou les Oies de Boccace; and by a 
variety of other pieces. He alfo compofed Danaus, a tra¬ 
gedy ; a poem entitled Eflai fur PAmour Propre ; and fe¬ 
veral pieces of verfe, collected in a fingle volume. He 
died in 1756. 
LISLE'NA, a town of Sweden, in the province of Up¬ 
land : fixteen miles fouth-fouth-wed of Upfal. 
LIS'MORE, an idand of the Hebrides, in the county 
of Argyle, Scotland. It is fituated at the mouth of the 
great arm of the fea called Loch Linnhe, and extends 
about ten miles in length and two in breadth. The whole 
of this idand lies on a ftratum of excellent lime-done, un¬ 
fortunately rendered of little value to the inhabitants by 
the deficiency of fuel to burn it. Mr. Pennant fays the 
derivation of its name is from Liofmcr, or “ the great gar¬ 
den.” According to tradition, however, it was not a gar¬ 
den, but a deer-fored; and, as a proof of this, multi¬ 
tudes of dags’ horns of uncommon fize are frequently 
dug up in the moffy parts of it. At prefent there is very 
little wood ; but, the foil being fertile, vegetables (hoot 
up with uncommon vigour. The chief productions of the 
ground are beans and oats: the former are modly applied 
to the purpofes of diftillation ; and the latter go to the 
difeharge of rents, fo that the inhabitants are obliged to 
import large quantities of meal for their fubiidence. 
There are a coniiderable number of cattle reared in this 
ifland, but they are generally of very fmall dature : the 
author already mentioned thinks they mud have greatly 
degenerated from their original growth, for he- informs 
us that he faw the (kull of an ox dug up here, which was of 
much larger dimenfions than any now living in Great Bri¬ 
tain. About a hundred head of tire largelt are exported 
annually. The horfes bred here are extremely ffiort-lived : 
they are harnelfed when only two or three years old, which 
practice will no doubt affilt in diortening the period of 
their exiitence. Neither foxes, hares, nor rats, can be 
found 
