Lanternois, pretenders to science, quacks of all sorts, and authors generally. They are the inhabitants of Lantern-land,¤ and their literary productions are “lanterns.”—Rabelais, Pantagruel, v. 32, 33 (1545).
Laocoon [La.ok´.o.on], a Trojan priest, who, with his two sons, was crushed to death by serpents. Thomson, in his Liberty, iv., has described the group, which represents these three in their death agony. It was discovered in 1506, in the baths of Titus, and is now in the Vatican. This exquisite group was sculptured at the command of Titus by Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus, in the fifth century B.C.—Virgil, Æneid, ii. 201-227.
Laodami´a, wife of Protesila´os, who was slain at the siege of Troy. She prayed that she might be allowed to converse with her dead husband for three hours, and her request was granted; but when her husband returned to hadês, she accompanied him thither.
⁂ Wordsworth has a poem on this subject, entitled Laodamia.
Laodice´a, now Lataki´a, noted for its tobacco and sponge.—See Rev. iii. 14-18.
Lapet (Mons.), a model of poltroonery, the very “Ercles’ Vein” of fanatical cowardice. M. Lapet would fancy the world out of joint if no one gave him a tweak of the nose or lug of the ear. He was the author of a book on the “punctilios of duelling.”—Beaumont and Fletcher, Nice Valour or The Passionate Madman (1647).
Lapham (Silas). Boston man who has made a fortune, and means to enjoy it. His future son-in-law thus hits him off: “Simple-hearted and rather wholesome. He could be tiresome, and his range of ideas is limited. But he is a force, and not a bad one. He hasn’t got over being surprised at the effect of rubbing his lamp.” His most attractive qualities are his appreciation of his faithful wife, Persis, and prideful fondness for his pretty daughters. He is honest, too, through and through, and sacrifices much to sturdy integrity.—W. D. Howells, The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885).
Lappet, the “glory of all chambermaids.”—H. Fielding, The Miser.
Lapraick (Laurie), friend of Steenie Steenson, in Wandering Willie’s tale.—Sir W. Scott, Redgauntlet (time, George III.).
Laprel, the rabbit, in the beast-epic entitled Reynard the Fox (1498).