Part 244

LANCE de drapeau, Fr. The staff to which regimental colors are attached.

LANCES levées, Fr. uplifted lances, indicated that the enemy was beaten, and that the chevaliers or gendarmes should close the day by giving a final blow to the disordered ranks. The use of the lance was discontinued in France sometime before the compagnies d’ordonnance or independent companies were reduced and formed into the gendarmerie. Little or no use indeed, was made of them, during the reign of Henry IV. But the Spaniards still retained that weapon as low down as the days of Louis XIII. and when arms were too scarce at the opening of the French revolution, the pike or lance was resorted to with great success.

LANCE, Fr. means likewise an iron rod which is fixed across the earthen mould of a shell, and which keeps it suspended in the air when it is cast. As soon as the bomb or shell is formed, this rod must be broken, and carefully taken out with instruments made for that purpose. Shells ought to be scrupulously examined with respect to this article, as they could not be charged, were the lance or any part of it to remain within. Lance is also an instrument which conveys the charge of a piece of ordnance and forces it home into the bore. See RAMMER of a GUN.

LANCE à feu, Fr. a squib. A species of artificial fire work which is made in the shape of a fuse, and is used for various purposes. According to the author of Œuvres Militaires, tom. II. p. 208, the composition of the lance à feu consists of three parts of the best refined salt-petre, two parts of flour of sulphur, and two of antimony; the whole being pounded and mixed together.

The chief use which is made of the lance à feu is to throw occasional light across the platform, whilst artificial fireworks are preparing. They likewise serve to set fire to fuses, as they can be taken hold of without danger.

LANCE à feu puant, Fr. Stink-fire lances prepared in the same manner that stink-pots are, and particularly useful to miners. When a miner or sapper has so far penetrated towards the enemy as to hear the voices of persons in any place contiguous to his own excavation, he first of all bores a hole with his probe, then fires off several pistols through the aperture, and lastly forces in a lance à feu puant, taking care to close up the hole on his side to prevent the smoke from returning towards himself. The exhalation and stinking hot vapour which issue from the lance, and remain confined on the side of the enemy, infest the air so much, that it is impossible to approach the quarter for three or four days. Sometimes, indeed, they have had so instantaneous an effect, that in order to save their lives, miners, who would persevere, have been dragged out by the legs in an apparent state of suffocation.

LANCE de feu, Fr. a species of squib which is used by the garrison of a besieged town against a scaling party.

LANCE-Gaie, Fr. an offensive weapon formerly so called in France.

LANCE Spezzate, Fr. a reduced officer. In former times it signified a dismounted gendarme who was appointed to an infantry corps with some emolument attached to his situation. The word anspessade, a non-commissioned officer who acts subordinate to the corporal, is corrupted from this term. Besides the three hundred Swiss guards which were constantly attached to the palace, the Pope maintained twelve lance-spezzates or reduced officers.

LANDING Troops. See DEBARKATION, and REGULATIONS.

LAND FORCES, troops whose system is calculated for land service only, in contradistinction to seamen and mariners. All the land forces of Great Britain are liable to serve on board the navy. Indeed the marine establishment as a military corps is an anomaly, kept up only for patronage; the proper establishment of soldiers for sea service should be by detachments from the infantry, according to a roster.

LANE, in a military sense, is where men are drawn up in two ranks facing one another, as in a street, for any great person to pass through, or sometimes for a soldier to run the gantelope.

LANGUE, Fr. a term peculiarly connected with the late military order of Malta. The eight nations of which this celebrated order consisted, were distinguished by the appellation of Langue or tongues. There were three of this description in France, viz. la Langue de France, la Langue de Provence, et la Langue d’Auvergne; two in Spain, viz. la Langue d’Arragon, et la Langue de Castile; and three indiscriminate ones, viz. la Langue d’Italia, la Langue d’Allemagne, et la Langue d’Angleterre. The head of each langue was called Grand Prieur, or Grand Prior.

LANGUE de terre, Fr. a tongue of land.

LANSQUENETS, Fr. the German mercenaries which Charles VII. of France first added to his infantry, were so called. They continued in the French service until the reign of Francis I. who consolidated all the foot establishments into a certain number of legions; they were so called from the lance or pike which was their weapon.

LANS-PESATE, LANCE-PESADE, a soldier that does duty as a corporal, especially on guards and detachments; a lance corporal.

LANTERN, LANTHORN, commonly called Muscovy lanterns, being a kind of dark lantherns, used in the field, when dark, to light the gunners in the camp to prepare the stores, &c.

LANTERNE, Fr. A word used in the French navy to signify any wooden case or box in which cartridges are brought out of the powder magazine for the purpose of serving the guns.

LANTERNE, Fr. it is sometimes called cuiller or ladle, and serves to convey gunpowder into a piece of ordnance. It is made of copper, and resembles a round spoon or ladle, which is fixed to a long pole.

LANTERNE, a mitrailles, Fr. A round piece of concave wood, something like a box, which is filled with case shot, and is fired from a piece of ordnance when the enemy is near.

LASCARS, or Laskars. The native seamen of India; the native gunners are likewise so called. They are employed to tend and serve the artillery on shore, and are attached to corps as pioneers or tent-pitchers.

LASHING-RINGS, in artillery, with hoops, fixed on the side-pieces of travelling carriages, to lash the tarpauling, as also to tie the spunge, rammer, and ladle. See CARRIAGE.

LATH, in building, a long, thin, and narrow slip of wood, nailed to the rafters of a roof or ceiling, in order to fasten the covering. Laths are distinguished into three kinds, according to the different kinds of wood of which they are made, viz. heart of oak, sap-laths, deal-laths, &c.

LATHE, a machine for turning wood or metal.

LATHE Reeve, an officer during the Saxon government, who held a certain jurisdiction over that part of the country which was called a tithing.

LATTIE, an Indian term for warehouse.

LATITUDE, in geography, the distance of any place from the equator, measured in degrees, minutes, seconds, &c. upon the meridian of that place: and is either north or south according as the place is situated either on the north or south side of the equator.

LATRINES, Fr. privies or holes which are dug at the back of a camp for the convenience of soldiers. The pioneers are generally employed to make them.