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LAC

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| adorned with many columns of porphyry, images of theirgods, and statues of their kings, of a colossal size : the wholeedifice was constructed of stone, the floors being laid withvast flags, and the roof appearing like a canopy of stone:the passages met, and crossed each other with such intricacy,that it was impossible for a stranger to find his way, eitherin or out, without a guide ; and several of the apartmentswere so contrived, that on opening of the doors, there was1 heard within a terrible noise of thunder. Although theArabs, since the days of Pliny , helped to ruin this structure,yet a considerable part of it is still standing. The peopleI of the country call it the palace of Charon.

Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, Pliny , and Mela, speak of thismonument with the same admiration as Herodotus ; but notone of them says it was constructed to bewilder those whoattempted to pass through it; though it is manifest, that,without a guide, they would have been in danger of losingtheir way. The Abbe Barthelemi suggests, that this dangerintroduced a new term into the Greek language. The wordlabyrinth, taken in the literal sense, signifies a circumscribedspace, intersected by a number of passages, some of whichcross each other in every direction, like those in quarries andmines, and others make larger or smaller circuits round theplace from which they depart, like the spiral lines that arevisible on certain shells. Hence it has been applied, in afigurative sense, to obscure and captious questions, to indi-rect and ambiguous answers, and to those discussions, which,after- long digressions, bring us back to the point from whichwe set out.

' The labyrinth of Lemnos is mentioned by Pliny as havingexisted on the island, like those of Eygpt and Crete . It' was said to have been supported by 150 columns of wonder-

i ful beauty, and to have gates so well poised, that a child

I could throw them open. Pliny adds, that it was constructedby three native architects, and that some remains of it werestill in existence.

The labyrinth of Italy was built, it is said, by Porsenna ,king of Etruria , for his tomb, but the accounts of it partakeso much of the fabulous, that it has been doubted by manyauthors whether it ever existed at all.

Labyrinth Fret, a fret with many turnings, in the formof a labyrinth ; one of the most ancient ornaments in theworld.

LACHRYMATORY, the name of a small glass or bottle,like a phial, sometimes found in the sepulchres of theancients, in which it was supposed the tears of the deceasedperson’s friends were collected and preserved,j LACONICUM, a recess in the caldarium, in which thei labrum for the ablutions of those using the vapour-bath wasplaced. Some writers apply the term merely to the cupolain the floor of the hot-bath, in which the flame from the: hypocaust played, to heat the apartment,

j LACUNARIS, Laciinaria or Lacunars, in architecture,the panels of coffers formed on the ceilings of apartments,I and sometimes on the soffits of the corona of the Ionic ,Corinthian , and Composite orders,j In the temple of Minerva at Athens, the lacunars areJ placed immediately above the frieze within the portico, and

i formed with a single recess, having an ovolo at the top,

I which moulding terminates the vertical plane sides, and thehorizontal heads of the lacunars. The lacunars are notsquare, but longer in the longitudinal than in the transversedirection of the building.

In this they are formed in one recess, with an ovolo at thetop of the recess, or the farthest extremity of the sides. Thelacunars are longer from front to rear of the portico, than inshe transverse direction of the building

In the temple of Theseus at Athens, the lacunars areformed above the frieze, in two rows, between large beaffl 3which reach from the rear to the front of the pronaos : theirfigures are of a square horizontal section, and have only ®single recess upwards, with an ovolo above it. The side o*the square of each coffer is about one-fifth part of thediameter of the column, and their recess upwards of half th®side of their square. The distance between the beams 19equal to the breadth of the ant® at the bottom, or nearlyequal to the diameter of the columns. The beams are n°* iregulated by the columns, but placed at equidistant interval 9 *to receive the two rows of lacunars, or coffers. Within th 0temple or cella, the beams reach transversely from side 10side ; but without, and under the soffit of the pronaos, theyextend longitudinally from the front to the rear of the P r °'naos, and the lacunars in the same direction.

In the soffit of the temple of Pandrosus at Athens, thlacunars are formed immediately above the architrave, o® 0into three recesses, with an ovolo at the bottom of each, near 1 }'as broad as the perpendicular surface. The whole depth 0the recess is nearly half the side of the square of its lo' vepart. Each part diminishes gradually in breadth i®sloping straight line, till the side of the square of the upp epart is so contracted as to be only half that of the lo' v ® r 'Each succeeding third part diminishes regularly in altitu® *so that, accounting the bottom the first, the altitude of 111second, or the one next above, is something less, and tD ,third about the same quantity less than the second. P? covolo is something less in height than the vertical surf®below it, and has the same ratio to its respective surface. ,The cella of the temple of Vesta at Rome is surround®with a circular colonnade. The ceiling of the portico h® 9double row of lacunars, being two in the breadth of the P°tico. The lacunars approach as nearly to a square as is c ^sistent with their diminution, formed by radiations toW® rthe centre of the building, and are constructed in tvk j 3The greatest breadth of the outside lacunoj 0 ,^

of?

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recesses.

about nine-thirteenths of the diameter of the columns,whole depth of the recess upwards is about one-seventhdiameter. The radiating sides are in vertical planes, . fithe other two sides of each are vertical cylindric cone 01 ' tsurfaces. The greatest breadth of the upper recess is !ltwo-thirds of the lower. The hollow of this recess is ° C jj epied by a rose of a circular form. The recess or ° r ^ n dvaults of the temple of Peace at Rome are arched, .enriched with octagonal lacunars, each formed in 1 jerecesses, which diminish in their margins as they re ^upwards. Between the octagonal lacunars are otherssquare form in a diagonal position. The ceiling jj)jmiddle of the chapel of the said temple, is compartedhexagonal and rhomboidal lacunars. ( [je

The lacunars of the arch of Titus at Rome are square, ^side of each being about three-quarters of the diam ethe column.

LADDER, a well-known contrivance used inoperations &c., it is formed of two long side pieces h°v > ctlconnected by rounds or treads, forming the steps by ’the workmen ascend. . - te c^

LADY-CHAPEL, a name invented by modern aj' 0

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and virtuosi, to signify the chapel which is generally

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in our ancient cathedrals behind the screen of the big 1 " foeIt is denominated from its being generally dedicatedVirgin Mary, called Our Lady .

LANCET ARCH, the same as pointed arch. arC b!

Lancet Window, that of which the head is a lance , ovV gbut the term is more generally applied to those wwhich are long and narrow, with lancet arches.