Chapter Lettre de Cachet to Libel of L by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Levellers (April, 1649.) A body of men that first appeared in Surrey, and went about pulling down park palings and levelling hedges, especially those on crown lands. Colonel Lilburne was lodged in prison for favouring the Levellers. (See Lilburne .)

Levellers Radicals in the time of Charles I. and the Commonwealth, who wanted all men to be placed on a level with respect to their eligibility to office.

Levellers (in Irish History), 1740. Agrarian agitators, afterwards called Whiteboys (q.v.). Their first offences were levelling the hedges of enclosed commons; but their programme developed into a demand for the general redress of all agrarian grievances.

Lever de Rideau A light and short dramatic sketch placed on the stage while the manager is preparing to introduce his drama for the night, or “draw up the curtain” on the real business.

“An attempt to pack a romantic tragedy into the space filled by an ordinary lever de rideau.” - Nineteenth Century, Dec., 1892, p. 964.

Leveret A young hare. The Duke d'Epernon always swooned at the sight of a leveret, though he was not affected if he saw a hare. (See Fox .)

Leviathan The crocodile, or some extinct sea monster, described in the Book of Job (chap. xii.). It sometimes in Scripture designates Pharaoh, King of Egypt, as in Psa. lxxiv. 14, Isa. xxvii. l, and Ezek. xxix. 3, etc., where the word is translated “dragon.”
   The Leviathan of Literature. Dr. Johnson (1709-1784).

Levites (2 syl.). In Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel, means the Dissenting clergy who were expelled by the Act of Conformity.

Levitical Belonging to the Levites or priestly tribe of Levi; pertaining to the Jewish priesthood, as the Levitical law, Levitical rites.

Lewd (Anglo-Saxon, leóde) simply means folk in general, verb leod-an. The present meaning refers to the celibacy of the clergy.

“All that a lewd man hath need to knawe for hele of sowl.”- Caxton Society's Publications.

Lewis (Monk). (See Monk .)

Lewis Baboon Louis XIV. of France is so called in Arbuthnot's History of John Bull. Of course, there is a play upon the word Bourbon.

Lewkner's Lane Now called “Charles Street,” Drury Lane, London, always noted for ladies of the pavement.

“The nymphs of chaste Diana's train,
The same with those of Lewkner's Lane.”
Butler: Hudibras, part iii. canto 1.

Lex non Scripta The common law, as distinguished from the statute or written law. Common law does not derive its force from being recorded, and though its several provisions have been complied and printed, the compilations are not statutes, but simply remembrancers.

Lex Talionis (Latin). Tit for tat; the law of retaliation.

Leyden Jar or Phial. A glass vessel partly coated, inside and out, with lead-foil, and used in electrical experiments to receive accumulated electricity; invented by Vanleigh, of Leyden.

Leze Majesty High treason; i.e. “Crimen læsæ Majestatis.”

Li-Flambe The banner of Clovis miraculously displayed to him in the skies. (See Toads .)

Lia-fail (of Ireland). The Fatalé Marmor or Stone of Destiny. On this stone the ancient Irish kings sat at their coronation, and according to tradition, wherever that stone might be the people there would be dominant. It was removed to Scone; and Edward removed it from Scone Abbey to London. It is kept