LETTERS OF MART or Marque. A commission formerly granted by the lords of the admiralty, or by the admiral of any distant station, to a merchant-ship or privateer, to cruize against and make prizes of the enemy's ships. The ship so commissioned is also called a letter of marque. The act of parliament requires that on granting letters of marque and reprisal, the captain and two sureties shall appear and give security. In 1778 it was decided that all the ships taken from France by vessels having letters of marque only against the Americans, became droits of admiralty. This commission was forfeitable for acts of cruelty or misconduct.
LETTERS OF REPRISAL. The same as letters of marque.
LETTUCE-LAVER. The edible sea-weed Ulva lactuca.
LEVANT. A wind coming from the east, which freshens as the sun rises, and subsides as it declines—To levant, to desert.
LEVANTER. A strong and raw easterly wind in the Mediterranean.
LEVANTS. Land-springs on the coasts of Sussex and Hampshire.
LEVEE. A French word for a mole or causeway, adopted of late for river embankments of magnitude, as those of the Po, the Thames, and the Mississippi.
LEVEL-ERROR. The microscopic deviation of the axis of a transit instrument from the horizontal position.
LEVELING. The art of finding how much higher or lower horizontally any given point on the earth's surface is, than another point on the same; practised in various ways.
LEVELLED OUT. Any line continued out from a given point, or intersection of an angle, in a horizontal direction.