Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/14

Rh L L P and an ace in plain suits. Play also on king of trumps ; but some players throw up king of trumps single unless with it another king or a guarded queen is held. Also play on one trump with two other cards as high as queens ; some players throw up this hand. Holding a trump and two aces, lead the trump if three others declare to play ; but otherwise lead an ace. Do not play on a hand without a trump ; except, play on any cards that give a reasonable chance of a trick, or take miss, if the amount in the pool is considerable, and the loo is limited. If the number of players is less than five, or if several throw up, weaker hands may be played ; on the other side, if several have declared to play, only a very strong hand should be risked. If there are only three left in, all others having thrown up, miss should be taken, but not when there are more than two to follow the player whose turn it is to declare. Laws of Loo. These vary greatly, and should be agreed on before commencing to play. The ordinary rules, which loo the player for nearly every error, are very bad. The following are based on the laws of the late Blenheim Club. 1. First knave deals. 2. Each player has a right to shuffle. 3. The player to the dealer s right cuts the pack. 4. The dealer must deliver the cards, one by one, in rotation, as at whist, and must deal one card for miss at the end of each round; he must turn up the top card of the undealt cards for trumps. 5. If the dealer deals without having the pack cut, or shuffles after it is cut, or deals except as provided in law 4, or deals two cards together and then deals a third without rectifying the error, or exposes a card, or deals too many cards, he forfeits a single to the pool, and deals again. 1 6. The player to the left of the dealer deals next. If a player deals out of turn, he may be stopped before the trump card is turned, otherwise the deal stands good, and the player to his left deals next. 7. Players must declare to play in rotation, beginning to the dealer s left. A player looking at his cards before his turn forfeits a single to the pool. 8. A player who declares before his turn, or who exposes a card, forfeits a single to the pool, and must throw up his hand.- 9. If a declared player exposes a card before his turn to play, or plays out of turn, or before all have declared, or detaches a card so that it can be named by any other declared player, or revokes, he must leave in the pool any tricks he may make, and forfeit four times the amount of a single. If he makes no trick he is looed, and there is no further penalty. 10. If the leader holds ace of trumps and does not lead it (or king, ace being turned up), or if he holds two trumps and does not lead one, or the highest of two or more trumps when there are only two declared players (unless his cards are sequence cards or cards of equal value), or if a player does not head the trick when able, or if he does not lead trump after trick (if he holds a trump), he is liable to the same penalty as in law 9. 3 11. In case of revokes or errors in play the hand must be replayed if so desired by any one except the offender. 12. The place of an aftercomer is decided by dealing a card between every two of the players. The aftercomer sits where the first knave falls. (H. J. ) LOOCHOO. See LEW-CHEW ISLANDS. LOOM. See WEAVING. LOOM, or LOON (Icelandic, Lomr), a name applied to water-birds of three distinct Families, all remarkable for their clumsy gait on land. 4 The first of them is the Colymbidae, to which the term DIVER (q.v.) is nowadays usually restricted in books ; the second the Podicipedidee, or GREBES (see vol. xi. p. 30) ; and the third the Alcidse,. The form Loon, is most commonly used both in the British Islands and iu North America for all the species of the genus Colymbus, or Eudytes according to some ornitho logists, frequently with the prefix Sprat, indicating the kind of fish on which they are. supposed to prey ; though it is the local name of the Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) wherever that bird is sufficiently well known to have one; and, as appears from Grew (Mm. Reg. Soc.,p. 69), it was formerly given to the Little Grebe or Dabchick (P. ftuviatilis or minor) as well. The other form Loom seems 1 The law which loos a player for misdealing is atrocious, and should always be opposed. 2 Forfeits of a single go to increase the pool already formed, and see note to law 5. 3 Tricks left in the pool and fines under laws 9 and 10 go to the next pool and not to the pool already formed. Many players inflict the penalty of a loo for the offences named in laws 9 and 10 ; but the rule above, as played at the Blenheim, is the best. 4 The word also takes the form &quot; Lumme &quot; (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. more confined in its application to the north, and is said by Mr T. Edmonston (Etym. Gloss. Shell, and Orkn Dialed, p. 67) to be the proper name- in Shetland of Golyrribiis septentrionalis 5 ; but it has come into common use among Arctic seamen as the name of the species of Guillemot (Alca arra or Iruennichi) which in thousands throngs the cliffs of far northern lands, from whose (hence called) &quot;loomeries&quot; they obtain a considerable stock of wholesome food, while the writer believes he has heard the word locally applied to the RAZORBILL (q.v.). (A. N.j LOPE DE VEGA. See VEGA CARPIO. LOPEZ, CARLOS ANTONIO (1790-1862), a Paraguayan ruler of great ability, born at Asuncion, November 4, 1790, was educated iu the ecclesiastical seminary of that city, and by his ability attracted the hostility of the dictator, Francia, in consequence of which he was forced to keep in hiding for several years. He acquired, however, by study, so unusual a knowledge of law and governmental affairs that, on Francia s death in 1840, he soon acquired an almost undisputed control of the Paraguayan state, which he maintained uninterruptedly until his own death in 1862. He was successively secretary of the ruling military junta (1840-41), one of the two consuls (1841-44), and president with dictatorial powers (1844-1862) by succes sive 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, the congress assembling only rarely and on his call, and then only to ratify his decrees. 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. Paraguay rapidly advanced under his firm and, on the whole, patriotic administration. He died September 10, 1862. LOPEZ, FRANCISCO SOLANO (1826-1870), eldest son of Carlos Antonio Lopez above noticed, was born near Asuncion, Paraguay, July 24, 1826. During his boyhood his father was in hiding, and in consequence his education was wholly neglected. Soon after his father s accession to the presidency, Francisco, then in his nineteenth year, was made commander-in-chief of the Paraguayan army, during the spasmodic hostilities then prevailing with the Argen tine Republic. After receiving successively the highest offices of the state, he was sent in 1853 as minister to England, France, and Italy, to ratify formally treaties made with these powers the previous year. He spent a year and a half in Europe, and succeeded in purchasing 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. He had long cherished ambitious designs, and now set himself to enlarge the army, and purchase in Europe large quantities of military stores. In 1864 he began open aggression on Brazil by demanding, in his self-styled capacity of &quot;protector of the equilibrium of the La Plata,&quot; that Brazil should abandon her armed interference in a 5 Dunn and Saxby, however, agree in giving &quot; Rain-Goose &quot; as the name of this species in Shetland.