828 LIT' \ 
LIT'TLEBOROUGH, a town on the weft coaft of the 
ifland of Nevis : two miles north of Charleftown. 
LITTLENESS, f. Smallnefs of hulk.—We may fup- 
pofe a great many degrees of littlenefs and lightnefs in thefe 
earthy particles, fo as many of them might float in the air. 
Burnet. 
All trying, by a love of littlenefs. 
To make abridgments, and to draw to lefs 
Even that nothing which at firft we were. Donne. 
Meannefs ; want of grandeur.—The Englifh and French, 
in verfe, are forced to raife their language with metaphors', 
by the pompoufnefs of the whole phrafe to wear off any 
littlenefs that appears in the particular parts. Addifon .— 
Want of dignity.—The angelic grandeur, by being con¬ 
cealed, does" not awaken our poverty, nor mortify our lit¬ 
tlenefs fo much, as if it was always difplayed. Collier. 
LIT'TLETON, a village in Gloucefterfhire, on the 
north fide of Marfhfield.—A village in Hampfhire, be¬ 
tween Stockbridge and Itchingftoke.—A village in Mid- 
dlefex, on the river Afh, near Lalam ; fo called from the 
fmall quantity of ground belonging to it.—A village in 
Wiltftiire, in the pafilh of Lavington-Bifhops ; with a 
fair at Midfummer.—A village in Somerfetfhire, between 
Midfutnmer Norton and Pensford.—A village in Surry, 
near Guildford.—A village in Suflex, north-weft of Mid- 
hurft.—A village in Wiltftiire, three miles from Trow¬ 
bridge. 
LIT'TLETON, North, South, and Middle, are three, 
fmall villages on the eaft borders of the county of Wor- 
cefter, but only two parifhes ; noted for a petrifying fpring, 
on the top of that which they call Harrow-Hill, fituate in 
the North and Middle Littleton, two miles from Eve- 
fliam; the water is laid to be very excellent for fore eyes. 
There is no church at North-Littleton, and that at Mid¬ 
dle-Littleton is difufed. 
LIT'TLETON, a poft-town of America, in Middle- 
fex county, Maffachufetts, twenty-eight miles north-weft 
of Bofton.—A poft-town in Grafton county, New Hamp¬ 
fhire, incorporated in 1784.—A townftiip, now called 
Waterford, in Caledonia county, Vermont, on the weft fide 
of Connecticut river. 
LIT'TLETON (Sir Thomas), an eminent Englifh 
lawyer and judge, was born about the beginning of the 
fifteenth century. He was the eldeft fon of Thomas 
Weftcote, efq. of the county of Devon, by the heirefs of 
Littleton of Frankley in Worcefterftiire, whofe name he 
alfnmed. After an education at one of the univerfities, 
he was entered of the Inner Temple, where he became 
one of the law-readers. In the reign of Henry VI. he 
was made judge of the marlhalfea-court and king’s fer- 
geant; and, in 1455, went the northern circuit as judge 
of aftife. He was continued in the fame poll by Edward IV. 
and w'as appointed one of the judges of the common-pleas 
in 1466. During the fame feign he was created a knight 
of the bath. He died in a good old age in 1481, leaving 
three fons, from whom many confiderable families of the 
name are defcended. Sir Thomas Littleton diftinguilhed 
himfelf in his profeflion by his valuable treatife of the 
“ Tenures and Titles by which Eftates were anciently 
held in England.” It was written in law French ; but the 
date neither of its compofition nor of its firft publication 
is afcertained. A commentary upon it (with a tranlla- 
t-ion) forms the firft book of Coke’s Inrtitutes. 
LIT'TLETON (Edward), diftinguiftied for his great 
knowledge in the common-law, fon of fir Edward, a 
Welfti judge, was born in 1589, and purfued his college- 
exercifes at Chrift-church, Oxford, whence he removed to 
the Inner Temple. He was an active member of parlia¬ 
ment in the year 1628, and, together with fir Edward 
Coke and fir Dudley Digges, carried up the Petition of 
Right from the commons to the lords ; he was alfo a lead¬ 
ing manager in the accufation againft the duke of Buck¬ 
ingham, in which his judicious eonduCl obtained for him 
£he good opinion of the'prince and people. He fucceeded 
LIT 
his father as a Welfti judge, and was chofen recorder of 
London. In 1634 he was made by Charles I', folicitor- 
general, and knighted; in 1639 he was fworn lord chief 
juftice of the common-pleas; and, in the following year, 
he was advanced to be lord keeper of the great leal of 
England, and called to the houfe of peers by-the title of 
lord Littleton. He afterwards loft the favour of the king, 
though it is believed without reafon, which he could ne¬ 
ver after regain. He died in Auguft 1645, at Oxford, 
where he was buried on the north fide of the choir in the 
cathedral of Chrift-church, and had a funeral oration pro¬ 
nounced over him by Dr. Henry Hammond. He pub- 
liftied a book of Reports of Cafes in the Courts of Com¬ 
mon Pleas and Exchequer, from the fecond to the eighth 
of Charles I. fome fpeeches in parliament ; and feveral 
arguments and difcourfes. 
LIT'TLETON (Adam), a learned philologift, was born 
in 162.7 at Hales-Owen, in Shropihire, of which parifti his 
father was vicar. He received his fchool-education at 
Weftminfter under Dr. Bulby ; and, in 1644, was eleCted 
a ftudent of Chrift-church college in Oxford. He was 
ejeCted by the parliament-vifitois in 1648, and fupported 
himfelf for fome years as an uftier at different fchoo!s 0 
In 1658 he was appointed fecond mafter of Weftminfter 
fchool. After the reftoration he became king’s chaplain 
in ordinary, accumulated his degrees in divinity, and, in 
1674, was induCted into the reCtory of Chelfea, at which 
place he had kept a fchool for fome years. He was alfo 
made a prebendary of Weftminfter, and afterwards fub- 
dean. died at Chelfea in 1694. Mr. Littleton was a 
man of an amiable private character, and a very general 
fcholar. Befides the clalfical languages, he was conver- 
fant in the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Arabic, and was well 
acquainted with the abftrufer parts of mathematics. He 
was the author of leveral works in divinity and philology; 
but is chiefly remembered for his Latin Dictionary, which 
was in general ufe in the Englifh fchools before that of 
Ainf’worth. It was firft publifhed in 1678, 4to. and re¬ 
printed with additions in 1685. 
LITTLETOin (Lord). See Lyttelton. 
LIT'TLETON’s 1 'SLAND, a fmall ifland in the Florida 
Stream. Lat. 24. 42. N. Ion. 81.40. W. 
LIT'TLETON-UPON-SEV'EKN, a village nearThorn- 
bury in Gloucefterfhire. 
LIT'TLETON-WICK-GREE'N, a village three miles 
from Maidenhead in Berkfhire. 
LIT'TLING,/. [from little.'] Any thing very little. 
LIT'TON, fouth-weft of Bridport, in Dorfetfhire, is a 
large parifh in a level enclofed country, at the foot of 
fteep chalky hills that rife on the north of it. It had a 
market, now difufed. Here is a charity-fchool. The 
church ftands towards the north fide of the parifti, and 
has a neat high tower, which was rebuilt about 1500. 
LITTORAL, adj. \littoralis,\.?&.'\ Belonging to thefhore. 
LITTOREL'LA, /. [dimin. from littus, Lat. the fhore; 
this plant growing on the fea-coaft.] In botany, a genus 
of the clafs monoecia, order tetrandria, natural order of 
plantagir.es, JuJf. The generic characters are—I. Male. 
Calyx : perianth four-leaved, upright. Corolla : one-pe- 
talled ; tube the length of the calyx 5 bwder four-parted, 
upright, permanent. Stamina : filaments four, filiform, 
very long, inferted into the receptacle ; antherse heart- 
fnaped. II. Female in the fame plant. Calyx : none. Co¬ 
rolla : one-petalled, conic, with flightly four-cleft mouth ; 
permanent. Piftillum : germ oblong ; ftyle filiform, very 
long; liigma acute. Pericarpium ; the invefting corolla. 
Seed : nut one-celled. The flower is that of plantain, 
but the fruit different.— EJfential CharaBer. Male: calyx 
four-leaved ; corolla four-cleft; Itamina long. Female: 
calyx none ; corolla flightly four-cleft; ftyles long ; feed 
a nut. 
Littorella lacuftris, or plantain fhore-weed ; the only 
fpecies known. The root lhoots out long running fibres, 
which take root afrefti, and thus in a ftiort time cover the 
brink of the lakes with tufts of femi-cylindrical, linear, 
acute. 
