into the king's hands contrary to the great charter, and the law of the land. And again, by statute 28 Edward III. c. 3. that no man shall be put to death without being brought to answer by due process of law.

The right of personal liberty consists in the power of loco-motion, of changing situation, or moving one's person to whatsoever place one's own inclination may direct, without imprisonment or restraint, unless by due course of law. This right there is at present no occasion to enlarge upon. For the provisions made by the laws of England to secure it, see HABEAS CORPUS, BAIL, ARREST, &c.

The absolute right of property, inherent in every Englishman, consists in the free use, enjoyment, and disposal of all his acquisitions, without any controul or diminution, save only by the laws of the land.

Another effect of this right of private property is, that no subject of England can be constrained to pay any aids or taxes, even for the defence of the realm, or the support of the government, but such as are imposed by his own consent, or that of his representatives in parliament. By statate 25 Edward I. c. 5, 6, it is provided, that the king shall not take any aids or tasks, but by the common consent of the realm. And what that common consent is, is more fully explained by statute 34 Edward I. statute 4, c. 1; which enacts, that no talliage or aid shall be taken without the assent of the archbishops, bishops, earls, barons, knights, burgesses, and other freemen of the land; and again, by statute 14 Edward III. statute 2, c. 1. the prelates, earls, barons, and commons, citizens, burgesses, and merchants, shall not be charged to make any aid, if it be not by the common assent of the great men and commons in parliament. And as this fundamental law bath been shamefully evaded under many preceding princes, by compulsive loans and benevolences, extorted without a real and voluntary consent, it was made an article in the petition of rights, 3 Charles I. that no man shall be compelled to yield any gift, loan, or benevolence, tax, or such like charge, without common consent by act of parliament. And lastly, by the bill of rights, statute 1 William and Mary, statute 2, c. 2, it is declared, that levying money for or to the use of the crown by pretence of prerogative, without grant of parliament, or for longer time, or in other manner than the same is or shall be granted, is illegal.

The above is a short view of the principal absolute rights which appertain to every Englishman, and the constitution has provided for the security of their actual enjoyment, by establishing certain other auxiliary subordinate rights, which serve principally as out-works or barriers, to protect and maintain those principal rights inviolate. These are,

The constitution, powers, and privileges of parliament. The limitation of the king's prerogative. The right of applying to courts of justice for redress of injuries. The right of petitioning the king or parliament. The right of having arms for defence.

This last auxiliary right of the subjects of having arms for their defence, suitable to their andition and degree, and such as are allowed by law, is declared by the bill of rights; and it is, indeed, a public allowance, under due restrictions, of the natural right of resistance and self-preservation, when the sanctions of society and laws

are found insufficient to restrain the violence of oppression.

As to the first and second of the subordinate rights above mentioned, see PARLIAMENT, KING.

With respect to the third and fourth, some short information is here subjoined.

Since the law is, in England, the supreme arbiter of every man's life, liberty, and property, courts of justice must at all times be open to the subject, and the law be duly administered therein. The emphatical words of Magna Charta, c. 29, spoken in the person of the king, who, in judgment of law, (says Sir Edward Coke) is ever present, and repeating them in all his courts, are these, "Nulli vendemus, nulli negabimus, aut differemus rectum vel justitiam;" To none will we sell, to none will we deny, or delay, right or justice.

It is also ordained by Magna Charta, c. 29, that no freeman shall be outlawed, that is, put out of the protection and benefit of the law, but by the laws of the land. By statutes 2 Edward III. c. 8. 11 Richard II. c. 10, it is enacted, that no commands or letters shall be sent under the great seal, or the little seal, the signet or privy seal, in disturbance of the law; or to disturb or delay common right; and though such commandments should come, the judges shall not cease to do right. This is also niade a part of their oath, by statute 11 Edward III. stat. 4. And by the bill of rights it is declared, that the pretended power of suspending or dispensing with laws, or the execution of laws, by regal authority, without consent of parliament, is illegal. Not only the substantial part, or judicial decisions of the law, but also the formal part, or method of proceeding, cannot be altered but by parliament; for if once those outworks were demolished, there would be an inlet to all manner of innovation in the body of the law itself. The king, it is true, may erect new courts of justice; but then they must proceed according to the old established forms of the common law. For which reason it is is declared in the statute 16 Charles I. c. 10, upon the dissolution of the court of star-chamber, that neither his majesty nor his privy council have any jurisdiction, power, or authority, by English bill, petition, articles, or libel, (which were the course of proceeding in the star-chamber, borrowed from the civil law,) or by any other arbitrary way whatsoever, to examine or draw into question, determine or dispose of the lands or goods of any subject of this kingdom; but that the same ought to be tried and deter mined in the ordinary courts of justice, and by course of law.

The right of petitioning the king, or either house of parliament, for the redress of grievances, appertains to every individual in cases of any uncommon injury, or infringement of the rights already particularized, which the ordinary course of law is too defective to reach. The restrictions, for some there are, which are laid upon this right of petitioning in England, while they promote the spirit of peace, are no check upon that of liberty; care only must be taken, lest, under the pretence of petitioning, the subject be guilty of any riot or tumult; as happened in the opening of the memorable parliament of 1640. And to prevent this, it is provided by statute 13 Charles II. statute 1. c. 5, that no petition to the king, or either house of parliament, for any alteration in church or state, shall be signed by above twenty persons,

unless the matter thereof be approved by three jus tices of the peace; or the major part of the grand jury in the county; and in London by the lord mayor, aldermen, and common council: nor shall any petition be presented by more than ten persons at a time. But under these regulations, it is declared by the bill of rights, that the subject hath a right to petition; and that all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal. The sanction of the grand jury may be given either at the assizes or at the quarter sessions; the punishment for offending against the statute 13 Charles II. not to exceed a fine of £100, and three months' imprison

ment.

In these several articles consist the rights, or, as they are frequently termed, the liberties of Britons: liberties more generally talked of than thoroughly understood; and yet highly necessary to be perfectly known and considered by every man of rank or property, lest his ignorance of the points whereon they are founded should hurry him into faction and licentiousness on the one hand, or a pusillanimous indifference and criminal submission on the other. And we have seen that these rights consist, primarily, in the free enjoyment of personal security, of personal liberty, and of private property. So long as these remain inviolable, the subject is perfectly

free; for every species of compulsive tyranny and oppression must act in opposition to one or other of these rights, having no other object upon which it can possibly be employed. To preserve these from violation, it is necessary that the constitution of parliaments be supported in its full vigour; and limits, certainly known, be set to the royal prerogative. And, lastly, to vindicate these rights when actually violated or attacked, the subjects of Britain are entitled, in the first place, to the regular administration and free course of justice in the courts of law; next, to the right of petitioning the king and parliament for redress of grievances; and, lastly, to the right of having and using arms for self-preservation and defence. And all these rights

and liberties it is our birth-right to enjoy entire.

This review of our situation may fully justify the observation of a learned French author, who indeed generally both thought and wrote in a spirit of genuine freedom; and who did not scruple to profess, even in the very bosom of his native country, that the British is the only nation in the world where political or civil liberty is the direct end of its constitution. Recommending therefore to the sudent in our laws a farther and more accurate search into this extensive and important title, we shall close our remarks upon it with the expiring wish of the famous father Paul to his country, "ESTO PERPETUA!"

LIBERTY and NECESSITY. See NECES.

SITY.

LIBETHRA, a mountain of Magnesia, or Boeotia, according to some, sacred to the muses, who from thence are called Libethrides. (Vir. Plin. &c.)

LIBIDINOUS. a. (libidinosus, Lat.) Lewd; lustful (Bentley).

LIBIDINOUSLY. ad. Lewdly; lustfully. LIBITINA, a goddess at Rome, who presided over funerals. According to some she is the same as Venus, or rather Proserpine. Ser

vius Tullus first raised her a temple at Rome, where every thing necessary for funerals was exposed to sale. (Dionys. Liv. &c.)

LIBON, a Greek architect who built the famous temple of Jupiter Olympus. He flourished about 450 years before the christianæra.

LIBOURNE, a town of France, and principal place of a district, in the department of the Gironde, containing about 5000 inhabitants: five posts E. of Bourdeaux. Lon. 17. 25 E. Ferro. Lat. 44, 55 N.

LIBRA, in astronomy, is one of the twelve signs of the zodiac; exactly opposite to Aries; so called, because when the sun is in this sign, at the autumnal equinox, the days and nights are equal, as if weighed in a balance.

Ptolemy are seventeen, Tycho ten, Hevelius The stars in this constellation according to twenty, and Flamstead fifty-four, viz. 0. 2. 3. 3. 10. 6. 30.

LIBRA also denotes the ancient Roman pound, borrowed from the Sicilians, who called it litra, λrga.

The libra was divided into twelve uncia, or ounces, and the ounce into twenty-four scruples. The divisions of the libra were, the uncia, one twelfth; the sextans, one sixth; the quadrans, one fourth; the triens, one third; the quincunx, five ounces; the semis, six; the septunx, seven ; the bes, eight; the dodrans, nine; the dextans, ten; the deunx, eleven; lastly, the as weighed twelve ounces, or one libra.

The Roman libra was used in France for the proportions of their coin till the time of Charlemagne, or perhaps till that of Philip I. in 1093, their sols being so proportioned, as that 20 of them were equal to the libra. By degrees it became a term of account; and every thing of the value of twenty sols was called a livre.

LIBRA PENSA, in our law-books, denotes a

pound of money in weight. It was usual in former days not only to count the money but to weigh it: because many cities, lords, and bishops, having their mints, coined money, and often very bad too; for which reason, though the pound consisted of 20 shillings, they always weighed it.

LIBRÁL. a. (libralis, Latin.) Of a pound weight.

LIBRA'RIAN. s. (librarius, Lat.) 1. One who has the care of a library. 2. One who transcribes books (Broome).

LIBRARY. 8. (libraire, French.) A large collection of books (Dryden).

LIBRARY, an edifice or apartment destined for holding a considerable number of books placed regularly on shelves, or the books themselves lodged in it. Some authors refer the origin of libraries to the Hebrews; and observe, that the care these took for the preservation of their sacred books, and the memory of what concerned the actions of their ancestors, became an example to other nations, particularly to the Egyptians. Osmanduas, king of Egypt,is said to have taken the hint first; who, according to Diodorus, had a library built in his palace, with this inscription "over

the door,

ΨΥΧΗΣ ΙΑΤΡΕΙΟΝ. Nor were the Ptolemies, who reigned in the same country, less curious and magnificent in books.

The scripture also speaks of a library of the kings of Persia, Ezra v. 17, vi. 1. which some imagine to have consisted of the historians of that nation, and of memoirs of the affairs of state; but, in effect, it appears rather to have been a repository of laws, charters, and ordinances of the kings. The Hebrew text calls it the house of treasures, and afterwards the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up. We may, with more justice, call that a library, mentioned in the second of Esdras to have been built by Nehemiah, and in which were preserved the books of the prophets, and of David, and the letters of their kings.

The first who erected a library at Athens was the tyrant Pisistratus: and yet Strabo refers the honour of it to Aristotle. That of Pi. sistratus was transported by Xerxes into Persia, and was afterwards brought back by Seleucas Nicanor to Athens. Long after, it was plundered by Sylla, and re-established by Hadrian. Plutarch says, that under Eumenes there was a library at Pergamus, containing 200,000 books. Tyrannian, a celebrated grammarian, contemporary with Pompey, had a library of 30,000 volumes. That of Ptolemy Philadelphus, according to A. Gellius, contained 700,000, all in rolls, burnt by Cæsar's soldiers.

Constantine, and his successors, erected a magnificent one at Constantinople; which in the eighth century contained 300,000 volumes, all burnt by order of Leo Isaurus; and, among the rest, one wherein the Iliad and Odyssey were written in letters of gold, on the guts of a serpent.

The most celebrated libraries of ancient Rome, were the Ulpian, and the Palatine. They also boast much of the libraries of Paulus Emilius, who conquered Perseus; of Lucilius Lacallus, of Asinius Pollio, Atticus, Julius Severus, Domitius Serenus, Pamphilius Martyr, and the emperors Gordian and Trajan.

Anciently, every large church had its library; as appears by the writings of St. Jerome, Anastasins, and others. Pope Nicholas laid the first foundation of that of the Vatican in 1450. The Bodleian library at Oxford, built on the foundation of that of duke Humphry, exceeds that of any university in Europe, and even those of all the sovereigns of Europe, except the emperor's and the late French king's, which are each of them older by a hundred years. It was first opened in 1602, and has since found a great number of benefactors; particularly sir Robert Cotton, sir H. Savil, archbishop Laud, sir Kenelm Digby, Mr. Allen, Dr. Pococke, Mr. Selden, and others. The Vatican, the Medicean, that of Bessarion at Venice, and those just mentioned, exceed the Bodleian in Greek manuscripts; which yet outdoes them all in Oriental manuscripts.

As to printed books, the Ambrosian at Milan, and that of Wolfenbuttle, are two of the most famous, and yet both inferior to the Bod

leian.

LIBRARY (King's), at St. James's, was founded by Henry, eldest son of James I. and made up partly of hooks, and partly of manuscripts, with many other curiosities for the advancement of learning. It has received many additions, from the libraries of Isaac Casaubon and others.

LIBRARY (Cottonian), originally consisted of 958 volumes of original charters, grants, instruments, letters of sovereign princes, transactions between this and other kingdoms and states, genealogies, histories, registers of monasteries, remains of Saxon laws, the book of Genesis, thought to be the most ancient Greek copy extant, and said to have been written by Origen in the second century, and the curious Alexandrian copy or manuscript in Greek capitals. This library is kept in the British Museum, with the large valuable library of sir Hans Sloane, amounting to upwards of 42,000 volumes, &c. There are many public libraries belonging to the several colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, and the universities of North Britain. The principal public libraries in London, beside that of the Museum, are those of the College of Heralds, of the College of Physicians, of Doctors Commons, to which every bishop at the time of his consecration gives at least 201. sometimes 501. for the purchase of books; those of Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple, and Middle Temple; that of Lambeth, founded by archbishop Bancroft, in 1610, for the use of succeeding archbishops of Canterbury, and increased by the benefactions of archbishops Abbot, Sheldon, and Tennison, and said to consist of at least 15,000 printed books, and 617 volumes in manuscript; that of Redcross-street, founded by Dr. Daniel Williams, a presbyterian divine, and since enriched by many private benefactions; that of the Royal Society, called the Arundelian or Norfolk library, because the principal part of the collection formerly belonged to the family of Arundel, and was given to the society by Henry Howard, afterwards duke of Norfolk, in 1666, which library has been increased by the valuable collection of Francis Aston, Esq. in 1715, and is continually increasing by the numerous benefactions of the works of its learned members, and others: that of St. Paul's, of Sion college; the Queen's library, erected by queen Caroline in 1737; and the Surgeons' library, formerly kept in their hall in the Old Bailey, &c.

To LIBRATE. v. n. (libro, Lat.) To poise; to balance; to hold in equipoise.

LIBRATION s. (libratio, Lat.) ). The state of being balanced (Thomson).

LIBRATION. In astronomy, an apparent irregularity in the motion of the moon, by which she seems to librate, or waver about her own axis; sometimes from the east to the west, and sometimes from the west to the east. See Moon.

Hence it is, that some parts in the moon's western limb, or margin, at one time, recede from the centre of the disc, and at another, move towards it; by which means, some of

those parts, which were before visible, set and hide themselves in the invisible side of the moon, and afterwards become again conspicuous.

As the spots on the moon do not appear to undergo any sensible changes in their respective positions, and as they are ordinarily seen again of the same magnitude and under the same form, when they have returned to the same position on the lunar disc, it has been concluded that they are fixed upon the real surface of that luminary. Their oscillations, therefore, seem to indicate a sort of balancing in the lunar globe, to which has been given the name of libration, from a Latin word, signifying to balance.

But in adopting this expression, although it well depicts the appearances observed, it must not have a positive sense given to it; for the phænomenon itself has nothing of reality it is only a compound result of several optical illu sions. To comprehend and separate these, let us resort to some fixed terms. Conceive that a visual ray is drawn from the centre of the earth to the centre of the moon: the plane drawn through the latter centre perpendicularly to this ray will cut the lunar globe according to the circumference of a circle which is, with respect to us, the apparent disc. If the moon had no real rotatory motion, its motion of revolution solely would discover to us all the points of its surface in succession: the visual ray would therefore meet that surface successively in different points, which to us would appear to pass, the one after the other, to the apparent centre of the lunar disc. The real rotatory motion counteracts the effects of this apparent rotation, and brings back constantly towards us the same face of the lunar globe: whence may be seen the reason why the opposite face is never revealed to us.

Suppose, now, that the rotation of the moon is sensibly uniform, that is to say, that it does not partake of any periodical inequalities (this supposition is at least the most natural which we can make, and it is conformable to observations): then one of the causes which produce the libration will become evident; for the motion of revolution, partaking of the periodical inequalities, is sometimes slower, sometimes more rapid: the apparent rotation which it occasions cannot, therefore, always exactly counterbalance the actual rotation, which remains constantly the same; and these two effects will surpass each other by turns. The points of the lunar globe ought, therefore, to appear turning sometimes in one direction, sometimes in an other, about its centre; and the resulting appearance is the same as if the moon had a little vibratory balancing from one side to the other of the radius vector drawn from its centre to the earth. It is this which is named the libration in longitude.

Several accessory but sensible causes modify this first result. The spots of the moon do not always retain the same elevation above the plane of its orbit, indeed some of them, by the effect of the rotation, pass from one side of this the opposite side. These circumstances

indicate an axis of rotation which is not exactly perpendicular to the plane of the lunar orbit; but according as this axis presents to us its greater or its smaller obliquity, it must discover to us successively the two poles of rotation of the lunar spheroid: hence we come to perceive, at certain times, some of the points situated towards these poles, and lose the sight of them afterwards, when they arrive nearer the apparent edge: this is called the libration in longitude. It is but inconsiderable, and, therefore, indicates that the equator of the moon differs very little in position from the plane of its orbit.

Finally, a third illusion arises from the observer being placed at the surface of the earth, and not at its centre. Towards this centre it is that the moon always turns the same face; and the visual ray drawn thence to the centre of the moon would always meet its surface at the same point, abstracting from the preceding inequalities. It is not the same with respect to the visual ray drawn from the surface of the earth; for this ray makes a sensible angle with the former, by reason of the proximity of the moon; this angle is, at the horizon, equal to the horizontal parallax: in consequence of this difference the apparent contour of the lunar spheroid is not the same for the centre of the earth, and to an observer placed at its surface. This, when the moon rises, causes some points to be discovered towards its upper edge, which could not have been perceived from the centre of the earth: as the moon rises above the horizon, these points continue to approach the upper edge of the disc, and at length disappear, while others become visible to its lower edge: the same effect is continued during all the time that the moon is visible; and, as the part of its disc which appears highest at its rising is found lowest at its setting, these are the two instants when the difference is most perceptible. Thus the lunar globe in its diurnal motion appears to oscillate about the radius vector drawn from its centre to the centre of the earth. This phenomenon is designated by the name of diurnal libration.

LIBRATION OF THE EARTH, is a term applied by some astronomers to that motion, whereby the earth is so retained within its orbit, as that its axis continues constantly parallel to the axis of the world. See PARAL

LELISM.

This Copernicus calls the motion of libration; and may be illustrated thus: suppose a globe, with its axis parallel to that of the earth, painted on the flag of a mast, moveable on its axis, and constantly driven by an east wind, while it sails round an island'; it is evident, the painted globe will be so librated, as that its axis will be parallel to that of the world, in every situation of the ship.

LIBRATORY. a. (from libro, Lat.) Balancing; playing like a balance.

LIBURNIA, now Croatia, a country of Illyricum, between Istria and Dalmatia, whence a colony came to settle in Apulia, in Italy.