To LOT for 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.
LOUIS d’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.
Loup des anciens was 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. See [Crows-Feet].
LOYAL. By a misapplication of terms has been perverted from its true signification, a person faithful to the law, loi, is loyal; it is made to signify, a person who, whether he regarded the law or not, was called loyal if he supported a king. Hence during the revolutionary war a regiment was formed, called Loyal 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 occasion were 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.
Lumiere des 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.
LUNETTE d’approche, Fr. a telescope. The French sometimes call them Lunettes de Galilèe, from the perspective glass or telescope having been invented by Galileo.