ll, demanded
to see the laws; and accordingly a bundle of the Latin laws--the
only ones in existence--were sent over to the State-House. Not
admiring legislation in a dead language, and being desirous to pry
into the mysteries which it sealed up from some of the members,
they ordered the code to be translated. From that time the
numberless editions of the laws have all been in the English
tongue."--pp. 45, 46.

The College of William and Mary, which was founded in 1693,
imitated in its laws and customs the English universities, but
especially the University of Oxford. The other colleges which were
founded before the Revolution, viz. New Jersey College, Columbia
College, Pennsylvania University, Brown University, Dartmouth, and
Rutgers College, "generally imitated Harvard in the order of
classes, the course of studies, the use of text-books, and the
manner of instruction."--_Am. Quart. Reg._, Vol. XV. 1843, p. 426.

The colleges which were founded after the Revolution compiled
their laws, in a great measure, from those of the above-named
colleges.

LEATHER MEDAL. At Harvard College, the _leather Medal_ was
formerly bestowed upon the _laziest_ fellow in College. He was to
be last at recitation, last at commons, seldom at morning prayers,
and always asleep in church.

LECTURE. A discourse _read_, as the derivation of the word
implies, by a professor to his pupils; more generally, it is
applied to every species of instruction communicated _viva voce_.
--_Brande_.

In American colleges, lectures form a part of the collegiate
instruction, especially during the last two years, in the latter
part of which, in some colleges, they divide the time nearly
equally with recitations.

2. A rehearsal of a lesson.--_Eng. Univ._

Of this word, De Quincey says: "But what is the meaning of a
lecture in Oxford and elsewhere? Elsewhere, it means a solemn
dissertation, read, or sometimes histrionically declaimed, by the
professor. In Oxford, it means an exercise performed orally by the
students, occasionally assisted by the tutor, and subject, in its
whole course, to his corrections, and what may be called his
_scholia_, or collateral suggestions and improvements."--_Life and
Manners_, p. 253.

LECTURER. At the University of Cambridge, England, the _lecturers_
assist in tuition, and especially attend to the exercises of the
students in Greek and Latin composition, themes, declamations,
verses, &c.--_Cam. Guide_.

LEM.