DANIEL, an eminent antiquarian and topographer, was rector of Rodmartin, in Gloucester, a living in which he succeeded his father in 1833. He was educated at Oxford, where he graduated in 1785. When a curate at Putney, he, in 1790, commenced his first topographical work, entitled The Environs of London; being an Historical Account of the Towns, Villages, and Hamlets within 12 miles of that Capital; interspersed with Biographical Anecdotes, 2 vols. 4to, 1810; a work which he supplemented about the same time by An Historical Account of those Parishes of Middlesex not included in the Environs of London. In conjunction with his brother Samuel, he undertook, in 1806, his great work, the Magna Britannica, being a precise topographical account of the several counties of Great Britain, 6 vols. 4to; an undertaking which he left unfinished. He published a small work at Gloucester in 1824, containing A View of the Revenues of the Porchial Clergy of this Kingdom from the earliest times, 8vo. Lyons wrote, besides, some sermons, which are not much known. As an accurate, laborious, and useful writer of topography, he occupies a very high place. He presented, previous to his death in 1834, 64 volumes of MS. collections for the Magna Britannica to the British Museum.

Lysons, Samuel, the brother of the above, was born at Rodmartin, in Gloucester, in 1763. Originally educated for the bar, he ultimately relinquished that profession for antiquarian pursuits. He was an active and influential member of the Society of Antiquaries, and became, in 1803, keeper of the records in the Tower of London. In 1806 he joined his brother in the Magna Britannica; and published, in 1797, Roman Remains discovered at Woodchester and Mischenhampton; in 1801, his Figures of Mosaic Pavements; in 1802, his Remains of Roman Antiquities at Bath; in 1804, Gloucester Antiquities. He wrote also for the Archaeologia. He died in 1819.

Lyttelton, Granier, Lord, was born at Hagley, in Worcestershire, in 1709. Descended from the great Judge Littellton (see Littellton, Thomas), he was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Lyttelton, who, during the interregnum of 1688 and the succeeding reign, appears as one of the ablest Whig debaters of the House of Commons. Mr Macaulay (History of England, vol. ii., p. 617) describes him as "versed in European politics, and gifted with a vehement and piercing logic, which had often, when, after a long sitting, the candles had been lighted, roused the languishing house, and decided the event of the debate." He received his education at Eton school, where he showed an early inclination to poetry. He was removed from thence to the university of Oxford, where he pursued his classical studies with uncommon avidity, and sketched the plan of his Persian Letters. In the year 1728 he set out on the tour of Europe; and, upon his arrival at Paris, accidentally became acquainted with the Honourable Mr Poyntz, then our minister at the court of Versailles, who employed him in many political negotiations, which he executed with great judgment and fidelity. In this early part of his life he wrote a poetical epistle to Dr Ayscough, and another to Mr Pope, both evincing singular taste and correctness.

After continuing a considerable time at Paris he visited Lyons, Geneva, Turin, Milan, Venice, and Genoa, and finally established himself at Rome, where he applied himself closely to the study of the fine arts. He soon afterwards returned to his native country, and was elected representative for the borough of Ockhampton, in Devonshire. In the year 1737 he was appointed principal secretary to his royal highness, Frederick Prince of Wales; and in the year 1742 he married Lucy, the daughter of Mr Hugh Fortescue Lyttelton, of Filleigh, in the county of Devon, an excellent lady, whom he had the misfortune to lose in 1746. In 1744 he was appointed one of the lords commissioners of the Treasury; and, during his continuance in that station, constantly exerted his influence in rewarding merit and ability. He was the friend and patron of Fielding, Thomson, Mallet, Young, Hammond, West, Pope, and Voltaire. On the death of Thomson, who left his affairs in a very embarrassed condition, Mr Lyttelton took that poet's sister under his protection. He revised Thomson's unfinished tragedy of Coriolanus, and brought it out at the theatre royal, Covent Garden, with an affecting prologue of his own composition.

His valuable observations on the conversion and apostleship of St Paul were written in 1747, at the desire of Mr Gilbert West, in consequence of Mr Lyttelton's asserting, that besides all the proofs of the Christian religion which might be drawn from the prophecies of the Old Testament, from the necessary connection it has with the whole system of the Jewish religion, from the miracles of Christ, and from the evidence given of his resurrection by all the other apostles, he thought the conversion of St Paul alone, duly considered, was of itself a demonstration sufficient to prove that Christianity was a divine revelation. Dr Johnson characterizes this treatise as one "to which infidelity has never been able to fabricate a specious answer."

In 1754 he resigned his office of lord of the Treasury, and was made cofferer to his majesty's household, and sworn a member of the Privy Council; previously to which, he married a second time, Elizabeth, daughter of Field-Marshal Sir Robert Rich, from whom he was separated, by mutual consent, a few years after his marriage. After being appointed chancellor and under-treasurer of the Court of Exchequer, he was, by letters-patent dated the 19th of November 1757 (31st Geo. II.), created a peer of Great Britain, by the style and title of Lord Lyttelton, Baron of Frankley, in the county of Worcester. His parliamentary speeches showed sound judgment, ready eloquence, and inflexible integrity. During the last ten years he lived chiefly in retirement, devoting himself for the most part to literature. His Dialogues of the Dead, in which the morality of Fénelon and the spirit of Fontenelle are happily united, appeared in 1760. His History of Henry II., a laborious and respectable production, the fruit of twenty years' labour, was published in 1764-67. He died in 1778.

A complete collection of his works was published after his decease by his nephew, Mr George Ayscough. (See Memoirs and Correspondence of Lord Lyttelton, 1734-1773, 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1845.)

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 1852, entreated, 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 (M), 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 midday. In medical prescriptions, M stands for manipule, or handful; for misc, or mix; for mixtura, a mixture; and sometimes for mensura, 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.