The Nuttall Encyclopaedia
by
Edited by Rev. James Wood

Part 31 out of 53



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 Pali
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 ANDRE, French naturalist, born at Brives, in
Correze; 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 Joekull, 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 VALLIERE, 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 L1000 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 Wuertemberg; 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 "Poesies Barbares" and "Poesies 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, FRANCOIS 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 litterateur; _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, Muenich, 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 "Theodicee," 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 AEgean 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 Buerger, 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, FRANCOIS, a distinguished archaeologist, born at Paris, a
man of genius and of vast learning; his chief works "Manuel d'Histoire
Ancienne de l'Orient," "Lettres Assyriologues," "Les Premieres
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 Thermopylae 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
"Denkmaeleraus Egypten und Ethiopien," issued between 1849 and 1860; he
was the author also of works on philology (1810-1884).


LERNAEAN HYDRA, a monster with nine heads, one of them immortal, that
infested a swamp near Lernae, 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 RENE, 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 patentees_, 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. Lo;
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 Koenigsberg, 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 Muenster, born in The
Hague; beset with his followers, who regarded him as a prophet, in
Muenster, 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 Duerer,
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'HOPITAL. See HOPITAL, 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 Goettingen, 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 Muenich in 1852, and in 1860 was
appointed President of the Muenich Academy of Sciences (1803-1873).


LIEGE (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 "Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae," 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
Bluecher 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 aerial, 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.


LINNAEUS, or more properly LINNE, 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, ABBE 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.


LITTRE, 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 Francaise," 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 Graeco-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 91/2 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 Cevennes,
flows northwards to Orleans and westward to the Bay of Biscay, through a


 


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