ToListsoldiers,-To inlist,
to retain and enroll soldiers, either as volunteers, or by a kind of compulsion.
LISTING. Persons listed, are to be carried before the next justice of peace or magistrate of any city or town and sworn.
Persons, owning before the proper magistrate, that they voluntarily listed themselves, are obliged to take the oath, or suffer confinement by the officer who listed them, till they do take it.
The magistrate is obliged in both cases, to certify, that such persons are duly listed; setting forth their birth, age, and calling, if known; and that they had taken the oath.
Persons receiving inlisting money from any officer, knowing him to be such, and afterwards absconding, and refusing to go before a magistrate to declare their assent or dissent, are deemed to be inlisted to all intents and purposes, and may be proceeded against as if they had taken the oath. SeeAttestation.
LITdeCAMP,Fr.A camp bed, which takes to pieces, and is portable. The French frequently call itlit brisé, or a bed which may be taken to pieces. The Turks never use these beds; they always carry mattrasses, which they spread upon sophas when they halt at night.
LITTER, a sort of hurdle-bed, on which wounded officers or men are carried off the field.
Littlefortification. The first division of the first system of M. de Vauban, and is so called when the exterior side of a fortification does not exceed 175 toises, or 350 yards. It is used in the construction of citadels, small forts, horn and crown-works.
LIVRE. An old French money of account, consisting of 20 sols, about 18d.English: each sol containing 12 deniers. The livre is of two kinds, Tournois and Parisis.
LivreTournoiscontains 20 sols Tournois, and each sol 12 deniers Tournois.
LivreParisis, is 12 sols Parisis, being worth 12 deniers Parisis, or 15 deniers Tournois; so that a livre Parisis is worth 25 sols Tournois. The word Parisis is used in opposition to Tournois, because of the rate of money, which was one-fourth higher at Paris than at Tours.
LIVRERbataille,Fr.To deliver, give or join battle.
Livrerassaut,Fr.To storm.
Livrer,une ville au pillage,Fr.to give a town up to plunder.
LOAD, a word of command given, when men are to charge their guns or musquets.
Load. Artillery carriages, or waggons, are frequently loaded with 14 cwt. for 3 horses, and 20 cwt. for 4 horses. This, however it may answer on an English road, is a great deal too much for general service. No doubt a carriage of one construction will travel easier than of another, with the same weight; and where the mechanical advantage thus gained is greatest, the heaviest weight may be put, with the same number of horses; but in the carriages usually made for the service of artillery, 4 cwt. per horse, beside the weight of the carriage, is the utmost they ought to be allowed to draw.
The French ammunition waggons, which are drawn by 4 horses, are always charged with 1200 pounds only.
The regulations for British home service in 1798 state the load for a bread waggon at 2400 lbs. and for a cart of entrenching tools at 400 lbs. Men used to bear loads, such as porters, will carry from 150 to 250 pounds.
A horse will carry about 300 lbs. and a mule about 250 lbs. See also the wordHorses.
LOCHABER-AXE, a tremendous Scotch weapon, now used by none but the town guard of Edinburgh; one of which is to be seen among the small armory in the tower of London.
LOCKS, in gunnery, are of various sorts; common for lockers in travelling carriages, or for boxes containing shot, powder, or cartridges. Also locks for fire arms, being that part of the musquet, by which fire is struck and the powder inflamed.
LOCK-STEP. This step was first introduced into the British service by the Elliot Lord Heathfield, when he commanded the garrison at Gibraltar; and is the same that general Saldern (from whose works all the British regulations have been almost literally selected) calls thedeploy step. This step consists in the heel of one man being brought nearly in contact with the joint of the great toe of another, so that when men step off together they constantly preserve the same distance. The lock or deploy step was always practised when a battalion marched in file or close column; and the great advantageto be derived from it was, that the last file gained ground at the same time that the front advanced. It is now exploded, and very properly, as an excessive absurdity.
ToLock, is to fasten one or more of the wheels of a carriage from going round, in going down a hill, &c.
ToLockup, to take the closest possible order inline or in file. The expression is derived from the lock-step.
Lockup!a word of command which is frequently used in the British service, to direct soldiers to take or preserve the closest possible order, especially infile-marching.
LOCKERhinges, serve to fasten the cover of the lockers in travelling carriages.
LOCKINGplates, in artillery, are thin flat pieces of iron nailed on the sides of a held carriage, where the wheels touch it in turning, to prevent the wearing the wood in those places. SeeCarriage.
LOCKSPIT, in field fortification, a small cut or trench made with a spade, about a foot wide, to mark out the first lines of a work.
ToLODGE ARMS. A word of command which is used on guards and pickets. When a guard has closed its ranks, and the men are to place their arms in front of the guard-house or quarter-guard, according to circumstances, the commanding officer gives the wordsport arms,to the right or right about, (as the case may be)face.Lodge Arms.
LODGMENT, in military business, is a work made by the besiegers in some part of a fortification, after the besieged have been driven out, for the purpose of maintaining it, and to be covered from the enemy’s fire. It also means possession of an enemy’s works.
When alodgmentis to be made on the glacis, covert way, or in a breach, there must be a great provision made of fascines, sand bags, gabions, wool packs, &c. in the trenches; and during the action, the pioneers (under the direction of an engineer) with fascines, sand bags, &c. should be making the lodgment, in order to form a covering, while the grenadiers are storming the covert way, &c.
LOGARITHMS, the indexes of the ratios of numbers, one to another; of which the following is a concise account.
Of arithmetical progression.—By arithmetical progression is meant a series of terms, each of which exceeds, or is exceeded by, that which precedes it by the same given number.
For instance, the series 1 . 3 . 5 . 7 . 9 . 11 is in arithmetical progression, since each of the terms exceeds that which precedes it by the same number, which is 2. The series 11 . 9 . 7 . 5 . 3 . 1 is also in arithmetical progression, since each of the terms is exceeded by that which precedes it, and by the same number.
Of geometrical progression.—Geometrical progression is that in which each term of a series contains the preceding term, or is itself contained in it, the same number of times throughout.
For instance, the series 1 . 3 . 9 . 27 . 81 . 243, &c. is in geometrical progression, since each term contains that which precedes it the same number of times, which is 3.
The series 243 . 81 . 27 . 9 . 3 . 1 is also in geometrical progression, each of the terms being contained by the preceding the same number of times.
Of the formation of logarithms.—Logarithms are numbers in arithmetical progression, corresponding, term by term, with a similar series of numbers in geometrical progression. If, for instance, we have a geometrical series and an arithmetical series as follows,
we shall call each term of the lower series the logarithm of the corresponding term in the upper series.
Any given quantity may therefore have an infinite number of different logarithms, since the same geometrical progression may be made to correspond with an infinite diversity of series in arithmetical progression.
In the formation, however, of tables of logarithms, it has been found convenient to adopt a ten-fold progression, as the geometrical progression, and the series of natural numbers as the arithmetical progression. It will be remarked, that, in respect to the latter, the ratio, or common measure of increase, is always unity, while the former has the advantage of being adapted to the mode of notation which is in universal use. The following, therefore, are the progressions chosen:
It follows from the nature and correspondence of these progressions, that, as often as the ratio of the former may have been used as a factor in the formation of any one of the terms of that progression, so often will the ratio of the second progression have been added to form the corresponding term of this identical second progression. For instance, in the term 10000, the ratio 10 is 4 times a factor, and in the term 4 the ratio is added 4 times.
If any two terms of the geometrical progression be intermultiplied, and if the corresponding terms of the arithmetical progression be added, the product and the sum will be two terms which will correspond with each other in the same progressions.
Upon this principle it is, that, by the simple addition of any two or more terms of the arithmetical progression, we can ascertain the product of the corresponding terms of the geometrical progression.
For instance, by adding the terms 2 and3 which answers to 100 and 1000, I have 5, which answers to 100000; whence I conclude that the product of 100 by 1000 is 100000, which in fact it is.
It is always easy to ascertain the logarithm of unity followed by any given number of ciphers; for such logarithm will invariably be expressed by as many units as there may be ciphers in the given number. In order to extend this practice to the formation of intermediate logarithms, it may be conceived, that, although any given number, for instance 3, may not apparently form any part of the geometrical progression 1 . 10 . 100, yet if we were to insert a great number of geometrical means, suppose 1,000,000, between the two first terms, we should either find the number 3 itself, as one of such means, or a number of very near approximation to it. The intermediate terms between 10 . 100 and between 100 . 1000 might be found in like manner, as well as a corresponding number of intermediate terms, in arithmetical proportion, between 0 and 1, and between 1 and 2, 2 and 3, &c. The whole of the geometrical terms being then arranged upon the same line, and the whole of the arithmetical terms upon another line, under the former, it is obvious that the lower series would contain units, or decimal fractions, corresponding with the numbers in the upper series, or, in other words, the logarithmic relation of the two series would be complete and exactly similar to that of the fundamental progressions.
It is thus, that, in the tables most in use, the number of decimal places in the logarithmic quantities is 7, than which, however, many more are used by men of science with a view to the attainment of a corresponding degree of precision. Nevertheless, in certain tables which were made a few years ago for the use of accompting houses, the number of decimal places is reduced to 5, and the rather, as a greater degree of precision is not necessary in those calculations of business which do not require more than approximate results.
It should be remarked, in respect to the tables of logarithms, that the first figure to the left of each logarithm is calledthe characteristic; since it is that figure which denotes the class of the geometrical progression which comprises the number to which the logarithm relates. For instance, if the characteristic of a number be 2, I know that it relates to the second class, or the hundreds, the logarithm of 100 being 2; and, as that of 1000 is 3, every number from 100 to 999 inclusively, cannot have any other logarithm than 2 and a decimal fraction.
Thus, the characteristic of a logarithm is a number corresponding to the natural numbers, namely, 1 to 10, 2 to 100, 3 to 1000, 4 to 10000, &c. &c. The characteristic of the logarithm of any number under 10 is 0.
It happens by this progressive correspondence, that a number being 10 times, 100 times, or 1000 times greater than another number, has the same logarithm as the lesser number, as far as relates to the decimal fractions of each. The characteristic alone is susceptible of variation, as will be seen by the logarithms of the following numbers:
the characteristics of which are separated by a comma, being 0, 1, 2, 3.
It is this property by which the extraction of logarithms is facilitated, since, if we know the logarithm of the number 30, and are desirous of finding that of 300, of 3000, or of 3, it is requisite merely to add to the characteristic of 30, or to deduct from it, as many units as there may be more or less ciphers in the number whose logarithm is sought.
LOGEMENT,Fr.means generally any place occupied by military men, for the time being, whether they be quartered upon the inhabitants of a town, or be distributed in barracks. When applied to soldiers that have taken the field, it is comprehended under the several heads of huts, tents, &c.
LOGIS,Fr.Quarters.
Marquer lesLogis,Fr.To mark the officer’s rooms according to their respective ranks.
Logementd’une attaque,Fr.SeeLodgmentinFortification.
LONG BOAT, the largest boat belonging to a ship: it serves to bring goods, provisions, &c. to or from the ship, to land men, to weigh the anchor, &c.
Le long de la Côte,Fr.Along the coast.
Tout du long de l’année,Fr.All the year round.
Long à la guerre,Fr.An expression used in the French service.
Faire long-boissignifies to leave a considerable opening between the ranks.
Prendre le plus long,Fr.To go the furthest way about, asL’armée fut obligee de prendre le plus long pour éviter les défilés, the army was under the necessity of going the furthest way about in order to avoid the defiles.
LONGER,Fr.A French military phrase.Longer la riviere.To move up or down the river. It is frequently found necessary to attack an enemy’s post, in order to have a free passage on the river,pour longer la riviere.
Longer le bois,Fr.To march by the side of a wood.
Faire uneLonguemarche,Fr.To make a long march.
Epee de longueur,Fr.A sword of a proper length to serve as a weapon of defence. This term is used to distinguish it from the short swords, which are worn for mere dress or parade.
Longs-costes,Fr.Those sides are socalled, which belong to places that are irregularly fortified, and contain indiscriminately eighty toises and upwards. In which cases they are usually strengthened by a flat bastion in the centre, or by several flat bastions, which are constructed, according to the extent of the sides, at intermediate distances.
LONGIMETRY, (Longimetrie,Fr.) The art of measuring lands and distances, whether the extent or space be accessible as in a road, or inaccessible as in a river, or branch of the sea.
LONGITUDEof the earth, denotes its extent from west to east, according to the direction of the equator.
Longitudeof a place, ingeography, its distance from some first meridian, or an arch of the equator intercepted between the meridian of the place, and the first meridian. SeeGeography.
Longitudeof motion, according to some philosophers, is the distance which the centre of any moving body runs through, as it moves on in a right line. SeeMotion.
LONGRINES,Fr.Pieces of wood or branches which are laid along the extent of a sluice, and make part of its grating.
ToLOOK, a word frequently used in the British service to express the good or bad appearance of a corps, &c. viz. such a regiment looks well or ill under arms.
ToLookat. To go down the front of a regiment, &c. without requiring that the troops should be put through the different evolutions. A general officer frequently looks at a regiment in this manner. Sometimes indeed the expression bears a more extensive meaning: it is usual, for instance, to say—It would be ridiculous to think of looking at a strong place for the purpose of attacking it, without having sufficient force to carry its works.
To beLookedat, in a military sense to be distantly observed by an enemy who has a design of attacking you; or to be seen by a general officer, whose duty is to enforce any established system. The latter must be considered as a mere cursory inspection. It is common to say—We are to be seen or looked at, but not regularly reviewed.
LOOP, in aship-carriage, made of iron, fastened one on the front of a fore axle-tree, and two on each side, through which the ropes or tackle pass, whereby the guns are moved backwards and forwards on board of ships.
Loop, a small iron ring or staple, by which the barrel of a gun is affixed to the stock.
Loopis likewise used to signify an ornamental part of a regimental hat.—Every officer in the British service, when dressed in his uniform, is directed to wear a hat, the loop of which is made of scaled silver or gold, if in the cavalry; and of gold lace if in the infantry. General officers wear the scaled loop.
Loop-holes, (Crénaux,Fr.) In fortification, are small holes in the walls of a castle or fort, through which the garrison may fire. In field fortification, loop-holes are frequently resorted to.
ToLOOSEN, to separate, to make less coherent. In a military sense it implies to open ranks or files from close order. In marching by files, the officers and non-commissioned officers should be particularly attentive to their men, especially when any particular manœuvre requires a compact and solid movement. To loosen is, in fact, to lose that firm continuity of line or perpendicular adherence, which constitutes the true basis of military operations. The lock step was introduced for the purpose of counteracting the mischievous effects of loose marching, but it produced a greater inconvenience, and has therefore been laid aside; and the equal pace and marked time corrects both.
LOOT. Indian term for plunder or pillage.
LOOTIESorLOOTEES,Ind.A term in India to express a body of irregular horsemen, who plunder and lay waste the country, and harass the enemy in their march. They may be compared to the Hulans of Europe, and other free-booters.
LOOTYWALLOW,Ind.A term Of the same import as Looties.
ToLOTfor men, a phrase peculiar to military arrangements. When recruits join they should be lotted for with the strictest impartiality. If some troops or companies should be less effective than others, they must be first completed to the strength of other troops or companies, and then the whole must lot equally.
LOUIS,or Knight of St. Louis, the name of a military order in France, instituted by Louis XIV. in 1693. Their collars were of a flame color, and passed from left to right: the king was always grand master.
LOUISd’OR. A French coin first struck in the reign of Louis XIII. in 1640; but laid aside since the revolution.
LOUP,Fr.literally signifies a wolf.
Loupdes ancienswas an iron instrument, made in the shape of a tenaille, by means of which they grappled the battering rams and broke them in the middle. SeeCrows-Feet.
LOYAL. By a misapplication of terms has been perverted from its true signification, a person faithful to thelaw,loi, isloyal; it is made to signify, a person who, whether he regarded thelawor not, was called loyal if he supported a king. Hence during the revolutionary war a regiment was formed, calledLoyal American.
Loyalists.During the American war several Americans who betrayed their country, served in the British army; and at the conclusion of it many went over to England and received compensations for their perfidy to their country. The allowances made on this occasionwere not, however, confined to those that had served; several families had their cases taken into consideration, and were provided for by the British government. These compensations did not however give any right to a military man to avail himself of the allowance on the score of half-pay; many of these persons have been since used as spies.
LUMIERE,Fr.Vent, touch-hole, aperture.
Lumieredes pieces d’artillerie, des armes à feu, et de la plûpart des artifices,Fr.the vent or aperture through which fire is communicated to cannon, fire-arms, and to almost every species of artificial fireworks. In the making of cannon, it is of the utmost consequence to pay minute attention to the vent or touch-hole. It is in this part that pieces of ordnance are generally found defective, from the vent being too much widened by repeated firing, and the explosion of the gunpowder being necessarily weakened.
LUNETTEd’approche,Fr.a telescope. The French sometimes call themLunettes de Galilèe, from the perspective glass or telescope having been invented by Galileo.
Lunetteà facettes,Fr.a multiplying glass.
Lunettepolyèdre.Fr.a magnifying glass.
Lunetteà puce,Fr.a microscope.
Lunettes, infortification, are works made on both sides of the ravelin: one of their faces is perpendicular to half or two thirds of the faces of the ravelin; and the other nearly so to those of the bastions.
Lunettes, are also works made beyond the second ditch, opposite to the place of arms: they differ from the ravelins only in their situation. SeeFortification.
LUNETTONS, are a smaller sort oflunettes.
LUNGER-CONNA. A poor-house or hospital is so called in India.
LUNT. The matchcord with which cannon, &c. are fired.
LUNULÆ. (Lunules,Fr.) In geometry a half moon or crescent, which is made by the arcs of two intersecting circles. If you inscribe a triangle-rectangle within a half circle, the diameter of which becomes the hypothenuse; and if upon each side that compresses the right angle, as its diameter, you describe a half circle, the space in shape of a half moon, closed in by the circumference of each of these two circles, and by a part of the circumference of the great half circle, will form the figure called Lunula.
LUTTE,Fr.Struggle. An exercise of the body, which consists in a full exertion of all its muscular powers to overcome another body, that resists with equal force and pertinacity. This sort of exercise was much encouraged among the ancients. The wrestlers orlutteurs, were distinguished by the name of athletics.
LUXHEBAR. The Indian name for Thursday.
LUZERNE,Fr.Spanish trefoil, called likewise in EnglishLucerne. A species of hay, which is cultivated for the subsistence of horses. It bears a violet colored flower.
LYCANIANS, (Lycaniens,Fr.) A militia that was formerly raised in Sclavonia, the troops of which resemble thePandoursandWarasdins. It derives its name from being quartered in the neighborhood of the lordship ofLyka.
LYING, to be actually stationed or quartered in a given place.
In-Lying. This term is peculiarly applicable to pickets. A picket is said to be anIn-lying picketwhen it is confined within the immediate lines of entrenchments belonging to a camp, or within the walls of a garrisoned town.
Out-Lyingpicket, is that which does duty without the limits of a camp or garrisoned town; that is, beyond the immediate sentries belonging to either. Those pickets are likewise calledIn-lineandOut-linepickets.
Out-LYERS, the same as faggots in the line, or among the regulars. The term out-lyers was a term, however, peculiarly understood among the guards; and consisted of a certain number of men from each company, who were permitted to work, on condition that the whole of their pay was left in the hands of the captain, for the time they were so employed. This sum the officer appropriated to his own use, and was thereby enabled not only to increase his pay, but to keep a handsome table whenever he mounted guard. During the winter months the money arising from out-lyers amounted to a considerable sum. This was allowed as a sort of compensation for the expence the captain incurred by the dinner he gave to his subalterns; and for his contribution to the support of a regimental hospital. The custom is now abolished, as a table is kept by the king, and copiously paid for out of the civil list. The following anecdote, which is related to have occurred in the company that once belonged to the British general Gansell, (whom Junius notices in his letters) will shew the absurdity of the old custom, and the wisdom of its abolition:—A general muster being ordered, it was remarked that a soldier dressed in new regimentals, and perfectly unknown to every man in the company, stood to have his name called over: on being asked to whose company he belonged, he replied, to general Gansell’s: (it must be here observed, that the general had quitted the guards for some time.) Who is the present captain? was the next question, or who are the other officers? To which he briefly replied, I only know the pay-serjeant. The fact was, that he had been some years in the guards, and had constantly been an out-lyer.
It was a common practice and continues to be, though not to so great an extent as formerly, to place the names on the muster rolls of the children of officers, often their illegitimate children, and instances have occurred of girls, receiving men’s pay asout-lyers.