LYTTELTON, Thomas, Lord, son of the above, and his successor in the peerage, was a young man of distinguished ability, who wasted his strength and his life by profligacy. A writer in the Quarterly Review, January 1832, endeavoured, with very considerable skill, and some degree of plausibility, to prove Thomas Lord Lyttelton to be the author of the Letters of Junius. There is a singular, and some say well-authenticated story, which relates that he was warned of his death three days previous to its occurrence in 1779, when only thirty-five years of age.
M is the thirteenth letter of the English alphabet, and a labial articulation of the liquid series, formed by the compression of the lips. It is called a semi-vowel, as the compression of the lips necessary to its articulation is accompanied with a humming sound through the nose, thus distinguishing it from the sound of the letter B, which in other respects so closely resembles it. M is uniform in sound, and scarcely ever silent. It is liable to interchange with the letters N, B, P, V, W, of which there are numerous examples in almost all languages. The letter M, or a symbol closely resembling it, was employed by the Romans as a numeral to denote a thousand, selected, as is generally supposed, from its being the initial of the word mille. With a dash over it (), it stands for a thousand times a thousand, or a million. For the use of M in ancient and modern abbreviations, see under ABBREVIATIONS. In astronomical tables, M stands for meridian, meridional, or mid-day. In medical prescriptions, M stands for maniple, or handful; for misce, or mix; for mixtura, a mixture; and sometimes for mesurâ, by measure. In law, M is the brand of manslaughter, and is impressed on one who, after conviction, is admitted to the benefit of clergy.