[1] The word also takes the form "lumme" (_fide_ Montagu), and, as
Professor Skeat observes, is probably connected with _lame_. The
signification of _loon_, a clumsy fellow, and metaphorically a
simpleton, is obvious to any one who has seen the attempt of the
birds to which the name is given to walk.
[2] Dunn and Saxby, however, agree in giving "rain-goose" as the name
of the species in Scotland.
LOOM, a machine for weaving fabrics by intersecting the longitudinal
threads, the "warp," i.e. "that which is thrown across" (O.E. _wearp_,
from _weorpan_, to throw, cf. Ger. _werfen_) with the transverse
threads, the "weft," i.e. "that which is woven" (O.E. _wefta_, from
_wefan_, to weave, cf. Ger. _weben_). The O.E. _geloma_ and M.E. _lome_
meant an implement or tool of any kind. In the sense of property,
furniture, &c., it appears in heirloom (q.v.). The earliest example with
its specific meaning quoted by the _New English Dictionary_ is from the
_Nottingham Records_ of 1404 (see WEAVING).
"Loom" in the sense of "to appear indistinctly," to come into view in
an exaggerated indistinct shape, must be distinguished from the above
word. This appears to have been a sailor's term for the indistinct or
exaggerated appearance of land, a vessel or other object through haze
or darkness at sea. It is of obscure origin, but has been connected
through the O. Fr. _lumer_, modern _allumer_, with Lat. _lumen_,
light, and with the root seen in "lame," in the sense of "moving
slowly towards one."
LOÓN, the largest town of the province of Bohol, island of Bohol,
Philippine Islands, on the extreme W. coast. Pop. (1903) 18,114. Loón is
picturesquely situated on the W. slope of a hill, and is reached from
the sea by steps cut in the rocks. The harbour is in a sheltered bay on
the N. side of the town. The cultivation of coco-nuts, coffee, cocoa,
maguey, tobacco, cotton and Indian corn, and the raising of livestock
are the principal industries; there is also considerable commerce and
some manufacturing. The language is chiefly Bohol-Visayan.
LOOP. (1) A curve or bend, particularly a bend in a string, rope, &c.,
formed by doubling back one part so as to leave an opening; similarly a
ring of metal or other material leaving an aperture. (2) In architecture
or fortification, "loop," more usually in the form "loophole," is an
opening in the wall of a building, very narrow on the outside and
splayed within, from which arrows or darts might be discharged on an
enemy, or through which light might be admitted. They are often in the
form of a cross, and generally have round holes at the ends (see
OILLETS). (3) The word is also a term in iron and steel manufacturing
for a mass of metal ready for hammering or rolling, a "bloom."
This last word is represented in French by _loupe_, from which it is
probably adapted. The earlier English form was also _loupe_, and it
was also applied to precious stones which were of inferior brilliancy;
the same also appears in French. Of the word in its two first
meanings, a bend or circle in a line of string, metal, rails, &c., and
"loophole," the derivation is uncertain. Skeat takes the word in both
meanings to be the same and to be of Scandinavian origin, the old
Norwegian _hlaup_, a leap, being the direct source. The base is the
Teutonic _hlaufan_, to run, to leap, German _laufen_. The _New English
Dictionary_ considers the Swedish example, _löp-knut_, "running knot,"
and others given by Skeat in support of his derivation to be
Germanisms, and also that the pronunciation of the word would have
been _lowp_ rather than _lup_. "Loop" in meaning (2) "loophole" is
also taken to be a different word, and is derived from Dutch _luipen_,
to peer, watch. In modern Dutch the word for a narrow opening is
_gluip_.
LOOSESTRIFE, in botany, the common name of _Lysimachia vulgaris_, an
erect plant, 2 to 4 ft. high, common on river banks in England; the
branched stem bears tapering leaves in pairs or whorls, and terminal
panicles of rather large deep yellow flowers. It is a member of the
primrose family. _L. nemorum_, yellow pimpernel, or wood loosestrife, a
low-growing plant with slender spreading stem, and somewhat similar
yellow flowers standing singly in the leaf-axils, is frequent in copses.
_L. Nummularia_ is the well-known creeping jenny or money-wort, a larger
plant with widely creeping stem, pairs of shining leaves and large
solitary yellow flowers; it is found on banks of rivers and damp woods,
and is a common rockery plant. Purple loosestrife, _Lythrum Salicaria_,
belongs to a different family, _Lythraceae_. It is a handsome plant
growing 2 to 6 ft. high on river banks and ditches, with a branched
angled stem bearing whorls of narrow pointed stalkless leaves and ending
in tall tapering spikes of beautiful rose-purple flowers. The flowers
are trimorphic, that is to say, exist in three forms which differ in the
relative length of the styles and stamens and are known as long-styled,
mid-styled and short-styled forms respectively; the size and colour of
the pollen also differ. These differences play an important part in the
pollination of the flower.
LOOT, plunder or spoil taken from an enemy in war, especially the
indiscriminate plunder taken by the victor after the capture of a city.
The word came into English from India. It is adapted from the Hindi
_lut_, which is either from Sanskrit _lunt_, to rob, plunder, or
_lotra_, _loptra_, booty.
LOPES, FERNÃO (1380?-1459?), the patriarch of Portuguese historians, was
appointed keeper of the royal archives, then housed in the castle of St
George in Lisbon, by King John I. in November 1418. He acted as private
secretary to the Infants D. Duarte and D. Fernando, and when the former
ascended the throne he charged Lopes, by letter of the 19th of March
1434, with the work of "putting into chronicles the stories of the kings
of old time as well as the great and lofty actions of the most virtuous
king my lord and father" (John I.). The form of the appointment marked
its limits, and is a sufficient reply to those modern critics who have
censured Lopes for partiality. Notwithstanding his official title of
chief chronicler of the realm, he was the king's man (_Vassallo del
Rei_), and received his salary from the royal treasury. King Alphonso V.
confirmed him in his post by letter of the 3rd of June 1449, and in
1454, after thirty-six years' service in the archives and twenty as
chronicler, he resigned in favour of Gomez Eannes de Azurara. The latter
pays a tribute to his predecessor as "a notable person, a man of rare
knowledge and great authority," and the modern historian Herculano says,
"there is not only history in the chronicles of Fernão Lopes, there is
poetry and drama as well; there is the middle age with its faith, its
enthusiasm, its love of glory." Lopes has been called the Portuguese
Froissart, and that rare gift, the power of making their subjects live,
is common to the two writers; indeed, had the former written in a
better-known language, there can be little doubt that the general
opinion of critics would have confirmed that of Robert Southey, who
called Lopes "beyond all comparison the best chronicler of any age or
nation." Lopes was the first to put in order the stories of the earlier
Portuguese monarchs, and he composed a general chronicle of the kingdom,
which, though it never appeared under his name, almost certainly served
as a foundation for the chronicles of Ruy de Pina (q.v.). Lopes prepared
himself for his work with care and diligence, as he tells us, not only
by wide reading of books in different languages, but also by a study of
the archives belonging to municipalities, monasteries and churches, both
in Portugal and Spain. He is usually a trustworthy guide in facts, and
charms the reader by the naïve simplicity of his style.
His works that have come down are: (1) _Chronica del Rei D. João I. de
boa memoria_, parts 1 and 2 (Lisbon, 1644). The third part relating
the capture of Ceuta was added by Azurara. A corrected text of the
chronicle has been issued by instalments in the _Archivo Historico
Portuguez_. (2) "Chronica do senhor rei D. Pedro I.," in vol. iv. of
the _Colleccão de Livros Ineditos da Historia Portugueza_, published
by the Academy of Sciences (Lisbon, 1816); a much better text than
that published by Father Bayão in his edition of the same chronicle
(Lisbon, 1760). (3) _Chronica do senhor rei D. Fernando_ published in
the same volume and collection. The British Museum has some important
16th-century MSS. of the chronicles.
See Damião de Goes, _Chronica del Rei Dom Manoel_, part iv. ch. 38;
Araãgo Morato, introduction to vol. iv. of the above collection;
Herculano, _Opusculos_, vol. v. (E. Pr.)
LOPEZ, CARLOS ANTONIO (1790-1862), Paraguayan autocrat, was born at
Asuncion on the 4th of November 1790, and was educated in the
ecclesiastical seminary of that city. He attracted the hostility of the
dictator, Francia, and he was forced to keep in hiding for several
years. He acquired, however, so unusual a knowledge of law and
governmental affairs that, on Francia's death in 1840, he obtained an
almost undisputed control of the Paraguayan state, which he maintained
uninterruptedly until his death on the 10th of September 1862. He was
successively secretary of the ruling military _junta_ (1840-1841), one
of the two consuls (1841-1844), and president with dictatorial powers
(1844-1862) by successive elections for ten and three years, and in 1857
again for ten years, with power to nominate his own successor. Though
nominally a president acting under a republican constitution, he ruled
despotically. His government was in general directed with wise energy
towards developing the material resources and strengthening the military
power of the country. His jealousy of foreign approach several times
involved him in diplomatic disputes with Brazil, England, and the United
States, which nearly resulted in war, but each time he extricated
himself by skilful evasions.
His eldest son, FRANCISCO SOLANO LOPEZ (1826-1870), was born near
Asuncion on the 24th of July 1826. When in his nineteenth year he was
made commander-in-chief of the Paraguayan army, during the spasmodic
hostilities then prevailing with the Argentine Republic. He was sent in
1853 as minister to England, France and Italy, and spent a year and a
half in Europe. He purchased large quantities of arms and military
supplies, together with several steamers, and organized a project for
building a railroad and establishing a French colony in Paraguay. He
also formed the acquaintance of Madame Lynch, an Irish adventuress of
many talents and popular qualities, who became his mistress, and
strongly influenced his later ambitious schemes. Returning to Paraguay,
he became in 1855 minister of war, and on his father's death in 1862 at
once assumed the reins of government as vice-president, in accordance
with a provision of his father's will, and called a congress by which he
was chosen president for ten years. In 1864, in his self-styled capacity
of "protector of the equilibrium of the La Plata," he demanded that
Brazil should abandon her armed interference in a revolutionary struggle
then in progress in Uruguay. No attention being paid to his demand, he
seized a Brazilian merchant steamer in the harbour of Asuncion, and
threw into prison the Brazilian governor of the province of Matto Grosso
who was on board. In the following month (December 1864) he despatched a
force to invade Matto Grosso, which seized and sacked its capital
Cuyabá, and took possession of the province and its diamond mines. Lopez
next sought to send an army to the relief of the Uruguayan president
Aguirro against the revolutionary aspirant Flores, who was supported by
Brazilian troops. The refusal of the Argentine president, Mitre, to
allow this force to cross the intervening province of Corrientes, was
seized upon by Lopez as an occasion for war with the Argentine Republic.
A congress, hastily summoned, and composed of his own nominees, bestowed
upon Lopez the title of marshal, with extraordinary war powers, and on
April 13, 1865, he declared war, at the same time seizing two Argentine
war-vessels in the bay of Corrientes, and on the next day occupied the
town of Corrientes, instituted a provisional government of his Argentine
partisans, and summarily announced the annexation to Paraguay of the
provinces of Corrientes and Entre Rios. Meantime the party of Flores had
been successful in Uruguay, and that state on April the 18th united with
the Argentine Republic in a declaration of war on Paraguay. On the 1st
of May Brazil joined these two states in a secret alliance, which
stipulated that they should unitedly prosecute the war "until the
existing government of Paraguay should be overthrown," and "until no
arms or elements of war should be left to it." This agreement was
literally carried out. The war which ensued, lasting until the 1st of
April 1870, was carried on with great stubbornness and with alternating
fortunes, though with a steadily increasing tide of disasters to Lopez
(see PARAGUAY). In 1868, when the allies were pressing him hard, his
mind, naturally suspicious and revengeful, led him to conceive that a
conspiracy had been formed against his life in his own capital and by
his chief adherents. Thereupon several hundred of the chief Paraguayan
citizens were seized and executed by his order, including his brothers
and brothers-in-law, cabinet ministers, judges, prefects, military
officers, bishops and priests, and nine-tenths of the civil officers,
together with more than two hundred foreigners, among them several
members of the diplomatic legations. Lopez was at last driven with a
mere handful of troops to the northern frontier of Paraguay, where, on
the 1st of April 1870, he was surprised by a Brazilian force and killed
as he was endeavouring to escape by swimming the river Aquidaban.
LOPEZ DE GÓMARA, FRANCISCO (1510?-1555?), Spanish historian, was
educated at the university of Alcalá, where he took orders. Soon after
1540 he entered the household of the famous Cortés, who supplied him
with most of the material for his _Historia de las Indias_ (1552), and
_Crónica de la conquista de Nueva España_ (1552). The pleasing style and
novel matter enchanted the Spanish public, but the unmeasured laudation
of Cortés at the expense of his lieutenants and companions brought about
a violent reaction. Though the _Historia_ was dedicated to Charles V.,
both works were forbidden on the 17th of November 1553, and no editions
of them were issued between 1554 and 1727. Italian and French versions
of his books were published in 1556 and 1578 respectively.
LOP-NOR or Lob-nor, a lake of Central Asia, in the Gobi Desert, between
the Astin-tagh (Altyn-tagh) on the south and the Kuruk-tagh on the
north. Previous to 1876 it was placed in nearly all maps at 42° 30´ N.,
a position which agreed with the accounts and the maps of ancient
Chinese geographers. In the year mentioned the Russian explorer
Przhevalsky discovered two closely connected lake-basins, Kara-buran and
Kara-koshun, fully one degree farther south, and considerably east of
the site of the old Lop-nor, which lake-basins he nevertheless regarded
as being identical with the old Lop-nor of the Chinese. But the water
they contained he pronounced to be fresh water. This identification was
disputed by Baron von Richthofen, on the ground that the Lop-nor, the
"Salt Lake" of the Chinese geographers, could not be filled with fresh
water; moreover, being the final gathering basin of the desert stream,
the Tarim, it was bound to be salt, more especially as the lake had no
outflow. Przhevalsky visited the Lop-nor region again in 1885, and
adhered to his opinion. But ten years later it was explored anew by Dr
Sven Hedin, who ascertained that the Tarim empties part of its waters
into another lake, or rather string of lakes (Avullu-köl, Kara-köl,
Tayek-köl and Arka-köl), which _are_ situated in 42° 30´ N., and thus so
far justified the views of von Richthofen, and confirmed the Chinese
accounts. At the same time he advanced reasons for believing that
Przhevalsky's lake-basins, the southern Lop-nor, are of quite recent
origin--indeed, he fixed upon 1720 as the probably approximate date of
their formation, a date which von Richthofen would alter to 1750.
Besides this, Sven Hedin argued that there exists a close inter-relation
between the northern Lop-nor lakes and the southern Lop-nor lakes, so
that as the water in the one group increases, it decreases to the same
proportion and volume in the other. He also argued that the four lakes
of northern Lop-nor are slowly moving westwards under the incessant
impetus of wind and sandstorm (_buran_). These conclusions were
afterwards controverted by the Russian traveller, P. K. Kozlov, who
visited the Lop-nor region in 1893-1894--that is, before Dr Sven Hedin's
examination. He practically only reiterated Przhevalsky's contention,
that the ancient Chinese maps were erroneously drawn, and that the
Kara-koshun, in spite of the freshness of its water, was the old
Lop-nor, _the_ Salt Lake _par excellence_ of the Chinese. Finally, in
1900, Dr Sven Hedin, following up the course of the Kum-darya,
discovered--at the foot of the Kuruk-tagh, and at the E. (lowest)
extremity of the now desiccated Kuruk-darya, with traces of dead forest
and other vegetation beside it and beside the river-bed--the basin of a
desiccated salt lake, which he holds to be the true ancient Lop-nor of
the Chinese geographers, and at the same time he found that the
Kara-koshun or Lop-nor of Przhevalsky had extended towards the north,
but shrunk on the south. Thus the old Lop-nor no longer exists, but in
place of it there are a number of much smaller lakes of newer formation.
It may fairly be inferred that, owing to the uniform level of the
region, the sluggish flow of the Tarim, its unceasing tendency to divide
and reunite, conjoined with the violence and persistency of the winds
(mostly from the east and north-east), and the rapid and dense growth of
the reed-beds in the shallow marshes, the drainage waters of the Tarim
basin gather now in greater volume in one depression, and now in greater
volume in another; and this view derives support from the extreme
shallowness of the lakes in both Sven Hedin's northern Lop-nor and
Przhevalsky's southern Lop-nor, together with the uniformly horizontal
level of the entire region.
See Delmar Morgan's translation of Przhevalsky's _From Kuja across the
Tian-shan to Lop-nor_ (London, 1879); Von Richthofen's "Bemerkungen zu
den Ergebnissen von Oberst-Leutenant Prjewalskis Reise nach dem
Lop-nor" in _Verhandl. der Gesch. f. Erdkunde zu Berlin_ (1878), pp.
121 seq.; Sven Hedin's _Scientific Results of a Journey in Central
Asia, 1899-1902_ (vols. i. and ii., Stockholm, 1905-1906), where
Kozlov's share of the controversy is summarized (cf. ii., 270-280).
(J. T. Be.)
LOQUAT, JAPANESE PLUM or JAPANESE MEDLAR, known botanically as
_Eriobotrya japonica_, small evergreen tree belonging to the natural
order Rosaceae, with large thick oval-oblong leaves borne near the ends
of the branches, and dark green above with a rusty tomentum on the lower
face. The fruit is pear-shaped, yellow, about 1½ in. long and contains
large stony seeds; it has an agreeable acid flavour. The plant is a
native of China and Japan, but is widely grown for its fruit and as a
decorative plant. It is a familiar object in the Mediterranean region
and in the southern United States.
LORAIN, a city of Lorain county, Ohio, U.S.A., on Lake Erie, at the
mouth of the Black river, and about 25 m. W. by S. of Cleveland. Pop.
(1890) 4863; (1900) 16,028, of whom 4730 were foreign-born and 359
negroes; (1910 census) 28,883. Lorain is served by the New York, Chicago
& St. Louis, and the Baltimore & Ohio railways, by the Lake Shore
Electric railway, and by several of the more important steamboat lines
on the Great Lakes. It has a Carnegie library, the Lake View Hospital
and the Saint Joseph's Hospital. There is a good harbour, and the city's
chief interests are in the shipping of great quantities of coal,
iron-ore, grain and lumber, in the building of large steel vessels, in
railway shops, and in the manufacture of iron pipes, gas engines, stoves
and automatic steam shovels. The value of the factory products increased
from $9,481,388 in 1900 to $14,491,091 in 1905, or 52.8%. The
municipality owns and operates the waterworks. A Moravian mission was
established here in 1787-1788, and a trading post in 1807, but no
permanent settlement was made until several years later. In 1836 the
place was incorporated as a village under the name "Charleston"; in 1874
the present name was adopted, and in 1896 Lorain became a city of the
second class.
LORALAI, a town and district of India, in Baluchistan. The town, which
is situated 4700 ft. above the sea, 35 m. by road from the railway
station of Harnai, was occupied as a military station in 1886, and has
quarters for a native cavalry and a native infantry regiment. Pop.
(1901) 3561.
The DISTRICT OF LORALAI was formed in 1903. It consists of a series of
long, narrow valleys, hemmed in by rugged mountains, and bordered E. by
Dera Ghazi Khan district of the Punjab. Area 7999 sq. m.; pop. (1901)
67,864, of whom the majority are Afghans. The principal crops are wheat
and millet; but the chief wealth of the inhabitants is derived from
their herds of cattle, sheep and goats.
LORCA, a town of eastern Spain, in the province of Murcia, on the right
bank of the river Sangonera (here called the Guadalantin or Guadalentin)
and on the Murcia-Baza railway. Pop. (1900) 69,836. It occupies a height
crowned by a medieval fortress, among the foothills of the Sierra del
Caño. Its older parts, Moorish in many features and with narrow
irregular streets, contrast with the modern parts, which have broad
streets and squares, and many fine public buildings--theatre, town hall,
hospitals, courts of justice and a bridge over the Sangonera. There is
an important trade in agricultural products and live stock, as well as
manufactures of woollen stuffs, leather, gunpowder, chemicals and
porcelain. Silver, sulphur and lead are found in the neighbourhood.
Lorca is the Roman _Eliocroca_ (perhaps also the _Ilorci_ of Pliny,
_N.H._ iii. 3) and the Moorish _Lurka_. It was the key of Murcia during
the Moorish wars, and was frequently taken and retaken. On the 30th of
April 1802 it suffered severely by the bursting of the reservoir known
as the Pantano de Puentes, in which the waters of the Sangonera were
stored for purposes of irrigation (1775-1785); the district adjoining
the river, known as the Barrio de San Cristobal, was completely ruined,
and more than six hundred persons perished. In 1810 Lorca suffered
greatly from the French invasion. In 1886 the Pantano, which was one of
the largest of European reservoirs, being formed by a dam 800 ft. long
and 160 ft. high, was successfully rebuilt.
LORCH, a town in the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, romantically
situated on the right bank of the Rhine, 8 m. below Rüdesheim by the
railway Frankfort-on-Main-Wiesbaden-Cologne. Pop. (1905) 2269. It has a
fine Gothic Roman Catholic church--St Martin's--dating from the 14th
century. The slopes of the hills descending to the Rhine are covered
with vineyards, which produce excellent wine. In the neighbourhood of
Lorch, which was mentioned as early as 832, is the ruined castle of
Nollich.
LORCH, a town in the kingdom of Württemberg, on the Rems, 26 m. E. from
Stuttgart by the railway to Nördlingen. Pop. (1905) 3033. It possesses a
fine Protestant church dating from the 12th century. Its industries
include carriage-building and the manufacture of cement and paper. On
the Marienberg lying above the town stands the former Benedictine
monastery of Lorch, founded about 1108 by Frederick of Hohenstaufen, and
in 1563 converted into an Evangelical college. Here Schiller passed a
portion of his school days. The church contains several tombs of the
Hohenstaufen family. The Roman _limes_ began at Lorch and Roman remains
have been found in the neighbourhood of the town.
See Kirn, _Führer durch das Kloster Lorch_ (Lorch, 1888); and Steimle,
_Kastell Lorch_ (Heidelberg, 1897).
LORD, JOHN (1810-1894), American historical writer and lecturer, was
born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on the 27th of December 1810. He was
the nephew of Nathan Lord (1792-1870), president of Dartmouth College
from 1828 to 1863. He graduated at Dartmouth in 1833, and at Andover
Theological Seminary in 1837. His course at the Seminary was interrupted
by a period of teaching--at Windham, Connecticut (1834), and at Norwich
(1834-1835)--and by a tour in 1836 through New York and Ohio, in which
he lectured on the dark ages. He was agent and lecturer for the American
Peace Society (1837-1839), and for a brief time was a Congregational
pastor in turn at New Marlboro and West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and
at Utica, New York. About 1840 he became a professional lecturer on
history. He lectured extensively for fifty years, especially in the
United States and Great Britain, and introduced, with success, the
mid-day lecture. He was lecturer on history in Dartmouth from 1869 to
1876. He received, in 1864, the degree of LL.D. from the University of
the City of New York. From 1854 he made his home in Stamford,
Connecticut, where he died on the 15th of December 1894. His works
include, besides several school and college histories, _The Old Roman
World: the Grandeur and Failure of Civilization_ (1867); _Ancient
States and Empires_ (1869); _Two German Giants: Frederick the Great and
Bismarck_ (1885); and _Beacon Lights of History_ (8 vols., 1884-1896),
his chief contribution to historical literature.
See _The Life of John Lord_ (1896) by Rev. Alexander S. Twombley, D.
D. (in "Beacon Lights of History"), which is based chiefly upon Lord's
_Reminiscences of Fifty Years in the Lecture Field_.
LORD (O. Eng. _hláford_, i.e. _hláfweard_, the warder or keeper of
bread, _hláf_, loaf; the word is not represented in any other Teutonic
language), in its primary sense, the head of a household, the master of
those dependent on him for their daily bread, correlative to O. Eng.
_hláf-aéta_, loaf-eater, servant; the word frequently occurs in this
sense in the Bible, cf. Matt. xxiv. 45. As a term implying the ownership
of property, "lord" survives in "lord of the manor" and "landlord." The
chief applications are due to its use as the equivalent of Lat.
_dominus_, Gr. [Greek: kyrios] and Fr. _seigneur_; thus in the Old
Testament it represents _Yahweh_, Jehovah, and in the New Testament
[Greek: kyrios], as a title of Jesus Christ. Selden's words may be
quoted for the more general meanings of "lord"; "the name Dominus is ...
to be thought of only as a distinguishing attribute of Greatness and as
our English word Lord is; and that without any relation of it to an
Interest of property or to servitude, and only as it denotes such
Superiours as King or Subjects of the greater Nobility with us and men
of special Eminency in other States, known by the names of Heeren, Dons,
Sieurs, signiors, seigneurs ... and the like." It is thus not only a
general word for a prince or sovereign, but also the common word for a
feudal superior, and particularly of a feudal tenant holding directly of
the king, a baron (q.v.), hence a peer of the realm, a member of the
House of Lords, constituted of the lords temporal and the lords
spiritual; this is the chief modern usage. The prefix "lord" is
ordinarily used as a less formal alternative to the full title, whether
held by right or by courtesy, of marquess, earl or viscount, and is
always so used in the case of a baron (which in English usage is
generally confined to the holder of a foreign title). Where the name is
territorial, the "of" is dropped, thus, the marquess of A., but Lord A.
The younger sons of dukes and marquesses have, by courtesy, the title of
Lord prefixed to the Christian and surname, e.g. Lord John Russell. In
the case of bishops, the full and formal title of address is the Lord
Bishop of A., whether he be a spiritual peer or not. Many high officials
of the British government have the word "lord" prefixed to their titles;
some of them are treated in separate articles; for lord privy seal see
PRIVY SEAL. In certain cases the members of a board which has taken the
place of an office of state are known as lords commissioners or,
shortly, lords of the office in question, e.g. lords of the treasury,
civil or naval lords of the admiralty. For lord lieutenant and lord
mayor see LIEUTENANT and MAYOR. As the proper form of address "my lord"
is used not only to those members of the nobility to whom the title
"Lord" is applicable, and to bishops, but also to all judges of the High
Court in England, and of the Scottish and Irish Superior Courts, and to
lord mayors and lord provosts (see also LADY).
LORD ADVOCATE, or king's advocate, the principal law-officer of the
crown in Scotland. His business is to act as a public prosecutor, and to
plead in all causes that concern the crown. He is at the head of the
system of public prosecutions by which criminal justice is administered
in Scotland, and thus his functions are of a far more extensive
character than those of the English law-officers of the crown. He is
aided by a solicitor-general and by subordinate assistants called
advocates-depute. The office of king's advocate seems to have been
established about the beginning of the 16th century. Originally he had
no power to prosecute crimes without the concurrence of a private party;
but in the year 1597 he was empowered to prosecute crimes at his own
instance. He has the privilege of pleading in court with his hat on.