# The Nuttall Encyclopædia/L

L
Lab`arum, the standard, surmounted by the monogram of Christ, which was borne before the Emperor Constantine after his conversion to Christianity, and in symbol of the vision of the cross in the sky which led to it. It was a lance with a cross-bar at its extremity and a crown on top, and the monogram consisted of the Greek letter for Ch and R.
Labé, Louise, poetess, surnamed “La belle Cordière” as the wife of a rope-maker, born in Lyons; wrote in prose “Dialogue d'Amour et de Folie,” and elegies and sonnets, with “a singular approach to the ring of Shakespeare's” (1526-1566).
Labiche, Eugene, a French dramatist, born at Paris; his dramas give evidence of a genius of inexhaustible fertility of invention, wit, and humour; his best-known play “Le Voyage de M. Perrichon,” 1860 (1815-1888).
Lablache, a celebrated operatic deep bass singer, born in Naples, of French origin; he created quite a furore wherever he went; was teacher of singing to Queen Victoria (1794-1858).
Laboulaye, René de, a French jurist, born in Paris; was a Moderate in politics; wrote on French law, and was the author of some tales of a humorous turn, such as “Paris in America” (1811-1883).
Labourdonnais, Maré de, French naval officer, born at St. Malo, Governor of the Isle of France; distinguished himself against the English in India; was accused of dishonourable conduct, and committed to the Bastille, but after a time found guiltless and liberated (1699-1753).
Labrador (6), the great peninsula in the E. of Canada, washed by Hudson's Bay, the Greenland Sea, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence; is a high tableland, with many lakes and rivers, and forests of birch and fir. The climate is much too severe for agriculture. Summer is very short, and plagued with mosquitoes. The rivers abound in salmon; the fox, marten, otter, and other animals are trapped for their fur; iron and labradorite are plentiful. The population is largely Eskimo, christianised by the Moravians. The name Labrador specially belongs to the region along the eastern coast, between Capes St. Louis and Chudleigh, presenting a barren front to the sea, precipitous, much indented, and fringed with rocky islands. This region is governed by Newfoundland; its chief industry is cod and herring fishing.
La Bruyère, Jean de, a celebrated French moralist, born at Paris; was tutor to the Duke of Bourbon, the grandson of the great Condé, and spent a great part of his life in Paris in connection with the Condé family; his most celebrated work is “Les Caractères de Théophrastus” (1687), which abounds in wise maxims and reflections on life, but gave offence to contemporaries by the personal satires in it under disguised names; he ranks high as a writer no less than as a moralist; his style is “a model of ease, grace, and fluency, without weakness in his characters; a book,” adds Professor Saintsbury, “most interesting to read, and especially to Englishmen” (1645-1696).
Labuan (6), a small island, distant 6 m. from the W. coast of North Borneo, ceded to Britain in 1846, and administered by the British North Borneo Company; has rich coal-beds; its town, Victoria, is a market for Borneo and the Sulu Archipelago, and exports sago, camphor, and pearls; the population is chiefly Malay and Chinese.
Labyrinth, a name given to sundry structures composed of winding passages so intricate as to render it difficult to find the way out, and sometimes in. Of these structures the most remarkable were those of Egypt and of Crete. The Egyptian to the E. of Lake Moeris, consisted of an endless number of dark chambers, connected by a maze of passages into which it was difficult to find entrance; and the Cretan, built by Dædalus, at the instance of Minos, to imprison the Minotaur, out of which one who entered could not find his way out again unless by means of a skein of thread. It was by means of this, provided him by Ariadne, Perseus (q. v.) found his way out after slaying the Minotaur (q. v.).
Lac, a term employed in India for a hundred thousand, a crore amounting to 100 lacs, usually of money.
Laccadives, The, or The Hundred Thousand Isles (14), a group of low-lying coral islands 200 m. W. of the Malabar coast of India, mostly barren, and yielding chiefly cocoa-nuts; the population being Hindus professing Mohammedanism and poorly off.
Lacépède, Comte de, French naturalist, born at Agen; was entrusted by Buffon to complete his Natural History on his death; wrote on his own account also the natural histories of reptiles, of fishes, and of man (1756-1825).
Lachaise, François de, a French Jesuit, an extremely politic member of the fraternity in the reign of Louis XIV.; had a country house E. of Paris, the garden of which is now the cemetery Père la Chaise (1624-1709).
Lachesis, the one of the three Fates that spun the thread of life and apportioned the destinies of man. See Parcæ.
Lachmann, Karl, a German philologist and classical scholar, born at Brunswick, professor at Berlin; besides sundry of the Latin classics, in particular Lucretius, he edited the Nibelungen Lied, and the Greek New Testament, as well as contributed important critical essays on the composition of the “Iliad,” which he regarded as a collection of lays from various independent sources (1783-1851). See Iliad.
Lachryma Christi, a sweet wine of a red or amber colour, produced from grapes grown on Mount Vesuvius.
Laconia, ancient name for Sparta, the inhabitants of which were noted for the brevity of their speech.
Lacordaire, Jean Baptiste Henry, a celebrated French preacher, and one of the most brilliant orators of the century; bred for the bar; held sceptical opinions at first, but came under the influence of religion; took orders as a priest and became associated with Montalembert and Lamennais as joint-editor of the Avenir, a journal which advocated views at once Ultramontane and radical, but which, being condemned by the Pope, was discontinued; after this he took to preaching, and immense crowds gathered to hear his conferences, as they were called, in the church of Notre Dame, where, to the astonishment of all, he appeared in the pulpit in guise of a Dominican monk with the tonsure; he was afterwards elected member of the Constitutent Assembly, where he sat in his monk's attire, but he soon retired; he ended his days as head of the Military College of Sorrèze (1802-1861).
Lacratelle, French historian, born at Metz; began life as a journalist; became professor of History in Paris University; wrote a history of the 18th century and of the French Revolution, showing very great accuracy of detail, if little historical insight (1766-1855).
La Crosse, the national game of Canada, of Indian derivation; is played twelve a side, each armed with a long-handled racquet or crosse, the object of the game being to drive an india-rubber ball through the opponents' goal.
Lactantius, a Christian apologist of the early part of the 14th century, who, from his eloquent advocacy of the Christian faith, was styled the Christian Cicero; he was a pagan born, and by profession a rhetorician.
Ladislaus, the name of seven kings of Hungary, of which the first (1077-1095) received canonisation for his zeal on behalf of Christianity.
Ladoga, a lake as large as Wales and the largest in Europe, in the NW. of Russia, not far from St. Petersburg; it is the centre of an extensive lake and river system, receiving the Volkhov, Syas, and Svir, and drained into the Gulf of Finland by the Neva; but so dangerous is navigation, owing to sunken rocks and shoals and to the storms that prevail during the open months, that the extensive shipping is carried round the S. shores by the Ladoga and the canals.
Ladrones or Mariana Islands (10), a well-watered, thickly-wooded group in the North Pacific, 1400 m. E. of the Philippines and belonging to Spain; produce cotton, indigo, and sugar, but the trade is of little worth; the only town is San Ignazio de Agaña, on the largest island, Guam.
Lady Chapel, a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary attached to a church.
Lady Day, the festival of the annunciation of the Virgin Mary, March 25; a quarter-day in England and Ireland.
Lady of England, title of Matilda, daughter of Henry I. and wife of Geoffrey Plantagenet, conferred on her by a council held at Westminster, 1141.
Lady of Shalott, a maiden of great beauty, the subject of a poem by Tennyson, in love with Lancelot, who died because her love was not returned.
Lady of the Lake, the name given to Vivien, the mistress of Merlin, who dwelt in an imaginary lake, surrounded by a court of knights and damsels; also to Helen Douglas, a heroine of Scott's, who lived with her father near Loch Katrine.
La Fayette, Madame de, novelist, born in Paris; is credited with being the originator of the class of fiction in which character and its analysis are held of chief account; she was the daughter of the governor of Havre, and contracted a Platonic affection for La Rochefoucauld in his old age, and was besides on intimate terms with Madame Sévigné and the most eminent literary men of the time; her “Princess de Clèves” is a classic work, and the merit of it is enhanced by the reflection that it preceded by nearly half a century the works both of Le Sage and Defoe (1634-1693).
La Fayette, Marquis de, born in the castle of Chavagnac; went to America in 1777, took an active and self-sacrificing part in the War of Independence; was honourably distinguished at the battle of Brandywine; sailed for France, brought over auxiliaries; he commanded Washington's vanguard in 1782; returned to Paris, and was made commander-in-chief of the National Guard in 1789; would have achieved the Revolution with the minimum of violence and set up a republic on the model of the Washington one; was obliged to escape from France during the Reign of Terror; was imprisoned five years at Olmütz, but was liberated when Napoleon appeared on the scene; as a consistent republican showed no favour to Napoleon; took part in the Revolution of 1830, became again commander-in-chief of the National Guard and a supporter of Louis Philippe, the citizen king; characterised by Carlyle as “a constitutional pedant; clear, thin, inflexible, as water turned to thin ice” (1757-1834).
Lafitte, Jacques, French banker and financier; played a conspicuous part in the Revolution of 1830, and by his influence as a liberal politician with the French people secured the elevation of Louis Philippe to the throne; in the calamities attendant on this Revolution his house became insolvent, but he was found, after paying all demands, to be worth in francs nearly seven millions (1767-1844).
Lafontaine, Jean de, celebrated French author, born at Château-Thierry, in Champagne; a man of indolent, gay, and dissipated habits, but of resplendent genius, known to all the world for his inimitable “Tales” and “Fables,” and who was the peer of all the distinguished literary notabilities of his time; the former, published in 1665, too often transgress the bounds of morality, but are distinguished by exquisite grace of expression and sparkling wit; the latter, published in 1668, have an irresistible charm which no reader can withstand; he was the author also of the “Amours of Cupid and Psyche”; he was the friend of Boileau, Molière, and Racine, and in his later years a confirmed Parisian (1621-1695).
La Force, Duc de, maréchal of France under Henry IV., and one of the most distinguished; escaped when an infant the massacre of St. Bartholomew (1558-1652).
Lagos (40), a large and thriving commercial town in a colony (100) of the name subject to Britain, on the Guinea Coast of Africa.
Lagrange, Joseph Louis, Comte, famous mathematician, born at Turin of French parentage; had gained at the age of twenty a European reputation by his abstruse algebraical investigations; appointed director of Berlin Academy in 1766, he pursued his researches there for twenty-one years; in 1787 he removed to Paris, where be received a pension from the Court of 6000 francs, and remained till his death; universally respected, he was unscathed by the Revolution; appointed to several offices, he received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour from Napoleon, who made him a count (1736-1813).
La Harpe, Jean François de, French littérateur and critic, born in Paris; wrote dramas and éloges, but his best-known work is his “Cours de Littérature” in 12 vols., of little account except for its criticism of French literature, in which he showed not a little pedantry and ill-temper as well as acuteness; he was zealous for the Revolution at first, but drew back when extreme measures were adopted and became a warm royalist, for which he was sentenced to deportation, but left at liberty (1739-1803).
La Hogue, a cape with a roadstead on NE. of France, where a French fleet sent by Louis XIV. to invade England on behalf of James II. was destroyed in 1692.
Lahore (177), an ancient walled city on the Ravi, a tributary of the Indus, 1000 m. NW. of Calcutta, is the capital of the Punjab, and an important railway centre; it has many fine buildings, both English and native, including a university and a medical school, but the situation is unhealthy; half the population are Mussulmans; the trade is inconsiderable; the district of Lahore (1,075) one of the most important in the province, is well irrigated by the Bári Doab Canal, and produces fine crops of cereals, pulse, and cotton.
Laidlaw, William, Sir Walter Scott's factor at Abbotsford, born in Selkirkshire; having failed in farming, entered Scott's service in 1817 and remained his trusted and faithful friend, advising him in his schemes of improvement and acting latterly as his amanuensis till his death in 1832; thereafter he was factor in Ross-shire, where he died; he had some poetic gift of his own, and contributed to the third volume of the “Minstrelsy” (1780-1845).
Laing, David, a learned antiquary, profound in his knowledge of Scottish ecclesiastical and literary history, born, the son of bookseller, at Edinburgh, followed for thirty years his father's trade; was appointed to the charge of the Signet Library in 1837; was secretary to the Bannatyne Club, and in 1864 received the degree of LL.D. from Edinburgh University; he contributed many valuable papers to the Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, collected and edited much of the ancient poetry of Scotland, and acquired a private library of manuscripts and volumes of great value (1799-1878).
Laing, Malcolm, Scottish historian, born in Orkney; passed through Edinburgh University to the Scottish bar, to which he was called in 1785, but proved an unsuccessful advocate; turning to literature, he edited “Ossian,” and wrote a “History of Scotland from James VI. to Anne” (1800), in a subsequent edition of which he inserted the well-known attack on Mary Stuart (1762-1818).
Laïs, the name of two Greek courtesans celebrated for their beauty, the one a native of Corinth, who lived at the time of the Peloponnesian War, and the other belonging to Sicily, and who, having visited Thessaly, was stoned to death by the women of the country out of jealousy.
Laissez-faire (lit. let things alone and take their course), the name given to the let-alone system of political economy, in opposition to State interference, or State regulation, in private industrial enterprise.
Lake District, a district in Cumberland and Westmorland, 20 m. long by 25 m. broad, abounding in lakes, environed with scenery of rare beauty, and much frequented by tourists.
Lake Dwellings, primitive settlements, the remains of which have been found in many parts of Europe, but chiefly in Switzerland, the N. of Italy, and in Scotland and Ireland. They were constructed in various ways. In the Swiss lakes piles, consisting of unbarked tree trunks, were driven in a short distance from the shore, and strengthened more or less by cross beams; extensive platforms laid on these held small villages of rectangular wooden huts, thatched with straw and reeds. These were sometimes approachable only in canoes, more often connected with the shore by a narrow bridge, in which case cattle were kept in sheds on the platforms. In Scotland and Ireland the erection was rather an artificial island laid down in 10 or 12 ft. of water with brushwood, logs, and stones, much smaller in size, and holding but one hut. The Swiss dwellings, the chief of which are at Meilen, on Lake Zurich, date from very early times, some say 2000 years before Christ, and contain remains of the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages, weapons, instruments, pottery, linen cloth, and the like. The relic of latest date is a Roman coin of A.D. 54. The British remains are much more recent, belonging entirely to the Iron period and to historic times. The object sought in these structures is somewhat obscure—most probably it was the security their insular nature afforded.
Lake Poets, a school of English poets, the chief representatives of which were Wordsworth, Southey, and Coleridge, who adorned the beginning of the 19th century, and were so designated by the Edinburgh Review because their favourite haunt was the Lake District (q. v.) in the N. of England, and the characteristic of whose poetry may be summed as a feeling of and a sympathy with the pure spirit of nature.
Lakshmi, in the Hindu mythology the wife of Vishnu and the goddess of beauty, pleasure, and victory; she is a favourite subject of Hindu painting and poetry.
Lalande, a French astronomer; was professor of Astronomy in the College of France, and produced an excellent treatise on the subject in two vols. (1732-1807).
Lalla-Rookh, the title of a poem by Moore, from the name of the heroine, the daughter of the Mogul Emperor, Aurungzebe; betrothed to the young king of Bacharia, she goes forth to meet him, but her heart having been smitten by a poet she meets on the way, as she enters the palace of her bridegroom she swoons away, but reviving at the sound of a familiar voice she wakes up with rapture to find that the poet of her affection was none other than the prince to whom she was betrothed.
Lally-Tollendal, or Baron de Tollendal, a French general, born at Romans, in Dauphiné, of Irish descent; saw service in Flanders; accompanied Prince Charles to Scotland in 1745, and was in 1756 appointed Governor-General of the French settlements in India, but being defeated by the English he was accused of having betrayed the French interests, and executed after two years' imprisonment in the Bastille (1702-1766).
Lally-Tollendal, Marquis de, son of the preceding; successfully vindicated the conduct of his father, and received back his paternal estates that had unjustly been forfeited; supported La Fayette (q. v.) at the time of the Revolution, and followed his example; was arrested in 1792, but escaped to England; returning to France, he supported the Bourbon dynasty at the Restoration; wrote a “Defence of the French Emigrants,” and a Life of the Earl of Strafford, Charles I.'s minister (1751-1830).
Lamaism, Buddhism as professed in Thibet and Mongolia, or the worship of Buddha and his Dharma (q. v.); conceived of as incarnated in the Sangha (q. v.) or priesthood, and especially in the Grand Lama or Dalai Lama, the chief priest; a kind of hero-worship, or at all events saint-worship; long since sunk into mere idolatry (q. v.).
Lamarck, a French naturalist, born at Bazentin, Picardy; entered the army at the age of 17, and after serving in it a short time retired and devoted himself to botany; in his “Flora Française” published (1773) adopted a new method of classification of plants; in 1774 became keeper of what ultimately became the Jardin des Plantes, and was professor of Zoology, devoting himself to the study of particularly invertebrate animals, the fruits of which study appeared in his “Histoire Naturelle des Animaux sans Vertèbres”; he held very advanced views on the matter of biology, and it was not till the advent of Darwin they were appreciated (1744-1820).
La Marmora, Marquis de, an eminent Italian general and statesman, born at Turin; fell under the rebuke of Bismarck for an indiscretion as a diplomatist (1801-1878).
Lamartine, Alphonse Marie de, a French author, politician, and poet, born in Mâcon; his poetic effusions procured for him admission into the French Academy, and in 1834 he entered the Chamber of Deputies; his ability as a poet, and the independent attitude he maintained in the Chamber, gained for him a popularity which his action in 1848 contributed to increase, but it suffered eclipse from the moment he allied himself with Ledru-Rollin; after serving in the Provisional Government of 1848 he stood candidate for the Presidency, but was defeated, and on the occasion of the coup d'état, he retired into private life; he published in 1819 “Méditations Poétiques,” in 1847 the “Histoire de Girondins,” besides other works, including “Voyage en Orient”; he was “of the second order of poets,” says Professor Saintsbury, “sweet but not strong, elegant but not full;... a sentimentalist and a landscape painter” (1790-1869).
Lamb, Charles, essayist and critic, born in London, and educated at Christ's Hospital, where he had Coleridge for school-fellow; was for 35 years a clerk in the East India Company's office, on his retirement from which he was allowed a pension of £450; it was as a poet he made his first appearance in literature, but it was as an essayist he attained distinction, and chiefly by his “Essays of Elia” he is best known and will be longest remembered; he was the friend of Wordsworth, Southey, and others of his illustrious contemporaries, and is famous for his witty remarks, to which his stammering tongue imparted a special zest; he was never married; his affection for his sister Mary, for whom he composed his “Tales from Shakespeare,” is well known, and how in her weakness from insanity he tenderly nursed her (1775-1834).
Lamballe, Princesse de, a young widow, the devoted friend of Marie Antoinette, born at Turin; was for her devotion to the queen one of the victims of the September massacres and brutally outraged; “she was beautiful, she was good, she had known no happiness” (1748-1792).
Lambert, Johann Heinrich, German philosopher and mathematician; was the successor and rival of Leibnitz in both regards, and was patronised by Frederick the Great (1619-1728).
Lambert, John, one of Cromwell's officers in the civil war, born in Yorkshire; served in the successive engagements during the war from that of Marston Moor onwards, and assisted at the installation of Cromwell as Protector, but declined to take the oath of allegiance afterwards; on the death of the Protector essayed with other officers to govern the country, an attempt which was defeated by Monk, and for which he was imprisoned, tried, and banished (1619-1683).
Lambeth (275), part of the SW. quarter of London, and a parliamentary borough in Surrey returning four members; abounds in manufactories, contains St. Thomas's Hospital and Lambeth Palace, the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, with a magnificent library and important historic portrait-gallery.
Lamennais, Félicité, Robert de, a French theologian and journalist, born at St. Malo; began life as a free-thinker, but by-and-by became a Roman Catholic of the extreme ultramontane type; in 1820 went to Rome and was offered a cardinalate, but in 1830 his views changed, and he joined Montalembert and Lacordaire in the conduct of L'Avenir, a journal which advocated religious and political freedom, on the condemnation of which by the Pope he became again a free-thinker and revolutionary; his influence on French literature was great, and affected both Michelet and Victor Hugo (1782-1854).
Lamentations, Book of, one of the poetical books of the Old Testament, ascribed to Jeremiah and historically connected with his prophecies, written apparently after the fall of Jerusalem and in sight of its ruins, as lamentation over the general desolation in the land connected therewith.
Lammas Day, the first of August, literally “the loaf-mass” day or festival day at the beginning of harvest, one of the cross quarter days, Whitsuntide, Martinmas, and Candlemas being the other three.
Lammermoors, a range of hills separating the counties of Haddington and Berwick, extending from Gala Water to St. Abb's Head, the Lammer Law being 1733 ft.
La Mettrie, a French physician and materialist, born at St. Malo; bred to medicine, served as an army surgeon at Dettingen and Fontenoy; his materialistic views were given first in a publication entitled “D'Histoire Naturelle de l'Âme,” and at length in his “L'Homme Machine,” both in profession of a materialism so gross and offensive, being absolutely atheistic, that he was glad to escape for shelter to Berlin under the wing of Frederick the Great (1709-1754).
Lamotte, Countess de, born at Fontelle, in Aube, who came up to Paris a shifty adventuress and played a chief part in the notorious affair of the Diamond Necklace (q. v.), which involved so many high people in France in deep disgrace (1756-1791). See Carlyle's “Miscellanies.”
Lanark (5), county town of Lanarkshire, on the Clyde, 31 m. SE. of Glasgow; has a cattle-market and some weaving industry, and is for parliamentary purposes in the Falkirk group of burghs.
Lanarkshire (1,106), inland Scottish county occupying the Clyde valley, in size the twelfth, but first in wealth and population. The middle and south are hilly, with such outstanding peaks as Tinto, and are adapted for cattle and sheep grazing and for dairy-farming. The lower north-western portion is very rich in coal and iron, the extensive mining and manufacture of which has given rise to many busy towns such as Glasgow, Motherwell, Hamilton, Coatbridge, and Airdrie; fireclay, shale, and lead are also found; the soil is various; comparatively little grain is grown; there are large woods. The orchards of the river side have given place mostly to market gardens, which the proximity of great towns renders profitable. The industries, besides iron and coal, are very extensive and varied, and include great textile works.
Lancashire (3,927), English county stretching from the Cumberland Mountains in the N. to the Mersey in the S. along the shores of the Irish Sea; is the wealthiest and most populous county, and the indentations of the coast-line adapt it to be the chief outlet westward for English trade, more than a third of England's foreign commerce passing through its ports. The country is mostly low, with spurs of the Yorkshire hills; it is rich in minerals, chiefly coal and iron; its industrial enterprise is enormous; nearly half of the cotton manufacture of the world is carried on in its towns, besides woollen and silk manufacture, the making of engineer's tools, boots and shoes. The soil is a fertile loam, under corn and green crops and old pasture. Lancaster is the county town, but the largest towns are Liverpool, Manchester, Preston, and Blackburn. The northern portion, detached by Morecambe Bay, is known as Furness, belongs really to the Lake District, and has Barrow-in-Furness, with its large shipbuilding concerns, for its chief town. Lancashire has long been an influential political centre.
Lancaster (31), picturesque town near the mouth of the Lune, 50 m. NW. of Manchester, is the county town of Lancashire, and manufactures furniture, cotton, machinery, and railway plant; it was disfranchised in 1867 for corrupt practices.
Lancaster, Joseph, educationist, born in Southwark, and founder of the Monitorial System; had a chequered career, died in poverty (1778-1838).
Lancelot of the Lake, one of the Knights of the Round Table, famous for his gallantry and his amours with Queen Guinevere; was called of the Lake because educated at the court of the Lady of the Lake (q. v.); he turned hermit in the end, and died a holy man.
Land League, an organisation founded by Davitt (q. v.) in Ireland in 1879 to deal with the land question, and suppressed in 1881 as illegal.
Landaman, name given to the chief magistrate in certain Swiss cantons, also to the President of the Swiss Diet.
Lander, Richard, African explorer, born in Truro, Cornwall; accompanied Clapperton as his servant; along with his brother John discovered the lower course of the Niger; on the third expedition was wounded in a conflict with the natives, and died at Fernando Po (1804-1834).
Landes, sandy plains along the French coast between the Garonne and the Pyrenees, covered with heath and broom.
Landgrabber, name given in Ireland to one in the possession or occupancy of land from which another has been evicted.
Landgrave, title given to certain counts of the old German empire who had the rank of princes.
Landon, Letitia Elizabeth, known as L. E. L., authoress, born in Chelsea; a charming woman, who wrote well both in verse and prose; was Mrs. Hemans's successor; having taken prussic acid by mistake had a tragic end (1802-1838).
Landor, Walter Savage, eminent literary man, born in Warwick, a man of excitable temperament, which involved him in endless quarrels leading to alienations, but did not affect his literary work; figured first as a poet in “Gebir” and “Count Julian,” to the admiration of Southey, his friend, and De Quincey, and ere long as a writer of prose in his “Imaginary Conversations,” embracing six volumes, on which recent critics have bestowed unbounded praise, Swinburne in particular; he died in Florence separated from his family, and dependent on it there for six years; Carlyle visited him at Bath in 1850, and found him “stirring company; a proud, irascible, trenchant, yet generous, veracious, and very dignified old man; quite a ducal or royal man in the temper of him” (1775-1864).
Land's End, a bold promontory of granite rock on the SW. coast of Cornwall.
Landseer, Sir Edwin Henry, greatest English animal-painter, born in London, the son of an engraver and writer on art, trained by his father, sketched animals before he was six years old, and exhibited in the Royal Academy before thirteen; in his early years he portrayed simply the form and colour and movement of animal life, but after his twenty-first year he added usually some sentiment or idea; elected A.R.A. in 1826, and R.A. in 1830; he was knighted in 1853; five years later he won a gold medal in Paris; in 1859 he modelled the Trafalgar Square lions; after 1861 he suffered from mental depression, and declined the Presidency of the Royal Academy in 1866 (1802-1873).
Landsturm, the name given to the last reserve in the German army, which is never called out except in time of war.
Landthing, the name of the Upper House in the Danish Parliament.
Landwehr, a military force in Germany and Austria held in reserve against a time of war, when it is called out to do ordinary military duty. In Germany those capable of bearing arms have to serve in it five years after completing their seven years' term of regular service.
Lane, Edward William, eminent Arabic scholar, born at Hereford; set out for Egypt in 1825; studied the language and manners, and returned in 1828; published in 1836 an “Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians”; translated in 1840 “The Arabian Nights,” and spent seven years in Egypt preparing an Arabic Lexicon which he had all but finished when he died; it was completed and edited by S. Lane-Poole (1801-1876).
Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, born at Pavia; went to France, entered the monastery of Bec, and became prior in 1046, and was afterwards, in 1062, elected prior of the abbey of St. Stephen at Caen; and came over to England with William the Conqueror, who appointed him to the archbishopric rendered vacant by the deposition of Stigand; he was William's trusted adviser, but his influence declined under Rufus; d. 1089.
Lanfrey, Pierre, historian, born at Chambéry; wrote an elaborate History of Napoleon to, it is reckoned, the irreparable damage of its hero (1828-1877).
Lang, Andrew, a versatile writer, born in Selkirk; has distinguished himself in various departments of literary work, as a poet, a folk-lorist, a writer of fancy tales, a biographer, and a critic; has composed “Ballads and Lyrics of Old France,” “Ballads in Blue China”; has translated Homer into musical prose, and written the Lives of Sir Stafford Northcote and John Gibson Lockhart; he began his literary career as a journalist, and his assiduity as a writer has never relaxed; b. 1844.
Lange, Friedrich, German philosopher, born near Solingen, son of the following; became professor at Marburg; wrote a “History of Materialism” of great value (1828-1875).
Lange, Johann Peter, a German theologian, born near Elberfeld; became professor at Bonn; his works are numerous, but is best known by his “Life of Christ” and his “Christian Dogmatic” (1802-1884).
Langhorne, John, an English divine and poet, horn at Kirkby Stephen; was a prebend of Wells Cathedral; wrote a poem entitled “Genius and Virtue,” and executed with a brother a translation of Plutarch's Lives (1735-1779).
Langland, or Langley, William, the presumed author of the “Vision of Piers Plowman,” and who lived in the 14th century.
Langres (10), a French town, strongly fortified, near the sources of the Marne, rich in antiquities, and one of the oldest towns in France; has manufactures and a considerable trade.
Langton, Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, born in England but educated in France; a man of ability and scholarly attainments; in 1206 visited Rome, was made Cardinal by Innocent III., presented to the Archbishopric, and consecrated at Viterbo in 1207; King John refused to acknowledge him, and the kingdom was put under an interdict, a quarrel which it took five years to settle; established in the primacy, the prelate took up a constitutional position, and mediated between the king and the barons to the advancement of political liberty; d. 1228.
Languedoc, a province in the S. of France, annexed to the French crown in 1361, and now divided into nine departments, borders on the Rhône.
Lanka, name given to Ceylon in the Hindu mythology.
Lannes, Jean, Duc de Montebello, marshal of France, born at Lectoure; was much esteemed by Napoleon, whom he zealously supported; went with him to Egypt, was with him at Marengo, distinguished himself at Austerlitz and in Spain, and fell mortally wounded at Essling (1769-1809).
Lansdowne, Henry, third Marquis of, liberal politician, born in London; educated at Edinburgh and Cambridge; sat in the Commons as member for Calne from 1801 and for Cambridge from 1806, and succeeded to the peerage in 1809; on the accession of the Liberals to power he joined the Cabinet of Canning, presided at the Foreign Office in Goderich's administration, became President of the Council under Lord Grey in 1830, and, twice refusing the Premiership, was a member of every Liberal Government till 1858, when he retired from public life; he was the trusted adviser of his party, and friend of the Queen till his death (1780-1863).
Lansdowne, Henry, fifth Marquis of, Liberal statesman, grandson of the above, educated at Oxford; succeeded to the peerage in 1866, and held office in Liberal Governments, Lord of the Treasury 1868-72, Under-Secretary for War 1872-74, and Under-Secretary for India 1880; he was Governor-General of Canada 1883-88, and Viceroy of India 1888-94; in 1895 he joined Lord Salisbury's ministry as a Liberal-Unionist, becoming Secretary for War; b. 1845.
Lanterne, La, a stout lamp-iron at the corner of a street in Paris, used by the mob for extemporised executions during the Revolution by Lynch law.
Laocöon, a priest of Apollo, in Troy, who having offended the god by, for one thing, advising the Trojans not to admit the wooden horse of the Greeks within the walls, was, with his two sons, while engaged in sacrificing to Poseidon, strangled to death in the coils of two enormous serpents sent to kill him, a subject which is the theme of one of the grandest relics of ancient sculpture now in existence and preserved in the Vatican.
Laodamia, a Grecian lady, who accompanied her husband to the Trojan War, and who, on his death on the field, begged the gods to restore him to her for three hours, a prayer which was granted, but with the result that at the end of the time she died along with him and accompanied him on his return to Hades.
Laodicea. Eight ancient cities bore this name; the chief, situated on the Lycus, in Phrygia, lay on the way between Ionia and the Euphrates; was a city of great commerce and wealth, the seat of schools of art, science, medicine, and philosophy, and of an early Christian bishopric; though the Church was stigmatised in the Revelation, two councils assembled here in A.D. 363 and 476, the former of which influenced the determination of the canon of both Testaments; the city, destroyed by the Mohammedan invasions, is now in ruins.
Laomedon, the founder of Troy, who persuaded Apollo and Neptune to assist him in building the walls, but refused the recompense when the work was finished, in consequence of which the latter sent a monster to ravage the country, which could be propitiated only by the annual sacrifice to it of a young maid, till one year the lot fell on Hermione, the king's daughter, when Hercules, persuaded by the king, slew the monster and delivered the maiden.
Laotze (i. e. the old Philosopher), a Chinese sage, born in the province of Ho-nan about 565 B.C., a contemporary of Confucius, who wrote the celebrated “Tao-te-King,” canon, that is, of the Tao, or divine reason, and of virtue, one—and deservedly so on account of its high ethics—of the sacred books of China; he was the founder of one of the three principal religions of China, Confucianism and Buddhism being the other two, although his followers, the Tao-sze as they are called, are now degenerated into a set of jugglers.
La Pérouse, a celebrated French navigator, born near Albi, in Languedoc; after distinguished services in the navy was in 1785 sent with two frigates on a voyage of discovery by Louis XVI.; “the brave navigator” went forth, sailing along the Pacific shores of America and Asia as far as Botany Bay, but never returned; “the seekers search far seas for him in vain; he has vanished trackless into blue immensity, and only some mournful mysterious shadow of him hovers long in all heads and hearts” (1741-1788).
Lapithæ, a race inhabiting the mountains of Thessaly; subject to Perithous, who, on the occasion of his marriage with Hippodamia, invited his kinsfolk the Centaurs to the feast, but these, under intoxication from the wine, attempting to carry off the bride and other women, were set on by the Lapithæ and, after a bloody struggle, overpowered.
Laplace, a celebrated French mathematician, born at Beaumont-en-Auge, Normandy; the son of a farmer; after teaching in his native place went to Paris (1767), where he became professor in the Royal Military School; becoming member of the Académie des Sciences in 1785, he attained a position among mathematicians and astronomers almost equal to Newton's; his “Three Laws” demonstrated the stability of the solar system; he published many treatises on lunar and planetary problems, electricity, magnetism, and a Nebula-hypothesis; his “Mécanique Céleste” is unrivalled in that class of work; surviving the Revolution he became implicated in politics without success or credit; he received his marquisate from Louis XVIII. in 1817, when he became President of the French Academy; “Lagrange (q. v.) has proved that on Newton's theory of gravitation the planetary system would endure for ever; Laplace, still more cunningly, even guessed that it could not have been made on any other scheme” (1749-1827).
Lapland (28), a stretch of country in the N. of Europe, between the Atlantic and the White Sea; is divided between Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. Its climate is very severe; mountainous in the W., it becomes more level in the E., where are many marshes, lakes, and rivers; the summer is never dark, and there are six to eight weeks of winter never light. The Lapps, of whom 18,000 are in Norwegian Lapland, are closely allied to the Finns, small of stature, thick lipped, and with small piercing eyes; proverbially uncleanly, not very intelligent, are good-natured, but untruthful and parsimonious; nominally Christian, but very superstitious; they are kindly treated by both Norway and Sweden. The mountain Lapps are nomads, whose wealth consists of herds of reindeer, which supply nearly all their wants. The sea Lapps live by fishing. The forest and river Lapps, originally nomads, have adopted a settled life, domesticated their reindeer, and taken to hunting and fishing.
La Plata (65), a new city, founded in 1884 as capital of the prov. of Buenos Ayres, 30 m. SE. of Buenos Ayres city; rapidly built, it has continued to grow, and has now some handsome buildings, a college, and cotton and woollen manufactures; a canal connects it with the La Plata River.
La Plata River, a broad estuary in South America, from 28 to 140 m. broad and 200 m. long, with Uruguay on the N. and the Argentine Republic on the S., through which the Uruguay and Paraná rivers pour into the Atlantic; it is much exposed to storms; its best harbour is at Monte Video.
Lapsi, name given to apostates in the early Christian Church.
Laputa, a flying island inhabited by speculative philosophers, visited by Gulliver in his “Travels,” who, when their minds began to be too much absorbed in their studies, were wakened up by a set of attendants called “Flappers” armed with dried bladders full of small pebbles or “dried peas” attached to the end of a stick, with which they struck them gently about the mouth and ears.
Lardner, Dionysius, a popular scientist, born in Dublin; wrote a number of scientific works; edited a Cyclopedia, being a series of volumes on scientific subjects; was professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy in University College, London, but from a misdemeanour had to vacate his chair and emigrate to America (1793-1859).
Lardner, Nathaniel, an English divine, ecclesiastically a Presbyterian but theologically a Unitarian, author of “Credibility of the Gospel History” and “Jewish and Heathen Testimonies” in favour of Christianity (1684-1768).
Lares, household deities of the Romans; originally deified ancestors of the families whose family life they protected, and images of whom were kept in some shrine in the house near the hearth. Besides these domestic lares, there were public lares, who were protectors of the whole community. Both classes were objects of worship.
Larissa (13), the capital of Thessaly, in Greece; stands in a sandy plain; is the seat of a Greek archbishop; has mosques as well as churches.
La Rochefoucauld, François, Duc de, a great maxim writer, member of a French family of Angoumois, born at Paris; played a conspicuous part in the war of the Fronde; was present at several engagements, and was wounded twice over, and retired at length in shattered health; he passed the rest of his days at court, where he enjoyed the society of the most distinguished ladies of the time; his “Maxims” appeared in 1665, and were immediately appreciated; they bear one and all on ethical subjects, and are the fruit of a life of large and varied commerce with the race (1613-1680).
La Rochejaquelein, Henri, Comte de, a celebrated Vendéan royalist; the peasants of La Vendée having in 1792 risen in the royal cause, he placed himself at the head of them, and after gaining six victories was killed fighting in single combat while defending Nouaillé (1772-1794).
Larousse, Pierre, a celebrated French grammarian and lexicographer; best known by his “Grand Dictionnaire Universel du xix$^{me}$ Siècle” (1817-1875).
Larry, Dominique Jean, Baron, a celebrated military surgeon; distinguished for the organisation he instituted of the “flying ambulance” for the care of the wounded in battle; accompanied Napoleon to Egypt; served in the Russian campaign; was wounded and taken prisoner at Waterloo; wrote treatises on army surgery (1766-1842).
La Salle, Robert Cavelier Sieur de, a French explorer, born at Rouen; set out from Canada and explored the North American continent along the course of the Mississippi as far as the Gulf of Mexico, planting the French flag at what he thought was, but was not, the mouth of the river; was assassinated by one of his retinue in the end (1640-1687).
Lascars, East Indians serving as seamen on board of British vessels, who have proved very tractable, and make excellent sailors; they are mostly Mohammedans.
Lascarsis, Constantino, an eminent Greek scholar, born in Phrygia; on the fall of Constantinople in 1453 came with his brother John to Italy, published a Greek grammar, opened a school at Rome and Naples for Greek and Rhetoric, and did much to propagate in Italy a taste for Hellenic literature (1445-1535).
Las Casas, Bartholomé de, a celebrated Spanish priest, surnamed the Apostle of the Indians, born at Seville; visited the West Indies early under Columbus; took a deep interest in the natives; was grieved to see the usage they were subjected to there, as well as elsewhere, under the rule of Spain, and spent his life in persuading his countrymen to adopt a more lenient and humane treatment; crossed the ocean twelve times on their behalf; was made Bishop of Chiapa, in Mexico, in 1554; died in Madrid (1474-1566).
Las Cases, French historiographer; became attached to Napoleon and accompanied him to St. Helena, and after his death published his Memorial of St. Helena, with an account of Napoleon's life and the treatment he was subjected to there (1766-1842).
Lasco, Johannes, a Protestant Reformer, born in Poland; studied at Rome and Bologna, and entered holy orders; became acquainted with Erasmus at Basel, and joined the Reformation movement; settled at Emden; accepted an invitation from Cranmer to London, and ministered to a Protestant congregation there, but left it on the accession of Mary, and in 1556 returned to Poland and contributed largely to the movement already begun there (1490-1560).
Las Palmas (17), the capital of the Canary Islands, on the NE. of the Grand Canary, the second largest of the group; is the seat of the Government, and a health resort.
Lassalle, Ferdinand, founder of Socialism in Germany, born at Breslau, of Jewish parents; attended the universities of Breslau and Berlin; became a disciple of Hegel; took part in the Revolution of 1848, and was sent to prison for six months; in 1861 his “System of Acquired Rights” started an agitation of labour against capital, and he was again thrown into prison; on his release founded an association to secure universal suffrage and other reforms; returning to Switzerland he conceived a passionate affection for a lady betrothed to a noble whom she was compelled to marry, and whom he challenged, but by whom he was mortally wounded in a duel (1825-1864).
Lassell, William, astronomer, born at Bolton, discovered the satellite of Neptune, and the eighth satellite of Saturn, in an observatory of his own, with instruments of his own construction (1799-1880).
Lassen, Christian, eminent Orientalist, born at Bergen; studied Pâli with Burnouf in Paris; became professor of Indian Languages and Literature in Bonn; contributed largely to our knowledge of cuneiform inscriptions, and wrote, among other works, an epoch-making work entitled “Indische Alterthumskunde.”
Lasso, a well-plaited strip of hide, with a noose, to catch wild horses or cattle with.
Latakia (10), a seaport on the coast of Syria; exports a tobacco of a fine quality, to which it gives name.
Lateen Sail, a triangular sail common on the Mediterranean.
Lateran, the palace, originally a basilica, built by Constantine in Rome about 333, the residence of the Pope till 1308, and from which no fewer than five Ecumenical Councils receive their names as held in it, namely, those of 1123, 1139, 1179, 1215, and 1518; the church, called the Church of St. John Lateran, is the cathedral church of Rome.
Latham, Robert Gordon, ethnologist and philologist, born at Billingborough Vicarage, Lincolnshire, graduated at Cambridge 1832. and became Fellow of King's College; qualifying in medicine he held appointments in the London hospitals, but meanwhile was attracted to philology and ethnology, appointed professor of English Language and Literature in University College, London, 1839, and director of the ethnological department of the Crystal Palace, 1852; in 1862 he affirmed, against the most weighty authorities, that the Aryan stock is originally European, not Asian, a view which has since found favour; he published his “English Language” in 1841, and “The Natural History of the Varieties of Mankind” in 1850, and was pensioned in 1863 (1812-1888).
Latimer, Hugh, Bishop of Worcester, born near Leicester; studied at Cambridge, and entered the Church, but soon adopted the Reformed doctrines, gained the favour of Henry VIII. by approving of his divorce, and was appointed bishop; by his labours in Worcester as a preacher of the Reformed faith he lost the royal favour, and was twice committed to the Tower for his obstinacy, he the while resigning his appointment; under Edward VI. his zeal as a preacher had full scope, but under Mary his mouth was gagged, and he was burnt at the stake along with Ridley, opposite Balliol College, Oxford (1490-1545).
Latin Union, a convention in 1865, between France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, and Greece, to establish an international monetary standard.
Latitudinarians, the name given to a body of theologians belonging to the Church of England who, at the end of the 17th century, sought, in the interest of religion, to affiliate the dogmas of the Church, with the principles of philosophy as grounded on reason; they were mostly of the school of Plato, and among their leaders were Cudworth and Henry More.
Latona, the Latin name for Greek Leto (q. v.).
Latour d'Auvergne, Corret de, a French grenadier, born in Brittany; celebrated for his intrepidity and his self-sacrificing patriotism; distinguished himself in the wars of the Revolution; would accept no promotion, and declined even the title of “First Grenadier of the Republic” which Bonaparte wished to confer on him, but by which he is known to posterity (1743-1800).
Latrielle, Pierre André, French naturalist, born at Brives, in Corrèze; one of the founders of the science of Entomology; succeeded Lamarck as professor in Natural History in the Jardin des Plantes; wrote several works on entomology (1762-1833).
Latria, the name given in Catholic theology to the worship of God, as distinguished from Dulia (q. v.), their name for the worship of saints.
Latter-Day Pamphlets, a series of pamphlets published by Carlyle in 1850, in vehement denunciation of the political, social, and religious imbecilities and injustices of the period.
Latter-Day Saints. See Mormons.
Laud, William, archbishop of Canterbury, born at Reading, son of a clothier; studied at and became a Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford, was ordained in 1601; early gave evidence of his High-Church proclivities and his hostility to the Puritans, whom for their disdain of forms he regarded as the subverters of the Church; he rose by a succession of preferments, archdeaconship of Huntingdon one of them, to the Primacy, but declined the offer of a cardinal's hat at the hands of the Pope, and became along with Strafford a chief adviser of the unfortunate Charles I.; his advice did not help the king out of his troubles, and his obstinate, narrow-minded pedantry brought his own head to the block; he was beheaded for treason on Tower Hill, Jan. 10, 1645; he “could see no religion” in Scotland once on a visit there, “because he saw no ritual, and his soul was grieved” (1573-1645).
Lauderdale, John Maitland, Duke of, Scottish Secretary under Charles II., professed Covenanting sympathies in his youth, and attended the Westminster Assembly of Divines as a Commissioner for Scotland 1643; succeeding to the earldom in 1645 he joined the Royalists in the Civil War, was made prisoner at Worcester 1651, and confined for nine years; receiving his Scottish office at the Restoration he devoted himself to establishing by every means the absolute power of the king in Church and State; his measures were responsible for the rising of 1666 and in part for that of 1677; but he made the Episcopal Church quite subservient; appointed to the Privy Council, he sat in the “Cabal” ministry, was made duke in 1672, and in spite of intrigues and an attempt to censure him in the Commons, remained in power till 1680; he was shrewd, clever, witty, sensual, and unscrupulous; then and still hated in Scotland (1616-1682).
Lauenburg (49), a duchy of N. Germany, between Holstein and Mecklenburg, was annexed to Prussia in 1876.
Laughing Philosopher, a name given to Democrates of Abdera for a certain flippancy he showed.
Launceston (17), on the Tamar, the second city in Tasmania, is the chief port and market in the N., a fine city, carrying on a good trade with Australian ports, and serving as a summer resort to Melbourne.
Laura, a young Avignonese married lady, for whom Petrarch conceived a Platonic affection, and who exercised a lifelong influence over him.
Laureate, Poet, originally an officer of the royal household whose business it was to celebrate in an ode any joyous occasion connected with royalty, originally the sovereign's birthday; it is now a mere honour bestowed by royalty on an eminent poet.
Laurier, Sir Wilfred, Premier of Canada since 1896, and the first French-Canadian to attain that honour, born in St. Lin; bred for the bar, soon rose to the top of his profession; elected in 1871 as a Liberal to the Quebec Provincial Assembly, where he came at once to the front, and elected in 1874 to the Federal Assembly, he became distinguished as “the silver-tongued Laurier,” and as the Liberal leader; his personality is as winning as his eloquence, and he stood first among all the Colonial representatives at Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897; b. 1841.
Lausanne (33), a picturesque town on the slopes of the Jura, 1 m. from the N. shore of Lake Geneva, is the capital of the Swiss canton of Vaud; noted for its educational institutions and museums, and for its magnificent Protestant cathedral; it has little industry, but considerable trade, and is a favourite tourist resort; here took place the disputation between Calvin, Farel, and Viret, and here Gibbon wrote the “Decline and Fall.”
Lava, a general term for all rocks originating in molten streams from volcanoes, includes traps, basalts, pumice, and others; the surface of a lava stream cools and hardens quickly, presenting a cellulose structure, while below the heat is retained much longer and the rock when cooled is compact and columnar or crystalline; the largest recorded lava flow was from Skaptar Jökull, Iceland, in 1783.
Lavalette, Count de, French general, born at Paris; condemned to death after the Restoration as an accomplice of Napoleon, he was saved from death by the devotion of his wife, who was found in the prison instead of him on the morning appointed for his execution (1769-1830).
La Vallière, Duchesse de, a fascinating woman, born at Tours, who became the mistress of Louis XIV.; supplanted by another, she became a Carmelite nun in 1674 in the Carmelite nunnery in Paris, and continued doing penance there as would seem till her death (1644-1710).
Lavater, Johann Kaspar, German clergyman, a mystic thinker and writer on physiognomy, born at Zurich; wrote “Outlooks to Eternity,” and a work on physiognomy, or the art of judging of character from the features of the face (1741-1804).
Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent, one of the founders of modern chemistry, born in Paris; to prosecute his researches accepted the post of farmer-general in 1769, introduced in 1776 improvements in manufacturing gunpowder, discovered the composition of the air and the nature of oxygen, applied the principles of chemistry to agriculture, and indicated the presence and action of these principles in various other domains of scientific inquiry; called to account for his actions as farmer-general, one in particular “putting water in the tobacco,” and condemned to the guillotine; he in vain begged for a fortnight's respite to finish some experiments, “the axe must do its work” (1742-1794).
Law, John, financier and speculator, son of a goldsmith and banker, born at Edinburgh; was early noted for his calculating power; visiting London in 1691 he got into debt, sold his estate, killed a man in a duel, and escaped to Amsterdam, where he studied finance; came to Scotland with financial proposals for the Government in 1700, but they were refused, and he spent some years on the Continent as a gambling adventurer; in 1716 he and his brother William started a private bank in Paris, the success of which induced the Regent Orleans in 1718 to institute the “Royal Bank of France,” with Law as director; next year he floated the “Mississippi Scheme” for the settlement of Louisiana, but after a show of success the scheme proved a bubble; he had to fly to Brussels, his property being confiscated; he died at Venice, poor, but scheming to the end (1671-1729).
Law, William, author of “A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life,” born at Kingscliffe, Northamptonshire, son of a grocer; entered Cambridge in 1705; became a Fellow, and took orders in 1711; became associated with the family of the elder Gibbon, father of the historian, in 1727, and spent ten years with them as tutor, friend, and spiritual director; in 1740 he retired to Kingscliffe, where he spent the remainder of his life in seclusion, shared by Miss Hester Gibbon, the historian's aunt, and Mrs. Hutcheson, a widow of means, occupying themselves much with charitable schemes; Law was an able theologian and dialectician, and an exponent of German mysticism; his writings contributed greatly to the evangelical revival (1686-1761).
Lawrence, John, Lord, the “Saviour of India,” born of Irish parentage at Richmond, Yorkshire; entered the Bengal Civil Service in 1829, and on the annexation of the Punjab was appointed Commissioner and afterwards Lieutenant-Governor; by his justice and the reforms he carried through he so won the esteem of the Sikhs that at the Mutiny he was able to disarm the Punjab mutineers, raise 50,000 men, and capture Delhi; returning to England he received a pension of £1000 a year, was made successively baronet and Privy Councillor, and sent out again as Governor-General of India in 1863; his rule was characterised by wise policy and sound finance; he disapproved of English interference in Afghan affairs; he was raised to the peerage in 1869 (1811-1879).
Lawrence, St., a deacon of the Church at Rome, who suffered martyrdom in the time of Valerian, 258, by being broiled on a gridiron, which he is represented in Christian art as holding in his hand.
Lay Brother, a member of a monastery under the three monastic vows, but not in holy orders.
Layamon, early English poet who flourished in the 12th century, and was by his own account priest near Bewdley, on the Severn; was author of a long poem or chronicle of 32,250 lines called “Brut d'Angleterre,” and which is of interest as showing how Anglo-Saxon passed into the English of Chaucer.
Layard, Sir Austen Henry, English traveller and diplomatist, born at Paris; spent his boyhood in Italy, and studied law in London; between 1845 and 1847 he conducted excavations at the ruins of Nineveh, securing for the British Museum its famous specimens of Assyrian art, and on his return published works on “Nineveh and its Remains” and “Monuments of Nineveh”; he received the freedom of London, Oxford gave him D.C.L., and Aberdeen University chose him for Lord Rector; entering Parliament in 1852, he sat for Aylesbury and for Southwark, and was Under-secretary for Foreign Affairs 1861-06; in 1809 he was sent as ambassador to Madrid, and from 1877 till 1880 represented England at Constantinople, where his philo-Turkish sympathies provoked much comment; he was a noted linguist (1817-1894).
Lazzaroni, an indolent class of waifs under a chief who used to lounge about Naples, and proved formidable in periods of revolution; they subsisted partly by service as messengers, porters, &c., and partly as beggars.
League and Covenant, Solemn. See Covenant.
League, The, specially a coalition organised in 1576 by the Duke of Guise to suppress the Reformed religion in France by denying civil and religious liberty to the Huguenots, and specially to prevent the accession of Henry IV. as a Protestant to the throne.
Leamington (27), a fashionable Warwickshire watering-place of modern date on the Learn, 15 m. SE. of Birmingham. It has chalybeate, saline, and sulphurous springs, to which visitors have gathered since the end of 18th century; brewing and kitchen-range making are carried on; Leamington and Warwick return one member of Parliament.
Leander. See Hero.
Leaning Tower, specially a campanile of white marble at Pisa, in Italy, 178 ft. in height, and which leans 14 ft. off the perpendicular.
Lear, a legendary British king, the hero of one of Shakespeare's tragedies, the victim of the unnatural conduct of two of his daughters.
Lear, Edward, English painter, and author of “Book of Nonsense,” composed for the grandchildren of the Earl of Derby in 1848, and after of “More Nonsense Rhymes,” which were widely popular with young people; painted landscapes in Greece and Asia Minor (1812-1888).
Leather Stocking, Natty, a character in Cooper's novel the “Pioneers,” “a melodious synopsis of man and nature in the West.”
Leathes, Stanley, prebendary of St Paul's, born in Bucks; has held several clerical appointments; is professor of Hebrew in King's College, London, and is author of a number of works bearing on Christianity; b. 1830.
Lebanon (i. e. “the White Mountain”), a range on the northern border of Palestine, which rises to a height of 10,000 ft., and is divided into two by a valley, the ancient Coele-Syria, which the Leontes and Orontes water, the eastern range being called Anti-Lebanon.
Le Brun, Charles, a celebrated French painter, born in Paris; studied in Rome, settled in Paris, and patronised by Colbert; he exercised for about 40 years a great influence on the art of the period; he decorated Versailles and the Louvre, but with the death of his patron he sunk into obscurity and pined and died (1619-1690).
Lechler, Gotthard Victor, theologian, born in Würtemberg; was professor at Leipzig; wrote “History of Deism,” “Life of Wiclif,” and “Apostolic and Post-Apostolic Times” (1811-1888).
Lecky, William Edward Hartpole, historian and suggestive writer, born near Dublin; represents Dublin University in Parliament; is the author of “Leaders of Public Opinion,” 1861; “The Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe,” 1865; the “History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne,” 1869; and the “History of the Eighteenth Century,” 1878-90; b. 1838.
Leclaire, Edme-Jean, French economist, and experimentalist in the matter of the union of capital and labour; adopted the system of profit-sharing in 1842, with important results (1801-1872).
Le Clerc, John, otherwise Johannes Clericus, liberal Swiss theologian and controversialist, born at Geneva; studied philosophy and theology there, and at Paris and London; became professor in the Remonstrant Seminary in Amsterdam in 1684, but lost his speech in 1728; his voluminous writings include commentaries on the whole Bible, which contained opinions on the authorship and composition of the Pentateuch, and the inspiration of the wisdom books, then startling but since much in favour (1657-1736).
Leconte de Lisle, a French poet, a Creole, born in the Isle of Bourbon, author of “Poésies Barbares” and “Poésies Antiques,” and translator of Homer, Sophocles, Theocrates, and other classics; his translations are wonderfully faithful to the originals (1820-1894).
Lectern, a stand with a desk for a book from which the service is read in a church.
Leda, in the Greek mythology the wife of the Spartan king Tyndareus, who was visited by Zeus in the form of a swan and became the mother of Castor and Pollux; was frequently the subject of ancient art.
Ledru-Rollin, Alexandra Auguste, a French democrat, born near Paris; called to the bar in 1830; became a leader of the democratic movement in the reign of Louis Philippe, and gained the title of the “Tribune of the Revolution”; in 1848 he became a member of the Provisional Government; was Minister of the Interior; secured for France the privilege of universal suffrage; his opposition to Louis Napoleon obliged him to seek refuge in England, where he took part in a general democratic movement, and an amnesty being granted, he returned to France in 1870; was elected to the Assembly, but his power was gone; died suddenly (1807-1874).
Lee, Robert Edward, Confederate general in the American Civil War, born at Stratford, Virginia, son of a soldier of old and distinguished family, and educated at West Point; became captain of Engineers in 1838; he distinguished himself in the Mexican War of 1846; was from 1852 till 1855 head of the U.S. Military Academy; was in active service again in Texas 1855-59 as an officer of Cavalry; on the secession of the Southern States, though disapproving of the war, deeming Virginia to have a claim before the Union to his loyalty, resigned his commission, and was appointed general, third in rank, by the Confederate Congress of Virginia, 1861; after various services he succeeded General Johnston in command of the army at Richmond; won the seven days' battle against M'Clellan; invaded Maryland and Pennsylvania, but was forced to surrender with 28,000 men to Grant at Appomatox, in Virginia, April 9, 1865; forfeiting his estates he became President of the Washington University (since called Washington and Lee), Lexington, Virginia, which post he held till his death; he was a man of devout religious faith, a high sense of duty, great courage and ability as a soldier (1807-1870).
Lee, Robert, a Scottish theologian, born at Tweedmouth; was minister of Old Greyfriars, Edinburgh, and professor of Biblical Criticism in the University; reformed the Presbyterian worship to some extent on the Anglican model, and suffered no small persecution at the hands of the conservative party in the Church for these innovations; his proclivities otherwise were rationalistic (1804-1868).
Lee, Samuel, English Orientalist, born in Shropshire; professor in Cambridge first of Arabic and then of Hebrew; was the author of a Hebrew grammar and lexicon, and a translation of the Book of Job (1783-1852).
Leech, John, English artist, born in London; was educated at the Charterhouse, and a fellow pupil there of Thackeray's; displayed early a turn for caricature; produced a set of illustrations for the “Ingoldsby Legends”; joined the staff of Punch in 1844, and remained a member of it till his death; here he distinguished himself by his cartoons and his humorous illustrations of scenes and characters of English life and society, and showed himself an artist more than a caricaturist; his work was not limited to Punch; he contributed illustrations also to Once a Week, the Illustrated London News, and other publications of the time (1817-1864).
Leeds (368), fifth city in England, largest in Yorkshire, on the Aire, 25 m. SW. of York, in the West Riding; has been noted for its textile industry since the 16th century, now its woollen manufactures of all kinds are the largest in England, and besides other industries, there are very large manufactures of ready-made clothing, leather, boots and shoes, and iron. There are many fine buildings: St. Peter's Church is the largest; St. John's, consecrated in 1634, still retains the fittings of a “Laudean” church. There is a magnificent infirmary, a grammar-school, and art-gallery. The Yorkshire College is affiliated with Victoria University. Dr. Priestley was a native. A Parliamentary borough only since 1832, it now returns five members.
Leeds, Thomas Osborne, Duke of, English statesman, son of a Yorkshire baronet, after the Restoration entered Parliament as member for York and supporter of King and Church; his advance was rapid till he was Lord High Treasurer and Earl of Danby in 1674; constantly intriguing, he was impeached by the Commons in 1678, and kept for five years in the Tower without trial; returning to public life he opposed James II.'s policy regarding the Church, and joined in the movement which set William of Orange on the English throne; appointed President of the Council, he was again guilty of corrupt practices; he became Duke of Leeds in 1694, but in 1695 was impeached a second time, and though he again escaped condemnation he never regained power (1631-1712).
Leeuwenhoek, Anton van, an early microscopist, born at Delft; the instrument he used was of his own construction, but it was the means of his arriving at important discoveries, one of the most so that of capillary circulation; stoutly opposed the theory of spontaneous generation (1632-1673).
Lefort, François Jacob, Russian officer, born in Geneva, son of a merchant; after serving in France and Holland, in 1675 entered the service and gained the favour of Peter the Great, organised the army on the French model, laid the foundation of a navy, and died commander-in-chief both of the land forces and the navy (1656-1699).
Left, The, the opposition in a Continental Legislative Assembly, as sitting on the left of the chair; also the liberal section of a philosophical school.
Legalism, adherence to the strict letter of the law often in disregard of the spirit and even in defiance of it.
Le Gallienne, Richard, poet, journalist, and critic, born in Liverpool, of a Guernsey family; has been connected with and contributed to several London journals; is author of “My Lady's Sonnets,” “George Meredith: some Characteristics,” “The Religion of a Literary Man,” &c.; is successful as a lecturer as well as a littérateur; b. 1866.
Legate, the title of the Pope's representative or ambassador; in medieval times this office was attached to certain bishoprics, and the bishops were styled legati nati; besides these there were legati a latere, generally cardinals, and legati missi, or nuncios specially appointed; legates used to claim full papal jurisdiction within their provinces, which caused many disputes; now they are ambassadors for spiritual purposes at Roman Catholic Courts—Vienna, Münich, Madrid, Lisbon, and Paris—and do not interfere with the authority of the bishops.
Legendre, Adrien Marie, brilliant French mathematician, contemporary of Lagrange and Laplace, born at Toulouse; obtained the professorship of Mathematics in the Military School at Paris, and was elected to the Academy of Sciences in 1783; he was one of the commissioners to determine the length of the metre, and held many posts under the Republic and the Empire; among many works his best known is the “Elements of Geometry” (1794), translated into English by Carlyle (1752-1833).
Legge, James, a Chinese scholar, born in Huntly, Aberdeenshire; studied at King's College, Aberdeen; was sent out as missionary to the Chinese by the London Missionary Society in 1839, laboured for 30 years at Hong-Kong, and became professor of the Chinese Language and Literature at Oxford in 1876; edited with a translation and notes the Chinese classics, the “four Shu,” and the “five King,” and gave lectures on the religions of China as compared with Christianity; b. 1815.
Leghorn (106), a flourishing Italian seaport, on the W. coast, 60 m. from Florence; is a fine city, with broad streets and many canals; its exports include wine, silk, oil, marble, and straw hats; it imports spirits, sugar, and machinery; it does a large and increasing coasting trade, and manufactures coral ornaments; its prosperity dates from the 15th century; it was a free port till 1868.
Legion, among the ancient Romans a body of soldiers consisting of three lines, the hastati, the principes, and the triarii, ranged in order of battle one behind the other, each divided into ten maniples, and the whole numbering from 4000 to 6000 men; to each legion was attached six military tribunes, who commanded in rotation, each for two months; under Marius the three lines were amalgamated, and the whole divided into ten cohorts of three maniples each; under the original arrangement the hastati were young or untrained men, the principes men in their full manhood, and the triarii veterans.
Legion of Honour, an order of merit instituted on republican principles on May 10, 1802, by Bonaparte when First Consul in recompense of civil and military services to the country; it originally consisted of four classes, but now comprehends five: grand crosses, grand officers, commanders, officers, and chevaliers, each, of military or naval men, with pensions on a descending scale and all for life; their badge, a white star of five rays, bearing on the obverse an image of the republic and on the reverse two tricolor flags.
Legitimists, a name given to supporters of the Bourbon dynasty in France as opposed to the Orleanists, who supported the claims of Louis Philippe.
Leibnitz, German philosopher, mathematician, and man of affairs, born in Leipzig; studied law and took the degree of Doctor of Laws at Altorf; spent a good part of his life at courts, visited Paris and London and formed a friendship with the savans in both cities, and finally settled in Hanover, where he moved much in the circle of the Electress Sophia and her daughter Sophia Charlotte, the Prussian Queen, whom he entertained with his philosophy of the “infinitely little,” as it has been called; he discovered with Newton the basis of the differential calculus, and concocted the system of monods (his “Monodology”), between which and the soul, he taught, there existed a “pre-established harmony,” issuing in the cosmos; he was an optimist, and had for his motto the oft-quoted phrase, “Everything is for the best in the best of possible worlds”; his principal works in philosophy are his “Théodicée,” written at the instance of Sophia Charlotte and in refutation of Bayle, and his “Monodologie,” written on the suggestion of Prince Eugene (1646-1716).
Leicester (209), county town of Leicestershire, on the Soar, 40 m. E. of Birmingham; is an ancient town, with several historic buildings; has grown rapidly of late owing to its hosiery, boot and shoe, and iron-founding industries; it sends two members to Parliament.
Leicester, Robert Dudley, Earl of, Queen Elizabeth's favourite, fifth son of the Duke of Northumberland; won the queen's favour by his handsome appearance and courtly address; received many offices and honours, and on the death, under suspicious circumstances, of his Countess, Amy Robsart, aspired to her hand; still favoured, in spite of his unpopularity in the country, he was proposed as husband to Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1563; he married the dowager Lady Sheffield in 1573, and afterwards bigamously the Countess of Essex; after a short term of disfavour he was appointed commander in the Netherlands, and subsequently at Tilbury Fort, but proved an incapable soldier (1532-1588).
Leicestershire (374), English midland county, bounded by Nottingham, Lincoln, Rutland, Northampton, Warwick, and Derby shires; is an undulating upland watered by the Soar, and mostly under pasture. Leicester cattle and sheep are noted, and its Stilton cheeses. There are coal deposits and granite and slate quarries in the N. The chief towns are Leicester, the county town, Loughborough, and Hinckley.
Leigh, Aurora, the heroine of Mrs. Browning's poem of the same name. She styled it “a novel in verse,” and wrote of it, it is “the most mature of my works, and the one into which my highest convictions upon Life and Art have entered.”
Leighton, Frederick, Lord, eminent English artist, born at Scarborough; studied in the chief art-centres of the Continent; his first exhibit at the Royal Academy being “Cimabue's Madonna carried in Procession through Florence,” which was followed by a numerous array of others of classic merit, and showing the scholar as well as the artist; he distinguished himself in sculpture as well as painting, and died President of the Royal Academy after being ennobled (1830-1897).
Leighton, Robert, a Scottish theologian, the son of a Puritan clergyman in London, who wrote a book against prelacy, and suffered cruelly at the hands of Laud in consequence; studied at Edinburgh; entered the Church, and became Presbyterian minister at Newbattle in 1641, but resigned in 1653; was made Principal of Edinburgh University; reluctantly consented to accept a bishopric, and chose the diocese of Dunblane, but declined all lordship connected with the office; was for a time archbishop of Glasgow; retired to England in 1674, and lived ten years afterwards with a widowed sister in Sussex; he was a most saintly man, and long revered as such by the Scottish people; his writings, which are highly imaginative, were much admired by Coleridge (1611-1684).
Leiotrichi, a primitive race of people distinguished by their smooth hair.
Leipzig (357), in the W. of Saxony, and largest city of that kingdom; is the third city in Germany. The old portion is narrow and quaint, with historic buildings; the new is well built, with splendid edifices. It is the seat of the supreme court of the Empire, of an old university which has a magnificent library and well-equipped medical school, and of one of the finest conservatories of music in Europe. Its chief trade is in books, furs, leather, and cloth, and its chief industries type-founding and pianoforte-making. It was the birthplace of Leibnitz and Wagner, and is associated also with Bach and Mendelssohn.
Leith (68), chief seaport in E. of Scotland, on the Forth, contiguous to Edinburgh and the port of it; is an old, unattractive, but busy town. The harbour comprises five docks. The imports are corn, flour, wines, sugar, and fruit; the exports, coal, iron, paraffin, and whisky. There are shipbuilding and engineering works, breweries, distilleries, and other industries. Leith Fort, between the town and Newhaven, is the head-quarters of the artillery for Scotland.
Leitha, an Austrian stream which flows NE. and falls into the Danube E. of Vienna; divides Cis-Leithan from Trans-Leithan.
Leland, Charles, an American writer, born at Philadelphia; bred to the bar, but left law for literature, and contributed to the journals; has taken interest in and written on the industrial arts, social science, folk-lore, the gypsies, &c.; his works are numerous, and of a humorous or burlesque character, and include “The Poetry and Mystery of Dreams,” “The Legends of Birds,” “Hans Breitmann's Ballads,” &c.; b. 1824.
Leland, John, English antiquary, born in London; travelled much on the Continent and amassed vast learning; held a commission from Henry VIII. to examine the antiquities and libraries of England, in fulfilment of which charge he spent six years in collecting a world of things that would otherwise have been lost, and the rest of his life, till he went insane, in arranging them (1506-1552).
Leland, John, a Nonconformist minister, born in Wigan; wrote chiefly in defence of Christianity against the attacks of the Deists (1691-1766).
Lely, Sir Peter, a painter, born in Westphalia; settled in London; took to portrait-painting, and was patronised by Charles I. and II., as well as by Cromwell; he painted the portraits of his patrons, and the beauties of Charles II.'s court; was Vandyck's successor (1618-1680).
Leman Lake, the Lake of Geneva (q. v.).
Lemberg (128), the capital of Austrian Galicia, from its central position and ready communication with rivers and railways, enjoys an extensive trade; Polish is the prevailing language; there is a flourishing university, and of the population 40,000 are Jews.
Lemming Rat, a rodent, which “travelling in myriads seawards from the hills,” as seen in Norway, “turns not to the right or the left, eats its way through whatever will eat, and climbs over whatever will not eat, and perishes before reaching the sea, its consistent rigidly straight journey, a journey nowhither.” See the Application in the “Latter Pamphlet,” No. 6.
Lemnos (30), an island plateau in the Ægean Sea, 30 m. SW. of the Dardanelles, Turkish since 1657; produces corn, wine, and tobacco, and is a place of exile for Turkish prisoners; the population is mostly Greek; chief town Kastro (3), on the W. coast.
Lemon, Mark, editor of Punch from 1843 to his death, born in London; began his career as a dramatist, story-teller, and song-writer, writing 60 pieces for the stage and 100 songs (1809-1870).
Lem`ures, a name given by the Romans to the spirits of the dead, and who, such of them as are ghosts of the wicked, wander about at night as spectres, and tormented themselves, torment and frighten the living.
Lenclos, Ninon de, a woman celebrated for wit and beauty, born in Paris, whose salon in the city was frequented by all the notable personages of the period; she was a woman of superior mental endowments as well as polished manners, but of loose morality and want of heart (1616-1705).
Lennep, Jacob van, a Dutch dramatist and novelist, born at Amsterdam; bred to the bar and practised as a lawyer; was a devoted student of English literature, and executed translations from English poets; was called by his countrymen the Walter Scott of Holland (1802-1868).
Lennox, an ancient district of Scotland that included Dumbartonshire and part of Stirlingshire.
Lenore, the heroine of a celebrated ballad by Bürger, the German lyric poet, a maiden whose lover dies and whose spectre appears to her on horseback and carries her off mounted behind him.
Lenormant, François, a distinguished archæologist, born at Paris, a man of genius and of vast learning; his chief works “Manuel d'Histoire Ancienne de l'Orient,” “Lettres Assyriologues,” “Les Premières Civilisations,” and “Les Sciences Occultes en Asie” (1837-1883).
Lens, a piece of glass adapted as convex or concave so as to change the direction of the rays of light passing through it and magnify or diminish the apparent size of an object.
Lent, a period of fasting previous to Easter, at first lasting only 40 hours, was gradually extended to three, four, or six days, then different Churches extended it to three and six: weeks; in the 6th century Gregory the Great fixed it for the West at 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter, excluding Sundays; in the Eastern Church it begins on the Monday after quinquagesima and excludes both Saturdays and Sundays; in the Anglican Church the season is marked by special services, but the fast is not rigidly kept.
Lenthall, William, Speaker of the Long Parliament; is famous for his answer to the demand of Charles to point out to him five members he had come to arrest, “May it please your Majesty,” said he, failing on his knees, “I have neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak but as the House directs me” (1591-1662).
Leo, the fifth sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters on July 22.
Leo, the name of six emperors of the East, of which the chief was Leo III., surnamed the Isaurian, born in Isauria; raised to the imperial throne by the army, defeated by sea and land the Saracens who threatened Constantinople; ruled peacefully for nine years, when he headed the iconoclast movement (q. v.), which provoked hostility and led to the revolt of Italy from the Greek empire; d. 741.
Leo, the names of 13 Popes: L. I., St., Pope from 410 to 461; L. II., St., Pope from 682 to 683; L. III., Pope from 795 to 816; L. IV., Pope from 847 to 855; L. V., Pope in 903; L. VI., Pope from 928 to 929; L. VII., Pope from 936 to 939; L. VIII., Pope from 963 to 965; L. IX., St., Pope from 1049 to 1054; L. X., Pope from 1513 to 1521; L. XI., Pope in 1605; L. XII., Pope from 1823 to 1829; L. XIII., Pope since 1878. Of these only the following deserve mention:—
Leo I., saint, surnamed the Great; was distinguished for his zeal against heretics, presided at two councils, and persuaded Attila to retire from Rome on his invasion of Italy, as he persuaded Genseric four years later to moderate the outrages of his troops in the city; his letters are in evidence of the jurisdiction of the Roman over the universal Church. Festival, Nov. 10.
Leo III., proclaimed Charlemagne emperor of the West in 800; driven in 799 from the papal chair by a conspiracy, he was reinstated by Charlemagne, who next year visited the city and was crowned by him emperor.
Leo IX., saint; was elected at the Diet of Worms in 1048, welcomed at Rome, and applied himself zealously to the reform of Church discipline; being defeated in the field by Guiscard, suffered a 10 years' imprisonment, fell ill and died.
Leo X., Giovanni de' Medici, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, sovereign of Florence; was distinguished as a patron of art, science, and letters, and as occupant of the chair of St. Peter at the outbreak of the Reformation, and as by his issue of indulgences for the replenishment of his treasure provoking the movement and rousing the ire of Luther, which set the rest of Europe on fire.
Leo XIII., 257th Pope of Rome, born at Carpineto; distinguished at college in mathematics, physics, and philosophy; took holy orders in 1837, was nuncio to Belgium in 1843, became bishop of Perugia in 1846, cardinal 1853, and Pope in 1878; holds to his rights as Pope both secular and spiritual; believes in the Catholic Church as the only regenerator of society, and hails every show of encroach it makes on the domain of Protestantism as promise of its universal restoration; b. 1810.
Leon, an ancient kingdom in the NE. of Spain, united with Castile in 1230, with a capital of the same name 256 m. NW. of Madrid. Also the name of a city in Nicaragua and another in Mexico.
Leonardo da Vinci, celebrated painter and sculptor of the Florentine school, born at Vinci in the Val d'Arno; showed early a wonderful aptitude for art; studied under Andrea del Verrocchio, but so surpassed him in his work as to drive him to renounce the painter's art; his great work, executed by him at Milan, was the famous picture of the “Last Supper,” which he painted in oil about 1497 on the wall of the refectory of the Dominican convent of the Madonna delle Grazie; it perished from the dampness of the wall almost as soon as it was finished, but happily copies were taken of it before decay had ruined it; besides, Leonardo did in 1503 at Florence the famous cartoon of the Battle of the Standard; he was a man of imposing personal appearance, of very wide range of ability, and distinguished himself in engineering as well as art; he wrote a “Treatise on Painting,” which has been widely translated (1452-1519).
Leonidas, king of Sparta from 491 to 480 B.C.; opposed Xerxes, the Persian, who threatened Greece with a large army, and kept him at bay at the Pass of Thermopylæ with 300 Spartans and 5000 auxiliaries till he was betrayed by Ephialtes (q. v.), when he and his 300 threw themselves valiantly on the large host, and perished fighting to the last man.
Leonids, meteors which descend in showers during November in certain years, their chief centre being the constellation Leo.
Leopardi, Giacomo, modern Italian poet, born near Ancona; a precocious genius; an omnivorous reader as a boy, and devoted to literature; of a weakly constitution, he became a confirmed invalid, and died suddenly; had sceptical leanings; wrote lyrics inspired by a certain sombre melancholy (1788-1837).
Leopold I., king of the Belgians, son of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg; in his youth served in the Russian army; visited England in 1815, and married Princess Charlotte, who died two years later; he declined the throne of Greece in 1830, but accepted that of the Belgians in 1831, and proved a wise, firm, constitutional sovereign; in 1832 he married the French princess Louise; he was succeeded by his son Leopold II. (1790-1865).
Leopold II., king of the Belgians, born at Brussels, son and successor of Leopold I.; has travelled much in Europe and Asia Minor; founded, and is now ruler of, the Congo Free State; married in 1853 the Archduchess Maria of Austria, by whom he has had three daughters; b. 1835.
Lepsius, Karl Richard, a celebrated Egyptologist, born in Prussian Saxony; took at first to the study of philology under Bopp, but early devoted himself to the study of the antiquities of Egypt; headed in 1842 an expedition of research among the monuments under the king of Prussia, which occupied five years, and was fertile in important results, among others the production of a work in 12 vols. on the subject entitled “Denkmäleraus Egypten und Ethiopien,” issued between 1849 and 1860; he was the author also of works on philology (1810-1884).
Lernæan Hydra, a monster with nine heads, one of them immortal, that infested a swamp near Lernæ, and which Hercules was required to slay as one of his twelve labours, only as often as he cut off one head two grew on, but with the assistance of Iolcus his servant he singed off the eight mortal ones, cut down the ninth, and buried it under a huge rock.
Lerwick (31), the capital of Shetland, on the E. of Mainland; fishing and knitting the chief industries.
Le Sage, Alain René, French dramatist and novelist, born at Sarzeau, in Brittany; educated at a Jesuit school at Vannes; went to Paris in 1692; studied the Spanish language and literature, and produced translations of Spanish works and imitations; some of his dramas attained great popularity, and one in particular, the “Turcaret,” a satire on the time generally, and not merely, as represented, on financiers of the period, gave offence; but the works by which he is best known are his novels “Le Diable Boiteux” and “Gil Blas,” his masterpiece (1668-1747).
Lesbos (36), modern name Mytilene, a mountainous island, the largest on the Asia Minor coast, 10 m. off shore and 20 m. N. of the Gulf of Symrna; has a delightful climate, disturbed by earthquakes, fertile soil, and produces fine olive-oil. In ancient Greek days it was a cradle of literature, the home of Sappho, and famous for its wine; Turkish since 1462, its population is mostly Greek; chief town Castro (12), on the E. coast.
Lese-Majesty, name given to a crime against the sovereign.
Leslie, name of a Scottish family distinguished in Scottish history as well as for military service in foreign parts.
Leslie, Charles, non-juring controversial divine, born in Dublin, wrote “A Short and Easy Method with the Jews,” and another with the Deists (1650-1722).
Leslie, Sir John, natural philosopher and professor, born at Largo, Fifeshire; educated at St. Andrews and Edinburgh University; visited America in 1788, and returned to London 1790; for fifteen years he was engaged in scientific investigation, invented several instruments, and published his “Inquiry into the Nature of Heat,” for which he received the Rumford Medal from the Royal Society; appointed to the chair of Mathematics in Edinburgh in 1805, he was transferred to that of Natural Philosophy in 1819; continued his researches and inventions, and shortly before his death was knighted (1766-1832).
Lespinasse, a French lady, born in Lyons, famous for her wit, to whom D'Alembert was much attached, and the centre of a learned circle in Paris in her time (1731-1776).
Lesseps, Ferdinand de, French diplomatist, born at Versailles; conceived the scheme of connecting the Red Sea with the Mediterranean in 1854, and saw it finished as the Suez Canal in 1869; projected a similar scheme for a canal at Panama, but it ended in failure, disgrace, and ruin to the projectors as well as others (1805-1894).
Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim, a German author, and founder of modern German literature, born at Kamenz, Saxony, son of the pastor there; sent to study theology at Leipzig, studied hard; conceived a passion for the stage; wrote plays and did criticisms; wrote an essay on Pope; took English authors as his models, revolted against those of France; made it his aim to inaugurate or rather revive a purely German literature, and produced examples regarded as classics to this day; his principal dramas, all conceived on the soil, are “Miss Sara Sampson,” “Mina von Barnhelm,” “Emilia Galotti,” and “Nathan der Weise,” and his principal prose works are his “Fables” and “Laocoon,” a critical work on art still in high repute (1729-1781).
L'Estrange, Sir Roger, a zealous Royalist, born in Norfolk; was for his zeal in the royal cause committed to prison; having escaped, he was allowed to live in retirement under Cromwell, but woke up a vigorous pamphleteer and journalist in the old interest at the Restoration, “wounding his Whig foes very sorely, and making them wince”; he translated Josephus, Cicero's “Offices,” Seneca's “Morals,” the “Colloquies” of Erasmus, and Quevedo's “Visions,” his most popular work (1616-1704).
Lethe (i. e. oblivion), in the Greek mythology a stream in the nether world, a draught of the waters of which, generally extended to the ghosts of the dead on their entrance into Pluto's kingdom, obliterated all recollection of the past and its sorrows.
Leto (i. e. the hidden one), one of the Titan brood, who became by Zeus the mother of Apollo and Artemis, and for whose confinement, in her persecution by Hera, Poseidon by a stroke of his trident fixed the till then floating island of Delos to the sea-bottom.
Letter of Marque, a commission to the captain of a merchant ship or a privateer to make reprisals on an enemy's ships or property.
Letters Patent, a document under seal of the government granting some special privilege to a person.
Lettres de Cachet (i. e. sealed letters), warrants of imprisonment, issued prior to the Revolution, sealed with the private seal of the king, in contradistinction from lettres patentées, which were sealed by the Great Seal of the kingdom. See Cachet, Lettre de.
Leucippus, a Greek philosopher of the 6th century B.C., the founder of the Atomic theory of things, of which Democritus (q. v.) was the chief expounder.
Leuctra, a village in Boeotia, to the S. of Thebes, where in 371 B.C. Epaminondas and his Thebans overthrew the ascendency of Sparta.
Leuthen, a village in the W. of Breslau, in Silesia, where Frederick the Great defeated the Austrians with great loss in 1757.
Levana, the title of a book by Jean Paul on the education of children; title from the name of a Roman goddess, the protectress of foundlings.
Levant (i. e. the Rising), a name given to the E. of the Mediterranean and the regions adjoining by the western peoples of the Mediterranean.
Levee, a morning reception held by the sovereign or some one of high rank.
Levellers, a party of violent red-hot Republicans, led on by John Lilburne, who appeared in the time of the Commonwealth, but were suppressed by Cromwell.
Lever, Charles James, a novelist, born at Dublin, was by profession a physician; author of a numerous series of Irish stories written in a rollicking humour, “Harry Lorrequer” and “Charles O'Malley” among the chief; was a contributor to and for some time editor of Dublin University Magazine; held ultimately various consular appointments abroad, and after that wrote with success in a more sober style (1806-1872).
Leverrier, Urban Jean Joseph, French astronomer, born at St. Lô; distinguished in chemistry before he devoted himself to astronomy; rose to eminence in the latter science by a paper on the variations in the orbits of the planets, and was led to the discovery of the planet Neptune from perturbations in the orbit of the planet Uranus; he indicated the spot where the planet would be found, and it was actually discovered a few days after by Galle at Berlin (1811-1877).
Levi, Leon, commercial economist, born at Ancona; settled in England and was naturalised; drew attention to the want of commercial organisation, and to whose pleading the first chamber of commerce, that of Liverpool, owes its existence; became professor of Commercial Law in King's College, London (1821-1888).
Levirite Law, a law among the Jews which ordained if a husband died without issue that his brother should take his widow to wife and raise up seed to him (Deut. xxv. 5-10).
Levites, a body of men divided into courses, the servants of the priests in the worship of the Temple of Jerusalem; they were not permitted to enter the sanctuary or serve at the altar, their duties being limited to keeping watch over the Temple, slaying the victims, and making other preparations for the sacred services.
Levitical Degrees, relationships that preclude marriage, so called as presumably fixed by the Levitical priesthood of the Jews.
Leviticus, the third book of the Pentateuch, so called as containing the laws and ordinances appointed to regulate the services of the sanctuary as conducted by a priesthood of the tribe of Levi, the narrative portion of it recording the consecration of Aaron and his sons, the death of Nadab and Abihu, and the stoning of the blasphemer, embracing a period of only one year, and the legislation of it no longer issuing from Mount Sinai, but from the door of the Tabernacle.
Lewald, Fanny, an eminent German novelist, born at Königsberg, of Jewish parents; professed Christianity and was married to Adolf Stahr; was a realist in art and a zealous woman's rights advocate (1811-1889).
Lewes (11), the county town of Sussex, finely situated on a slope of the South Downs, 10 m. NE. of Brighton; was the scene of a victory of Simon de Montfort in 1264 over the forces of Henry III.; has a trade in corn and malt, and tanneries.
Lewes, George Henry, a versatile man of letters, born in London, the son of an actor; wrote a “Biographical History of Philosophy” from the Positivist standpoint, published originally in 1845, and a “Life of Goethe” in 1855, “Seaside Studies,” “Problems of Life and Mind,” &c., and edited the Fortnightly Review; he did much to popularise both science and philosophy; though a married man with children, formed a connection with George Eliot, and died in her house (1817-1878).
Lewis, Sir George Cornwall, English statesman and political philosopher, born in London; held several important posts under and in the governments of the day; wrote on “Early Roman History,” “The Influence of Authority on Matters of Opinion,” “The Best Form of Government,” “Ancient Astronomy,” &c. (1806-1863).
Lewis, Matthew Gregory, romancer, familiarly known as Monk Lewis from the name of his principal novel, the “Monk,” which was written, along with others, in Mrs. Radcliffe's vein and immensely popular, and literally swarmed with ghosts and demons (1773-1818).
Leyden, one of the chief towns of Holland and characteristically Dutch, 15 m. NW. of The Hague, with a famous university founded by the Prince of Orange in 1576, containing the richest natural history museum in the world; it is noted for the bravery and power of endurance of its inhabitants, manifest for a whole year (1573-74) during the War of Independence.
Leyden, John, poet and Orientalist, born in Denholm, son of a shepherd; bred for the Church, his genius and abilities attracted the notice of influential people; was introduced to Scott, and assisted him in his “Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border”; went to India as a military surgeon; studied and prelected on the native dialects; became a judge in Calcutta; died of fever (1775-1811).
Leyden, John of, leader of the Anabaptists in Münster, born in The Hague; beset with his followers, who regarded him as a prophet, in Münster, he was taken alive after a siege of six months and tortured to death in 1536.
Leyden, Lucas van, an eminent early Dutch painter and engraver, born in Leyden; succeeded in every branch of painting, and, like Dürer, engraved his own pictures; his works are highly valued, and some of them very rare; he spent his means in high living and died young, only 39 (1494-1533).
Leyden Jar, an electric condenser, a cylindrical glass bottle lined inside and outside with metal to within a short distance from the top, while a brass rod connected with the inside coating extends upward through a wooden stopper terminating in a knob.
Leys School, the Cambridge school founded in 1875 to supply under unsectarian religious influences a high-class education, the founders of it having been chiefly members of the Methodist body.
Lhassa (seat of the gods) (50), the capital of Thibet, and the metropolis of the Buddhist world in the Chinese Empire, stands in the middle of a plain 11,900 ft. above the sea-level; on a hill in the NW. of the centre of the city, a conical hill called Potala, amid temples and palaces, is the residence of the Grand Lama; the monasteries are 15 in number, and the priests 20,000, and it is the centre of the caravan trade.
L'Hôpital. See Hôpital, Michel de l'.
Li, a Chinese mile, equal to one-third of an English mile.
Lia-fail, the stone of destiny on which the Irish kings used to be crowned, which was at length removed to Scone, in Perthshire, and is now in Westminster under the coronation chair, having been removed thither by Edward I.
Liberalism, Modern, “practically summed up” by Ruskin, in “the denial or neglect of the quality and intrinsic worth in things, the incapacity of discerning or refusal to discern worth and unworth in anything, and least of all in man.”
Liberal-Unionist, one of the Liberal party in English politics, which in 1886 quitted the Liberal ranks and joined the Conservative party in opposition to the Home Rule policy of Mr. Gladstone.
Liberationist, one who advocates the emancipation of the Church from State control.
Liberia (1,500), a negro republic on the Grain Coast of Africa, founded in 1822 by American philanthropists as a settlement for freedmen, with a constitution after the model of the United States.
Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality, the trinity of modern democracy, and which first found expression as a political creed in the French Revolution, of which the first term is now held to require definition, the second to have only a sentimental basis, and the third to be in violation of the fact of things; universal suffrage is the expression of it politically.
Libration, the name given to certain apparent movements in the moon as if it swayed like a balance both in latitude and longitude in its revolution round the earth.
Libri-Carrucci, Count, Italian mathematician; professor at Pisa, but obliged to resign for his liberal opinions and take refuge in France, where he was made professor at the Sorbonne, was a kleptomaniac in the matter of books (1803-1869).
Libya, a name by the early geographers to the territory in Africa which lay between Egypt, Ethiopia, and the shores of the Atlantic.
Lichfield (8), ancient ecclesiastical town in Staffordshire, 15 m. SE. of Stafford, an episcopal see since 656, with a cathedral in Early English style, recently completely restored; has an ancient grammar school, a museum, and school of art; the birthplace of Samuel Johnson; its industries are brewing, coachbuilding, and implement making.
Lichtenberg, Georg Christoph, German physicist and satirist, born near Darmstadt; was educated at Göttingen, and appointed professor there in 1770; he wrote a commentary on Hogarth's copperplates; his reputation in Germany as a satirist is high (1742-1799).
Licinius, Caius, a Roman tribune and consul, of plebeian birth, author of several laws intended to minimise the distinction politically between patrician and plebeian, in office between 376 and 361 B.C.
Lick Observatory, an observatory built at the expense of James Lick, an American millionaire, on one of the peaks of Mount Hamilton, California, with a telescope that has the largest object-glass of any in the world.
Lictor, an officer in Rome who bore the fasces (q. v.) before a magistrate when on duty.
Liddell, Henry George, Greek lexicographer, graduated at Oxford in 1833; was tutor of Christ Church, and in 1845 appointed professor of Moral Philosophy; he was successively Head-master of Winchester, Dean of Christ Church, and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford from 1870 to 1874; his great work is a Greek lexicon (first edition 1843, last 1883), of which he was joint-author with Dr. Robert Scott, and which is the standard work of its kind in English; b. 1811.
Liddon, Henry Parry, canon of St. Paul's, London, born in Hants; educated at Christ Church, Oxford; eminent both as a scholar and a preacher; author of an eloquent course of lectures, the Bampton, “On the Divinity of Jesus Christ”; belonged to the Liberal section of the High-Church party (1829-1890).
Liebig, Baron von, eminent German chemist, born at Darmstadt; in 1824 attracted the attention of Alexander von Humboldt by a paper before the Institute of France on fulminates, and was appointed to the chair of Chemistry in Giessen, where he laboured 28 years, attracting students from all quarters, and where his laboratory became a model of many others elsewhere; wrote a number of works on chemistry, inorganic and organic, animal and agricultural, and their applications, as well as papers and letters; accepted a professorship in Münich in 1852, and in 1860 was appointed President of the Münich Academy of Sciences (1803-1873).
Liège (160), a town in Belgium and capital of the Walloons, in a very picturesque region at the confluence of the Ourthe with the Meuse, the busiest town in Belgium and a chief seat of the woollen manufacture; it is divided in two by the Meuse, which is spanned by 17 bridges; it is the centre of a great mining district, and besides woollens has manufactures of machinery, and steel and iron goods.
Liegnitz (46), a town in Silesia, 40 m. NW. of Breslau, where Frederick the Great gained a victory over the Austrians in 1760.
Lifeguards, the British royal household troops, consisting of cavalry and infantry regiments.
Lightfoot, John, Orientalist and divine, born at Stoke-upon-Trent, son of a clergyman, educated at Cambridge; took orders and was rector of Ashley, Staffordshire, till 1642; next year he was one of the most influential members of the Westminster Assembly; in 1652 he was made D.D., was Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge in 1653, and subsequently prebendary of Ely; one of England's earlier Hebrew scholars, the great work of his life was the “Horæ Hebraicæ et Talmudicæ,” published in large part posthumously (1602-1675).
Lightfoot, Joseph Barber, bishop of Durham, born at Liverpool; was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, was eminent among English scholars as a New Testament exegete, became bishop of Durham in 1879; died at Bournemouth (1828-1889).
Ligny, a village 13 m. from Charleroi, where Napoleon defeated Blücher two days before the battle of Waterloo while Wellington and Marshal Ney were engaged at Quatre Bras.
Liguori, St. Alphonse Maria di, founder of the Redemptorists, born at Naples of a noble family; bred to the law, but devoted himself to a religious life, received holy orders, lived a life of austerity, and gave himself up to reclaim the lost and instruct the poor and ignorant; was a man of extensive learning, and found time from his pastoral labours to contribute extensively to theological literature and chiefly casuistry, to the extent of 70 volumes; was canonised in 1839; the order he founded is called by his own name as well (1696-1787).
Ligurian Republic, a name given by Bonaparte to the republic of Genoa, founded in 1797.
Li Hung Chang, an eminent and enlightened Chinese statesman; is favourable to European culture and intercourse with Europe; was sent as a special envoy to the Czar's coronation in 1896, and afterwards visited other countries in Europe, including our own, and the States and Canada; b. 1823.
Lilburne, John, a victim of the Star-Chamber in the time of Charles I., and exposed on the pillory as well as fined and imprisoned; joined the Parliamentary ranks and fought for the Commonwealth, but as an Independent indulged in violent harangues against Cromwell, and was committed to the Tower, but on his release turned Quaker (1618-1657).
Lilith or Lilis, the name of Adam's first wife, whom, according to Jewish tradition, he had before Eve, and who bore him in that wedlock the whole progeny of aërial, aquatic, and terrestrial devils, and who, it seems, still wanders about the world bewitching men to like issue and slaying little children not protected by amulets against her.
Lille (161), chief town in the department of Nord, in the extreme N. of France, 60 m. inland from Calais, an ancient and at present very strong fortress, is in a fertile district; the town, rebuilt in modern times, has a Catholic university, a medical school, library, and art gallery, and thriving industries, linen, cotton, tobacco, sugar, and many others.
Lilliput, a country inhabited by a very diminutive race of men not larger in size than a man's finger, visited by Gulliver in his travels.
Lillo, George, English dramatist, born in London, by trade a jeweller; wrote seven comedies, of which “The Fatal Curiosity” and “George Barnwell” are the best and the best appreciated (1693-1739).
Lilly, William, an English astrologer, born in Leicestershire, who made gain by his fortune-telling during the Commonwealth period especially, but got into trouble afterwards as a presumed mischief-maker (1602-1681).
Lima (200), capital of Peru, 6 m. inland from Callao, its port, a picturesque but somewhat shabby city, 700 ft. above the sea-level, regularly built, with many plazas; has a cathedral and 70 churches; trade is in the hands of foreigners, mostly Germans, and industries are unimportant; it was founded by Pizarro, and his bones lie buried in the cathedral.
Limburg, in the basin of the Meuse, formerly a duchy, was after various fortunes divided in 1839 into Belgian Limburg (225), on the W. of the river, capital Hasselt (13), and Dutch Limburg (262), on the E., capital Maestricht (33); partly moorland and partly arable, it has coal, iron, sugar, and tobacco industries.
Limbus or Limbo, according to Catholic theologians a region on the confines of Hades tenanted, the limbus patrum, by the souls of good men who died before Christ's advent, and the limbus infantium, by the souls of unbaptized infants, both of whom await there the resurrection morn to join the ransomed in heaven.
Limelight, a bright light caused by making a stream of two gases, oxygen and nitrogen, play in a state of ignition on a piece of compact quicklime.
Limerick (159), Irish county on the S. of the Shannon estuary, between Tipperary and Kerry, watered by the Mulcai, Maigue, and Deel; hilly in the S., is mostly fertile, and under corn and green crops; cattle are reared and dairy products exported; some woollens and paper manufactured. There are many antiquities. Limerick (37), the county town, on the Shannon, is the fourth Irish seaport, and manufactures a little lace.
Limited Liability, liability on the part of the shareholders of a joint-stock company limited by the amount of their shares.
Limoges (68), chief town in the dep. of Haute-Vienne, on the Vienne River, 250 m. S. of Paris; has a Gothic cathedral; is one of the chief manufacturing towns of France. Its porcelain and woollen cloths are widely famed; it has a large transit trade; it gives name to a fine kind of surface enamel, which was brought to perfection there.
Lincoln (44), capital of Lincolnshire, on the Witham, 130 m. N. of London; is a very old and quaint city, with one of the finest cathedrals in England, and many historic buildings. Its annual spring horse-fair is among the largest in the world. It manufactures agricultural instruments, and trades in flour. Its stands on the Oolitic Ridge, and commands a wide view of the Trent Valley.
Lincoln, Abraham, sixteenth President of the United States, born near Hodgensville, Kentucky; spent his boyhood there and in the Indiana forests, and picked up some education in the backwoods schools; passed some years in rough work; he was clerk in a store at New Salem, Illinois; became village postmaster and deputy county surveyor, and began to study law; from 1834 to 1842 he led the Whigs in the State legislature, and in 1846 entered Congress; he prospered as a lawyer, and almost left politics; but the opening of the slavery question in 1854 recalled him, and in a series of public debates with Stephen Douglas established his reputation as debater and abolitionist; unsuccessful in his candidature for the Senate, he was nominated by the Republicans for the Presidency, and elected 1860; his election was the signal for the secession of the Southern States; Lincoln refused to recognise the secession, accepted the war, and prosecuted it with energy; on New Year's day, 1863, he proclaimed the emancipation of the negroes, and was re-elected President in 1864, but shortly after his second inauguration was assassinated; he was a man of high character, straightforward, steadfast, and sympathetic (1809-1865).
Lincoln's Inn. See Inns of Court.
Lincolnshire (473), maritime county in the E. of England, between the Humber and the Wash, next to Yorkshire in size, consists of upland country in the W., chalk downs in the E., and fens in the S., but these well reclaimed and cultivated. It is watered by the Trent, Witham, and Welland, and crossed by numerous canals. Iron abounds in the W.; sheep, cattle, and horses are raised. Grimsby is a shipping and fishing centre. Sir Isaac Newton and Lord Tennyson were born in the county, which has many historic associations.
Lincrusta Walton, a plastic material invented by Walton, capable of being moulded into raised patterns for decorating walls, &c.
Lind, Jenny (Madame Otto Goldschmidt), the Swedish nightingale, born at Stockholm; giving evidence of her power of song in childhood, she was put under a master at nine; too soon put to practise in public, her voice at twelve showed signs of contracting, but after four years recovered its full power, when, appearing as Alice in “Robert le Diable,” the effect was electric; henceforth her fame was established, and followed her over the world; in 1844 she made a round of the chief cities of Germany; made her first appearance in London in 1847, and visited New York in 1851, where she married, and then left the stage for good, to appear only now and again at intervals for some charitable object; she was plain looking, and a woman of great simplicity both in manners and ways of thinking (1821-1882).
Lindley, John, distinguished botanist, born near Norwich; wrote extensively on botany according to the natural system of classification, and did much to popularise the study; was professor of the science in London University (1799-1865).
Lindsay, name of a Scottish family of Norman extraction, and that first figures in Scottish history in the reign of David I.
Lindsay or Lyndsay, Sir David, of the Mount, Scottish poet, born at the Mount, near Cupar, Fife, at the grammar-school of which he was educated, as afterwards at St. Andrews University; was usher to James V. from his childhood, and knighted by him after he came of age; did diplomatic work in England, France, the Netherlands, and Denmark; is famous as the author of, among others, three poems, the “Satire of the Three Estates,” “Dialogues between Experience and a Courtier,” and the “History of Squire Meldrum,” of which the first is the most worthy of note, and is divided into five parts, the main body of it a play of an allegorical kind instinct with conventional satire; without being a partisan of the Reformation, his works, from the satire in them being directed against the Church, contributed very materially to its reception in Scotland approximately (1490-1555).
Linga, a symbol in the phallus worship of the East of the male or generative power in nature. This worship prevails among the Hindu sect of the Givas or Sivas, and the symbol takes the form of the pistil of a flower, or an erect cylindrical stone.
Lingard, John, historian, born at Winchester, the son of a carpenter; besides a work on the “Antiquity of the Anglo-Saxon Church,” wrote a “History of England from the Roman Invasion to the Reign of William III.,” the first written that shows anything like scholarly accuracy, and fairly impartial, though the author's religious views as a Roman Catholic, it is alleged, distort the facts a little (1771-1851).
Lingua Franca, a jargon composed of a mixture of languages used in trade intercourse.
Linlithgow (4), the county town of Linlithgowshire, 16 m. W. of Edinburgh, on the S. shore of a loch of the name, with a palace, the birthplace of James V.; the county (52) lying on the S. shore of the Forth, and rich in minerals.
Linnæus, or more properly Linné, Karl von, great Swedish naturalist, specially in the department of botany, a branch to the study of which he was devoted from his earliest years; he was the founder of the system of the classification of plants which bears his name, and which is determined by the number and disposition of the reproductive organs, but which is now superseded by the natural system of Jussieu; he was professor at Upsala, and his works on his favourite subject were numerous, and extended far and wide his reputation as a naturalist (1707-1778).
Linnell, John, English painter, painted portraits at first, but in the end landscapes, of which last “The Windmill” and a wood scene are in the National Gallery; he was a friend and an admirer of William Blake (1807-1882).
Linoleum, a floorcloth, being a composition of cork and linseed oil with chloride of silver.
Linotype, a contrivance for setting and casting words or lines for printing.
Linz (47), the capital of the crownland of Upper Austria, on the right bank of the Danube; a busy commercial place, a great railway centre, and the seat of the manufacture of woollen goods, linen, tobacco, &c.; is also of great strategical importance in time of war.
Lion, The, the king of animals, was the symbol of power, courage, and virtue, and in Christian art of the resurrection; is in general, as Mr. Fairholt remarks, “a royal symbol, and in emblem of dominion, command, magnanimity, vigilance, and strength; representing when couchant sovereignty, when rampant magnanimity, when passant resolution, when guardant prudence, when saliant valour, when sciant counsel, and when regardant circumspection.”
Lip`ari Islands (22), a group of islands of volcanic origin, 12 in number, off the N. coast of Sicily, in two of which, Vulcano and Stromboli, the volcanic force is still active, the latter emitting clouds of steam at intervals of five minutes.
Lippe (128), an old N. German principality, the principal towns of which are Detmold, Lemgo, and Horn.
Lippi, Filippino, Italian painter, son of the succeeding; is presumed to have been a pupil of Botticelli's (q. v.); his earliest known work is the “Vision of St. Bernard” in Florence, and he executed various works in Bologna, Genoa, and Rome; painted frescoes and altar-pieces, and scenes in the lives of St. Peter and St. Paul (1460-1504).
Lippi, Fra Filippo, Italian painter, born at Florence; left an orphan, was brought up in a monastery, where his talent for art was developed and encouraged; went to Ancona, was carried off by pirates, but procured his release by his skill in drawing, and returning to Italy practised his art in Florence and elsewhere, till one day he eloped with a novice in a nunnery who sat to him for a Madonna, by whom he became the father of a son no less famous than himself; he prosecuted his art amid poverty with zeal and success to the last; distinguished by Ruskin (Fors xxiv. 4) as the only monk who ever did good painter's work; he had Botticelli for a pupil (1412-1469).
Lipsius, Justus, an erudite Belgian scholar, with fast and loose religious principles; was the author of numerous learned works (1547-1579).
Lipsius, Richard Adelbert, distinguished German theologian, born in Gera; professor in succession at Vienna, Kiel, and Jena; wrote on dogmatics, the philosophy of religion, and New Testament criticism (1830-1892).
Lisbon (301), the capital of Portugal, a magnificent town, built on the N. bank of the Tagus, 9 m. from its mouth, extends along the banks of the river 9 m. and inland 5 m.; it boasts of an array of fine buildings and squares, a number of literary and scientific institutions, and a spacious harbour; is remarkable for a marble aqueduct which brings water more than 10 m. across the valley of Alcantara; the manufactures include tobacco, soap, wool, and chemicals, and the exports wine, oil, and fruits; it suffered from an earthquake of great violence in 1755, by which the greater part of the city was destroyed, and from 30,000 to 40,000 of the inhabitants were killed.
Lister, Joseph, Lord, eminent surgeon, born at Upton, Essex; the founder of modern antiseptic surgery, and is as such reckoned among the world's greatest benefactors; was President of the British Association in 1896, and is surgeon-extraordinary to the Queen; b. 1827.
Liston, John, an English actor of low comedy, and long famous on the London stage, to which he was introduced by Charles Kemble; d. 1846.
Liston, Robert, a celebrated surgeon, born in Linlithgowshire; studied in Edinburgh and London; was distinguished as an operator; was professor of Clinical Surgery in University College, London, and author of “Elements of Surgery” and “Practical Surgery” (1794-1847).
Liszt, Abbé Franz, famous pianist, a Hungarian by birth; born with a genius for music, his first efforts at composition were not successful, and it was not till he heard what Paganini made of the violin that he thought what might be made of the piano, and that he devoted himself to the culture of piano music, with the result that he not only became the first pianist himself, but produced a set of compositions that had the effect of raising the art to the highest pitch of perfection; he was a zealous Catholic, and took holy orders, but this did not damp his ardour or weaken his power as a musician; he spent the greater part of his life at Weimar, but he practised his art far and wide, and his last visit to England in 1886, the year on which he died, created quite a flutter in musical circles (1811-1886).
Litany, a form of supplication in connection with some impending calamity in which the prayer of the priest or officiating clergyman is responded to by the congregation.
Literature, defined by Carlyle “as an 'apocalypse of nature,' a revealing of the 'open secret,' a 'continuous revelation' of the God-like in the terrestrial and common, which ever endures there, and is brought out now in this dialect, now in that, with various degrees of clearness ... there being touches of it (i. e. the God-like) in the dark stormful indignation of a Byron, nay, in the withered mockery of a French sceptic, his mockery of the false, a love and worship of the true ... how much more in the sphere harmony of a Shakespeare, the cathedral music of a Milton; something of it too in those humble, genuine, lark-notes of a Burns, skylark starting from the humble furrow far overhead into the blue depths, and singing to us so genuinely there.”
Lithuania, formerly a grand-duchy occupying portions of the valleys of the Dwina, Niemen, Dnieper, and Bug; for centuries connected with Poland; passed to Russia in 1814. The Lithuanians are a distinct race of the Indo-European stock, fair and handsome, with a language of their own, and a literature rich in folk-lore and songs. Of a strong religious temperament, they embraced Christianity late (13th century), and still retain many pagan superstitions; formerly serfs, they are now a humble peasantry engaged in agriculture, cattle-breeding, and bee-keeping.
Litmus, a colouring matter obtained from certain lichens; extensively used in chemical experiments to detect acids, for instance.
Little Corporal, a name given to Bonaparte after the battle of Lodi from his small stature, he being only 5 ft. 2 in.
Little Englanders, those politicians who hold that English statesmen should concern themselves with England only and its internal affairs.
Littleton, Sir Thomas, English jurist of the 15th century; was recorder of Coventry in 1450, judge of Common Pleas 1466, and knighted in 1475; his work on “Tenures” was the first attempt to classify the law of land rights, and was the basis of the famous “Coke upon Littleton”; d. 1481.
Littré, a celebrated French scholar, physician, philologist, and philosopher, born in Paris; wrote on medical subjects, and translated Hippocrates; was of the Positivist school in philosophy, and owes his fame chiefly to his “Dictionnaire de la Langue Française,” published in 1863-72, and on which he spent forty years' labour (1801-1881).
Liturgy is sometimes used as including any form of public worship, but more strictly it denotes the form for the observance of the Eucharist. As development from the simple form of their institution in the primitive Church liturgies assumed various forms, and only by degrees certain marked types began to prevail: viz., the Roman, ascribed to St. Peter, in Latin, and prevailing in the Roman Catholic Church all over the world; the Ephesian, ascribed to St. John, in corrupt Latin, included the old Scottish and Irish forms, heard now only in a few places in Spain; the Jerusalem, ascribed to St. James, in Greek, the form of the Greek Church and in translation of the Armenians; the Babylonian, ascribed to St. Thomas, in Syriac, used still by the Nestorians and Christians of St. Thomas; and the Alexandrian, ascribed to St. Mark, in a Græco-Coptic jargon, in use among the Copts; these all contain certain common elements, but differ in order and in subsidiary parts; the Anglican liturgy is adapted from the Roman; other Protestant liturgies or forms of service are mostly of modern date and compiled from Scripture sources.
Liva, an Italian coin worth 9½ d., and the monetary unit in the country.
Liverpool (585), the third city and first seaport of Great Britain, in Lancashire, on the Mersey, 3 m. from the sea, formerly the chief seat of the slave interest in Britain; owed its present prosperity to the impulse of the cotton trade at the end of the 18th century; progressing rapidly it has now docks stretching six miles along the Mersey, which receive a sixth of the tonnage that visits British ports; through it passes a third of our foreign trade, including enormous imports of wheat and cotton and exports of cotton goods; it possesses shipbuilding and engineering works, iron-foundries, flour, tobacco, and chemical factories; the public buildings, town hall, exchange, colleges, and observatory are fine edifices; it was the native place of W. E. Gladstone.
Liverpool, Earl of, Robert Jenkinson, English statesman, educated at Oxford; entered Parliament 1791, and as Foreign Secretary negotiated the peace of Amiens in 1802; becoming Lord Hawkesbury in 1803, he became Home Secretary under Pitt, and succeeding to the earldom in 1808; was War Secretary under Perceval in 1800, Premier from 1812 to 1827; he liberalised the tariff and maintained a sound finance, uniting and holding together the Tory party at a critical period (1770-1828).
Liverymen, name given to members of the several guilds or corporations of London and freemen of the city, so called as entitled to wear the livery belonging to their respective companies; they possess certain privileges of a civic character.
Livingstone, David, African traveller and missionary, born in Blantyre, Lanarkshire; began life as a mill-worker, studied medicine and theology at Glasgow, and was sent out to Africa by the London Missionary Society in 1840, landed at Port Natal, and addressed himself to missionary work; moving north, he arrived at Lake Ngami in 1849, and ascending the Zambesi in 1853 arrived at Loanda next year; later on he explored the course of the Zambesi and its tributaries, discovered Lake Nyassa, and set himself to discover the sources of the Nile, but this expedition proved too much for him, and he died exhausted; his body was embalmed, brought home to England, and buried in Westminster Abbey (1815-1873).
Livius, Titus (Livy), illustrious Roman historian, born at Patavium (Padua); appears to have settled early in Rome and spent the most of his life there; his reputation rests on his “History of Rome from the Foundation of the City to the Death of Drusus,” it consisted of 142 chapters, but of these only 30 remain entire and 5 in fragments, bequeathing to posterity his account of the early history of the city and of the wars with Hannibal (59-17 B.C.).
Livonia (1,260), Russian Baltic province on the Gulf of Riga; is flat and marshy, and only moderately fertile; produces rye, barley, and potatoes; its chief industries are distilling, brewing, and iron-founding, and fishing; four-fifths of the population are Letts and Esthonians, only 5 per cent. are Russian; the original Finnic Livonians are almost extinct; capital Riga (180).
Livraison, part of a serial issued from time to time.
Llandudno (6), a fashionable watering-place at the foot of Great Ormes Head, Carnarvon, frequented by people from Yorkshire and Lancashire.
Llanelly (32), a manufacturing seaport in Carmarthenshire for shipping coal, iron, and copper.
Llanos, vast level plains twice the size of Great Britain in the N. of South America, in the basin of the Orinoco, covered in great part with tall grass and stocked in the rainy season with herds of cattle; during the dry season they are a desert.
Llorente, Juan Antonio, Spanish historian, is the author of several works, but his celebrity is mainly due to his “History of the Spanish Inquisition,” of which in 1789 he became the secretary (1760-1823).
Lloyd's, a part of the Royal Exchange, London, appropriated to the use of underwriters and for marine intelligence, frequented by those interested in merchant shipping; so called from Lloyd's Coffee-house, formerly the head-quarters of the class.
Load-line, line painted on the outside of a vessel to mark the extreme of immersion in loading her with a cargo.
Loadstone or Lodestone, an iron ore remarkable for its magnetic quality or power of attracting iron; it derived its name from its use as a leading stone in the compass to mariners.
Lobby, The, hall connected with a legislative assembly to which the public have access.
Local Option, licence granted to the inhabitants of a district to extinguish or reduce the sale of intoxicants in their midst.
Lochaber, a Highland district in the S. of Inverness-shire.
Lochaber Axe, an axe with a broad blade and a long handle formerly in use among the Highlanders as a weapon.
Lochiel, a Highland chief, Sir Evan Cameron his name, head of the Cameron clan, who held out against William III.'s rule in the Highlands, but ultimately took the oath of allegiance; d. 1719.
Lochinvar, hero of a ballad in Scott's “Marmion,” who carries off his sweetheart just as she is about to be sacrificed in marriage to another whom she loathes.
Lochleven, Scottish lake in Kinross-shire overshadowed by Benarty and the West Lomond, is 23 m. NW. of Edinburgh; in a castle on one of its islands Mary Stuart was imprisoned 1567-68; it is now famous for its trout.
Locke, John, English philosopher, the father of modern materialism and empiricism, born in Wrington, Somerset; studied medicine, but did not practise it, and gave himself up to a literary life, much of it spent in the family of the celebrated Earl of Shaftesbury, both at home with it and abroad; his great work is his “Essay on the Human Understanding” in 1690, which was preceded by “Letters on Toleration,” published before the expulsion of James II., and followed by the “Treatise on Government” the same year, and “Thoughts on Education” in 1693; his “Essay” was written to show that all our ideas were derived from experience, that is, through the senses and reflection on what they reveal, and that there are no innate ideas; “Locke,” says Prof. Saintsbury, “is eminently” (that is, before all his contemporaries) “of such stuff as dreams are not made of”—is wholly a prosaic practical man and Englishman (1632-1704).
Lockhart, John Gibson, man of letters, born in Cambusnethan; bred for the Scottish bar and practised at it; contributed to Blackwood, wrote in collaboration with John Wilson “Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk”; married Sophia Scott, Sir Walter's daughter, in 1820, lived a good deal near Abbotsford, wrote some four novels and “Spanish Ballads,” became editor of the Quarterly in 1825, and began in 1837 his “Life of Scott,” a great work, and his greatest; died at Abbotsford, health broken and in much sorrow; his “Life” has been interestingly written by Andrew Lang (1794-1854).
Lockout, the exclusion of workmen from a factory by the employer to bring them to terms which they decline to accept.
Lockyer, Sir Joseph Norman, astronomer, born at Rugby; became clerk in the War Office in 1857, was secretary to the Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction in 1870, and was transferred to the Science and Art Department in 1875; he directed Government eclipse expeditions to Sicily, India, Egypt, and the West Indies; in 1860 he became F.R.S., received the Society's Rumford medal in 1874, next year was appointed corresponding Member of the Institute of France and received the Janssen medal in 1891; he was knighted in 1897; he made important discoveries in spectrum analysis, and has written several astronomical works; b. 1836.
Loco-focos, the name, which denotes lucifer-matches, given to an ultra-democratic or radical party in the United States because at a meeting when on one occasion the lights were extinguished the matches which they carried were drawn and the lamps lit again.
Locri, a people of ancient Greece of two distinct tribes occupying different districts of the country.
Lodi (18), a town in Lombardy, 18 m. SE. of Milan, on the Adda, famous for a signal victory of Bonaparte over the Austrians in 1796 in the face of a tremendous fire.
Loewe, Gottfried, German composer; composed oratorios, operas, and pianoforte pieces; sang and played in London in 1847 (1796-1869).
Lofoden Islands (20), a rugged mountainous chain on the NW. Norwegian coast within the Arctic circle, with winters rendered mild by the Gulf Stream, afford pasturage for sheep; the waters between them and the mainland are a rich cod-fishing ground, visited by thousands of boats between January and March.
Logan, John, a Scotch poet, born at Soutra; was for a time minister in South Leith church, but was obliged to resign; was the author of a lyric, “The Braes of Yarrow” and certain of the Scotch paraphrases (1748-1788). See Bruce, Michael.
Logarithm, the exponent of the power to which a fixed number, called the base, must be raised to produce a certain given number.
Logic, the science of correct thinking or of the laws which regulate thought, called also dialectics; or in the Hegelian system “the scientific exposition and development of those notions or categories which underlie all things and all being.”
Logic Spectacles, Carlyle's name for eyes that can only discern the external relations of things, but not the inner nature of them.
Logos, an expression in St. John's gospel translated the Word (in chap. i.) to denote the manifestation of God, or God as manifested, defined in theology as the second person of the Deity, and viewed as intermediary between God as Father and God as Spirit.
Log-rolling, mutual praise by authors of each other's work.
Lohengrin, hero of a German 13th-century poem; son of Parzival, and a Knight of the Grail; carried by a swan to Brabant he delivered and married the Princess Elsa; subsequently returning from war against the Saracens, she asked him of his origin; he told her, and was at once carried back again by the swan. Wagner adapted the story in his opera “Lohengrin.”
Loire, the largest river in France, 630 m., rises in the Cévennes, flows northwards to Orleans and westward to the Bay of Biscay, through a very fertile valley which it often inundates. It is navigable for 550 m., but its lower waters are obstructed by islands and shoals; it is connected by canals with the Seine, Saône, and Brest Harbour.
Loki, in the Norse mythology, a primitive spirit of evil who mingles with the Norse gods, distinguished for his cunning and ensnaring ways, whose devices are only evil in appearance, and are overruled for good.
Lollards, originally a religious community established at Antwerp in 1300, devoted to the care of the sick and burial of the dead, and as persecuted by the Church, regarded as heretics. Their name became a synonym for heretic, and was hence applied to the followers of Wycliffe in England and certain sectaries in Ayrshire.
Lombard, Peter, a famous schoolman, born in Lombardy in the 12th century, of poor parents; was a disciple of Abelard; taught theology at, and became Bishop of, Paris; was styled the Master of Sentences, as author of a compilation of sentences from Augustine and other Church Fathers on points of Christian doctrine, and long used as a manual in scholastic disputations.
Lombards, a German people, settled at the beginning of our era about the lower Elbe. In the 5th century we find them in Moravia, and a century later established, a powerful people, between the Adriatic and the Danube. They invaded Italy in 568, and in three years had mastered the North, but abandoning their Arian faith they gradually became Italianised, and after the overthrow of their dynasty by Charlemagne in 774 they became merged in the Italians. From the 13th century Italian merchants, known as Lombards, from Lucca, Florence, Venice, and Genoa, traded under much odium, largely in England as wool-dealers and bankers, whence the name Lombard Street.
Lombardy (3,982), an inland territory of Northern Italy between the Alps and the Po, Piedmont, and Venetia. In the N. are Alpine mountains and valleys rich in pasturage; in the S. a very fertile, well irrigated plain, which produces cereals, rice, and sub-tropical plants. The culture of the silkworm is extensive; there are textile and hardware manufactures. The chief towns are Milan, Pavia, and Corno. Austrian in 1713, Napoleon made it part of the kingdom of Italy in 1805; it was restored to Austria in 1815, and finally again to Italy in 1859.
Lomond, Loch, an irregularly-shaped lake in Dumbarton and Stirling shires, 22 m. long and of varying breadth; contains a number of small wooded islands; on the eastern shore rises Ben Lomond to the height of 3192 ft.
London (5,633), on the Thames, 50 m. from the sea, the capital of the British Empire, is the most populous and wealthiest city in the world. An important place in Roman times, it was the cap. of the East Saxons, and has been the metropolis of England since the Norman Conquest; it possesses, therefore, innumerable historic buildings and associations. Often devastated by plague and fire, its progress has never been stayed; its population has more than quadrupled itself this century, and more than doubled since 1850. The City of London proper occupies one square mile in the centre, is wholly a commercial part, and is governed by an annually elected mayor and aldermen; is the seat of a bishopric, with St. Paul's for cathedral. The City of Westminster is also a bishopric under a high steward and high bailiff, chosen by the dean and chapter. These two cities, with twenty-five boroughs under local officers, constitute the metropolis, and since 1888 the county of the city of London, and send 59 members to Parliament. Streets in the older parts are narrow, but newer districts are well built; the level ground and density of building detracts from the effect of innumerable magnificent edifices. Buckingham, Kensington, and St. James's are royal residences; the Houses of Parliament are the biggest Gothic building in the world; St. Paul's, built by Sir Christopher Wren, contains the remains of Nelson and Wellington, Reynolds, Turner, and Wren himself. Westminster, consecrated 1269, is the burial-place of England's greatest poets and statesmen, and of many kings; the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand were opened in 1882. London has a University (an examining body), 700 colleges and endowed schools, among which Westminster, Christ's Hospital, and the Charterhouse are famous, many medical hospitals, and schools and charitable institutions of all kinds. London is the centre of the English literary and artistic world, and of scientific interest and research; here are the largest publishing houses, the chief libraries and art-galleries, and museums; the British Museum and Library, the National Galleries, &c., and magnificent botanical and zoological gardens. London is also a grand emporium of commerce, and the banking centre of the world. It has nine principal docks; its shipping trade is unrivalled, 55,000 vessels enter and clear annually; it pays more than half the custom duties of the kingdom, and handles more than a quarter of the total exports; its warehouse trade is second only to that of Manchester; it manufactures everything, chiefly watches, jewellery, leather goods, cycles, pianos, and glass. The control of traffic, the lighting, and water-supply of so large a city are causing yearly more serious problems.
London (30), the cap. of Middlesex county, Ontario, near the S. end of the peninsula, in the middle of a fertile district, and a rising place.
Londonderry (152), maritime county in Ulster, washed by Lough Foyle and the Atlantic, surrounded by Donegal in the W., Tyrone in the S., and Antrim in the W., and watered by the Foyle, Roe, and Bann Rivers, somewhat hilly towards the S., is largely under pasture; the cultivated parts grow oats, potatoes, and flax; granted to the Corporation and Guilds of London in 1609, a large part of the land is still owned by them. The county town, Londonderry (33), manufactures linen shirts, whisky, and iron goods, and does a considerable shipping trade. Its siege by the troops of James II. in 1689 is memorable.
Long, George, a distinguished classical scholar, born in Lancashire; became professor of Greek in London University; edited several useful works, among others the “Penny Cyclopædia,” on which he spent 11 years of his life (1800-1870).
Long Island (774), a long narrow island, 115 m. long by from 12 to 24 broad, belonging to New York State, off the shores of New York and Connecticut, from which it is separated by the East River and Long Island Sound. It is low, much of it forest and sandy waste land, with great lagoons in the S. The chief industry is market-gardening; fisheries and oyster-beds are valuable. Principal towns, Brooklyn, Long Island City, and Flushing.
Long Parliament, the celebrated English Parliament which assembled 3rd November 1640, and was dissolved by Cromwell 20th April 1653, and which was afterwards restored, and did not finally decease till 16th March 1660.
Long Tom Coffin, a character in Cooper's novel “The Pilot,” and of wider celebrity than any of the sailor class.
Longchamp, a racecourse on the W. side of the Bois du Boulogne, Paris.
Longchamp, William de, a low-born Norman favourite of Richard I., made by him bishop of Ely; became Justiciar of England 1190, and Papal Legate 1191; clever, energetic, just, and faithful, he yet incurred dislike by his ambition and arrogance, and was banished to Normandy; his energy in gathering the money for Richard's ransom restored him to favour, and he became Chancellor; d. 1197.
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, American poet, born at Portland, Maine; after studying on the Continent, became professor of Modern Languages in Harvard University; wrote “Hyperion,” a romance in prose, and a succession of poems as well as lyrics, among the former “Evangeline,” “The Golden Legend,” “Hiawatha,” and “Miles Standish” (1807-1882).
Longinus, Dionysius Cassius, a learned Greek philosopher, rhetorician, and critic, and eminent in all three departments, being in philosophy a Platonist of pure blood; his fame as a teacher reached the ears of Zenobia, the queen of Palmyra, and being invited to her court he became her political adviser as well as the educator of her children, but on the surrender of the place he was beheaded by order of the Emperor Aurelian as a traitor; he wrote several works, but the only one that survives to some extent is his “Treatise on the Sublime,” translated by Boileau (210-273).
Longmans, famous and oldest publishing house in London; founded by Thomas Longman of Bristol in 1726, and now in the hands of the fifth generation; has been associated with the production of Johnson's “Dictionary,” Lindley Murray's “Grammar,” the works of Wordsworth, Southey, Coleridge, and Scott, and Macaulay's “Lays,” “Essays,” and “History”; it absorbed the firm of Parker in 1863, and of Rivington in 1890.
Lönnrot, Elias, a great Finnish scholar, born in Nyland; was professor at Helsingfors; was editor of ancient Finnish compositions, and author of a Finnish-Swedish Dictionary (1802-1884).
Lope de Vega. See Vega.
Lord of the Isles, assumed title of Donald, a chief of Islay, who in 1346 reduced the whole of the Western Isles under his authority, and borne by his successors, and, as some allege, his ancestors as well.
Lorelei or Lurlei, a famous steep rock, 430 ft. high, on the Rhine, near St. Goar; dangerous to boatmen, on which it was fabled a siren sat combing her hair and singing to lure them to ruin; the subject of an exquisite Volkslied by Heine.
Loretto, a city in Italy, 14 m. SE. of Ancona; celebrated as the site of the Santa Casa (q. v.), and for the numerous pilgrims that annually resort to the holy shrine.
L'Orient (41), a seaport in Morbihan; contains the principal shipbuilding yard in France; was founded by the French East India Company in 1664 in connection with their trade in the East.
Lorne, Marquis of, eldest son of the Duke of Argyll; entered Parliament in 1868; married Princess Louise, fourth daughter of Queen Victoria, in 1871; became Governor-General of Canada in 1878, member of Parliament for South Manchester in 1895, and is Governor of Windsor Castle; b. 1845.
Lorraine, a district in France, between Metz and the Vosges; belonged originally to Germany, became French in 1766, and was restored to Germany in 1871.
Lorraine, Claude. See Claude Lorraine.
Los Angeles (11), a city in South California, 345 m. SE. of San Francisco, and founded in 1781; is the centre of a great orange-growing district, and a health resort.
Lost Tribes, the ten tribes of the race of Israel whom the Assyrians carried off into captivity (see 2 Kings xvii. 6), and of whom all trace has been lost, and only in recent years guessed at.
Lotophagi. See Lotus Eaters.
Lotus Eaters or Lotophagi, an ancient people inhabiting a district of Cyrenaica, on the NE. coast of Africa, who lived on the fruit of the lotus-tree, from which they made wine. Ulysses and his companions in their wanderings landed on their shores, but the soothing influence of the lotus fruit so overpowered them with languor, that they felt no inclination to leave, or any more a desire to pursue the journey homewards. See Tennyson's poem “The Lotus-eaters.”
Lotze, Rudolf Hermann, German philosopher, born at Bautzen, in Saxony; professor successively at Göttingen and Berlin; believed in metaphysics as well as physics, and was versant in both; “Microcosmus” is his principal work, published in 1864; he founded the system of “teleological idealism,” based on ethical considerations; he repudiated agnosticism, and had as little patience with a mere mechanical view of the universe as Carlyle (1817-1881).
Loudon, John Claudius, botanist and horticulturist, born at Cambuslang, Lanarkshire; wrote largely on plants and their cultivation, and an “Arboretum” on trees and shrubs (1783-1843).
Louis I., le Débonnaire (i. e. the Gentle), was king of France from 814 to 840 in succession to his father Charlemagne, but was too meek and lowly to rule, and fitter for a monk than a king; suffered himself to be taken advantage of by his nobles and the clergy; was dethroned by his sons, and compelled to retire into a cloister, from which he was twice over brought forth to stay the ravages of their enemies; he divided his kingdom among them during his lifetime, and bequeathed it to them to guard over it when he was gone, to its dismemberment.
Louis VI., le Gros (i. e. the Fat), was son of Philip I.; was associated in the royal power with his father from 1098 to 1108, and sole king from 1108 till 1137; in his struggle against the great vassals he, by the help of the clergy and the bourgeois, centralised the government in the crown; had trouble with Henry I. of England as Lord Superior of Normandy, and was defeated by him in battle in 1119; under his reign the burgesses achieved their independence, and though he did nothing to initiate the movement he knew how to profit from the achievement in the interest of the monarchy.
Louis VII., the Young, son of the preceding, married Eleanor of Aquitaine; took part in the second crusade; on his return divorced his queen for her profligacy in his absence, who married Henry II. of England, and brought with her as dowry to Henry the richest provinces of France, which gave rise to the Hundred Years' War (1120-1180).
Louis VIII., the Lion, son of Philip Augustus; offered by the barons of England the crown of England, he was crowned at London in 1216, but defeated at Lincoln next year, he was obliged to recross the Channel; became king of France in 1223; he took several towns from the English, and conducted a crusade against the Albigenses (1187-1226).
Louis IX., Saint Louis, son of the preceding; was a minor at the death of his father, and the country was governed by his mother, Blanche of Castile, with a strong hand; on attaining his majority he found himself engaged with the English under Henry, who had been called on to assist certain of the great barons in revolt, but in 1242 he defeated them in three engagements; under a vow he made during a dangerous illness he became a crusader, and in 1249 landed in Egypt with 40,000 men, but in an engagement was taken prisoner by the Saracens; released in 1250 on payment of a large ransom, though he did not return home for two years after, till on hearing of the death of his mother, who had been regent during his absence; on his return he applied himself to the affairs of his kingdom and the establishment of the royal power, but undertaking a second crusade in 1270, he got as far as Tunis, where a plague broke out in the camp, and he became one of the victims, and one of his sons before him; he was an eminently good and pious man, and was canonised by Boniface VIII. in 1297 (1215-1270).
Louis XI., son of Charles VII., born at Bourges, of a cruel and treacherous nature, took part in two insurrections against his father, by whom he had been pardoned after the first and from whom he had to flee after the second for refuge to Burgundy, where he remained till his father's death in 1461; he signalised the commencement of his reign by severe measures against the great vassals, which provoked a revolt, headed by the Dukes of Burgundy and Bretagne, which he succeeded in subduing more by his crafty policy than force of arms; involved afterwards in a war with Charles the Bold of Burgundy and soliciting an interview, he was discovered by Charles to have been sowing treason among his subjects, taken prisoner, and only released on a solemn protestation of innocence; notwithstanding the sinister and often cruel character of his policy, he did much to develop the resources of the country and advance the cause of good government by the patronage of learning; the crimes he had committed weighed heavily on his mind towards the end of his days, and he died in great fear of death and the judgment (1423-1483).
Louis XIII., the son of Henry IV.; being only nine years old at the death of his father, the government was conducted by Marie de' Medicis, his mother, and at his accession the country was a prey to civil dissensions, which increased on the young king's marriage with a Spanish princess; the Huguenots rose in arms, but a peace was concluded in 1623; it was now Richelieu came to the front and assumed the reins with his threefold policy of taming the nobles, checkmating the Huguenots, and humbling the house of Austria; Rochelle, the head-quarters of the Huguenots, revolted, the English assisting them, but by the strategy adopted the city was taken and the English driven to sea; henceforth the king was nobody and the cardinal was king; the cardinal died in 1642 and the king the year after, leaving two sons, Louis, who succeeded him, and Philip, Duke of Orleans and the first of his line (1601-1644).
Louis XIV., the “Grand Monarque,” son of the preceding, was only nine when his father died, and the government was in the hands of his mother, Anne of Austria, and Cardinal Mazarin, her minister; under the regency the glory of France was maintained in the field, but her internal peace was disturbed by the insubordination of the parlement and the troubles of the Fronde; by a compact on the part of Mazarin with Spain before he died Louis was married to the Infanta Maria Theresa in 1659, and in 1660 he announced his intention to rule the kingdom alone, which he did for 54 years with a decision and energy no one gave him credit for, in fulfilment of his famous protestation L'état, c'est moi, choosing Colbert to control finance, Louvois to reorganise the army, and Vauban to fortify the frontier towns; he sought to be as absolute in his foreign relations as in his internal administration, and hence the long succession of wars which, while they brought glory to France, ended in exhausting her; at home he suffered no one in religious matters to think otherwise than himself; he revoked the Edict of Nantes, sanctioned the dragonnades in the Cévennes, and to extirpate heresy encouraged every form of cruelty; yet when we look at the men who adorned it, the reign of Louis XIV. was one of the most illustrious in letters and the arts in the history of France: Corneille, Racine, and Molière eminent in the drama, La Fontaine and Boileau in poetry, Bossuet in oratory, Bruyère and Rochefoucauld in morals, Pascal in philosophy, Saint-Simon and Retz in history, and Poussin, Lorraine, Lebrun, Perault, &c., in art (1636-1715).
Louis XV., Bien-Aimé (i. e. Well-Beloved), great-grandson of the preceding, and only five at his death, the country during his minority being under the regency of Philip, Duke of Orleans; the regency was rendered disastrous by the failure of the Mississippi Scheme of Law and a war with Spain, caused by the rejection of a Spanish princess for Louis, and by his marriage to Maria Lesczynski, the daughter of Stanislas of Poland; Louis was crowned king in 1722 and declared of age the following year; in 1726 Cardinal Fleury, who had been his tutor, became his minister, and under him occurred the war of the succession to Poland, concluded by the treaty of Vienna, and the war of the Austrian succession, concluded by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle; with the death of his minister Louis gave way to his licentious propensities, and in all matters of state allowed himself to be swayed by unworthy favourites who pandered to his lusts, the most conspicuous among them being Madame de Pompadour and Dame de Barry, her successor in crime; under them, and the corrupt court they presided over, the country went step by step to ruin, and she was powerless to withstand the military ascendency of England, which deprived her of all her colonies both in the East and in the West; though Choiseul, his last “substantial” minister, tried hard by a family compact of the Bourbons to collect her scattered strength; the situation did not trouble Louis; “it will last all my time,” he said, and he let things go; suffering from a disease contracted by vice, he was seized with confluent smallpox, and died in misery, to the relief of the nation, which could not restrain its joy (1710-1774).
Louis XVI., the grandson of the preceding and his successor; had in 1770 married Marie Antoinette, the youngest daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria, and a woman young, beautiful, and accomplished, in high esteem for the purity of her character; his accession was hailed with enthusiasm, and he set himself to restore the ruined finances of the country by taking into his counsel those who could best advise him in her straitened state, but these one and all found the problem an impossible one, owing to the unwillingness of the nobility to sacrifice any of their privileges for the public good; this led to the summoning of the States-General in 1789, and the outbreak of the Revolution by the fall of the Bastille in July of that year; in the midst of this Louis, well-intentioned but without strength of character, was submissive to the wishes of his court and the queen, lost his popularity by his hesitating conduct, the secret support he gave to the Emigrants (q. v.), his attempt at flight, and by his negotiations with foreign enemies, and subjected himself to persecution at the hands of the nation; he was therefore suspended from his functions, shut up in the Temple, arraigned before the Convention, and condemned to death as “guilty of conspiracy against the liberty of the nation and a crime against the general safety of the State”; he was accordingly guillotined on the 21st January; he protested his innocence on the scaffold, but his voice was drowned by the beating of drums; he was accompanied by the Abbé Edgeworth, his confessor, who, as he laid his head on the block, exclaimed, “Son of St. Louis, ascend to heaven” (1754-1793).
Louis XVII., second son of the preceding, shut up in the Temple, was, after the execution of his mother, proclaimed king by the Emigrants, and handed over in his prison to the care of one Simon, a shoemaker, in service about the prison, to bring him up in the principles of Sansculottism; Simon taught him to drink, dance, and sing the carmagnole; he died in prison “amid squalor and darkness,” his shirt not changed for six months (1785-1796).
Louis XVIII., brother of Louis XVI., and called Monsieur during his brother's reign, flew from Paris and joined the Emigrants along with his brother, Count d'Artois, and took up arms, which he was compelled to forego, to wander from one foreign Court to another and find refuge at last in England; on Napoleon's departure for Elba he returned to France and was installed on the throne as Louis le Desiré, but by the reappearance of the former on the scene he was obliged to seek refuge in Belgium, to return for good after the battle of Waterloo, July 9, 1815, with Talleyrand for minister and Fouché as minister of police; he reigned but a few years, his constitution being much enfeebled by a disease (1755-1824).
Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III.), nephew of the first emperor, born at Paris, brought up at Augsburg and in Switzerland; became head of the family in 1832; he began a Bonapartist propaganda, and set himself to recover the throne of France; an abortive attempt in 1836 ended in a short exile in America and London, and a second at Boulogne in 1840 landed him in the fortress of Ham under sentence of perpetual imprisonment; escaping in 1846 he spent two years in England, returning to France after the Revolution of 1848; elected to the Constituent Assembly and the same year to the Presidency he assumed the headship of the Republic, and posed as the protector of popular liberties and national prosperity; struggles with the Assembly followed; he won the favour of the army, filled the most important posts with his friends, dissolved the Constitution in 1851 (Dec. 2), was immediately re-elected President for ten years, and a year later assumed the title of Emperor; he married the Spanish Countess Eugénie in 1853, and exerted himself by public works, exhibitions, courting of the clergy, gagging of the press, and so on to strengthen his hold on the populace; in the Crimean War (1854-56) and the Lombardy campaign (1859) he was supported by Britain; in 1860 he annexed Savoy and Nice; ten years later suspecting the enthusiasm of the army, he plunged into war with Germany to rekindle its ardour, on a protest arising from the scheme to put Leopold of Hohenzollern on the Spanish throne; France was unprepared, disaster followed disaster; the Emperor surrendered to the Germans at Sedan, Sept. 2, 1870; a prisoner till the close of the war, he came to England in 1871 and resided with the Empress at Chislehurst till his death (1808-1873).
Louis Philippe, king of the French from 1830 till 1848, born at Paris, eldest son of the Duke of Orleans, renounced his titles along with his father, and joined the National Guard and the Jacobins at the Revolution as M. Egalité; after the defeat of Neerwinden 1793, where he commanded the centre, he fled to Austria and Switzerland and supported himself by teaching; after three years in the United States he came to London in 1800, and on the fall of Napoleon repaired to Paris and recovered his estates; he gained popularity with the bourgeoisie, and when the Revolution of July 1830 overthrew Charles X. he succeeded to the throne as the elected sovereign of the people; under the “citizen king” France prospered; but his government gradually became reactionary and violent; he used his great wealth in giving bribes, tampered with trial by jury and the freedom of the press, and so raised against him both the old aristocracy and the working-classes; political agitation culminated in the Revolution of February 1848; he was forced to abdicate and escaped with his queen to England, where he died (1773-1850).
Louis-d'Or, an old French gold coin which ranged in value from 16s. 7d. to 18s. 9¾d., and ceased to be issued in 1795.
Louisiana (1,119), an American State on the Gulf of Mexico, between the Mississippi and Sabine Rivers, with Arkansas on the N. and traversed diagonally by the Red River, is half upland and half alluvial; much of the lower level in the S. is marshy, subject to tidal flow or river inundation, and is covered by swampy woods, but is being reclaimed and planted with rice; on the uplands cattle are grazed, there are pine and oak forests, while the arable land is under cotton, sugar, oranges, and figs; the principal manufactures are shingles and tanks, cotton-seed oil, tobacco, and clothing; there is a State University and agricultural and mechanical college at Baton Rouge; the Southern and Tulane Universities are in New Orleans; free schools are throughout the State. Founded by France, but held by Spain from 1762 till 1800, ceded again to France and sold to the United States by Napoleon, it was admitted to the Union in 1812. In the Civil War a hundred battles were fought within the State and New Orleans was captured, which left ruin behind; but since 1880 prosperity has returned, property is increasing fast, and finances are healthy.
Louisville (205), on the left bank of the Ohio River, the largest city in Kentucky, is well built and regular, with a Roman Catholic cathedral, many colleges and charitable institutions; it is the largest tobacco market in the world, has pork packing, distilling, tanning, and many other industries.
Lourdes, a French town in the dep. of the Hautes-Pyrénées, with a grotto near by in which the Virgin Mary, as is alleged, appeared to a girl of the place in 1858, and to which multitudes have since resorted in the hope of being healed of their maladies from the waters which spring up on the spot.
Louth (71), the smallest Irish county, in Leinster, stretches from Carlingford Bay to the estuary of the Boyne, washed by the Irish Sea; the country is flat and the soil fertile, potatoes, oats, and barley are grown; there are coarse linen manufactures and oyster fisheries; rich in antiquities, its chief towns are Dundalk (12), Drogheda (12), and Ardee (2).
Louvet, French romancer, born in Paris; author of the “Chevalier de Faublas,” which gives a picture of French society on the eve of the Revolution, in which the author played a part (1760-1797).
Louvois, Marquis of, War Minister of Louis XIV., born in Paris; was a man of great administrative ability in his department, but for the glory of France and his own was savage for war and relentless in the conduct of it, till one day in his obstinate zeal, as he threatened to lay the cathedral city of Trèves in ashes, the king, seizing the tongs from the chimney, was about to strike him therewith, and would have struck him, had not Madame de Maintenon, his mistress, interfered and stayed his hand; he died suddenly, to the manifest relief of his royal master (1641-1691).
Louvre, an open turret or lantern on ancient roofs for the escape of smoke or foul air.
Louvre, a great art museum and gallery in Paris, containing Egyptian, Assyrian, classic, mediæval, and modern relics and art treasures of priceless value; here is housed the Venus of Milo.
Lovat, Simon Fraser, Lord, a Highland chief connected with Inverness, who, being outlawed, fled to France and got acquainted with the Pretender, in whose interest he returned to Scotland to excite a rising, but betraying the secret to the government was imprisoned in the Bastille on his going back to France; on his release and return he opposed the Pretender in 1715, but in 1745 espoused the cause of Prince Edward; was arrested for treason, convicted, and beheaded on Tower Hill (1667-1747).
Lovedale, a mission station in South Africa, 650 m. NE. of Cape Town, founded in 1841, and supported by the Free Church of Scotland.
Lovelace, one of the principal characters in Richardson's “Clarissa Harlowe”; is the type of a young heartless seducer.
Lovelace, Richard, English cavalier and poet, born at Woolwich, heir of great wealth, but lost his all in supporting the royal cause, and died a ruined man; was the handsomest man of his time, and the author of a collection of poems entitled “Lucasta” (1618-1658).
Lover, Samuel, an Irish novelist and poet, born in Dublin; started as a painter, but soon gave himself to literature; was the author of “Rory O'More” and “Handy Andy,” as also of some lyrics and ballads of a stirring character (1797-1868).
Low Church, that section of the Church of England which, in contrast with the High Church party, is not exclusive in its assertion of Church authority and observances, and in contrast with the Broad Church party is narrowly evangelical in its teaching.
Low Latin, Latin as spoken and written in the Middle Ages, being a degeneration of the classical which began as early as the time of Cicero and developed unchecked with the dismemberment of the Roman empire.
Low Mass, mass performed by a single priest and without musical accompaniment.
Low Sunday, name given in Catholic countries to the next Sunday after Easter, in contrast with the style of the festival just closed.
Lowe, Sir Hudson, English general, born in Ireland; served with credit in various military enterprises, and was appointed governor of St. Helena in 1815, and held that office during Napoleon's incarceration there; a much abused-man for his treatment of his prisoner, particularly by the French, who dub him “Napoleon's jailer”; died in London in poor circumstances; wrote a defence of his conduct (1770-1844).
Lowell, James Russell, American essayist, poet, and diplomatist, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, son of a clergyman; graduated at Harvard in 1838, studied law, but acquiring extensive scholarship devoted himself to literature; volumes of poems were published by him in 1840 and 1844, but the Mexican War of 1846 and the Civil War of 1861-65 called forth respectively the first and second series of “Biglow Papers,” in rustic dialect, the highest expression of his genius and the finest modern English satire; he was an ardent abolitionist; succeeding Longfellow in the chair of Modern Languages and Literature in Harvard in 1855, he visited Europe to study, returned as U.S. minister to Spain in 1877, was transferred to England 1880-1885; of his prose work “My Study Windows” and “Among my Books” are essays on literary subjects, “Fireside Travels” contain reminiscences, and his last work was a “Life of Hawthorne”; he died at Cambridge in the house of his birth (1818-1891).
Lower Empire, name given to the Byzantine empire.
Lowestoft (23), seaport and watering-place at the mouth of the Waveney, in Suffolk, 120 m. NE. of London, the most easterly town in England; has a good harbour, an old parish church, and a large fish-market; the Dutch were defeated off Lowestoft in 1665.
Lowth, Robert, a distinguished English prelate, born in Hants; was professor of Poetry in Oxford, and bishop in succession of St. Davids, Oxford, and London; wrote “Prelectiones” on the poetry of the Hebrews, a celebrated work, and executed a translation of Isaiah (1710-1787).
Loyola, Ignatius, the founder of the Order of the Jesuits, born in the castle of Loyola, in the Basque Provinces of Spain, of a noble Spanish family; entered the army, and served with distinction, but being severely wounded at the siege of Pampeluna, he gave himself up to a life of austere religious devotion, and conceived the idea of enlisting and organising a spiritual army for the defence of the Church at home and the propagation of the faith in the realms of heathendom; it seemed to him a time when such an organisation should be formed, and he by-and-by got a number of kindred spirits to join him, with the result that he and his confederates did, on Ascension Day, 1534, solemnly pledge themselves in the subterranean chapel of the Abbey of Montserrat to, through life and death, embark in this great undertaking; the pledge thus given was confirmed by the pope, Pope Pius III., the Order formed, and Ignatius, in 1547, installed as general, with absolute authority subject only to the Pope, to receive canonisation by Gregory XV. in 1622 (1481-1566).
Lubbock, Sir John, scientist, born in London; banker by profession; as a member of Parliament has accomplished several economic reforms; is author of “Prehistoric Times,” “The Origin of Civilisation and the Primitive Condition of Man,” and various books on natural science; his “Pleasures of Life” has been very popular, and gone through between 30 and 40 editions; b. 1834.
Lübeck (64), a German free city on the Trave, an old-fashioned place, but with wide, open streets, 12 m. from the Baltic, 40 m. NE. of Hamburg; joined the North German Federation in 1866, and the Customs Union in 1868. It has a 12th-century cathedral, some fine old churches, scientific and art collections; with unimportant industries; its Baltic and German transit trade is extensive.
Lucan, a Latin poet, born at Corduba (Cordova), in Spain; was a nephew of Seneca, and brought early to Rome; gave offence to Nero, and was banished from the city; joined in a conspiracy against the tyrant, and was convicted, whereupon he caused his veins to be opened and bled to death, repeating the while the speech he had composed of a wounded soldier on the battlefield dying a like death; he was the author of a poem entitled “Pharsalia” on the civil war between Cæsar and Pompey (39-65).
Lucaris, Cyril, eminent ecclesiastic in the Greek Church, born in Crete, who embraced and propagated Protestantism; became a victim of persecution, and had a mysterious fate (1572-1637).
Lucca (20), cap. of the Italian prov. of Lucca (309), on the Serchio, 12 m. NE. of Pisa; has an extensive trade in olive-oil, silk, and capers, the specialty of the province. Its cathedral has a very ancient cedar crucifix, fine paintings, and valuable archives. There are other ancient churches, scientific and artistic institutes, and a wonderful aqueduct of 459 arches. The natives are known over Europe as stucco figure-sellers and organ-grinders.
Lucerne (36), a Swiss canton E. of Berne, mountainous in the S., where cattle are pastured and much cheese made; in the N. and in the valleys fertile with corn and fruit crops; is German speaking, and Roman Catholic; its highest elevation, Mount Pilatus, is 7000 ft. Stretching from the eastern corner is Lake Lucerne, one of the most beautiful in Europe. The cap. Lucerne (20), on the shores of the lake, is a busy tourist centre; outside its walls is the famous Lion of Lucerne, designed by Thorwaldsen, in memory of the Swiss Guard slain while defending the Tuileries in Paris in 1792, and cut out of the solid rock.
Lucian, a Greek writer, born in Samosata, in Syria, in the early part of the 2nd century; he travelled much in his youth; acquired a cynical view of the world, and gave himself to ridicule the philosophical sects and the pagan mythology; his principal writings consist of “Dialogues,” of which the “Dialogues of the Dead” are the best known, the subject being one affording him scope for exposing the vanity of human pursuits; he was an out and out sceptic, found nothing worthy of reverence in heaven or on earth.
Lucifer (i. e. light-bringer), name given to Venus as the morning star, and by the Church Fathers to Satan in interpretation of Isaiah xiv. 12.
Lücke, Friedrich, German theologian, professor first at Bonn and then at Göttingen; wrote commentaries on John's Gospel and the Apocalypse (1791-1855).
Lucknow (273), fourth city in India, cap. of the prov. of Oudh, on the Gumti, a tributary of the Ganges, 200 m. NW. of Benares; is a centre of Indian culture and Mohammedan theology, an industrial and commercial city. It has many magnificent buildings, Canning and Martinière Colleges, various schools and Government offices. It manufactures brocades, shawls, muslins, and embroideries, and trades in country products, European cloth, salt, and leather. Its siege from July 1857 to March 1858, its relief by Havelock and Outram, and final deliverance by Sir Colin Campbell, form the most stirring incidents of the Indian Mutiny.
Lucretia, a Roman matron, the wife of Collatinus, whose rape by a son of Tarquinus Superbus led to the dethronement of the tyrant, the expulsion of his family from Rome, and the establishment of the Roman republic.
Lucretius, Titus Carus, a Roman poet of whose personal history nothing is known, only that he was the author of a poem entitled “De Rerum Naturâ,” a philosophic, didactic composition in six books, in which he expounds the atomic theory of Leucippus, and the philosophy of Epicurus; the philosophy of the work commends itself only to the atheist and the materialist, but the style is the admiration of all scholars, and has ensured its translation into most modern languages (about 95-31 B.C.).
Lucullus, Lucius, a Roman general, celebrated as conqueror of Mithridates, king of Pontus, and for the luxurious life he afterwards led at Rome on the wealth he had amassed in Asia and brought home with him; one day as he sat down to dine alone, and he observed his servant had provided for him a less sumptuous repast than usual, he took him sharply to task, and haughtily remarked, “Are you not aware, sirrah, that Lucullus dines with Lucullus to-day?”
Luddism, fanatical opposition to the introduction of machinery as it originally manifested itself among the hand-loom weavers of the Midlands.
Luddites name assumed by the anti-machinery rioters of 1812-1861, after a Leicestershire idiot, Ned Ludd, of 1780; appearing first at Nottingham, the agitation spread through Derby, Leicester, Cheshire, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, finally merging in the wider industrial and political agitations and riots that marked the years that followed the peace after Waterloo.
Ludlow, Edmund, a republican leader in the Civil War against Charles I., born in Wiltshire of good family; entered the army of the Parliament, and was present in successive engagements, but opposed Cromwell on his assumption of the Protectorate, and was put under arrest; reasserted his republicanism on Cromwell's death, but died in exile after the Restoration; left “Memoirs” (1630-1693).
Ludovicus Vives, a humourist, born in Valentia, Spain; studied at Paris, wrote against scholasticism, taught at Oxford, was imprisoned for opposing Henry VIII.'s divorce; died at Bruges (1472-1540).
Luga`no, a lake partly in the Swiss canton of Ticino and partly in the Italian province of Como, 15 m. by 2 m., in the midst of picturesque grand scenery, with a town of the name on the NW. side amid vineyards and olive plantations.
Luini, Bernardino, a painter of the Lombard school, born at Luino, in the territory of Milan, and a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci, so that some of his works, which though they show a grace and delicacy of their own, pass for those of his master; is famed for his works in oil as well as in fresco; is, in Ruskin's regard, one of the master painters of the world (1460-1540).
Luke or Lucanus, author of the third Gospel, as well as the Acts, born in Antioch, a Greek by birth and a physician by profession, probably a convert, as he was a companion, of St. Paul; is said to have suffered martyrdom and been buried at Constantinople; is the patron saint of artists, and represented in Christian art with an ox lying near him, or in the act of painting; his Gospel appears to have been written before the year 63, and shows a Pauline interest in Christ, who is represented as the Saviour of Jew and Gentile alike; it was written for a Gentile Christian and in correspondence with eye-witnesses of Christ's life and death.
Lulli, a composer of operatic music, born in Provence; was director of the French opera in the reign of Louis XIV. (1633-1687).
Lully, Raymond, the Doctor Illuminatus, as he was called, born at Palma, in Majorca, who was early smitten with a zeal for the conversion of the Mohammedans, in the prosecution of which mission he invented a new method of dialectic, called after him Ars Lullia; held public discussions with the Mohammedans, who showed themselves as zealous to convert him as he was to convert them, till he ventured in his over-zeal when in Africa among them to threaten them with divine judgment if they did not abjure their faith, upon which they waxed furious, dragged him out of the city, and stoned him to death in the year 1315; his works, several on alchemy, fill 16 volumes.
Lunar Cycle, a period of time at the close of which the new moons return on the same days of the year.
Lunar Month, a month of 29 days, the time of the revolution of the moon, a lunar year consisting of 12 times the number.
Lunar Theory, an explanation by mathematical reasoning of perturbations in the movements of the moon founded on the law of gravitation.
Lunar Year, a period of 12 synodic lunar months, being about 354.5 days.
Lund (14), a city in the S. of Sweden, 10 m. NE. of Malmö, once the capital of the Danish kingdom, the seat of an archbishop, with a Romanesque cathedral and a flourishing university.
Lundy Island, a precipitous rugged island 3 m. long by 1 m. broad, belonging to Devon, with the remains of an old castle, and frequented by myriads of sea-fowl.
Lüneburg (21), on the Ilmenau, 30 m. SE. of Hamburg, an ancient German city with old Gothic churches, once the capital of an independent duchy, now in Hanover; has salt and gypsum mines, iron and chemical manufactures; the British royal house is descended from the princes of Brunswick-Lüneburg.
Lupercalia, a Roman festival held on Feb. 15 in honour of Lupercus, regarded as the god of fertility, in the celebration of which dogs and goats were sacrificed and their skins cut up into thongs, with which the priests ran through the city striking every one, particularly women, that threw themselves in their way.
Lupercus, an ancient Italian god, worshipped by shepherds as the protector of their flocks against wolves.
Lupus, a chronic disease of the skin, characterised by the tuberculous eruptions which eat into the skin, particularly of the face, and disfigure it.
Lusatia, a district of Germany, between the Elbe and the Oder, originally divided into Upper and Lower, belongs partly to Saxony and partly to Prussia; it swarmed at one time with Wends.
Lusiad or Lusiades, a poem of Camoëns in ten cantos, in celebration of the discoveries of the Portuguese in the East Indies, and in which Vasco da Gama is the principal figure; it is a genuine national epic, in which the poet passes in review all the celebrated exploits and feats that glorify the history of Portugal.
Lusitania, the ancient name of Portugal, still used as the name of it in modern poetry.
Lustrum, a sacrifice for expiation and purification offered by one of the censors of Rome in name of the Roman people at the close of the taking of the census, and which took place after a period of five years, so that the name came to denote a period of that length.
Lutetia, the ancient name of Paris, Lutetia Parisiorum, mud-town of the borderers, as Carlyle translates it.
Luther, Martin, the great Protestant Reformer, born at Eisleben, in Prussian Saxony, the son of a miner, was born poor and brought up poor, familiar from his childhood with hardship; was sent to study law at Erfurt, but was one day at the age of 19 awakened to a sense of higher interests, and in spite of remonstrances became a monk; was for a time in deep spiritual misery, till one day he found a Bible in the convent, which taught him for the first time that “a man was not saved by singing masses, but by the infinite grace of God”; this was his awakening from death to life, and to a sense of his proper mission as a man; at this stage the Elector of Saxony was attracted to him, and he appointed him preacher and professor at Wittenberg; on a visit to Rome his heart sank within him, but he left it to its evil courses to pursue his own way apart; if Rome had let him alone he would have let it, but it would not; monk Tetzel arrived at Wittenberg selling indulgences, and his indignation was roused; remonstrance after remonstrance followed, but the Pope gave no heed, till the agitation being troublesome, he issued his famous “fire-decree,” condemning Luther's writings to the flames; this answer fired Luther to the quick, and he “took the indignant step of burning the decree in 1520 at the Elster Gate of Wittenberg, Wittenberg looking on with shoutings, the whole world looking on”; after this Luther was summoned to the Diet of Worms, and he appeared there before the magnates, lay and clerical, of the German empire on April 17, 1521; how he demeaned himself on that high occasion is known to all the world, and his answer as well: “Here stand I; I can do no other; so help me God”; “it was the grandest moment in the modern history of man”; of the awakening this produced Luther was the ruling spirit, as he had been the moving one, and he continued to be so to the end of his life; his writings show the man as well as his deeds, and amid all the turmoil that enveloped him he found leisure to write and leave behind him 25 quarto volumes; it is known the German Bible in use is his work, executed by him in the Castle of Wartburg; it was begun by him with his back to the wall, as it were, and under the protestation, as it seemed to him, of the prince of darkness himself, and finished in this obstructive element pretty much throughout, the New Testament in 1522, the Pentateuch in 1523, and the whole, the Apocrypha included, in 1534; he was fond of music, and uttered many an otherwise unutterable thing in the tones of his flute; “the devils fled from his flute,” he says; “death-defiance on the one hand, and such love of music on the other, I could call these,” says Carlyle, “the two opposite poles of a great soul, between these two all great things had room.... Luther,” he adds, “was a true great man, great in intellect, in courage, in affection, and integrity,... great as an Alpine mountain, but not setting up to be great at all—his, as all greatness is, an unconscious greatness” (1488-1546).
Lutheranism, that form of Protestantism which prevails in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Northern Germany. See Lutherans.
Lutherans, the name given to that school of the Protestant Church which accepted Luther's doctrine, especially that of the Eucharist, in opposition to that of the members of the Reformed Church, who assented to the views in that matter of Zwingli, the Swiss Reformer; the former maintaining the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and that the grace of Christ is communicated in the celebration of it, and the latter maintaining that it is a merely commemorative ordinance, and the means of grace to the believing recipient only.
Lutterworth, a small town in Leicestershire, on the Swift, 8 m. NE. of Rugby, of the church of which Wiclif was rector, and where he was buried, though his bones were afterwards, in 1428, dug up and burned, and the ashes cast into the river.
Lützen, a small town in Prussian Saxony, the vicinity of it the scene of a victory of Gustavus Adolphus in 1632, and of another by Napoleon over the combined forces of Russia and Prussia in 1813.
Lux, the name given to the unit of the intensity of electric light.
Lux, Adam, a young Parisian; smitten with love for Charlotte Corday, proposed a statue to her with the inscription “Greater than Brutus,” which brought him to the guillotine.
Luxemburg (211), grand-duchy, a small, independent territory at the corner where Belgium, France, and Rhenish Prussia meet, is a plateau watered by the Moselle on its eastern boundary, and the tributary Sauer; is well wooded and fertile, yielding wheat, flax, hemp, and wine. Iron ore is mined and smelted; leather, pottery, sugar, and spirits manufactured. The population is Low-German and Roman Catholic; the language of the educated, French. The government is in the hands of a grand-duke, the Duke of Nassau, and a house of 42 representatives. For commercial purposes Luxemburg belongs to the German Customs Union. The capital is Luxemburg (18). There is a Belgian province of Luxemburg (212), until 1839 part of the grand-duchy.
Luzon (3,200), the largest of the Philippines; about one-half larger than Ireland; is the most northerly of the group; is clad with forests, and yields grain, sugar, hemp, and numerous tropical products. The capital is Manila.
Lycaon, a king of Arcadia; changed into a wolf for offering human flesh to Zeus, who came, disguised as mortal, to his palace on the same errand as the angels who visited Lot in Sodom. According to another tradition he was consumed, along with his sons, by fire from heaven.
Lyceum, a promenade in Athens where Aristotle taught his pupils as he walked to and fro within its precincts.
Lycias, an Athenian orator, who flourished in the 4th century B.C.; assisted in the expulsion of the Thirty Tyrants, and distributed among the citizens his large fortune which the Tyrants had confiscated.
Lycidas, the name of an exquisite dirge by Milton over the death by drowning of his friend Edward King.
Lycurgus, the legislator of Sparta, who lived in the 9th century B.C.; in the interest of it as king visited the wise in other lands, and returned with the wise lessons he had learned from them to frame a code of laws for his country, which was fast lapsing into a state of anarchy; when he had finished his work under the sanction of the oracle at Delphi he set put again on a journey to other lands, but previously took oath of the citizens that they would observe his laws till his return; it was his purpose not to return, and he never did, in order to bind his countrymen to maintain the constitution he gave them inviolate for ever.
Lydgate, John, an early English poet; was a monk of Bury St. Edmunds in the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th centuries; was a teacher of rhetoric as well as a poet, and a man of some note in his day.
Lydia, a country of Asia Minor; seat of an early civilisation, and a centre of influences which affected both the religion and culture of Greece; was noted for its music and purple dyes.
Lyell, Sir Charles, celebrated English geologist, born at Kinnordy, in Forfarshire; bred for and called to the bar; he left his practice, and gave himself to the study of geology, to which he had been attracted by Alexander Buckland's lectures when he was at Oxford; his great work was his “Principles of Geology,” which, published in 1830, created quite a revolution in the science; it was followed by his “Student's Elements of Geology,” which was modified by his conversion to Darwin's views, and by “Antiquity of Man,” written in defence of Darwin's theory (17971875).
Lyly, John, English dramatist, born in Kent; was the author of nine plays on classical subjects, written for the court, which were preceded in 1579 by his once famous “Euphues, or Anatomy of Wit,” followed by a second part next year, and entitled “Euphues and his England,” and that from the fantastic, pompous, and affected style in which they were written gave a new word, Euphuism, to the English language (1553-1606).
Lynch Law, the name given in America to the trial and punishment of offenders without form of law, or by mob law; derived from the name of a man Lynch, dubbed Judge, who being referred to used to administer justice in the far West in this informal way.
Lyndhurst, John Singleton Copley, Baron, thrice Lord Chancellor of England, born at Boston, Massachusetts, son of an artist; was brought up in London, educated at Cambridge, and called to the bar in 1804; acquiring fame in the treason trials of the second decade, he entered Parliament in 1808, was Solicitor-General 1819, Attorney-General 1819, Master of the Rolls 1826, and Lord Chancellor in three governments 1827-30; Chief Baron of the Exchequer 1830-34; he was Lord Chancellor in Peel's administrations of 1834-35 and 1841-46; he was great as a debater, and a clear-headed lawyer, but not earnest enough for a statesman (1772-1863).
Lynedoch, Thomas Graham, Lord, soldier, born in Perthshire; raised in 1793 the 90th Regiment of Foot, and served with it at Quibéron and Isle Dieu; thereafter distinguished himself in various ways at Minorca 1798, and Malta 1800, in the Peninsular wars, and in Holland; founded the Senior United Service Club in 1817; was created baron and general 1821, and died in London (1748-1843).
Lyon Court, the Herald's College of Scotland, consisting of three heralds and three pursuivants.
Lyon King of Arms, the legal heraldic officer of Scotland, who presides over the Lyon Court.
Lyons (398), the second city of France, at the junction of the Rhône and Saône, 250 m. S. of Paris; has a Roman Catholic university, and valuable museum, library, and art collections, many old churches and buildings, and schools of art and industries; the staple industry is silk, weaving, dyeing, and printing; there are also chemical, machinery, and fancy ware manufactures, and it is an emporium of commerce between Central and Southern Europe; of late years Lyons has been a hot-bed of ultra-republicanism.
Lyric Poetry, poetry originally accompanied by the lyre, in which the poet sings his own passions, sure of a sympathetic response from others in like circumstances with himself.
Lysander, a Spartan general and admiral who put an end to the Peloponnesian War by defeat of the Athenian fleet off Ægospotami, and of whom Plutarch says in characterisation of him, he knew how to sew the skin of the fox on that of the lion; fell in battle in 395 B.C.
Lysimachus, one of the generals of Alexander the Great, who became king of Thrace and afterwards of Macedonia; d. 281 B.C.
Lytton, Edward Robert, Earl of, statesman and novelist, under the nom de plume of Owen Meredith; entered the diplomatic service at an early age, became viceroy of India in 1876, and ambassador at Paris in 1892.
Lytton, George Edward Bulwer, Lord, statesman and novelist, born in London; entered Parliament at the age of 26, began his parliamentary career as a Whig, but became a Conservative and ranked in that party for the greater part of his life; “Pelham,” published in 1828, was his first novel, and this was followed by a long list of others of endless variety, all indicative of the conspicuous ability of the author, and to the last giving no sign of decay in power; he was the author of plays as well as novels (1803-1873).